HamerHokie

A friend of mine is in a relatively new Cheap Trick tribute band and he asked me to help him find a USA Standard flametop. I'm looking around on Reverb and Ebay but I figured some of you might know where I could find one.

First version. I don't need a high gain option as I stack overdrives.

See my recent post on this topic here:

Yes, though right now I have the Magnezium in the pedalboard as the Roy needed a tube replacement. Sounds great with the Magnezium as well.

I've been wanting to try it out for months, and I finally pulled the trigger on the Vahlbruch Kaluna Drive. I use it to drive my two-channel Tubesteader preamp, and I have an EH Soul Food in front of it. None of the gains are up that high, so I can stack them effectively. This gives me six distinct flavors of gain. Sonically, the Kaluna nails the Plexi crunch ala AC/DC. It's not a high gain pedal by any means but I don't need it to be. It sounds big and nasty and growley. Highly recommended.

This unit is three months old, has been on my pedalboard the entire time. It is in perfect condition except for one tiny scuff on the back. It has an amazing drive channel and an extremely useful clean/low gain channel. I used it as a true preamp to drive the power amp in my combo directly (via effects return) and it worked perfectly. Description MAGNEZIUM™ is a two-channel preamp inspired by the sound of the "Magna" Super 59 amp. MAGNEZIUM™ features two fully independent channels - for low and high gain - and has an option of external switching between them via the 1/8" side-mounted jack. It combines Fender and Marshall overdrive tones in one pedal, giving you the best of both worlds. The low-gain channel delivers a Bassman-style overdrive, while the high-gain channel adds a Marshall-style gain stage at the front of the circuit. Cranking the gain past noon will take you firmly into harmonically rich ZZ Top-riffing territory. The MAGNEZIUM™ has an all-tube signal path and true-bypass switching. It's equipped with a pair of 12X7 tubes operating at full 250VDC - all converted from a standard 12VDC input. A toggle switch on the side of the preamp offers two output modes: a higher output for direct connection to a power amp or a cab sim and an attenuated mode with a treble cut for connection to the front of an amp. Product Features Inspired by the sound of the "Magna" Super 59 amp Fender and Marshall tones in one pedal Low gain channel - Bassman style overdrive High gain channel - Marshall style overdrive Two 12AX7 tubes Attributes Color: Silver Technical Specifications: Inputs: 1 x 1/4" Outputs: 1 x 1/4" Power Source: 12V DC power supply (included) Dimensions: 2.75" H x 4.7" W x 5.7" D Weight: 1.5 lbs Power Usage: 500mA EQ: 3-Band EQ Features: Power Supply Included

Hamer cherrybursts are all over the map. I like the ones that go from red to orange to yellow, but a bunch of the older ones go from red to yellow with little transition. Darkbursts that start in brown aren't my thing. Amberburst has been the most consistent color scheme of the three, and on a high grade top it looks stunning.

I would never filter responses based on gear. However, I have gotten really anal about specifying EXACTLY what we're looking for musically, since I've had sooooo much experience auditioning guys who didn't know what they were doing and had no clue how to play our styles.

Hee hee

Overdrive - amp. Distortion - pedal. Actually, I removed the Double Drive from my pedalboard altogether last month. The green and red channels on my JVM sound great as is. Maybe I'll put a boost in the chain someday.

I love playing in C#m, as it works really nicely with bluesier stuff.

BCR Greg recently replaced the Switchcraft jacks on two of my Hamers that failed at nearly the same time. Both over 10 years old. It involved minor cosmetic surgery but it was worth it.

In your band, you have very specific requirements for the keyboard player. Sounds like this metal band is the same, and they are probably doing the right thing. In the mid 2000s my then-band was looking for a keyboard player like you describe. We went through about 15 before we found the right one. We advertised EXACTLY what we were looking for and auditioned 14 who read that description, knew they didn't meet it, but auditioned away, 'just because.' We wasted so much time on that experience we almost gave up before No. 15 vindicated our efforts. It was especially burdensome on me, since I wasted a 2-hour round trip every time we auditioned the wrong guy. This metal band has very specific needs and in their ad they hope to weed out those who they pretty much know won't make the cut. They might annoy a few who might otherwise be good candidates, but I wouldn't fault them for their approach. The more general description they provide, the more likely they'll waste their time on the wrong guys.

