Doing Things Wrong

No More Reviews

Alas, it seems my supply of cheap Chinese stuff to review has dried-up completely. If fact, all the cheap Chinese stuff has dried-up - just look at eBay. Oh well, I don't need another "Phas" pedal anyway. A number of the products have disappeared from Amazon as well, but the pedals are still in stock, and they're even cheaper now.

"Vintage Phas" on the right
The sad thing is, these are actually not bad!
At least Home Depot still loves me - check out my free workbench
I was really looking forward to getting one of these


My verdict on active tone controls for a guitar is that they are not worth it. There is already plenty of treble, and not enough bass that boosting it will make much difference. If you want to try an active control on a guitar, try an onboard distortion instead.

But the Artec EXP tone control is a funny thing. In the middle, it gives a flat clean boost. Turn it forward, and you get a high/low boost, or what amounts to a mid-scoop. Turn it back, and it gives a mid-boost. Sounds interesting, so I decided to try one.


the blue one

First, I am bound to state that I received this pedal at no cost for review. Having gotten that out of the way …

This is pedal #4 since I started reviewing these for KMise, and I must say, I am very pleased with all of them. I started with the tremolo, then the phase and the "US Dream" overdrive, and now this "Crunch" distortion. All these pedals are well built, great-sounding, attractive, quiet, compact, and true bypass.


First, I am bound to state that I received this pedal at no cost for review. Having gotten that out of the way …

A phaser is a fairly simple device. It adds a swirling effect to the sound. Most 'classic' phasers have just a single control for the speed or rate of the effect. The only other control on this pedal is a mechanical true-bypass switch. This effect cannot take a battery, you will need a 9v power supply, I recommend a 1Spot. Batteries today are expensive and very poorly made anyway.


this guy poisoned the world

All the little bits and bobs that I used to order cheap from China have become much harder to get. eBay is a shadow of what it was just a year ago, there is not nearly as much cheap loothery supplies. But even if you find something, half the time it just disappears in shipping. Or at least it seems to disappear in shipping - a lot of tracking numbers from China are completely imaginary. As soon as you order something, they issue a tracking number to lock it in. That doesn't mean it shipped, or that it ever will! Fortunately, eBay makes it pretty easy to get your money back from such scammers.


Transmitter, the receiver is almost identical.

First, I am bound to state that I received this item at no cost for review. Having gotten that out of the way …

I always wanted to try a wireless transmitter, so when lotmusic offered me this one for review, naturally I accepted. The design is simple. An internal battery in each piece is charged by USB, Y-cable provided. A mechanical on/off switch conserves power.


Several years ago, I did a lot of work with WordPress. It was no bed of roses then, but it was usable. You could design a nice site and then hand it off to less-skilled ( read: cheaper ) people to maintain, and that model worked very well for a business.