Small Guitar Amps: Trash It or Thrash It?

I like small amps and I can not lie. There are amps like the Marshall MS-2 and my Lyon AMP3, which are functional but they're really not meant to be taken seriously. Then there is my Fender Mustang Mini, which is small, portable, can be operated by power adapter or batteries, sports a handle that doubles as a kickstand, but was actually built to rock. If I had one complaint it would be that it's not very loud. Don't get me wrong, it's ok if I'm rocking out alone, but it's not compete with a drummer loud. Then comes the BC-08 I was given, which is, well there's something seriously wrong with this amp. It sags under minimal stress, and the tiny speaker is pretty horrible, bit it's a neat little novelty. Then I was given a Silvertone Smart IIIs, which is pretty okish. The Silvertone isn't anything special, but it did help me test some guitar pedal circuits, so if nothing else it's a good pedal testing amp.

Then came a small guitar amp I had been wanting for a while. I had been seeing these "convert your combo amp into a head" mod videos, most of them use a Fender Frontman 15g or 15r. I was hoping for a 15r so I had a reverb tank, but I ended up with a Frontman 15g. Yeah these amps get a lot of poopoo online, but it's decent and it's loud. Still probably not compete with a drummer loud, but loud. Unlike the others this has a full EQ! I didn't know how much I missed a mids control until I had a mids control on this one. The distortion channel is brittle, but I find with the full EQ I can dial in a fairly decent rock tone, and also thanks to the full EQ I can remove all the mids and get a brutal metal distortion. Oh, I'm sorry a shitty distortion is acceptable when it comes from a Boss DS-1, but not from a Fender Frontman 15g?

Another thing about the Frontman 15g that I like is the fact they use the exact same board as the 15r, just omitting the components for the reverb circuit. Meaning you can populate it yourself, add a reverb tank and make a Fender Frontman 15g/r if you wanted. (I DO!) Amongst the sea of head conversion videos for this amp there is another one that stands out to me. The great Johan Segeborn said he thinks this amp (as part of the Squier Affinity Package) sounded great, then proceeded to make this amp sound great, with the Squier Affinity Telecaster. This gentleman has played some of the best rock amps ever made, and said he thinks this little 15 watt pack-in amp sounds great. I would have to say that I agree, with the caveat: us mere mortals can make it sound great, for what it is.

The majority of my small combo amps are just novelty, with the exception, I feel, of the Fender Mustang Mini and the Frontman 15g. The Mustang Mini is just a compact modeler, not much different from its full sized brethren. The Frontman 15g however truly seems to want to play with the big boys. Yeah the distortion can be brittle, and the cleans aren't all that inspiring, but if you spend a few minutes with the amp you can dial in something decent to use. Many have said it's the speaker holding this amp back, and either change it (most use a Celestion Eight 15) or cut it out entirely (aka the head conversion). I truly believe at its core this little amp has potential, so I've decided against converting it into a head. Maybe if I find another for super cheap I will. Maybe I'll even keep my eyes open for one of the red Frontman 25r combos.

It Smells Like a Muppet's Butthole

It's been over a year since I introduced you to my first semi-hollow guitar Cherrie King, and ever since then she's been leaning against some towels in hopes she doesn't fall over and get damaged. Almost all of my guitars have hard cases, or at least some form of protection, so Cherrie deserves something too. The problem wasn't getting her a case, it's more what case would be fitting for Cherrie? Well, shortly after I acquired Cherrie I binged youtube videos about ES-335 guitars. The one that really stuck with me is Gibson TV's famous guitarists favorite ES-335 guitars. When Charlie Starr opened the case and I saw that marigold interior contrasting the cherry red of his ES-335TDC, I knew that was the case Cherrie needed. Then came researching what my options were. A) I could track down an original 1960s Gibson hard case for an ES-335. B) I could buy a modern Gibson Historic version of the original 1960s Gibson hard case for an ES-335. Or C) I could buy a modern Epiphone replica. Well, the issues there are option A is quite expensive, and I'm notoriously cheap. Option B is also quite expensive, and I'm still notoriously cheap. C) The black and marigold Epiphone cases weren't offered for individual sale, so I would have to buy it with a guitar already in it. If I did find an empty one, something horrible must have happened to the guitar.

