Guitar for Worship

This is Alex McLean. He’s the one in the hat. One of my favorite pictures
ever. (Hint: look closely. It took me awhile. And no, nothing is going to
jump out and scare you.) He’s over at www.betterthanblank.org . Cool name,
huh? He’s the executive pastor at my church, so that means he’s technically
my boss. But ‘boss’ is such an ugly word. I instead choose to call all my
bosses ‘friends.’ Not sure how they feel about that, but it does raise my
own self esteem quite a bit.

Anyway, Alex is a very talented musician, and perhaps an even more
talented, shall we say ‘producer.’ He plays acoustic guitar, drums, and
vocals very well. But he can hear keyboard, electric guitar, bass, or even string
parts in his head and once he sings them for you and you play them on
your respective instrument, it’s like, ‘Whoa.’ So he’s cool.

He was also the one who got me into playing simplistically instead of
technically, musicianship over speed, sound over style, etc. Basically,
the modern indie and worship style over ‘look how cool my chops are.’ Or,
as I like to say, U2 over jazz-metal (which, and I’m very ashamed to say
this, used to actually be what I called my guitar style.)

So, before Alex was the executive pastor, he was the media pastor. And
I remember one evening of our Saturday night service…….the service had
just ended, and I was feeling pretty proud of myself for just having had
the talent to squeeze in 8.5 solos into our worship leader’s 5 song set (and
the word ’solo’ is translated very loosely here….more like a soaked in delay,
reverb, and mids, hit as many notes in this measure as a hack like me
possibly can, guitar part). And I remember Alex coming up to me as I’m
tearing down my rig:

Alex: Hey, Karl!
Karl: Hey, Alex!
Alex: Hey, you sounded great tonight!
Karl: Thanks!
Alex: All the songs you played sounded great……except for the ones
with the solos.
Karl: Uh……I solo’d in every song.
Alex: Ya.
Karl: Oh.
Alex: Well, maybe it was just too much delay and reverb in certain parts.
Karl: But, I never turn off my delay and reverb.
Alex: Ya.
Karl: Well, see what I’m trying to do is play the correct counterpoint
to the D Maj scale, but evoke the feeling that the Christian life isn’t
all happy all the time by actually playing a D minor passage in the
classical type of the scale, harmonic minor, in a mode I invented myself. 
And the faster I play it, the more it works. That’s how counterpoint is. I
really think it lends a good flavor to ‘Heart of Worship.’ The best band
ever, Tourniquet, does stuff like this all the time. 
Alex: Have you ever listened to any U2?
Karl: Who?
Alex: Ya. I’ll get you some cd’s.

And so was birthed my U2 man-crushes (my wife is understanding,
though). And more importantly, was birthed the mindset of trying to play
just whatever the music and the worship calls for….which 95% of the time,
is simple, tasteful, and needs those three simple and tasteful notes to sound
amazing.

Props to Alex, at Better Than Blank.

Ya. I do. I know I shouldn’t……but I do.

That’s a ’70’s Gibson ES-335. And that’s the guitar I had a dream about.
And I shall tell you why.

Yesterday, I helped some friends out by playing one song at their wedding.
When I got there to set up, there was this guitarist playing ambient wedding
music as all the guests walked in. Alright, this guy just threw all my lofty
tone ideals out into the street and said ‘Go play’ and then ran them over
with his car……in a nice way. He’s playing this really old (looks like maybe
’50’s or ’60’s) hollow body Gibson ES-335. Gorgeous. And the tone is
spectacular. Just warm and full and swanky….everything a jazzy old hollow
body should be. And of course I look around for the 1959 Fender Bassman
amp he’s obviously playing out of. And I nearly jump out of my skin when
I see his cord going from his guitar jack directly into the cheeseball PA
system. Ya. Whoa. 

So I’m humbled. And not only that, he’s just going to town on all these
classy ’40’s love tunes, playing not just the melody, but harmonizing all
the other parts as well. Just beautiful.

