Throughout my career, I have explored two options as a working musician: being a part of a band and being a "hired gun." Though both carry positive and negative aspects, I find I prefer being in a band, but have taken on hired gigs due to financial, and sometimes, career affecting reasons.
Read MoreA fan on Instagram tagged me in a photo of a Fender Precision bass I played with The Mars Volta which is currently on display at the Hard Rock Cafe here in Hollywood, California. It was cool to see, but I wanted to set the record straight with some specific details.
Read MoreSo a few weeks ago, Nick and I were in Germany for Guitcon (a convention of sorts where gear YouTubers met up to nerd out) and we were trying to find things we were really into, to report about for you all. Nick had this great idea to do a video with fellow attendee, Robert Keeley (of Keeley Electronics), about compressors. Nick is a self proclaimed compressor dummy who possesses little knowledge about compression, nor does he use one on his touring boards.
Read MoreAnother one of the many things we've discovered at GuitCon, is the June-60 chorus, currently a prototype by TC Electronic. I posted this on my Instagram and have already seen quite a bit of buzz about it. Most importantly, TC Electronic wants to know if YOU would be interested in it!
Read MoreSo we're at the famous Warwick facility in Markneukirchen, Germany where GuitCon is currently being held. Nick and I are checking out all that GuitCon has to offer, peeping gear, and making videos too. We managed to get a special preview of TC Electronic's newest pedal, the Quintessence harmonizer.
Read MoreNick had a pedal he wanted to do a review on that I had no connection to. He was on tour in Croatia with his band Tera Melos, and a builder walked up to him and handed him his Manifold Curiosity that Nick figures is a weird warping delay. Since I had no exposure to this pedal ahead of time, I thought it would be cool to let Nick take the lead on this, and it came out great!
Read MoreWay way back in 2012 when Pedals And Effects was still in its infancy, I was still working out the kinks in how I was going to format my videos and reviews. And while I cover effects pedals a lot on the website, in the digital age its important to be able to accurately capture all the craziness produced by effects! There are plenty of DI units out there to suit your needs, but I wanted to look back on the Gas Cooker Mic/Pre DI made by Ridge Farm Industries.
Read MoreA follow up from last weeks Throwback Thursday, the crew over at Earthquaker Devices uploaded the footage they shot of Nick's clinic during their annual Earthquaker day!
Read MoreThis week, Juan is featured on Justin Pearson's Three One G: Cult & Culture podcast! Bass player, label owner, man of many hats Justin Pearson, and Juan sit down and talk bass, Juan's extensive musical career, Los Angeles and so much more.
Read MoreTwo dudes, four fuzzes, you know what that means...fuzz wars! Although maybe it's not necessarily a "war" this time around, as these guys are all our friends, and I'm pretty sure they're all friends with each other. So this is more of a fuzz "friendly," or a scrimmage. Got to keep it positive! Either way, we got Way Huge, Rabbit Hole FX, Rocket Surgeon, and Analogman on deck! Nick and I switch off on guitar and bass so let's see how each fuzz compares.
Read MoreAs you probably already know, my close friend, former band mate and one of the world’s greatest drummers, Jon Theodore, is now drumming for another amazing band, Queens Of The Stone Age.
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