BBE 427

So, I've got stuff I've had forever, and some of that stuff is too old, too cool, and too precious to me to use very often. A great example is my MXR vintage Script Logo Distortion +. For most folks, it's worth about 200 bucks. For me- all the memories, all the time spent with it, makes it absolutely priceless. I'd rather sell my guitar than this pedal. So the irony is, that means I can't use it very often for fear of it deteriorating more than it already has. I've been on a quest to have something that sounds like it, but I don't need to fear hurting or losing. I've tried the boutique route and the cheap route, and found nothing. It's just a random, once inn a lifetime sound. So I got this pedal not really trying to replace it, but trying to find another thing that would become as unique. In that venture, it's a success. This doesn't sound like any other distortion pedal, and I dig the sound.
BBE is the  electronics half of G&L guitars- makers of Leo Fender's more pure guitar designs-and Paul Gagon runs and helps design this stuff. So, if you don't know- Leo was the guy who invented the Telecaster, and the Stratocaster, amoungst other tthings, so, yeah I hold him in high regard. Paul was a legend in sound engineering for people like me. The sound of sunset strip Glam Metal? Yeah, more so than the musicians, he invented that. Then, he was the guy who came up with all that great pointy guitar stuff for Charvel/Jackson. If you want a gain-heavy but still musically ear pleasing distorted guitar sound, this guy should be your man.
So, seeing as the MXR was a favorite for Randy Rhoads, who is my hands-down favorite for that kind of sound, it makes sense to go back to the Paul Gagon well. The 427 is his "Muscle Car" take on the EHX Big Muff Pi. Now the Pi is much more the sound of the 70's, but, important to my purposes, a chief competitor to MXR's Distortion +. Given that Gagon is an 80's guy, I knew this wasn't going to sound like a Pi, really- I figured it would be voiced like a super thick, compressed fuzz pedal, and it kind of is, but really, it's not. Yes, the sweepable EQ compresses the signal in a strange way, and yes, it's a more fuzzy kind of distortion than, say, a Boss Heavy Metal pedal, and because of those two factors, it does remind me a bit of the MXR, but the harmonics come out less than the MXR, and where the MXR is more muddy and beefy, this just sounds stolid, and thick. So, yes, it'll fit the bill, but it's not a sound I think everyone can use. Put it about halfway between the EHX Tortion and the Wampler Plexidrive.
The QC on this thing is off the charts, however. The hammond style enclosure has a blue metal flake paintjob that seems tough enough that it could take a bullet, and a gut check shows a vero board hand wired so well, with poly caps and metal film resistors- it's built like an Army radio- I could easily see putting this in combat- literally. There is no stage abuse I can foresee that would harm this in any real way. OK- the knobs are plastic, so, if they literally took a bullet, they might crack, but the pedal would still function. I am certain. It comes with its own wall wort, so even if the battery choice is shaky, you'll make the gig.
So, yeah, happy with this one....

Another Pawn shop surprise

So I picked up another Amp, today. I went to the Pawnshop, actually planning to get a super cheap headphone amp I saw there before, but I decided to give this ugly, unloved Fender Amp a try, and talked the guy down to 50 bucks for a fairly loud 25 watt solid state Amp from the mid 1990's- a Fender Automatic SE. Look at the thing.  The design is obvious- Solid state, all the way, with an attempt to fool you into thinking it's a Champ . It's got these cheesey presets that, instead of having names, have pictures- a cowboy hat, and Eagle, a power lifter, a rocket ship and a mushroom cloud. Near as I can figure, they are clean, mild overdrive, distortion, fuzz, and heavy fuzz. You've got built in reverb ( which doesn't work on mine) and chorus ( which does) partial EQ ( treble and bass) and a ( I believe) mid cut button ( it just has pictures of a single coil and humbucker). That's about it. The distortion sounds completely sterile, and the fuzzes are just microphonic feedback. There's just barely enough bass. Sounds Crapty doesn't it? Here's where it won me over- putting it on the eagle setting, with the treble slightly goosed give a great stinging, and twangy sound- it makes my strat copy sound like a really good Tele- I mean really good. It makes my Epiphone SG sound like it's in some early 1980's post-punk Dance band. It's a really good sound. Some of the others are acceptable, but that one is really good. Then, that chorus? Perfect- just the right amount of depth for your goth infected post punk dreams- what I'm saying is that it sounds like an HH Studio 50. I can see how that's not lighting anybody up. It should- Daniel Ash, Marc Bolan, Andy Gill, mean anything? So, yeah, it's a sound I really like. But, here's the use I want to put it for: I've still got the Crate CR65, right? How about I roll the treble down on that, and crank the bass on it. Then, I keep the Automatic SE where I've got it- as a kind of biting mid range, which a slight lean towards treble. Then, the Vox to emphasize a smooth high end. Mix all three- and I think you'd have a completely unique, but still very good tone- it wouldn't have that lower mid mush like a marshall, and it wouldn't have the fizz of a Fender- I'm thinking since it's all solid state I could get somewhere around Jazz Chorus/ Gallien Kruger territory-and then, my pedal army could come into play- If I do it, I'm going to call it my "SRV Helicopter" rig. Mean? Yes, but Stevie Ray Vaughan was known for playing through a bunch of small tube amps, right? This would be the same idea, only about as anti-blues as you can get.
So, what's the point about discussing some piece of junk I bought at a pawn shop? Because finding something that pretty much only I will find "cool" is my whole point of being on this earth. See, yes, this is a blog about stuff- but the stuff we buy should be a reflection of us, not the other way around. So, should you want one? Maybe, I don't know.  Much more my point, and this will always be my point- you should want to find stuff that allows you to feel as excited and cool about yourself as my stuff makes me feel.