BryanMichael

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

1. Retrotrons are great pickups and are jangley.

2. Split the coils

3. Boss FX processors have a pickup emulator that actually works decently. It's probably just a sophisticated filter, but it's interesting.

4. A multiband compressor

5. Boss FA-1 preamp, cut the lows. It works.

6. Change pot values on your volume control.

In defense of VHT, having you work through the dealer was actually the BEST way to handle your particular problem. That's why they have dealer networks. You return it to the dealer and get a brand new amp (you win!) and the dealer returns the broken amp to VHT as a defective product and they get their wholesale cost back (the dealer wins!) and VHT doesn't tie up their repair guys for $200 in labor costs on a $300 amp (VHT wins!)

Real musicians see the instrument for what it is; a vehicle for conveying music. They will modify the instrument, add things to it, strip things away, and decorate it to suit their fancy because they know that the piece of wood and plastic and magnets and wire isn't the thing that's sacred about it. It's a divining rod for channeling forces from another dimension. That's when the sacred part comes in.

My favorite pick is made of fossilized mammoth ivory. I love it.

PRS+Agile>Les Paul

Can't say I was a fan, but they were somewhat of a guilty pleasure (as all "hair metal" music was and still is to me ) I always thought they had a good sense of melody and that Oz Fox was a really, really good guitar player. Michael Sweet's voice bordered on terribly annoying for me sometimes, it was so "Dennis DeYoung" trying to be HARD...that combined with the obvious lyrical content (although sometimes clever) and their image added up to a big slice o' cheese most of the time...but as everyone has said, no more or less than some of their contemporaries. And Oz Fox does rock - his soloing is often a bit more innovative than some others.