Vibe Check №4
Spring is here, and I’m gearing up for some yard projects. My yard looks like shit right now, but I get a lot of satisfaction from a good Spring cleanup. Beyond that, I want to get the bushes and trees around our house tidied up. Also, my current setup makes woodworking in the colder months difficult, so I’m looking forward to getting back into that. I plan to build a giant sandbox for my son… either a kit or out of lumber; I haven’t decided yet. I think I’m going to start taking woodworking classes at Woodcraft within this Spring and Summer — I’m hoping that will give me a jumpstart. I’m thinking that to get deeper into woodworking, I might need to get more into working with hand tools since space to work and noise are barriers to me getting anything done.
Media #
We finished up the Last of Us along with the rest of the world — What a fantastic show! At the time the game was published, I wasn’t doing much gaming beyond Final Fantasy 11, so I missed out. The show has made me want to get a console (or a more powerful “work” computer 😉) and play the game series. This is the first show since The Walking Dead that has made me want to get into the source material and get ahead of the story.
Coding #
After two or so years running mainly PopOS!, I’ve gone back to Windows. I found Pop to be a nice desktop experience; I like it, and I’m sure I’ll find a reason to go back to it. My issue is that Windows offers some comforts out of the box that I had to search for, and sometime couldn’t find on Linux. Windows Power Toys is nice. Some of the features in there have become staples in my toolbox, and I know I haven’t scratched the surface. The old saying of “Linux is free if you don’t value your time” feels harsh because Linux is a great tool, but it’s true. I spent hours researching and testing apps to replace some of the comforts Windows offers, but I wasn’t able to approximate enough of what I need to maximize my productivity.
All that said, I think Windows sucks for a lot of what I do for local development. For now I turned an old laptop into an Ubuntu-based dev server. I’m loving it right now. I know there are options out there to containerize projects like Docker, but I haven’t gotten there yet. It’s hard to keep up with web development technology, and for now, I’m fine with being far behind the cutting edge so long as I can deliver value to my clients. After all, we are craftsmen and we get to choose what tools we use to get the job done. Operating systems, applications, and coding languages are all just that — tools.
Music #
I’ve been heavy into Hot Water Music and Against me lately. Listening to playlists on repeat and playing along on guitar. I was so into Punk music when I was younger, but at some point, I kind of lost interest in seeking out music that was outside of whatever the mainstream radio stations (and Pandora) were playing. I wasn’t active in my listening, just kind of creating a backing track to my days. As I build my record collection and actively seek out new music to listen to, I’m coming to regret that lost time. Some of these bands I’m finding have been around for decades, and I’m sad that I’m discovering them this late.
Pedals #
About a week ago, Josh Scott of JHS Pedals broke the (guitar) internet with his video comparing the Digitech Bad Monkey to some of the most legendary overdrives in the history of effects pedals. The Bad Monkey (named after Curious George) is a take on the Tube Screamer circuit, but instead of one tone control, you get a two band eq with high and low controls. It came out in the early 2000’s, was affordable at the time, and has been discontinued for years. Up until two weeks ago, they were on the used market for about $50 to $70. Since the video, where Josh proved that it can sound similar, if not identical to expensive, sought after overdrives, the price has skyrocketed and now costs hundreds of dollars on the used market. His influence on the pedal market is astounding and hilarious.
I am a pedal junkie, and it’s still crazy to me that people will pay that much money for one. Especially one that could be had for fifty bucks before his video dropped. Afterward, Josh came out and basically said that this is madness, just have fun with what you have and play. On top of that, another view I’ve heard/read is that the video proves that there is tons of overlap in the functionality of overdrive pedals. With some time and tweaking, you can find your sound in many of them — even the cheap ones.
I like to stack two overdrives, and have found that I can get a version of “my tone” with different combinations. I think the most expensive one I have was probably seventy bucks new. I have even gotten some fun overdrive, boost and fuzz sounds from my Line 6 M5. All that said, I’m a mediocre bedroom player, but I’d be fine taking any of these combinations I’ve tried to a gig or a jam session.
I must admit, though, the Chinese version of the Bad Monkey with Chinese Characters in place of the English ones is mighty!
- Previous: Vibe Check №3