More Zappa, now on Youtube!

This is my first real attempt at posting one of my songs (actually a cover/tribute song) on YouTube.  No real video, just some pics of my guitars, amps, etc.

The song is "Chunga's Revenge", the title track from Frank Zappa's 1970 album.  The solo is "okay".  Listening back to it, I definitely messed up some notes, but I wanted it very spontaneous and live.  It's a first take run-thru solo, flubs and all.



Overall, it sounds pretty good.  Yeah, I've been in a bit of a Zappa mood again.  It's officially just over twenty years ago that we lost him. So go out and buy some of his albums.  I recommend "Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar", "Joe's Garage", "Bongo Fury", "Make A Jazz Noise Here", "Guitar", "Apostrophe", Overnight Sensation".  There's so many, and now you can hear samples of most of them on YouTube, so dive in and pick what you like.

Howzabout my guitar tone?  That's my Xaviere XV-870 "Darkside Edition", with "Lil Killers" pickups (the bridge and middle setting), thru my POD XTLive set on the Aggro X amp (is that right?), with a bit of simulated Tube Screamer as a booster.

The guitar is not easy to play.  Medium size frets, and the action is all over the place, but I really like the "sound" of it.  And it's very lightweight.

So there you go.  Still trying to figure out what my new music will be, but I think I will include this one, perhaps a bit remixed.

Blues Jam with the Joyo Pedals

I ran the Joyo Pedals thru some more tests yesterday, and came up with a simple blues jam using the pedals.

The guitar is all recorded with my old Yamaha SJ-550 with Dimarzio Pickups (Super Distortion in the Bridge, Humbucker From Hell in the Neck) through my POD XTLive set on a "clean" Hiwatt 100 amp simulation.  Rhythm guitars are the Joyo Vintage Overdrive, first guitar solo is the Ultimate Drive with Vinatge Overdrive boosting it, second guitar solo is the US Dream with Vintage Overdrive.

Overall, these pedals work very well with single-note solos, and the rhythm guitar chords here that are just slightly broken up retain a great, tubey sound.

But … I find that these pedals do NOT sound good for a nice tight metal crunch rhythm guitar, like you would use for precise 16th riffs in Slayer or Metallica-style songs.  It just "feels" like there's a slight "tube sag" when I play this style of rhythm.  Thick, slow riffs like you would hear in heavy blues-rock or sludgy stoner rock and metal would sound great with these pedals.  They're very full and thick sounding.  The Ultimate Drive would especially match up well with old Black Sabbath, Sleep, Sunn O))), High On Fire, and the like.

The US Dream is a more "modern" sounding distortion, but I still can't quite get that tighter crunch with it.  When I run the Vintage Drive into it (the Andy Sneap trick), it sounds better, but there's a lot of hiss and noise when I stop playing, so sudden stops don't sound so great unless I'm also running a good noise gate after the pedals.

So I'm still working on my new sounds with these pedals.  When I record, I run thru the POD XTLive, which does have a very effective Noise Gate, but running live into an amp still produces a bunch of hiss, which I would guess you wouldn't really even notice playing loud with a full band in a club.

So anyway, here's the track I recorded, which also includes some rather sloppy Hammond Organ playing.

Mental Toss Flycoon

Finally uploaded my tribute To Frank Zappa (and a few more). This is a collection of Zappa cover tunes I've done over the years.  It was time to get them all in one place.  I hope I do the Maestro Zappa justice.

I also include a tribute the the Buffy/Angel TV Theme songs, Focus, and Beethoven.

My two personal favorites are Ink Ero Des and Orange County Lumbertruck Runs Over a Weasel. Ink Ero Des (Zappa's Inca Roads) is almost sad sounding, and OC Lumber truck has such a great, downright "uplifting" melody. Yeah, that's pretty weird for me, but there, I said it.


Here's to you, Frank. You are missed.

To go to the Download page, click HERE.

Please note that NO MONEY is to be exchanged at all for my versions of these songs.  Please buy the original Frank Zappa albums, and support the Zappa Family Trust to keep the music alive.

Momento Celeste - New Dimaension X song

Finally recorded a new Dimaension X song, using the new Joyo pedals and my 5-string Schecter guitar.

Here it is - "Momento Celeste"



Guitar is through the Joyo pedals and into the Line 6 POD XTLive.  Bass was through the Joyo Vintage Overdrive. The song is a bit mellow, but I wanted to do something a bit mellower the really test the pedals doing something more than just heavy metal. Believe me, I've still got plenty of metal up my sleeve.

More to come.

