The Guitar Junkie

I have been reading one too many raving reviews about the Danelectro Cool Cat pedals. The most raved about pedal in that line of affordable stompboxes is the Cool Cat Transparent Overdrive. I have been trying to get a hold of it for quite some time but somehow it always seems to be out of stock when i visit the guitar store. Is it really that good?

I managed to pick one up from the store once i got a tip off about new stocks that has just arrived. This is my take on the Danelectro cool cat transparent overdrive running through my VOX AD100VT and through a Fender American Standard Telecaster on Clean Boutique pre amp.

I was very impressed with the tone of this stompbox. The reviews were true. How could a $38 pedal sound so good?! Maybe it is because of it's cheap price tag that make consumers not pin point the flaws on this range of stompboxes. Besides, the flaws that i could say about this pedal is all in the cosmetics department.

Tone wise,  I ran a shoot out comparison with my main overdrive pedal which is the Digitech Hardwire CM2 Tube Overdrive which street values values around the $160 - $180 mark. The Trasparent overdrive could match the CM2 in tone. It's a very very close call. From clean boost to drive levels set to the max i have to painfully admit that the transparent overdrive won in the transparency department but in high gain mode, the CM2 edges out with a bit more bite and grit when set to modified mode on the CM2.

Personally, I think that the knobs on the back of the cool cat is kinda dumb. It makes tweaking a little more difficult comapred to the normal knobs on the top. The blue LED light is pretty in the dark comapred to the more common red LED's on BOSS pedals. I'm using a biyang noiseless adaptor on this as my power source and it's a fairly quiet unit. Not to mention It's also true bypass. Well, at least the sticker on the front of the pedal says so.

Construction wise, It's housed in a metal case with metal input & outut. 4 knobs on the back. Volume, Treble/Bass & Gain. It's a little hard to dial in on the bass knobs as the knob is shared with the treble knob. The knobs are very close to each other and accidental dials happen to their neighbours occasionally. It's built very sturdy and built like it could handle some hard stomps. The main footswitch is pretty tight. Needs some seasoning stomps but it's all good,

A nice touch from Danelectro! This pedal has some minor details in the package. The pedal comes with a cool Danelectro 9v battery. Very nice retro looking battery and also some stickers. 9 of them to be exact. Box candies....

My Conclusion:

Danelectro has made a very affordable pedal for guitarist who do not wish to splurge on exotic boutique pedals that cost 5-10 times more than a cool cat. It's one of those pedals you hate to love but can't help being part of your pedal board family. Some players who are into "boutique" pedals will be ashamed just to even own or mention this pedal and just keep this pedal as their dirty little secret hidden from thier peers. It's price and affordibility means almost anyone can own this. For just $38, this ugly greenish brown box can really produce some serious tones that can rival some famous tubescreamers in the market.

The Transparent Overdrive impressed me so much that i went out to pick up another Danelectro Cool Cat  pedal. The Danelectro Cool Cat Fuzz! Same small price but big on tone. I highly recommend it.

Rate: 8.5/10

What Makes Me a Better Man?

American Standard Telecaster 2000

i just picked this up yesterday. It is pre owned. Excellent condition for a guitar that has been around since 2000. It features a alder body, maple neck, maple fretboard. From the serial dating, This piece is probably made in 2000 at the Corona California factory.  I'm not sure what these pickups are but my sources tell me that these are the stock pickups. I will have to take those pickups out to check on their item number to find it origins

.

I love the finish on this one. Some say it's a 2 tone sunburst. Some say it's tobacco burst. Well whatever...  Whichever it is, It's certainly beautiful with the grains showing through the finish. It's one of those G.A.S factor for me to pick this up without thinking too much about how i'm going to suffer through the month with the amount i have spent on this beauty. Counting down the days untill my next payroll arrives so life will be back to normal,

This piece also features a 5 saddle bridge but personally, i still prefer the vintage 3 saddle setup. The electronics feature a delta tone control and a 3 way switch.