And this is him, Bill Coleman. The guy playing the wonderfully beautiful
classic melodies accompanied by himself into a PA system with some of
the best tone ever. You can check out his site at www.billcolemanmusic.com .
And he was like, the most humble guy ever, too. I told him he sounded
incredible, and he shrugs and says, ‘Oh, just some songs I happen to
know.’ Ya, right. Totally nice guy. And the best part is, and you can only
tell this while sitting next to him, he hums the melodies of the songs
like, a half measure before he plays them. It’s really, really interesting
to listen to. But, hey, I guess it works! Because the songs coming out
of the guitar are perfect.

So anyway, last night I dreamed that I went out and bought a ’50’s
Gibson ES-335. The wood was all old and warped and everyone cried
when they heard the sound. Oh, yes…..and they were tears of joy. 
And I woke up still clutching at the guitar…..but it was not there. And
then I thought, ‘There is something definitely wrong with me.’

And you’re probably thinking that I’m making this up. I do wish you
were right…..but no, I actually dreamed this last night.

So….I’m just wondering…..does anyone else out there, anyone at all,
have dreams about music gear? It would make me feel so much better
if there is someone else……anyone….

Thanks to the wonders of gearpage, I have just discovered that Steven Seagal
has produced blues albums. And yes, that is ‘albums’, plural. And yes, he both
plays guitar and sings on them. And yes, I will show you an album cover:

And yes, they sound…..well….just about how you think they would sound.
Sort of like that incredible album cover. Ya. It’s Steven Seagal, people.

And the best thing is, look at his face! Even on his album cover, that
Steven Seagal emotion chart is totally true:

Look!! That’s totally the exact same face as on his album. Classic. 

See? I just gotta get famous at something…..it doesn’t matter what…..and
then I can produce all the albums of myself playing that I want, whether
they sound good or not. Just like Steven Seagal, and just like someone
I found years ago making lovely music:

And yes, that is David Hasselhoff.

So I sold my Moog phaser. Again. I’ve had two, and sold them both. And
it’s my all-time favorite phaser. There are issues here (with me, not the
pedal). But it’s big and expensive, and I always think I can find a smaller
and less expensive phaser that sounds just as good and then I can use
the extra money and extra board space for another pedal. And then I always
end up just buying another Moog. It’s like a game I play when I’m bored
or something.

(One of my old Moog’s. And if things keep going the way they are
going, not my last.)

So I’ve been trying out a bunch of phasers, and my latest is the
Subdecay Quasar. But on Tuesday, it still hadn’t come in the mail
yet, and I just shipped off my current phaser, and the worship leader
playing with that night sends me the songs and they all have ambient
guitar parts. Of course. Sometimes I go weeks without using a phaser.
And the one day I don’t have one, I need one. That will always happen
in my life. No matter what. If I’m ever in a band that gets to open for
Coldplay or The Editors, the whole band will get sick or die, or what’s
even worse….lose their instruments, that night. (And it might be because
I stole their instruments. Not planning on it, just sayin’……if that kind of
temptation ever arose……I know myself too well.)

(The one in the mail…..unfortunately…..still in the mail)

So I take the plunge. Guitar Center phaser. Just for tonight, to get by,
and then I can return it to them with their 30 day rental…..I mean,
return policy. hehe But seriously, they encourage you to try their stuff out,
and if you don’t like it, they have their 30 day ‘no questions asked’ policy.
So I don’t feel bad…..because if I buy something from them and I play it
and it actually doesn’t sound like grossness, I’ll gladly keep it. But
usually it does sound like grossness, so I usually return these things.

The local Guitar Center had a grand total of three phasers:
Electro-Harmonix Small Stone reissue, MXR Phase 90 resissue, and Boss PH3.

So I go with the Boss PH3 because that’s the only one the kid at the
counter can find that also has a box. He tells me it’s the best phaser
ever. I thank him for his vote of confidence in my tonal selection skills
(meaning, deciding on the only one Guitar Center has in stock.)

