Thinking About Gear

i am a gear geek. i admit it. i’m never satisfied by the gear i have and am always on the hunt for not just new toys to make sounds with, but stuff that also processes those sounds. just wish this stuff didn’t cost as much as it does!

aside from that here’s a little list of what i’m jonesing for:

1. Boss RC-20XL loop pedal – i really like working with loops, but i am really not terribly good at working with samplers and sequencers. this little gem means i can work with any audio source (mostly a guitar or a bass) and create a phrase and intuitively create a loop. it makes more musical sense to me than trying to make a sample for a software-based sampler.

2. Line6 DL4 Delay Modeler Pedal – i’m not a huge fan of Line6 stuff, i’ve never gotten into the POD thing, the PODs always have been too inarticulate and fuzzy for my ears, but this pedal sounds amazing. simple doubling and making richer textures to going outright glitch is what this thing is about. i like that.

3. Fender Jaguar Baritone Special – always looking for some other guitar to broaden my tonal pallet, and this baritone guitar is something i’ve been wanting ever since i played a friend’s back in 2004. pinback does some very interesting stuff with baritone guitars, and the fact that they sit somewhere between the classical 6-string guitar and a 4-string bass and usually B-tuned just adds a very interesting tone and vibe to any piece.

4. SSL Duende – i’ve never been in a world class recording studio, and have never had the chance to sit behind a mammoth SSL G-series console, but SSL has finally figured out a way to make some of that possible for us poor dumb no-talent hacks have the same kind of tools as the fellows in the big leagues have. Basically a firewire device with its own set of DSP processors and a set of RTAS plugins that emulate classic SSL EQ, compression and limiting so that when you are mixing and/or mastering you can give your composition that SSL flavor, without shelling out $10k a day or spending $1,000,000+ for a console

so, that’s pretty much what i’m looking at. i’m saving my pennies and nickles… but then i also have to find a way to put HMMDWTG out on vinyl too. sheesh… and pay rent and the car, and insurance, and food… and, oh crap. being an adult sucks.