...welcome to spiderland.

records to get, pt. I

2008-05-15T21:44:00.004+02:00

So, here's a quick list of records you should know if you're a little bit in all these strange alternativeindiemathpostrock things.
Beware of trying to fit all these inside a genre - i'll try!

Yo La Tengo - I can hear the Heart beating as one
Quite spectacular, actually. Countryshoegaze? Definitely one of my favourites.

A Silver Mt. Zion - He has left us alone but sometimes rays of light grace the corners of our rooms
This is the record you should listen to if you're driving through an old, empty city.

Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
For all of you who enjoy a little bit of modern nostalgica.

Mogwai - Come On Die Young
Mogwai's finest, with quite a lot of pop-appeal. Nothing bad actually, just melodic.

This is going to be continued. You could stay tuned.

unwound - message received

2008-05-13T22:00:00.004+02:00

Jan has already repaired it, the Gold Fuzz is right where it belongs - in front of my signal chain.

Now, here's my chance to say a big
"THANK YOU!"
to Jan. It works as if nothing's happened, sounds nice and is as crazy as before.

The service was ultra fast, very friendly and in the end i got some stickers with it too (as seen on the left side)...

If i was able to give awards, Orion Effects would get one!

a silver mt. zion - stumble then rise on some awkward morning

spend a year in outer space

2008-04-20T17:31:00.002+02:00

The answer's here: Jan wants to care for his babies.

Excellent...

meanwhile, at home...

2008-04-19T17:20:00.004+02:00

My Gold Fuzz is still here. I didn't really forget about it or anything, but somehow i managed to not send it away.

That's not good. In the last month, i was thinking a lot about it. As i want to get myself a Pedaltrain II very soon and 'finish' my board, i want the GF to work. I'm currently using a tc electronic Vintage Overdrive (awesome pedal, get one before they're all sold out!) and my DBA Interstellar Overdriver as dirt boxes and i miss something real crazy for certain moments - wait:
i miss my Gold Fuzz!
So i mailed Jan again if they would still repair it, expecting the answer to arrive on Monday.

Oh, i forgot one thing: Jan linked this page on orion-fx.com under User Reviews.
Thanks, Jan!

I'll post more regularly now. Stay tuned!

this will destroy you - the world is our __

burn, fuzz, burn!

2008-01-31T20:35:00.000+01:00

I've burnt my Gold Fuzz a few days ago. I didn't really look at what i was doing and connected it with the power supply of my Line6 DL4.
Super!

I wrote Jan from Orion Effects and he said they'd repair it for me. Seems like everything's turning out good in the end.
I just have to bring the parcel to the post office. I miss it somehow.

manic street preachers - there by the grace of god

it's been a while...

2008-01-24T16:39:00.000+01:00

I've played quite a lot unplugged or without effects lately, got myself a steel string acoustic (Seagull S6) and moved into other directions again (i'm into singer/songwriter stuff a lot recently). No need for any effects, my Telecaster and my Peavey Classic 30 are just perfect for that.

So, no noise for quite a long time. The Gold Fuzz may be a super pedal (it truly is), but it's made to be loud. That's fine for rehearsals and playing concerts, but i think sometimes it's too much at home. It's just a noise pedal, for crazy oscillations and stuff.
I tend to use the Interstellar Overdriver far more often. It sounds good for all kinds of musical styles, if it's blues (hey hey Black Keys) or shoegaze. But you have to beware of turning in too much gain, it gets muddy easily.
The Interstellar Overdriver als replaced my Big Muff. As i said: it's good for all kind of sounds.

I already thought of selling the Gold Fuzz, but on the other hand it's just too cool to make noise with. If i get into financial problems (my gear, my smoking habit...), i may sell it.

But it's awesome, believe me. If you're into experimental or noise music, get one!
Others may get a much more simple fuzz without all that crazy circuits or whatever it is in it.

willie nelson & calexico - señor (tales of yankee power)

dba interstellar overdriver

2007-11-25T14:42:00.000+01:00

I've got my death by audio Interstellar Overdriver like a week ago and in very short time, it grew to my favourite distortion pedal.
As you can see, i have the version with mastervolume, got it from ebay.

So, as i got it, i quickly set up all my gear, adjusted the volume on it (this pedal can be terribly loud!) and began to play. In short time, i got all my favourite BigMuff tones out of it (the ones i never got out of my black Sovtek BigMuff) and a lot of very, very usable overdrive sounds.

Just imagine, this pedal's got no EQ, just a mastervolume and a gain control. But it let's you get sounds from At the drive-in to My Bloody Valentine or Lou Reed or The Weakerthans. I love it. Finally something that's not compromising.

dba founder Oliver Ackerman is vocalist/guitarist of A place to bury strangers. Also, some of them (or was it just Oliver again?) were members of Skywave. This may be the reason why you can get such a great Shoegaze sound out of it.