Charlie Starr's 64 ES-335TDC

For months I debated my options. Even at one point hoping someone I knew would find the case I want at a thrift store or flea market for a few bucks and give it to me. That didn't happen. As my patience wore thinner I questioned if I would stick to my guns and wait for a black and marigold case, or would I settle for any ES-335 case just to give Cherrie protection? When it comes to ES-335 cases there are so many options out there. Almost any color combo, except the black and marigold like I wanted, can be found fairly inexpensively. I was starting to think maybe I should just settle for whatever inexpensive hard case I could get, and that's when a case of mistaken identity occurred.

While cruising Facebook Marketplace I found a listing for an unsuspecting black hard case that I was pretty sure would fit an ES-335. The other photos displayed both the shape, and the marigold interior. I spent a week debating whether it was what I thought it was, while also trying to talk myself out of it, because there's no way this could be true. I eventually told myself even if it's a complete counterfeit the price is still right for an ES-335 case. I asked the seller for more photos, and... HOLY F**K! Are you kidding me? There was the brass Gibson plaque riveted right to the side of the case. I turned to Google Images to further research 1960's ES-335 cases. I was doing a lot of eye shifting, back and forth between the photos from the seller and the Google Images, trying to find differences to prove to myself this wasn't real. After finding a few 1960s ES-335 cases that matched identically I put the wheels in motion to make the purchase.

Here comes the cautionary moral of the story. After getting the case home I placed Cherrie inside and it was nowhere near a perfect fit, although she looks great in the marigold interior. First of all, it smells like a Muppet's butthole inside. Secondly, these vintage cases aren't that great. It's ok for protecting Cherrie around the house from external bumps, but with the interior being worn down I can hear Cherrie moving inside the case when I pick it up. The latches are "Weapons grade useless", I believe is the term. Apparently over time these handles become super brittle, so I'm avoiding using it, which makes it cumbersome to move around. Was it worth what I paid for it? YES! A million times yes! Am I upset it's not as protective as I hoped? Kind of, but I did add a yellow towel for some extra padding in the places where it's needed. I hope that prevents a whole lotta shakin' going on.

Ooh, that smell! Can't you smell that smell?

Vintage cases can still serve a purpose, just not the one they used to. Keep them safe at home, and not on the road. Again, they'll protect your guitars from bumps at home, keep them clean, etc., but they really serve no purpose beyond home protection, and I guess the prestige of having a vintage guitar case. The most ironic thing is I wanted this case so badly to protect Cherrie, but I really miss being able to grab her from where she used to be leaning and play her for hours on end. Now there are a few more steps, and again it's cumbersome to move the case around without using the handle. Worst of all, when I remove her from her case that Muppet's butthole smell she's been soaking up from inside the case is now right in my face. I got this case for such a good deal I couldn't say no, but even so it's a cautionary tale on lose all expectation when you meet your heroes.

My Pickup Predicament

When I first started playing guitar, pickups were pickups. As long as they made noise, they were good. Eventually I started listening to how pickups did their job, which started my journey to finding my sound. My inspirations span a wide variety, so I've decide to allow each guitar to tell me what their voice is. Being a broke bedroom rockstar I also need to find my sound on a tight budget, which wasn't always possible. Back in the day unless you shelled out money for a guitar already equipped with good pickups, or you shelled out money to buy better replacements, you were stuck with the cheapest space fillers it came with. Most of my guitars still have their stock pickups due to that fact, which is fine for some, but others leave quite a bit to be desired.

 

Such is the case with Cherrie, who I genuinely feel isn't reaching her full potential because of  the stock "Peavey Humbucking Pickups". Every guitar has a personality and a voice, in this case I feel her pickups are actively working against her, and not allowing her true voice to come through. These pickups are just your standard import pickups of the day. They were designed to span all genres and allow the player to decide what they wanted to play. Cherrie truly sounds her best when we're playing something bluesy. It feels as if she relaxes and she's comfortable in her element. The stock pickups aren't horrible, in fact the neck pickup is actually pretty nice, after some adjustments. My main complaints are the neck pickup still gets a bit muddy with chords, and the super hot bridge pickup just doesn't feel right. These pickups would feel more at home in a metal centric guitar, but for Cherrie they're just not vibing.

