Here's a niggle to the question I asked earlier about non-US guitars: Strings! I… don't actually know where strings are made and who makes them, but the brands that I do know from my music store are all US brands: Martin, Ernie Ball, and so on. Are there even guitar strings being made closer to home?
This is the sort of thing that you don't really see but that are all around you.
Well I decided to try the two week free trial of CrossOver on my Mac. No installer, just drop the app in the application folder (throw back to the good old days of PowerPC Mac’s 
). Created a bottle and installed Acid Studio 11 into it. Installer for Acid completed but the bottle install hung, waited a couple hours but no joy. Acid was there in the bottle but failed to execute with an error code 57, so no joy unfortunately. *sigh*
So, what I thought was a weird ringing in my ears (musician! It happens!) turned out to be a squeal from an Ethernet router’s AC adapter that’s apparently getting ready to fail.
Pro tip: when you leave a room and the ringing in your ears stops, it’s not your ears.
A friend loaned me his Twin Reverb 65 Reissue - with 3/6db attenuators. For two days.
#guitar #GearSquad
Been having lower back pain for 4 months now. Didn’t do anything specifically to trigger it; just came on. I’ve been whacking up on ibuprofen and acetaminophen for pain. Went to the doctor the other day. Sent me in for x-rays and said I’ve got sacroiliitis, some issue with my SI joint. Now sending me in for CT scans. So I bought a new chair for my evening music sessions yesterday. Tried it out the last couple nights, and wow. Game changer. My last chair was flat as a board on the back. This chair has an adjustable lumbar thingy with mesh fabric back. Sat in a bunch of chairs at Staples and I knew right away this is the one. Zero pain the last couple nights at the DAW. Also, for guitar players like me, the arms easily pivot up and swing out of the way. Bonus. It’s called a Raynor Ion chair. So far, so good. #music #gearsquad #health #review #guitar #recording
Got the final mix done on the new song and uploaded. Retro protest tune. Strange, but had to express a message. Tonight I added a vocal blurb just before the banjo solo. Finished. On to the next tune, whatever that may be. #music #protest #politics #guitar #gearsquad #recording #songwriting https://youtu.be/6MSTJYvIqBo
#gearsquad, How do I know fender twins? I've seen ones that say "Twin Reverb," "Twin Amp," and "The Twin."
All I know is that I want 6L6s, reverb that drips, and "vibrato" that throbs, and I accept that it's going to weigh 80 lbs/35 Kg. (Oh, and apparently 65 Twin Reverb reissue is the best, I'm told).
Where can I read about the differences?
Should I search YT for "Fender Twin Comparison?"
In the basement building the artwork for my new rockabilly protest tune. Hopefully I’ll get it up on youtube etc in the next day or so. Tweaking the mix a bit more too. Backing chorus vocals turned out okay. Playing with final levels. Here’s a recent sunny day pic of my basement music corner. #music #recording #gearsquad #songwriting #guitar
Well, it's all running. One or two console issues but nothing too serious!!
#recording #studio #music #musician #guitar #guitarist #singer #singer_songwriter #gearsquad #FediMusic #FediArt
Here’s a prelim rough mix of my bizarre 3-chord rockabilly protest 12-bar thing, “March Like Hell.” Gretsch 5422 was used for the 3 rhythm tracks, bass was Fender p-bass and banjo solo is a Gold Tone Cripple Creek 6-String Banjitar (same tuning as guitar). Drums are MT Power Drum Kit free plugin. Basic A-D-E chord fingering repeat progression with everything capo’d at the 3rd fret. Used slap delay on the Gretsch and 15ms delay on the banjo. Pedals on the Gretsch were Keeley compressor, TC Flashback delay and MXR Timmy for some very mild overdrive. 160bpm, 1:50 song length. Tracked some subtle chorus backing vocals tonight. Gotta listen tomorrow and see how it sounds before adding to the mix. #guitar #music #recording #banjo #gearsquad #songwriting #bass #mentalhealth
Another basement evening in the music corner. Listened to the banjo track takes from last night’s session. Got a couple good ones. Tuning was fine. The mic placement and levels were set up just right too. Definitely works for the song. Tried 25ms of delay on the track. Sounds okay. I’ll try some test backing chorus oohs or aahs tomorrow night over the main vocal and see how that works. #music #banjo #guitar #recording #gearsquad
Curious if anyone here has tried Crossover, a WINE based app that allows you to run Windows apps on a Mac without having to install Windows. I have Acid Studio that I’d really like to be able to work with, but I don’t want to run my Windows laptop anymore.
#GearSquad #MusicProduction #Wine #CrossOver
New music! When inspiration boosted ability a few weeks ago, this was the improvised lead guitar that resulted. It felt like a conscious expression of feeling through my fingers, and the phrasing sounds like a conversation when I listen to it now. #gearsquad #guitar
https://tufnelsghost.bandcamp.com/track/twilight
More attempted #guitar #music
MinuteMen - The Only Minority
https://youtu.be/TzG_tKg-KxA
Not black or white
Not brown or yellow
It's green…
Basement session tonight. Tracking the pre-final verse solo part on this freaky rockabilly protest tune. Was going to use guitar, then thought I’d try banjo for an even weirder vibe. Channelling my inner Pete Seeger. A few years ago I picked up a used Gold Tone 6-string banjo off craigslist. It’s well built, but a bit quirky tuning. Very sensitive to getting out of tune. Tuners are good; likely the floating bridge, the tailpiece and neck joint with 6 strings is pretty intense. It’s gonna work, I think. Got it to hold tune okay, but tuning between each take. Put down a bunch of test tracks. Used the CAD Audio GXL1200 small diaphragm condenser pencil mic. Pretty decent sound. I’ll see what I’ve got tomorrow night. #music #recording #guitar #banjo #gearsquad
After trying that Super Reverb only to have the seller decide he wanted to keep it, I went back home and played through my American Sound (Fender sim) pedal into my Orange Micro Terror 15w tube pre/transistor amp.
The Super did THE THING I wanted. My setup pretty much does it, too, maybe more noisy, and lacks a jewel light power indicator. But it's cost me about $500 less.
That reverb, tho. Sooo drippy.
<sigh>
If you had told 1990s #shoegaze me I'd be panic buying a chorus pedal because of tariffs in 2025 ... well, ok, I probably wouldn't have heard you because fuck my amp was loud back then.
Arrgh.
I went around the guy's shop, he was there and got the amp, plugged it in and let me try it. "Vibrato" wasn't working for me, but the reverb was sweet and drippy.
Then he said he didn't want to sell it. He'd even taken down the ad.
(I so want this to not be about me, and my crap playing and self-deprecating demeanor.)
He said he'll think about it and let me know if he will sell it.
#patience #gearSquad #Fender #guitar #amplifiers
RIGGED. UP. Outboard for upcoming
Animals as Leaders and Bear McCreary gig in 2025
1->2: Kick - Empirical Labs Pump into DBX 560
3->4: Snare - Quagliardi 576 into EL Pump
5->6: Drum bus - Kush Tweezer pair
7/8->9/10: Master - IGS Audio RB-500 ME into S-Type
All housed in a Quagliardi Powergrid 10 Chassis!
