Why listen to me?

Let's face it, the Internet has perhaps more opinions than there are humans on earth.  There are countless forums where you will hear that Pedal XYZ is "da bomb" or "crap" or that you have to get ABC to achieve a certain tone.  I can't make the blanket statement saying all those people are wrong, but I will say this:  you must find you own way.

That being said, we are here to help!

So the question becomes, why should you listen to us when it comes to guitars, amps, and most especially effect pedals?  Well the story is long, but the short answer is that we have owned and played most pedals.  If we own it, there is a good chance there is a reason.  And if we don't, either we haven't found and example to buy or we don't like it.

Example:  The Maxon/Ibanez TubeScreamer.  The TS9 or the TS808, either one, we don't really care for because they aren't true-bypass.  We carry pedals that we believe are superior clones of the TS circuit (using the original IC's) and do have true-bypass.  Sometimes we even prefer some of the Chinese copies of Boss pedals because the Chinese pedals are much smaller and have metal housings and true-bypass switching.  And they sound good.  That is of course the most important thing.

We have over 40 different types of fuzz in stock.  Did you even know that was possible?  And we try to explain the nuances of each one, how each fuzz differs from the others, what makes each pedal unique.  There's way more to life than just the Big Muff Pi pedal and we will help you find it.

 A little about myself:  I started playing guitar at age 14, starting out with a semi-acoustic Norma piece-of-junk that had a tendency to break strings and drift out of tune.  By the time I was 15, I had secured a practice amp (Fender 15GR, a solid-state dual-gain amp with real spring reverb) and I picked a Stratocaster blindly from Daddy's Junky Music Shop catalog.  What showed up a week after my birthday was a beautiful candy red strat.  Now don't misread me, I had saved my pennies and lawn-mowing money to get that guitar, but it wasn't a USA strat; no way.  It was one of the early Squier guitars to be made in South Korea.  From what I understand, the guitar I got was rather unique in that is had a big Fender logo on the headstock and only a very tiny little "Squier" logo next to that.  That guitar lead me into my first band, which I joined at 15.

Having practiced with a goth/industrial band as their lead guitarist (I was better than the other guy, therefore I was default "lead guitarist") I decided I was going to need a bigger amp.  This desire took me on a quest to the vintage music store, because I had heard and indeed believed that a vintage tube amp was the answer.

Instantly disappointed with how much a Marshall or Blackface Fender cost relative to my budget, the associate suggested I try out a clean amp and get my distortion from pedals.  A novel idea!  He took me in the bass room and gave me a pre-CBS strat and plugged me into a vintage TS9 and that into a Fender Silverface Bassman 100 head.  It only took 30 seconds before I was in love.  The Silverface Bassman not only had TONS of clean headroom, it sparkled with the Bright switch enabled and most importantly was LOUD AS F**K.  Paired with a 4x12 cab, this thing was a sonic monster.  Kicking in the TS9 gave me loads of tone from the vintage axe I had been handed.  A short while later, I returned to the music store with my saved lawn-mowing money and found another Fender Silverface Bassman 100 and negotiated a great price.  I finally had my head!

But as guitarist should know, a head is useless without a cab, so the subsequent search for an affordable used 4x12 took several weeks, but eventually said cab was located and acquired, transported in the back of my mom's minivan.  The 4x12 was a mismatch of speakers and had seen better days, but still gave me tons of tone, headroom, and volume.  Finally a distortion pedal was acquired; again blindly, receiving a Boss MT-2 Metalzone.

About this time, I broke up with the goth/industrial band guys and started my own foray with a friend/keyboardist as a 2-piece outfit:  no drummer.  We performed at the local High School Band Challenge and actually made it through the first round of competition.  By that time I had a small collection of pedals.  My chain started with the MT-2, then ran into a Arion flanger that I got in trade for a pocket knife (!) then into a spring-loaded switch-less Morely wah and then finally into a Rocktron delay.

After HS was over my friend and I sort of lost touch and our 2-piece industrial/techno band broke up.  I began producing on my own.  At 16 I landed my first real job working as an electrician's assistant, which was absolutely back-breaking labor in the summer heat, but earned me the money to buy some of my first electronic gear: a Kawai K5000 keyboard, an ESI-32 sampler, a Zoom 1204 FX unit, and a Mackie CR1604 mixer.  I finally had a proper setup!

Other electronic studio gear would follow until I had amassed collection that would probably rival the Chemical Brothers and I don't say that lightly.  I had a feverish case of an affliction most musicians will know:  GAS or Gear Acquisition Syndrome.  Suffice to say the electronic music foray was an interesting excursion (and one that still continues today), but I never stopped playing guitar entirely.

Relocating across the country, new gear was to follow.  My guitar setup expanded dramatically to include:

• Fender Kurt Cobain MIJ Mustang
• Fender MIJ Jaguar HH
• BC Rich Mockingbird
• Fender Squier Duosonic
• Fender USA Strat with Lace pickups
• Schecter 7-string
• Danelectro baritone
• Roland G707
• Ibanez IMG2010
• Rondo Telecaster
• Roland G202
• Fender P-bass
• Yamaha FG acoustic
• Another Fender Squier South Korean Strat

Guitars were not the only things I bought.  I invested in amps again, after having sold my Bassman before the move.  I purchased:

• Another Fender Silverface Bassman 100 head
• Peavey Valveking 100 head
• Newcomb custom tube amp head
• Epiphone Valve Jr. head
• Jet City Picovalve head
• Ibanez TSA15H head
• Orange Microterror head and special cab
• Fender Prosonic combo
• Fender Silverface Champ
• Emery Microbaby head and Weber custom Blue Pup speaker
• Carvin Microbass bass amp
• Mesa Studio preamp
• Digitech 2112 preamp
• Tech21 Studio preamp
• Carvin Quad-X preamp
• Carvin power amp
• 2x12 closed-back cab with Celestion GT75's
• 1x12 open-back cab with a Celestion Greenback
• 4x12 cab with matched Eminence speakers

 Then there were the pedal-boards, four of them...  I won't bother to list all the pedals, but suffice to say, it was a lot.  I've played a lot of rigs, including Marshalls, Mesa Boogies, Ampegs, Sovtek Migs, about every vintage Fender, and a few boutique amps.  Because of my voracious appetite for gear and all information around gear, I have consumed a tremendous amount of knowledge regarding the workings, sounds, and function of most pieces of contemporary and vintage gear.

Put another way, I know how to get the sounds I want.  And more importantly, I will try my best to help you get the sounds you want.  If you need advice on pickups, tuners, tail-pieces, bridges, cables, amps, or guitars, we are here to help!  And most importantly, we want to be your go-to when it comes to advice for effects pedals.