Okay boys here's one for the records.
We go way back Alex and me.
People ask why does he exist. Alex exists in these forums because of one
thing, his uncompromising passion for tone. He lives and breathes tone.
He is definitely an expert when it comes to amps. Why? some of you may ask. Because he's tried em all that's why. That's why he hates Line 6, Peavey, Valvestates, Di marzio and Duncans etc. Common now, people know Digital sucks compared to a tube amp, if you really want
PURE TONE. Guys like Alex know Zoom sucks. And that multi effects
suck tone.
There's more, to mention a few,
He's bought all Boss stomp boxes and Dod's you can ever dream of even borrowing. He's had
at one time more than 20 guitars, inlcluding a Vai which he sold because he wasn't satisfied with the tone. He sold most of the gear and settled for his best sounding ones. He has amps in the thousands of dollars range. He has been in gear shootouts with some of the country's gear collectors.
He mods his amps when he is after a certain sound. He spent thousands of bucks to mod a VOX to get the tone he was searching for. He has co hosted a tone party with the country's finest luthier. He has his amps moded by the country's finest amp repair guru. When you have an expensive amp you go to only one guy to fix. Alex passion is in
hearing the ultimate tone from a good guitar plugged into a good
amp. Getting the ultimate guitar sound. He's spent his life trying out gear
and tweaking gear.
More than 10 years ago I didn't know jack about getting a tone.
Alex took me to his house and let me try out his stuff. That's when i started learning about gear. We actually argue about tone all the time.
It doesn't bother me. I consider myself very lucky to have him as a close friend. I've learned so much from Alex, from picking a "really good sounding" guitar to tweaking amps and signal chains, pick-ups, pedals,
and differences between amps. My ears learned to listen to the subtleties
in tone, the things that gearheads listen to. I wouldn't have leanred those things without the endless arguements with Alex. I've learned to appreciate my own gear more because i have listened to the high end stuff, I have also learned to judge amps based on what they are, rather than what they're not. Alex has given me a perspective upon which i can judge gear objectively.
I don't consider him as a guy who likes to knock other people's gear down but rather someone who likes to show other people what good gear sounds like from his perspective.
And i'll tell you if there's one guy who knows amps it's alex. So you CAN't say his statements are baseless really. It would probably shock you guys to know the gear he is trying out, Boooooooooteek is the correct word. Pick ups the price of an overpriced amp at upanco for instance.
This is a guy who will stop at nothing to get great tone.
His standards are much much higher than most of us really.
Don't feel offended, he decided to set them that way, it's just the way it is.And i don't remember Alex ever saying i'm going to be this bad ass guitarist, That's me ( laughs the hell out ). But what i always remember
about alex is his uncompromising passion for quality when it comes to any
form of music gear.
So instead of bashing the guy why not make friends, maybe you'll learn something like i did. He's actually a nice guy in person.
And chill, don't get your feathers roughed up over what i said. I still believe a good guitarist can kick some ass live using a Valvestate cranked,
but the same guitarist with a high end tube amp, like Alex would say
"my guitar tone will kill you" , and that will blow the place to tonal nirvana.
Don't expect Alex to praise your gear like a Tone sucking fake. He's not like that, he will tell it like it is from his perspective, honestly. I don't think he will ever say a Peavey bandit sounds awesome because to his ears it doesn't compare to his Soldano, or his Bogner, or his 74 100 watt Super Lead ( a bad ass amp ).
For an aspiring giging guy like you and me, we have to live with the valvstates and the peaveys because that's what they have on stage.
We have no choice but to learn to like it. Even the JCM 900 in my room.
I'm never gonna buy a Soldano, but I'm glad i had a chance to try one.
Because Alex was nice enough to let me.
And to think, this thread is so hot. If Alex was so wrong about the things he said, why does this thread even exist. Maybe he's right after all.
If what he said wasn't worth jack, then why are we even talking about it.
I mean we're all grown ups here right, what's guitar life without a little spice.
Whew! that's it, I'm done hear my friend.
He's actually a NICE guy if you meet him in person.