Given that Cherrie wants to be a blues guitar, she would probably benefit the most from PAF style pickups. The problem being PAFs were never uniform, so the term PAF is a fairly broad definition rather than an exact formula. When it comes to modern PAF copies some people want to argue about nickel-silver content, long legs vs short legs, maple vs plastic spacers, all of the different magnets alloys, winds per bobbin, etc. I've heard real PAFs sound like dying cats, and I've heard super cheap PAF clones sound fairly decent, and everything in between. What's most important to me is how do they sound?  I think Cherrie wants a set of PAFs that give her that Burst Killer tone, while also being a refined blues lady.

When it comes to true PAF copies, I guess most people would look at Gibson, as they're the ones who started this whole mess. If it hadn't been for Seth Lover's partnership with Gibson, who knows what music would sound like today. My Les Paul has Burstbucker Pros in it, and it gives me all that raw PAF snarl that I need, and a touch more, so I would certainly consider Burstbuckers, but they're a bit on the expensive side for me. Hot on the heels of Gibson, I think, would be Seymour Duncan. Seymour Duncan makes a myriad of PAF style pickups, but again some of these aren't within my reach. A lot of people would argue Throbak are superior to both Gibson and Seymour Duncan, I wouldn't disagree, it's just you can't touch a decent set of Throbaks with broke, bedroom rockstar money.

Another brand that makes a lot of PAF style pickups are DiMarzio. The sad fact there is I've never met a DiMarzio pickup that I liked. When I bought my Westone Dana, used mind you, it came with a DiMarzio FRED in it, and I hated it. This has been over 30 years ago, so I can't quite remember why. A few years back I bought a DiMarzio HS-3 for my Yngwie on a budget clone, and I absolutely hated it too. I knew it was super low output, but trying to get distortion from a DiMarzio HS-3 is like trying to fart with a speculum up your ass. I'm not against DiMarzio, they've just never given me what I wanted to hear, so I'll pass.

Again, since I'm a broke ass, we're going to skip all of the boutique brands like Throbak, Wizz, Monty's, Bare Knuckle, Vaughn Skow, etc. I'm going to have to look at the import market. There are some import PAFs that seem to have a really good reputation. Epiphone's Probuckers, ToneRider, and even super cheap $30 ebay no name, or Donlis PAFs all seem pretty decently appreciated. The Amazon route isn't something I oppose. The Powersound humbuckers in my RG270DX sound horrible, so I later replaced them with an Amazon DiMarzio style set that look and sound so much better. This is where waters get muddied, but not in a completely bad way. Having more options is a good thing, and a bad thing, if you're like me. I wish I had $30 per set options that sounded decent when I was a kid. 

My problem is I've been researching affordable PAF style pickups for a few months now, and it's become option paralysis at this point. With manufacturing costs being dirt cheap in the far east, decent sounding pickups for affordable prices are all over the place. Yet there are still caveats of knowing exactly what you're buying. Within my brain there is a battle between being frugal and getting the best price on good sounding pickups, or pay extra to avoid the pitfalls of potentially buying junk and just getting a known good sounding set of PAFs. I want the best PAFs I can get for Cherrie, within my budget, but I don't want to miss out on a really good set that could also save me some money. Probuckers seem great, ToneRiders aren't bad, but the much cheaper Donlis sound pretty good too. Heck, I may already have a set of Donlis PAFs. I bought a set of cream PAFs on Amazon a few years back that. They look exactly like the cream Donlis PAFs that apparently are so good they go head to head with the big boys.

So what do I do about replacing the humbuckers in Cherrie? I don't know! For now, the eternal search continues to find that balance of price and tone. Wish me luck!

Finding the Best Twang for My Buck!

I'm going to start this off by thanking John Spinks of The Outfield. Seeing him play a red Telecaster in the music video for Your Love taught me that Telecasters weren't just for country chicken pickin'. Not that country chicken pickin' is bad, it's just the playing style that I mostly (used to) associate with a Telecaster. Then came John 5, which blew the doors open to the Telecaster being used for all genres. Yeah there's Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, Pete Townsend, Joe Strummer, and Bruce Springsteen, but the one that originally made me stop, think, and genuinely want a Telecaster was John Spinks of The Outfield. While John Spinks made me want a Telecaster, it was seeing Gary Moore playing one that put the plan into motion for me to actually obtain one, thus starting my pursuit of finding the best twang for my buck. See what I did there?

