Hardwire Pedals: First impressions

Was at Swee Lee today to try the 3 Hardwire drive/ distortion pedals as evident above...

TL-2 Metal Distortion:

• as prescribed on the pedal- hard hitting distortion, metal style
• nothing too different from Digitech's Metal Master
• Tight/ Loose modes accentuate the bass/ middle frequencies respectively
• EQ functions quite differently in the above-mentioned modes, quite the highlight of this pedal

SC-2 Valve Distortion:

• healthy distortion sweep, from mild to aggressive
• Crunch mode: Throaty midrange response, something to rival BOSS' Blues Driver in terms of voicing, the absence of a midrange knob compensated by this mode
  
• Saturated mode: Helps manifest the 'Valve' aspects of this pedal, has a love/hate compression of a clipped output, very similar to a modded DS-1 in terms of 'fatness'
  

CM-2 Tube Overdrive:

• absolutely NO tubes in the pedal
• the green tinge alludes to a certain Ibanez overdrive pedal of the same tonality
• a healthy gain sweep
• Classic mode: There's no escaping the TS9 guise
• Modified mode: What Keeley would have done to their TS9s
  

Prices: Please call the Swee Lee branches for an exact quote

Thank you: Adam & company @ Swee Lee BB branch for the try-out invitation

Hello: Highway1 Telecaster!

I've finally decided to get the Highway 1 Telecaster; it's a reconciliation attempt- I was never at peace with the 3-saddle, ash tray type bridge:

• the bridge plate edges are protrusive & affect right hand techniques
• the action adjustment screws are equally protrusive; they just stab the palm excessively

However, I hear good tones coming from this guitar so Fender's move to revise the pickups in there was learned; no worries (to purists), the signature Tele twang is in tact. My plans for this guitar:

• get a hardcase
• buy shorter action adjustment screws
• get brass saddles

Do note the inclusion of a booklet advising owners of the DOs & DON'Ts for a satin finished body.

PRS: Al DiMeola

Al DiMeola finally gets his signature PRS. The sheer finish is attraction per se. As opposed to putting his name on the headstock, the guitar is called the Prism. Smart move, sir!

Squier: Classic Vibe

Things just got better with Squier; new this final quarter are the Classic Vibe series- guitars replicating the classic vibe of yesteryears without the obscene price tags. Although the Vintage Modified guitars & basses caught on, there is a certain displacement with instruments manifesting past attraction with hybrid features. This time, the good people at Squier preserve the vintage bits without other tamperings.

On a personal note, the Duosonic should be on my acquisition list; I've always wanted a no-frills guitar with a shorter scale length.

Watch this space to know if the above attraction are available for your acquisition...

My other wah

My other wah pedal is the no-nonsense VOX V847. I bought it because it runs on a pot & offers an alternative, in terms of tone, to my Artec wah. Yes, there are other immaculate sounding wah units out there but the V847 offers a fundamental tone which isn't inclined to an artist's specification; it does not contain any enhancements to appease a certain liking- it's something neutral to work with.

The V847 does better with cleans but it's not a dud with overdrive/ distortion; one needs to set the latter at the lower reaches to hear what this pedal is all about. As you can see from the pic above, the bag is supplementary to purchase so if you bought one without it, do ask the seller to account for its absence.

PS: The folks at City Music were very patient with me when I tried this pedal- from one guitar to another, from one amp to another- to brother Dhalif & co.- thanks for the great customer service!!

Fender: ST-72

One of my most enjoyable line-up is plugging in my Fender ST-72 into my Marshall. To many of us, basswood is a pariah wood because it's used in many budget guitars & its inherent softness makes it dent-prone. Basswood for a Fender body is sacrilege to many Fender fanatics but this is a better part of snobbery than anything else. the ST-72 is one of the better sounding Fenders out there (in my books especially) tone-wise, quite evidently out-singing some of the top-end Strats coming from the USA.

But I appreciate the ST-72 as a good guitar per se, regardless of its Fender label.