Randall Amplification

The Randall MTS modular tube series is a great design. But I've noticed that my musical tastes have shifted more and more in the last few months of summer, and late fall getting into winter. Let's make this absolutely clear. I love metal. Metal is one of the greatest psychedelic originated sounds available today. Here is something that I don't like: Conformity. With the latest rising of new metal we see the same thing that happened in the 1980s. ALL THE SHIT sounds the same! I'm listening to my poor pathetic excuse of a radio station in my car and I here the same line-up of corporate bullshit sound everyday namely:

Disturbed.
Saliva.
Drowning Pool.
Stone Sour.
Slipknot.
Breaking Benjamin.
Three Days Grace.


Do you see where I'm getting with this list? NO WHERE!! The sound is all the same. It all sounds exactly like the next band just about. With off-radio metal there is some real diversity in tone. Black Metal is not American Southern Metal is not Progressive Metal. The genres speak for themselves...

Dischordant metal is not Melodic metal.

I've abandoned the Metal scene. NOT THE SOUND. The Scene. I no longer care about what certain artists are doing. What their albums are doing, what direction there band is heading... I've grown so sick of this unchanging drone of single variety music. Where is the creativity? Where is the originality? Where is the individuality?

Simply put. There is none. None at all. Here's why:

People are not open to new ideas.


I think that we can all agree to this. Seeing how many of us have experienced it firsthand. Some of us deny that. More yet say that it's not true and that the music is good. If that's all the radio plays that must mean that popular opinion matters right?

Not necessarily. Radio stations have to meet expectations of sponsors to receive some their funding. This is because radio stations typically do not charge you while you tune into their frequency. Commercials being heard over the air are what the sponsors are in it for. So what happens is that as a DJ you can be handed a sheet with certain bands on it and you have to play these bands here and sometimes here.

If you are a specific station and you meet a student demographic that is your sound and you are doomed. Stations unfortunately get into the habit of being adopted by genre. Funk, 80s metal, grunge, hip-hop. Disturbed is our Whitesnake, our GNR. Bands like that have become what the 80s hair metal scene was then:


LIFESTYLE.

Modern marketing today depends on one simple concept: Consumerism is a way of life. Not a habit. To successfully market to a target demographic you must convince that market that what you have to offer is "how is should be." In simpler terms, you must sell the lifestyle. Lie to them, entice them. You cannot simply market a product in the US, you must also sell the lie. Sell the lifestyle and you have one (temporarily) very happy customer.

This has led to record labels finding the same bands to offer contracts to and why the diversity and variety of the sonic pallet is so bitter tasting. All this disgust, all this anger, all this raging is really grumpy, sour, whiners. The music that goes on across these airwaves is so grotesquely unappealing that we have to find some way to allow alternative sounds in.

Go out and research this:

Midwest and Southern Rock Revival.


Do you know who the target mob for this new metal genre is? The Midwest. That is the target audience. How many of these bands come out of the Midwest? Several. What about the most popular? Chicago typically is what many will point to.


Here are some bands that NEED to be shown to the public.

My Morning Jacket- Louisville, KY
The Black Keys- Akron, OH
The Raconteurs- Nashville, TN
Kings of Leon- Nashville, TN
The Thunders- Indianapolis, IN
Dr. Dog- Philadelphia, PA



Robert Plant, Billy Gibbons, Josh Homme, Johnny Greenwood, Thom Yorke- all fans of the band. And what's more there is a lot of unity and "help out a friend" attitudes in this scene. Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters helped Homme rise to fame with Queens of the Stone Age, and Homme is producing the new Arctic Monkeys album. (Their drummer frequently wears a Black Keys shirt.) Beck, DangerMouse, the list continues.

But their are a ton of new sounds popping up all over the place. Go out and find one. Wrestle it, challenge it, fight it, but most of all sit there and think this for this is the most important aspect and ingenious design of music:

What emotion does it inspire in me?

Pedalboard O' Classic Rock

De Armond Volume Pedal
Chicago Iron Tycho Brahe Parachute wah-wah
Electro-Harmonix Black Finger Valve Compressor
Retro-Sonic Phaser
Fox Rox Octron
Barge Concepts BB-1 Standard Fuzz
Gig-Fx Chopper
Fulltone Deja Vibe
Hartman Analog Flanger
Sib! Mr. Echo+

More information soon to come.

Dubtown in Downton

Well,

I'm back. I'll be in Dubtown for a few weeks and then I'm gone and out of sight. Just to let you all know that I'll be unavailable for some time now, but no worries kiddies. After I forget these two weeks from all the devious behavior I'm about to do I'll be back in eVille before long.

Just to let you in on something here- MS 13 you don't know it look it up. I had the opportunity to have my fears about this realised and I was saying this shit back in high school and no one believed me until now...I warned them when I was younger that they are going to march on your doorstep.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara_Salvatrucha

Big town meeting coming up. I think that maybe some one should have listened when they were just in Huntingburg, now they have roots and are going to be all over this area. He he. I can't help but giggle. Hopefully they'll stay out of Naptown though...Hells Angels run that place. That's where they started I do believe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hells_Angels

Also don't fuck with the Bandidos

Ever changing views of the humble world.

I love guitars. I love playing and I'm especially a gear-head. I'm considering getting cogs tattooed on my body. And that's what I love blogging about, it is my favorite subject.

The world of electric guitar and anything else from strings to effects, and amp/cabs to technology! I love the world of electric guitar and that's what I really wanted to talk to you kiddies about.

