The Guitar and Other Machines

[slinger]

I've used a Boss volume pedal in the past, and it was excellent, really solid build too, and I've got a Morley Volum/Wah pedal at the moment which is also excellent. Look for them second-hand.

[slinger]

All advice is most welcome!

[TheMarlin]

Friends have said ‘buy an Ernie Ball volume pedal if you can afford it. If it had to be cheap, the Hotone volume pedal is supposed to fe quite decent, and solidly made.

Good luck.

[slinger]

I don't want you to be overwhelmed by all the advice, so please feel free to tell me to "belt up" or similar.

The problem you're facing at the moment is one I recognise, you want everything all at once, which is great, but the negative side is that you never devote enough time to learning how to use one piece of kit before the next one arrives, so you end up knowing a little about everything but not what you might actually achieve.. Also, you'll (hopefully) stop buying the cheap stuff if the hobby sticks. It's way better to save up for a great piece of well-researched gear than one cheap pedal after another.. In the meantime though, it's all about having fun.

[slinger]

THere are som decent reviews here... https://reverb.com/uk/news/volume-pedal-expose

Dunlop was the one I forgot to mention. I've used one of those too, and it was good.

[TheMarlin]

They also recommended the Dunlop DVP4.

@slinger has good taste in pedals.

[slinger]

Thank you gentleman for sharing the wisdom of your experience.

Suddenly, it seems that I have a fresh source of inspiration in my life after several years of troubles and I do have the tendency to throw myself wholeheartedly into new projects.

This focus on guitar and ambient music is something I realise that I have been wanting to do for decades. It is surprising to me how naturally it comes and how good it feels. Call it therapy.

Still not a technical player and struggling with chord shapes but they will come.

The new pedals are cheap n' cheerful. Intended to give me a start and learn how things work together. Following an online tutorial is providing me with the structure to acquire the necessary practical knowledge and skills.

Am I wrong or is it a great time for guitarists? Like Hifi, there are benefits to be had from the high-quality, low-cost products from China and, for a beginner like me, a lot of gear is easily accessible.

Already close to achieving my immediate goal of getting the basic Ambient rig together. The delays and loopers I have had for years and been messing about with on my bass. The switch-over to guitar is opening a new universe of possibilities which is really exciting to me.

[slinger]

Consider, in the future, a computer-based home recording studio. I use Ableton, which isn't cheap, but there are a lot of free DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) out there. Apart from anything else, it would allow you to integrate your bass playing into the end result, adding a whole new dimension, especially if the bass is used as a melodic instrument rather than just rhythmic. Also, with a DAW, no more faffing around with loopers. Record a track, record another track while listening to your first track, Rinse and repeat.

[TheMarlin]

[Fretless]

I still have a Roland USB music instrument interface lying around from when I was messing around with direct-to-PC recording about 20 years ago. Can't remember which software I tried back then.

Must get my playing skills a bit up to scratch firstly. Did a nice thing this morning with looped swell chords and a slightly distorted E-Bow (if I said that in Dutch in wouldn't be any more understandable for most normal people: "geloopt zwel-akkorden met een beetje vervormde E-Bow". See, makes no sense at all!).

LP copy now even cooler:



Black tip on Selector switch.

Doing this work has personalised this guitar and I start to feel that it's really mine - or even a part of me when I'm playing it.

Feels 'right'.


However - there might be a delivery this evening ....