hermanomad's forum posts 4

Hi, I'm Herman from the Netherlands, 34, and I play amateur guitar, bass and drums since childhood. I studied studio audio engineering and work freelance in live and broadcasting, besides being a pro photographer. I did have a day-job in the past as product designer, but I'm happy to be freeeeeeelancer now in the creative industry :) I have always been testing and trying all sorts of gear and sold most of it to discover my prefered sound. So my first reviews here are mostly 5 star material as I start with my most loved gear :) I very much like the game of finding sleeper gear for little money. It's more fun, it throttles my GAS and is thus better for my wallet. Oh, and my reviews are biased in the sense that I like single coil sounds with strong mids!

And my dream is to make my own album at home, applying guitar, bass, drums & bass synths, sortof the way Suuns do that, but less melancholic. Furthermore I'm a big fan of the loud stuff like Queens of the Stone Age (who isn't), Royal Blood, All Them Witches (!!!), Fuzz (by Ty Segal), Graveyard and less loud like Soulwax (Leave the Story Untold, Much Against Everybody's Advice), Ani DiFranco (Reckoning/Reveling, Reprieve), Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, Hendrix, Ledd Zeppelin, Grizzlybear (Veckatimest). New discoveries are Vulfpeck, Soulwax last album DeeWee, Bulis Pupul. I mean, I could go on a few more pages, but this is a nice mix of known and lesser known music for you to get a feel of my taste and perhaps discover new music too.

Ok, gear... My basic setup now is

Guitar = Fender Strat MIM '92 / G&L F100 hardtail '81

/ to /

Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz / TC HOF / TC SpectraComp / Ibanez GE100

/ into /

Yamaha RA50 (home) / Yamaha G100 4x12 (gigs) / Yamaha JX50 (small gigs)

Bass = Aria Diamond '70s (Fender Jazz copy) / Musima TopStar fretless '70s (german quality Fender P copy) / SX Ursa 4

/ to /

Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz / TC HOF / TC SpectraComp / Ibanez GE100

/ into /

Yamaha G100 into Glockenklang Tedd / Yamaha RA50

My message to other players is: don't underestimate the power of an equalizer, rack or pedal. It's undervalued and I see musicians messing about and selling/buying gear only because it has some more or less bass or treble. Naturally, try to start with gear that just sounds like your taste, but when considering new gear, think about it. I had a 'shit' amp that totally came to life with a good 1k boost. IMHO! And when you play a different style tomorrow? cut or boost to your liking and boom, you have a funk rig instead of jazz...

Enjoy the sounds and thanks for building this community!

Thanks! I was a little to quick and impatient :) Didn't first read old posts or anything. I'll use the search function from now on!

Hey peeps, I'm new here and I love to type down my enthusiasm about my gear. Total fun! I should buy more gear to be able to write about it :)

I do miss something here.... I can only say I HAVE something, or I WANT it.... But not that I had it in the past. Ideas??? Can I change the status on gear that I don't own it anymore???

Looking forward to spending some leisurely time here :)

TC Electronic totally changed the game with their cheap series + Toneprint pedals. Pick your style from the many videos and be done for no money at all. Try that with the vintage "Yes, this year, but not that year, yes japan, no indonesia, but serial code xx, and yellow face" crap. I am a vintage SOUND lover, which doesn't mean it needs to come from an old pedal. That said, I do have a buch of old stuff, but mostly stuff I bumped into for little money. Or DIY a pedal, like the Roger Mayer Axis Fuzz. No pedal like it, expensive, but sooo easy to build.

I admit, I'm slowly selling my old Pearl pedals to replace them with TC stuff. They are just tons more versatile and surely sound al least as good. Yet, if they sell an EQ pedal, I could NOT sell my Ibanex GE-100 cool looking box. I would have both :)