I started when I was 11 learning folk songs from a guy at my church. Strictly learning chords and songs. When I was 13 I switched to a classical teacher, who taught me a bit about improvisation and more complex chords. We learned chord progressions. I was playing stuff like Classical Gas. Each of those stints lasted less than a year, and they were the only formal instruction I ever had. From then on it was listening to records and copying solos. From that I learned technique and tone. I would also pick up pointers from Guitar Player magazine interviews. One that stuck with me was how Al DiMeola practiced speed and dexterity. I used his advice liberally. Also in junior high and high school I played in stage band, which exposed me to jazz progressions. I never bought an instructional tape or DVD, I never bought a book on tab, I never learned to read music - although I have an intuitive grasp on theory. I follow chord charts well.

'Improving' isn't the right word for me. 'Refining' is more like it. I don't practice. The only time I play is when I perform. I have no desire to play incredibly fast. To me, better means literally sounding better. And for that reason, my musical values over the last decade or so have been distilled to: "Make every note count." I want every note to reach down and grab you in the soul or the nethers or whatever. So my focus has been on expressiveness, spontenaity, and awareness of what the rest of the band is doing. So yeah, I think I sound better because I'm achieving that more and more. And because BCR Greg recently told me he liked my hand vibrato .

For the first time in my life, I'm using a pedalboard. I'm running a tuner, wah, compressor, distortion/boost, and delay (in that order) and when I figure out how to make it tidy I will add my H&K Rotosphere. Problem is, it creates a major level suck. Any ideas on how to restore the gain?

Don't know. I guess I just assumed the value and the price were both in the same range. Wrong assumption, now I see. A casual check on Ebay would quell that assumption! I am guessing I could get $1500 for my best Hamer but that's up for debate. It looks like Studio Customs are selling for below that consistently.

While I'm thinking about it - last night I saw that 'Runaways' movie with Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart and it wasn't half bad. Kinda heavy handed at first, but the sight of Fanning dressed as a stripper singing 'Cherry Bomb' to a Japanese audience is too good to pass up. Fanning all growed up now, and Stewart wasn't nearly as annoying as she has been in her mainstream stuff.

I gotta disagree here. MS Office wasn't just bundled - it was integrated. A huge benefit for corporations was the fact that you could easily link live data from one application to another. Your word processing reports could have data linked from spreadsheets and databases. Update the spreadsheet and the report updates as well. I used to use it all the time. I was a Wordperfect user for years, but Wordperfect definitely played catchup when the PC world jumped to MS Windows. Wordperfect 6.0 was their first real attempt at WYSIWIG but by then Word and Office had too strong a foothold. I remember Wordpress being bundled with Quattropro at one point, too little too late.

Here is one I'm interested in now, not so much due to her singing but because of her attitude towards fans and the biz in general: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMj_P_6H69g

At VT I was on the concert committee and once we got to hang out with the guys from Husker Du and Soul Asylum after a show. Took 'em to a local party and drank alot. Had a great time. During their show, both bass players broke a string. A local private club hired Pat Travers to do a show a few years back and afterwards I was invited backstage to socialize. A local photographer passed around a portfolio of 70s era arena show pics, including a bunch of really good PT pics. He was impressed. At one point we exchanged pleasantries and I told him he was one of my first guitar influences. He didn't seem to like that.

I don't get star struck either, but I have no idea what I'd say to Jeff Beck or Jimmy Page.

Happy Birthday Greg!

Saw a Les Paul for sale today that included the words 'vintage,' 'collectable,' and 'needs parts and electronics.'