OH ... a few more things ... I finally uploaded the two Moroghor albums to the Internet Archive, so they are available from a nice, secure, and spam-free website.  The links are:

https://archive.org/details/andspaceaschaos

and

https://archive.org/details/moroghor_darkness

And unfortunately, just heard some band news.  Lou Reed died today, at the age of 71.

Here's the first Joyo audio samples

Well, here is the first sample recorded with my Joyo Pedals (Ultimate Drive, US Dream)
and my 5-string Schecter, tuned to D A D A D.

I went from the pedals directly to my POD XTLive, using the simulation of the Hiwatt 100 (set clean), and very little reverb.

The first part ("Kasmir") is all done with the Joyo Ultimate Drive pedal. (settings were Drive at about 9:30, Tone at about 2:00, Volume about 11:00). The next part (the song is "Losing Control" by my former band, Deadside Manor) is two guitar tracks of the Joyo US Dream (drive/Gain at about 1:00, Tone at 2:00, Volume at 12:00), and two guitar tracks of the Ultimate Drive (Gain at 11:30, Tone 3:00, Volume 11:00).

Bass also went through the Ultimate Drive, at the "Kashmir" settings, but maybe just a bit less Gain).

Drums are Big Mono Drums (Analogue Drum Samples).

All recorded in Reaper.

There is a bit of Phasing on the guitars in Kashmir (that's my Behringer VP1 Vintage Phaser, a clone of the Electro-Harmonix Small Stone. I have it before the drive pedals, not after).  That's about it.

D A D A E Tuning - a bit more variety?

Been fiddling with D A D A D, and I like it, but I do find that playing major and minor chords is difficult to do. Therefore, I might consider tuning the highest D up to E, revising this All-5ths tuning into a suspended 2nd tuning (similar to my D A D A D E).  It is now easy to make major and minor chords, by adding the note on the highest string, either up 1 or two frets from the "fully-barred" notes, but then you lose the full big power chord on all 5 strings (since the 5th string is now a different note).

Hmmmm, … gotta actually try playing with this to see what it sounds like.  

I also just ordered a few new pedals - a Joyo Ultimate Drive, a Joyo US Dream, and a Joyo Vintage Overdrive.  I'm just not quite as happy with the Behringer TM300 as I thought I would be.  It is most definitely a very accurate clone of the Sansamp GT2, but as with the GT2 and the original Classic Sansamp pedals, they just lack that nice crisp high-end "sparkle".  Their sound really seems to focus on the Mid-Range, and seems to tone down the crisp, trebly highs. Just not quite what I was looking for, but for $25 bucks, the TM300 is a perfectly adequate pedal if you don't want to fork over $150 for an actual Sansamp pedal.

The Joyo pedals are Chinese knock-offs of more famous and more expensive pedals.  The Vintage Drive is basically an Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer, the US Dream is a copy of the Suhr Riot high gain pedal, and the Ultimate Drive is a clone of the Fulltone OCD overdrive pedal. I've read generally good reviews of these pedal, especially considering the prices (each was just over $30, compared the the price of the "name-brand" pedals which are no less that $150 each, at least!)

In fact, Gearmanndude (look him up!) has compared the US Dream directly to the Suhr Riot pedal in his video reviews on YouTube, and the two pedals sound nearly identical to me. 

I'm really looking forward to getting these new toys.  Three new pedals still cost less than ONE of the name-brands.  Plus, I just need something new to hopefully inspire me to creat some new music.  Soon, folks. Hopefully, very soon.

California Vacation

The Vacation log

Fri 09.20 .... Travel day

Long flights, some turbulence,  but not bad ... nice hotel right on the San Diego Harbor Island peninsula ... went to Old Town ... kinda boring (yeah, I know it’s called “Old Town”, hence lots of “old stuff”), but the Old Town Mining Co. Restaurant was fantastic! Great burger, great beer ... a microbrew called Lightning Thunderweizen - nice citrus’y flavor, like a Sam Adams Summer Ale, but with more lemon flavor.

Nice walk along the peninsula, right across from Coronado Island and the Naval Base. 

Sat 09.21 ... San Diego Zoo

The zoo was HUGE. Lots of walking up and down ramps, etc. Tired, grumpy, hungry, thirsty, ... saw Pandas. Lots of animals. But just too much to try to see in one trip.

Little Italy for supper ... went to Filippis ... a ONE HOUR WAIT to get in. Not worth it. We all ordered WAY TOO MUCH, ... pizza was undercooked, a Bud Light made it “tolerable”. 

