Humbled by Humbuckers

When Cherrie King first arrived in my life, I knew I wanted that PAF humbucker goodness to accentuate her 335 tone. At first the stock pickups didn't sound very complimentary, so I just wrote them off as being from the era when stock pickups were simply placeholders. From the cheap import boom of the 80s into the mid 2000s almost all stock pickups were eventually replaced with Duncans, DiMarzios, or EMGs. It's only more recently that guitar companies have stepped up their game on stock pickups, now offering pickups that sound really good, and usually stay in the guitars they came with. My favorites are the new Epiphone pickups, which have become vastly more optimal than they once were. I'm not talking about the Gibson Burstbuckers they're putting into Epiphones, I mean Epiphone Alnico Classic Pro, and ProBucker pickups.

In my quest to find Cherrie the most budget friendly set of PAFs I've listened to a lot of youtube demos of the Alnico Classic Pros, and decided those are what I want. I even tested Cherrie's stock pickups side by side with a youtube demo of Alnico Classic Pros in an Epiphone ES-335. It's not the most scientific experiment, I grant you, but it did teach me something. These stock pickups aren't very far off the Alnico Classic Pros. They do have some characteristics of PAFs, even though they're super cheap, and I'm quite sure the magnet is ceramic. The bridge pickup has that Tele sound that everyone raves about in a "good PAF". The neck is a bit fatter, but doesn't muddy the clarity, although mine is microphonic. Again, this isn't anywhere near the best way to compare, but it did open my eyes to the fact that these pickups aren't far off from where I want to be. I shall call them PeaveyAFs.

I decided to take my experiment one step further and tested my Burstbucker Pros side by side with the PeaveyAFs. I recorded myself playing both my LP and Cherrie, then I listened back to the examples through headphones to see what any differences were. Again, two totally different guitars so this isn't the most scientific, but I found the neck BB Pro has a bit more of that nasal quality than the neck PeaveyAF, but it's certainly there, just more subtle. Also both neck humbuckers had a chime, like every note was wrapped in glass, that I really like. Cherrie's neck pickup was a bit warmer, but that's to be expected. Now, the bridge humbuckers were so close it really didn't matter. There was a slight difference, but again I think it might be the 335 warmth. The nasal quality was there, the chime was there, and again they both offer that Tele sound everyone wants in a PAF. I would need a computer analysis to really break down the difference in the bridge humbuckers. It was that close.

So, what have I learned? A set of ceramic magnet import pickups can sound really close to Gibson USA Burstbucker Pros, apparently. Even though these pickups were super cheap, I think Peavey may have put some real thought into them. There are no markings on them, which is super common on import guitar pickups, so I can't be sure they're anything special, but I will confess they're not as bad as I originally thought they were. I was wrong. Now, should I find a set of decent PAF copies at a fairly cheap price I'll most likely buy them, with plans of later swapping them out. Especially if they're Gibson 57 Classics, or some other really nice PAF copies. For now though, I'm pretty happy with what I'm hearing from the PeaveyAFs. I guess it shows how preconceptions can really cloud your mind into thinking one direction or another.

100k Views! Thank You!

At some point, I suspect back in late April or early May, this blog hit 100,000 views. A lot of these views come from really old posts that still get the odd hundreds of views in a single day, when spread around on reddit or somewhere. Most of my new posts are very slow burns, as the feed service I was using no longer feeds to my social media, but I know they'll find their readers eventually. I wanted to take a moment and express that I appreciate all the views, no matter how many or few they are. I'm not much of a writer, as my entries clearly display, but this blog has been a great source of solace for me. Hence, Sam's Asylum. It's become a focal point throughout many transitions in my life, and I just hope it's been a resource of many reasons to other people as well. I've tried to make this site as accessible to anyone who needs it as I can.