And here’s the thing….I’ve had a black label Japanese Boss PH-1r
from the ’80’s before. And I sold it for just over a hundred bucks.
My handmade Subdecay Quasar that’s in the mail only set me back
130 bucks. And both of those are worth a lot more, and sound a lot
better, than Boss’ current phaser incarnation (PH3). And I’ve seen the
Boss ones go on   e-bay for like $40, so I figure this one will cost $60.
Oh, no. It cost $118.31. $118.31! I almost passed out, but then an out
of tune AC/DC riff coming from the direction of some kid on a Marshall
half stack brought me back. I thought the whole draw of these mass
produced pedals was their cheap prices. Obviously not! Now I could
have talked him down a bit, but it always feels awkward to do that when
it’s possible that I’ll return it the next day. But almost $120 bucks is
the street price on this pedal?! I have clearly been out of the Guitar Center
buying loop for quite some time.

(It is green. I like green pedals. Give me a green pedal with a
blue led, and the tone goes up like 50%. But it’s $118.31!)

So I buy it, amongst more promises from the sales kid that this
phaser will change my life, and it’s a new secret circuit that only
Boss, he, and the Argentinian mafia know, and how he has used
it in the songs of all 8 of his touring bands.

And, of course…..it did not change my life. In fact, it sounded like
I expected. The good things about Boss pedals have always been for
me that they are inexpensive and they are durable. And lately Boss has
been getting smart and adding versatility to them. Well, obviously 
‘inexpensive’ is not one of the strong suits for them anymore. But it is
durable…you probably couldn’t break it if you tried, and they did put a
lot of versatility into it. I was actually impressed that you could select
phaser settings from 4 to 12 stages, and that there were also settings
to make the phase shift downwards and upwards. And then there is a
setting that gives computer-type sounds ala the Moog Murf or Zvex
Seek Wah. Cool.

But the sound was disappointing. Just thin. I don’t know how else to
describe it. It sounds like, ‘Okay, effect is on’. No subtleness, the effect
just takes over your whole tone and makes it tinny. I mean, not unbearably,
but definitely noticeably. And that’s just your actual tone. The phase
tone itself was fairly tinny and digital sounding. Not hi-fi, just tinny and
lifeless. The 4 stage setting was the only usable one for me. And it still
wasn’t very warm or earthy sounding. I ended up using the pedal only when
I had to, for the Tuesday night church service, when the song absolutely
called for it.

So, if you play the PH3 and love it…….wow, more power to you. Like
I’ve said before, I like to joke about Guitar Center because there is a
ton of junk there….but if you look in the right places you can find some
good stuff. And if you’re a good enough player, you can get a good sound
out of virtually anything. Or maybe my ears are just different from yours.
But if you’re looking to buy the PH3, I’d say stay away. For the price it’s
at, you could get a nice boutique or vintage Ross phaser that sounds way
better.

So….bad review from me on the Boss PH3. It seems so cliche to give a
good review to a boutique pedal like the Zendrive (see previous post)
and then give a bad review to a ‘non-boutique’ pedal. But, unfortunately,
that’s how my ears heard it. And I really wanted to like it, too…..it
would have been really cool for the ‘mass-produced’ pedal to sound better
than my ‘handmade’ ones. But it didn’t. Not even a little.

(Mmmm….Tombstone shootout. Think they would have been happier
then if they had electric guitar tone to soothe them and then instead
of doing real shootouts where people die, they could do overdrive
shootouts where it’s very rare for people to die. Actually, no, it’s beyond
rare. If you die doing a gear shootout, then you did something very, very
wrong. By the way, Val Kilmer did wonderfully in this film. And no, I
don’t have a big boy crush….well…..maybe a little. But did you see his
acting in Heat?! Come on! I think Heat and Tombstone were his two
best performances. And I also think I have spent way too much time
discussing the nuances of Val Kilmer’s acting in a blog post about
Zendrives. But hey……it’s me.)

