Rich_S

I love Parazaider’s extended flute solo in “It Better End Soon” on the Carnegie Hall album. Chicago was my first concert (our Dad took me and my younger brother & sister) and my first musical influence. RIP, Walt. Tell Terry we miss him.

About 15 years ago I was stuck in Cincinnati over a weekend while there on business. I went to see Scotty at some local bar that Saturday night. Hung around to tell him “hi” and “wow” at the end of the night. Nice guy. He’ll play an entire solo of impossibly fast double stops and then end it by doubling the speed for the last line. Left me just shaking my head most of the time.

Several pedals for sale. $10 shipping for individual pedals, I'll combine shipping if you order more than one. Behringer CC300 Space-C: Good-sounding clone on a Boss Dimension in a plastic box. $20 Boss DS-1: Older DS-1 with through-hole PC board, making it a good mod mod platform. Previous owner swapped out the in-line op amp for a socketed DIP package. Other than that, I believe it's stock. $25 Zoom MS-80IR+: Amp models and IRs in a pedal format. Great practice amp or as the "amp" in a all-pedal modeling rig. Like new, includes box. $95 DOD Overdrive Preamp 250: Like new in box. Modern reissue to the DOD classic. As you can see, I ended up with two of them. Whchever one sells, I'll keep the other. Like new with box. $70 Mooer Yellow Comp: Great-sounding clone of the Diamond Compressor. Optical-style compression. $45 DOD Overdrive Preamp 250-X: Like new in box. Modern reissue to the DOD classic, with added 3-way clipping switch. As you can see, I ended up with two of them. Whichever one sells, I'll keep the other. Like new with box. $80 Dean Markley Preamp: Relic from the '80s, preamp/boost with active 3-band EQ. Designed as a preamp for acoustic guitars, but it's a great booster for electrics, too. $30

As an expat Philly boy, Kotzen’s accent is music to my ears.

After 30 years acting like a responsible parent/homeowner/employee, I returned to gigging with an ‘80s new wave cover band, averaging about three gigs per month. Lifting my 42-pound DIY 18 Watter clone (1-12” combo with an unbelievably heavy Classic Lead 80) out of my Camry’s trunk was hurting my back, so I switched to a Quilter Superblock UK and a cab with an Emi neo 12”. That cut the weight of my heaviest piece, but I still have to carry two Teles in gig bags, the cabinet, a toolbox full of the amp and cables, 16” x 11” pedalboard in a hard case, big bag of misc cables and power cords, an amp stand, and a mic stand. I recently discarded a 10” powered monitor in favor of in-ears but it’s still a lot of gear to load in and out. Given all the “other” crap I have to lug, I’m wondering if the 20 pounds I saved switching from the tube combo to the Quilter was actually worth it. I might switch back to the 18 Watter this year.

We’re expecting 5-10” of snow tonight so I’m going to wake up to cold stairs. The band has a great swagger.

Just one new guitar this year. I wanted an all-purpose guitar that I could use for an entire gig, slotted in between my two other two Teles, one normal-ish with two single coils and one 2-humbucker Schecter PT partscaster. My employer has this silly system of brownie points that you get occasionally for going above and beyond, but I got a big slug of points for selling a couple of projects (even though sales is not my job). From the online catalog of quality merchandise, I selected a 3-color sunburst Player II Telecaster. To make my vision a reality, I installed Duncan pickups - a Hot Stack bridge (with series/parallel switch) and an SM-1 neck. Throw in an aged white pickguard from Guitar Fetish, and we have my new #1 gigging guitar. Does a pretty good job of covering all the bases for my '80s mostly-new-wave cover band, including the occasional half-assed foray into hair metal territory. Other than that, my focus in 2025 has been streamlining my pedalboard for the '80s thang. The two Wazas and the OD-3 are new, as well as the HX One "Swiss Army" pedal.

… for example, before I bought an HX One as my Swiss army pedal.

Back in spring of ‘24 I started gigging regularly with a band after a 40-year layoff. I quickly decided that lugging my 40-pound DIY 18 Watter clone (combo with a Celestion Classic Lead 80) was too much for my 65-year-old back. After consulting a couple of forums, I bought an Emi Texas Heat Neo, put it in a DIY 1-12 cabinet and powered it with a Quilter Superblock UK. I use the “plexi” voicing, run the line out to PA with the built-in cab sim, and get more stage volume than I’ll ever need through the 1-12 cabinet. I couldn’t be happier with the sound and the new rig weighs 1/2 what the old one did.

I’m not usually a PRS guy, but that’s a very pretty guitar.

Justin Hawkins did a piece on these (non-) guys and showed a lot of their band “photos”. They’re far less convincing than the music. One of the guys has too many knuckles. AI doesn’t know how to string a 3-on-a-side headstock, but there are plenty IRL who don’t, either.

I can’t tell from the photos. Is that tone wood?

If the mudflap girl farts, will it damage a lacquer finish? What about poly?