So I’ve just finished off an incredibly busy week. I haven’t had time to post here about it, but I did end up buying the amp I mentioned in my last “More Guitar Talk” post.

I called up the pawn shop that had the amp on Monday morning. “I was in there over the weekend and I saw an amp that was for sale, and I forgot the price, ” I said. I’m put on hold, and the woman on the phone returns with a jaw-dropping price. “It’s $200,” she says. I tell her I’m coming to play it, and head to the pawn shop.

I get there and ask to try it. I ask for any Strat-style guitar, and they hand me some off-brand strat copy. It wasn’t too bad. The action was nice and the strings felt fresh, but the pickups left a lot to be desired. Still, it was enough to run the amp through a test, and play it for a few minutes at volume. It sounded nice, even with their knock-off Strat. I bought it on the spot.

I took the amp over to a friend’s house in the country last night so I could get it up to a real volume. I popped my blues backing track on, and turned the amp up to find the sweet spot. Let me tell you, it sounds nice.

One of the power tubes is on the way out on the clean channel, and it is basically unplayable at decent volumes. The tube has become microphonic, so the speaker rattles the tube, which amplifies the rattle, which rattles the speaker, which in turn rattles the tube, and so on. It does *not* sound good.

I’m looking at buying a set of JJs from Eurotubes. The ones I want are $56.50, so that’s not too bad.

I’ll post a sound sample later this evening, after I get back from grocery shopping.

Mike

So, earlier in the week I decided that I needed some new blue jeans. I’m down to two pair after having degenerative knee failure on one pair, and a zipper misalignment on another. I asked Jaime yesterday if she wanted to head out to the Salvation Army/Goodwill stores to look for some jeans with me, and she agreed. I have to admit, I was looking for more than just a pair of jeans. I was looking for a tube amp.

See, Savannah, like much of the south (from what I’ve seen) is riddled with pawn shops. They’re everywhere. If you have something– anything– someone will pay you a tenth of what it is worth to take it off your hands, and in a less-than-comfortable retail environment to boot.

I’ll also readily admit that I’m not very experienced when it comes to pawn shops. I’ve been to maybe a half dozen of them in my life, and have never bought anything. They seem like semi-legitimized flea markets. I imagine that most of what they have on their sales floor is stolen.

Well, we did the rounds for about 5 hours yesterday, and I still bought nothing. No jeans from the thrift shops, and nothing from the pawn shops. But, I did find something interesting.

My main goal in stopping at the pawn shops was to look at music equipment. My attention could certainly be grabbed with a sub-$200 American guitar, or a decent tube amp. Who knows– I may even be interested in a banjo (I am in the south, after all).

My main focus, though, was a tube amp. I really, really want one! I’m coming to the realization that while I am capable of learning how to build a tube amp, I may not be daring enough to do so. Every website I see that discusses tube amps comes with a standard disclaimer like:

“Warning: Tube amps contain enough voltage to kill you. Several times over. Even if they are unplugged. Seriously, don’t mess with tube amps if you don’t know what you’re doing or you could die. Really.”

That means that if I want a tube amp any time soon, I need to find one that is (a) already built and (b) cheap, and therefore (c) used and (d) probably pretty old.

I was kind of surprised that the pawn shops don’t deal more in older amps. Just about every pawn shop we visited sold amps by a manufacturer named Kona. These amps look very crappy. Sure, they have a nicely polished circular faceplate on them, but it seems that they are junk. Searches for Kona brand amps at American Musical Supply, Musician’s Friend, and Sweetwater all turn up nothing. I would imagine that these amps are made overseas out of poor quality components, and yield an unacceptable tone. Any way you look at it, they are solid state, and therefore off the table for me.

I did stumble across an amp that I am actually considering. It’s a Peavey Delta Blues. I know, Peavey isn’t typically known as the best amp maker, although they do seem to sell a lot of them. But this amp really looks pretty good.