June of this year will be the fourteenth anniversary of my first post here. Sure, I wish things had gone better, but I'm sure they could have gone much worse. I'm pretty ok with it having ended up somewhere in the middle. I'll just wait to see what the future holds. Even beyond my existence on this world, I hope my insight is useful to someone. I know since publishing many of my posts, especially those often posted across help forums and such, better ways have been found to do what I explained within them. If it gets the job done I'm glad to help, but I would always advise looking for a better, more up to date method.

My initial idea was to chronical my growing interest in thrifting, and showing off what I was finding. I write for TheVintageGamers.com where I had a series called Sam's Scores. There I would show off all the vintage gaming stuff I had found, but I had nowhere to show off the more modern things that site didn't yet cover. Now that website isn't strictly just about vintage gaming, and my blog has turned into more a chronical of my life, my story and my dreams. Sometimes it's a rant, sometimes it's sappy, sometimes it's informative, sometimes it's just plain stupidity, but it's all me. My words, my thoughts all typed by my fingers tip tapping away at the keys while my mind dictates what needs to be written.

So, to all the readers past, present, and future, I humbly thank you for taking your time to read what I've written. I see all the countries you've viewed from. I see whether it's mobile or otherwise. I see what browser you're using, what OS you're using, and even where you were referred to my site from. Thank you. *Sam Elliot cowboy hat tip gif* Thank you!

Some quick stats and oddities:

• First post - June 23 2011
• Total posts - 349 (Including this one - so far)
• Total views at the time of publishing this entry - 106,000+
• Most viewed post - 3234 (Gameboy Color Speaker Repair)
• Most views in a single day - 9806 on August 31st 2023
• Country outside of the US who have viewed my blog the most - Singapore (24,600+ views)
• Oldest Unpublished Draft - September 18 2020

• There is one post with an Easter egg. It looks funny, because it was formatted to have a special message along the left edge. The person for whom it was written couldn't care less, but I had fun making it work.
• Last year I published entries in a certain order to spell out the essentially same secret message on the backend. Again, the person for whom it was done couldn't care less, but I had fun.
• I have written numerous entries simply to get it out of my head and delete, never to be seen.

Purple Smoke Boost Build

This one is a bit of a controversial build, by which I mean there were comments left on the original layout website about how pointless it was to build your own, when the real thing is already so inexpensive. Well to each their own, right? The original layout is perfboard, and since I absolutely hate building on perfboard I had to make my own stripboard layout. I know it's low component count but it's still difficult for my brain to translate it all over, and take into account all the jumpers and cuts. I have a habit of overthinking and under focusing. After a little while I managed to make the stripboard layout, but I completely forgot to get it verified by eyes and minds far better at this stuff than my own. Surely that won't come back to haunt me!

I'm a huge fan of low component count circuits that affect the tone in useful ways. This pedal was right up my alley. I have built plenty of boost circuits in the past, but this was one that I just had to build for no other reason than I could. Again, very few components, self made stripboard layout and I was ready to build it. It had been months since I made the layout, and it only dawned on me as I was putting it together that I forgot to get it verified. It didn't take me long at all to put this together, which is when the nerves started to act up. Was this going to work or not? It worked just fine. The confidence boost I got off of this is better than the boost effect itself. I can translate a perfboard layout to stripboard if I take my time. If you're a stripboard builder like me and you've wanted to build a Caline Purple Smoke clone, here you go. It is now officially verified.

The Joy of Discovering Joy Clark

Since I bought my Peavey JF1 EXP (aka Cherrie King) I've been doing a ton of research into semi-hollow guitar players. I'm looking for ideas on how to get the best out of Cherrie. What effects, what amps, what types of songs sound best with a semi-hollow. While my intentions are blues and rock, I'm also open to finding new ways to help express Cherrie's voice. I'm well aware of Freddie King, B.B. King, Warren Haynes, Larry Carlton, and Trini Lopez, but during one search the Google image results showed a new face that piqued my interest. A woman holding a blueburst D'Angelico semi-hollow, with a radiant presence by the name of Joy Clark. I let it sit in my mind for a couple of days, by which I mean I kind of forgot, before I went searching for some of her live performances on youtube.