The past few years have been a wild ride and, apart from blogging and building pedal circuits, I've spent a lot of my time researching guitars that I want. B.B. King, Freddie King, Gary Moore, and Warren Haynes made me want a semi-hollow guitar, so I bought Cherrie. Joe Bonamassa and Amos made me want a korina flying v, and I always will. Now I'm delving into the world of Telecasters, and just like with the korina flying v, it's an insanely deep rabbit hole. Unlike the korina flying v, however, I don't feel like I'll never be able to obtain the genuine article. Fender have been making Telecasters forever, and there are so many choices, making this such a deep rabbit hole. I'm currently aiming at the sub $200 market, just to dip my toes. While a Fender Telecaster would be awesome, I'm currently not able to justify buying a guitar of that caliber just to play blues riffs in my bedroom.

The affordable Telecaster market is filled with options. You've got your Squiers, Harley Benton, Xavier SX, Mono Price Indio, Lyx, Donner, Glarry, no name Temu, the list goes on and on. I even debated a First Act Overtone, which is a Telecaster shaped body with Stratocaster adornments. I've seen so many brand options that I finally had to decide what features I wanted most. Ideally I want a butterscotch blackguard, string through the back, with as close to a Fender Telecaster style headstock as possible, with vintage style tuners. Narrowing down to these features took quite a few options out of contention, but there are still so many options. Then I figured parts can be changed, such as the tuners, bridge, pickguard, and pickups, which we'll discuss a little bit later. This understanding further narrowed it down even further. Now I essentially had to sift through a pile of Squiers, and that's totally fine with me because even with just one brand left there are still so many options.

Years ago I bought a Squier Affinity Strat neck from the Goodwill Outlet store, and I'm pretty sure I spent under $1 for it. The profile is a bit slim, but it's not uncomfortable, and I was impressed with the wood Squier used for the Affinity series. Looking at Squiers current Affinity series Telecaster you get a really nice deal, they even offer a butterscotch blackguard! On the used market these things are dirt cheap, and I've seen a few floating around, but there's something off about them. Upon further research the bodies and necks are thinner, and they're 21 frets instead of 22. While these aren't deal breakers, again I'm looking for the best twang for my buck here, so we'll sit the Affinity on the sidelines for now and keep looking. There are the Classic Vibes, the Vintage Modifieds and all kind of really great options, but these all come with really great option prices, so I'll keep looking.

That's when it hit me. I'm not looking for anything extraordinary, I just want something standard. That's it! For about two decades Squier made their Standard series, which included an aged blonde Telecaster at some point. Perfect! It fills all of my Telecaster needs, and what doesn't can easily be changed. You get the Fender backed quality of a Squier, a Telecaster body that strings through the back, the Telecaster headstock on a thicker neck than that Affinity series, and alnico five pickups. Which strangely makes me a bit sad, as I was hoping for something with ceramic pickups. A few years ago I bought a set of cheap, alleged, alnico five Telecaster pickups from Amazon and installed them in my cheap Peavey Rockmaster, which never filled that Telecaster shaped void I'm still trying to fill. I was hoping I could upgrade an inexpensive Telecaster to A5 pickups, but in this case I feel it would be a downgrade.

Now I know what I want, and what I'll be looking for. Again, Squier made these things for almost twenty years, so there are still a ton of options. I've already seen a few Squier Standard Telecasters on Marketplace for $200, give or take. I may still try the Amazon pickups to see how they sound, but I think Squier should already have a decent A5 pickup set inside, but we'll see. For now, I'll continue looking and wait for that right one to pop up and leave no doubt in my mind that it's the right one for me.

Humbling Hubris Through Troubleshooting

Far be it from me to think I'm flawless, in fact I'm well aware that I'm faulty. The only problem is while one side of me is faulty, the other side is very much Basil Fawlty. I generally take quite a while to warm up to the idea that I actually know what I'm doing in any given field, however sometimes when things go wrong I dare to blame everything but myself. When it comes to guitar pedal circuits I'm still a newbie, even after six years and 160 builds, but when things go wrong, even though nothing seems to be wrong, well that's when my hubris tank runneth over.

