Just a quick note. This blog was never intended to be just about music gear. That’s just sorta what I ended up posting a lot about. Well, a couple days ago I decided to create a public Instagram account that’s a little more focused on my music hobby. So if you want, you can go check that out: simongchacha
guitar - music gear
The Quest for Tone – My Thoughts on Gear & Skill
I’m not sure if this is going to be a rant…or a guitar sermon…or just a little sharing of where I’m at. But here I go… As a guitarist who is also very much into gear, I too have been on this “quest for tone.” It sounds dumb, but I’d say every musician probably holds this facet of their sound to a very high regard.
music gear - pedals - personal - rant - Uncategorized
Please Stop Saying: “Worship Pedalboard”
There aren’t a whole lot of things that make me roll my eyes, but the term “worship pedalboard” is one of them. I think the effects pedal industry has reached a serious saturation point, where everyone is going for that same sound, using the same combination of boutique pedals, the same grey gigantic expensive digital delay pedal (if you have the matching reverb processor, minus 100 points!), with that same volume pedal front and center. They’re just pedalboards, folks. If you primarily play at church, that’s fine. But what you’re stepping on is a pedalboard…not a “worship pedalboard.” Part of […]
electronics - guitar - music gear - pedals
Malekko Echo 600 Dark & Ekko 616 Dark
Snagged this bad boy on Reverb this week. The Malekko Echo 600Â Dark is the warmer version of the regular Echo 600 (bright??). Â A little while ago – maybe 6 years ago – I had come across this pedal on YouTube, but I don’t think I had developed my own uses for delay with respect to analog vs. digital. So while I stuck around ’cause the pedal looked cool and the playing was good, I didn’t really add it to my list of pedals to consider buying (it was also really expensive).
diy - electronics - guitar - music gear - pedals
Klone No. 3 w/ fat boost toggle
Here’s my third Klon build using the Aion Electronics board. The first one I still have. The second one I built for a friend who plays bass. And this one I built so that I could sell. But, I don’t know, it’s so pretty I might keep it.
diy - electronics - music gear - pedals
LED lenses
Kind of a filler post here…but lately, I’ve been outfitting my pedals’ bypass indicators with these fresnel lens covers instead of bezels. Generally speaking, I think a lot of pedal manufacturers need to tone it down with the brightness of these LEDs. Perhaps it’s common that stage lights (or playing outdoors) warrant an annoyingly bright indicator, but I always felt it was overkill. If I ever ran into the issue, I’d just change the LED resistor to something higher, or I’d just swap the LED (usually water clear) to a diffused one. Anyway, back to these lenses. I just think they […]
electronics - guitar - music - music gear - new - pedals - tech - toys
T.C. Electronic HyperGravity Compressor
T.C. has been teasing a new product for a little while now, but it was only a couple weeks ago that they officially announced what this new thing is.  Well, here it is – the HyperGravity Compressor.
diy - electronics - guitar - music gear - pedals
Maxon OD-820 Clone: Aion Electronics “Nimbus”
Pictured here is my newest completed pedal project.  It’s the Aion Electronics Nimbus Overdrive.  Recently I had built myself a Klon clone and found it useful enough to include in my rig. If you didn’t know, the Klon is kind of known for it’s prominent mid-hump EQ. At first, I wasn’t really too crazy about this, but ultimately I decided that the contrasting nature of the Klon to my other OD tones was a good thing and this secured it a space on my board. While browsing the Aion Electronics shop, I came across the Nimbus. The one thing I really like about this site […]
music gear - new - pedals
Klon Clone Demo
OK, this video is 75% the Klon clone, but I give Amp 11 and the Fuzz Tool Jr. a fair amount of play, I think. Well, here are my thoughts on the Klon. First off, I have absolutely no first-hand experience with the real thing. But with this Klon clone being a part-for-part reproduction of the original, I trust that I’ve assembled something that sounds faithful to the genuine article.
diy - guitar - music gear - pedals
Klon Centaur Clone: Aion Electronics “Refractor”
Shortly after sharing about my new mini-board (here), I acquired a Pluetoneum Chi-Wah-Wah V2 (careful…oddly nsfw) to complete and maximize the usefulness of my new mini setup. I didn’t really feel like posting about it, although I may do a more lengthy demo in the future. Other than that acquisition, it’s all been Boss mods and new complete builds. This one pictured above is one of my proudest completed projects.