so, i unexpectedly got the ac30 plug in the mail today.

i was expecting to get a "searing lead" plug in the mail yesterday, which doesn't seem to have shown up. i was only expecting to get the ac30 plug some time next week. but, they only seem to have billed me for it once, so maybe they caught the problem.

great...

i'm going to wait until i get a response from vox before i open it, though. and, the bottom part of it should be at long & mcquade, soon. i am going to get a pignose when i go down there and grab it, and i'll see tonight if i want to ask them to look at the board in the strat or not, too.

i have received two of the three clothing orders i purchased - a blue tank top that's a little shorter than i hoped (and not quite as sparkly blue) and a pink cami that's about what i expected it to be. there's two more tanks coming, in the same style as the light pink tank in many of my videos, but purple and a darker pink. that pink tank is almost done, and the company is apparently out of business, so that's some replacement items.

i need new stretchy jeans, but i'm going to wait until the second hand stores reopen, if they haven't already. i have to try jeans on. but, i have no interest in shopping in a face mask, and buying groceries isn't the same thing as buying clothes. i'l wait the stupidity out.

i also bought another usb keyboard yesterday...

so, that means the following is left on the way here, for now:

- the bottom of the vox combo

- a wood flute to replace the one my aunt bought me in 1998, and since just broke due to being old. that flute was used on several recordings, actually.

- the two tank tops

- sennheiser replacement headphones

when i was in yesterday, the long & mcquade guy suggested $30 as a minimum base rate to fix some wiring.

i can get a soldering iron - which i should have, anyways - for about that amount. 

but, i haven't soldered anything since....grade 12? really? i'm trying to remember what the last thing i soldered was...

my dad had a soldering iron, so what basement is the last basement i can remember soldering in? it was a blue soldering iron, i can remember that. and, i remember making somewhat of a mess, but i don't remember what it was.

let me look at it a second time and determine if i'm confident about wiring it myself or not.

ok.

logically, i need to  fix my strat before i can look at cheap tube amps.

right?

yeah, it's just a smidgeon too much for me unless i need it right now, and i don't.

this is my wish list, though - somebody find me a little tube amp for $150. i don't need a lot out of it, i just need the warmth of it. and, i just need it loud enough to mic it, too.

ok, let's get back to the next thing, then, which was making some phone calls....but it's the end of the day. ugh. tomorrow...

sorry, i forgot the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUMYgohG-KA

well.

instead of the pignose, i could get this. it's relatively cheap - much cheaper than anything by any of the more well known brands. 

this is actually behringer, though, which isn't an unknown manufacturer, by any means.

it's not that i'm changing my approach, here - i'm still going to record most of my parts direct. but, i need that bright tube sound, and i'm not convinced i'm going to get it...

hrmmn.

let's put these ideas aside, rather than buy it all right away. i've got two new micro amps already, and i need to finish the filing first, as well. let's see what the vox sounds like, first - and then let's see if i can get the sound i want from some combination of these items.

and, if i can't, i can take a look at some combination of these other choices.

one way to guess if we're dealing with a model or not is to see how close the controls are. models are notorious for making knobs up.

the thing has three controls: volume, one, gain.

the original model had two controls, plus a number of separate tremolo channels:

https://www.stevesamps.co.uk/?page_id=287

further, the item has tremolo switches.

i have to ask. i wish i didn't, but i do - so i have to wait. i hate that...

i keep talking about the pod..

of course i have modellers in guitar rig, too. i really don't need more modellers, i need a couple of little speakers with real hardware to mic.

so, i think there's probably two good guesses on what the amplug2 actually is:

- it could be the same chip as in the modelling amp or

- it could basically be a rebranded version of one of their stomp boxes

The amPlug 2 AC30 amp features 100 percent analog circuitry. Thus, if you do not like digital modeling technology, the Vox amPlug AC30 might suit you.

that was my logic, here - not because i don't like the modeling, but because i realize it's limitations.

but i sent them an email...

actually, let me think this through more carefully.

the amplug2 is marketed as having "analog circuitry". that would suggest it's not a modeler.

but, if it is a modeler, and i'm buying one model, i'd be better off getting the amp, obviously. 

it's less that i'm worried that i bought one setting on the amp and should have bought the amp and more that i'm concerned that i bought a setting on a modelling amp and wanted a dedicated circuit.