I personally love the sound of telecasters. This one sounds towards the warmer side. It's got a very punchy tone and the cleans are amazing. When driven, The string through bridge helps to boost the sustain. It's certainly a leap of difference from my previous CIJ TL71 which had a rather snappy tone that breaks up in tone and produces that "quack" of a tone when the guitar is picked hard.

With the tone knob turned down. Switch on the neck pickup and it produces a warm and jazzy tone with punch. The Bridge pickup just oozes with the TWANG factor with the tone knob in full position.

This is one very versatile guitar. The only dislike i about this guitar is the lack of a broken in feel on the edge of the fretboard. Unlike the 2008 American standard. This 2000 model feels less comfortable . I guess i just need some getting used to with the different types of neck i play daily.

I hope this guitar will be a good investment for me in the future.

9 years and counting till this "Teletubby" is labeled as Vinatge ....

I Rate This Guitar: 9.8 / 10

Vintage Mid 1980's Burny Les Paul Custom

Just picked this up pre owned. It's a mid 1980's Burny Les Paul Custom in sparkle gold. It.s 95% Stock. It's original color is in sparkle silver but through time and aging, it has tunred to a nice sparkle gold. It's hard to tell the make and details on a vintage burny. There isn't much information to be googled. Still trying to discover the roots of this guitar.

I took her apart to have her re-furbished after more than 2 decades. There was a lot of dirt and grime on the fretboard. Some deep conditioning with Jim Dunlop's deep treatment oil made the difference. I used Jim Dunlop guitar wax polish to clean off the Oxidation on the hardware as well. I noticed that the pickups are the legendary VH-1's. There's still a sticker on the back of each pickup with that label. Seeing those sticker labels really made my day.

This plays very well. I played it through a VOX 100VT with a Digitech Hardwire CM2 and Boss CS3. Very thick punchy tone with walls of warmth and sustain. The VH-1's sound very PAFish but the pickups can induce hum very easily with high gain. I haven't played this hard and long for a long time. It's inspiring when you pick up something that feels good and sounds great. This one is a keeper.

Original Color should have been a sparkle silver. thanks to a previous sticker of some sort on the back of the guitar, I can see the effect of a beatifully aged guitar. Changed from silver to GOLD...

Love it! Just eye candy. This is not a les paul custom you see everyday with a sparkle vintage finish.

More pictures can be found in  "G.A.S The Gallery"

Specs: Ibanez Artcore AF75TDGIV

After playing with this piece for a while now, here's my take on the Ibanez Artcore AF75TDGIV. My first impressions are of course it's beautiful looks. That was my main draw in picking up this poor man's alternative to a Gretsch. The Stock ceramic ACH 1 & 2 pickups were not too impressive but the overall build quality of the guitar was very good. When unplugged, It plays very well in terms of tone on it's own. Loud & crisp tone for a full hollow bodied guitar. Maybe the maple tops on the top, back & sides could be a contributing factor for the sweet acoustic tone.

The pickups have since been revamped with a set of GFS Vintage Filtertrons. I had to order these direct from guitar fetish at below $150 including shipping cost for a set of 2 pickups. That's relatively cheap in my opinion. I had my guitar tech install the pickups with orange capacitors & a coil split along the way. It's not an easy feat to install a set of pickups on a hollow bodied guitar so i left it to the pros on this job.

After the entire upgrade, the tone of the guitar when plugged into my VOX 100VT was dramatically improved. The new pickups made a very big difference in tone compared to the stock pickups. There is that certain growl to the tone with the bridge pickups and the neck pickup produces a very warm and bassy jazz tone. There were no traces of muddiness in tone. The orange capacitors may be doing its job to brighten the tone. When pushed into coil split mode which is installed on the volume knob of the bridge, The coils produces a very bright and clean tone which is great for blues.

I guess anyone who has played a bigsby styled tremolo guitar will somehow worry about the tuning stability when the bigsy tremolo is used. I am quite impressed that the ART2 VBF70 Vintage Vibrato held it's tuning very well. I had got no issues with tuning instability when using the bigsby tremolo. But obviously, these bigsby bars are not meant for huge Steve Vai type dive bombs. They are made for what they are. Vibrato's ....

