Kirk95's Guitar Geek Blog

Clips Here:

Sig Funk Short
Sig Funk Long
SteelyClip

You have to check out Allen’s new Xotic Videos. Allen demos the RC, AC, and BB pedals!

Then at the bottom of the page there are 3 clips of Allen live at La Ve Lee! Killer!

Videos Here!

JamMan Looper/Phrase Sampler Pedal

Almost two decades ago DigiTech developed the PDS 8000 pedal for loop-based audio performance. Now DigiTech takes looping from the original 8-second volatile recording memory of the PDS 8000 straight into the 21st century with the innovative JamMan pedal, which is capable of saving up to 6.5 hours of loops and sample phrases. The JamMan Looper/Phrase Sampler is an effects processor dedicated to loop creation, manipulation, playback and overdubbing, based on the classic Lexicon JamMan rackmount effect. The new JamMan offers tremendous loop capabilities at resolutions up to CD-quality 44.1 kHz in a compact, easy-to-use stompbox format specially tailored to the needs of guitarists and performing musicians.

Just bought one of these to play around with!

Check out Josh’s latest Xotic Video. Josh talks about his new Xotic Strat and the new BB pedal. Also, check out some of the lines that Josh lets loose! He is such a great player!

Reality Web Video “Josh Smith” Part 2

eBay item 7327865416 (Ends Jun-13-05 11:23:21 PDT) - Fender Robben Ford Ultra SP - Robbens personal guitar
Fender Custom Shop

1997 Robben Ford signature model Ultra SP

This is actually Robben Fords personal Fender Ultra SP used on various recordings and tours around the time of the Tiger Walk CD release. This instrument is being auctioned in conjunction with Robben Fords personal support. The winner of this sale will also receive an unreleased recording of “Moon Child Blues", a song Robben has played live often, yet never previously recorded or released although slated for official release later next year “06″.

Two Rock Owner’s Community :: View topic - TR Live Chat 5-11-05 - The Transcript

00:01:45 [joguitar] hello everyone, and welcome to the chat! It’s been toooooo looonggg!

00:02:00 [bluessyndicate] hi Joe

00:02:03 [joguitar] who’s the new Sig owner? Congrats!

00:02:26 [kirk95] KOG

00:03:02 [KOG] Hi Joe! Awaiting shipment from Midtown, Thanks

00:03:17 [bluessyndicate] seems to be a trend…saw your post on TGP about business trend growing for sigs…congrats

00:03:28 [joguitar] Excellent! Great place, nice folks.

00:03:58 [joguitar] thanks buddy! How aer you?

00:04:52 [bluessyndicate] all great here…just finished trying some new tubes in teh CR sig…having fun as usual no matter what i put in them

00:04:55 [joguitar] hey Kirk, as always, many thanks for making this chat possible

00:05:27 [joguitar] yeah, it’s fun to mess w/ tubes. whatcha got in there now?

00:05:30 [kirk95] no problem

00:06:29 [bluessyndicate] well, it’s an evolution, now it’s mullard at7’s in reverb driver/PI, Jan Phill V1, Ruby Silver Special V2, orignal NOS Chinese everywhere else

00:06:57 [kirk95] What’s up with the Sterlings? How many left?

00:07:57 [joguitar] I like a tele in v1 and a nos rca in v2, the rest don’t make a big di to me.

Click our and read the whole Transcript.

And now a gear update from the makers of Tone Tubbies!

Tone Tubby Discussion :: View topic - What’s new at Broun Sound?

Well we’re busy. John is working on 15’s for all applications and also on a good 8″ for guitar and near field monitors. All of course with the Hempcone. We are back ordered right now 3-4 weeks on all Tone Tubbies currently in production. We’re glad to welcome Ampeg/Crate aboard and the V30 and V50 sound awesome with our Ceramic 12″ Tone Tubby.

We have some clips up at:
http://www.tonetubby.com/sample12cer.htm
Clips Here!

We continue to offer speaker repair and reconing here at A Brown. Still going strong in the SF Bay area since 1974.

We would like to thank all the guitar players big and bigger for the tremendous response we’ve received the last couple of years. Thanks also to all involved in helping to make the Tone Tubby a success.

Cheers, Charlie

Team Tone Tubby

Just found a review of this cool little amp.

AXL ThinAmp Review

At the recent 2005 NAMM Expo, AXL Music�was displaying a unique portable amp, the ThinAmp. It’s only 2″ thick, and weighs just five pounds, yet it packs 10 Watts of power, 18 built-in DSP effects, a three-band EQ, and twin speakers. It’s so unique, that it is helping to create a new class of amp.

There are thousands of amps available for musicians to choose from, so it takes something unique to make one stand out. The ThinAmp does just that, by combining a powerful set of effects with one of the most portable amps ever designed.
Comparing it to other amps is difficult. It doesn’t have the body or volume of a full-size amp, or even many portable amps. It’s digital effects are useful, but are not state-of-the-art. But try and fit any other amp in a laptop bag, and you’ll see that the ThinAmp offers its own unique benefits.

Music Thing: The FlipTone Amplifier - Engadget - www.engadget.com.

Musicians are, as I’ve said before, a very traditional breed. Even digital synths often emulate designs that are 40 years old. So it will be interesting to see how acoustic guitar players take to the FlipTone amplifier. The specs are unremarkable - a 25 watt amp with a few digital effects, EQ, various inputs and outputs and laptop-style rechargable batteries for $600. But the form factor is amazing - a A4-sized brushed aluminium briefcase with a flat panel speaker forming the lid. Guitar amps have never looked like this before, although it’s not the first amp to use flat-panel speakers. The ThinAmp is a much cheaper, plastic-cased version which came out last year.

