spotted at the guitar show last week…
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Does invader have the bolt on neck?
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Sadly Ochanomizu is nowhere near as good as it used to be. Most Japanese music stores were very late to get all their used stuff online and almost none of them were targeting overseas markets. That’s unfortunately not the case anymore, and things have changed very, very rapidly in the last few years. A lot of this has to do with how weak the yen is, and because the Japanese government has been working to turn Japan into a major tourist destination.
I’ve worked walking distance from Ochanomizu since 2007, and the first decade was pretty magical, especially the first five years. I used to go into shops and see Space Echos piled from floor to ceiling, all serviced and reasonably priced. For a while my coworker and I went almost everyday on our lunch break, and we would come across unbelievable stuff all the time.
Now everything is crazy expensive and I can’t recall the last time I’ve found any good deals. Definitely pre-Covid. Kind of a bummer that those magical days are gone. I brought my guitar in to a repair guy last week and he said the same thing. There are definitely a handful of things I’m kicking myself for not buying back then.
I feel really bad for the young people just starting out as the prices are outrageous now in yen terms. At least I pretty much have all the basics covered, but if I was starting from scratch it would be tough for sure.
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Some good points.
I figure youngsters just starting out would not only struggle with the gear pricing but also not enjoy the red carpet treatment afforded to a big name guitarist - as much as I enjoyed watching Miyako try out gear.
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I’m not suggesting that anyone needs to try this, but it’s kind of an interesting video. I never considered making my own paper in oil tone capacitors.
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Can anyone tell what kind of mixer he is using in the video? Just an ordinary Mackie mixer?
Does anyone use an Electro-Harmonix Attack Decay pedal (the bigger one with the fuzz and effects loop, not the small one)? How do you like it.
I recently came across it in a video on Cyberattack’s YouTube channel, and am a bit intrigued by it.
I usually don’t go for these sorts of pedals, but from the videos I’ve seen it looks like it could be fun for exploring psychedelic stuff (kind of like faux Beatles or Hendrix tape effects), faux lap steel or sitar kind of sounds, weird glitchy stuff (almost Lossy like artifacts), and heavy wall of sound fuzz stuff. Plus, the effects loop looks like it could open the door for even more psychedelic or experimental sounds.
The only thing that makes me nervous is that I once tried one of EHX’s organ pedals (actually the electric keys one) and I really didn’t like it at all. This seems different enough from that, but I figured I’d ask for some opinions as I don’t see any at my local shops to try out.
I’ve been pondering the EHX Attack Decay and Pico Attack Decay myself, for when I feel like shaving off the attack of my guitar sound.
Kurt Rosenwinkel used an EHX POG2 for attack-shaving. He was also known for using the POG2’s octave generation featues for synthy/organ like sounds but attack-shaving seemed to have been his primary usage of the POG2.
Attack Decay by all reports has the attack-shaving function as well as the Decay feature for shaving the decay side. It also costs quite a bit less than a POG2. I don’t want the octave gen stuff badly enough either.
Pico Attack Decay is smaller and does not have the fuzz or effects loop. It’s got a secret blend knob though. This review claims its decay side is tighter for palm-muted riffing
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I have the microsynth which also has this function, but achieves it through analog circuitry. I have to be very deliberate/careful with my playing to achieve similar results. My guess is both the pico and normal will serve very well for this function. They use dsp and can achieve polyphonic results where the microsynth is monophonic. Good luck experimenting!
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I used to have one but traded it away. Good pedal. Does what it says on the tin. Sound quality was good.
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Thanks everyone. I’ve been going through the main thread on the gear page and there are some fantastic sound examples that have basically convinced me I’m getting one. Haha. Not sure if this link will embed properly, but this guy’s lap steel imitation in poly mode is amazing.
He has a bunch of other great sound clips as well, amazing things you can do with the tremolo and an expression pedal and Moog-ish filter sweeps with the fuzz and an expression pedal.
Edit: I just ordered one. I’ll let you know how I get along with it. Looks like it will be useable in a lot of the styles of guitar I tend to gravitate towards, so it might just be the missing “experimental” pedal my board needs.
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Yes, Mackie 1402 VLZ3
(had to count the faders, thought it was the same 1642 VLZ3 that he was using in a different video, but this is the smaller version, 13 total faders.)
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Thanks! 
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No problem!
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Fender having a 20% off on their American Preformer line up! Man I want a Mustang bass, $300 off, must resist!
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I don´t but I did use Attack Sustain by Pigtronix and it was really fun experimental tool. It is discontinued but shouldn´t be expensive. It has separate switch for the attack and sustain part of circuit and overdrive… And it is all analog. And huge! 
I used it for example with bass and a delay with long time and feedback before it. Recorded some swells and than just play with the sensitivity and attack/sustain knobs… Yeah, and second delay after it…
I just realized how I miss it… I was forced to sell it few years back when a lot of music stuff was stolen from me, so some niche things that remained had to go, because I needed rebuy the essentials, like amp for example…
(So, different pedal, but generally I really recommend this type of effect.)
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I’m stoked to give it a go. The one I ordered actually showed up today, but when I plugged it in, it died after a few minutes. I checked it with a bunch of power supplies but no dice. Thankfully, I bought it new so was able to ship it back today and they should be sending me out a new one soon. This is actually the first time this has ever happened to me with a guitar pedal in decades of playing. I guess it was bound to happen at some point.
I would normally be really bummed by this, but I got some good medical results today (after getting a scare yesterday), which has a way of putting everything else in perspective.
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Good medical results are definitely more important. Happy for you.
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Sorry about the dead pedal, but glad to hear you got good medical results.
I am now suffering GAS in the opposite direction - the POG3
I have an EHX HOG so I’m familiar with the faux organ sounds produced by EHX octave pedals. I actually like that sound, though not all the time. It gets more interesting with the filter. I used the HOG to play organ/synth like sounds and rhythm guitar at the same time in a band I was playing it an the time. I could have gotten a Roland pickup and guitar synth but the HOG was just a lot less trouble than the process of installing the pickup and all that, and it sounded pretty good through the delay pedal that I had - Damage Control Timeline. The HOG is noisy AF though compared to later pedals like the POG 2/3, Attack Decay, etc.
I thought the POG3 Spread knob just controlled chorus but it also introduces a doubling effect.
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