Influences

These were my companions last weekend & I was glad I didn't stick to one amp.

It's not about superiority but about influence; each amp subliminally made me play differently. The aggression from the 5150 means I was induced to churn out lots of metal-type riffs & when I'm I at it, I tend to get carried away. I would end up playing ideas from start to end & there's more emphasis on arrangement. When I plug into my Marshalls (this 1W JVM is one of them), I tend to be more technical so my plyaing moments would be filled with solos & more precision would be heard; more often than not it's about nailing something my way. The playing would border on the obsessive, doing things repeatedly with tempo variation.

From this perspective, we'd ask ourselves if we indeed require more than an amp to get things done 'properly'. However, amplifier investments are costly & it requires more space at home than owning more than one guitar. Thankfully, amp modelling today helps us achieve this objective without the cost & space issues. But liking what the digital world has to offering is a different thing altogether :-)

PS: Wishing everyone a good closure to March.

Fender: Modern Player Jazzmaster HH

Fender's Modern Players are such value-for-money instruments, it's difficult to ignore them. While they may not be everyone's idea of a Fender, they are still legit, done by the very people who give us the Squier Classic Vibe & Vintage Modern series.

As documented earlier, my concern with this guitar is its confusing manifestation; it's a Jazzmaster (by virtue of looks & appointments) but it's not a Jazzmaster (with humbuckers in there, no traditional Jazzmaster tone could be acquired). I've overcome the humbucking appointment of this guitar, accepting what it was intended to be. However, the other concern, now that I actually own this guitar (OK it's been slightly more than a week now) & had a good playing time with it- is the tune-o-matic type bridge. In use, the whammy mechanism works- no complaints there but the TOM bridge won't hold tuning no matter how much lubrication one applies to the slots. Do note that the original Jazzmaster features a different bridge mechanism, so the most sensible thing to do here is not to whammy. As such, I've set it up to a locking position so no whammy action any time soon. I did some other parts replacements but that's saved for an April episode :-)

Seymour Duncan: Perpetual Burn

Seymour Duncan has officially released the Jason Becker Perpetual Burn pickup. This was an official Duncan-Becker team-up that never got completed due to his worsening ALS condition but a recent project rekindled the interest & here we are today with the said humbucker. It's not an all-out high output unit but something singing that Jason Becker was interested in when he first heard the Duncan JB in action. Despite being showcased in a shred context in the following video, the pickup promises to impress in other musical applications:

Epiphone: FT-350SCE

Some of us might be waiting for this to happen & here they are: Epiphone's FT-350SCEs.

Not just another electro-acoustic but one equipped with the Min-ETune system. Quite possibly, this might be the first from a regular production line. Implications: 1) What's in Gibson would eventually trickle down to Epiphone 2) The Min-ETune works effectively & the manufacturer has no qualms featuring it in their products.

Fender: American Design Experience

Fender launched its American Design Experience recently, allowing buyers to design their own Tele/ Strat/ P-bass/ J-bass according to limited specs. Prices start at USD1,499 for guitars. I've designed my own here without the extras, meaning- I kept mine to the starting point price bracket. I would very much want a single pickup Strat but that's not offered on the template, this is deemed to be Custom Shop specs & of course, it entails more $$$... You should give your ideas a go, maybe do it over lunch rather than engage in small talks with colleagues you hardly know: CLICK to try.

That looks familiar

I was looking at some Kramers & came across the 84. It isn't a new model, in fact, it was an integral part of shred history once. The 84 is still in production or rather, it was brought back to life & rightfully so.

The 84 caught the attention of the Eastern builders & the good people at ESP had this model called the Jerk going for a while. It's unclear if the Jerk was a direct response to the 84 but the resemblance was clear.