Website here.

Two Rock Live Chat is Back! You can talk directlly to Bill and Joe (the builders) at Two Rock. Get the inside scoop of new Two Rock amps - The Sterling and The Sig!

When: 5/11/05

10 - 11 pm EST
9 - 10 pm CMT
8 - 9pm MST
7 - 8pm PST

Where: TROC
You have to be a member of the Two Rock Forum to join the chat.

Please join us on 5/11!!!

I have been traveling the US non-stop the past 8 weeks. I am in startup build mode again!!

I caught Kurt Rosenwinkel at the Village Vanguard in NYC and he was playing this guitar. He was smoking BTW! Then a couple of weeks later I was down in Dallas at the Dallas Guitar show and got a chance to play one of these guitars. WOOOO

I want one!!! REAL BAD!

D’Angelico Guitars

DVForge-Brands-JamPlug-Product Detail-JamPlug FM
JamPlug FM

Turn Any FM Radio Into A Guitar Amplifier

To build a miniature practice aid that plugs into the output jack of an electric guitar or bass, and that transmits a radio signal that lets any nearby FM stereo receiver become an on-demand amplifier. Make it so that the signal is strong and clean, and so that a musician can take advantage of any stereo system, at home or in a vehicle, for use as an impromptu practice amp.

The same tiny size as our original JamPlug miniature guitar amplifier, the JamPlug FM replaces the built-in amp function of the earlier product with a strong, clean FM radio transmitter. It lets you use any FM radio receiver as an on-demand guitar amplifier. In your car or truck, with a boombox at the beach or school, with any home stereo system, the JamPlug FM reliably transmits the signal from your electric guitar of bass, so that the stereo system picks it up and plays it.

Macworld: News: M-Audio Black Box connects guitar to Mac
M-Audio Black Box connects guitar to Mac

By Peter Cohen pcohen@maccentral.com

Avid Technology Inc. subsidiary M-Audio has introduced the Black Box, a new device for guitarists that combines amp modeling, beat-synced effects, guitar and mic preamps and drum tracks with an audio interface designed for recording on a Mac or a PC. Co-developed by M-Audio and Roger Linn Design, the Black Box can be used standalone or as a plug-in hosted by popular music software – Black Box’s software supports Core Audio and ASIO. It’s compatible with Mac OS X v10.3.7 or higher and requires a G3/500MHz or faster, 512MB RAM and USB. It ships this month for US$329.95.

Is this sweet or what? I think I need the Vox grillcloth on all my cabs and Heads!!! OH MY

Two Rock Owner’s Community :: View topic - Just when you thought it was safe…..The Two Rock Sterling

After years of toying with the idea, and hearing and playing a couple of real ones, it was time to make one. Bill spent about 6 months tweaking the design, trying to capture the nuance of the original. Since a lot of components used originally are NLA, it was challenging. It never would have really happened if not for the following the course of events…..

I had a chance to play one that belonged to a friend of ours. I plugged in my strat,and used various cabs. It quickly became apparent that there were qualities in the amp that were a big part of the SRV sound on certain recordings, that last little bit that no amount of strings, pickups, speakers, etc. swapping could nail. So there it was.

Bill’s proto was a big ugly monster, but it was amazing. John Mayer came out and played it, and had to have it. Several customers had expressed interest in the amps, and since we are a small company, we thought we could pull it off. We also realized that it was a long shot, too, as 10 units was the number of amps we could afford to commit to and not go under. It’s expensive to bring any new product into production, and the cost reflects that. It’s also a complicated circuit, even more complex than a Custom Reverb with 2 channels. So at the urging of one of our Sig dealers, we jumped in.

Once a production model is complete, clips will be available. And yes, you can make clips, too! Several have already been ordered, and Wasyl at Black Creek will receive the first 2. He has already lined up some studio time and players to do a session on it. Should be fun.
_________________
Joe Mloganoski
K&M/Two-Rock

Top Secret new Two Rock Model…. Can you say “Steel String Singer.” Ohhhhhh Ahhhhhhhhhhh……!!!!

Made in Sweden by Bjorn Juhl, here’s another amp that caught my attention. It’s a one channel amp coming from the Marshall Plexi pedigree but with an amazing range of tones based on some very unique eq controls. You can change where the mids are boosted via a 5 way toggle which dramatically changes the amp’s voiceing. I couldn’t believe the versatility and variety of tones coming out of a one channel amp. We’re talking clean and overdriven. These are retailing for $6K! One of the best discoveries at the show!

65Amps

Peter Stroud demoed these 65’s for me personally. What a great guy and a terminal tone freak! These are kind of like the Divided By 13 vibe. It does the Marshall Plexi/ Vox AC3o thang. Very chimy and the notes hold togther amazingly well when the amp is pushed into the crunch zones. At high gain levels the amp goes into a kind of Fuzz Face like tone. I thougt this was one of the best new amps at the show! I feel the G.A.S. coming!

Clips here:
Clip Page 1
Clip Page 2

I had an unbelievable NAMM 2005. Had the pleasure of hanging out with the 3 Scott’s - Scott Lerner, Scott Jones and Scott Henderson.

So here are the music highlights and I will dig in with more detail and into the NAMM gear in future posts over the next few days.

Thursday night it was Guthrie Govan at Tone Merchants.

Sunday Night it was Scott Henderson followed by Joel Hoekstra at Tone Merchants.

Mind-blowing!! I have been reborn! It’s going to take a couple of day for all this to sink in. I will debrief here on my blog over the next few days so stay tuned.

But in the mean time here are all my photos from NAMM unedited.
Check them out here: Kirk’s NAMM 2005 Adventure