Danelectro Rocky Road Rotary Speaker Simulator

Danelectro’s Rocky Road Rotary Speaker pedal is a great little option for those who are looking for that signature Leslie sound without taking up too much real estate on the pedal board.  For such a compact pedal it packs in quite a few features to faithfully recreate the classic rotary speaker sound.

A speed knob, ramp button, and switchable fast or slow ramp speeds allow you to dial in the right amount of warble and switch between the underwater sounds on the fast side of things to the thick slow pulsing on the slow side of things.

The drive knob allows you to dial in a little grit simulating the power amp distortion often associated with the Leslie’s sound.  From a little dirt to full overdrive and everything in between.

Below is a short video demo of this awesome little pedal

Abandoned Oil Refinery/Beale’s Cut

These days the Santa Clarita Valley can be accessed from the south via the 14 and 5 freeways or The old road and Sierra highway. Back in the mid 1800’s the first path through what is now the Newhall Pass was Beale’s Cut.  A crude path cut through the mountain but an important throughway that allowed people to gain access to the Santa Clarita Valley.

Beale’s Cut still exists although it is somewhat challenging to get to.  Access from the south is somewhat available although it has become increasingly overgrown.  Access from the north requires you to pass through what is left of the Newhall Refinery property which is connected to the Elsmere Canyon open space. 

To find out more about this historical site please visit http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/bealescut.htm


Below are some photos and video of my trek to this historic site.

Newhall refinery in the 50s                       and today






Beale’s Cut today

A link to a photo of the same area in the 1870s http://www.scvhistory.com/gif/ap0625.jpg


A view looking north from inside the cut

And a view looking south from inside the cut



A little video of the decent from Beale's cut back through the refinery.

MXR Phase 45 Reissue

Back in the 70’s MXR produced a number of pedals, the most famous of all the Phase 90 which was used generously by Eddie Van Halen.  A lesser appreciated pedal (at the time) was the little brother, the Phase 45. 

The Phase 45 was a two stage phase shifter which had a more subtle effect which to my ears is a little more musical.  The pedal was discontinued and seemed lost to musical instrument history with vintage examples popping up occasionally.  The circuit did find some life in the DIY world with many schematics and layouts for the original circuit.

MXR eventually decided to reissue a faithful recreation of this awesome little swirly sounding pedal.  The SCP105 ‘75 Vintage Phase 45.

From subtle slow swirl to fast warble this pedal produces some really great modulation that to me sounds more like a Univibe type sound rather than a phase shifter.
Check out a short demo  of what this pedal can do.

Corriganville Movie Ranch

Southern California is known for Movies and Television.  There are plenty of big studios in the heart of Hollywood.  While these studios are great for the interior portions of a movie the great outdoors is sometimes the backdrop for many movies.  This is where the Movie Ranches of yesteryear came in.





Westerns once dominated the motion picture landscape.  These westerns needed a lot of outdoor shooting and western town sets. Movie Ranches provided the perfect setting for these needs.









Corriganville was a fully functioning movie ranch for years, later becoming a tourist attraction somewhat like a small scale Universal Studios.


Owned by stuntman Crash Corrigan the ranch was in operation until 1965 when it was sold to Bob Hope.  There were a handful of movies filmed there after that but fires in 1970 and 1979 destroyed the ranch. The buildings are long gone but there is still some evidence of the history of this site which is now part of the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District.



Here are the gates of Corriganvile. 














A shot from the hill above Silvertown back in the day.

Below are a couple of shots from the hill above the former location of Silvertown

Silvertown then…….







































And Now.









This rock formation used to have a facade built on to it to create a Hideout Cave.

This was known as Stunt Rock. A diving platform above an artificial lake.

The famous Gorilla Rock.  I’m sure you can guess where it got it’s name.


For more information please visit http://www.corriganville.net/
If you would like to explore this site yourself it is open to the public.

Ibanez Tone Lok series CF7 Chorus/Flanger demo

Back in the late 90’s, Ibanez had a great idea for their new series of effects pedals.The Tone Lok series allowed you to set your knobs then depress them and lock them in place preventing them from being moved or accidentally stepped on.

 

This idea in itself was great, but they went even further (at least with some of the series).  the CF7 Chorus/Flanger featured a “Krazy” switch to go between normal and “WAKD”.  The normal settings were average swirly modulation sounds but the “WAKD” setting allowed for Vibrato,Leslie, Ring Mod, and beyond. 

 

I acquired one of these pedals for about $30 on ebay and decided to do a video demo, similar to my “Yestergear” posts from my old blog.

 

Enjoy. 

St. Francis Dam disaster

The St. Francis Dam disaster was one of the worst engineering failures in California history.  On March 28th 1938, the St. Francis Dam failed and collapsed.  A wall of water flowed through San Fransicquito canyon, through the Castaic Junction, Fillmore, Santa Paula and finally ended up in the pacific ocean.

Growing up in Southern California I don’t recall ever hearing about this, I guess it wasn't a proud moment in California History.  As an adult living in the Santa Clarita Valley I became interested in the history of the surrounding areas.  After reading up on the disaster and the history of the site I decided to go check it out for myself.  It’s hard to believe that the site and the remains of the dam have just been sitting there off San Fransisquito Canyon road for nearly 90 years.

Below are some pictures I took from three different trips out to the site between Feb and Nov  2014

Someone was nice enough to let you know when get there and when you pass  the site.

This is the top of the west ridge. The remains are far less weathered up here.

This huge rock like structure is actually a large piece of the dam. This is about 1/4 mile down the river bed from the dam site.  I'd say it's about the size of a two story house.


You can line up this last shot with the shot right after the dam failed linked below. Note the dark rubble on top of the stepped concrete.
 

http://www.scvhistory.com/gif/al3030.jpg






This is an interesting trip and not a long hike.  If you’re interested in learning more about this site and the history please visit the link below
http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/stfrancis.htm

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!!

Enjoy my rendition of the our country's National Anthem.