Author Archives: GMacGuffin

Hard Times Means Groovy Guitar Deals …

S. Knock went and got another guitar today.  He goes off on these obsessions about a certain sound or  … things that fly or …  whatever.  Starts as interest, then obsession, then moves to snobbery rather quickly.  Some things pan out, some don’t.

This bad boy is an Ibanez Rg2ex2 (catchy eh?).  SK bought it off a  bass player who hardly touched it.  Like neeeewwww!  And with an awesome hardshell case.

And, he walked away with the whole package for, like, $180.  So jealous, except I have too many guitars already, one being a classic Ibanez Blazer (more on that later).

Anyway, SK’s obsession this time around has to do with really low tunings and super heavy strings to accommodate that.  That’s for going chucka chucka of course.

Here’s the strings: DR Strings Drop-Down Tuning Mega Heavy Guitar Strings.   I like them DR strings.  They do last a good long time.

But as usual, there are pickups to be swapped out, so we’ll have to  wait to hear what this heavy-string tuned-down-to-A noise sounds like.  Then we’ll work it into the noise, of course.  And share.

Serf Lourdes – Brand Twanging New from BigAssRobot (it’s a homophone)

It’s a surf tune! It’s twangy mellorificness! It’s Serf Lourdes! It’s a homophone! It’s pronounced the same but has different meaning and spelling.  It’s more new royalty-free music from the BaR.   This would be a lovely recurring theme for a web show … a mellow one I suppose.  Check it out.

And here’s S Knock mixing tonight… kudos.

Rehearsal Pics – Serf Lourdes (it’s a homophone)

Working on this surf-type track called Serf Lourdes, pronounced … well you get it.   Started by going for some Mexican food at the local *bertos.  Bastards forgot my bean & cheese burrito, which is essential to round off the tacos.

Me and FrankenSteve laying down a twangy track.  I am not the guitarist.  FrankenSteve is this cheap guitar with a good neck that we gutted and replaced all the innards and now it’s great, and you don’t have to worry about it, ’cause it was cheap … initially anyway.

This is where Schlock’s stray picks end up.  That wooden one sounds … odd.  Schlock was taking pictures by edict, so he was shooting stuff like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update:  Here’s the finished mix of Serf Lourdes.

Beastly – a BigAssRobot Royalty-Free Soundtrack

Here’s our newest rough mix – Beastly.  This bad boy is a noisy driving thing … maybe for driving over.  As usual, the tune is totally modular, dude.  So’s we can move stuff around or whatever prior to final mix.

And yes, it’s my dog on the beach in Santa Barbara.  Gotta save the good vacation footage for actual projects.

Freaky Flying HeliBots Make Music Too – Bond, James Bond

And from the University of Pennsylvania we get freaking flying robot helicopters who play music.  (Technically it would be robots “that” play music, not “who” … but they seem so alive [and creepy].)

Robot Quadrotors Perform James Bond Theme

Schlock’s Vox Tube Amp Rocks

This is the new(ish) amp Schlock our main guit man uses in rehearsal.   The Vox AC4TV Mini 4W Class A Tube Amplifier.

It’s tiny.   That other amp there is a Fender Frontman practice amp and behind the Vox is a guitar case.  Yup, tiny but super noisy.  Its max output is 4 watts of rich tubey goodness.  But you can’t play it like that … gotta cut the wattage.  Sounds great in a mic, and way easier than trying to get playroom volume level outta my 100w Sundown tuber. It’s an envy-inducing little box.

Anyway, here’s some specs:

  • Controls: Tone, Volume, OP switch
  • Output Level: 4 Watt, 1 Watt, 1/10th Watt
  • Tube Complement: 1 x 12AX7 (pre), 1 x EL84 (power)
  • Speaker: VOX Original 6.5″; 16 Ω
  • In/Out Jacks: Input (¼’), External Speaker Jack (¼’)
  • Output Power: 4 watt RMS 16Ω
  • Dimensions (W x H x D): 260 x 280 x 170 mm / 10.24 x 11.02 x 6.69 inches
  • Weight: 6.1 Kg / 13.45 lbs
  • Power cable included

* * *

Otherwise, laid down some noises tonight and we’ll call it generally productive.  Later.

Dumptruck: An Afternoon NoiseBite

Here’s a riff that I ripped from a prominent television commercial, then changed the speed … and the rhythm… and the notes, making it of course a totally different song.  Uber-rough sampler with only the idea down, no real tracks.  Pretty sure there will be lots of noise and clanging and crashing involved in the end result. Called it Dumptruck to force the commitment. Noise is good.

NoiseBite of DumpTruck Here:

Party on…, and stuff.

Groovy for Braun

Really pleased that Ryan Braun won the appeal of his test positive.  First guy ever to win appeal of MLB drug test.  He seems like a good kid, and man can he play ball.  Plus,  he was an  insane slugger on my Android baseball game app.  Ryan Braun exonerated, won’t be suspended | MLB.com: News.