What I found was the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival 2022. I settled in and watched, mostly hoping to see if I could capture a glimpse of what pedals she was using. First off, she was using a cherry red Epiphone with P90s that sounded really good. Her pedalboard seemed to be split into a few tiny ones, none of which I could tell exactly what they were. Her amp looks like a Fender tube amp, which also sounded good. What I didn't expect though was for her performance to completely enrapture me. Her energy, her smile, her voice, her playing style, her tone, everything about this performance made me forget what I had originally set out to do. I have to admit two of her songs: Watching You Sleep and Good Thing, had me in tears throughout.

My musical tastes are broad, but I never thought I would become so caught up in a performance. Joy Clark is more than just a singer-songwriter, she's a performance artist. I'm grateful her music came into my life. Just a simple internet search for semi-hollow guitar players became far more meaningful than I expected. I still don't know what pedals she uses, but I don't really care because it's more about her playing style, her energy and her presence to me now. And her garsh dang enchanting smile! Most of her set was acoustic, but she did start off with her Epiphone and brought it back toward the end. The search to find out how she made that Epiphone sing was abandoned the second she started singing. From then on, she had me in the palm of her hand, hanging on every word, reliving my own pain through her words. In a cathartic way that is. This was the joy of discovering Joy Clark.

My Advice to New Guitar Players

We all start somewhere, and I think it's best to start as close to where you want to be as possible. For example: if you want a Les Paul, but can't afford a real Gibson, find an affordable version that gives you all of the things that attracted you to the Gibson Les Paul you want. My first guitar was a Samick strat copy and while I enjoyed that guitar, it was simply an affordable entry to the hobby. I hate to go all "Back in my day..." on you here, but good quality guitars are way more affordable now than they were back in my day. When I started, to find a brand new guitar with anything other than a bolt-on neck you had to look at about the $1000 price range. So if your dream was a Gibson Les Paul you often ended up with a bolt-on neck Epiphone that really only taught you how to tune your guitar every 5 minutes. There were set-neck Epiphones, but that was something you had to beg your parents to help you buy. Their quality was also hit or miss. You either got a good one that inspired you to play, or you ended up looking at it and wondering why you ever wanted to play in the first place.

If you're not overly concerned about buying brand new, there is the used guitar market. There is nothing wrong with a used guitar, but you don't want to inherit someone else's problems. Used guitars can be a great investment, upgrade, or addition to your collection, but they're usually priced accordingly. If something seems like a deal too good to be true, it often is. That's not to say good deals aren't out there, you just have to be vigilant on what you're spending your money on. Check the neck and make sure it's not twisted or overly bowed, the frets are in decent shape, and make sure there aren't any hidden modifications from previous owner. With Rosetta, my Washburn A20, someone used a drill press to route for a Kahler, then filled it with auto body filler once they realized it was a mistake, and painted over that with Krylon Granite paint, before selling it to a pawn store. Another thing is don't be afraid to modify a guitar to suit your needs, but also be aware it could possibly harm the playability, or value of the instrument. In the end it's your guitar and your money, do with it what you will to suit your needs.

Now you've bought your dream guitar, or as close as you can afford, and it inspires you to play, learn and write your own songs. You're going to want an amplifier that inspires you just as much. I've had a few stinkers in my days, but my first real 1x12 combo was a Crate GX-30M, which was fairly decent. Although the clean was nice, the overdrive channel was HORRIBLE. And again, decent amplifiers are far more affordable now than they were back in my day. Don't get me wrong, there are still a lot of stinkers out there, but there are also a ton of good quality, affordable amps that give the player a lot of options. Whether you want an amp with a ton of tonal options like a Line 6, or a Boss Katana, or you want a tube amp as a powerhouse platform for your effects pedals or processing unit, there are a ton of options out there at affordable prices. We're at a point where so many companies offer really good affordable options for gig worthy amps that can do almost anything you need. It's a buyer's market.

