Epiphone Casino review... finally!!!

Two years. What's in two years? Two years is 24 months; 104 days; 17,520 minutes; 1,051,200 minutes; 63,072,000 seconds. Two years of longing for an Epiphone Casino; the guitar played my many of my idols: George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney (Happy 70th, btw!), The Edge, and Keith Richards; among many others.

But for just about a year and a half, that was just longing. I never thought I'd actually HAVE one.

Everything changed on my birthday last year, though. I received $85 worth of Guitar Center gift cards from my awesome friends (Thanks guys! You know who you are!). I figured it would be a nice jump start. I saved up my money for the next 6 months until I had around $425 including the gift cards, out of the $600 I needed.

That was when we got the April Guitar Center catalog. My brother was looking through it when he ran into my room and showed me that Guitar Center had the Casino in a new limited edition color: Goldtop (well, technically Metallic Gold, but it looks just like a goldie Les Paul to me). I fell in love then and there, and decided I couldn't wait any longer.

It was like the stars had aligned: our local GC, which never had Casinos, happened to have a Goldtop model in stock, and there was going to be a Cinco de Mayo sale in about a week ($75 off anything $499 or more!). The only problem is I was still about $100 short. I did my research and found out Guitar Center had a 12 month no-interest financing plan. I figured that if I used my $425 as a nice big down payment, I would have no problem finishing the payment in 12 months.

So, on one of the days of the Cinco de Mayo sale (I don't remember if it was actually the fifth), we zipped on down to Guitar Center, with me clutching my jar of hard-earned money. I had called ahead and asked them to hold it for me, which they very kindly did. I rushed into the store and asked right away about the guitar; they led be behind the counter where it was sitting there in all of its Metallic Gold Casino glory. I played it for a while and decided it was more than good enough for me: I loved it! I had been really worried that I would play it and hate it, but luckily it did not turn out that way. I bought it (after the manager tried to sell me a warranty and a hard shell case), and walked out to the car.

I decided that I couldn't waste any time that could be spent playing it, so I hopped in the back seat of the car, took off my shirt to protect my new baby from getting scratched on the seat belt buckle, and played along to the blues station all the way home.

 

That was a long story, now for the review. 

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of the Casgino is how versatile it is: you can use it for practically everything but death metal. On the clean channel of my amp, I can get a nice Beatlesy tone that sounds great. But when I flip on the dirt, I can go from low grit, to roaring overdrive, to extreme bluesy distortion that sounds as much like Jack White as you can get without stealing his rig. If I set my gain to the right level, I can hold a note right on the edge of feedback, and it's up to my fingers whether I dive in or hold back. Man, P-90s are great pickups.

Okay, lets get specific:

If I have my amp (which almost always has the treble cranked up and the bass pretty low) on clean and the Casino on the bridge pup, I get that chimey sound you hear in your head when you think of the Beatles. When I dirty it up a little, it sounds nice and gritty, but the brightness shines through. When I crank the gain, it will feed back quite a bit if I don't have it under control, but the tone is bright and dirty and to die for. Flipping to the neck pup (back to the clean channel again), it gets more bassy, but doesn't lose any clarity. I usually don't use the neck pup on any of my guitars unless I'm learning a song that uses it, but I use it a little more on this one. It makes the tone sound more woody, and it works great to emulate the plugged-in J-160e tone that was used on "I Feel Fine". I use the neck pickup a lot more when I have distortion on, though. If I crank the gain knob to 6 or 7, the Casino gives me a roar that stands out even when I play single notes (think the intro to Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground by the White Stripes). It muddies up a lot when I play anything more than a power chord, though, so it's only useful for getting big fat notes low down on the fretboard.

I really love my Casino. I've had about a month and a half to mess around with it now, and I have decided that it's never going to leave my arsenal. Even if it didn't have any sentimental value as the first guitar I bought myself, it sounds so sweet that I am going to be keeping it until I die.

New Digitech Whammy

FIRST OF ALL: Before you say I copied this from Wikipedia, let me say that I did. But that's because I updated the Wikipedia article on the Whammy in the first place. 
So, today, I saw the official Digitech Facebook page posted pictures of a new Whammy pedal.

