And a happy one at that. All the best to you and your loved ones.

I’m beginning the process of writing material for my 2012 opus, and I have high hopes for a seriously rocking disc. So stay tuned for progress on the writing.

Meanwhile some goings on . I picked up a Samson CT20 clip tuner and it’s pretty slick. Also, after doing the Tone King Holiday contest I just threw down a quick preset from Guitar Rig 5 to finish up the guitar audio to import back to the video…. And it sounded amazing. I’ve gotten compliments on it and it’s growing on me. Sooooo I’ve begun tweaking that preset and adding some more “mics” to it and using the Control Room Pro feature to it fullest in Guitar Rig. The idea is to get the wall of sound with fewer tracks and its promising.  I plan to record a simple track with different guitar sounds to make a decision on what I want for the CD. I also found a killer filter bank/harmonized part in Guitar Rig 5 that I already have riffs and ideas for a song. This is going to be sick!!!

Lastly, let me say guitarist Neil Zaza is HORRIBLY UNDERRATED. I just ordered his upcoming CD “Clyde The Cat” and it’s great. He is such a melodic player with insane chops. His tone, articulation, melodic sense and shredability are off the charts. Since I preordered it before Christmas I got to download it and will receive it once it’s released with his last CD “212.”

That’s it for now…. Rock on!!
Peter

Clyde The Cat Guitar Rig 5 Neil Zaza Samson ct20

Hey guys. Just had a quick thought I wanted to share with and run by you… to get your feedback and thoughts…

We all know the “Holy Grail” of Tone lies somewhere in the realm of glowing glass… =), but when do you know you have the “right” amp? Now, this probably applies more to rock/metal players but is applicable across the board.. Here’s the question…

* Let’s say you have a nice Tube Amp… has the features you like, sounds great overall, etc… but just lacks that certain “Je ne sais quoi?” Maybe needs that little “boost” for leads or just for heavier type of stuff…

At this point.. is it time to get a new amp? One that likely might be much more expensive? One that has the needed “gain” on tap? Or is it fine to get a boost/drive pedal to “push the amp” a bit harder to get to sonic nirvana.

I guess, most of our heroes use pedal in front of their famed stacks of tube amps… but at WHAT POINT do you decide to get a new amp and move on? Or do you just keep buying pedals (more quantity and variety?).

Or.. LOL!!! Here’s another option… do you change PICKUPS in your guitars?

What are your thoughts? What’s your setup and what would you change if you could.. and WHY?

Rock on as always!

Peter

PS: I’m hopelessly hooked on the new Stone Sour songs “Gone Sovereign/Absolute Zero.” Funny. I never paid them any mind before a week ago. Now I’m obsessed. =)

 

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Sorry for the delay folks.. it’s been a BEAR to get the time to shoot the video.. and then ONCE I had done it.. trying to marry the audio from my workstation (which had the SM57 signal recorded into SONAR X2), and the video from the camera. I had to do a TON of edits to “remove” the camera audio so you could hear the SM57 alone… I’m still a n00b at this video stuff. =)

All things considered.. the BIGGEST HURDLE I did have was… CAMERA “audio” is recorded at 48k.. SO if you want to “sync” external audio with the video.. it’s a GREAT IDEA to use 48k also.. LOL!!! Once I had that figured out.. the sync’ing was MUCH easier…

Anyways, enjoy!! The playing is messy.. and my mic’ing technique not the best.. but it should give you some good overview of what this tube beast is capable of.

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