THE UPDATERJANUARY 2026
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Seperate those pedals that are a steal from those that are stealing from youat any priceIF IT IS WORTH KNOWING IT WILL BE HERE FIRST
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MY MONTHLY RANTThe only good thing is that Armageddon 2025 is over!!! Last time I checked the those that caused it still can't keep their f.-ing mouth shut from telling us we never hadit so good.
YESTERYEAR'S NEWS
No I am not doing my Best Pedals of 2025 here. They will be in posts over the next few days. The BIG DEAL of 2025 were the Modellers. The big boys did updates and budget models. The smaller players all have stuff that have sonics that get at the very worse a 9.5 out of 10. In short if you heard them with a great player live you would be assuming you were hearing one of the big boys rigs and wouldn't even bother to ask.
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A lot of reviewers are voting the best piece of gear of 2025 is the Valeton GP-5 that on AliExpress is $66.34 USD with free delivery. In a blindfold test it could pass to your
ears as a $1700.00 USD Fractal FM9 to anyone (but the guy who owns one), lol.
TIME OUT TO SHOUTOn December 30, 2015 I sat down and made a blog to give you what I thought would give maybe a few hundred at best a heads up on dirt cheap pedals that sounded Pro. I thought I would add a few posts over 2 or 3 months then call it a day. I fell off my chair when overnite it went viral. Here I am 10 years later having reviewed over 4000 pedals with up to 3000 players a day visiting to check them out There have been a total of 2,260,000 + . Yes over
...selfie taken today
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2 million visitors, It blows my mind.
MY LIFE IN MINIATURE
On Jan. 3 ...I will have crawled my way thru life and will be 79. I only play my original songs & have done that since I was about 23.
I spent years in the West End of London UK playing the clubs that 99% of all Brit bands that ever became world famous played.
My Prog Rock band Tallis once opened for Rush and at that gig about half the crowd
there never heard of Rush and came to hear Tallis.
I have met Hendrix 3 times, Clapton let me have his his guitar to check out. Ron Wood
found me a new Marshall JMP 50 that I could afford, I hung out with Keith Moon and
went to see Joe Pass play with Steve Howe. Every famous player I met I acted as a peer,
not a fan. I introduced myself, and said only that I loved their sound and started talking
about gear immediately. Every player gave me the same advice. Listen to others and
learn but NEVER copy their style. In short do not learn their tunes. You can not
un-learn them and they will show up in your tunes making those tunes second hand.
Robert Fripp told me if I want to steal music ...steal it from Charlie Parker & Dizzy
Gillespie's BeBop and from the composers Claude Debussy, Bela Bartok and Igor
Stravinsky. I did just that! None of these guys played the guitar. I recommend the same!!
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In a year I will be 80. my goal is to get a good live take of my best 35 tunesso I have a record that I even was alive. After 80 statically I amliving on borrowed time.
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TOYS FOR THE OLDER BOYS
Some old, some new
but all are cool !
WHEEBO JMP DriveThis MIAB has been around for 13 years. Yes it does a killer classic take no prisoners power chords and leads. The BIG BUT is!!! You can also dial in the perfect Mark Knopfler Sultans of Swing tone. Or to the point a 100 watt cranked Marshall but set to a hair before breakup sound. I figure I have easily spent over $2000 on pedals trying to find that sound. Many boasted they could give you the perfect Strat clean sound. All total bullsh@t. Eike Hintzen who designed and makes everyone of these pedal says nothing about it.Made in Hanover Germany and overbuilt with the best parts and an obsession for quality. $200.00 USD & worth every penny!!!
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UPDATED JANUARY 1, 2026
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Every day for decades I put in time daily practising, learning theory and writing tunes.A slow day is 2 hours, 4 is closer to minimum but 6 is no big deal. I do it takinga half hour break here and there so I will be back soon to get THE UPDATERwritten up to basic level.
So check back later today for the usual monthly sh@t
Just want to say thank you for what you do. I enjoy reading your posts and insights on these funny little boxes. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteThanx for the thanx.
ReplyDeleteOver many, many, many years I have worked and played on 2 continents with players of every race, creed and color. The only thing different from each other is the color of our Strats, LOL. If we all keep that in mind we will all certainly have a good New Year.
I met Scientist Lyn Evans years ago who was in charge and instrumental in the building of the Hadron Collider. He said happiness can be found by keeping your time and energy divided evenly between the knowledge of ...Health & Science ...Art, and most important ...Empathy. If any of these things is out of balance with the others one becomes depressed and unproductive. Profoundly true. Since that time when I wake in the morning and sit and have a coffee and consciously think of what I need to be grateful for. It makes any challenges that might spoiled my day feel small, in fact nano.
Happy birthday Paul, and an additional thank you from me for all you do.
ReplyDelete