Lazy Days & Loud Screams

At last, a long weekend! We haven't had one in, like, weeks!

The shop will be closed on Monday 1st October while we all go dress up our cats to celebrate HRH Queen Elizabeth II's birthday. What, you don't dress up your cats? Am I the only one that does that...?

________________________________

This week, while we're celebrating Effects Pedals and history, we thought we'd have a look at the evolution of the Ibanez Tube Screamer.

It's been called the most beloved overdrive pedal ever, and touted as having the greatest impact on music expression and the development of guitar effects.

The Tube Screamer began life in the late 1970s, with the famed TS808 model. Manufactured by Nisshin in Japan for Ibanez, it was set to compete against the Boss OD-1 Overdrive. It debuted in 1979 and was made popular by Stevie Ray Vaughan, among others. Over the years several versions were developed, including the TS9 in the 1980s.

Today we always keep two very popular versions in stock: the TS808 and the Mini, so you will always be able to create the sound you want.

________________________________

Speaking of minis, how perfect does this pedalboard look? Like a box of chocolates waiting to be devoured..

On the left is the Super Metal Mini, for warm and full-sounding distortion. Next is the CS Mini Chorus, the reissue of the popular CS9. In the middle there is the Mini Analogue Delay, encompassing the familiar sound of the AD9 in a bite sized package. The bright orange on the right is the 850 Fuzz, based on the original OD850 circuit; and the green pedal on the far right is our beloved Tube Screamer Mini. We love all our Ibanez pedals, and have lots more instore, so come down and have a play.

________________________________

And now, back by popular demand, our Friday Funny:

Now that is something we can all relate to. Have a great weekend and stay away from those pearly gates!

Babies & Cry Babies

It's Birthday Time again! Can you guess who this adorable little package grew up to be?

If you can, feel free to come down and tease him about getting old. He loves it! :P

________________________________

We've been in a history kind of mood for the past few weeks, so let's have a look at the evolution of one of our favourite effects pedals: the Crybaby, or Wah Wah.

Last year, Dunlop celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Cry Baby Wah. The first wah pedal was released in 1967 by the Thomas Organ Company, and the machinery was acquired by Dunlop in 1982 to manufacture their own Cry Baby Wah, which they have been perfecting ever since.

1982 saw Dunlop's first version, the GCB95. It reflected the changes in the music scene since the sixties, and provided 80s musicians with a more up front and aggressive sound. It also heralded the standardisation of the Cry Baby Wah, as previously different models had different styles to suit differing tastes.

In 1994 Dunlop introduced the 535Q Multi Wah - the "Swiss army knife" of wah pedals. To reflect the 90s trend of personalising your sound, the 535Q offered players much more control. In 1999 the Bass world was given its own Wah pedal in the form of the Cry Baby 105Q; 2000 saw the release of the 95Q, which combines the aggressive tones and greater player control; 2003 brought us the reimagined classic, the GCB95F; 2014 honoured its roots with the CM95 Clyde McCoy ; and 2015 brought in a mini version, the CBM95 Cry Baby Mini Wah. As you can see, Dunlop has the market cornered, and isn't the whole guitaring world the better for it!

Today the Dunlop Cry Baby is one of our most popular pedals, and you can get your own right here.

________________________________

As well as Dunlop's CryBaby, we also love their MXR pedals, like these babies right here:

First up here we have the Double Double Overdrive, which serves up two classic overdrives in one casing. In the middle is the Custom Badass Modified Overdrive, which is a classic overdrive circuit with modern modifications for improved versatility. On the end, we have our MXR Micro Chorus, which delivers an amazing range of rich chorus textures through old school BBD technology.

________________________________

And our apologies, but it's that time again - our Friday Funny:

It kind of sounds like I don't hear a lot these days, doesn't it? Anyways, I'll keep my ear to the ground and you go have a great weekend. Catch you next week!

New Faces and Strange Sounds

Some more exciting news in the shop this week: we have a new team member!

Come down and say hello, and see if you can pick where we imported this one from, based on his interesting accent!