Since this year's weather has been confused I've had very little chance to get outside and solder any of the pedal kits I've put together for the 2026 season. In the meantime I figured a few short bursts of soldering inside couldn't do my brain any damage. Could it? Well, perhaps it does, as I've found even the simplest of troubleshooting tasks to feel far beyond my grasp of comprehension. Firstly I set my sights on the Univox Uni-comp, as it was a super simple circuit, and if there was a will, there was a way. Sadly it took me entirely too long faffing about with AI trying to get it to work. In the end it works, but I have no clue if it's anywhere near what it should sound like.

After that I set my sights on a slightly modified Lovepedal JTM clone I had built, in hopes of creating an always on bluesy overdrive. I subbed in a 2N3904 for the transistor, two 1N60P clipping diodes, and I added a volume control. It doesn't really need a volume control, because at max it's only unity, but it's working now. It's a decent little overdrive, not to say the JTM wasn't already. I then looked into my EQD Zoar clone, which I was super excited about because they sound amazing. When mine was initially finished, however, it was dead as the Dodo. The main issue was the JFET input. I didn't have any suitable JFETs until recently, so I slapped one into the socket and was met with buzzy, farty goodness! Well, that's a start! A little twist of the trimpot and voila! It came to life and sounded as amazing as I had always hoped. This has been sitting in my Needs Troubleshooting box for two years, and all it took was two seconds to fix it. *face palm*

What may be worse is my Zendrive clone. It worked initially, but I was flustered because I thought the Voice control was bad. I downloaded schematics and went through the comments of the layout, finding more people saying the same thing. After hours of frustrated troubleshooting, reflowing every solder joint, and trying almost everything, without having tested the circuit, I decided I should just wire it up and test it. Well I'll be an idiot, it wasn't the Voice control, it was the Tone control! Ok, so what's wrong with the Tone control? More frustrating troubleshooting later and... I used a 330pf instead of a 3.3nf. Once I swapped that out, it works perfectly. THANK GOODNESS because Zendrives are GREAT!

Other circuits like both my 9v and my 18v Katana Boosts just needed biasing. My Eric Johnson Fuzz Face has a very high pitch oscillation squeal to it, but that may be because it needs a 9v battery, instead of the PSU I normally use, so I left it as it. Then my Colorsound Power Boost, I had written down the bass control didn't work, but apparently it does now? *shrug* I still have so many circuits left to go, like my Boss Blues Driver clone, which is apparently another notoriously finicky circuit. Again, I feel if there is a will, there is a way. Depending on how finicky the circuit wants to be, that may just be a way straight into the trash bin. Let's hope the outcome is a bit brighter side than that though. 

NE555 Projects on 5/5

After 160 circuits built I decided I really needed to start adding more utilitarian builds to my roster. Thanks to tagboard effects I found a voltage inverter and voltage doubler that use the exact same layout, but orient the parts slightly differently to achieve different goals. I've avoided building some pedal circuits because they need a negative nine volts, and I've avoided building others as they require an internal charge pump to double the voltage. I figure, why not build these little circuits and have external options for powering pedal circuits? Especially when it saves me having to buy a charge pump specific IC every single time I needed to achieve either of these voltage requirements.

Both of these circuits require the use of the old tried and true 555 timer chip. These projects sat in my box of 2026 kits for a few months, until I realized it would be neat to build them on May 5th. This wasn't purely my own idea, I have to admit. BigClive inspired me with his video posted today. That, couple with the fact that I had so much fun yesterday using my old RadioShack soldering iron, I figured why not!? Again, both layouts are identical in terms of board size, trace cuts, jumpers and most of the parts. The varying voltage output is all down to how the diodes and electrolytic caps are oriented within the circuit.

There isn't much more to say, if you've checked the layouts at tagboard's website you pretty much see everything you need to. Super simple, super low component count, and (hopefully as I've not tested them out yet) super useful. Now I can build circuits that require negative voltage and eighteen volts without having to worry about powering them properly. I mean, I could build these for each pedal that requires them, and in some cases I may. The main idea though is to have a power box with these options, so I don't need to mess with all that in the future. There are a few other 555 timer related circuits I plan to build, but those will come later. These were just super easy builds I felt deserved to be "born" on May 5th.

Using Archaic Technology!

