Gone burger

I've migrated this blog and a few other things to a real website: Ibanez RG Prestige.  Hopefully Google will find this and index it!

Guitar Stores with International Shipping

Heres a list of Guitar Shops that ship worldwide.  I've found certain products such as Dimarzio Pickups, Fender, ESP or Yamaha don't allow suppliers to ship internationally.  Pedals are an obvious choice as they are usually indestructible and cheaper even with delivery included to outside the US.  I'd be hesitant to order a guitar no matter who the store is.  I can see it turning up in two pieces!  You can pretty much assume that the "Free Shipping" deal does not apply to worldwide shipping.  Most Terms and Conditions will also state that the customer takes all the risk, so check for insurance or buyer beware!

ProGuitarShop.  I've used them and have been impressed with there service.  Can be internationally shipped by ordering online. Courier fees were calculated at the time.  Great videos from Andy too.

WorldMusicSupply you have to e-mail them for a shipping quote.

Music123 ships virtually anywhere in the world using UPS service.

pedalGEEK appears to ship internationally to most countries.  Some restrictions on other countries.

MusiciansFriend.  Limited products shipped and you must call through and gear cannot be ordered online.

IbanezRules an Ibanez guitar specialist that will ship overseas.  It will probably be quite expensive to ship, however if you really need that JEM7VWH then you'll have to weigh the costs.

Sweetwater you must contact them to find out if the item can be shipped internationally.

GuitarGuitar a UK based store that ships worldwide.  Maybe especially worthwhile if you are based in Europe.

SamAsh ships certain products to certain countries but are bound by dealer agreements etc.

GuitarCenter unfortunately do not allow for international shipping at this time.

ZZSounds unfortunately do not allow for international shipping at this time.

Wampler Pinnacle 2 Review

The Wampler Pinnacle 2 stompbox comes with the claim that it captures Eddie Van Halen's Brown Sound in a box.  It has Vintage and Modern modes to take you through the classic Marshall Plexi stack of the 70's to the 80's and beyond.  So put your headband and overalls on as we go through what this pedal can do.

Ease of Use

As far as functionality goes, few pedals are as purposeful. There are four knobs and two toggle switches.  The Volume and Tone knobs are pretty self explanatory.  I've never needed to put the Tone knob past 1 o'clock and thats plenty for even dark humbuckers.  Around 11 o'clock is more than adequate for single coils.  On the right side are the Contour and Gain controls.  I've found the Contour the least practical of all the features.  Turning it up molds the sound to a scoop tone but seemingly some attack is lost.  If you really need a scoop tone better to EQ the amp or go to an EQ pedal.

For an instant variation in tone, flick the Vintage/Modern toggle switch which changes the EQ again from a brighter to a darker tone with a slight amount of fuzz.  The all important Gain control needs no introduction.  Dial in to the highest setting at 5 o'clock the Pinnacle 2 exhibits a little more dirt and grit.  Back it off to about 3 o'clock, in conjunction with the Gain toggle switch and you get that creamy buttery overdrive that gets you in the vicinity of Satriani and Vai.  There is probably very little reason to turn this knob down, otherwise you've bought the wrong pedal!

Sound

As for the Van Halen Brown Sound, those in the know have described this pedal as more Van Halen II than Van Halen I.  But that’s a testament to how good this pedal is. While it's obviously not an exact reproduction of Eddies elusive tone it will get you in the ballpark. Throw in another distortion pedal before the Pinnacle to get more distortion for an Atomic Punk shred.  While you’re at it chuck in a Phase 90 (Script of course) and slap in a good Delay pedal after the Pinnacle and you’ll get even closer.

This pedal is both single coil and humbucker friendly.  Great sounds can be had by both.  You don't need to crank an amp to get good tone.  This pedal is very bedroom friendly and the magic starts happening at low volumes.  EVH tapping just requires a touch more volume but you can easily nail Hot for Teacher or even the Beat It solo.  No problem with rhythm crunch too, the Pinnacle can do Panama and Unchained intros with ease.  The Wampler Pinnacle 2 also plays nice with solid state amps.  Budding guitar heroes can now appreciate those 80's tones without an ear shattering Marshall stack.

Construction

As the name implies this is the second issue of the Pinnacle guitar pedal. The first being in a larger case and the Boost rotary knob now gets replaced with a toggle switch.  The new compact case is about the same size as a MXR or Love Pedal stompbox.  The red speckled metallic paint adds another touch of class.  The only thing missing are those Frankenstrat stripes and some kinda EVH branding.

 

A few of really, really minor niggles.  I would have preferred though to see screen printed text rather than a clear sticker.  It would make it look a bit more professional than home brew.  As well, don't be near Triffids as the blue led light can be quite blinding.  The foot switch also feels quite stiff in comparison to other boutique pedals, oil does not seem to help.  But none of these detract from this incredible pedal.  