if it's just a setting, i don't want it at all...

so, i do really wish i could get a little mini fender tube amp for $100, but the only options are modelling amps, and what's the point of that? i have enough models, in the pod. likewise, i could get a vox pathfinder mini3 g2 for a bit more than the same price as i paid for the mini ac30, and that would probably be a better choice for most, but it's not going to get me the sound i actually want the way the mini will, i don't think.

given that i now know that the fender mini is a tubescreamer with an amp, this isn't that different than it, but it's also a more usable, distinct sound. i mean, it'd be great to get that late 50s fender tweed sound - really. i'm better off with a modeller, though, this, on the other hand is more real, and i'm going to grab it as the last purchase, to replace the fenders i was thinking about.

i'm not going to bite on this myself, but the ts7 does have a slightly different chip in it than the vintage ts808s and ts9s, and if you really want the original chip, those fender minis might actually be the cheapest way to get one.

you won't find a vintage tube screamer for $70, canadian.

i had to run out to get the mini orange yesterday, and spent the evening grocery shopping and fighting with the rain. by the time i got to bed, it was actually a relatively long day, so i slept in a little bit. i'm now superstocked for months, and stocked on fruit & veggies until at least the 20th, probably longer.

it's useful to be able to get out once a week and get a few things, rather than do everything all at once on the first of the month.

the ram for the laptop also came in, and it's definitely not giving it the boost i hoped for, but i can continue to experiment with that and hopefully get something a bit better.

so, we were talking about the fender mini and i found this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/GuitarAmps/comments/g3j43g/fender_57_mini_twinamp/

it seems like the devices are actually little mini tubescreamers, but with an apparently poor design, according to this guy. i'd guess the twin is essentially the same thing, even if the wiring and/or chip is slightly different.

so, this is a better representation of what you're actually buying (excluding the fact that he's playing though a vox amp, and you're not getting a vox amp with your fender tube screamer copy)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSCNxCj_V0c

i have a ts7 already and don't see the value in getting another one wired to a 1" speaker.

ok.

so, that's decided upon.

when i was kid, i frequently watched a film called the princess bride, mostly because it was a favourite of my stepmother's. within the film, there is a stereotyped spanish character that was in search of the one-armed six-fingered man (a crude fugitive parody), and who repeatedly stated the following line:

my name is inigo montaya. you have killed my father. prepare to die.

while the film presents this man's plight in a romanticized sense, he is truly the most contemptible sort of barbarian, carrying out the most barbaric type of blood feud; this man has dedicated his life to the death of another, and has no apparent purpose or aim to his life, no goals, no other reason to exist. one presumes that he could happily expire upon enacting his revenge, with no other thought in his head at all. and, he travels the world seeking the opportunity to actualize it.

it is no doubt some kind of warped concept of "justice" in this man's mind, but that is a thought process that must be alien to any civilized creature. that's an utterly barbaric concept of justice.

the united states has created an entire generation of inigo montoyas in afghanistan, and that is what the song was about. these inigo montoyas will not give up upon american withdrawal, as they have no other reason to exist. they are operating under a code of honour that can only be abrogated in their own suicide. there is no other option for them.

so, we can kill them now, or we can wait for them to try to kill us later.  and, the more inigo montoyas we kill, the more inigo montoyas we create.

there is little chance they will succeed, but withdrawal is not a solution - it is an escalation in total violence.

the only way forward is to wipe them out before they can create further generations. and, that is a harsh lesson, but one we must learn.

a society rooted in the pashtunwali should not exist in the modern era. so, call it genocide if you want, and offer it as an example of one that is justified in the name of the broader expansion of peace and human rights.

at the end of 2003, i wrote a song called like divine amoebas that warned that the result of the occupation of afghanistan would be the creation of a generation of radical islamists bent on enacting their revenge against the west.

that song may have been misunderstood.

badal is the word for revenge in the pashtunwali, the pashtun code of honour, which is what orders the tribal society in the region, more so than any concept of islam. nonetheless, it is the vicious application of the horrors of islamic law that await the society on the resumption of taliban rule. and, our solidarity should be with the people fighting against the barbarism of sharia law.

here we are, almost 20 years later, and those children have grown strong and want to fight.

