Monday, February 18, 2019

The day is done. The time has passed.

This is the end of trashedengineering. The blog will stay up in existence and may get some occasional updates. I have a good opportunity that i cannot pass up. When that happens, you will know. I celebrated my 20,000th post on UG with deleting my account. I would like to share a few screen shots.




To the readers I am grateful for taking the time to read my opinions and pics. I got 10,411 views and wrote 55 blogs, over a span 2016 to current.

To close this formerly, I will end a quote from a brilliant sociology instructor, Professor Kelvin Faison,

"Peace, love, sex, and dope, when all is lost there is no hope."

Above all, I would like to thank my grandfather, as he is what got me into electronics, I love him dearly and he is an amazing man. Grandpa, I love you and thank you for the information and patience.

Cheers,

Trashed

Monday, November 12, 2018

***Trashed's Gear*** Splawn Promod KT88 METAL RIG


Thar she be. The freaking beast. Splawn Promod KT-88. The same as a Quickrod, just with KT-88 as opposed to EL34's. It is on top of my general go to metal cab (despite owning mesa, orange and a half dozen others). It is a Randall cab, Celestion T75's on top and a 15" Eminence Legend at the bottom. Massive bass, mids and balanced treble. For the record, my Splawns (this and a Nitro KT88) do not get along with V30's.

Scott Splawn has it going on. He is a brilliant SOB, has all of the features you need nothing more. You have a foot-switchable second master, a foot-switchable extra gain stage (OD1/OD2) and of course a foot-switchable channel switcher. Perfection. There are a couple of qualms about this amp though. It sucks at quiet. PERIOD. loud or louder. I have 23 tube amps at the moment, and this is just loud. I swear this is the loudest 100 watts I have EVER heard, and it cuts like a damn knife. No cutting through the mix issues here.

JJ 12AX7's in V1-V4, JJ KT88's in the power section.

The effects are stupid simple. The fuzz is my newest prototype so that is hush hush for naooo. Then a Korg Pithcblack, Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Mosfet, a Malekko Unity Fuzz, all out front, a Visual Sound H20 Chorus and delay, BBD loaded. The delay is pretty much always on. The chorus is occasionally used on cleans.

My main tone is with the OD2 selected and I use the FD-2 mostly for leads. Cannot comment on the prototype, the Malekko Unity is for the clean channel. Chorus if engaged, is only on the clean channel. Delay is always on. I have master volume 1 on as quiet as I can and the second master for the volume I play at during the day, which is definitely louder than I can play in the middle of the night.

The gain is beastly. The tone is beastly. Splawn has no disappointments.

Sunday, November 4, 2018

RE: My First Post Rambling. BOSS RANT PARTIALLY RETRACTED.

RESPONSE FROM my first post RAMBLING

https://trashedengineering.blogspot.com/2016/08/2016-08-14-volume-myths-and-boss-pedals.html

""The Rambling: 
Boss Pedals. I am a pedal whore, no question about it, last count was in the 30's, most $120-$150+ new. There are a few exceptions though. Now boss, they have their strong suits, they are durable as all hell. i am sure you could run one over with a car and not wreck the damn thing (maybe that wouldn't be such a good thing). They were great in the '80's, Especially the modulation and delay (mainly for me the choruses and delays), then, I don't know what happened. Furthermore, their dirt pedals have never been good (other than the whole HM-2 thing), and  their dirt pedals have gotten progressively worse. Their buffers are mediocre at best. They have been far from innovative in the last decade, and that is why I am not a fan.
Fifteen years ago, it was different. that was before the millions of boutique pedals and builders were out there. At that time it was them, Digitech, EHX, DOD, and MXR. Time went by and Boss got too comfortable, and ceased to innovate. They are behind the times.
Do i hate Boss pedals? No. Do they make some good ones? Yes. I like some of them, but in most cases there are better pedals for just a few bucks more. Boss stopped making my favorites a long time ago, which are the dimension chorus and slow-gear. They are flat out awesome, but now they fetch stupid prices, and I am not willing to spend that much. Other honorable mentions are the NS-2, DD3, DD6, etc, as well as some of the other choruses. The final mention is the HM-2, I have one and it is great for one thing, that grinding shrill noise that is pushed through a Marshall Valvestate or Ampeg VH140c. I don't care for that tone, but i keep it around in case i get bored.""

