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Hey has anybody else got into this guy? Just wondering, 'cause he's gotta be my standout favourite new discovery of last year, and his new album that's just come out is pretty awesome too. http://www.mrfastfinger.net" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; I think all his stuff is on iTunes. ...

Happy Birthday Steve! Hope you're having a great day with your family and friends. Peace and love,

Keep rocking!

Simon

Hey Steve! I just read, with delight, your holiday season email newsletter with all the fabulous things you have lined up for the coming year. You ROCK! What an awesome list....especially the possibility of more orchestral performances, and the release of a new DVD! Have a wonderful christmas and ne...

Yeah I think it's a great idea, partly 'cause I didn't like Real Illusions: Reflections that much anyway, and partly 'cause instrumental guitar showcases are what you do best. Amazing guitar playing is what you're famed for, not songs which nobody can sing 'cause the vocal melodies are so f*ck*d up,...

Well if you want that "tubular" satch sound from the neck pickup go for a PAF Joe. I'll be putting one of those in an S470. The PAF Pro was a great neck pickup, and the PAF Joe has been tweaked to give it a more tubular sound - the words of Joe Satriani himself, as it happens. If you want a Paul Gil...

No really, the Hotplate is the daddy. The EQ does actually have an effect on the output to the speakers, but has more of an effect on the line-out signal. I absolutely love the Hotplate, and I love the way it works. It will help you get the most out of your amp without trying to do anything else for...

Cool, have fun with that...

In case you misunderstood, a Red Box Pro is nothing like a POD. A POD does all the amp modelling and everything, as you know. A Red Box Pro is just a DI box with the most amazing cabinet emulation. You still get to use your valve amp set up with all your favourite tones, and if you're using a power ...

Tiger, sorry to throw in some confusion, but a "pro" sound card, ie. one designed to be particularly good at putting audio in to the computer, like the ones listed before, can be surprisingly versatile. My PC's motherboard has onboard 7.1 digital surround, but all it's doing is collecting dust, whic...

Better software suites like Logic, Cubase and ProTools have a brilliant software mixer built into them. However, the reason for possibly needing one if you get a more "budget" sound card is that the sound card wouldn't have the various bits of hardware needed to properly facilitate recording straigh...

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with micing up....it obviosuly gives the best results by a huge margin. But it also needs the most perfectly ballanced conditions. To get a decent recording you really need there to be zero background noise, as I described before. This means you can't use your m...

If you're using the Line-out from an amp then that will give the fizzy, over-distorted sounds already described. You can remedy this without micing, by using a Hughes & Kettner Red Box Pro . It's a DI box with speaker cabinet simulation that works like no other. It really is the best cabinet simulat...

Tiger, yeah all M-Audio cards have their own ASIO Drivers. And in the better cards, they're hardware controlled so all the sound management is done purely by the soundcard. Which means no processor power is taken up unnecessarily. It's the same for all pro sound cards....using the same examples agai...

How the hell does a bunch of dollar prices help him if he's in the UK? You really gotta learn to pay more attention

A few weeks ago I had an amp testing session: Laney VH100L Mashall JCM2000 DSL100 Marshall vintage wotsit....can't remember the name of the new "vintage" model Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Mesa Boogie Stilletto Mesa Boogie Road King I'm sorry to say the Stilletto is rather disappointing. It doesn't ha...