Music + Technology = Pete Lacis

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

Dec.04
1

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

Nov.11
1

Google, The New York Times, the 2000 Election and the 26 year old version of myself

Posted by in pete lacis, technology

Like many folks out there I use Google Alerts to track the happenings of things I’m interested in. Included in my search query are mentions of myself…..primarily for the purpose of seeing which sites I post on are tracked (and how quickly things get indexed) and also because its interesting to see who’s talking about me. Imagine my surprise when I find this Google Alert from seven years ago regarding the 2000 election. If I recall correctly, I was having lunch with a colleague in Chicago when we were approached…read more

Oct.13
0

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

Oct.02
0

Custom Audio Amplifiers (Suhr) OD100 Classic Plus – third time is the charm!

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

After about a month in the shop, I received my newly modded Custom Audio Amplifiers OD100 Classic Plus (+). This is actually the third time this amp has been modded (was originally an OD100 Standard, then SE, now Classic Plus). My first impressions on this amp are as follows: the character of the gain is still 100% Suhr. It lives in the same family as the SE version of the OD100, however through the conversion to the plexi transformer and the EL34’s some things have really changed. Normally I would…read more

Sep.13
2

iPhone: the cost of being an early adopter

Posted by in apple, technology

In typical Steve Jobs fashion, yesterday Apple unveiled the newly refreshed iPod line including the iPod Touch (or neutered iPhone). While most of these products were well received (not so for the iPod Nano “Fatty” – what were they thinking?), the annoucment that thrilled, yet shocked many was the $200 price drop of the 8GB iPhone. I was an early adopter of the iPhone (July 19). My wife followed suit a few weeks later (her six month old Treo WX just wasn’t looking so sexy next to my iPhone). Typically,…read more

Sep.06
0

The Ultimate Invasion of Privacy…..RFID Implants

Posted by in Uncategorized

Given that California is the most liberal state in the union, it boggles the mind to believe that this measure was 1. taken so seriously,  2. actually got to a vote in the state senate and 3. that nine senators supported it.  Perhaps we should be RFID tagging all the funds destined to all the “War On Terror” efforts……it would be fascinating to see where all that green is winding up.

Sep.04
0

Alder vs. Swamp Ash – what is better on a Strat style guitar? The tale of two Suhr Classics.

Posted by in audio clips

Being totally obsessed with how to make certain sounds (i.e. tone and timbre), for as long as I’ve been playing guitar I’ve been curious about which woods lend themselves to which sounds and tones. A common question that comes up is which is more preferable, alder or swamp ash? The answer to this depends on what style of music you play and what kind of feel you’re going for. When compared with the exact same electronics (Suhr V60LP single coil pickups and the Suhr Silent Single Coil system) there’s plenty…read more

Aug.29
16

Rockies vs. Cubs – my first professional baseball game

Posted by in Uncategorized

While I’ve never been much of a sports fan (and by much, I mean not at all), I have to say that I now understand why people like spending hours outdoors in the stands drinking beers and eating hot dogs in the beautiful afternoon sun. Its just awesome! Coors Field in Denver, CO is a beautiful park (not that I’ve been to any other ball parks, but I digress) and I thoroughly enjoyed taking in the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of a true pro ball game. I’m now kicking…read more

Aug.28
0

The $28,000 Eddie Van Halen question

Posted by in Uncategorized

A great thing about the Guitar Center’s in Colorado is that they are unlike any other GC’s I’ve ever visiting in that they actually let you play the fun expensive stuff. My buddy Kevin at the Arvada, CO GC totally hooked me up this evening in giving me some personal time with the $25,000 EVH Frankenstein guitar, the $2,000 5150 III amp and the corresponding $1,000 4×12 speaker cab. I have to say it was a real treat to check this stuff out for myself, as I’ve been hearing so…read more

Jul.05
1
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