The Watering Hole

That time of year, plus, I had been quietly saving to take my gf on a cruise but that blew up a couple of weeks ago so hell with it, I needed a pick me up.

I grabbed these new pieces yesterday. Some I've been gassing for, one was an impulse purchase, but I've always been a sucker for anything different and interesting from Ibanez (I'm not the biggest fan of their dime-a-dozen lines but I'm no IEG either...every now and then they do have something right up my alley).

Anyway, the 5150 III mini is out, traded it in for cred and went with the Tweaker 40. The 5150 was just sooo bright and I didn't especially like its clean channel with my pedals and already owning a brighter high gain amp, I wanted something with a REALLY nice clean channel for both cleans and those pedals. The gain on it is pretty cool as well but I have better with my other head so I doubt I'll use it much there. I still want to play a MESA Electra Dyne for this purpose someday - the clips make me drool.





And yes, the Bogner Red pedal lives up to the hype!!  ;) Redonk. Very transparent, punchy and amp like.  



Lastly - a really nice stumble, this used Ibanez. I've been wanting a guitar with an H/S pickup config for years but they just don't make many! I mean Suhr does, Tom Anderson as well, but yeah, too much $$ for me. Then on the other end of the spectrum, I've sampled a few Laguna models, but they were crap-ola. This one is just right. Feels really solid, the fret work is up to snuff with fairly well rolled edges and the neck pocket is razor tight. It's basswood but with a maple neck. The reverse head is sexy. Dimarzio D-Activator and Air Norton pickups. The neck is amazingly easy to play! I believe it's a Wizard III. Anyways, I have three pretty different tone flavored Ibanez guitars now - basswood+maple neck, alder+maple top, mahogany+maple top.




Just the Ibanez



And the whole gang

Nice family shot there!  Egnater makes a good looking head.  I miss mine.  :)

Cool, the Tweaker 40 has two channels! Mine doesn't have that.  BTW not to nitpick, but that is a humbucker in the neck position.

Post samples of that Red when you get a chance...

Thanks man! Yeah, I hear ya, it is a stacked single pickup, but in my experience, I've never personally had one of those that still felt like a full, traditional humbucker, just missing the body (it always seems)...and this one is no different, clearly a loss of volume/balls when I kicked over to it, at least it terms of feel. Then again, it does sound like a HB when recorded. I raised it some to balance out the volume (this guitar was set up horrendously at the store - but it was still easy to see the quality hiding there). I flipped over to it in this clip and it does have that smoother, thick, rounded neck sound like a side by side HB. I'm digging it now. Main thing is, I can always slap something more vintagey, old skool single coily in there if I'd like.

Early test clip of the Bogner > Eggy pairing. I already have this jam layed out so I had to dial in the Tweaker and the pedal a bit brighter for the lead to sit here (brighter doubled rhythm from the Marshall) but still think it works ok this way. Gotta play with it some more. The Tweaker is set set 100% clean, all the gain is the pedal.

Bogner Pedal Test / Download

Nice scores!!  Love the sound of that Bogner pedal.  G.A.S....

When did you get the RG on the right (which model is it)?  I think I might have missed that acquisition.   ;)

Thanks! Seems like about two years ago on the '99 Prestige RG3120. A rare model and definitely rare specs for an Ibanez (mahogany body and AAA maple top, maple neck/rosewood board, DiMarzio Air Zone and PAF Pro and the older, better Lo-Pro edge trem).  

getting harder and harder to suppress bogner pedal GAS!! ugh.

awesome looking guitars! strangely, the new acquisition is giving me a case of telecaster GAS. damn. lol.

Hehehe. Cool. Thanks. You've got a Bogner though already, dontcha? Not fair, lol. Seriously, if you try the Red or Blue, I'm betting you'd buy it. It sounds and feels like a high gain Bogner flavored amp in a pedal. I've only had a couple of days with mine (and the head I'm running it through for that matter) and I'm discovering lots of great tones).  :)

You've had Tele GAS for a while though (I think)...might be time to buy...how much longer can one hold out, lol?!

yeah, I'm thinking the blue pedal with the uber's clean channel might be the ticket - would help bridge the gap between clean and gain channels. the main reason I'm thinking about the red is for use with univalve or flexi... or anything else. dunno, I might not really need either of them tbh... but I'm thinking up excuses to get one!

I've wanted a telecaster for about 25 years - I can porobably hold out for a bit longer. ;)

D, Love all three!  Great scores!   I really like the new guitar.  The other two are givens.  I wonder if a Red would stop my Mini Rec gas....  

D and I-S.... I know a guy who has the best affordable Tele's around.   ;)

the one I currently have is cheaper ;)

But not as much fun!   ;D  

Nice scores Derek...  Man I'm jonesing for those pedals.   :D

Thanks Howie, Paul! Remember, I just got that head and pedal, kinda tossed that tone together on the fly, just turning dials on both toys. I hope this weekend to have more time to actually tweak the Tweaker, has so many little features, might even have to read the manual, lol. I'll definitely put up another clip of the pedal, this time just a raw sample, a more balanced tone and not dialed/dumped into a goofy mix.

Actually i really liked that mix.  The rhythm tone is stellar :)

You'll find out real quickly, you get your pedals set up, sounding just like you want, and throw that 3 way switch that selects amp tone stacks, and it's going to sound WAY different.   :)