HairyScaryMark

That was my thought also. The Humbuckers are 'Duncan Designed' which generally aren't the best. I have Duncan Designed pickups on one guitar and I'm keen to replace them. The price of them may take this into account however. This may be an advantage to some people but it does seem with the Fender Twin knobs etc. there is a bit of an emphasis on quirkyness.

You've probably just reached one of those phases. I've had plenty of them. It's important to keep up regular focused practice if you wish to continue to improve. You need to cover a range of topics, not just scales. If you find learning songs really difficult you probably should go back to something simpler and use it as an opportunity to get to grips with the rhythm side of things. The sort of stuff you mentioned you will only learn fluently if you are best friends with a metronome and really know how to use it properly. Metronome for scales might improve your speed and basic timing but to actually learn rhythm properly requires you to use it when learning complex pieces of music. Remember, nothing is ever too simple to be worth learning.

I have one of them in Sonic Blue. It's the business. I use the stock 69 classic pickups as I really like them. I also don't have locking tuners, so I imagine the OP installed them himself.

Perhaps Mr Knight would care to watch this programme from the BBC series 'What The Ancients Did For Us'.

The quote from the article is "he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering." Or even more selectively "help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering." Not nearly as exciting as The Telegraph's headline? " Barack Obama: Nasa must try to make Muslims 'feel good' " It's misleading and designed to provoke a knee jerk reaction by only stating two words from a much longer quote.

I suggest that this is a piece of poor journalism which has reworded a quote in the headline to make the story more interesting than it actually is. Getting quotes from a few people, rewording them in the headline and making a story out of it isn't real journalism (although often passes for it these days). Is it possible that Obama may be interested in sharing scientific information or involving other nations in their space programmes, such as has been done with Russia to some extent? Not quite the same thing but reminds me a little bit of this story, which has been re-printed many times (including by the BBC), without any accurate details in it and at least one quote from someone who clearly knew nothing about the issue at all. Tabloid Watch: Non-story about local pool forces journalism black out

I've played with a moderately loud drummer with my 15W Fender Super Champ 1x10" combo only turned up to 3.5 - 4. Never had to use it in place of a PA though. They go for around 200 and I replaced the stock speaker with a Eminence Rajun Cajun at the cost of about 50 and the difference is particularly notable at higher volumes. I know it's only 5W but this amp Blackheart BH5H Little Giant 5 Watt Electric Guitar Valve Head Amplifier Or as a 'mini stack' BlackHeart Little Giant Half Stack, - Online Music Store | Sounds Live Disclaimer: I have no direct experience with that amp. I also reckon that some of the big valve amps still sound better at bedroom volumes than most budget solid state amps will. Obviously, the ones that blast you when turned to '1' are no good for that but some have more sensible dials. I also like my clean sounds to be super clean so not really interested in driving the valves that hard but obviously they will never sound their best at the very lowest volumes.

So, when does this take effect? Will you be opening to 3 am this Friday and Saturday?

I'm leaving the country for this one. I actually wanted to go. Kathaarsys were really good last time. Norseman: I'm amazed you haven't seen Bonesaw, you're often at the same gigs I am and I must have seen them about 5 times.

Based on your other gear related posts. I'll give you the following advice, basically re-stating what some other people have been trying to get at. Stick to the basics. Get a good guitar (or two) and a decent quality amplifier and work from there. As you appear to want to use more than one tuning it would probably be best to have more than one electric guitar and if you are desperate to change tunings on the same guitar, a fixed bridge on one of them might be a good idea. Once you have that side of things sorted, get a few pedals. Delay and possibly wah are probably the most commonly used on guitar in many styles, but I'm sure other people may disagree. You don't need a specific amplifier for a specific style but it does need to be of good quality. You even get high gain pedals designed to be plugged into Fender amps and as the owner of one such pedal (Suhr Riot) and a Fender amp I'll testify that some of them sound awesome. You don't need amazing gear to be able to practice but it is helpful if it responds to your playing and is inspiring to play. If you want to bring power tools to your guitar, do this to a really cheap guitar that you are prepared to lose if it goes wrong, especially as you don't appear to have prior experience of this. I also think the time and money you would put towards such a project would be better spent on your guitar playing or a job that would enable you to afford the gear you actually want.

I've always wanted a JEM 7V. Think it's a bit out of my price range (actually, do I have any money left at all?) Is it the model with the rosewood fretboard or the ebony fretboard?

I'm a bit of an advocate of saving up money for a better quality second hand guitar. Perhaps a Japanese or Mexican Strat? Ibanez RG550 or similar? I'd suggest it's a bit of a lottery at the beginner market for guitars although most things I've came across have been quite playable. A good practice amp, such as Roland Microcube will make a big difference also. An electronic tuner is also a worthwhile investment as you can't really play a guitar that's not in tune.

The spring chicken isn't in production any more, so isn't straightforward to get. The lack of batteries could be an issue but probably not for me. I like the fact it's that small. I came across this the other day. WET Reverb Pedal (neunaber technology - WET Effect Pedals) It's got a different character to the Malekko Chicklet and you also have to order it from his website, rather than a shop in the UK. Apparently the guy who does Malekko pedals will modify them to your specifications (i.e sound a bit more spring reverb-ish) if you ask in advance. I've also seen him answer questions on a forum and based on other things I've read, I think there is good customer service. So far my thinking is, WET Reverb for full pedalboard. Malekko Chicklet for my future mini pedalboard.

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This is completely unworkable. I'm hoping it's going to get scrapped after the election, in a vaugely similar way to super casinos were but I'm not convinced it will be.

How you finding that, so far? I'm tempted to go for one of those. Would prefer to try it out first but that might be possible in a trip to London later this year.

I believe you're asking too much for those pedals. Some of them are practically at the new price.

I never said one was better. I just comment on what it sounded like to my ears (using only internet demos which aren't a replacement for first hand experience). Your ears might be better than mine but it is possible that drum sounds preferences are subjective and down to personal taste.

Planning on sitting on them?

I personally don't see it that way. I compared the video demos of each and the audio demos against the audio demos, I can't hear that one is significantly better than the other. They merely sound like different, well-recorded drum kits. Steven Slate drums seems to have more powerful bass drum sounds in general. I would suggest there are particularly styles where one may excel over the other also. Steven Slate Drum Samples are well respected and used by many industry professionals. Many sound engineers on other forums I post on are big fans. If the original poster prefers the sound of Addictive Drums and their budget extends to it, then that is great but it's not the only thing worth considering. I am listening through KRK K-Rok II studio monitors and RME converters, if it makes a difference.

Steven Slate Drums is well respected and cheaper than 250. I have the EX version.

If you find that solution works for you. My personal preference would be to record both the audio and the midi. If you record the midi signal you can either run it back through your V-Drums module and adjust the volume levels of each drum and cymbal on that or run it through a software sound set, such as Steven Slate Drums, EZ Drummer or Battery.

I bought one of these at guitar guitar in Edinburgh last Friday. Rather impressed with it, so far. Suhr Effects - Expanding the Experience of Tone!

Is that a Superdrive I or II or II-V? Also, Is it a combo or a head? I'm probably not able to buy it, I'm just interested that someone has one of these.

It really depends what your expectations are. It's unlikely to be exactly what you're after in terms of a mix but it gives you something to work with while you're writing/recording. Based on my experience, It tends to be an extra hassle when you record something to have to perform an additional process before it's possible to hear what you've recorded. You can use the 'midi module' type approach where you have a midi cable permanently plugged into your v-drums module but it's still not going to be as convenient as having an audio track (even if you don't use it on your final recording).