My last overdrive shootout was like, three months ago, and I now
have a different amp and different guitars (shocker, I know.) You
can read about that shootout, I believe, on the very last page of
this blog. This time, though, the players will be a bit different:

–Menatone King of the Britains (newest version)
–Paul Cochrane Tim
–Ibanez TS7 (home TS808 mod)
–Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face clone (homemade, but not by me)
–Hermida Zendrive
–Keeley modded Boss BD-2 Blues Driver
–MI Audio Blue Boy (newest version)
–Danelectro FAB Metal

(Yes, I know everyone’s like, ‘FAB Metal?’ It was at Guitar Center
one day, used for $5. I was like, ‘Wouldn’t that be cool if a $5 pedal
just smoked all the boutique ones?’ Ya. It didn’t. But it’s still fun to
keep in the shootouts for reference.)

But here’s the deal. The King of the Britains and the Blue Boy haven’t
even arrived in the mail yet, and I’m already in love with the Hermida
Zendrive.

(And when it is on, that led is bright blue. I have a thing for blue
led’s. I don’t know why.)

I have always wanted to try one of these out, but the hype on these
pedals is big, I really didn’t want to have one on my board and look
like I just bought into all the hype. (Ya, my pride again, I know.) But
just recently the guy who builds them has been getting caught up on
his back-orders, so people are actually ordering directly from him now,
which is driving down the used prices on these things, so I can finally
afford one.

And I meant to save it for the shootout, but I needed a more
distortion-voiced overdrive on my board for a couple church sets this
past week, and stuck it on there.

And yikes. This thing sings. It’s incredibly transparent, letting your
tone come through very nicely (this is a huge deal for my tastes in
pedals)…but it also adds compression for that big distortion sound.
My first thought was…..that sounds like a Tim pedal with compression.
It gives just a huge gutsy distortion sound, that honestly sounds too
big to be a pedal. Just sweet, clear sustain on top of huge distortion
that is retaining articulation.

And the controls are very usable and very sensitive. I’ve had trouble
before dialing in distortion pedals to not be too compressed to where
it sounded like a volume drop from your clean in order to get the
distortion sounding right. Then if you raised the volume, you’d lose that
compressed sound. This one maintains the nice, compressed distortion
at high volumes. The ‘voice’ knob helps with this. It’s an added knob in
addition to ‘volume’, ‘gain’, and ‘tone’. And it sounded great with both
my Les Paul and my Strat. And, for reference sake, I was using an
EL84-based amp.

I should also mention that this is the Zendrive 1. He makes a
Zendrive 2, that has a 12AX7 tube in it. I’m interested to try that
one….but I think the tube might make it a little too compressed
for my tastes. But as soon as I see a good price on one, I’ll pick it
up to try out.

And I’m running it on 12 volts. I do the same thing with my Tim
pedal. Increases the headroom, and makes it sound a little bigger
to my ears. You can run some of these boutique overdrives all the
way up to 18 volts, and some even up to 24.

So…..ya….I was a little blissfully annoyed (hmmm) tonight during
a worship set when I turned on the Zendrive and was like, ‘Okay,
that’s just not fair. I don’t even want to do the shootout now.’ But
I smiled….because it sounded so good….hence, the blissful part
of my annoyance.

So, you should probably go get one. Looks good…sounds
good…and the prices are no longer causing you to choose between
feeding your children or buying a Zendrive.

And then on Sunday, it happens, and you perform the heck out of your
solo (or….you know), and you wait for the applause, or the tears, or the
voices, or the hands raised to the Lord, or the people falling on their faces
in worship (not of you, of course)…………………………………
…………………………………..and then you open your tear-filled eyes,
and through the watery mist see blank faces staring back at you?

Oh, ya. Gets lonely quick.
 
I was at a nameless church gathering the other day…..lots of churches,
lots of church leadership, lots of people feeling important, lots of ‘cutting
edge culture’ videos that gave me an odd nostalgic feeling from when I
was 5, and just generally a lot of good, old-fashioned Christian
awkwardness.

(A prime example of ‘Christian awkwardness.’ Swing that Gospel axe.
And the frightening thing is that one of them really does have an axe.)