I looked around on a couple forums and this is what I gathered: 
      It retains the basic look of the Whammy IV, but has the treadle design and most of the Whammy/Harmony/Detune effects of the Whammy DT. It lacks the Wet/Dry outputs of the Whammy IV, keeping only the Wet. Also like the Whammy DT, it runs on a 9V DC adaptor (265 mA). It's also true-bypass.The new Whammy has most of the same effects as the Whammy DT, but without the Drop Tune controls. It also lacks a single Drop Tune setting like the one on the Whammy IV, meaning it doesn't have any way to drop a guitar's tone down one step. It also replaces the Second Up setting of the DT with a Second Down setting. A new feature on this version of the Whammy is a Classic/Chords switch. When the 'Classic' option is selected, the Whammy makes noises described as a "glitch-fest" by a Digitech Representative when playing chords, because it is not polyphonic. The 'Chords' option activates polyphony, making chords ring out much clearer.
     Please don't comment on the encyclopedic nature of the above paragraph. I wrote it for Wikipedia and copy-pasted here. Anyway, I think the new Whammy looks pretty awesome. Here's a clearer pic:

The only thing I don't like is the fact that I just got the Whammy IV a few months ago. I think I may have to trade my old one for this thing when it comes out. Speaking of it coming out, it ships the last week of May, meaning you can get it in stores the first week of June. It retails for $199.99, so start saving up!

Book Review: "Give Death a Chance: The British Zombie Invasion 2"

Well... I never thought I'd end up doing a book review, but here I am! I really loved this book, so much so that I decided to review it (oh, and there's also the fact that I received the book in advance because I promised to review it, but...)! What would happen if The Beatles reunited and toured? What would happed if they were ZOMBIES and reunited and toured? Well, that's what the book's about. It's called Give Death a Chance: the British Zombie Invasion 2, and it's by an amazing author named Alan Goldsher. As you may have gathered from the title, it's a sequel to an earlier book: Paul Is Undead: The British Zombie Invasion, which was an amazingly hilarious book by itself.
This book was much shorter than the first in the duo, weighing in at eighty-something ebook pages, compared to the original, which was a relatively hefty print novel. That's another thing: it's only available as an ebook. But it shouldn't matter too much, as Barnes and Noble and Amazon both have free computer based ereaders for those of you without a dedicated device. But, despite its slightly small stature, Give Death a Chance was highly entertaining. We follow three zombified Beatles plus one Ninja Ringo and Mr. Goldsher across the US on The Beatles' Poppermost Over America tour. We watch them get into hilarious conflicts with pop stars, presidents, and rednecks. We see their humorous brawls amongst themselves, all the while being assaulted with foul language and rotting, smelly imagery of stinking limbs and festering wounds. Give Death a Chance is a fun, quick read, and will be available as an EBOOK ONLY on March 27th, 2012.You will be able to purchase it from Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

Digitech Whammy review

For Christmas this year, all I wanted was a red box of joy: a Digitech Whammy. I first heard about them is association with Jack White. I thought they were cool, but really paid the no mind in terms of actually wanting one. Then, my friend got one. I messed around with it, but thought it sounded a bit thin and gimmicky. But after that, I got into U2, and everything changed.

I used to think playing The Edge's parts would be near impossible, but then I discovered U2 Guitar Tutorials on the web. I bought a delay, and learned my first U2 song: Pride. I got really deep into playing U2 on guitar (and still am), and eventually I discovered Achtung Baby. I wondered what was used for the intro of Even Better Than the Real Thing, and a quick Google search led me to the Digitech Whammy pedal. I wrote it off as impossible for a while, but in early November of 2011, it came back. I needed a Whammy. There were all sorts of songs I needed it for: Real Thing, Gone, Magnificent, Peace on Earth, Do You Feel Loved, Beautiful Day, and others. It became the only thing I wanted for Christmas. Come Christmas, I finally got it, and began experimenting with tones. I planned to write a review as soon as I got home from the family's house, but other things called me. Looking back, it's probably a good thing I let this post simmer for a few weeks, as I can write a better review for all of you!

