I picked up some Testament albums on iTunes this weekend.  Got to say I was missing out a bit back in the day. 

I love finding new music that I dig.  Especially albums.  I was watching That Metal Show the other night and Eddie Trunk was talking about how people don't buy albums anymore and how it is all about singles.  I personally disagree.  I love to buy new albums.  Can't tell you how many times I listen to an album and end up liking one of the tracks that wasn't released as a single better than the single tracks.

I never buy one song and actually have stopped buying greatest hits albums.  I want the crap that they (the AR and Music Business guys) didn't think was good enough for a single.  There is a ton of good music that you don't hear if you don't buy the album.

The one thing that I do have to agree with Eddie and the guys on That Metal Show about.  Not having the packaging sucks.  Nothing like busting out your new CD, tape or album and listening to it while reading the liner notes or checking out the artwork.  Some artists do include electronic versions of that stuff with the download on iTunes but it isn't the same.

All in all, everybody should pick up the albums.  If you hear one song on the radio that you dig, there maybe 2 or 3 more that are better on the album that you may never hear.  There are those crap albums, I have to say, that have 1 song that is worth listening to.  But for each of those I bet you find three or four that are worth getting the whole thing.

Also if you haven't checked out That Metal Show you should.  It is on VH1 Classic.  It is pretty good.  Should be more like an hour so they could interview the guests longer, but pretty good.

So I got my pay cut on Friday by 15%.  All contractors at American Express did.  So I started looking for a new job yesterday.  Actually have a couple of leads already.  I am still kind of upset about the whole thing, so that is all I am going to say about it.  But tough way to end the week.

I have to say, what is Pat Bowlen doing with the Broncos?  Name one good coach that he has hired, other than Shanahan?  Reeves, Philips this new guy that has pissed the starting QB off?  I really wonder what Pat was doing this whole time?  I am starting to think that Pat just wants to run around as the owner of the Broncos and doesn't really know or care anything about the team other than being the owner and maybe winning now and then.

If Bowlen took a little control his team wouldn't be such a mess.

So I have been a KISS fan for a long time and still love the music.

But I was watching an interview with Paul Stanley the other day and he started in about people stealing music.  I am against stealing music totally.  My point here isn't to defend it.  But for Gene and Paul to jump on that wagon pisses me off with some of what has come out over the years.

First KISS Alive, Paul said in an interview that they went into the studio and "touched" it up.  How much they haven't said.  All these years people were saying it was the greatest live album and the one that started all the live albums, now it is acknowledged that it wasn't really live.

Also interviews in the past Paul and Gene have said that you heard and saw who you thought you were hearing and seeing on KISS albums and KISS concerts.  Then to learn that studio musicians were used on a lot of albums.  That Ace doesn't appear much on Destroyer or many of the albums after that period.

Gene has said that all the little kids that download music illegally should be sued.  Well if we look at KISS albums, the consumer was sold an album that they believed was played on by Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter or a formation there after.  In interviews that was reinforced.  Then in later interviews it was admitted that wasn't the truth.  So basically KISS perpatrated a fraud on each person that bought a KISS album.  Or at least each person that bought any of the live albums, Destroyer and a lot of the albums afterward.  No mention of Bob Kulick or any other session musicians appear in the liner notes.  Not to mention the Aton Fig rumors about him filling in for Peter durring live concerts.

So a law suit could be filed against KISS for fraud as consumers thought they were buying a specific product only to find out later that KISS knowingly sold them a different product.  If fraud were to be proven, then the corporate veil could be breached and Gene and Paul could personally be wiped out.

These bands like to sue companies and fans, or posture like they will sue the fans.  What if the fans have had enough?  What if the fans sued KISS for fraud?  How would that feel Gene?

Just so you know Gene, I own a solid copy of each KISS album and the few newer ones that I don't, I bought on iTunes.

I have downloaded music illegally.  But I have lots of friends that are career muscians and stopped that years ago.  I have since bought all the new music I listen to.  I have no illegal music.

But as I said, this isn't a post about illegal music download.  It is a post about my growing disappointment in Gene and Paul.  I have grown to expect that from Gene.  But for Paul to jump in.  I guess it really is a business for them.  They don't care at all about the fans anymore and I am beginning to believe they never did.  Well except that they cared enough to take our money for albums, tickets and all the crap they can sell us.

I still love the music, just have no respect for Gene or Paul anymore.  It saddens me a lot.

I should also say that I really hope that no one ever sues KISS for fraud.  The interview I saw angered me and still does. This post is meant to show the other side of an issue.  In my opinion KISS may have committed a fraud against its fans but I would really hate to see them sued for it just like I never want to see a fan or group of fans sued for downloading music.  No one wins but the lawyers and I hate them more than anybody.

This is whole trade thing is stupid and I have to say completely Pat Bowlen's fault.  He needs to get control of his team.  He brought a young coach in that obviously has no experience as a head coach.  He tried to trade the franchise QB, something that is very risky.  If it doesn't work out then guess what, this is what you get.

