Shopping (again)^4

This time, I didn't buy anything for myself. It is mainly for my church back in Myanmar. The two items they wanted are:

• A decent amp below $100 to replace the one they currently have right now. It seems that that small Fernandes amp is starting to sound like mud (according to them). 
• A pedal. And it must not be expensive (about $60).

It was such a pain though. Firstly, $100 dollars is a very tight budget for an amp. Plus, I wasn't told what wattage they want. So assuming that they want the same wattage as the Fernandes, which is a 15W. Since they never mention about the need of a reverb, I introduced MK Tone EG-15. I can't think of anything else apart from Marshall MG15 but... not a real fan of MG15, you see..

It is nothing special in terms of look. However, never judge a book by its cover. Despite its plain look, it has a lot to offer an 15W practice amp. The clean channel of EG-15 produces a lot of warmth (which is what I like about this). It's drive channel is rather good as well as the gain can give different tone, ranging from mild overdrive to intense distortion. It is very versatile indeed. After all, it is designed to cater different needs for various genres. In my opinion, this EG-15 is the best value for $$ within all the 15W amps I've ever tried. 3 band equalisers, Aux in, headphone jack. So what does it lacks? This is an awesome amp made by Mike himself (but most of you already know this, or so I think xD). I just hope the guitarist back there know how to extract its full potential out of it. 

Next, the pedal. This is a hard one. I wasn't told what type of pedal, if they want a multi-effect or what but the budget and the hint "the most useful". Since it is for church, definitely no metal distortion of anyway. So I thought of Boss BD-2 Blues Driver and other Boss pedals. None of them are in the budget and Beta Aivin is the only pedals that is below $60. The look doesn't really seems to appeal him so I introduced the Modtone Mini Distortion.

I think I've mentioned this before. Among all the Modtone Mini, this Mini Distortion is the closest to its non-mini Speedbox Distortion. Now, I hope that this fits in the category 'most useful pedal'. -.-

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My results were a total disaster. I really need to start working hard. So I might have to trade off some of time blogging. =(

Collectors alike, what's the difference?

I was watching some videos on Malmsteen and John 5's individual guitar collection.
Malmsteen collects Stratocasters...

while John 5 loves to collect Telecasters. 

They are both collectors, but apart from the fact mentioned above, what is another difference?

In my opinion, John 5 takes real care of his collection (by placing them in cases and arranging them neatly in his collection room).

Malmsteen just leaves his collections lying on the floor. Since he can afford so many Stratocasters, I wonder if a guitar stand costs a lot to him.

Homecoming? Not really.

My dear Squier is back (for one day and I still haven't got a name for my Squier yet).

My results for my Prelim-1 were rather discouraging (I'm not sure why we have 2 prelims). However, my Squier cheered me up quite a lot (and of course all my friends who have been cheering me up). The new pickups that 'dwell' in my Squier is Tesla Plasma-1 (but you already knew that, don't you?). And the wrapped neck is already reverted to normal. Action is set to relatively low but not too low. I tend to hit the other strings during a bend when the action is too low.

It was pretty much of a gamble when I decided to install these pups. I have little prior knowledge about them. I was told, "Tesla sounds good with almost any guitar". Based on this statement alone, I decided to change the pups. And I'm not disappointed at all. Plasma-1 gives the exact sound I want from a single coil (not too twangy).

I decided to give my Squier an Orange drop as well. Many people said that orange drop improves a guitar's tone. I believe orange drop gives a guitar a wider range of tonal control instead. 

All 3 pots, one volume and 2 tone, are changed to Tone Drive pots. The old pots were unresponsive. I had many troubles because of that during the Stardust 2011. I should have changed it since then but I somehow managed to survive with that this long. Anyway, the knobs are now more responsive and this is very important for me since I use all the knobs. 

And do you notice something here?

Well, no more rusty screws! Mike replaced all the rusty ones with a set of fresh screws instead, and it is F.O.C. Thanks very much, Mike! :D 

UPDATE (7.21pm): The Squier is back at SV. Some fret problems to be fixed. Only God knows when it will be back. Not that SV takes that long but I don't know when I will be able to collect it. 