Since my nephew turned one this year I wanted to build him a simple boost circuit for his birthday. As I've done in the past, for a few friends, I build the circuit on the actual day of their birth so they and the circuit share the same birthday. Typically it's just a simple LPB-1 or a treble boost, nothing too complicated as I'm simply building these mostly for non-musician friends as keepsakes. For little Erik I decided to build him a LPB-1. Maybe someday he'll want me to custom build him something a bit more complex. Heck, maybe by then I'll be building guitar amps too. Who knows!

The LPB-1 being as simple as it is, I didn't want to break out my soldering station and make a big mess, as today was a rainy day, making getting outside a fool's errand. Instead I dug through a little toolbox under my bed and pulled out an old RadioShack 15 watt soldering iron I had barely used before. I found it at the outlet years ago and figured it may come in handy someday. Little did either of us know it would be about ten years before it came in handy, but come in handy it did!

This thing takes forever to warm up, but once it's ready it put plenty of heat into the board and the component to make pretty decent joints. I can't say they're perfect, and sometimes the solder creeped through the hole and onto the actual component being soldered to the board below, but all in all this was a fairly good experience. The tip is conical, which I'm not really familiar with as I prefer a more angled, chisel type, like on my soldering station. Even so, I still have to say this little blast from the past did a decent job.

The joints are a little blobby, but they seem solid. I have to say building the circuit for my nephew, and using the old RadioShack soldering iron made this one of the more enjoyable builds I've done in a while. I probably wouldn't want to use it for anything wildly complex, or high component count, but at least now I know for smaller builds, or maybe even troubleshooting, modifying, or repairs this soldering iron is wholly capable. Now if I could find the chisel tip I like somewhere I think this soldering iron would get a lot more use than it currently is.

Univox Uni‑Comp Vero Nightmare Solved!

It's been sitting in my needs troubleshooting box for over two years, and finally I decided to stare the dragon straight in its eyes and figure out what exactly was going on, or in this case not going on. Many years ago I had built a Really Cheap Compressor and I liked how cheap and effective it was, so when I saw the Univox Uni-comp I decided this would be a piece of cake! Little did I know, initially, it was more like a pile of crap. After this little circuit failed to work at all I went to the search engines and found that, what looks like a very simple circuit on paper, seems to be notorious for not being able to get it right. There are multiple schematics and layouts that all differ, with very poor success rates from what I'm reading as well. I'm not a very smart man, but I am tenacious!

The original layout I used

With legends being passed down from generation to generation that this circuit is indeed viable, I decided to sit down and compare all the schematics and layouts I could find. I made 100% sure that mine was exactly like the layout I used (above), and it was. From there I started tracing things back and forth between all of the layouts and schematics, and I noticed a few things. On the layout I used, the 3.3M is going through a jumper to pin 3, as where all the others went to pin 2. I desoldered the jumper at pin 3, stuffed it through the cut trace beside pin 2, and soldered it where I attached the socket beneath. Then I traced both 1M resistors at pin 3 and realized neither went to ground. The lower of the two went precisely where it was meant to go, so the upper required me to move the top leg down one space, which now gave me the correct voltages on the LM741. I also noticed the LED anode and it's components weren't isolated, so I made a cut to do that.

Once those changes were done, I finally had audio, but just barely. The LED was also behaving like it was possessed. Sometimes stuck on, sometimes refusing to light at all, making me think I’d cooked it. Between the weak output and the LED acting like a mood ring, I was stumped. I checked every schematic and layout again, and everything looked right. That’s when I turned to AI (big ups to Copilot!). I showed it the layout, explained the fixes I’d already made, and after some thinking it told me the LDR needed to connect to Q1’s collector. I scoffed. In none of the schematics or layouts does the LDR go to the collector of Q1. In mocking robot voice: “Error, error, cannot compute.” But the AI was persistent. It suggested disconnecting the LED and LDR entirely to see if the volume came back. Wouldn’t you know it, it did! Not only that, but with the Comp and Level maxed, the thing actually turned into a surprisingly cool little overdrive. That’s a project for another day, but it proved the sidechain was the culprit.

I questioned my use of an MPSA05 instead of an 06, and AI assured me the only thing that needs to happen is the LDR needed to connect to Q1's collector. Fine, we'll try it your way. *eye roll* Well, yet again I was wrong. Now I'm not saying it's perfect, but it actually works. The LED flickers into the LDR, it compresses, but it is gritty. Could this be the 1N4148s? Who knows. The reality is this little circuit now works, again probably not perfectly. What I had written off over two years ago now actually works. So if you're one of the people who had issues with the Univox Uni-comp, here are the changes to make to the layout above to get you started.