If you're going with something like a Line 6, Boss Katana, or any number of other multi-units out there today, you're probably already good to go. If you're using your amp as a platform for effects, then you're in luck there too! I prefer the DIY effects pedal route, but that's just me. There are a TON of effects pedals on the market today that offer a vast variety of tonal options. Back in my day the "cheap" effects pedals came in plastic housings but were still kind of pricey, and they often times didn't sound very good. Today inexpensive pedals can sound almost identical to the expensive ones. I think the key is do the research on what fits your needs and budget. Get out there and test out some pedals and buy what you like best. Or you could always build them, like myself and a lot of other DIY guitar nerds.

You've got your guitar, your amp and all your effects sorted, so what's next? Basics like a tuner, learning how to do your own restrings and setups are really just about all you'll need. If you're uncomfortable adjusting your guitar you can take it to a tech, but if you're a little more hands on there are a lot of videos on the internet that can help you sort out almost any problem that may arise with your guitar. From the basics to modifications to complete restorations, the internet has it all covered. Choose what you're comfortable with and go from there. Through my years, and many hobbies, guitar has always stuck with me. I'm not the rock star I set out to be, but I have enjoyed my time invested. That's not to say it won't pay off someday, but at this point all that I've learned and all that I've done have been a benefit to my life. Take it as seriously or not as you want, the key point is just like with anything in life, and that is to enjoy your time invested.

Careless Capacitor Calamity

May is more than half way over, and I'm on track with my builds for 2025. I recently put together my third for the month, an Englishman by Lovepedal clone. When I went to test it I quickly realized I had made a careless mistake. With the last three builds I've somehow managed to place an electrolytic capacitor in wrong. With each build I carefully went over the components and realized I was off by a singular spot each time. Once it was rectified the circuit worked perfectly. I'm not sure how I can place everything else perfectly fine, with the exception of one singular capacitor. And to have made the same mistake three times? I'm sure there is some kind of lesson to be learned in there somewhere.

I currently have 135 circuit builds completed, and an additional 13 to finish this year. This leaves me two builds away from my goal of 150 total builds since I started. I'm not going to count the 5F1 build as a built circuit, but I do know I've included some misc. things that might not be an effects pedal circuit. I'll deal with that when I get to it, because I may have to add a few more than just two builds to the schedule. I'm not sure exactly what I'll build to sure up those numbers, but something will cross my path. If I'm being honest I can't wait for this all to be done so I can go back through and troubleshoot the circuits from years ago that still don't work. All in due time. Onward we go! Until next time!

Took a Gamble; Succeeded!

Unverified layouts are a gamble, especially if you're like me and haven't the slightest clue how to fix them if they happen to go wrong. I've built a few circuits from unverified layouts, ending up with mixed results. If you'll remember, last year I built a circuit that didn't quite work out from a layout that was removed entirely from the layout website. I'm assuming the builders of the pedal it was based on asked the site owner to do so, which I totally understand. The pedal is supposed to simulate Stevie Ray Vaughan's sound. What I ended up with sounds ok, but it has a few quirks I'm not sure how to fix. So, it stays as-is until I can figure it out.

This new one is called the Lovepedal Super Six "Stevie" (or SRV) Mod. I'm a fan of the blues, and I'm also a fan of Stevie Ray Vaughan, so why shouldn't I take a gamble on a layout for a circuit that helps me sound like him, again? Yeah, I guess it's an on-going theme that I'm wanting something that helps me sound like Stevie. More based in reality though, I'm finding the pedals that can get me a good SRV tone, such as the King Tone Blues Power that I built two years ago, are just generally good circuits for a nice blues tone. That's really what I'm after, and the more blues inspired circuits I can find, the more I'm going to build.

I guess this layout isn't entirely unverified, because in the forum where I found it there is one other person who claims to have built it. I've been burnt on layouts that were verified simply because one person claims to have built it. The copious amounts of fellow befuddled commenters below such layouts only serves to prove me right. If you Google it, as written above, and go to the images, it should be within the first row. Make sure you read the comments in the forum post below it for a few things, but let me assure you it is 100% verified.

