ADHD Reivews: Keeley Monterey Fuzz Vibe Pt 2

So just a few weeks ago I posted a review of the Keeley Monterey Fuzz Vibe pedal and I wanted to follow it up with a few thoughts. First off it's a really incredible pedal, it's like the pedal that keeps on giving. I keep finding uses for it, new sounds and things I like better about it than other pedals I have. But what about if your not looking for a Hendrix in a box pedal? Or maybe you like the idea of having a Hendrix in a box pedal but the band your in doesn't do a lot of Hendrixian Psychedelica type stuff. Maybe your band has a much more modern vibe... So I figured I'd throw up some of the things I've found it useful for.

1) Massive Attack Teardrop. Using the Vibe and a touch of Octave up I used the Monterey and some finger picking to play the theme song to House. Yeah that one

A little swirly sounds from the @keeleyelectronics #monterey vibe with a touch of octave #teardrop #massiveattack #tonetools

A video posted by @adhd_guitarist on Mar 28, 2016 at 11:00am PDT

2) Big Wreck A Place to Call Home. If you don't know Big Wreck please log on to youtube and look them up. Ian Thornley's tasty chops and sonic landscapes are not the most well know but are very admirable. The beginning of A Place to Call Home has one of the biggest guitar sounds I've ever heard. I was able to get that wall of fuzz sound with just the Monterey fuzz and and some octave.

A little doom and sludge with the @keeleyelectronics #monterey #bigwreck #aplacetocallhome #tonetools #walloffuzz

A video posted by @adhd_guitarist on Apr 3, 2016 at 2:37pm PDT

3) Soundgarden Black Hole Sun. I stumbled upon this sound while playing around with the rotary settings and heard it immediately. I quickly had to remember how to play the song. Probably not surprising that you could use the rotary for that sound but I haven't thought about that song in so long.

Using the rotary on the @keeleyelectronics #monterey for some #blackholesun #tonetools #soundgarden

A video posted by @adhd_guitarist on Apr 4, 2016 at 8:07am PDT

4) Ok I might have gotten some help from the Wampler TripleWreck on this one. A friend of mine brought up the John Sykes band Blue Murder the other day and I use to play this song all the time. I used the Monterey Rotary to add in a touch of chorus. Sure I could have used any chorus but the Monterey has such an organic sound.

@spearlife reminded me about this album yesterday. @wamplerpedals #triplewreck @keeleyelectronics #monterey #tonetools #bluemurder

A video posted by @adhd_guitarist on Apr 4, 2016 at 8:15am PDT

I've added it to the first review but there is also a cocked wah setting on this thing with an adjustable Q. It's like I bought 8 or 9 really great pedals. If you think of it that way I pretty much got all of this for the price of a few Chinese knock off pedals. Money well spent in my opinion. Check it out HERE By the way. I when I post these clips on Instgram I normally follow it up with a picture of the pedal for the settings, if you think you might find that useful follow me there.


This review was completely unsolicited, I received no compensation for it and all views and opinions are my own.

The Vox V847A Wah Pedal Review

I love the Wah pedal. It might be one of my favorite effects of all time, and while it can be overused it's one of those effects everyone should have in their arsenal. I've played several different versions including various Dunlop Crybaby's, and the Morley Bad Horsie, but what I'm using right now is the Vox V847A. Right from the top the V847A has a classic look. I like the Chrome top and black base. If you don't know how to use a wah there are a lot of tutorials on YouTube. This one from Papastache is great.



There are a lot of very versatile wah's on the market. The Dunlop Dimebag Wah is probably the most verasatile of all of them. In fact I've read somewhere that when making an artist signature wah this what Dunlop sends out to start with. Then the artist tweaks their settings and sends it back and they make a prototype, and make changes from that. As much as I like flexibility, I'm pretty much a set it and forget it kind of guy when it comes to wah pedals. I mean, it only has to do the one thing, WAH! I like that Morley's are switchless, but that's not a deal breaker for me, and for me the crybabies that I've played have a brighter sound. If your playing bright clean sounds this might work better for you but I only use the wah when I'm playing with a distorted sound. My only two requirements for a wah is that one, I like having a power input so I don't have to worry about keeping batteries in it. And two, it has to sound good. For me the Vox wah has the best sound out of a straight up wah. Compared to other wahs it has a slightly darker sound, and is a bit throatier. To my ears it's more vocal sounding.

Vox V847A Wah Pedal

I tend to use the wah in two ways. One for solos, like Hendrix Voodoo Child, or Alice In Chains Man in the Box. The other way is to put it in a fixed position, either half cocked for a "tubey" type sound or all the way forward, or in the toe down positions for a cool low fi type sound. The last one sound really cool when the rest of the band drops out for a bar or two and then comes back in all at once.

Some people have complained about the buffer in the wah but I haven't found it to be a problem. If you try it and find an issue with it there seems to be two schools of thought. One is to add in a true bypass switch and disable the buffer, you can find instructions for these modifications by using Google. The other is to use a better quality buffer in front of it. This seems like the simplest solution but once again I haven't had this problem. It plays nice with my fuzz pedals and sounds killer to my ears. I'm always open to trying new gear and I'd like to try some of the new boutique wah's out on the market. But if your looking for a straight up, great sounding, and classic looking wah, this should be your first stop.