It’s a 30 Watts all-tube amp, using three 12AX7 and four EL84 tubes. It comes in a nice vintage-looking package. I haven’t actually heard this amp yet, and I can’t find any sound samples online, so it’s hard to tell if I’ll like it or not. Having played a huge solid state amp for years, though, I have a feeling I will like it.

My only concern is that the amp has a 15 inch speaker. Holy cow! I used to have a couple of speaker boxes that had 15s in them. They were EV Force15s, I think. Man, these speakers had some bass! It was way too much bass for me. I know that the tone I seek is light on the bass, moderate on the treble, and heavy on the midrange. So, I’m a little concerned that this amp’s single 15 might cause problems. The good thing is that the amp has an output so I can hook up to an external speaker cabinet if I’m not happy with the tone of the 15.

The other concern is that the tubes are reported to be cheap, unprotected, and to rattle at high volumes. As for the tubes being cheap, I have no idea. I’m sure they can be easily and rather inexpensively replaced. The tubes can be protected with a tube guard for about $26. It looks to be high quality. The tube rattling problem can be addressed for another $24.95 with one of these.

The amp was listed at the pawn shop for $349, I think. I can’t believe I don’t remember the specific price. I’m pretty sure it was $349. I’m hoping to deal down on the price. The folks at the pawn shop made it clear that the price on the tag was not final– “Those prices are just suggestions. Just ignore them.” I’m hoping to talk them down about 20%. That would take the price down to about $279, which seems to be about right based on other used versions I’ve seen sold. Still, that $279 is about $100 more than I can spend on this amp.

I’m a less-is-more kind of guitarist. I’ve been trying to work my “effects chain” down to nothing. I don’t need heavy distortion, I don’t need reverb, and I certainly don’t need chorus. I really just need a hot guitar with thick strings plugged into a good-sounding amp.

I went through and did an inventory on my pedals last night:

• MXR noise gate line driver
  • Pot marked 1378013– made in 13th week of 1980.
  • Works very well
  • Good cosmetic condition (minor chips in paint, foam inside disintegrating)
• Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer
  • From mid to late 90s
  • Good cosmetic condition (minor blemishes)
  • Seems to work fine, just not for my tone
• Boss CH-1 Super Chorus
  • From mid to late 90s
  • Good cosmetic condition (minor blemishes)
  • Why the hell did I buy this pedal?
• DOD FX-80B
  • Origin unknown. It magically appeared in my collection.
  • Bad cosmetic condition (no battery cover, knob missing top piece)
  • I think it works, but I haven’t tested it in a few years.
• DOD FX20-B
  • Origin unknown– another mystery pedal.
  • Poor cosmetic condition– missing battery cover, and has a piece broken off one knob.
  • Scratchy pots, if I recall correctly.

Yep, that’s right– I have an incredibly crappy pedal collection! The only one worth a dime to me is the Noisegate. It’s one hell of a pedal. Simple to use, effective, and built like a tank. This pedal ways about a pound, I’d say.

I ran the numbers, though, and I think I can conservatively expect $100 – $135 total for all of them. I’ve never sold anything on Ebay, but now is the time. I’m considering selling them as a “lot” so I don’t have to deal with a lot of hassle. I also might see if the pawn shop will take a direct trade.

If you take into account the cost of the pedals, that would bring the remaining cost of the amp to around $179-$200 or so, and that is definitely doable!

I’ll be calling the pawn shop tomorrow (closed Sundays) to see what their best price is. If it’s reasonable, I may be stopping in to test out this amp. If it sounds good, I may try to buy it.

Of course, this could all change. I’m going to scour other pawn shops, and check the classifieds for someone selling an “old guitar amp.” There’s got to be someone in Savannah with an old vintage amp and no clue as to what it is worth. I’ve just got to find them.

Anyway, all this guitar talk has got me itching to go fire up the guitar. I’m considering recording a sound sample so you can see that I can actually play. I’ll see if I can get the laptop configured.

Mike

Fox has been pumping up their American Idol show again. I really hate this show. I hate everything about it from its annoying music to its obnoxious graphics to its awful, awful “judges”– and that doesn’t even touch the potential “idols.”