As with most hollow bodied guitars, When pushed into high overdrive or high distortion it will most definately have some form of feedback. You will need to make some adjustments to your playing style or maybe even adding a noise gate to try to cancel unwanted feedback noise. But most definately, the sustain level is sweet and lovely if the right amount of control is applied.

I have yet to see an identical piece locally. I don't think Swee lee has brought this piece in with this ivory finish onto our shores. Maybe not yet as this finish was only introduced in 2008. This one is a keeper for me. the Ibanez Artcore series is under rated and i think more players will start to see their worth down the road. I would definately recommend the artcore's if you have plans to get a hollow bodied guitar at an affordable price.

Pros:

• Very affordable price for a hollow body jazz box. Great Value!
  
• Beautiful
• Great tone when on it's own
• Loud on it's own
• Maple tops on all sides
• Great build
• It's an Ibanez!
  

Cons:

• Stock pickups sounded cold & lifeless
  
• Hard case not included

Rating: 9/10

Here's a cheap alternative to get some pedals which won't cost an arm and leg. The Biyang's! With quite a range out in the market now, These pedals are made in china. I bet a lot of you would probably roll your eyes after seeing that MIC tag.

I recently got 2 Biyang pedals. The first is the Metal End King. This pedal is worth a mention. Built on a shiny metal housing. The Distortion levels on the Metal End King is shattering. With very high gain and lots of tonal options. With some tweaking, It's easy to get a 80's-90's Metallicaish era hard distortion to the new age Nu Metal tones. There's a lot of thumping lows for awesome palm mute riffs. Retailing brand new at $160, This is one of the Biyang's i would highly recommend if you are on a budget. With that aside, there is a manufacturing fault on the amp simulation toggle switch. Some owners have reported the mulfunction of that switch. Even i myself have fell victim to it. Not to worry, The warranty will cover the repair. Just have to bring it back to the shop and it will be ironed out with some fixes. If you're a avid Metalhead, This one is a must try.

Next Biyang on the list is the Biyang OD8 X-Drive. One very unique feature in this pedal is the ability to change IC chips on board. There are 3 different IC chips that come together with the purchase. The NE5532(warmer tone), TL072(harder tone) & of course the JRC4558 (Think ibanez TS9 Tubescreamer). Personally, I think the ability to swap IC chips so easily without the need for solder or any technical experience is a great selling point. With a much sought after tone that the JRC4558 chip can produce, It's an alternative to the ibanez TS9 tubescreamer. Tone wise, this is a good pedal to help boost some soaring leads. Only retailing at $100. How much does a TS9 cost again? For a fraction of the price, I'm comfortable with the tone it produces. It's very close but not a clone worthy TS9.

There are still some Biyang's that i have yet to get my hands on. The next few that i would like to take for a spin would be the AD-8 Delay, CH-8 Chorus and the EQ-7. Another worthy mention about the Biyang products will be the Biyang Noiseless Adaptors. They are cheap and an alternative to the one spots and DC Bricks. At $25 a piece to power up 5 pedals. Most major brands are compatible with it. These are worth checking out as well.

Definately, Value for money pedals and accessories from Biyang. Check out their english translated website HERE

Firstly, Merry Christmas to one and all!

Since it's the Xmas season, I decided to put on some new strings for my guitars. I have been a regular user of the 9's-42's for quite some time now and i have decided to give the 10's - 46's a shot. I needed some getting use to as i do find the 9's - 42's rather soft and comfortable but lacks in tone. I'll gradually move up the gauges as i do find the 10's to 46's rather comfortable now.

With that aside, I frequent the Cleartone brand of strings. It is coated and does not rust that easily. I cannot simple stand the feel of rusted strings and not to mention the hassle of string changing as well. That was my main reason why i have shifted to coated strings. Some say that the Cleartones lack in tone but they do last a good 3 to 5 months if cleaned after playing. I agree with the duration of the life span of the strings but i do not have an issue with the tone. I do find the tone rather good for a coated sting. It's not sticky and plays well too. A pack of these retail at $19.60.

