Entries by Richard Cleaver

Changing Things Up

Pedalboards are always changing. At least they always change for me. I was not enjoying the tones I was getting from the Strymon Iridium. I was thinking about going back to amps as I missed the feel of playing through an amp. The Iridium was fine but not great. The thought of hauling heads and […]

Carter Vintage Guitars

I was in Nashville a few weeks back and I had to make the pilgrimage to Carter Vintage Guitars. Compelled really. No choice but to go and look at what old guitars are selling for these days. The shop is located in a somewhat run-down part of the city. I walked there from the downtown […]

New From Strymon

A new Strymon pedal was just announced. The cloudburst seems to be a smaller version of the Big Sky although with a much simpler interface. I’ve not used one so I can’t really comment further. However I have been looking at changing up a few things on my pedalboard. It started with the Eventide H90. […]

Travelling With An Electric Guitar

Back in the day, way back in the day now, touring with my guitar rig was relatively straight forward. I had a flight case and I either hauled an amp in the truck or used backline gear at the venue. Pedalboards were not much of a thing when I was touring. I had 3 or […]

Noble Street Opens Studio G

Noble Street Studios, my favourite recording studio in Toronto, just opened their newest room, Studio G. The studio manager had walked me through the room while it was still under construction and, to my delight, asked me to shoot the room for their marketing work. I had already done all of the photography for the […]

History of the Roland JC-120 Amp

“I’d rather chew glass than play through a solid state amp.” This from a hardcore guitarist who was clearly committed to his tube amplifier. When I was first touring, the state of the art of a sound system was not like it is today. Those systems were more of a sound reinforcement system, that is […]

Too Many Plugins

How many plugins do I own? Too many. How many plugins do I use? Just a few. But lately it has gone way out of control. Like a guitar player buying yet another overdrive pedal, I have fallen into the shiney new toy syndrome. SSL had been running an essentials bundle sale: a channel strip […]

Reunited

What one thing has travelled with you for most of your life? For me it is a guitar. I don’t remember all of the details around when I first brought the guitar home. Steve Kirman, of Steve’s Music in Montreal, sold me the guitar. I was young. It was my first big purchase and my […]