Well, our trip to Vegas was nice and easy, especially for a bank holiday (it was memorial day here in the US and A), and it was quite funny to nearly bump into old school Oaktown rap legend, TOO SHORT, who was checking in to the Hard Rock Hotel for the days bikinni ‘girls gone wild-esque’ pool party that presented a line of not less than 300 gals. Those crazy folks over there…

Hannah played Video Poker and won $30 and i bet on the Cavs (i gave up 3.5 points and they won by 6) to beat the Pistons and won $38. We used our winnings to buy ourselves a nice meal at the Hard Rock Cafe. So, all in all, a nice trip.

Now then. In the last Diary i covered all the funny quirks that belong in the wonderful world of musicians and what they buy and what they MUST have. What i didn’t cover are the most challenging of the lot. The ones who can truly be in a soulful agony over what PEDALS to buy. Yep. I am talking about PEDAL EFFECTS HEADS.

These folks come in a class all by themselves. They need that Special pedal that is gonna make it happen for them. Many times it’s THOSE special pedals and they need to try each one out. They need to “A/B” them to see if these pedals will be able to live with their other pedals. Kind of like bringing a new dog home to be with the others. You worry if they’re gonna fight, you know, if it’s gonna work at all.

The most popular (and definitely one of the best) Overdrive (or DISTORTION, for you old folks) Pedals is the O.C.D. It’s made by Fulltone (excellent company) and it’s a real nice Overdrive. Not far off from my fave pedal, the Hot Cake, but certainly more ‘subtle’ and laid back. The “Pleasure Trem” is made by Menatone and it’s a really nice Tremolo effect for those of us without Fender Twin Amps at our fingertips. A popular chorus pedal is the Empress Chorus. Andy Summers and Sting got theirs from Truetone and swear by them. ZVex makes a variety of great pedals (like the Super Hard-On, which is an awesome ‘clean boost’, and the “Rock In A Box” which is an insane overdrive pedal.)

The folks they try out and buy these pedals are dead serious and these pedals start at about $100 with the average one running around $160. Our average customer will drop $500 on pedals like nobody’s. These are some serious people and the search for that awesome sound that inspires and guides is never ending and a get-up-early-stay-up-late adventure.

ROCK ON!

All the Best,

Mike Randle