And I’m sure I’m one of the biggest offenders of Christian
awkwardness….but I can’t see myself, so I just assume that I am
generally perfect. hehe

So, there’s this nameless musician (and she did have a name, it was
all over everything being sold there) gets up to do some songs. And I
won’t describe what ensued….because I don’t want to give away where
I was. But suffice it to say I was a sinner and shot some
‘Jim-from-The-Office’ looks over at a friend of mine across the table
when the singer had told us to close our eyes so the power of her song
could drench us in worship. *Gasp!*

But at the end of her songs is where this story really ties in to what I
am saying, and it’s not just an excuse to tell a story (which I really
enjoy doing).

The last song is a chorus. And a very well-known chorus. I mean, you
can’t be alive in America today and not know this song. Not just
Christians alive in America. (Really hope I’m not giving this away here.)
And so she invites us to sing with her. And the whole room starts singing.
And people are worshiping. And hands are being raised. And it’s not a
worship song. And more hands go up. And we sing more lyrics not about
God. Which I’m okay with. I like U2 just as much as the next guy (no,
that’s a lie…I like them more). It’s not a U2 song, but it’s less Christian
than a lot of their songs. And it’s a good song. And good lyrics. And I like
the song. But I am not raising my hands while singing it. Sorry. Little rant
right there.

But anyway, this singer starts to put more and more….shall we say,
‘flare’, into every line of the song. And she’s showing off her amazing
skills. And more trills come flying out, and arpeggios, and notes that I
don’t even think are there in a blues scale, and then some Chinese
quarter tone scale notes on a part of the song that the rest of us are
just trying to hold out just one note………and what do you
know…….by the end of the song, she’s all flustered because no one is
singing with her. And she says in the last chorus, ‘Sing with me to the
Lord!’ But tragically we can’t. She is not singing the melody of the
song……ya, not even a little.

And I wonder……if we as worship musicians, held back just a bit, and
played with the song…..or sang a melody that people were comfortable
with, or played a bass line that went with the chords, or a drum beat that
helped the beat, or a keyboard part that anchored……….
…………………………………………………………………………
…………………………then maybe people would sing more, and
worship more, and we might feel a little less lonely out on our solo.

See, it’s like, we always want to perform…….and then we’re shocked
when the congregation can’t follow. If you want to sing a crazy melody
with lots of gospel arpeggios and such, that’s fine. Maybe you can
even worship better when you do that. But you can’t be surprised when
people suddenly can’t sing with you, and end up watching the performance.
And maybe as guitarists, we could make just one solo a month be the
melody of the song….or something crazy like that. So it might help the
people worship with the song a bit. Not all the time. Just a few times. See
people singing the lyrics to the Lord in accompaniment with your solo,
instead of blank stares.

(So sorry. Really. But I couldn’t resist.)

I am fine with performances. They can have an incredibly powerful place
in a worship service. And not just performance-based songs…..I’m all
about the huge guitar solo or the secular song or the decibel level being
huge. But if we’re asking people to worship by engaging themselves
actively in the song with us (which is what we most often do), let’s not 
(again) be surprised that no one is singing, when in reality we just really
wanted to perform. And the we go off-stage after full-on ‘performing’
the set (and you know when you were showing off your skills as opposed
to when you were using your skills to further the song and the worship)
and shake our heads like, ‘Wow. People’s hearts just are not where
they’re supposed to be. You know what? Maybe a solo during the offering
song will help! I’ll try that!’

Just a thought. Please feel free to disagree! And much thanks to
everyone who reads these random musings looking for a pedal review
and then ends up just laughing at my rants. Your patience is
appreciated. I think it’s important to think about worship mindsets, and
tone. So, here’s the worship mindest post. I’ve got a Zendrive, a Keeley
modded Blues Driver, and a Subdecay phaser all coming in, so the tone
posts are coming!

There’s a new discussion board that Joe from gearpage started, and it’s
for worship musicians. And it’s called ‘Worship Musicians.’ And it’s at www.worshipmusicians.com . Imagine that. So, there’s no excuse on not
remembering the name or something. Really, really imformative discussions
over there, and they center around playing in venues where the focus is
worshiping the Lord.