P.S. Bro Z, I promised to give a sound sample but apparently, my sound guy isn't free and I am a total noob when it comes to recording and stuffs. xD Will try to get it done soon.

Bare Knuckle Promo!

SV Guitars is currently having a promotion for it's Bare Knuckle pickups.

All Bare Knuckle pickups are 20% off the retail price. Contact SV Guitars for more information. The base price of Bare Knuckle pups aren't that small. 20% discount will save you at least $40 for a single pup or $80 for a set.

Many in One

I've got this multi-purpose toolkit from a hardware shop. 

This little box has almost every single thing you need to open up your guitar, effects pedals and other guitar related stuffs! Do note that opening up the pedals and stuffs may void the warranty of the product.

Problems (Dirty Knobs)

I recently have some problems with my Metal End King.

Whenever I tweaked my Middle knob to 4 o'clock position, there will be a very irritating screeching noise, which totally ruin the goodness of this pedal (I almost felt like throwing it outside the window). I thought it was the guitar's problem at first, so I switched guitars but the problem persists. After talking with Sub over this, he told me that this could be due to dirty knobs and advised me to get a contact cleaner and clean the knobs. And so a trip down to Home Fix and brought this home with me.

I've seen someone using this brand for cleaning electrical parts before so I thought this will do. It is also Ozone safe (free of CFC).  

I am not that much of an environmentalist but knowing that the products I'm using does not damage the already-damaged Ozone at least makes me feel less guilty. 

Swee Lee's extended GSS

Remember that Swee Lee participated in the GSS? And they are giving out 30% discount for many items?

I have a piece of good news then. Just yesterday or so, my junior bought her Ibanez bass and she enjoyed a 30% discount. When I asked her, she said it only ends by 16 of July!

Now, that explains why the prices of the drums are still covered up. :D

Cort Promo @ Swee Lee Katong

This may be a good news for those who are looking for a new guitar or bass.

Cort X1 is a very decent guitar (I decided to try it because it was RED!). The body is agathis so I expect it to be heavier compared to Cort X3, which is very light. And tone-wise, it should be less brighter as well. Another difference is the bridge: X1 sports a 6-screw vintage tremolo while X3 is a fixed bridge. In my opinion, Cort guitars and basses are quite well-built for the price you are paying for. Definitely worth considering. Some tend to shy away from guitars like this because they are not familiar with the brands.

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SV called me today. My Squier is ready to pick up. Only picking it up by Friday though.

Artec Artec? (Episode 2)

What's inside the Artec box? It is just a simple vintage chorus.

This is not a new piece. I bought from a very friendly guy (who told me all the ESP scam). To be frank, I bought it quite rashly though. I only have the opportunity to try it once and liked it but it was months ago. I still remember an advice of using a vintage chorus to pair up with distortion pedals. Now, I am starting to learn why. The Danelectro milkshake chorus didn't go well with my Speedbox. At least this Artec is working well with it for now. =)

If you are looking for new Artec pedals, perhaps you can look for them at Ebenex.

Aria IGB-STD

I was with my juniors from my CCA to accompany them look around for some equipments for the CCA (drums, cables, bass, racks, etc..). We were at Davis and we asked a staff there (I can't remember his name, all I remember is he's bald) for a bass of $200-300. He introduced the Aria IGB-Std to us. 

I remember seeing this bass on one of Subversion's blogpost (I'm a regular reader). He said it's cheap and cheerful and indeed it is not bad. It sports an alder body but what interests me is its neck construction. It's just a bolt-on but it looks like this:

Note: this is not IGB-STD but the neck construction is similar.

This slanted bolt-on (I don't know how to describe) promotes upper fret access for this bass. In my opinion, I think it would be more of a help on guitars.

The price of it is lowered to $195 compared to the $250 last time. If anyone wants a cheap bass, this is good enough.