Best of luck with the sales. Hope the family issues aren't too much.
I'll apologize in advance for the rest of this rambling post.
You mention the RCO Pedals clone of the Life Pedal. So he's a solid builder? I've been debating contacting him and seeing if he can make me a Volt Thrower. I missed out on one of his clones a week or so ago when I was out of town and have been kicking myself since. I've really been getting into Rats more and more lately, and that's the top of my list. I had an actual Dunwich a few years ago, but stupidly sold it when it wouldn't adequately replace my fuzz. Now, I'm using Rats for distortion (you know, as they're supposed to be...), and I'm wondering if that would be "the one" that may replace my Iron Pig. I may also wait since apparently Magic is doing a run of "Super Volt Throwers" in the near future, and they sound amazing. Other than a few boutique Rats to try (if I can get my hands on them), I have no real GAS right now, which is nice. Anybody know if Way Huge makes a Rat clone? So far, I pretty much LOVE everything that guy makes, and it would probably be cheaper than other options...
In other happenings, I've played a LOT of bass the last few days, which has been amazing. I keep on woodshedding old Metallica and Maiden, while tweaking my dirt pedals. Getting all of those songs down cold now, which is nice. In the process, I'm also feeling out each of my dirt pedals for their various tones, and really enjoying the variety. In that vein, the Pharaoh Supreme has just been removed from my board again. Couldn't quite get it to cut as much as I wanted, so tried the Swollen Pickle again, and it just works. Plenty of dirt all in all registers, and definitely more treble than the Pharaoh. Both take a while to dial in, but still - they're absolutely amazing fuzzes. We'll see if the Pharaoh returns soon like last time. Since I also have a Swollen Pickle clone, that went on board #2 to replace the Grey Stache, which, the more I played, seemed too compressed. It didn't have the heft of the other two, though it certainly cut better than the others. Just at the expense of the low register, which takes precedence.
Other random things I noted - and back on Rats. I have two amps/pedalboards. I like having options, and at this point, I have no reason to not continue. So I usually buy two variations of a circuit to have similar tones on both boards. My #1 Rat has been the Iron Pig, with the Cat Tail a close #2. The Cat Tail seemed to have a better cohesive "blend" of the dirt/clean tones, however, which always made me think. Even though it's not an actual blend, the clean and dirt tones sound more like a single signal instead of two like the Iron Pig can do sometimes. No amount of tweaking seemed to get the Iron Pig to combine the two tones as well, though it was more open in general and I preferred its tone. (As an aside, I may one day have Ryan add a clean blend to my Cat Tail and see what I can do with that to replicate the more open tones of the Iron Pig.) I tried 9v/18v, and that didn't change either (though the 18v settings definitely sound a bit more natural and open). In contrasting the two rigs, however, I realized the only main difference between the two were the crossovers. I have a GK 700RB-II with the GK Bi-Amp feature as my #1, with a 400RB-IV as my #2. On a whim, I turned the 700RB-II's cab to "full range" and there it was - my Iron Pig's clean/dirty tones were matched. So I guess I won't be using that anymore! I also A/B'ed the Pharaoh and Pickle again with that new discovery, but the Pickle still won for the same reasons. Regardless, I feel like it will be much easier to swap pedals between boards now that they're basically the exact same amp with different power capabilities!
With all of this dirt swapping and whatnot, I've come to realize I also really don't have any significant GAS like I used to. Might grab a Volt Thrower of some sort, maybe get the Cat Tail modded with a clean blend or something, but other than that, just looking to fix up minor issues with my gear like the sometimes wonky Pharaoh footswitch and figuring out what's up with my Dunwich DIY HM-2's treble knob. It' been great focusing on just playing my bass! Next I need to figure out which song I want to learn next!
Which leads me to my final point - what song should I learn next? Caveat - it's got to have fairly accurate tabs readily available. No way I'm going to try and learn by ear. I DO have an old copy of Guitar Pro if that's an option too. Here are some of my thoughts - sorry - most is decidedly NOT doom, but I'm going for "classic" songs/bands in their respective genres.
I have these materials:
Metallica - I have Kill 'em All through Master of Puppets tab books, as well as the Black Album
Iron Maiden - I have their "Bass Anthology", basically a greatest hits tab book
Megadeth - Another anthology book
I'll need materials for the following, but can likely find some (though if you have links, etc. share away!):
Black Sabbath - really, anything, as long as it's not TOO tough and has accurate tabs
Motörhead
AC/DC
Judas Priest
Dio
I also love all sorts of old school death metal like Dismember or Hypocrisy, as well as At The Gates, Amon Amarth, all sorts of stuff.
And thanks again for reading my senseless ramblings!
