Rusty Deathnail

I've been reading about old style vs new style tube screamers and the chip mods some people have carried out on the newer models to get the "classic" effect achieved by 80's pedals.

Is it a worthwhile mod to carry out? I love the overall output of my tube screamer but do wonder about making it a little less raspy sometimes.

Thoughts and opinions are all welcome!

I thought The Descent was half decent (all those super tight enclosed spaces gave me the heebies) until the monsters appeared. Then it went down the route of least resistance.

The Descent 2...hmmmmm.....no.

HAHA! I went to Italy early last summer and had one of the best holidays ever. Stayed in an Italian Castle. It was the business. The driving though was some of the scariest I have ever seen. There is only one rule: You basically drive your way until someone is daring enough to get in your way. It was crazy. Thankfully it was my girlfriend who took care of driving duties but I was no less scared in the passenger seat.

Beautiful country though. Wherabouts are you thinking (ie how far south)? Pompeii and Paestum are two esential visits. Yes, yes, it's a lot of old stuff but Pompeii is like nothing else I have ever seen (Roman graffiti!) and Paestum is very idyllic in a way. It's never really overrun with tourists either unlike Pompeii.

Naples....I wasn't so keen on Naples but it is the birthplace of the magherita pizza and it was unreal how good it was. The secret it seems is in the fresh sauce! We got stuck visiting at a bad time as the town council was riddled with money laundering and fraud cases so there was no money and the refuse collection services had been on strike for weeks. There was rubbish EVERYWHERE.

I'm sorry to hear you're out of action Davey! Nicht gut...

Sleep, easy entertaining movies or full TV series always help me through my ill times. That and lemsips, lemon and honey with hot water, plenty of duvets/warm coverings, and soup. Never enough soup. Easy on the stomach. Tomato and Basil by Heinz. Winner.

Full better soon chum.

Luckily *touch wood* I haven't had a dose of it yet but everyone in my office is coming down with it and the girlfriend has been struggling though it. With her though, it's hard to tell where the illness ends and the jet lag begins. She had a rough time of it over New Year as well.

Can't offer you too much but a friend of mine bought one of these and it would do the job. Doesn't feel like the sturdiest of constructions being quite light weight and plastic but it worked fine.

Bross - just sent you a PM.

Chris - No language problems at all. I tried my hand at a bit of Croatian, and the odd word always comes in handy/polite but English is spoken widely throughout and everyone was really helpful and chatty.

I'm thinking about a biking holiday in the Slovenian alps in July.....went there 4 years ago. Spectacular scenery, cheap, good food, nice people. Can't go wrong.

I second this Chris. I did a backpacking trip in Slovenia and Croatia a couple of years back. I only managed to take in Ljubljana and Bled in Slovenia but Bled in particular was one of the most picturesque places I've ever been too. I wouldn't bother staying there overnight as there is not a lot to do but my god, it's lush.

For those of you who like to take in the holiday homes of Dictators, Tito had a residence built in Bled for himself. It is now a hotel but it still has huge communist murals in one of the conference rooms.

Planning a two week US road trip starting in California (San Francisco) and heading South East through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and finishing in Louisiana. It should be pretty sweet. I'm buying cowboy boots for sure (None for Dave though).

That'll be the biggy for this year. Apart from that, I'll be off to see some family in Ireland and then hit London.

I'm feeling the tightness of the purse strings but you gotta make it work somehow.

If you can get to Croatia, I highly recommend it. Great people, great vibe, amazing cities. I loved Zagreb. Old, Art Nouveau style architecture and a relaxed atmosphere. I stayed in an ace little hostel where they welcomed you with a shot of the local home brew "slivovice" (plum brandy).

But the real treasures are down on the coast. Split and Dubrovnik are both wonders. If you like fresh sea food, you can have some awesome meals in both cities. I didn't get a chance to go to any of the islands but am told nothing but great things about them too.

Getting about was pretty easy. They don't have an extensive train system but they have buses going everywhere, regularly, and of comfortable quality.

Everything is really reasonably priced. Hostels were dirt cheap and really sweet.

The Sea and Cake - Car Alarm

Ocean - Pantheon of the Lesser

Mahler - Symphony No.8

Los Campesinos - We are Beautiful, We are Doomed.