When I added the Lovepedal Super Six onto my build roster last year I found a lot of questions about the "SRV Mod", which made me want that layout instead. Come to find out, it wasn't a mod at all, but rather a complete redesign. The Super Six is MOSFET based, while this uses a NE5532 op-amp. I was hoping it was simply a few parts swapped and voila, but no such luck. After building it I will say I'm glad the author of the layout put in the time and effort. I've not seen a schematic for the original pedal, but this circuit sounds good. There is another SRV inspired circuit I'll be putting together sometime this year. That layout has been verified for quite some time, so I'm not too worried. I'll just have to wait and see what it sounds like once I've built it.

That's A Muff Outta Ewe! Ram's Head Clone Build

If you've read enough of my previous entries you'll know sometimes I'm a ball of contradiction. I'll say I don't like fuzz pedals, while talking about how much I like a fuzz circuit I've just built. I don't know what it is. Maybe I'm still growing up, and appreciating fuzz for what it is. Today's entry is about my latest build, a Ram's Head Big Muff clone. In the past I've built a few BMP tone circuits, because they're low component, very simple to build and are quite good at shifting tone. That's probably why people tend to like them. That being said, I never thought I would actually find myself building a Muff clone. What actually started this was probably when I built the Rotten Apple clone. I liked it, but my build wasn't Muff enough.

I did build the Muff Fuzzes, but they're a completely different creature from the actual Big Muff circuit. I resisted long enough and felt it was finally time to relent and build a Big Muff clone. While researching which version I wanted to build I noticed the Big Muff circuit has changed quite a few times. The Ram's head seemed to be the most interesting variants to me. I don't fully know why it's called a Ram's head, as the face on the enclosure looks more like a hippie version of the Gerber baby to me, but what do I know? All it took was finding out the Ram's head was David Gilmour's secret weapon. I figured that's enough for me to want one at my disposal.

I checked the layout website's and settled on Dirtbox Layout's V2 Big Muff Ram's Head '74. Almost all of the Muff layouts look the same, with a few small changes here and there. The only part I didn't have were the transistors, so I did some research for suitable replacements. After a little while I found one person suggesting 2N3904s so I used those. Does mine sound like a Big Muff Ram's head? *shrug* To me it sounds similar to a Big Muff. I'm sure to the ears of someone who has played hundreds of Big Muffs it may not sound anything like one. That's just how things work. Some people say no two Big Muffs sound alike, so maybe mine isn't far off. Regardless I built it, I like it and I'm sure I'll be able to do something with it, which is really all I want from the pedal circuits I build.

This won't be the last fuzz circuit I build this year. I've got one more planned and I'm hoping it turns out as well as the demos of the circuit sound. I've wanted to build a clone of this circuit for a while now, but it's notoriously difficult to get right. Hopefully this one turns out alright. I may even build another Muff clone. Who knows. With this year's kits I will need to find two more circuit to build so that I can end the year with 150 total circuit builds since I started in 2020. I've built so many clone circuits, and eventually came around to build clone circuits that I never thought I ever would that I'm running out of circuits to choose from. While the pedal market is vast, the topology isn't as deep as one would be led to believe. I'll just have to dig deep in the layouts and see what appeals to me to finish up the 150th build.

Hello, Semi-Hollow Part 2: Upgrades

As I stated in the previous post I had been searching for a 335 style guitar for quite some time, but only recently turned serious about my search. It's been a little over a month since Cherrie King and I met, and I'm still learning the eccentricities of her personality, but I'm very pleased I made the purchase. After a quick setup, she's playing and sounding amazing; acoustically at least. Being a complete semi-hollow guitar newbie, I'm shocked how quickly a semi-hollow seems to react to the environment around them. Cherrie's sustain wasn't very strong when she first arrived, but her tone warmed up, and her sustain came through after acclimating. Could it be all in my head? Sure it could, but regardless I'm greatly enjoying finally owning a 335 style guitar.