• Add a cut at E12 to isolate the LED and it's components
• Move the Jumper from I6 to H6, connecting to Pin 2
• Move the 1M top leg from D4 to E4, giving the opamp proper voltages
• Connect the top leg of the LDR to C11, connecting to Q1's collector

I will reiterate that this is probably not as close to the Univox Uni-comp as it could be, but it's a good starting point, and it makes the layout above viable. I can officially change my notes on this build from "Doesn't work!" to "Gritty, but works!". Hopefully this helps some of you out there. If it does, please let me know.

The Epiphone 58 Korina Flying V Encounter

In 2023 I came across a youtube video where Joe Bonamassa explains the history behind his 1958 Gibson korina flying v, aka Amos. The guitar originally shipped from Gibson to Arthur's Music in Indianapolis, thus Joe named it after the owner of the music store, Amos Arthur. Myself being from Indiana, and having been to Arthur's Music, I felt a sense of Hoosier pride, and an intangible bond between myself and the 58 korina flying v, in general, was formed. I already have my Greeny clone, I have my Peavey JF-1 to cover all of my semi-hollow blues, all that was missing would be a 58 korina flying v to round out the blues collection.

I started researching my options, but a lot of them aren't anywhere near my budget. Obviously a genuine 1958 Gibson would cost far more than I could ever afford, and a modern Gibson copy is five figures. The cheaper alternatives were plentiful, but for me accuracy is an issue. Dillion made really nice copies that are inexpensive, but they're hard to find, and the neck is maple instead of korina. Epiphone has made quite a few different attempts at copying the 58 korina flying v, but they too seem to be a pig in a poke. The first run from 1998-2013 all supposedly have mahogany necks instead of korina, and the neck heel is a Les Paul style instead of a 58 flying v. In 2017 Epiphone tried again, this time with slightly more accurate specs, and while they're affordable things still didn't seem 100% accurate. In 2018 Joe Bonamassa himself offered a copy of Amos as his annual limited edition Epiphone, it being the most accurate of all, yet they've become a collector's item often with a price tag to match. The Inspired by Gibson series recently surfaced, which are as accurate as Epiphone as ever made them, apart from Amos, and they also come with a price tag to match.

As I do when I'm looking for a guitar, I turned to my brother, as he sees more used guitars in a day than most people. I told him what I was looking for and asked him to keep an eye out, which he did. While I was still researching I saw two 98s sell for $500 each on local FB market place, which set up my budget scale. Even with a supposed mahogany neck I wouldn't scoff at one of the 98-13 korina v guitars for about $500. If one of the Amos or Inspired by series ever showed up below $800 I wouldn't pass it up. If the 2017 to ?? series ever showed up for $600ish I would prefer it over the 98-13, simply for it's slightly more accurate build.

After a few years of waiting, the day finally came when my brother told me he wanted to show me his new guitar. As he walked to the door I saw the unmistakable flying v shaped case with a gold Epiphone emblazoned upon it. But what was actually inside? When I opened the case I was gobsmacked. It was an 04 Epiphone in really good shape. Oddly enough, even though they made them from 98-13, I had never touched one of these before, well maybe to move it out of my way of another guitar, but I never purposely sat down with a 58 style flying v to see what it felt like. Immediately I noticed how light it was and comfortable it was to sit with. The neck was chunky, which I love, and it's maple, instead of mahogany (I still wish it was korina). It has a warm tone, it's fairly resonant, sustain is decent, and it plays ok. When I plugged it in I was surprised by the Epiphone pickups. They're not great, but they're not the worst. They try to do a thing that other pickups do better, but their efforts aren't completely in vain.

Overall I'm impressed with what this guitar brings to the table. Being completely honest my goal is to have a 58 style korina flying v that I can take up to Arthur's Music and let her sit beside their Epiphone Amos and soak up all the mojo that guitar and the store have to offer. I really want accuracy in the one I will eventually own. I want the black pickguard, which this one has white, and I want Kluson style tuners, which this has Grovers, and I want the accurate neck heel, which this is an LP style. After playing this guitar I feel the neck heel isn't a bad thing, it's just my personal preference to want the accurate one. I did notice this was made in the Saein factory which most 04s I see are from the Unsung factory.