Summary

If you are looking for an affordable way to get a Van Halen or even a Vai and Satriani sound then look no further than the Wampler Pinnacle 2.  Brian Wampler has set out to create a brown sound in a box guitar pedal  and he has nailed it.  If there is only one stompbox I could own the Pinnacle 2 would be it.

Pros

Brown sound in a box. 

Covers the array of 80's shred including Vai and Satriani.

Lots of options to shape tone.

Solid state friendly.

Bedroom level friendly.

Cons

Sometimes there is a waiting line. It took 6 weeks for mine to arrive.

9/10


http://www.indy-guitarist.com/
http://www.wamplerpedals.com/ 


Looks like they've reissued the old Pinnacle 2 for a limited time. http://www.wamplerpedals.com/pinnacle_2_reissue

Eruption Tab Part 2

This is based on Pete Thorn's (sinasl1) How To Play "Eruption", Part 2 video.

Gtr I (Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb) - Tune a half step down'

      A power chord
 4/4
  Gtr I
   E  E E  E E E E  E    E E
|---------------------------------|
|---------------------------------|
|-----2----------5-[7]b9p5-7b9----| Pick harmonic at 7th fret 3rd string.
|-----2------5-7------------------|
|-----0-2\-7----------------------|
|-12\-----------------------------|

At approx 4:20 in the video

  E E E E E
|--------------|
|-5h8p5p0------|
|---------8----|
|--------------| x4
|--------------|
|--------------|

At approx 5:20 in the video

  E E E
|-----5----|
|---5------| Rake
|-7--------|
|----------|
|----------|
|----------|

At approx 5:46 in the video

  E E E    E
|---------------|
|-8p5-----------|
|-----7pb9r5----| Pre bend 7th fret 3rd string
|---------------|
|---------------|
|---------------|

At approx 6:49 in the video

  E E E E E
|--------------|
|--------------|
|-4-5h7p5------|
|---------7----|
|--------------|
|--------------|

At approx 7:36 in the video

E E E E E
|--------------|
|--------------|
|-4h7p5p4------| x4 Heavy palm muting
|---------7----|
|--------------|
|--------------|



  E E E E E E E E E
|----------------------|
|----------------------|
|---4------------------|
|-7---7-6-5------------| Chromatic part
|-----------7-6-5-3----|
|----------------------|


  \1 /
  E  E
|---------|
|---------|Dive whammy bar aggressively on low E string.
|---------|On way up hit A string and vibrate x4.
|---------|You don't need a Floyd Rose type whammy. 
|----0----|A standard one will suffice.
|-0-------|

---

Duration Legend
---------------
W - whole; H - half; Q - quarter; E - 8th; S - 16th; T - 32nd; X - 64th; a - acciaccatura
+ - note tied to previous; . - note dotted; .. - note double dotted
Uncapitalized letters represent notes that are staccato (1/2 duration)
Irregular groupings are notated above the duration line
Duration letters will always appear directly above the note/fret number it represents the
duration for. Duration letters with no fret number below them represent rests. Multi-
bar rests are notated in the form Wxn, where n is the number of bars to rest for. Low
melody durations appear below the staff

Tablature Legend
----------------
h - hammer-on
p - pull-off
b - bend
pb - pre-bend
r - bend release (if no number after the r, then release immediately)
/\ - slide into or out of (from/to "nowhere")
s - legato slide
S - shift slide
<n> - natural harmonic
[n] - artificial harmonic
n(n) - tapped harmonic
~ - vibrato
tr - trill
T - tap
TP - trem. picking
PM - palm muting
\n/ - tremolo bar dip; n = amount to dip
\n - tremolo bar down
n/ - tremolo bar up
/n\ - tremolo bar inverted dip
= - hold bend; also acts as connecting device for hammers/pulls
<> - volume swell (louder/softer)
x - on rhythm slash represents muted slash
o - on rhythm slash represents single note slash

Misc Legend
-----------
| - bar
|| - double bar
||o - repeat start
o|| - repeat end
*| - double bar (ending)
: - bar (freetime)
$ - Segno
& - Coda
Tempo markers - <E/E./Q/Q./H/H.> = BPM(8/16=s8/s16), where s8 = swing 8ths, s16 = swing 16ths

---

** Generated using Power Tab Editor by Brad Larsen: The Official Power Tab Web Site

Lovepedal Kanji Arrives

Wow nice gift to myself on a Saturday morning.  Courier knocks on my door and here it is.  Box was a plain white cardboard box which is normal for a boutique pedal.  The Lovepedal Kanji was much better looking than in those PGS pics.  The body is a light tan and the knobs are a dark brown and not black as I had thought.  There's the Kanji calligraphy in the middle which is a metallic gold paint.  Overall nice, I don't have to go find some similar knobs to make it  look like the creme version.

