Music + Technology = Pete Lacis

Gibson Les Paul VOS 1960 vs Edwards Les Paul LP130

Posted by in audio clips, music, musical instruments

In an effort to decode the mystery between high-priced Gibson Les Paul’s and their lower-priced Japanese siblings manufactured by Edwards, we are comparing a Gibson Les Paul VOS 1960 with a Edward Les Paul LP130. We recorded four clips with each guitar, playing essentially the same riffs/changes through the exact same amp & volume settings in order to get a truly fair comparison. To that point, example 1 is a riff (same one that I used to demo the Egnater seminar head last February for Premier Guitar), example 2 is…read more

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Baker B1 7 – my entrance into the world of the seven string guitar

Posted by in music, musical instruments, musician, pete lacis

During the mid 90’s when it wasn’t cool to be good at guitar, I eschewed the grundge movement and threw myself into the world of jazz. Being a big fan of “Birth of the Cool” music up through the heavy, funky grooves of Medeski Martin & Wood, I decided to focus my efforts on playing bass with my organ trio (sometimes quartet and quintet), Thique. It wasn’t long before I discovered the power of the bass in music, and the bassist among musicians. Truly, the bassist has the power to…read more

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Egnater Amp Building Seminar, Premier Guitar Magazine & Video Feature of Yours Truly

Posted by in amplifiers, audio clips, music, musical instruments, pete lacis, technology

This past weekend I had the priveledge to attend the Egnater amp building seminar outside of Detroit, MI. It was an amazing experience to build my own JTM 45 – inspired amp, let alone to learn about all of the theory behind how and why these things work. I was amazed at seemingly how few of the amp’s components actually let to it sounding like a Marshall, Fender, Vox, etc. The amp sounds great as is, but I’m psyched to get back under the hood and start some tweaking! In…read more

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Blabbermouth.net and posting my content without credit

Posted by in music, musical instruments, technology

I received an interesting lesson regarding free syndication of content today via Google Alerts. Apparently Blabbermouth.net chose to post some of my videos from my NAMM coverage. Fine, but not only did they not give any credit, they even posted my descriptions verbatim from my YouTube entries. I set the content up to be freely distributed in an effort to help spread the word about certain artists and manufacturers. That said, posting someone else’s content without citing a source or giving credit is totally wrong in my book.

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Winter NAMM – Day 1 wrap up

Posted by in amplifiers, music, musical instruments

Highlights: Suhr Modern – new 24 fret model with new body shape, neck joint and neck carve – will own one! Suhr Badger 40 watt – with EL34’s  -  different “flavor” of the original badger – less chime, more midrange snarl – has a solid state rectifier (original Badger has tube recifier) Custom Audio Amplifiers – OD100 Standard and OD100 SE Plus – now I understand what all the fuss is about regarding the current version of the standard.  The SE Plus is certainly an improvement over the SE, put…read more

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Looking for a groove drummer in the Denver – Boulder, Colorado area

Posted by in music, musician, pete lacis

After six months of waiting and false starts, I’m on the quest for a new drummer in Colorado. Specifically, I’m looking for someone that’s into groove-based music that wants to invent something new. Starting points include Medeski, Martin and Wood, Soulive, Stevie Wonder, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Allan Holdsworth, 70’s fusion, Phish, John Scofield, Thievery Corporation, Telefon Tel Aviv and Led Zeppelin. Ideal candidates will be fearless, and embrace old school methods as well as today’s technology (specifically Ableton Live 6). For examples of what I’ve been up to most recently, check…read more

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HRI Denver – Boulder Area Ampfest Recap

Posted by in audio clips, music, musician, pete lacis

Just over a week ago I had the pleasure of hosting the Huge Racks Inc Denver – Boulder Ampfest. This was 7+ hours of tonal ecstasy for those of you who are guitar gearheads. It was amazing to hear everything in one place, side by side. It was also amazing to meet so many wonderful people from the Denver/Boulder and greater area. Now that I think my ears have recovered, I can’t wait to do it again! 01 – Fargen – Dave DeMichaels 80’s Shecter strat.mp3 — this was a…read more

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Gibson’s new self-tuning guitar

Posted by in music, musical instruments, musician, pete lacis, technology

Well, this isn’t the first self-tuning system to be available to the public, but its the first made available from a major guitar manufacturer. Since Gibson and Fender are essentially the GM and Ford of the guitar industry, I’m quite skeptical as to the level of quality made available through these mass producers. Then again, after many years of searching for a quality Les Paul I did purchase a 1960 VOS Les Paul Standard within the past year and absolutely love the instrument. I’ll reserve my opinion to when I…read more

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