While I enjoy this guitar, something in my guts still steer me toward a 2017 or newer. Don't get me wrong, this 04 is an amazing little guitar for what it is! If you want the look and vibe of the 58, on a budget, this is a 100% all day buy. I am super happy that I was given the chance to try it out because now I know what to expect and what I truly need from the 58 korina flying v I will eventually own. Who knows maybe down the road I'll have both this 04 and one of the more accurate ones. For now though, I'll weigh my options as I continue to guitarsit this one for my brother.

My Lament: I Wasted My Time, Until Time Wasted Me

Let me tell you about 22 year old Samuel. He was full of life and energy, but his biggest flaw was always thinking tomorrow was a better time than today to follow his dreams. He had a small nagging anxiety that kept him from leaping, because he always meticulously calculated how hard the landing would be if he missed the mark. He never took the chance, simply out of fear for an illusion of failure. Failure was never assured, but he feared it was, and never made things happen. He could have done so many things, he could have seen so many things, the places he could have gone and the things he could have become. Now, at 42, heavier anxieties have stripped Samuel of any energy he had left. He's watched all his dreams wash away with the tides of change. He's watched everything he's held onto so tightly slip free and bolt. Believe me, when he was 22, he would look at a 42 year old lamenting his past just like he is now, and scoff. Fucking loser pissed away his whole life, but I won't! Not me! I'll be somebody! I'll do something! Time ticks faster than he ever realized, and before he knew it, it's caught him in a web of inability. Don't fucking do it, heed my warning! DON'T FUCKING DO IT!

I started playing guitar around 1996, and I immediately wanted to learn how to maintain my own guitars, as repair work was specialized and expensive back then. I learned the basics, but that led me to want to build my own guitars, and by 2005 I was seriously looking into Roberto-Venn luthiery school. I researched everything, and I nearly signed up, but that nagging anxiety showed me a world of wasted time, wasted money, and complete inability to do anything with the skills I would have acquired. In the end, comfortable stasis was better than the discomfort of challenging the mental illusion of failure. I regret it to this day.

Around the same time, 2005, I was looking into BYOC pedal kits, but I lacked soldering skills back then. While I did eventually start building guitar pedals, in 2020, I often wonder what might have been. Would I have started by modifying DS-1s, like Josh Scott, and made a name for myself? Could I have become like Brian Wampler, who was essentially my neighbor back then. What would have happened if I had crossed paths with Sean Michael of Lovepedal when I lived in Michigan? He too was practically my neighbor when I lived up there. What might have been? We'll never know. Again, at least I finally started building clone circuits, and my only legacy will be DIY pedals that end up in Goodwills or, most likely landfills.

One would think if that's all I've got to complain about the rest of my life must be pretty good, right? Nah. I wasted so many years holding onto the wrong relationship, it's not even funny. I've never been a "player", I've always tried to make it work, although I am not without flaws. I am human, I make mistakes, I repent and I learn. Looking back at all of my relationships, of which there were three long-term, I used to feel if I learned from them what not to do in any future relationship it wasn't wasted time, but nah, it mostly turned out to be just that. Did I have fun in each relationship? Yeah! Did I make memories that still make me laugh and smile randomly to this day? Yeah! But you know what? I saw the signs, I just didn't want to believe them, let go, adjust and do better. Again, the same nagging anxiety calculating how hard the landing would be after the fall kept me clinging on, long after I should have let go. Now I'm still sifting through the ashes of the past trying to find anything left of me to redeem and give to someone new.

Listen, I know this was boring. I know this wasn't what you wanted to read today, but here we are. I'm just trying to reach out to anyone and tell them time is fleeting, time is ticking away, don't waste your time. I'm not saying schedule every single solitary second of your life, unless that's how you already get by, but I am saying if you have a goal, strangle that fucker and make it happen! Snatch every single goal away from the hands of time pulling it away from your capability. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but make it happen! What might have been isn't a good look during a midlife crisis my friend. It's really not. It doesn't matter how lofty your goals are, build toward them. Use that preparation to push you forward. Let the fear of NOT attaining your goal choke the shit out of the illusion of failure. Failure may happen, but it's not guaranteed. Be kind to yourself, and others! I love you all!