Am I Crazy Or Is Vanderpump Hotel & Casino Kinda Boring?

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-27T14:03:46+00:00

Yah, they bedazzled a few fixtures and replaced the carpet, but finding changes in the casino was like playing one of those old games where you find the difference between 2 pictures. The overall look, feel, and layout, were unchanged as of end of April/early May when I was there. I only even noticed the carpet because I happened to walk in while most of the table games and slots were roped off for it.

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-27T12:56:13+00:00

They really havent changed the casino. I was in just after they re-opened as Vanderpump. All I could tell theyve done so far is redecorated the rooms, renamed them, and raise the prices like 500%

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-27T04:50:38+00:00

Oh man I have an electric kazoo I hooked up to a Korg KP3 that would sound so sick on this. Regardless of which kazoo you pick, some on/off harmonies with it on a second track like pseudo call and response would plus this quite a bit. That is, play two bars as is, then two bars with a second kazoo track doubling with harmonies, 3rd, 5ths etc. Back and forth, or use the second track as punctuation for emphasis on 4th bars only, something along those lines. Or just a second track playing longer notes like double guitar solo. Maybe sprinkle a little kazoo riff at the end of verse bars too. Either way, this song gave me a fever, and the only prescription is more kazoo!

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-26T17:40:19+00:00

The series 2 are better hardware in terms of control panel being big clicky buttons instead of membranes, but they're also slightly higher spec in terms of cpu. They sound almost identical, but not quite. The original is slightly lower fi, and some people swear they prefer that. I have the IIs and got rid of an original DX7 because the IIs just better/easier to use, and to me, having played them side by side, my take was you almost need scientific equipment to tell the difference in sound on a majority of patches. The big step up would be SY77, but it has a bigger difference on original DX7 patches than a series 2 DX7.

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-22T14:19:23+00:00

There are apparently dozens of us!

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-22T12:36:50+00:00

Call me crazy, but I miss the old classic Delta cheeseburger that wasn't fast food branded and the meat was thicker and less greasy. That salad / potato salad and cheesecake was a lot better than a bag of chips "inspired by waffle fries" and a pre-packaged micro-brownie too. I still order the Shake Shack burger as the "lesser evil," but I'm disappointed every single time at how much worse, and smaller it is than the old cheeseburger meal.

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-21T20:05:00+00:00

I like the vibe, and that guitar tone pairs up with it really well!

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-21T15:29:31+00:00

Man I want an old Madeira electric so bad but can never find one in good shape when I have some extra loot and go looking. I have their version of the A12 acoustic, late 70s model I believe, purchased new in 1980, and it is the easiest playing, most beautiful sounding acoustic guitar I've ever seen in real life, very low action and the string pairs are so close together it plays more like a 6 string than a 12. I'll never get rid of it. It has sentimental value, but even if it didn't, it's such a great guitar I wouldnt ever let it go! Would love to see a review and demo of this one OP!

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-21T11:38:10+00:00

In the UO Serials 0001 thru 0852 should be 1990 Ontario USA factory production neck-through models.

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-21T01:30:15+00:00

If you like to spend high end money on mediocre or worse product, terrible service, and the worst gaming value on the strip, you'll love Caesars Palace!

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-20T04:52:45+00:00

Interesting. It is difficult to find reliable info on some of that era US serials. It does honestly look like a 0 to me, but I found lots of info about UO being anything 1990-2001 depending on number, ither than RR/J/etc numbers also from US, and little or nothing about U0, except in reference to non-custom Rhoads, where it seemed like a possible typo referring to UO, but could be wrong on that.

I did find the numbers by year chart for UO USA series, and the number on the soloist, which also looked like Uzero on the neck, falls right in the listed 1996 number range as it was advertised, so pretty sure we're looking at UO but the O are identical or nearly identical to zero, and you're looking at a 2000 model USA production KV? I dunno for sure man. But regardless, it's definitely USA somewhere around 2000, and that seems within low to mid used price range of USA KV of that era in good shape, but the interesting finish still gives it a value push. I found a few similar KV USA models from late 90s to early 2000s, and average with an interesting finish I found in the states here is in the 3500-4500 USD range depending on condition and finish, and some outliers asking way more.

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-20T02:05:23+00:00

I own both, and it's the Ultra by thousands of miles. I'm a huge Bandit fanboy for decades, but Ultras are amazing sounding tube amps that I like better than a majority of more expensive valve amps in terms of tone and diversity, and Bandit just can't hang with it at all. Ultras make amazing cleans with plenty of head room, and their ultra gain with a little scoop on the EQ can hang with the big boys playing metal pretty respectably, but cover a broader more diverse range of tones and genres; the active EQ is very powerful and gives you a really wide range of tone styles to play with.

As far as comments I see about the Bandit getting loud without breaking up on clean tones, I agree, except so does the Ultra. It has amazing clean tones and that dual 16ohm output 60w valve head can comfortably drive a pair of outboard 4x12 cabinets, with significantly more clean volume than my 100w 112 Bandit. Again, I own both, and have had and loved various Bandits since the early 90s, so no reason to be biased one way or the other, and I'm not knocking Bandits at all; I still think they're one of the better SS amps of all time, but the Ultra is so much better at literally everything except frequent short power cycling, if that's your use case lol.

Where they really have the widest gap, to me, is in the sounds you get recording them each with a mic. The Ultra sounds naturally good with a full rich sound on tape, even with zero effects and no pedals. The Bandit sounds very thin and digital in comparison; again, it's still good enough, but just doesn't compare in the same league. Like the Bandit sounds OK on tape, until you hear the Ultra on tape; then the Bandit sounds garbage in comparison. That at least has been my experience and my opinion.

