Thursday, October 28, 2010

Guitar Parts in the CAN!!

Guitar parts for 4 songs were tracked the other night. Four songs in 4 hours. Had a false start on Sunday night. Had listened to the songs for about 8 hours during bass tracking. Got the guitars set up and spent about 2 hours playing stuff that wasn't worth keeping. Had to come back another night for a fresh start.

Things fell into place a couple of nights later. I rode my bike to work just like on regular practice night. Wore my usual sweaty bike shorts that I usually wear to practice. Brad and I tracked at the same time.

Gear that I used:

* Fender Strat through Marshall with custom TubeScreamer.
* Jazzmaster through THD and custom TubeScreamer.
* Les Paul through THD and Prickly Pear/Beaver/Muff Clone.
* Les Paul through CRANKED Bassman and custom TubeScreamer.

Drums done, bass done, guitars done. Next is vocals.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Happy Anniversary to Zorro Devices!!

Happy 1 year Anniversary to Zorro Music Devices!! Well almost...

Actually it was about a year ago that I had just gotten the boot from my previous employer. One day out of the blue I got escorted to the front door. Found about 25 other fellow employees out on the sidewalk too, stumbling around in a confused state. This was right after I had moved into a house and I was stone cold broke. As usual, I've worked like a demon to set things straight.

Tons of resumes going out the door daily didn't pay off until a resume workshop. Things picked up after that.

In between is when I started to get BACK into music electronics. It would be tempting to thank my previous employer for helping me get on this road...but they don't really deserve it. I'd been migrating from acoustic to electric music for the LAST 3 YEARS!! I'd already been purchasing mod kits before my "slow time".

Fortunately I'm employed again. That's how I can afford my "hobby".

Better yet is that I've been in a band - for more than 6 months. Still way short of a 1 year mark with "The Country Gentlemen". But things are looking stable.

My plan is keep at it with the music electronics slow and steady for years and years to come.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Zorro Devices #1 - Prickly Pear

Zorro Devices serial number 001: THE PRICKLY PEAR. Here's my first pedal build.

Big Muffs have totally captivated me. I've been obsessed with FUZZ ever since I worked on a couple of civil war Russian Sovtek Big Muffs. Way cool - and hella pricey on Evil-Bay.

I decided to purchase and build a clone kit. The BYOC Large Beaver is widely reviewed as a reasonably priced Muff clone.

Of course, I made some minor changes to the circuit and put it in a copper colored housing purchased from Pedal Parts Plus.

The Prickly Pear is the name of this box. Named after the cactus with edible fruit.

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Summer/Fall Update

Things went downhill during the summer. My car broke down on the freeway coming home from Folklife. Lost power crossing the Ship Canal Bridge and had to coast off the freeway. Got the car back from the garage the day before my cat had to go to the vet for her last visit. She had been with me for 14 years. Intestinal cancer made her miserable at the end. Two weeks later my landlord called me to tell me that I had to vacate my rental house because the owner wanted to sell. Goodbye workspace garage and goodbye drumset. Goodbye to the garden that we had just planted. Threw out all the living room furniture - long since destroyed by the cat.

Managed to find another house in the neighborhood. Set up the workshop in one of the bedrooms but I have to go outside for drilling. Managed to build my first clone, the BYOC Big Beaver which is a clone of the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff. I made some changes to the circuit and put the clone in a custom enclosure. I call it the Zorro Prickly Pear. Sounded good enough to use for a show at the Shipwreck.