Today we are going to cover the world of PROCESSORS!!! That's right kids. And I play metal but I'm a vintage analog fiend. My favorite stomp box is an original 1980 black label Boss CE-2 Chorus pedal. That thing is a real treat, but unfortunately, a real pain in the arse, it has been out of commision for a few months as I needed it repaired. The circuits are old I fear that they might become too damaged and I'll never see them again.

Here's what I wanted to talk to you kiddies about and see if you can understand this. We'll start with this:



This is a Boss CE-2 chorus pedal. It is one of the most sought after pedals by collectors. And it sounds great. There is one small problem with it. It is not true bypass, it is old, it is hard to find, it is expensive. While it may sound good, digital modeling has taken the sound path that a Boss CE-2 (or even the CE-1!) can make and encoded its familiar harmonic properties onto a motherboard. This represents the similar wave form coloring that original had the effects market going.

Here is a very familiar processor:



Supposedly it will contain all of the familiar sounds that made Roland/Boss famous. I doubt this very much. The most highly collected and sought after stompboxes were made before the transition of production from Japan to Taiwan. Because of this assembly of the stompboxes changed, and if the design and parts changes so does the sound. And sound kiddies is what we are after here.

This is a Pod XT Live



This was the master of the processors and because of it was of a readily available nature and affordable to the average player it was a huge success and gave rise to the upgraded Pod X3 Live, pictured below.



Essentially they are the same product in a different chassis. The only real differences is the presence of a Stereo mode feature that allows you to create and run in processed stereo to simultaneous rigs. More of the slight differences can be found here http://www.line6.com/

These devices were miracles to some but I've had time to tinker with them and found them to be lacking in quite a few different areas. First of all it was hard enough to find a decent effect but then I had control over only a few different parameters. It was just frustrating. I had also discovered that the effects were completely digital and modeled after the Taiwan clones of famous effects. This made me ask this:

"Why manufacturing a unit composed of all the crap effects?"

Because of this I dropped Line6 gear off my roster. In my journey through Processor land I found three great processors. The first of these is the Zoom G9.2tt effects processor.



This is a great processor. It also has a few other functions that normal floor processors do not. One of them is the Z pedal that let's you move three dimensional. More of it can be explained here , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YUGlVG8-fI.

Best of all is the fact that the Zoom unit is a HYBRID. It uses the best processing power but with the best qualities of the valve driving sound power. Yes a Hybrid processor! This is a great unit. More can also be found here, http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/g92tt/

Then I found to me what is the best processor ever. And that is The Rocktron Prophesy II preamp. Holy grail.



This is the most amazing unit. The effects are warm and driving. Authentic and tweakable. The Rocktron Prophesy II is also HYBRID. It was tube warmth with the reliability of a DSP chip. Check out some of the presets here http://www.rocktron.com/

Unfortunately, the main drawback to this unit is its price tag. So wallet conscious fiends unite. I've got some middle ground for you.

Here I give you the Rocktron Xpression.



Take my word or countless others. The effect designs are after all of the best units available and not the cheap crap. You can find a real good review of it here. http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar04/articles/rocktronexpression.htm This seems to be the best review and of course with this unit there are the flaws! Yes all units have flaws but here is another thing that you can't beat about Rocktron and that is the price. Beside the Prophesy, all of their stompboxes and other products are amazing. Only great drawback to these units is the fact that for foot control they require an external MIDI controller which if you know where to look won't cost you that much at all, Rocktron makes one of them The Rocktron MIDI mate.

Well kiddies. I think that I'm a modeling man. And while that sentence does sound a little funny, here's what you really need to know. If you're interested in digital sound modeling and want to keep authentic tone check out Randall Amps. The Randall MTS series is the most innovative idea to hit the markets and no one has seemed to caught on. A lot of the sluggish behavior is because the MTS series is expensive at the moment but that's bat shit crazy. This is modeling to the ultimate level.

I've been trying to provide you with the most accurate and detailed pics to help explain my point but unfortunately photobucket has only so many good photos. Sorry kiddies.

But just imagine the possibilties with Randall and Rocktron. There may be something else out there, but for now, I think this is going to be the best availbale to the tone freak HYBRID!

Everyone gets to see the Wizard!

And while I admit that he does look the best in long black robes in front of a black mass of people. Kerry King is still the man. While I do sometimes doubt his abilities as a musician (solos are everywhere) I do not doubt his abilities as an artist (alcoholic).

The Slayer member has a good twenty-five years in the business and a headlining act in most every tour they go one. But what's more is that while Kerry King has to be the most metal name in the business. I think that he has more than a healthy affiliation with snakes. King is a devoted herpetologist, and a member of the California Herpetological society if I remember right. But that's not what I'm saying I saying that this guy has to be the most unappreciated man of the century and I know why...

HE'S BALD!



King was shaved his head since the early nineties and do you know what this tells me! That's even more metal than your average man! While Dave Mustaine flips his hair nonstop King just does what everyone else would do get drunk, play guitar, and forget where he put his wah controllers and just use Jeff's since he's on the opposite side of the stage anyway. Shit happens.

Seasons in the abyss, Reign in Blood, Christ Illusion, God Hates Us All, South of Heaven and countless others have helped to make Slayer a huge influence on all of the popular music on the radio waves today! Think about it! That means Slayer was heard by people like Breaking Benjamin! URGH!!!!

Fortunately though, there is hope. Thanks to video games (and not just for tanking the violent crime rate since 1996 with the epic title released that year ((DooM))), more specifically Guitar Hero. Skill and talent is starting to bleed back into the hearts of the youth.

WE WANT SOLOS! WE WANT SKILL! WE WANT SLAYER!

वहत थे फुक्क?

वहत थे फुक्क?

Welcome All

This is the first blog of the Church of The Pages of Entropy. Please enjoy your stay.

Peace love and death metal.

-zw