Pamparo in Toronto

Here’s some updates:
- moved back to a smaller board
- removed the Analogman Bi-Chorus
- sold Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive
- got a Barber Half Gainer aka (1/2 Gainer) … related post here: Barber Half Gainer

Here’s an updated picture:

Pedalboard as of November 2009

I also wanted to try out the 2 Overdrives I have to see if I can actually take one out but I am finding it hard. I was going to do a shoot-out but decided not to. I recorded a short-track while testing the connections of the new board though.

- I used the bridge pick-up on my Tele, V: 8, T: 7
- The clean/dry tone is the first four bars of the track
- Next is with Barber Half Gainer (LED-off Channel)
- Then with Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Channel 1
- The power chord riff is with the Zendrive
- The solo (if you can call it that) is with the second channel of the Barber Half Gainer (LED-on)

I used the same base Amp Sim for all tracks:

Without further ado, here’s the short mp3 clip: Pedalboard Update Clip

Let me know what you think!

After just having decided that I will cut-down the number of pedals I have and moving back to my smaller pedalboard here:

I have received a pleasant surprise from my wife as an anniversary gift in the form of a Barber 1/2 Gainer overdrive!

Barber Half Gainer

I must admit, that I haven’t used it in a live band situation. Nor have I tried it with a real guitar amp. What I did, though, is to try it out with the next best thing. As a front-end to Logic Express with it’s built-in guitar amp sim. It’s not the most ideal, but then, I have been craving to try it out

Here’s a very short demo of:
1. Single-note with delay
2. Arpeggio with modulation
3. Straight-up rock-n-roll power-chords! Yeah

So far, I’m impressed. But, I will not pass judgment until I try it with a loud amp … hopefully soon!

Here’s the mp3: Half Gainer

Let me know what you think …

For the past month at Bayview Glen Alliance Church, we have been talking about tough questions that people ask in regards to God and Jesus. A couple of weeks back, we talked about a question regarding faith being delusional.

If you want to hear the whole message from Matthew John, you can download it from here: Is Faith Delusional?

My argument is somewhat different from his. My argument is more to do with the fact that a lot of people believe in other things that has never been proven to be true.

- The Nebular Theory
This is a widely accepted theory of where our Solar system and eventually earth came to being. However, these were never proven scientifically. Yet, a lot of people believe that this is true.

- Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
This is also a widely accepted theory that life on Earth evolved from a non-living matter somehow, thru natural process, to become a more complex lifeform without any help of super-natural being such as God. Yet, there is no scientific proof that this is so.

So really, these 2 theories and a whole lot more requires people to have faith in the authors of such postulates/hypothesis. Are all people who believe in these things also delusional? Does our society picks and choose what can be considered delusional to suite our taste?

I will let you be the judge …

Yes, it is my birthday! Thanks to all those who have already sent me a note. For those who haven’t, don’t worry, I know that you are just busy

Anyhow, I wanted to share a very very short song I wrote as a birthday greeting to myself and gratitude to God for another year he added to my life.

Here’s the lyrics, in-case you can’t understand my mumbling!

Happy birthday to me
One year older, 4 over 30
Thank you God …

Click here to play: Happy Birthday Song

Oh, and thanks to my wife for giving me another chance to see a Philadelphia Eagles game against New York Giants in the Meadowland on December 14! Woo-hoo, NFL Sunday Night game!

Playstation 3 Slim might be my BEST purchase this year. For only $299, the ads are saying that “it does everything”. That is probably a little exaggerated, however, it’s not that far from the truth. In a nutshell, these are the things that it has done for me … so far!

Game Console
Although I consider myself a casual gamer, I have gone thru many gaming consoles. From Atari 5200, Nintendo Family Computer, Dreamcast, Playstation 1 & 2 and Nintendo Wii, I must say that PS3 is definitely the next major upgrade to this line of consoles. There are also tons of playable demos that can be downloaded for try-and-buy via the Playstation Network. I’ve gone hours of playing demos without buying the full game. I’ve already bought 4 games online based on the demo (NBA 2k10 Draft Combine, Bomberman Ultra, Elefunk and Battle Tanks). It’s a good idea but they weren’t the first as Nintendo has done this and I think even Microsoft for their respective consoles.

Media Center
I tried configuring the PS3 as a media center. It works, BUT, the streaming videos keeps dropping every 4 secs. Apparently, a lot of people are having the same issues when using wireless connection with encryption enabled. With having to put personal information for Playstation Network, the last thing I would want to do is to disable encryption. Or you can go the other route of connecting with a cable (not possible in a lot of households). So that sucks! But all is not lost. Instead of streaming, I copied my son’s most watched DVDs locally to the PS3 and just watch it like that. I still use the Media Center piece if I want to copy something local but other than that, it’s useless. Hopefully this gets fixed on the next iteration.

Internet/Mail Access
I don’t really use this much except for accessing online contents and maybe occasional online gaming. I’m still concern with the speed that I’m getting online. However, I know that my friends would be able to read the message faster if I sent it via the PS3 rather than the normal email client of social sites. That’s just a testament that I have friends who likes to play PS3 … hehehe

Blue-Ray player
This is where you get your money’s worth. Just a BD-player alone will cost you about the same price. Clarity is very good although I am probably just having placebo effect as I only have a 32″ TV

I have watched many movies already and what I love the most beside the resolution/sound are the extras that they can pack in one disc. After we watched the movie Valkyrie (Tom Cruise), a great movie btw, I went ahead and tried some of the documentaries included. Wow! The documentaries are great and they are actually longer than the movie itself. What a treat!

Final Words
None yet. I know that I have not yet explored all the things that this machine can do. I also want to see how it will hold up after many hours of use. But I must say, I don’t use it as much as other people so I might not have a problem with it. Hoping …