So last weekend i went down to DAVIS and got myself a set of Aurora strings. These strings are coated as well but it has a variety of colors to it as well. I'm not much for having colored strings but i decided to give it a shot because they were much cheaper at $16.90. I bought 2 packs of 10's - 46's in gold. I had a set fitted to my Fender Strat. Everything went well with 5 of the strings until the High E string felt rather strange when i tuned it. It just would not stay in tune! No matter how i turned it, It would drop a full step. I'm tuning on standard tuning and I repeated this many times until the string snapped. upon closer inspection on what went wrong, I noticed that the string did not actually snap. Instead, the ball end of the string unwinded itself and came off. This kinda pissed me off so i took the High E from the other set to have it replaced. And the same thing happened again! Now I'm thinking that there's a problem with my bridge that is causing this to happen.

I removed the entire set of Aurora strings and fitted my strat with a set of CLEARTONE 10's - 46's. The installation was flawless like it always did. There was nothing wrong with my tuner, ears, technique and guitar bridge. So here's a little advise, STAY AWAY FROM THE AURORA'S! IF YOU HAVE TO, DO IT WITH CAUTION.  With a price tag of $16.90 a pack, dumbass manufacturing faults like this should not happen. Maybe i was just unlucky to pick 2 rotten apples from the barrell but i don't think i will take a chance on a pack of strings that is packed with a price tag of $16.90 with a chance of mulfunction again.  Not to mention the poor unprofessional packaging it had.

There's a saying in hokkien " Hor Kua Bo Hor Chiak "

Call me old fashion if you will but a Robot Guitar Again? I thought it was a one off thing when Gibson released it's first Robot Guitar. Maybe it was a huge success or maybe they are just trying to revolutionize guitar playing. I'll just stick to tuning the guitar with my ears or with a tuner. In my opinion, Tuning a guitar helps enlighten your sense of tone and hearing. Somethings are better left that way. People just get lazy with that much technology pumped into everything around them.

But the Gibson Dark Fire sure looks intriging with a big price tag... Chameleon Tone Technology? That's something i would love to find out.

100 watts of power at my disposal with 2 x 12' celestion speakers through a metal grill. It's a hybrid valve + solid state amp. Your neighbors will hate you for getting this amp. Crank it up and this sucker can really be loud.Among the many amps that i have owned, this one is the most versatile in terms or built in pre amps and effects. It produces some very nice cleans and killer OD's. It has a little bit of everything for the different player at heart.

         

         

• Cheap for a 100 watter that has a name like VOX
  
• Good looks
• Nice vintage tones
• Versatile for most genres of music
• 11 pre amps
• 11 FX's
• Ability to add external speakers and cabs
• Ability to adjust the voltage of the amp
• Noise gate
  

• Headphone option is no good. It dosent justify the tones and makes them sound cold and sterile
• High gain on ceratin pre amps are too grainy
• Damn heavy. Some built in wheels could come in handy for the travelling musican

This just dropped in today. I have been waiting for this for almost 2 whole weeks. There were some shipping issues but they were finally ironed out. It's finally here!

I'm still finding faults with this one. That's a normal thing for me to do when a new piece pops into my collection. Beautiful Jazzboxes usually don't come cheap but this is definitely in a different price league. Build quality and tone wise, I'll have to shred on this for a while to feel and hear it extensively to find out what's the deal in this stunning yet affordable guitar.

More detailed pics that can be found in "G.A.S" The Gallery

I have had many strats in the past but have never owned an American made fender. The hype of the fender franchise was the new American standard. Some swear by it while others will feel other wise. Well, i held back long enough and went out to get myself a brand new piece. I picked the blizzard pearl finish on a maple fretboard and neck. I got this piece from Swee Lee at a promotional price of $1500 nett. *Thanks Jai* My first impressions of this guitar was the Fender SKB Hard case. Frankly, I still prefer the vintage tweed cases as it gives the guitar in it a vintage classy sleek look. But this new molded SKB case sure looks like it can be run over by a truck and the guitar in it will still be in tune. (Try at your own risk!)

