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Got it with the mail yesterday, and have been spending much time ever since experimenting with it. As expected it is much more quiet than the Joyo Oxford Sound clone of it, though still a bit of hiss with the drive set relatively high, nothing I can't live with though, and who knows, it might go away when I finally pull myself together to remake my pedal board, which got a powersupply with isolated and filtered outputs. Other than that it also sound better, the controls works a bit different though, and the build in cab sim filter seems somewhat more aggressive than on the Joyo clone, so it was not possible to simply replace the Joyo. With a lot of experimenting, trial and error, though, I managed to come up with an even better solution though. That is that is has single handedly replaced, well, the Joyo Oxford Sound, of course, but also the Joyo Orange Juice, as well as the NUX Melvin Lee Davis Bass Preamp, that otherwise functioned as my main tone shaping preamp. So now the Tech 21 Oxford functions as both my always on overdrive and as my main tone shaping preamp, and I couldn't be happier, the result is a much clearer tone, with much less background noise, and a s a welcome bonus it simplified my setup quite a bit too. I use it with cab sim turned off, and in one of the loops of a Boss LS-2, using the remaining empty loop as dry blend, to retain some more low end, just a bit, Oxford/Dry blend set at an about 67:33 (~2:1) ratio, that is 100% Oxford and then about 50% dry signal. And with the EQ of the Oxford actually nearly flat, having it dialed in as follows: Level: Unity - Mid; Ever so slightly boosted not even full 1 o'clock (12:30) - Character: same as Mid (12:30 o'clock) - Drive: a bit above 1 o'clock (1:30) - Low: noon - High: ever so slightly cut, not even full down to 11 o'clock (11:30) - Cab Sim: Off And it works really well this way in my "amp-less" setup, followed by a Zoom MS-70CDR, that I use exclusively as an EQ based cab sim filter, making use of the dual parametric bass EQ effect model in it (personally I found that I prefer this over every single IR based cab sim I ever tried, and believe me, I tried a lot). Gives me a really grindy overdriven tone, without any of the fizzy artifacts you tend to get with most drive pedals, and with low end, punch and attack intact.

Turn To Stone - Joe Walsh

Maybe I don’t push things hard enough ?

Concrete and Clay - Mental As Anything

I prefer to get into bands on the quality of my playing. Which is why I've been bandless for almost two years.

50 years old

Who told you about my impending infractions I wouldn’t even class MIDI as an instrument and tbh it sounds like hard work 😂

I have this morning ordered a Raspberry Pi kit, https://kitronik.co.uk/products/5325-the-kitronik-discovery-kit-for-raspberry-pi-pico-included along with other bits (add-ons, jumper cables, break-out kits, expansion boxes). So far, not a fail. However, my plan is to learn how to use the Raspberry Pi architecture and develop a device that can detect 13 different switches. I will then combine it with a 13-note organ-style pedal board (purchased in 2025) and a kit that uses a Raspberry Pi Pico to generate MIDI note signals. https://midimuso.co.uk/index.php/pico-midi/ I will then plug it into a EMU Classic Keys synth rack unit, via MIDI, and pretend that I have a Moog Taurus. However, I will have made the instrument myself, out of bits that are not primarily musical gear (apart from 4 MIDI connectors, and the EMU) So, is a DIY instrument a fail? Is this the same as a luthier making a bass guitar out of some bits of timber? Or the equivalent of making a Bitsa bass, and pretending that none of the bits are fails... In summary, I purchased a non-midi pedalboard, and some electronics, with the intention of creating and then having a midi pedalboard in 2026. Have I failed Tier 2, or will it only be a fail once it works?

What a lovely thing, really nostalgic looking but hopefully with more modern playability. If you ever wanted to do a Thamesmen tribute band it would fit right in as well.

Right. Confession time. Final clear coats on today. Gloss looking glorious. Standing there thinking, “That is absolutely spot on. I am a finishing god!” Then… during clean up… yes, during clean up… when the gun was down, the spraying was finished, and I was basically doing a slow-motion victory lap around the workshop… a rogue flick of thinner somehow produced a bubble right on the edge. Not mid-coat. Not during a risky pass. Not because I rushed it. During. Clean. Up. Which means lacquer doesn’t fight you while you’re working — it waits until you relax. Several entirely new swear words were invented. The sort that would make a seasoned fishwife blush and quietly reassess her life choices. So the body is now quarantined in a warm room while the clear cures properly. I’ll sort the area the right way and then lay down a final couple of refinement coats to unify everything. No panic. No bodges. Just patience, sanding blocks, and a reminder that the last 2% of a build is where character (and vocabulary) is developed. Still massively happy with how it’s come together — just slightly p***ed off by the timing. Made to play. Built to last. Occasionally built to test the limits of polite language. 😅

Eich BC112Pro. It does everything - and if you need more, the DI is great.

They're great, but at a price, as you say. I thought hard about getting them and decided in the end to bite the bullet. I'd taken early retirement from my job when I decided to upgrade my PA, so was able to spend some of my pay-off on them. Haven't regretted it so far. If you own a quality PA, people suddenly want you in their band, which is nice.

It was the original Odeon Cinema that opened in 1937. I used to go to Saturday morning pictures there as a kid in the 1960’s, it was 6 old pence downstairs and 9 old pence upstairs. The developers have done a superb job whilst retaining the Art Deco features.

Lovely looking thing, that!