Sound wise I wasn't expecting much as my Fender Champion 101 practice amp ain't going to show up any  Tube Screamer type overdrive pedal.  However I was presently surprised, it did give great overdriven Strat tone on my Am Strat.  You could hear those single coils coming through on both neck and neck-middle positions.  I put it up against a Digitech Bad Monkey and was again presently surprised how bad the Bad Monkey sounded against it.  This is of course on a crappy solid state amp, so any tube amp is mostly likely going to sound hundreds of times better.  Also tried it on my Ibanez RG1570 just to hear how it handled humbuckers.  OK but did not have quite the character of the Strat.

Kudos to ProGuitarShop and UPS for the extreme prompt delivery!  I ordered something else local at the same time as the Kanji  and it still hasn't arrived.  Pics to come.

Van Halen Eruption Guitar Lessons

Ever wanted to learn Van Halen's Eruption?  These are the 5 part video guitar lessons from Peter Thorn aka sinasl1. Before you discount Pete as another YouTube guitar wannabe, this guy is a pro player for the likes of Chris Cornell, Courtney Love, Alicia Keys and others. But forget about that. His videos are simply some of the best guitar lessons you can find on YouTube. In particular the "How to Play Eruption" videos are considered the definitive cover version. The Eruption instrumental featured on the 1978 album Van Halen I.  Eddie Van Halen's ground breaking tapping technique in the solo was imitated by many metal guitarist well into the 80's. 

How to Play "Eruption" Part 1.

Part 1 is just an intro to some of the equipment required to get that Eddie Van Halen "brown sound".

How to Play "Eruption" Part 2.

Here Peter goes into the intro part.

How to Play "Eruption" Part 3.

Peter goes into the middle part with the bluesy style licks on the lower neck.

How to Play "Eruption" Part 4.

This lesson shows us the trill part and the fast alternative picking section.

How to Play "Eruption" Part 5.

Here is the fun tapping section.

Love Pedal Kanji Overdrive

Just put an order in for the Love Pedal Kanji Overdrive at ProGuitarShop.com.  Seems like another limited run. These are evidently built for ProGuitarShop and not even the LovePedal site offers them.  This time the pedal seems to have some uglier black knobs compared to the matching beige knobs of the previous model.  I'd prefer the beige ones but these pedals are hard to come by so I'm keen to grab one now.  I'm suspecting its going to sound like arse on my current solid state amp, as it's in Tube Screamer territory.  I'm gassing on a new amp later.  Can't wait for the pedal!

"Lovepedal Kanji Eternity Overdrive Pedal

The Lovepedal Kanji Eternity Overdrive Pedal is a custom version of the Lovepedal Eternity.  The mysterious writing and lack of information on this pedal have drawn the interest of us here at ProGuitarShop.  We have decided to break open the mystery of the Kanji Eternity and…you will not believe what we have found!  PGS is now enlightened to the Lovepedal Kanji Eternity Overdrive Pedal!  Here’s a hint…

“…the circuit is a bit cleaner and warmer…a touch more low end as well…”
                                                            -Unknown Monk that lives high in the mountains

Find out more about the Lovepedal Kanji Eternity Overdrive Pedal and your tone will be as enlightened as you are…"

Coolest Looking Guitar Pedals

I decided to create a list of the coolest guitar pedals I could find.  This has nothing to do with the sound just the awesome graphic designs of these boutique stompbox wonders.


1. Lovepedal Kanji
It's kinda ugly but so different looking and the tone is so revered.

2. Brown sound
I was looking around for any "brown sound" pedal and came across this.  The Brown Sound has less to do with Eddie Van Halen and more to do with Hendrix.  From the www.rocknrollvintage.com website:
 "Ooh La La Manufacturing has just released their first, Bruce Bennett designed, effect pedal. The Brown Sound has big power amp distortion with a bit of fuzz thrown in. The overdriven Marshall sound, a-la "Foxy Lady"and other classic tones is what you will get with OohLaLa's Brown Sound."

3. Dead Horse Overdrive
Bizarrely strange graphics and even more bizarrely named.  Check out the ProTone Pedals website for some of the most interesting pedals ever seen.

4. Catalinbread Supercharged Overdrive

I like the clean graphic of this pedal.  It's probably not as flashy as some of the other pedal designs on Catalinbread's website.

5. Frantone Sandwich Optical Compressor
Again this is a more subtle looking pedal, just the daring use of colours make it a standout.  The pedal's designer is a woman, hence the name.  Fran looks like she went through the Time Tunnel to give us this stompbox.


7. Germanium Boy
This angry dude seems to be Blues Saraceno's logo.  More angry looking pedals here: http://www.bluessaraceno.com/pedals.html

8. The Thruster Power Booster

Another unique looking effects pedal from ProTone Pedals.  This time featuring a retro rocketship artwork.  I'd buy these pedals just cause the look exquisite.