On Jay's side, he should do what Elway did, wait the coach out.  This new guy is a loser.  Look at how he is doing business.  Bowlen made a bad hire.  The Broncos are looking more and more like the Patriots everyday.  They are going from a classy organization to cheap in one off season.  The Bronco fans won't back a coach like that.  Denver isn't the east coast, they still have midwest values.  Jay should bite his tongue as Elway did and win games despite the coach.

Just my opinion!

Not sure if I dig the pedal.  But Vai cracks me up and the jam at the end is pretty sweet as well.

I have been playing guitar a lot lately.

From 1995 to 2000 I worked in a music store.  I had been playing guitar for a few years before that, but while working at the music store that was the climax of my playing.  I would work in the store for 8 hours or so, then go home and practice for another 4 to 8 hours.  Toward the end of working at the store, I was pretty burnt out on the whole thing.  In the years since I have played a little off and on.

I spent an enormous amount of money on gear over the years.  I got my first guitar which was an Emerald Green Ibanez RG-570 in 1991 I think, along with a Park amp.  I bought all kinds of different pedals, Ibanez delays, Marshall Govn'r and many more.  My buddy Kieth sold me his Boss SE-50 processor and his wireless, I had some nice stuff and a crap amp. 

Eventually, move from the Park to a 60 watt Tubeworks amp.  It was a good amp, solid state power-amp and one tube in the pre-amp.  Great spring reverb!  Had that for a while.  Bought a 50 watt Marshall SLX head, ran it through the speaker on the Tubeworks for a while.  Then Marshall came out with the powerbreak.  That allowed me to run the SLX cranked and keep the speaker volume low.  Eventually I got a Marshall 4X12 cab that was a factor second.  The screw holes that held the back on were splintered, so some long wood screws fixed that and it sounded great!  That SLX was really nice in that setup.

Then Marshall released the 30th aniversary amps.  I bought one in a combo setup.  That thing was smokin!  100 all tube watts and a speaker.  It weighed a ton, something around 100 lbs.  Crazy heavy, but great amp.  It really had it all.  I regret selling it, one of two items I bought that I regret selling.

Some time around here I bought a Peavy 5150 2X12 combo.  I had that amp for one weekend.  It sounded great, but I bought it from a store that the owner smoked in and it smelled so bad that I couldn't sleep in the room it was in.  I tried everything I could to clean it.  Eventually I put it in the garage till Monday when I took it back.  That amp was so bright it was amazing.

So with all the guys I hung out with and that worked in the store, the Mesa Boogie TriAxis was the holy grail.  My guitar teacher Darren brought his rig in one day and we did lessons on it.  I was in instant love.  It wasn't a rig though that was easily accessible to a person making the money I was at the time.  But through all the amps I bought, I was always searching for that sound.

Durring this time I was buying guitars as well.  I had my RG-570, the neck was so thin that I put my thumb through the back of it, so I got a new neck for the guitar with the Shark Tooth inlays, so now it looks like a RG-770, the orginal neck was so great, the new one doesn't play as well.



Bought an Ibanez PS10 for the KISS convention in 94.  I sanded the clear coat off the back and had Paul, Gene, Bruce and Eric Singer sign it, then had it re-clear coated.  It looks amazing.

 

Bought a Ramondo clasical, but sold that after a while.

I bought an Ibanez 540S7, the first Ibanez S series 7 string, only about 450 of them around.  My guitar teacher Darren has one as well.  He and I had to send the orginal pickups back to Dimarzio to have then re-sealed, they were super harmonic at medium to high volume.



The RG-770 has had tons of pickups over the years, it came with crap Ibanez pickups.  I change the bridge out with a PAF-Pro, which sounded really good, tried a Tone Zone for a bit and a couple of other pickups that escape me right now.  Then Dimarzio came out with the Steve Vai Evolution.  I got one of the very first sets of bridge and neck pickups in purple.  It has a Dimarzio HS-2 in the middle.  I replaced the tone pot with a push-pull pot.  I can split the two humbuckers by pulling up on the pot, depending on which pickup is selected with the 5-way switch, which needs changed out today. :)  I am thinking of throwing a Super Distortion in it.  But need to change the 5-way out first.

I wanted the Evolution for my 7-String but at the time it didn't exist.  I called Dimarzio because they said they did custom pickups.  I argued with Steve Blucher for about an hour.  He said the custom pickup thing was a misprint and that it would be very expensive to make one and it would never work.  2 years later, there was a 7-String Evolution.  I bought one, but it didn't sound as good as I had hoped, so I went back to the Blaze II.  The 540S7 is my main guitar today.  It sounds great.  Thinking of trying a 7-String Tone Zone in it, but we will see.