________________________________

Well it's Week 2 of our Guitar Effects month, and last week we looked at the history of Guitar Effects. So why don't we brush up on our knowledge of the Guitar itself? Here's 10 things you may not know about the humble Guitar:

1. The Guitar actually came from Egypt, not Spain - although what the Ancient Egyptians played looked a little different from what we call a Guitar today.
2. The Biggest Playable Guitar is located in Nerrandera, NSW - Australia loves it's big things, and this one you can actually play!
3. The most expensive Guitar ever sold was a Fender Strat, sold for $2.8 million to raise funds for the 2004 tsunami.
4. A man once loved his Fender Strat so much that he actually married it - musician Chris Black married "Brenda The Fenda" in a London church in 2001.
5. What's the serial number on your Strat? Iconic British guitarist David Gilmour owns one with the serial number #0001, although it's thought that this is probably a showpiece, rather than the actual first production model.
6. The first brand to mass produce 7 and 8 string Guitars was Ibanez - although the first 7 string model was intended to have a high A, instead of a low B.
7. The Electric Guitar that is so commonly associated with rock music today actually began in the 1930s Jazz scene, and Blues and Country artists were the first to embrace this new instrument.
8. The smallest guitar in the world is only 10 microns, or 1/100,000 of a metre long - about the size of a single cell - made by researchers at Cornell University and is capable of being played, with specialised equipment.
9. The longest Guitar sesh was recorded in 2011 by Irish guitarist Dave Browne, who played for 114 hours, 6 minutes and 30 seconds. Talk about callouses!
10. The sound of the Electric Guitar was sent into space in 1977, on both Voyager 1 and 2, as examples of what Earth culture sounded like. So if we do get contacted by aliens, don't be surprised if they have long hair and leather jackets!

________________________________

This week's focus products are our awesome Boss pedals.

We have a great range of Boss effects units. Here you can see the Metal Core ML2, which is a favourite among metal guitarists. It delivers massive distortion and gain with heavy lows, for playing any type of metal music. The bright yellow one is the Super Overdrive SD-1, which produces the warm, natural distortion of an overdriven tube amplifier while maintaining the subtle nuances of a player's picking technique. The blue model is the Super Chorus, which is an industry standard chorus pedal delivering a clean, classic sound with crystal-clear highs and a unique stereo effect. As usual, there are lots more in stock and new ones coming in all the time, so keep checking back!

________________________________

And now for the real reason you're here: Our Friday Funny:

Classic stitch up! Have a great weekend and we'll catch you next time!

Looking Forward, Looking Back

News news news! Guess who's taking some paternity leave to celebrate a new addition to his family!

We'll miss your face around the shop for a few weeks, but enjoy this time with your precious family!

________________________________

And speaking of new beginnings, it's a new month, and this month is all about Effects for us. So whhile we are looking forward, let's take a moment to look back at the history of Guitar Effects.

Mahatma Gandhi was murdered, cauliflower was 15c a head, and the bikini and Polaroid camera were making their first appearances (coincidence?). The year was 1948 and the very first commercially available effects pedal, the DeArmond Trem Trol 800, appeared on the scene. It was made popular by Bo Diddley, an early Rock N'Roll guitarist, and it produced a tremolo effect by passing an electrical signal through a water based electrolytic fluid. From that point on, guitar music would never be the same.

Throughout the 1950s, amplifiers were appearing with built in effects like tremolo, vibrato and reverb, though distortion was being achieved by musicians such as Willie Johnson and Chuck Berry deliberately increasing the gain. A distortion pedal first appeared in 1962 when The Ventures made their own for their song The 2000 Pound Bee. From then on it was an avalanche - the first transistorised pedal was the Maestro Fuzz Tone in 1962, 1967 saw the first wah-wah pedal (Warwick), 1968 brought the first phase shift and chorus pedal (Univox), and 1969 was punctuated by Pete Townsend and his Univox U-250 Uni-Fuzz. The 1970s saw several new solid state effects pedals on the market, the 1980s made digitised rackmount units popular, and the 1990s brought it all back to the garage due to the watershed moment that was Nirvana.

This century offers a plethora of options for the guitarist, with not only many new effects but also lots of vintage reissues of classic pedals. We have a great range in stock and get new ones in all the time, so if you like to experiment with refining your tone, our Effects section is one you will want to keep an eye on!

________________________________

With that in mind, let's have a closer look at some of our Guitar Effects. This week we will look at our range of TC Electronic pedals.

At the back you can see the bright yellow of the Afterglow vintage style chorus pedal. Its all-analog circuit uses a Bucket Brigade Device (BBD) to create a wide range of classic handed-down modulation tones. Just in front of that we have the Ditto Intuitive digital looping pedal, which packs a lot of punch into a tiny package. On the front corner we have the Mojo Mojo Overdrive pedal, which ramps up the voltage up to 4x other popular drive pedals. Or if you're after a true pitch vibrato pedal you can't go past the Tailspin, which delivers a wealth of stunning vintage vibrato tones all served in a very affordable package. As you can see we have lots more, and get new ones in all the time, so come down and check them out today!

________________________________

And as usual, we need to assault your eyes with our weekly Friday Funny:

But was he as bad as these jokes, I hear you ask?  Have a great week and we will catch you all next time!