121911: I've been goofing around with some lame attempts at doing some of our own product demonstration videos. I've also been trying some mp3 audio dems as well.

In 2007 I busted my index finger at work, the left one. I'm left handed but I've always played guitars right handed so it's the only way I know how. I've been playing bass and guitar since 1984 so the right handedness is pretty much stuck. When I broke the finger I set it myself at work, taped it up with some black tape and went back to work. It was pretty obviously broken, I kinda even heard it ~snap~ when it happened (uncrating a generator), cocked inward about 25 degrees or so. I straightened it out and taped it up and went back to my task. I never did get it reset and properly attended too. Consequently I basically have a flesh covered slide on my fretboard hand that most people call their left index finger. I've had to relearn to play using slide tunings and custom tunings to suit the finger. Traditional chords are pretty much all in the church mode of fagedda bowdit. I've had to change neck profiles to suit this as well, so I've built my last guitar with a full-on boatback neck profile that works well for the ~slideless flingerslide~ technique.

That said, I'm kinda less than confident with my chops just yet. I am not presently in a band so regular playing hasn't happened, and progress has been slower than it could have been. But I have been dedicating more pracvtice time lately so hopefully I'll be putting out some demo stuff soon. I have soooooo much I want to demonstrate.

• Tone Plug comparisons: Man would I ever love to do a Tone Plug comparison demo of some sort. Something like playing the same set of short riffs that would display picking, strumming, sustain of cords ands sustain of single notes .. maybe a total of like 10 seconds ... for each Tone Plug. I'd also like to do something that would display more subtle differences between Tone Plugs within the various ~families~ of components (for instance compare a bunch of LEDs, then a bunch of Transistors, then a bunch of diodes). Also something that would somehow display the difference in compression between the various Tone Plugs. This Tone Plug issue is probably one of the single most nagging ones that I've wanted to complete for so long. Well, after having sold and recieved feedback on them for the last four years I know what to compare and what to demonstrate as well as what isn't worth any time messing with.
• The proper approach to take to various pedals I offer: For instance the Model 9. So many people think of it as simply "three fx in one box". It is, but it isn't. That is a fair description of the sum of it's parts, but other than that it's pretty shortsighted. While the Model 9 can be used in that manner, I intended it to be used as more of a preamp that allows you to shape your signal before being amplified. The way that the compressor and the two gain stages can be set changes what aspects of your guiatr's tone is brought out or stifled. A more sophisticated approach yields some pretty amazing and very musical things that can happen to your sound. I can honestly say that my own Model 9 has inspried new and better playing from me, that same experience can be shared with the right approach. I'd like to create demos that portray this type of outlook to several of my designs, another one would be the X3. The Azura will require some alternative demonstration as well.
• A ~how to~ on setting up the JOE to suit yourself.
• Short demos of the Dyna-Q, the Easy-Q, and the Afterbuner Attenuator.
• Setting the CARMA and the CARMA2

So stuff like that. I have a complete computer recording DAW rig .. it's older but it still works (Sonar Producer v6 I think) and a few assorted mics and one preamp (Presonus). So I'm ~set-enough~ to get the job done for audio demos. Video are another issue. I have a small camera that does videos, it's nothing special so the mic is nothing to praise (Olympus FE3010). Gear =

• Marshall JTM45 .. kit built, sounds like most JTMs.
• Marshall 20 watt Lead/Bass. Kit built, sounds like most 20 watts.
• Fender solid state 100 watt head. It does a very nice clean Fender tone and actually sounds pretty darned good.
• 1992 Fender "Bullet Amp" six inch solid state practce amp that was actually made in the USA. It's a little noisy but it sounds killa! I use it with the 2x12 openback cab and the silly thing is LOUD!
• 2x12 13 ply birch closedback cab with Greenbacks.
• 2x12 13 ply birch openback cab with V30s.
• Two of those blue "Ball" mics.
• SM58 mic.
• MXL vocal mic with a vibe-iso mount.
• Shredbilly ... my last guitar. Started with an Alder Tele body that I put an orthopedic cut across the top. Tapped Quarter Pounders at both ends. Padouk neck. V.E.R.Y. comfortable guitar to play. Like ridiculously so. It really brings out the people that take themselves too seriously right away. Comments like "you ruined a perfectly good Telecaster to construct that abomination.." and "You should be shot and that `thing` should be burned.." (purists ... wow). Makes me like it even more!
• An inverted/sorta half left handed half right handed mahogany Iceman with Phat Cat P90s in it at both ends. Another Padouk neck.
• The black MLX. One of those $200 Dean MLs made for beginners. Gibson length scale, and I put a set of SD '59s in it at both ends. This poor thing has been Franken'd out over the years. I love this guitar. It's body shape was what inpspired the cut I put on the top of the Shredbilly Tele. This ML is just one of those cosmic oddities that comes along now and then. That Squire Strat that for whatever reasons just fargin works out, man!. That crappy no-name pawnshop junker that just fit your hands, and your head. I've had this thing since 2004, it's had numerous pickups in it, hardware changes, bla bla. The 59's in this pig just friggin sing, and the familiar shape of the thing just feels like home. Ugly ass home, but home nonetheless.

I also have some vintage Hammond gear that I want to record as well. 1964 Hammond A102, and a 1965 Leslie 251. I've made another highly modified JTM45 for my Hammond rig. That JTM powers the Leslie rotary cab (15" rotating drum bass peaker and a rotating horn with a crossover network set at 8k). My Hammond has a wonderful history and it sounds amazing!! *Rock organ* was the first kind of music that I learned how to play, and I played Hammond in the first several bands I was in during the late 1970s. These days I sit and get lost in old Emerson Lake and Palmer riffs and try to pretend that I can actually do music like that. ELP was the first recorded music that I ever picked out for myself at 11 years old. ELP was the first big concert I ever saw. Keith Emerson was my "Jimmy Hendrix" rock star hero when I was growing up. UK and Kansas were other faves of mine too. Complex/layered music .. gotta love it! I also dabble in stuff like Niacin (jazz trio centered around the Hammond ... Billy Sheehan of Mr. Big does the bass chops).

So those are my intentions for doing demo productions. I definitely need to get these done pretty soon so I can let Burgerman666 off the hook and he can do what he needs to do with those videos he's done and posted for us. I mean I can't really expect him to keep those posted forever, now can I! So this needs to get done.

I dabble with all of this a little bit at a time when I test pedals out prior to boxing them up and shipping them out. So progress will be a little slow until I get hte prepaid backlog built and shipped. After that I think I'll have more time to wirk on product demos and such. So I best shut the hell up and get back to those prepaid pedals so I can do this other stuff soon!

L8r Sk8rs .... :)

Price

To be announced.