When nerds try to out-nerd a guitar nerd

By day, I’m a mild-mannered IT guy, wrangling servers for a living. It pays the bills. But by night (well, twice a week and on the weekend) I lead the glamorous life of Guitar Shop Guy. Yes, it’s as amazing as you’re thinking. Rockstars, industry heavyweights, studio pros, all shuffling through seeking MY expertise in […]

Modeler wars are getting out of hand.

Ooh, Kemper released a floor version of their popular Profiling Amp, previously available on in head (“toaster”) form, and rackmount. Cue up fanboy venom from Line 6 Helix fans and Fractal Audio fans! It’s hideous. Disgusting. Old technology. The UI is awful. Too expensive. Those are actual quotes from Facebook user groups about it. Never […]

Live shows and original music…..or lack there of

Last night (May 29th), I had the pleasure of seeing one Mr. Paul Gilbert. Famous for his work in Racer X, Mr. Big, and of course his extensive solo catalog, Paul has continued to grow as a musician and songwriter through the years. In fact, I feel as though when compared to his contemporaries, he […]

Consumers are to blame for the downfall of brick and mortar retail…..not websites

As many of my friends know, I work part-time at a guitar shop. This is about a particular gentleman who’s been in twice. Last November, this person called to see if we had a Mesa Boogie Rectifier 25 in stock. We did, so he wanted to bring in his guitar to try it out. Absolutely! […]

Online Buying from other people (Reverb.com, eBay, Facebook, etc.) Don’t be an idiot

I had an amplifier listed for my shop, on Reverb.com, a site dedicated to selling musical instrument gear. It was a like new Mesa Boogie amp, with additional warranty still left. These amps sell for $1549 brand new, and are American-made amps. A gentleman (I’m using that term loosely) badgered us on price, offering more […]

Dear Apple: if you don’t care as much about Mac hardware……

Stop worrying about how thin and light it is. I would like to return to the days where I could actually upgrade the RAM in a laptop, even change out the drive (hard drive, SSD, whatever storage medium was in there). Now there’s such a race to make these things “Internet appliances” and not actual […]

The weird undercurrent of cheap gear in music

There are a number of products out there considered to be “great bang for the buck” pieces of gear these days. The BOSS Katana is a digital amp that’s taken the guitar world by storm, mainly because it’s a $225-$500 amp series that actually sounds good, and yes, can be gigged with. For what I […]