Since the purchase I've been doing a lot of research into where mine was made, what year it was made, and just general information about it. Using the web archive I see the JF-1 series first appeared on the Peavey website in 2004. I believe Cherrie to be one of the earliest models, because the specs from 2004 line up exactly, but change in 2005. The website never says exactly where these were manufactured, but I did contact a Peavey rep who claims, generally Peavey guitars with EXP were Indonesian, and EX guitars were Chinese. For sake of argument I'll just assume Cherrie was probably made in Indonesian around late 03, early 04.

The specs indicate pretty decent quality, and I can confirm this guitar is super nice. In the original 2004 specs Peavey claimed the body to be a lightweight maple ply, but never explained if it's laminated like normal 335 guitars. The neck is a maple set-in, slightly angled, with a 22 fret rosewood fretboard, and pearl block inlays. The scale length is the standard 24.75", like most 335 guitars will be. What shocked me the most about this guitar is the long neck tenon, which wasn't mentioned anywhere. Another missing detail in the original specs is the flame maple top veneer, but the images of the guitars on their website were clearly flame maple tops. Nor did they bother to mention the body is bound front and back, all the way up the neck and headstock, as well as the F holes are bound. To put it simply, this guitar has some features I wouldn't expect for a guitar that was this affordable. MSRP $399.99

The long neck tenon marked, I hope "JF1".

If I had one gripe at all about Cherrie, it would be her pickups. Ideally I want to give her a nice set of PAFs, but these "Peavey designed humbuckers" aren't half bad. They seem highly inspired by the Seymour Duncan Hot Rodded set. The neck pickup is decent sounding, and kind of reminds me of a Jazz, albeit currently microphone. The bridge is fairly beefy and spicy, like a JB. That doesn't mean I can't dial in a really nice blues tone with them though. Even so, I still want a nice PAF set, but I'm in no hurry. I also plan on building Cherrie a 50s style wiring harness. I'm not sure how that's going to go, because of the whole 335 style guitar thing, but it's a plan.

One of the easiest upgrades has been the knobs. Originally the knobs were just black speed knobs, but almost every ES-335 style guitar has black bells with reflector centers. I decided that would be the way to go for me as well. The next project is to get a round, knurled nut for the selector switch - and maybe a cream tip - because the hexagonal nut looks way too industrial for my liking. I've seen newer JF-1s with the round knurled one, so I want that look. Worst case I'll buy a Gibson switch, so I'll have the low-profile nut they use. For what I paid for this guitar it's one hell of a guitar. Sure, I've had my ups and downs getting to know this guitar, as one does with any guitar, but there is so much potential with what Cherrie offers. I love this guitar!

Cherrie with her new bling (knobs)

Slow Going: Pedal Builds 2025

The weather this year hasn't been very cooperative at all. By this time last year I had nine circuits built, but as of April 12th 2025, I have only built a total of three circuits. Granted, at least two of the circuits built last year were done inside because it was February. If I had more space to solder indoors I would, but I really do prefer to get outside when I'm working. There's something that I find peaceful about getting wrapped up in the process while being outside in the elements.

I started off this year with a medium sized circuit in the Greer Southland clone, and greatly enjoyed the circuit. I did feel a bit of a disconnect with the whole building thing though. I'm still not sure what that was all about. The second build was a Hornsby-Skewes treble boost, which worked out so well that it had me feeling better about pedal building again. The newest is the Lovepedal Tchula, which I was excited to build. At the tail-end of last year I started getting into the Electra world, especially the Lovepedals variants. The tchula sounds really nice, and as with the first two builds of the year, it worked the very first time.

I'm hoping this year's weather gets itself together and lets me finish all of the circuits I have planned, and of course the ones I know will cross my path and be added to my list of planned builds. As I've always been guilty of, I've found a few circuits that I need to build. The only limitation is the parts available to build them. I'm trying to cut back on ordering parts because I'm not sure how many more circuits I'll be building. On the plus side Cherrie has been helping me test my circuit this year, and I'm greatly enjoying her company.