 THIS SHIT IS BOSS! Maybe in a good way???

Waza Craft! Thanks to the boss for the new BOSS shit. Impressive. Darn, freaking impressive. I have tried three to date. Much applause. Seriously! Now I want them to re-release the Slow Gear and I will be one happy son of a gun. I want to see the buzz (get it???) behind the new Waza Metal-Zone. Sounds cool and usable. I am going to snag an old MT-2 before they go up a few bucks and get more desirable, as it sounds good going into the FX return. NOT OUT FRONT THOUGH. $40 isn't much to drop FFS.

To further delve into my new appreciation to boss is the OC-3 and my MIJ BF-2. The OC-3 is far beyond the OC-2, and kicks ass, but i don't need it on any of my rigs lol. The MIJ Flanger is absolutely out of this world. Damn. However I am not a regular Flanger user, but for $40 hell yeah. I am at slightly over 50 pedals now so many have come and gone.

I just wish Boss would make a better buffer.

Boss are hell-a-frickin' durable. Easily replaceable if it isn't vintage. Which is a plus. You can buy them pretty much anywhere. They are the industry standard for many things. However, I do think that it is waning as other companies are putting out some more mind blowing stuff at a faster rate.

You all know that I generally dislike TCE, but their Sentry gate is fantastic. I don't need one though. More surprising is that even the TCE chorus is pretty good and gaining headway. BUT not there with the Boss' of old. The MXR 10 band has replaced Boss GE-7 as a standard. BOSS has also been nudged out of the tuner TU-3, but there is Waza so who knows.

Point being, they are going the right way for the most part. I see my old thoughts and think about my logic schemes and thoughts and some has changed. I will be revisiting old topics from time to time.

In the words of the best front-man to ever live, Phil Anselmo "One, Two, Fuck! You!" on Down's live DVD "Diary of a Mad Band."*

*Of which I highly recommend, its old news though, but great content. REX Brown has some good shit out too now. The NOLA metal scene is budding yet again.

Friday, August 17, 2018

***Trashed Gear*** JSeXy, Pedals, and THE CHANCE to get a fuzz pedal for $10

Alright guys, here are some more pics of my gear.

This is a backup for my backup rig's backup. haha. I would use this if I was actively gigging, which has been a while.

It sits beautifully in the shop in its cozy with a pair of sexy silver guitars (pickups are not stock) which will be the next topic.

If you are the first to guess what the 'sexy silver guitars' are correctly, i will send you one of my new FUZZ prototype pedals for half off. $10 to your door (which pretty much covers shipping and boxing on my end). Again $10 total to you door. Email it to me and i will get one out to you ASAP. It is a prototype, it like most of the others has no switch and is encased in my signature blue boxes. Those two things knock off $12 a pop but its lots of fun and pretty damn cheap. The circuit is very simple, but i have been toying with different values a little bit to see what goes over best.

FOR THE SILVER GUITARS, SEND ANSWER TO TRASHEDENGINEERING@GMAIL.COM. PUT THE NAME IN THE SUBJECT. FIRST THERE WINS.


Soooo... Here is a Peavey JSX. I paid $350 mint for it, including the footswitch. It is a three channel 120 watt all tube head. It is going into my Randall cabinet which is unique because it has a pair of Celestion G12-T75's AND a 15" Eminence Legend. The speaker combination sounds great to me; The T75's get along with the Eminence Legend better than Celestion Vintage 30's do which is what I had in the cabinet first. The bass is certainly controllable and not too 'boomy' or anything like that. For preamp tubes, I am running all JJECC83's (12AX7's) with the exception of the PI which is a JJECC81(12AT7).