I read this article with a big grin on my face. Fox was scared that their ratings would slip.

Well, leave it to the masses to watch this garbage in record numbers.

Now we’re going to have to watch a whole bunch more of this show, for years and years. Thanks a lot, American Idol watchers.

With the current idol count at three, I don’t know how many more idols I need.

If someone wouldn’t mind testing the commenting system of my blog, I would really appreciate it.

I understand that I’m not getting a lot of traffic right now, so this may take a while.

Thanks!

Mike

Yeah yeah, I know. It looks horrible.

I just whipped this together on a whim, and haven’t had much time to get even a somewhat decent design put together. Maybe tonight, maybe not. I’m not too sure.

For now, just grin (or frown) and bear it. That’s what I’m doing.

Mike

I don’t have a lot of money, and I don’t make a lot of money. It seems to go hand in hand. So for me, I will most often only purchase items that I perceive to be an excellent value. This theory of purchasing has earned me the nickname of “the deal king” from quite a few of my friends (online and off).

I’ve bought a big box of Kraft’s newest food, valued at over $40, for $5 delivered. I’ve bought a very nice set of cold cathode tubes for my computer for $3 delivered (no, I didn’t need them). I’ve picked up up two office chairs that initially cost $120 each for $40 each. I’ve bought a $40 coatrack for $4. I’ve picked up 120 gig hard drives for $40. I’ve had dinner for two at Quizno’s subs for under $6– over 20 times. I receive over 15 magazines on a monthly basis, and I haven’t paid for a single one.

I am the deal king.

So, when I get screwed by a company, I do not take it sitting down.

An example:

HardDrive.com

They have to be one of the shadiest companies with which I have had the pleasure of dealing.

A while back, I decided that my computer’s CPU was running too hot. It is a Prescott, after all, and they are known to run hot. I decided to purchase some Arctic Silver 5, which is a thermal compound that is applied between the CPU and the HSF (heat sink & fan).

I searched my deal sources, and was able to locate Arctic Silver 5 for a steal of a deal– around $5-7 I think. I ordered it up, and waited for it to arrive.

Several days later, it arrives. I open it up, and it isn’t Arctic Silver at all! It’s some crap brand that, after research, offered little to no cooling benefits over the wax pad installed by Intel at the factory.

I contacted the company, and the gentleman (it’s a long stretch to call him a gentleman) said it must have been a picking error. He said that Arctic Silver 5 had since gone out of stock. The first thing that told me was that this company was willing to intentionally send the wrong product in hopes that the customer would not have the drive to complain.

He told me to head to the post office and send it back to him at my expense. Well, seeing as the item was under $10, and the shipping was going to be over $1, I was not willing to spend over 10% of the total item cost to make up for the incompetence of a company to whom $1 is a drop in the bucket. I requested that that they send me a postage-paid envelop to allow me to return the incorrectly shipped merchandise. They refused. I suggested that they eat the cost of the item, and simply ship the item to me at their expense– after all, picking errors are the fault of the company, and writing off product losses is a cost of doing business. They again refused.

I decided to call back and try to get another customer no-service rep. I called the “general” line. To my surprise, the very same person answered. I thought that was fishy, and I hung up. I then realized that this company also operates several other companies (Thortek.com and DieCastAutos.com). All of their phone numbers rang to the same place, and the same guy answered the phone.

Finally I decided to speak with this guy again, and told him that it was his duty to make the situation right. He informed me that since he didn’t like my attitude via my refusal to ship the incorrectly picked product back to him on my dime, he would not be offering any sort of assistance. No RMA, no credit, no prepaid envelope– nothing. Surely this is the sign of a scum bag working for a scum bag company. What a mope.

I told the person at HardDrive.com that I would be contesting the charges on my credit card, and he would be getting no money out of me. He challenged me to do it. Lesson learned– don’t challenge me.

That was enough for me.

