jonarnesen's Reviews
8 reviews Back to jonarnesen's Equipboard
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No need for Op-Amp
Crayon got all the colours of Billy Corgan, and then some, without the Op-Amp moniker.
116
Chinese Fender strikes back
I was sure this was an Indonesian made Fender Squier, as it was to begin with, or at least given in specs and descriptions. As an instrument, it's not much different from the Indonesian made Vintage Modified Stratocaster '70s, that cost about 2/3 the price. Both have the "designed by Seymour Duncan" SC-101 single-coils with reverse spun coil on the middle pickup — which by the way is replaced by "all new Fender designed single coils" on newer Classic Vibe Squiers. Toggling the two axes between small digital modelling combos from Fender and Blackstar, a tiny Blackstar EL34 tube combo, a bigger Marshall digital combo, and a couple of very different tube heads, the versatility of these pickups are playing serious games. The strats main difference is the feel, and, to be honest, the biggest minus on the Chinese one is the neck. The Modified has a rounder log than the Vibe, but more than in the form is the advantage of the Indonesian crafted neck simply its polish and laquer. Overall, the Chinese impresses me. It's "better than Chinese", but comparing with Indonesian made axes of several trade marks, I see why Fender would want those guys to make this one originally, and I don't see why the Chinese deserved this one more chance. The Vintage Modified feels much closer to its cousins from California and Baja, and thus Fender convinces me I'd give Sire Larry Carlton, Chapman and Reverend more than one more chance.
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The Concert Grand of Mandolins
Between beautiful and decorative much newer mandolins, this hidden treasure lurked like a swan in crow's feathers. The price was lowered a couple of times, because customers rather liked the beautiful mandolins, those looking twice as sweet as the sound of their voices, you'd think. Far from it. As soon as the somewhat crackled patina of this mature Swedish hand crafted lifted her voice, those blond super hit kids sounded pretty much like the boasted about karaoke amateurs of the popsong repeating sugar coated reality TV show of the day in comparison. It was like comparing cracking an egg to the canons of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, a digital piano sounding from half closed set of bluetooth headphones up on a shelf in the next room to a concert grand crescendo right in front of you in a huge hall. And how on earth can a mandolin stay tuned after being somewhat forgotten for almost a whole year? What is this instrument made of? The kind of material that makes you make music.
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Constructor's notes
https://fjordfuzz.no/embla-1/
"This circuit was my first true invention and it has now gone through dozens of iterations to end up like this. I wanted a fuzz that behaved like an overdrive. I didn't like overdrives. Found them too boring. I couldn't find a fuzz that sounded cool, but could be managed like a regular drive unit.
EMBLA takes care of all of this and more. The gain and volume knobs take you from crisp, beautiful clean boost to thick, heavy fuzz and any nuance in between. It cleans up brilliantly and just always works. With any instrument, any amp and in any setting.
The bias knob lets you starve the signal without ever turning the pedal off. This can come in handy for bassists who don't want to just add to the noise floor of the band while idle or it can help you make your guitar sound like a 60s tonebender type fuzztone. The thickness control gives you the ability to pair it up with any amp. Turn it down for low wattage setups and back up for huge stage amps.
This is the pedal Ruban from Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Bent from Motorpsycho, James Bay and countless others have been jamming on for years now.
It's time to get one and free yourself from the tedious hassle of soundchecking all your drive units. This one saves you all that time and trouble, and sounds really cool while doing it!"
116
An ocean of possibilities
Those digital amps can be a bit too much at times. Should have waited for the Mustang. Wifi is the king.
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