It’s got a ton of gear discussion, and some thelogical dicussion, too,
which is cool. So, I loved the site, and thought I’d show it some love.

Like my Holland head. I adore this amp, and have never
heard another sound quite like it. It’s technically a Vox AC30 clone
(EL84-based), but the circuit is kind of Fendery. It’s like, the Vox chime
and singing mid-highs, with the warmth of a Bassman. Really cool amp.
But the builder, Mike Holland, is kind of private and difficult to get ahold
of. And me not being a famous or accomplished musician by any stretch
of the imagination (and believe me, I do stretch my imagination pretty
far pretending to be famous), it’s difficult for me to get ahold of him. And
then I’d probably have to ship the amp somewhere, and pay UPS or Fedex
to kick my beloved amp around, as well as pay for the repair.

(My Holland. A few scrapes and dents ago.)

So I found this tech named Jerry Blaha in Hollywood. Jerry’s amazing.
Used to be Black Sabbath’s guitar tech. He’s rebuilt a Peavey Classic
100 that caught on fire (seriously), told me how to fix an Orange DC-30
over the phone for no charge, and fixed the reverb and power on this
same Holland. Pretty cool guy, and does impeccable work.

This time….I need a half power switch. It’s getting ridiculous to run my
head on stage at church, and a 50 foot speaker cable to my cabinet in
the closet. Things keep falling on my cabinet in the closet (see a previous
post), and I can barely hear my guitar through our in-ear monitors, let
alone get any type of feel. So I end up overplaying like a total hack, and
it sounds like junk. So it is definitely half power switch time so that my
amp can go back on stage with me where it belongs. hehehe

Plus, one of my other amps had bit the dust, so I decided to have him
mod the Holland, and fix the other one.

So I call him up, he proceeds to explain to me 6 different ways which he
can do the mod (which I pretend to understand), and I make an
appointment to come up the following day. 

And then I forgot to bring my camera.

But, this blog is about the return journey the next week, after he finished my amps. 

Now Hollywood is pretty far…..which is awesome. See, an amp needing
fixing or a mod is just an excuse to grab a friend and galavant around
Hollywood like musical tourists (even though we only live, like, 2 hours
away). There’s a ton of guitar shops up there. I’ve bought more gear
than I should have at most of them over the years. And now, of course,
it is time for more. So, I call my buddy Justin (a great guitar player
in his own rite), and off we go. What follows is a photo-journal of our
tonal journey.

This is me taking a picture of the 15 freeway for no apparent
reason.

This is me trying to take a picture of the 15 freeway for no apparent
reason and failing.

I thought those mountains kind of looked like the Misty Mountains
from Lord of the Rings. I am a film freak just slightly less than I
am a music freak. But it was a beautiful rainy day.

Then, I picked up Justin:

Ya. With all the trees in the background, kind of looks like a
hitch-hiking troll. But that’s Justin. I’ve known him for many years.
We both started in a metal band in high school where the idea was
to play as musically proficient as possible, using all the musical
knowledge you could muster, in order to dumbfound the audiences
because it sounded so bad that it must be some crazy musical
technique. Oh, ya. If we were trying to write something contrapuntal
or something of the like and it ended up sounding good, we’d scrap it,
because sounding good was ’selling out.’ And this works for some
bands, like Dream Theatre; some people like hearing just straight
technical music. The problem was…..we weren’t very good at being
technical……we were in high school. So what you got was music that
thought it was being technically snobby by not sounding good and
being really proficient, and in reality sounded like bad Offspring.

U2 saved us both some years ago.

Now, remember I said how my film freakishness is only surpassed
by my music freakishness? Well, before we got to Hollywood, we
had to stop in downtown LA to take pictures at a memorable site
of one of the greatest films of all time:

Heat.

Oh…….yes.

This is where Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, and Tom Sizemore robbed
the bank. And where Al Pacino chased them. Eat your hearts out.

My picture.