This review was completely unsolicited, I received no compensation for it and all views and opinions are my own.

Top Ten Resources for Learning the Guitar

Learning to play the guitar with ADHD is difficult. But learning today on the internet couldn't be better. I wanted to do a quick run through of some of my favorite sites to checkout when I want to learn something.

Paid sites

1) Paul Gilbert If you don't know who Paul Gilbert is then look him up. He is one of the ultimate shredders, and has a great sense of humor about the whole guitar god thing. I've met Paul and can say he was a great, down to earth guy. Together with  the site ArtistWorks Paul is now offering class via the internet. He gives personal feedback. And while it isn't free it's a lot cheaper than some of the other internet lessons I've seen with players that are not as well known.

2) Steviesnacks If you want to play Texas blues in the style of the great Stevie Ray Vaughn this is it! Anthony Stauffer has created an incredible amount of material with over 200 FREE lessons on YouTube. He also has premium lessons for those looking to go more in depth that start at just $6 and go up.  Anthony has put a lot of thought and work into his lessons, and though he doesn't teach strict scales or crazy jazz chords. He teaches what you need to play Texas blues and classic rock.

Free on YouTube

3) papastache From modern radio hits to classic rock Papastache has it down. From Hendrix to John Mayer, and Iron Maiden to uhm...Lady Gaga? Yep! The guy can wail and doesn't get caught up in specifics. Learn the song and then make it your own.

4)Justin Sandercoe  While Justin has a website that is totally free, his YouTube channel is where it's at. He has a lot of great material and is very good at showing you how to play stuff.

5) Pete Thorn Pete is an incredible guitarist who's How to play Eruption series on YouTube has gotten rave reviews across the internet. He also does gear reviews for many of the hottest companies, all while touring with people like Chris Cornell, and Melissa Etheridge.

Gear

6) Speaking of gear I can't go on without mentioning http://www.gilmourish.com/  More than just a tribute site to David Gilmour, Bjorn Riis's passion project breaks down David Gilmour's gear by albums and tours giving you ideas for settings and tips for getting the sound right. I've learned more about how pedals interplay with amps and pickups by reading this site than any of the nonsense you read on most forums.

7) Chord and Tab sites

chordie is a cool site that has quickly become one of my favorites. This site pulls from other sites but has a cool chord transposer tool that is very helpful when learning songs or trying to find a different way to play it.

8) Books

With YouTube and tab sites most people just don't need to learn more. But if you want to get into understanding the guitar more, Fretboard Logic I & II is one book I always keep handy. You can look up the CAGED method and find a basic breakdown just about anywhere on the internet but Bill Edwards straightforward approach will give you a much deeper understanding of the fretboard. Your can check it out here.
Fretboard Logic SE - Special Edition The Reasoning Behind the Guitar's Unique Tuning + Chords Scales and Arpeggios Complete (Volumes I and II Combined) (Fretboard Logic Guitar Method Ser)


9) Metronome

If you want to get faster buy or download a metronome. Practice patterns, scales, picking exercises, whatever. Start the metronome slow and work your way up. When you get fast enough do two notes per click (or beep) then four and so on. You'll be amazed at how fast it works.


10) Play Songs


I can't stress this enough. If your not playing with others create a song list and run through those songs on YouTube or your Mp3 player or something. At night, after the kids go to bed I often run through the headphone jack on my Pod and pull up YouTube and play along with my heroes. Paul Gilbert told me if your not playing songs what's the point. That's why we all got into this right?

Rambling through time and music

I've always been into music. When I was a kid I played music all the time, and listened to all kinds of music. Gospel, country, rock, broadway. It was all around me. My mom had a box of cheap instruments a triangle, sand blocks, a kazoo and a few other things. They bought me a cheap drum kit that I tore up within a few days. I think I was 5 or 6. My older sister wanted to learn piano and spent hours practicing. I would wait till she was gone and go figure out what she was playing by ear. Here and there people would show me stuff. I took piano lessons but my teacher fired me because I would just play by ear instead of reading the music and learning it her way. I was already playing stuff more complicated than what she was teaching me and I was bored. In middle school we had band and since everyone else was playing trumpet I picked the trombone. I remember my dad had an acoustic guitar but he never played it, there was an electric in our house to for a while. Neither of them were tuned but I would strum the strings and feel the vibrations. It was magic but I didn't know anyone who played. Just after I graduated high school in 1990 a couple of guys I was working with played guitar. I bought an old Gibson Sonex 180 Delux from a guy I knew. They started showing me stuff. One of them was real good. I still have that guitar, I love it. I don't play it as much these days but when I do its like coming home. Its so familiar and comforting but never quite as good as you remember. One of the problems I've always dealt with is that I can't focus on any one thing long enough to really nail it. I have to walk away from it and come back to it. I remember reading an interview with Steve Vai, he was saying that he would practice a single phrase until he nailed it. That he wouldn't eat or even go to the bathroom until he got it perfect. I can't do that. One minute I'm playing Van Halen, the next I'm playing Hendrix, (not as good as either) or trying to figure out how to play the piano parts to bohemian rhapsody on the guitar. I'm just kind of rambling here, but I figured Id put up some background.