Yabba Dabba Dooo, it's Bedrock City

Even if you didn't grow up in the Golden Age of cartoons you know who The Flintstones are.  Many years ago the idea of Flintstone themed roadside attractions came to be.

There were a few across the United States although I believe the one in Arizona is the only one still operating.

I went there as a kid and decided to revisit this awesome place on my way to The Grand Canyon.

Tremolo vs Vibrato: What's the difference

Some of the earliest effects available to guitarists were tremolo and vibrato.  These effects were usually built into the amplifier.  Between the vibrato, tremolo, and reverb there was little else available to the electric guitarist.

Leo Fender's company while prominent in the development of the electric guitar led to some great confusion with the mis-labeling of their amps tremolo channel as vibrato.

Seasoned guitarists have figured this out but for anyone who hasn't quite nailed down the difference here is a quick video to demonstrate to the difference between tremolo and vibrato.

Phase before or after distortion

Phase before or after distortion?

I won't bore you with my opinion on the matter.  We guitarists are all individuals and like what we like.  Sometimes you don't know what you like until you hear it and then it's all or nothing

The phase pedal or phase sifter has been use by many a guitar player.  Eddie Van Halen notoriously used one to enhance his solos. The sweeping shift of frequencies in and out of phase with each other seems other worldly.

  But where do you put it in the signal chain?  Only you know for sure.

Check out my demo of phase pedals before and after distortion.

DIY Octave Pedal

The
Octave pedal in it's earliest form was a fuzzy nasty pedal that produced an octave up effect if played around the 12th fret with the tone knob rolled off.  In more recent years, pitch shifter pedals have given us the ability to produce clean octave up and octave down tones

Still, these early crude octave pedals such as the Tychobrae Octavia or Green Ringer were used to great effect and produced some great tones

Many years back I fancied myself one of these old school octave pedals.  With an infant in the house and no disposable income I decided to learn how to build one of these beasts. With the abundant information on the internet and a lot of trial and error I got into the hobby of pedal building.

Below is a demo of the pedal that came to fruition based on my shear determination and want of a simple Octave Pedal.

Abandoned Mine, Acton CA.

Mining in it's heyday of the 1800's and early 1900s was prevalent across America.  From the high dollar items like Gold and Silver, to minerals and other metals, mines dotted the landscape all over the country.

The problem with mining is that once you've dug out all there is to dig, there's nothing left to do but abandoned the mine. 

These abandoned mines are all over the place. Some still have whole Ghost Towns around them and others are just big holes in the ground. 

I went searching for a mine who's history and origins are still unknown to me, and I found it.  

Please enjoy my trek to find this abandoned mine.

Danelectro Chicken Salad...Part Deux

The Danelectro Chicken Salad vibe pedal is an inexpensive, yet decent sounding pedal.  For very little money you can get the swirly goodness of a Univibe and jam on some Hendrix or Robin Trower.

I did a video demoing the stock Chicken Salad which is not true bypass.  Some would argue that a better tone could be achieved if only the pedal did not have those annoying buffers in the way.

I decided to rehouse a chicken salad eliminating the switching mechanism and adding a proper mechanical switch making the circuit true bypass.  Below is the comparison of the stock buffered unit versus the rehouse true bypass unit.

Which is better?  You tell me.. Enjoy.

Tomsline Plexion Mini Pedal

Mini pedals seem to be all the rage these days.  With the prevalence of pedal board power supplies and the all the pedal board wiring kits available these little gems are great for packing more punch into your rig without taking up too much real estate.

If you're a gigging guitarist or just a bedroom jammer a Marshall would be an awesome piece of gear to have.  Unfortunately we can't always haul around a large 4x12 cabinet and head.  This is where the Plexion comes in.

This little giant has an enormous sound.  Everything from lower gain JTM 45, to Mid gain JCM800 to the highest gain offerings,this little pedal does it all for very little money.

It has a volume,tone, and gain knob. It also has a bright switch which

alters the voicing giving way to even more tonal options. I couldn't be happier with this little monster.  I've used it in a band setting and it turned my very clean Fender Blues Jr. into a fire breathing dragon.

Check out the below demo of the Tomsline Plexion pedal

Abandoned Oil Rig

The Santa Clarita Valley is famous for many things.  The history of the valley encompass  everything from railroads, to wagon trails to motion pictures, and oil.  While the oil industry isn't as big in the valley as it used to be,there are still some facilities working hard for those dead dinosaurs.

Placerita Canyon was a hot hotspot for oil drilling many years ago.  While the oil drilling equipment is long since gone there are still some remnants of this industry left for the adventurous soul.

I first spotted this gem a few years ago but it was so overgrown I was having a hard time blazing a trail.  The fires of July 2016 cleared the path for me and this past January I went full force into the wild to find what remained of and old truck and oil rig long since abandoned in Placerita Canyon.

Phase versus vibe pedal

Out of context one could argue that some Phase pedals and Vibe pedals sound the same.  Granted they both provide tons of swirly tones and some do a faux Leslie better than others. Still,the vibe and the phase pedal have similar qualities.

Eddie Van Halen certainly solidified the potential for phase pedals.  The likes of Jimi Hnedrix and Robin Trower certainly used the Uni-Vibe very effectively. So what's the difference.

Phaser, or Phase shifter pedals tend to use transistors and resistors to blend a dry signal with an out of phase wet signal. Vibe or the original Uni-Vibe used a photo resister and lamp to achieve a similar but usually more dramatic effect. In fact, the Uni-Vibe was first designed to emulate a Leslie rotating speaker. While it did not achieve the exact desired effect, it did achieve a sound all it's own

I decided to take my phase and vibe pedals and compare them side by side to demonstrate the similarities and the differences.

Check out the Phase and Vibe pedal comparison and see for yourself what each pedal does.