Here's my advice to you: at least try one! It's great.

tom waits - shore leave

gold fuzz, day 13

2007-11-21T16:48:00.001+01:00

Today is the 13th day of my fight against storms and walls.

Yesterday was the first time that i've played my current effect setup in all it's beauty.
Guitar -> Gold Fuzz, Boss PH-3, DBA Interstellar Overdriver -> Amp (fx loop) -> Line6 DL4. It's crazy, and the most unusable part of it surely is the GF. It's raw, loud, wild and crazy. I've found a setting that's quite good for chords and outbreaks, but all the leads sound like Santana. Nay, that's not really what i want, but it's a compromise. And: i wrote it down!

Why so late?
I've got a lot to do for school now, but one more weeks and there'll be a little pause between the first and the second run of tests.

Does anybody read this?

bonnie 'prince' billy - lay and love

gold fuzz, day 5

2007-11-13T17:28:00.000+01:00

The thing with the video may take a while. It's just that we've got a new camera with a quite good microphone and quite a high number of megapixels. The videos are only 320x240, but 4 minutes take over 70megabytes. Wow.
I don't think i'm able to uplaod any video until a found a solution for that problem.

Until today, i didn't write down any setting that i've found. After a little tweaking and playing and tweaking just a few minutes ago, i'll start writting down. I've lost the setting i've used for a song before and - i can't find it anymore. (Rhyme the rhyme well :)
That's the problem with pedals with so many knobs: you'll find yourself tweaking and tweaking, but afterwards you'll notice that you haven't done anything productive. At least that's what i do. I'm not satisfied yet, but, just to be nice to my parents downstairs, i'll let it be.
For today.

rose kemp - violence

gold fuzz, day 3

2007-11-11T19:28:00.000+01:00

I now came to the point that it a) oscilates like crazy all the time or b) doesn't sustain long with the setting i used. But i think i'll keep it. It's just too crazy to be useless for me. I can see myself wearing ohropax.

Sebastian of offsetguitars.com told me that my Gold Fuzz from 2005 has a slightly different layout than the newer ones. As mine has controls like this (left-right): Volume - Gate - Stability - Gain - Frequency, his controls are like that: Volume - Gate - Frequency - Stability - Gain.
If there's a difference in sound doesn't really matter to me. I just mentioned it to create a big myth...

Meanwhile i've come close to a sound like you can hear it on Smashing Pumpkins 'Today'. In a few days i'll make a video of a song which uses the GF quite a lot. In fact i composed the song with it.

sonic youth - disconnection notice

gold fuzz, day 1

2007-11-08T20:14:00.000+01:00

So, two weeks ago i couldn't control myself and bought a slightly used Orion Gold Fuzz from ebay. For half of the price it costs new (:

And, as i came home from school today, i found a parcel on the desk. "It's here!"
I opened the parcel, put it out and let it lay beside me while i ate. Not because i think it's better than my dog, just because i was hungry as hell and left it where i was.
Then - up into Batcave! Let's try it out!

Robin (my guitar) & me were quite nervous. A fuzz factory. Whoa!
Have you seen that video of Matt Bellamy using it? That's what i want it to do. And i want it to sound better than my black Sovtek BigMuff Pi.
So i plugged everything in, expecting it would sound good in the setting the former user left for me.

It sounded like...nothing i've ever heard before. Not bad, but completely unusable. It oscillated like crazy, leaving me thinking about my poor parents and the dogs downstairs. It was not funny.
But maybe half an hour later, it began to work. I've learned how to use the gate knob, the sustain was very short and every note ended like i suddenly turned off my amp.
At least, "Can't stop" was playable with it. Funky!

In the evening, i played around with it a bit more and found out that i don't need another effect pedal for crazy noises. It's all in there. I sounded huge, like heavy metal A place to bury strangers. There was white noise all over. It wasn't as transparent sounding as my former attempts on My Bloody Valentine-ish song writing, but somehow close.
I laughed quite a lot that evening. It was great. It was huge, brutal, atmospheric and crazy.
But i'm still not sure how i should use it in 'softer' songs. I wanted one fuzz for all.

I know a place where i can get some example-settings. I'll try a few tomorrow.

lou reed - legendary hearts

factorial

2007-11-08T19:26:00.000+01:00

Ladies & Gentleman,
Hello. This is it. My place for imagination. In imagination? I don't know.
It will be all about music and instruments as i'm a guitarist.
The first thing i'd like to start with is a kind-of-diary of a fuzz factory user, as i've got mine today.

So, let's start...

currently listening to:
lou reed - street hassle