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Here's one you don't see every day. Bought one for $50 in mint condition in the box and I'm waiting on delivery this week. I bought my first used electric guitar back in 1969 when I was 12 years old. It was an Italian made Vox Apollo V266 guitar which had built in active electronics including a Treble/Bass booster, E Tuner (E pitched note that played through the amp you tuned up to) and it had a built in distortion. I haven't come across a distortion with that same flavor since owning that guitar 50 years ago so I'm hoping this pedal at least comes close to it. Vox does make another V810 Valve tone overdrive pedal which looks identical. Several reviews say the V810 is a better pedal but I've never put allot of trust in forum reviews where there are only a few of them out there and many of those seem to have been written by amateurs. The production on these pedals were very short and given they typically sell for around $100 they cant be all that bad. The V810 has a circuit design similar to a TS 808 Tube Screamer but with different voicing and different op amps. Both pedals use Texas Instruments RC4558 op amps which are smooth sounding, high quality low cost op amps typically used in Hi Fi gear. Some mentioned modding the pedals and using the JRC4558 op amps used in Tube Screamers which makes no sense. If you want a Tube Screamer pedal there are no shortage of those available, just buy one and keep the Vox as an alternate option. I did listen to some clips of them being used. They were so poorly done you couldn't tell much from them except for the one that used an LP. The player was able to Nail a Jimi Page sound so I suspect the pedal is voice similar to a Tone bender. I'd be happy with that. I'm not a huge fan of how fuzz pedals feel playing but I do like their tone. If I can get a fuzz tone from a distortion pedal it might fill some gaps in my tone collection. I've also heard this pedal works best when run with other drive pedals thus the name Distortion "Booster" may be the key to its tone. I have a bunch of lower gain drive pedals that qualify for that. We'll see soon enough.

We had some hotel points to use and the beach was more than our points covered. . Allentown was in the price range so "Honey ,we're going to Allentown" There actually is a winery nearby but we didn't go. Woke up in the morning deciding what to do and my wife suggested that since the area has a lot of industry we might tour a manufacturing site to see how things are made. Perfect time to mention that Martin is only a thirty minute drive.

Even gave us this souvenir sound hole after the tour

Lol. I agree. The only way I’ve “found myself” near Nazareth was through careful planning and even then I still had to go it alone. The only way I could get my wife to go along would be if it were suddenly freezing anywhere there was a beach and/or there was a winery somewhere along the way; my wife is a “guitar widow.”

Not true. There some very nice stuff out there that is not inexpensive and has a urethane finish. The Gretsch Professional product line is a mix. Black Falcons are finished in urethane and the 6120's are finished in a mix of both Nitro and urethane.

Poly is on all ranges of new guitars.

Old Skool (17 years) just stopping by for the first time in forever.

Skip the roller saddles and get staggered locking tuners so you don't need string trees. The locking helps a tad with tuning stability, and they make string changes so easy. No string trees helps a lot for tuning stability.

"You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" - Bachman Turner Overdrive Triple word score.

Hey puretube! Good to see you! So... what does everyone think of the new software? If you have any problems of questions, drop me a PM and I'll try to help you get things worked out.

Hi, Phil! (+ the rest of the oldtimerz...)

Have you tried lowering the height of your current pickups? That can really help open up the top end, depending on the pickups.

Test? Icles?

My wife and I went out on an adventure today and somehow found ourselves at the CF Martin factory. We arrived just in time for a tour so of course we took it They have are a lot of highly skilled people there but for the most part (except for the custom shop) the craftsmanship of men like Freeman Keller has been replaced by cnc guided lasers and robotic finishing and even buffing machines Made me kind of sad to walk through the museum and see the rusted tools of a bygone era The human touch is still a vital part of the process and overall quality and cost effectiveness are better than ever but seeing this In the museum being replaced by this automated neck fitting machine,I can’t help wonder what we’ve lost

Nads, more precisely.

Really want to get that funk tone of the 70's? Phase switch on the guitar, Auto wah, and a phaser.

Any Guitar with a amp set clean .

You can play funk on anything. Even a Les Paul. Play a guitar that sound good to you and you like the feel of.

I have no idea how many guitars they make in Nazareth per year, but I guess they had to automate to keep up with demand (and cut costs, of course. What would capitalism be without cutting costs and increasing profits via automation)... Nevertheless, I've had a couple of bad ones and mediocre ones come my way. In contrast, Taylors all seem pretty much the same. I find something sterile about their sound, and the feel also seems, I dunno, exactly the same across instruments, but not in my favourite way. It is what it is, I guess.

We're living in an age of great inexpensive guitars. You can order necks and bodies from GFS, Dragon Fire guitars or Warmoth and create a guitar that's made better than the big brand companies. Plus, Epiphone, Squire make guitars that are equal and when modified can surpass the big parent companies standards. Gotta love the Golden Age of great inexpensive guitars !!!! Back in the late 1970's, inexpensive guitars had very cheap tuners with plastic inserts in the headstocks, cheap plastic nuts and non wax potted pick ups .... How we've come a long way !!!!

Wow, we are living in an age of great inexpensive guitars , amps, accessories and gear !!!! Today for under $500.00, you can buy or assemble a guitar that 30 years ago would have cost $ 2000.00 We're sure are lucky today !!!!

"... somehow found ourselves at the CF Martin factory." Gave me a chuckle... "somehow"... was there a star shining in the sky above Nazareth? Similar to going out with wife and "somehow" ending up at shoestore. Nice pics. I reckon CNC good for basic neck joints, etc... but best to have a human playing with tops, bracing, etc I don't think folks like Freeman have anything to worry about

Amen to that. Of course, some would say that the more precise you can make it, the better its longevity and sound. But I don’t really know. I’ve a ‘37 Martin that is more comfortable than any newer ones I’ve played. But then there’s bias, which, admittedly, plays a part.

Price.

Hi, I am kickstarting a new type of Expression pedal. Please check it out and let me know what you think. It all started because I had pedals with expression input, but since most expression pedals behave like a wah, it just makes your pedal act like a wah. As more and more pedals include expression input, I think there is a real opportunity to get creative with expression pedal design. Also I liked the idea of an expression pedal with the footprint of a standard pedal. I have also been a big fan of Arduino for years and I wish to help open that door for pedal modders. This expression pedal has an entire Arduino inside of it that can be programmed using the Arduino programming language. So the behavior of this pedal is only limited by your imagination. Thanks, Lee

Heard there was a forum upgrade and figured I'd stop by. Really miss the old days here. Loved the pedal talk, but even more so the sense of community and silliness.

Couldn't agree more. Most streaming and mp3s are just garbage quality TBH. Sounds like you have a nice setup btw.

At a minimum, you want a solid wood top. At the top of your price range, you might be able to find both solid top and solid back, like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Washburn-WD150SWCE-Dreadnought-Acoustic-Electric/dp/B0058GZQQ4 Yamahas are usually a safe bet. In terms of craftsmanship, everything in that range will be made in China. Most of them probably in the same factory. And they're all pretty good these days. I'd forget about uniqueness and focus more on a brand with good resale value.

69 I was finishing college, no special interest in music beyond songs as punctuation markers to place lovers and parties. And suddenly they happened: In the Court of the Crimson King Abbey Road, Let it Bleed, Tulls Stand Up If 1969 pulled me into the bedroom 1970s Trespass from Genesis was the seduction. 1969 was absolutely pivotal The jiving stopped, the world turned and Buddy Holly didn't matter any more

Ted Nugent's solo in "Journey to the Center of the Mind "captured my imagination in 68 and I was definitely into the Beatles Good Times