PRO TIP: the PI (phase inverter) is not actually a preamp tube, it is technically is in the poweramp, I highly recommend trying a 12AT7 or 5751 in that spot as you will typically notice a positive change.

Power tubes are all JJE34L's. NOTE the spelling, E34L, NOT EL34. E34L's are the perfect rounder and thicker sounding bottom end with the bite of an EL34 in the upper mids still remaining, that we all know and love.


Great cleans for an amp marketed for heavier music, not too bright, not too chimey, Peavey nailed it  on this one. The Crunch channel is freaking awesome, Gain for days; more than you could conceivably need. Tight with the boost. The Ultra channel is just flat out liquid gain. This amp as a ton of gain, keep it pretty low if boosting with an overdrive. There is so much gain though that you could easily wreck the tone with too much gain. The EQ is a little different on the crunch and ultra channels. Past noon the EQ turns into an active EQ. This means that the amp adds more in, not takes less out. There is a built in noise gate, which knocks back the hiss a little bit, but isn't very powerful.



Saturday, August 4, 2018

Multipiece Bodies vs Multipiece Necks... Voodoo? or Haiku

Good Morning, it's Trashed!

Don't worry, no black magic or poetry here. Trashed is no poet.

When you spend a lot of money on a Gibson, a bookmatched maple top and a two piece of body is what you dream of. (Oh. Wait, nevermind Gibson kind of put themselves in the shitter, so lets say a LP-a-like). It has 'da tonez', right?

People tend to think that the lesser the number of pieces that a guitar is made of, the better. Fact or fiction, I indeed do not know... BUT I do know that I wouldn't buy a Gibson with a five piece body.

NOW, most companies are using multi-piece necks. Maple/Walnut/Maple/Walnut/Maple, or whatever-the-hell they feel like. Does a five piece neck have the same effect as a five piece body wood? HONESTLY, I do NOT know. There are indeed obvious benefits as the necks are more stable and less likely to warp, and that it looks pretty, and, yeah it looks pretty. NOW (yet again), if the bridge is attached to the five piece and is a neck through, does that change the game? No idea. NOT to rag on Gibson, BUT why have they yet to use a scarf joint (face palm). Does one more joint make the guitar so different that half the time you drop one the neck breaks? They have done quite a bit of stoopid shit (mini-tune being the most obvious) to make me never buy a newer one, but they can't fix the weakest point of the guitar being the headstock joint... Dumbasses. They have no issue chamber and weight relating, but can't change the neck joint? Bottom line is that "HOW MUCH DOES A WOOD JOINT MATTER"?

I don't really know, let me know if you do.

/Trashed out.

Friday, July 20, 2018

This is the new trend. NEW ACQUISITIONS ***Trashed's Gear***

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Here is the full rig at the moment. This is used for mainly recording and in the garage lol. There is no way in hell i would carry two 4x12"s to a gig. Orange Rockerverb 50 mk1 for dirt and a Rivera Knucklehead for cleans.

The Orange is being pushed by either a MI Audio Blues Pro or Ibanez Bottom Booster, with the Clyde in front of that. out of the loop is a pair of Malekko delays, one EKKO loFi and the other is the standard EKKO 616.

The Rivera is through a Pigtronix philosopher's king out front, and in the loop a CMATMODS Phaser, a CMATMODS Chorus, and a CMATMODS delay.


New guitar number one: It is a Hofner Verythin. 335 based semi-hollow with a solid center block. The pickups are fantastic, solid German made hardware, so no complaints there, fit and finish flawless, perfect binding details etc. The grain on the wood is freaking sweet, front and back,this is so comfortable to play and I love it.



Rediscovered Guitar #1 I havwe had it for a few years, just didn't use it. This is a  Sublime Chieftain Semi-Hollow, laminated center block. The brand is associated with Crush Drums. A friend of a friend has some part of vested interest. The best thing i have to say is the plays great. The pickups are the downside IMO. Acoustically louder than most semi's. I must say i really like the headstock shape. Sweet guitar.