Mr. Sizemore right where I was! (I’m a loser, I know.)

My picture.

Bobby DeNiro and Val……I was sooooo there!!

And just to prove it………………

This is me, doing the best DeNiro and Kilmer impression a guy
with a U2 shirt on can muster.

And this is after me telling Justin to do an Al Pacino impression,
and Justin telling me I’m an idiot.

Here’s me pretending to be Al Pacino chasing the bank robbing
actors. And it looks like I’m doing the worst job of it that you
could possibly imagine. (There’s supposed to be a gun in my left
hand. Just thought I’d let you know. Helps the plotline.)

And Justin told me to take a picture of this because it was in Heat.
(It definitely wasn’t.)

And this guy was just on the street, playing his saxophone. It’s
stuff like this that makes me just love LA and Hollywood. (Note
my incredible photography skills as well.)

And these are the two tallest buildings in downtown. The one on
the right is the US Bank building, and the one on the left is the
one they supposedly robbed in Heat that we were just standing
under and pretending to be famous actors (well, at least I was.)

So, the sidetrip to the Heat filming location was over. And there
was much rejoicing.

Onward to Hollywood!!

Sunset Boulevard!!

My amp tech lives a few miles down Sunset, so we traverse the
whole length. Fantastic. For some reason, I just love being here.
I think I imagine myself to be people who I’m not going to say
the name of (for fear of getting made fun of), going to play a show.

The Channel 5 satellite on Sunset, sending us 7th Heaven
re-runs as we speak.

The CNN building….or one of them. Some ghetto yellow used car
sales flags, too. Wouldn’t be the complete Hollywood experience
without some ghetto.

Nickelodeon Studios. Such stars got their starts here as Aaron
Carter, Hilary Duff, and Miley Cyrus. Ya……we drove away
pretty quickly.

Best music store in the world. The craziest rarest records and cd’s
you’ll ever find. Fantastic bands that you’d never hear of anywhere
else. An indie kid’s dream.

And of course, the Paladium. Justin’s and my old band (you know,
the one I mentioned we were in years ago as high schoolers) were
supposed to sell tickets to play here. The bill featured such
talents as Sick Deer, Sickless Impaired, and Ghetto Fabuloso.
Our band name was not much better…..Requiem Mass. They spelled
it Requiem Mess on the flyer. Ya, that’s about right. The Paladium
closed down before we played it, thank goodness. It’s been closed
for like 7 years now. Hmmm….how in the world could it close
while promoting such bands as Ghetto Fabuloso?

So then, we arrive at the main part of the trip (well, besides my
amp tech). Guitar Ghetto. Guitar Ghetto is the nickname given
to the place surrounding Guitar Center Hollywood on Sunset
Boulevard. When I first started coming here 3 or 4 years ago,
there were about 6 or 7 boutique and vintage gear shops within
these two blocks. Now it’s down to 2 or 3 because of online gear
places. I’m told that in the early 1990’s, there were like 19 or
20 guitar shops. Stupid online buying. I’m gonna boycott all
e-bay and gearpage gear buying so that these shops will have
a chance!…………No……I’m not. I gotta be honest.

But Guitar Center is still there, and honestly, it’s one of the better,
if not the best, Guitar Center.

Guitar Center Hollywood. Now, anyone who reads this blog even
once in a while, probably knows my feelings on Guitar Center and
how they mercilessly and greedily rip off the general public by
selling mass produced and sub-par gear at inflated prices (see
what I mean?). But no, seriously, Guitar Center does have some
nice gear….you just gotta know what to look for. But the Hollywood
one is a totally different story. Boutique rooms, used pedals, and a
vintage room that will literally kill you with joy. They’ve got 1890’s
Martins, and 6 1963 Vox AC30’s, and ’40’s Guild electrics and you
name it, if it’s vintage and valuable, they have four of ‘em. Very
awesome. They also have the RockWalk there, where all the great
guitarists have put their handprints in bronze at the entryway
into the Guitar Center.

This is Justin very happy to be at Guitar Center Hollywood.