This place was rated "best pizza in San Diego". Bull. They evidently don't really know how to cook pizza in San Diego. You gotta “cook” it.  so the dough is a bit crispy, and the cheese has those nice bubbly, brown “highlights”. The restaurant was packed. I don’t know why.

Sun 09.22 ... Legoland

Fun, but more for kids. We did go on the mini-rollercoasters (my speed). Breyers Rocky Road 1-scoop was just the right size and "hit the spot."  Lunch was pretty good barbecue chicken & ribs that Sue and I split. Mini-land was cool.  Took lots of pics.

On the way, we found a store called “Nothing Bundt Cakes”.  Yup, Bundt Cakes.  That’s it.

Tried to go to the local deli for supper,  but it was closed (it is a Sunday).  Back to the hotel restaurant (which was going to be expensive) and I just wanted something cheap and SMALL. Maybe a salad.  Yeah, Sue and I split a big salad with grilled chicken. As it turned out, a former schoolmate of Kirk's works there, so he gave us all a discount.  Very nice!

The day ended much better than I thought. 

Mon 09.23  U.S. Midway / Coronado Island

Visited the Midway Battleship Museum, … lot’s of fighter planes, tours of the ships interior and operations, etc.  Pretty cool. Big. Huge boat.

Then off to the ferry across the bay to Coronado Island - lunch from Spyro Gyros (Greek sausage - very good), and visited the Hotel Del Coronado. Looks a lot like the Grand Floridian (which was based on this design). Obviously only the rich stay here (it’s at least $300 a night). Fancy.  Too Fancy. Opulent. Downstairs and around the back they have a whole “mini-mall” of shops with extremely overpriced items.  A small bag of chocolate covered almonds sells for $12. Seriously. A Rice-Krispies Square (which you can buy in any grocery store for a buck or so) is marked up to $5.  Not impressed. The rich can have it.

Tues 09.24  Balboa Park

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. ot sure why we even came here.  Lot’s of walking around, museums (each of which have a separate entrance fee of around $20 a person). We went to the Japanese Garden - $4 each to get in and walk around a Japanese Garden.  Yup.  That was it. Walked around a few other areas, but the maps are not well marked, and we had a $4 hot dog, and then my wife’s sister found an outdoor cafe. I was just beat after this trip, and went back to the hotel. Had a great roast beef sammich (yeah, I call ‘em “sammiches”!) from the deli/liquor store next door. 

I’m not a person who likes to go around and look at pretty flowers or plants.  We have flowers and plants in Massachusetts.  I can look out my own window and go “ooh”. Trees. Pretty. I don’t feel the need to fly 3000 miles to look at stuff I see right out my own window. This day was kind of a wash for me.

Wed 09.25 Drive to Anaheim - Disneyland

Hotel right across the street from Disneyland, so no driving, parking lots, etc. The Matterhorn was WAY TOO BUMPY, but Space Mountain was good. Haunted Mansion is decorated like “Nightmare Before Christmas”. Cute, but I’d like to see it normal. Indiana Jones ride was good. Yep, it’s Disney. Overpriced meals, snacks, drinks, etc. Whining tired kids, angry parents, standing in line after line, and so on. Yay Disney. 

Thursday 09.26  California Adventures (yeah Disney)

Cars ride.  Best. Thing. Here. Did it a few times.  Excellent ride. Very well designed. Highly recommended. Also did the California Screamin’ loop coaster. I survived. At night we watched the “World of Color” show. 2 hour wait, with a screaming kid right next to us. I mean it. Let me say it again. 2 hour wait, with a screaming kid right next to us. Seriously, why bring any kid under the age of 6 to Disney? And why is any kid screaming? You’re at frickin’ Disney! Shaddap and be HAPPY! Anyhoo, … interesting use of fountains, animation etc. Crescendo after crescendo. How many crescendos  can you have? Apparently lots of them. But the show was well done and enjoyable.

Friday 09.27 Hey Disney (again, yeah really)

More Disney. Yeah. More disney. Small World, Space Mountain, Train Ride around the park, etc. Tired out. I’m done.  But later we did to back to the Cars ride and do it again.  Best. Thing. There. Chocolate Soft-Serve ice-cream dipped in chocolate. Worth it.

Sat 09.28  the trip home

What can I say about a stop-over in Arizona, then another stop-over in Colorado, then home. I’ve now been to Vermont, New Hampshire, Delaware, Illinois, Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New York. Long trip. Glad it’s done. I think I’m retiring from travel forever, unless by some miracle (or brain damage) I decide to go somewhere. Not likely, though.