Los Camp really took me by surprise. I didn't like their earlier material but this album is got some killer tunes.

Said something. It was stupid. Doesn't matter.

What software do you use to track your instruments?

Iname have been getting better and better. Really enjoyed the last two gigs I've seen them at.

I think Best Local Band should go to Weapon though. No other band has caused quite the positive stir that they have with their success this year.

Hey John,

I can't remember how you mic up your suitcase. Do you just hit the front of the case or do you close the case with a mic inside? I'd not put anything inside the case. Like Ian said, that'll just dampen the frequencies your probably wanting to get more of.

You could do what I've seen those Native American Indian troupes who go about outside M&S do (but be careful with this). They sometimes have a kick drum pedal just beating off the top of a mic which is in a bag on the floor. It's an easy way to damage you mic's capsule real quick but if your careful with it, you'll get plenty of low end out of it. It's a similar thing with beatboxers and how they get their kick drum sound. Proximity effect. Love it and hate it.

One Up has all the quirks and foibles of any other independent shop but has a stronger charcter for it. I've become friends with a lot of people through that place and have always found the staff extremely helpful and informative. They'll do all they can to get you what you're looking for and usually recommend 3 or 4 other bands/albums you weren't but now want to take with you!

Yogi has been there a while and I wouldn't have a word said against him. He is very passionate about what he does and, while he's made me late on a couple of occasions with his chat, I hope he goes on in that place for a good while to come.

A good egg. Nae a bad DJ either.

Forgot to add my favourite older releases that I stumbled upon this year include:

Far

Tulsa Drone

Red House Painters

Other highly rated albums:

Huaschka - Ferndorf

Well keen to hear this at the moment! Was just reading a review about it today.

My top 10 in no order consists of:

Andrew Bird - Soldier On

Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow, and Blue

Deerhunter - Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.

The Dodos - Visiter

E.S.T. - Leucocyte

Harvey Milk - Life...the Best Game in Town

Parts and Labor - Receivers

Portishead - Third

Sigur Ros - Me su eyrum vi spilum endalaust

Torche - Meanderthal

What are Sonna like? From what I've read so far I'm very intrigued to hear them.

The Very Best - Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit Are The Very Best, I'm enjoying this very much.

You can download the whole album from their myspace

MySpace.com - THE VERY BEST free album download - Lilongwe - Malawi to London via France & Sweden, UK - Tropical / Melodramatic Popular Song / Showtunes - www.myspace.com/theverybestmyspace

I downloaded this a couple days back and gave it a very brief skim but it was right up my street. I've really got into a lot of african music lately especially the Fela Kuti stuff which is awesome.

If you want something different to listen to then check out The Very Best of Ethiopiques. That is a killer collection. Everyone I've played it to or recommended it to gets sucked in.

Is it a head or a combo? Did you buy it locally?

Thanks very much! We really enjoyed last night. I was told we came across pretty well. We haven't really recorded something yet which I think does us justice. Glad you enjoyed it.

I thought Frightened Rabbit were about on par with the last time they played at moshulu. It's a pretty good sign that they can play up here twice in about 3 months and still pull a good size crowd in Aberdeen. Drummer is awesome.

If I'm gonna be horribly honest, I'm still not sure they need the 4th guy to help fill out their sound. I caught them two or three times as a three piece - one especially stands out at Indian Summer - and they were an incredibly powerful in terms of presence. I honestly felt at the end they had nothing left to give. I understand why he's there but I'm just not convinced they need him. Good sound for them last night too.

Scott's trained ears say I should look into a Peavey Classic 50.

Aye, I've been in touch with Scott. I'm sure I'll get something nice eventually. I'm just wating to hear some amps now! See what range is out there.

That's some ace advice. Thanks Maxi. I love the look of the Sound City's and Sovtek. I'm pretty sure I tried a Sound City a couple years back and quite liked it. Just wasn't that interested at the time.

In terms of hunting these sort of amps down and trying them out, is it just a case of trawling the net, ads, and seeing what comes up?

I like the simplicity advice. Two channel seems like common sense to me. Something clean and then something pushing those valves a little harder.

Cool, that'll be good. Sometime after Christmas would be good. Get the festivities out the way and then down to some serious ampage etc...