salem

I bought a beautiful Martin HD 28 vintage reissue in a guitar store that only sells acoustics. Their guitars are all kept in a humidified glass case. The salesman there turned up his nose when I mentioned electric guitars; it seems the store does not acknowledge them.

As many of you know, the kids today embrace many modern rock bands because it's fashionable and hip. This does not mean the band plays great music or writes great songs. How about Jack White and the White Stripes? Are they any good? I listened to some clips at Amazon and though this is not the ideal way to discern music, White's singing seemed off key and whiney. Are the White Stripes a truly great rock band?

Some of my favorite albums were recorded during the Civil War.

Teenage Heroin Homesick Blues Tears are crawlin' down my cheeks Rats are crawling down the street The lamplight has so much to give By the dumpster where I live. Teenage Heroin Homesick Blues Teenage Heroin Homesick Blues Tell my ma and pa the news Teenage Heroin Homesick Blues. I have bugs living in my head I had a pillow and a bed There's a killer on the street. Killing prostitutes like me. Teenage Heroin Homesick Blues Teenage Heroin Homesick Blues Tell my ma and pa the news Teenage Heroin Homesick Blues.

Down And Out In A Room In Baltimore I was born on the wrong side of the trash Let's get out of here and never go back I grew up in Washington DC My baby brother was shot in front of me Down and out in a room In Baltimore A pack of cigarettes and a battered Les Paul That's the last time I saw My little Ma Walking home past Julie's pool hall Pops comes running, says your sister's on the phone That's the last time I saw My little Ma. You might find, deep inside Heavy metal mangles minds.

I'm not here to educate, Mr. Poe; I'm not standing before a group of rowdy 7th graders teaching them to stay away from drugs and cigarettes. I write things that are aesthetically appealing and entertaining. Last night I took a journey into my city's heroin underground, composed of very wealthy artists, musicians, and actors. I befriended a beautiful local model who injected me. I was introduced to the drug, which felt like a 30 minute orgasm. I wrote what I feel was my best stuff on heroin with a sunburst Strat and an old Tweed amp: "Teenage Heroin Blues," and " Down and Out in a Room in Baltimore." I looked in the mirror and with seriously dilated pupils, I have never looked more glamorous.

Brian Jones was described as "an iridescent ghost on the threshold of the drugs that sustained him." I think that heroin at first makes you more beautiful. Look at early Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg, some of the most glamorous people in the world. There even is a "heroin chic" in the fashon industry, something that politicians have decried.

It's hard not to notice that many of rock's greatest guitarists were heroin addicts. Keith Richards, lead guitarist for the Rolling Stones, wrote many of his greatest songs while on horse. He created Sticky Fingers, Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, and Exile on Brown Sugar. Eric Clapton wrote Layla while addicted to the sweet opiate. During the Concert For Bangladesh, Clapton spent much of his time coming down in a bleak hotel room. Clapton played one of his most beautiful solos on George Harrison's While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Johnny Thunders, NY transvestite, was a famous shooting star and wrote some of the most beautiful country and western ballads while floating. He did his best album, So Alone, on China White. Thunders was known to nod off on the floor of his friends apartments, guitar in hand. On stage, the NY Doll could either be brilliant or incoherent. Jimmy Page was a British blues artist who not only embraced the needle, but dabbled in the occult as well. He became skeletal while on tour with his band, Led Zeppelin, and could be seen dancing with his sunburst Les Paul. For Page, heroin use may have been synomymous with sorcery. Billie Holiday, Charlie "Bird" Parker, and Layne Staley were other famous artists who did their best work on heroin. What is the connection between heroin and great music? Does it open a dangerous door to creativity?

I guess I really don't know the song, but this is rarely true. It's all those darn secondary dominants and tri-tone substitutions that get in the way. You're right, it's not always true, but in a '60s pop song it is very possible.

To make it even simpler: the song is in the key of F. Thus, the F major scale is used with all the chords in the song.

Yes...but why not give Ben a call and make sure that the amp is exactly what you want. He is a wonderful listener, and gives his customers what they want. It's hard to get a handle on Fargen amps. There are different color and speaker options for the Blackbird, none of which are detailed or explained on the Fargen website. It's good when everything is spelled out and listed for each model so you can get a grasp of everything.

Thanks for the heads up El Kabong, I'm looking into Fargen right now. There is a Blackbird 20 watt with 6v6 available from "musictoyz." Is this a reliable place?

in reply to: "I doubt if it would possible to sum up all the differences here. Some of them are that the tweeds had a different tone circuit which was usuall one knob. Blackfaces had 2, usually 3 and was considerably cleaner because you're actually losing signal in a blackface tone circuit." Interesting. On Allen's Blackface replicas, there is a "raw" control which when turned up, gradually bypasses the tone controls. So this might be the best of both world between a tweed and a blackface.I feel if I can have one good tweed clone and one good blackface clone, I'll be set. I have a Clark on order, now, I might order an Allen.

Hi. I've been studying amps recently and I love the companies that make clones of the great, vintage Blackface and Tweed amps. I've never had a chance to listen to these original Fender amps. What would you say is the difference in tone between Blackface and Tweed amps. Does each have a distinctive sound?

Thanks for the brief Old Flame review, bobbymack. As far as I know, you are right, all tubes still need to be matched, but not biased.

Hi. Does anyone have any opinions about cathode biased amps? From what I understand you can change tubes like changing light bulbs and there is no need to bias. Right now I'm looking at the Allen amps. Anyone ever heard of Allen? They have a "Brown Sugar" amp which is : "A unique blend of a brown-era preamp (tone controls, phase inverter and presence control) with a tweed-era cathode-biased output section and wonderful blackface-era reverb. Enhanced with a bright switch, middle and RAW controls, reverb TONE control, impedance switch and the ability to use 6V6, 6L6 or EL34 power tubes for a truly unique and versatile amp with the best qualities of each era in one handsome package. At The Gear Page, Allen has a wonderful reputation, and the reviews at HC are excellent. Allen has an "Old Flame" amp that is most popular. I love these great amp names. Are there any disadvantages to a cathode biased amp? Does anyone have any opinions about Allen amps?