This is Justin showing his happiness in a different and much
more frightening way, seeing as we are still in LA county.

And this is Vintage Gear Hollywood, one of the shops still open.
Incredible gear. Guitars, amps, pedals…..vintage and boutique
and rare. There’s an Epiphone Jupiter amp in the picture that kinda
faded into the background (again, my photography skills.) But it’s
got a cab with 3 12″ speakers. Killer. And there was also a bass
amp in the store bigger than me.

And this is the former site of Future Music (RIP). Awesome shop.
I’ve bought many, many delay pedal children within those walls.

And Voltage Music (RIP). They had a ‘74 Explorer at one time.
I wanted it. I had no money.

So, we leave beautiful Guitar Ghetto and head out to my tech’s.

This is Sunset Hills, and he lives just below them. Gorgeous.
My favorite part of Hollywood. (And not just because that’s where
Edie, Robert DeNiro’s girlfriend in Heat, is supposed to live.)

Picked up my Holland head for the half power switch mod and
my Mondo Amps Bassman clone for a repair. Seriously, Jerry’s the
best. A wrap up of the mod and repair that he did at the end of
the blog. For now, more Hollywood!!

We did go to Truetone in Santa Monica…..which may just be the
best boutique gear shop on universe. Stacks….literally…..stacks
of boutique amps. Pedals which haven’t even been released
yet…..they have ‘em.

But….we forgot to take a picture of Truetone. Oh well. You’ll just
have to join us on our next escapade and see the glories for yourself.

So, back down Sunset to the 101 and home.

I saw these Shrek dolls on the bottom of this truck. I got excited.
I don’t know why.

Rain on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood with my amps in the
backseat. It doesn’t get any more perfect than this for me.
Except if Jamianne were here. Sorry, Justin. hehe

This is me thinking I’m an artsy photographer.

This is a picture I wish I hadn’t taken.

We saw this motel and figured people had definitely been
murdered here.

And then Justin saw the best graffiti ever:

Scary demonic bunny with an ’80’s ghetto-blaster. Seriously,
who drew that?

And of course, lastly, how can you see a random photo of crazy
Dennis Hopper of Apocalypse Now fame and not take a picture.
“Look at me! Wrong!” –Dennis Hopper.

And so our journey ended. With bunnies and Dennis Hopper. I
don’t know how that fits. But that’s how it ended. And me with
the best mod ever on my Holland. The half power switch is
incredibly transparent. Still has all the fullness of the amp at full
power, just at a lower volume. Amp sounds great.

And he fixed the Bassman clone just as well. Even re-biased it,
and it’s never sounded better. It’s awesome to find a good amp
tech. And to live out your fantasies of being
Al Pacino……and U2……….
………………………………Hollywood is the best.

I have an unhealthy love for a band named U2, and everyone tells
me so. And since I cannot deny it, it is nice to find things to make
fun of them for every once in a while, just to prove to myself that
I’m not going to go crazy and wear their skin to my birthday anytime
soon. (Hmm….that sounded much more frightening than I intended.
No, no, I’m not that crazy into them….there are actually a couple
songs of theirs that I don’t like…..wait……no, seriously. I’m not sure
what they were thinking with ‘Numb’….and most of this ‘Ocotber’
album (pictured below, and the actual subject of this blog) doesn’t
do anything for me.

But, anyway, U2 is re-mastering and re-releasing all their old albums,
so on their site, this picture of the October album came up,
circa 1982. And the hair….

It’s very sad. Especially Adam, the one on the far left. I think that’s
a definite fro-let….or a mul-fro, or whatever you call them.

But then I think, wait, this band is one of the biggest in the world.
They have sold out stadium’s and arenas for over 20 years. And
then I look at the picture again, and I think…’Them?’ and then
I think that then there might be a chance for me.

You see? U2 brings hope to us all.

When I typed in ‘free blog’ into google three months ago, couldn’t
some other site besides blog.com have come up first in the search?
Or maybe I should just do research before putting a lot of time and
effort into things? Nah. That couldn’t be it.