I found a 540P in a pawn shop.  It was bright yellow.  Went back to the store called Ibanez to see if they had a neck for it as the neck on the guitar was shattered. They did, so I bought it.  The yellow was so bright you could turn the lights off and still see the guitar in a pitch black room.  Sanded that off and had it painted a transparent cherry. It looked great.  Problem is that it sounded terrible.  I tried 4 sets of pickups in it.  The body was so small that it had no low end.  So I sold that guitar shortly there after.  It looked cool though.

So I saved my money for months and finally bought a Mesa Boogie TriAxis.  I was so happy when I unboxed it.  I bought it from Neil at the Guitar Shop.  That was a great store.  It wasn't some music store with trumpets and what ever in it, it was a Guitar Shop!  The amp room in the hay day had 2 refrigerator size racks in it.  They were loaded with all the stuff you wanted!  Neil had Boogie, Soldano, Bogner and everything else you dreamt of.  Not to mention the guitars, Tom Anderson, Gibson, Jackson, ESP, Fender and one I can't rember the name of, but it had a composite neck and sounded great.

So I got my TriAxis and had nothing to run it through.  I bought a SKB rack to mount it in.  Sold the SLX, the PowerBreak and put the 30th aniversary Marshall up on consignment.  Started saving for a Mesa Boogie 2:90. 

All my buddies either had odd power amps with their TriAxis or a Boogie 50-50.  I wanted the switch tracking and to have the power amp that was made for the TriAxis.  Also besting my buddies might have played a little into it. :)

Eventually I sold the 30th Marshall and went down and bought the 2:90.  Went home and slapped it into my rack.  Wired it up and it sounded AMAZING.  I sold my orginal 2:90 to my buddy John and eventually bought a new one.  The new one blew the fuses and 2 tubes when I got it home.  It never sounded as good as the orginal one.  Thinking of buying a new one direct from Boogie and selling the one in my rack.

I bought a Rocktron Intellifex to go with it, a Furman AR-1215 to keep the power clean.  I was running it all through that Marshall cab and that didn't feel right.  About that time Neil decided to close the store, so I went down to Guitar Shop and he sold me a Boogie Rectifier 4X12 cab for $450.  Amazing deal.  I went back a few weeks later to get another one and he said he shouldn't have sold me that cab for that.  Oh well.  That cab is great.  4 Celestion Vintage 30 speakers.  Wish I had the diamond plate sides for it.



I bought a 12 space Boogie Rack for it, wish I had gotten the rear rack rails, that great rack.

Got an Alesis Data Disk to dump the midi to.  Got a Digital Music Corp Ground Control, the orginal version with an Ernie Ball volume pedal as a continous controler so I can move setting in the TriAxis in real time. An Alesis stereo compressor and a Furman PL-Plus for the rack lights.  Have to look like I am ready to tour right? lol



The rack has 4 spaces still open that were supposed to be filled with an Eventide Harmonizer and a TC Electronics 2290.  That never happened.

I had also bought a Boogie V-Twin pedal and a Boogie Bottle Rocket.  I regret selling those as well.

I got a Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket at GC one day, they had them on close out.  Great amp.  Everybody who comes over and hears it offers to buy it.  It is NOT for sale.  Sounds almost better than my rack.



So today the rack from top to bottom looks like this.



Mesa Boogie 12 space rack
Furman AR-1215
Furman PL-Plus
Alesis Data Disk
Mesa Boogie TriAxis
Alesis Stereo Compressor
Rocktron Intellifex
Mesa Boogie 2:90
Furman Plug Lock in the back.

The future of my gear.

I have been checking stuff out online over that past few weeks.  Worked with the amp a bit and got some really great sounds.  Guess my ears have gotten much better over the years.  But the Intellifex just doesn't cut it anymore.  So I am thinking of replacing it with an Eventide Eclipse.  Kind of shoots 3 birds with one stone.  Great processor with the pitchshifter and delays I want.

Would like to get a rack tuner, but not sure that I want to spend the kind of money that Boss wants for their rack tuners.  So I might just stick with my TU-12H on a rollout rack shelf.

I am thinking of picking up a Voodoo Labs Ground Control GC-X.  It would be great to switch things in and out of my signal path with a little more control than I have now and I can lose the power supplie completely for the Ground Control pedal.  Right now I Phantom power it from the TriAxis, but I understand that the GC-X allows you to Phantom power the ground control but don't need the power supply plugged into the back.

Want to get rid of the Data Disk, I never use it and can back everything up to a laptop.

I think that is about it.  Got my Crybaby 535 that sounds great.  Might find a couple of pedals I would like.  Maybe an MXR and what not.

Need to get a hard disk recorder or some recording software for my laptop.  A couple of Mic's.  I have an Alesis SR16 drum machine which sounds great.

I would love to pick up a Boogie MKII C+ one day as well.  Then I will need a high gain amp switcher as well.

Looking back I have had a lot of gear, sorry I sold some of it.  But had a lot of fun with it all.

I think that is it for now.  I will be posting some more music and guitar related posts in the near future, so if you are interested, look for those.

Blog ya later.

CB