I rang the folks at Arctic Silver. I spoke with a nice gentleman over there who was very interested in listening to my story. I explained it, and offered to send him photos of my receipt and the product shipped. He went well beyond the call of duty and offered to UPS me a *real* tube of Arctic Silver 5 at no cost. I was amazed.

He was very interested in hearing that HardDrive.com was scamming their customers. See, Arctic Silver 5 is the *best*. There is no better thermal compound I have found. Because they are the best, they have an amazing reputation. There are people out there who swear by Arctic Silver, and I am one of them. It truly is an amazing product.

Anyway, here’s what happened:

- I sent the photos of my order to Arctic Silver.
- 1 day later, HardDrive.com had disappeared. They were *gone*.
- 1 day after that, my real Arctic Silver 5 arrived, direct from the manufacturer.
- 1 day after that, a credit appeared on my credit card statement showing that HardDrive.com had credited my purchase in full.

I WON! Actually, this was more than a simple victory. This was a lesson to places like HardDrive.com that a resourceful individual could make it very uncomfortable for them to do business with their suppliers if they don’t take care of their customers. It was also a lesson to Arctic Silver– one they must have already learned long ago– that providing both an outstanding product and equally outstanding service earns repeated business, word of mouth referrals, and an excellent reputation.

SOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo……

Now let’s talk about SOYO. I hate SOYO. They are scam artists– have no doubt. A couple of Google searches proves this:

soyo rebate complaint
soyo rebate ripoff
soyo rebate scam

Yep, they’re scammers alright. Here’s my story:

Back in July, I purchased a SOYO barebones kit. It was priced at $179.99. According to TigerDirect, the product qualified for 3 rebates to the tune of $140. That means my out the door cost would be $39.99 + shipping ($15.57). A good deal, right?

Well, I’ve only received one rebate check for $40. The rebate form suggests that it will take 12-14 weeks from the time the rebate form is postmarked to the time I receive my checks.

As of today, it has been 22 weeks!

I’ve emailed them numerous times. I get generic responses like (December 1, 2004):

“We would like to apologize for the delay. Your rebate has not been processed. Please keep checking www.verifyrebate.com to check on your status. Thank you for your patience.”

So, I’m basically out a hundred bucks for now. That is entirely unacceptable. Tomorrow, I will be emailing them with my demands– 2 checks, $100 total, FedExed to my house. The email will be carbon copied to my attorney. That will hopefully light a fire under their butt.

If it doesn’t, though, I will be headed to the Chatham County courthouse next week to file a small claims suit against both Soyo and Tiger Direct (the retailer). Soyo and I have a contract, and it is clearly outlined on the rebate forms. If I make a mistake, the contract is void and they do not fulfill the rebate. Understood. But, if they make a mistake, the contract is still valid. Soyo and I have not mutually departed from the rebate contract, and they are therefore liable for the $100 total payment to me. Additionally, Tiger Direct advertised that I would be able to submit and receive three separate rebate forms. If, however, I am not able to collect the rebates as specified in the presale terms, the transaction is not complete. Tiger Direct almost certainly knows that SOYO is a scam of a company, and while I cannot prove it, I can prove that they advertised 3 separate rebates for this product. They are complicit.

So, we’ll see how it goes. I’ve been calling Soyo all day at 909.292.2500, but it is either busy, or dumps me to a voice mail. I may call their investor relations department, and let them know that both Soyo-rebates.com and Soyo-rebate-scam.com is available, and hosting is cheaper than ever.

So, here is the lesson of the day:

NEVER TRUST SOYO. NEVER NEVER EVER.

Soyo is a horrible company, and their rebate fulfillment is on par with Belkin (another horrible company for rebate submission– don’t get me started on them)

We’ll see how this works out!

Mike

A blog. I can’t believe I’m starting a blog. I’m sure I’ll get hell from just about everyone who has been the receiving end of my ridicule and mockery. But, that’s OK. I can handle it.

Anyway, this blog is not going to start with a long, drawn out introduction as I imagine most other blogs do. I’m simply going to welcome you to my blog, and thank you for reading.

So, welcome to my blog, and thank you for reading!

Mike