As soon as I got the Whammy, I stuck it in front of some drive, and let rip on Real Thing. I loved it. It gave me a big fat tone in front of some drive. I never use it without drive now, as it sounds really thin without it; it sounds like a mouse clean. For the most part, there aren't any tracking issues, except when you play, say, 3 or more different notes, then it starts to glitch up. Think My Iron Lung. It also needs recalibration every once in a while, but that literally takes 15 seconds, and isn't a big deal at all. Again, it definitely needs to come before some drive (preferably first in the chain, actually, except maybe after a wah or a tuner or something), and some delay doesn't hurt either. I haven't messed much with the harmony settings, but they sound pretty cool. I definitely use the octave up more than any other setting, followed by -1 octave, +2 octaves, droptune, divebomb, and -2 octaves. The detune (chorus) settings are great as well, and create a really thick, lush sound. I just wish you could use it along with the whammy. All in all, the Whammy is a great pedal, and can be used for lots of purposes. I say every guitarist should own one.

Old Guitars

I really love old guitars. Love them. It doesn't matter if it's a Gibson, a Fender, or even an old Matsumoku no-name. The vast majority of old guitars sound and feel great, regardless of monetary value. A cheap 60's Dano can sound as good as any modern day Gibson in the right hands.
Boom. Dano. In my experience, there is NO SUCH THING as an old guitar that sounds bad, once it's fixed up and set up. There's a sort of magic that comes with vintage. Go find some old Sears or Montgomery Ward guitar and play around with it. You'll have fun.

Spider Capo and Harmonik Gloves!

This is a cool contest; check it out here: http://www.guitartrump.com/2011/12/giveaway-spidercapo-harmonik-gloves.html

Line 6 Echo Park delay!!!

     So this summer I made some money selling some old trading cards I had. I got $100 for them, and I was planning to spend the money on a Dunlop Fuzz Face; I'm a huge Jimi Hendrix fan. Then, being a big U2 fan as well, I realized that a delay would be a lot more useful. The best I could find for my price range online was a Boss DD3 Digital Delay. After I got my money, I asked my dad to take me to Guitar Center to buy the DD3. I got there, and after messing with it for a few minutes, I asked the guy if there were any more delay units in that range. He showed me a Line 6 Echo Par for $100 on clearance. My friend had of these, so I knew they were good. I would have planned on one from the start, but they're about $150 new, and that was mostly out of the question. I went to check out, and it turned out there was some other sale, bringing the price down to $70. I ended up purchasing a protection play and a couple of 6 inch right-angle cables with my extra money, bringing my total up to about $116, if I remember correctly. Happy with my purchase, I went home and started messing around. Since I bought it, I have learned multiple U2 songs, and have gained even more respect for The Edge (How does he come up with those parts anyway?). I've also been left wanting even more pedals so I can play more U2 songs (hopefully I'll be able to get a Digitech Whammy review up after Christmas!). Anyway, down to business.
     The Echo Park is a great delay. My favorite feature is the Tap Tempo. It's great for U2, because you just have to set it to Dotted Eighth Note, tap to the tempo of the song, and it'll automatically convert your beats into  dotted eighth note delay intervals. You can also set it to Reverse, Ping Pone, Eighth Note Triplet, Slap Back, Quarter Not (or course!), and more. I also like how it can emulate tape or analog delay, or use straight digital delay. I usually use digital, as that is what The Edge usually uses, but I have messed around with the tape and analog settings, especially when I need good modulation for my infinite-repeat soundscapes! Setting the Repeat knob to max and twisting the Time knob produces some pretty spacey and siren-like sounds, that scare the living daylights out of my cat, especially when I'm using stereo outputs. I have virtually nothing bad to say about this pedal. The only thing that could make it better would be a digital readout of exact milliseconds. The Echo Park is the perfect delay for an Edge wannabe on a budget. I highly recommend it to anyone who plays guitar.