we must take no pleasure in it, and we must realize that it is a consequence of our own mistakes. but, we need to annihilate them - without mercy, and without shame.

regarding the mini-fenders...

i'm totally tempted, still, and i'll pick up the orange tomorrow, so i could still bite. but, the fact is that the pod is probably good enough for most of what i need to do, and i'm totally wary about these noisy twins and thin little tweeds....

the mini twins are suppose to be 65s, but they don't have reverb. the pod emulation has reverb. the 57 tweed may be more real, in that sense. but, they're both solid state, and i'm trying to get a tube sound. the vox actually has a tube in it!

and, what about the jazz chorus? when i got the fender twin, i really wanted a jazz chorus, it just wasn't financially possible, even with the microsoft money. i should point out that the twin was a new reissue, and i've never seen a real 60s twin. nowadays, i run almost every patch i build in the pod through the jazz chorus emulation - it's what i really wanted. i've got a little art tube that i use to warm it up, and then i can put whatever else in between, but almost everything recorded since 2009 has that roland jazz chorus emulator at the end, on the way into the mixer. i have no complaints about it, either. so, there's a kind of counter-intuitive answer with this - you'd think if you love it, you should get a real one, right? but, i don't need it. and, it makes sense that the emulator works best on the solid state sounds, too.

what i need is better ways to get live tube amp sounds, and the vox should hopefully mostly fix that, at least for clean sounds. i'll have to chew on the little 57, but i'll probably pass.

so, as i'm about to get back to period 3, i need some more live amp options for recording. the pod is great for cleaning up signal chains at the end, but it's not the bestest for direct live amps, and i'm going to need that, now.

i don't have a real guitar amp, and really never have; i've spent my whole life playing through headphones or into recording interfaces. really. i still have the little cheri practice amp i got with my first hondo when i was 12, and i have this old fender bass amp that was purchased for use with synthesizers (and i find is too bassy, oddly enough). that peavey i used to have has been gone for years; i think my sister decided it was hers.

i had a medium-sized marshall for a short amount of time, but i actually ditched it because i didn't like the sound of it (i exchanged it for an electric mandolin that disappeared years later). i bought a fender twin years ago with microsoft money and brought it back a few days later because it was so dirty sounding (it may have had a blown speaker, but i couldn't convince the snobs at steve's of it, they just claimed the line was dirty and "it's supposed to sound like that"). i never replaced it...

it could be that my preference for clean signal chains in recording studios has simply predisposed me to levels of amp quality that i just can't afford. but, i need a way around it..

i have a little ms-2, though, and i actually like it better than either the twin or the marshall. and, it got me to wondering about it....

....i can't afford a pile of old amps, and i need something better than emulation. can i get some mini amps? what's out there?

what i wanted to look at was the following:

- i have an ms-2, and a jmp-1 drp-1 as well. this is a good mid level overdrive sound.

- can i get a great clean amp, like a vox or a jazz chorus?

yes -  i just bought one of these:

- can i get something a little chunkier, like a jcm or maybe an orange?

yes - i just bought one of these:

i was also looking at a mini fender twin, but...i just expect to get the same result.

these three classics, along with the pod, should get me all the tones i need, i think.

so, i'm up to 777 posts and still have hundreds (thousands.) left to go, bhut i got the heavy lifting done for the part of the discography which was redone the most number of times, which is the part from 1996 to early 1999 (the first two demos and subsequent first two lps).

https://jessicamurrayreleasestimeline.blogspot.com/

that means you can do things like search for i did your mom on the side panel and get all versions of it, now:

https://jessicamurrayreleasestimeline.blogspot.com/search?q=i+did+your+mom&max-results=20&by-date=true

it's time to stop to eat last night's supper.

so, i've been rebuilding that releases archive again all night and listening to a few things. i've got pictures of all the places i lived at up (i think this is relevant.) and the places i went to school at (i'm going to have some essays posted there, too), as well as most of the original release cycle back to 1996. i want to get that done before i stop.

i really ruined a bunch of my mixes around 2007, and the interplanetary isomorphism is one of the mixes that just got demoed. this was built in cool edit, and shouldn't have been. i thought perhaps otherwise, but i'm going to need to rebuild it from scratch...

so, i just finished my first normal monthly cleaning in several years.

let's get to the alter-reality for the day...

...and there's every reason to think things can be back on track for monday.