I am impressed by the initial factory setup of the guitar. It's was 98% perfect. I only needed a slight intonation on the B string and everything else was set up right. The tone is wonderful. On positions 1, 3 & 5 you can achieve the classic nasel strat tones with quack and twang. On positions 2 & 4 are the glassy strat tones. The delta tone circuit was a nice surprise to me as this is the first time i am using a delta tone system which gives some extra boost to the bridge and middle pickup when the tone knob is set to full on the bridge. 

I guess that's why American made fenders are the hype all this while. I'm sure many would oppose and would say the difference in quality is very subtle between the CIJ's, MIJ's and even the MIM's except for the higher price listed for the MIA's. I refuse to debate this apple or orange myth. It's a matter of personal preference and the players touch which makes it different.

Pros:

• Smooth neck
• Glossed fretboard
• Action
• Classic strat tone
• Delta tone circuit
• Hand rolled edges on the neck
• Tuning stability
• Very versatile
• Comfortable

Cons:

• SKB molded hard case
• Limited finishes
• 60 cycle hum on pickups

I now understand why the American Fenders cost more and it's every much worth my every cent spent.

Rating: 9.5/10

         

         
Pictures Courtesy From hub4thailand

• Affordable
• Great Tone
• Discontinued Model
• Light Weight
• Very Versatile
  
• Comfortable neck

• 60 Cycle Hum On High Gain
• TL-Current Pickups (Could have been better with some high quality pickups)
• Too Much Gloss On The Back Of The Neck

I picked up this pre owned piece from blackwood guitars at $800. I was captivated by the 70's era big headstock and vintage white finish (cream). Although i did not know what the actual specs were, I was told by the guys at the shop that this piece had Texas specials pups in it which led me to think that this piece had an alder body. Which is the vintage premium. Sometimes it's very hard to tell when it comes down to strats. You won't really know for sure untill you take the guitar apart for a closer look. Obviously, i don't think any guitar shop will allow you to do that before buying. I took a gamble and bought it anyway. It really looked awesome!

I brought this piece to my guitar tech to have it checked only to find out that i have lost the gamble. This piece is not the vintage premium that i thought it was. The body is made of basswood and had US vintage pups in them. Tsk Tsk Tsk ... Cheated? I would not like to think that i was as i kinda figured that this piece was being sold on consignment by the owner. Maybe even the guys at the shop didn't even know the true specs of this guitar. Or did they? Anyway. It don't matter. We all learn from our mistakes.

I got mixed emotions with this guitar. After having this guitar setup, The overall feel just didn't do it for me. Doing hard vibrato's on both E strings actually made the string slip off the fretboard from the 12th fret up. Maybe it's just me with my tendency to be a hard player but i was not comfortable with it. Tone wise, I didn't really get that snappy twang out of the basswood body and US vintage pups. It lacked the voice of a real strat that i have longed for.

All in all, This is not a bad piece to have. It's definitely eye candy when you walk into a room with it. Vintage white finish, Large 70's headstock, Bullet truss rod, 3 point 70's back plate makes it that much of a piece that's meant to be hanged on the wall rather than played. Maybe i was just unlucky to pick this particular one. 

The guitar that don't feel right are the guitars that are just not meant to be... 

Pro's:

• Beautiful vintage white finish
• 70's Large Haeadstock
• Bullet truss rod
• Backplate
• Lightweight
• Cosmetics are excellent!

Con's:

• Lack of twang and quack
• String slippage from the 12th fret onwards
• Too much gloss on the back of the neck. Sticky feel

Ratings: 6/10

Before

         

         

• Beautiful 3 tone sunburst with ash grains highly visible
• Satin finished neck
• Push button (S1) for 7 different tones on a 5 way switch
• Nice cleans
• No 60 cycle hum, Noiseless when pushed into high gain

• Heavy in weight
  
• High velocity snappy tone when pushed into high gain due to the ash + dual ceramic combo
• High retail price
• 12mm neck radius