Triangular

So what do we have here? It's another fuzz unit from the EHX camp. Despite not being a fuzz fan, I do make it a point to check their fuzzes out. I dislike fuzz tones because of the lack in definition; the rounded treble & squashed bass end are just not the thing for me. However, I find that the EHX fuzz units are among the most pleasant in this aspect. Ok here:

SLX4!

Available at Swee Lee now: SLX4. Floyd Rose Special. Thinking... 😑

Strumming price

Gibson 2019 prices are out. No big price cuts to get excited over but the interesting addition here is the J-45 Studio for all you acoustic dweebs out there. It's more affordable than the J-15 Standard currently listing for more than $2.5K so that's something to look forward to. Prices are steep for Gibson acoustics but on a personal note, Gibson isn't a go-to name when it comes to acoustics. Yes, they have the Hummingbird & co. to impress you with but we have our Martin/ Taylor/ Takamine (among others) to underscore our QC-tone beliefs. I'd like to check this J-45 out at the very least. 😎

Thinning out

Had some playing time this morning. Re-visited a 1.5mm pick. Not a good outing. It seems that I can't play with anything less than 2mm for electric stuff. I tend to apply more pressure when holding, resulting in fatigue. Also, too many missed notes due to playing psychology; I thought I picked some but I didn't. Years ago, I believed that the pick should be the least of my worries as my playing really sucked. There was more focus on technique but along the way, the pick is one of the most essential component of delivery. 

Weekend's here!! 👍👍

Setting

Had been playing the EVH for the past few days. The settings you see here are fixed regardless of the different guitars that were plugged into it:

• EQ. If you have tried Van Halen's amps in any incarnation, you'd realize that the treble response is excessive. I've totally grounded mine (zero!) as seen above & compensated it through some presence. Even at that much (slightly less than 25%), the amp's still hissing at the top end especially with more volume added in.
• Presence. As mentioned above, it's used to keep track of how much top end ended up in the mix. Unlike the HIGH option, presence here seems to spill over into the other frequencies. It's like a universal control of sorts & possibly the most under-used option in amps together with RESONANCE.
• Gain. I like how the EVH was conceived to be a very angry amp in terms of gain. This way, players are compelled to dial it in to taste, not dime it & think higher gain settings are the best. On that note, I have the tendency to max the gain on amps I use. 😅 But seen here, it's under lots of constraint, just slightly more than 50% to get things through. I'm not saying this is the optimal when EVH is concerned but we should dial it in (for everything in fact, not just gain) on a need basis with careful listening along the way. 

Want chrome?

If you are a Satch fan & have $7K to spare, it's available at Swee Lee now... 😎