STOMP BOX STEALS is 4 YEARS OLD ...DEC. 23 2015 - DEC. 23 2019

 FOUR YEARS OF STOMP BOX STEALS 
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So 4 years ago I had some time to kill. Now I don't LOL
I decided to do a Blog giving guys with no money a heads up on super cheap pedals that were entry level Pro. They had to be less than $100 but I was aiming at not more then $40 unless you had to spend more to get a pro sound.
So I simply wrote for an hour and published the results  ...then wrote for another hour and published the results. Keep in mind my idea was to do maybe 5 posts to cover all the basics then abandon the the Blog.
BUT 4 hours later I looked to see if anyone had gone on my Blog. I expected zero. It went viral!!!!
LOL

So here I am with 260,599 of you and there are 79 of you here right now reading one of 910 Posts.

The coolest thing I have done is to put some builders of killer pedals on the map.
Cooler still they are from all over the word ...like Estonia with a population of less than a million people.
I also got to know all the Youtubers and others in the business.
Now pedal makers and other music equipment makers ask me to review prototypes so they can get them right before making them. Others even ask me what to build next. I not only tell them but do research to find out how something completely new can be done. Often the answer is from other technologies.
How about a speaker cab that will sound great ...be light to carry that is made of plastic that you can not break and the total for all costs to make one is $5.00 USD for a single 12" empty speaker cab. If you want more they snap together. So you can make your own stack if you want to go far enough. lol

WHAT's NEXT
I learnt a lot. In order to stay ahead of your questions

 I learnt enough about gear to learn basics of how pedals, amps and guitars work and how they are designed. I went so far to even know how guitars are designed and manufactured. I would feel comfortable in a guitar factory as a plant manager.
I at present I am preparing to build and sell my own line of guitars.
My company is LENARD RE-INVENTIONS ...LENARD GUITARS
I have 4 designs.
My first should start being built as early as March.

My greatest victory is that the master builder at where I am having my guitar built gave me 3 versions of my first guitar and I selected one in about one minute of looking. It blew his mind because he told me I had picked not only the best design but the most practical and economical one to build ...yes cheap but with zero compromise to the quality. 
In my mind it has zero compromise to the look either. 
Or as Oscar Wilde said ..."Style is Everything"
If it doesn't look cool then f__k it!!

What I hate about what is available is an endless amount of makers try and make a particular model and tell you it is perfect for all styles of music. BULL!!!
Different styles need different guitars.
My first guitar will be a Fender that never existed. It could have been produced in 1952 right between the 1950 Tele and the 1954 Strat. It is aimed at a guy who plays only Gibson ...and I say so right up front!

Google - The Second Best Guitar on the Planet and check it out!

SO NEXT YEAR IS SOON TO START!!!
 NAMM is in 4 weeks so all the makers will be showing us their new products.
There is often a breakthrough product. With the digital product we will soon be offered
things that are now hundreds or thousands will drop as much as 75%. Because it IS possible.
The $400.00 USD Strymon Iridum that came just 4 weeks ago was really for the show.
they are doing a pre empted attack or know of or afraid of something better and cheaper. I expect AX-FX to bring out a small cheaper unit but with the same sound quality spec.
A new amp company could bring out an amp that cloned perhaps 3 of the best amps digitally
and just worked like and looked like a normal amp for about $800.00 USD. You will be able to just download the 3 you want. If you are a funky old style blues player you might just get a Tweed, a Deluxe and a Supro. You walk away knowing there is no learning curve. You just throw it in the car and head for your gig.

DIGITAL AMP MODELER INTIGRATED AMP

So next year I will jump into the present. I am going to assemble a digital guitar amp.

In short put together the separate boxes that are part of something like a Kemper.

I will build them into a 'head' style cabinet.

It will consist of a parametric EQ going into a Strymon Irianium then into a small studio MIc Preamp and finally to a 450 watt Type C amplifier.

The Strymon will sit upright with the amp beside it and a panel will hide the EQ and Pre as they need only be set once to cleanly pass the signal and flatten the speaker response.

One can then set up the tone on the amp from the Strymon just like a standard amp panel and use the knob on the amp just like a Master on a regular amp.

The amp will sit on top of it's cab in the backline just like any guitar amp.
I will use my present cab which i built using a Celestion NEO Creamback. 
Guys using a Kemper use guitar cabs but everyone else uses PA wedges which are aimed for full frequency response. The main reason for my parametric EQ is to in effect make the guitar cab have the flatter sound of a wedge but the nice coloration of the Celestion. 

I will have the luxury of accessing in affect ...a Fender Deluxe, a Vox AC30 and a Plexi.
In the same tune if need be. :-)

Many bands are going digital with everything except a drum kit.
They all go thru a common system with their own sound monitored back to them. 
This causes a problem. Many guitarist use feedback created between the PU's and their amps speaker as part of their style and sound. The common system kills this.
With my rig you can still tap direct from the strymon but all the feedback is captured.