Ibanez: RD500

My dad used to own this heck of a bass (pertaining to playability & tonal versatility). I brought him to the store during a sale event & he fell in love with it immediately. However, upon bringing it home, he realized it featured an active pre-amp- the disgust was immediate. According to him active circuitry simply kills good tones, only the young chaps could relate to this.

Being offended by such unfounded statements was not the point; it only proved that the earlier generation of players are not quite receptive to technology.

PS: Ibanez had discontinued the RD basses- what a pity. Despite its quirks, the instrument is one of the better offerings in the manufacturer's catalogs.

Voodoo Lab: Wahzoo

This is a neat idea by Voodoo Lab; a wah pedal that offers:

• a traditional wah
• an auto wah
• a programmable wah sweep

...if only it's available here (at least for trying).

Thank you Master Paul D!

Thanks to Master Paul Danial for his pic sharing- that's the same Fender Strat mentioned in the previous posting but now TESLA equipped, of course...

The first: Part 5

The first stomp box I bought was BOSS' Metal Zone. I was the very first few owners of this pedal which debuted at Davis GMC. The store was located at another smaller venue back then, which is now a t-shirt store, just adjacent to the eatery at the basement of Peninsular Hotel.

The pedal was my first real induction into heavy distortion with enough EQ options to vary tone. It proved to be very popular even with the non-metal dweebs, the shredder like the extra kick this pedal offers in terms of distortion.

Along the way, I managed to plug the MT-2 into other amps & it sounded good regardless of the amp types/ brand names. However, I was playing louder progressively & required the MT-2 to be turned up, that's when the I discovered the pedal's Achilles heel; it sounded muffled at louder settings.

I don't own the MT-2 any more simply because there are other pedals today that address my needs, some of which cost much lesser & contain better (subjective) features (eg: True bypass switching). However, I definitely prefer an amplifier's inherent drive/ distortion than pedals. After more than 15 years of playing, I hear better tones coming from direct guitar-amp interaction rather than having pedals in between.

Wood talk: Alder

Alder is a medium-weight wood which churns out a beefy midrange & an excellent low-end response. Its highs are rather bright, often masking the other frequencies when it comes to guitar amplification. This tone wood is synonymous to Fender's wood preferences because of the manufacturer's bold decision to make it a comprehensive substitute for ash in the early years of its production history. Much of the glorious Fender top end snap is attributable to this wood which enhances the single coil pickup performance.

We note Fender's use of solid colour finishes for their alder bodied instruments due to the grainy nature of the wood which are bland to say the least. Fender reserves majority of its transparent overcoat for the ash bodied models which are visually more attractive (but maple is the standard to beat when it comes to attarctive wood grains).

Jeff Loomis: Zero Order Phase

Jeff Loomis is very much responsible for the crushing heavy tones of Nevermore but as impressive as the band is, I've largely ignored the US-based metal bands in general for their predictability (not that black metal is very refreshing all the time) & the inclinations to tread the admissible path.

That aside, I am always all ears to guitar technicalities especially of the heavy type since all things heavy tend to be traditional- maybe this is the very reason I embrace black metal more than the rest of metal's sub-genres. I am hereby thankful Jeff Loomis released his solo album as an instrumental release rather than having guest vocalists to fill in the obligations but after listening to selected Nevermore materials, I know Mr. Loomis is of the shredder's ilk & he's very much capable of churning out guitar instrumentals of this nature. The last time I come across a heavy instrumental release was Chris Poland's Return to Metalopolis so Zero Order phase is a treasure.

I find the guitar arrangements & phrasings of Zero Order Phase to be very exciting & quite devoid of predictable melodies. There are moments here invocating the greatness of Jason Becker & the intricacy of Meshuggah. However, I must say that the appearance of bass genius Michael Manring is the the fervid factor to acquire this album- no offence Mr. Loomis sir, but your release is one of the more important ones on my list lately.