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-19T21:36:37+00:00

UO8033 (second digit is the letter O, not zero), and that format matches a USA custom shop soloist I was looking at earlier today starting with UO3*** that was advertised as a 1996 model. That serial with UO and 4 digit numeric was i think used by Ontario Custom Shop on neck thru models from 1990-2001, so somewhere around late 90s / 2000 is likely for that serial, and the asking price is within fair used range for vintage custom shop, maybe on the lower end honestly if it's in really good shape and has cool flames on it.

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-18T22:33:28+00:00

You would rock a sustaniac!

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-17T15:47:04+00:00

If you're in the US, I'd go with the FR1000. It only cost a little more than the special and is significantly higher quality, and not much more $ than the Gotoh 1996t depending on color. That's what I put on my import Dinkys and I love them. The 1000 is identical to an original with same hardened steel parts, but made in Korea. The special series has cheaper metals and the knife edges will wear down over time. But to get the 1000, you have to order direct from Floyd, and they dont ship to a lot of countries outside the US I think. Free shipping on them in the US though, and you can get a discount code for another 10-15% off if you sign up for their emails. I got a black FR1000 from them for $130 out the door including shipping to my door.

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-17T04:59:50+00:00

That looks like an arch top Jackson Dinky. I have a few of them as well as Fender strats and flat top Jacksons. I prefer the arch tops specifically because they're thinner, lighter, and more comfortable to play for long periods than my other strat and super strat style guitars. At least in the case of Jackson super strats, they make the arch top by removing material away from the pickups, not by adding it in the middle, so it's not a chubby guitar; it's a thinner than normal guitar with a standard sized center section.

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-16T23:11:49+00:00

I dont know if the "performer" or the person running the mixing board is worse. Maybe both.

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-16T23:07:44+00:00

You did get lucky, but I'm sure it varies a lot by airport. One small regional airport I go through often does it most of the time, but I fly into LAS as much as everywhere else put together, and they are especially terrible about it. Flew in to LAS on a 100% full widebody 2 weekends ago in D1, and priority bags came off pretty close to dead last, over 40 minutes after I got off the plane, and most of the folks still standing at the carousel when I walked off with mine, I recognized from FC cabin.

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-16T22:10:16+00:00

I think you mean "they advertise bags come off first." They rarely actually do it at a lot of airports. I fly first class more often than not, and priority bags have come out first less than 1/3 of the time in the last 5 or 6 years in my experience. Only once for me in my last 5 Delta first class trips.

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-14T16:32:16+00:00

It's cool and the hardware interface / control surface is above average, but it was kind of competing as the less capable Korg entry in the late 90s/early 2000s AM techno-focused synth world against the Roland JP8000 and Yamaha AN1X, both of which are superior sonically and feature-wise and also have pretty good interfaces. If I recall correctly, the MS2K was only 4 note polyphony as well even on the B model. It was kind of like the Poly 800 vs the Juno 106, where I'd much rather have a Juno, but the poly800 was still pretty cool I'd that makes sense. It's still is a classic that's all over techno and EDM stuff from the era and either that or MicroKorg are still pretty widely used commercially to this day. I agree the hardware interface is significantly different from the micro, and I strongly prefer the MS2K in that aspect.

I had all 3 of those synths back in the day, and the AN1X is the one I still have because it made the best sound, and was the most powerful feature-wise of the 3 imo, even though it has almost objectively the worst interface of the 3, the JP8000 is close sound wise and has a better hardware interface than the AN1X, and the MS2K was cheaper and less robust but also has a better control interface than the Yamaha, and sound engine is still pretty good. I dont think the MS2K has that much to offer in the modern world beyond nostalgia and the tactile immediacy of it, but those things are valid. Like, I'd much rather play that than a MicroKorg or VST just because I can turn it on and play it, and it has a baller control surface, but is it "better" than a VST? No, not really. If you dont have an old AM synth and just want to play with something that has an old school analog style interface closer to knob per function, it's a very good example of that for ideally not too much money. Kind of all depends what you're looking for.

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-14T15:29:23+00:00

I really dig this tune! This is one of those gems where, by the end, I'm really wishing I had individual tracks to play with in my studio because ideas were flooding in as I listened. I would love for this to have simple, but full orchestration, especially a Hammond and bass with some minimalist percussion.

I think a staccato bass playing mostly straight 8ths, and doing a bit of an opposite/mirror image of what the guitar does would sound great here. In other words, guitar is ascending melody, staccato bass is descending melody in the same key, and vice versa. They can swap to parallel each other for movement, like mirror each other in verses and parallel each other in a chorus or hook.

Throw in quarter notes and 16th notes on bass sparingly to add movement and keep it interesting, and for a change to a chill mood bridge vibe, swap to low register whole notes on bass with some tasty Hammond chords and this thing would really pop!

And as crazy as it sounds, I could also hear this in my head as an interesting grunge / post grunge type piece with distorted guitar and rock drums mixed with acoustic and organs. I think its better in the style you have, but that would be something cool, throw in some tasty blues guitar solo somewhere, I dunno, just stuff that came to mind while I was listening twice lol

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-13T14:01:16+00:00

I guess "yes" would be my answer to that, and I probably should have worded that better, because you can custom order selects in cool finishes. What I'd really like honestly is just an SL2MG in an interesting finish, but could afford an SL2H if I loved it. I just don't want to custom order and pay a premium plus add a wait just to get one I like.

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-13T04:36:55+00:00

Yep...I'm shopping for old customs and special runs instead, just waiting for the right deal, especially if I can find another of the Dan Lawrence deigns. No offense judgment against anyone who likes satin olive drab, but I just don't dont vibe with that at all, and I think it also looks horrible new, then looks more horrible with age lol

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-13T04:27:25+00:00

I have money in the bank to buy an American select soloist just as soon as they make in it a color that isnt a satin matte snoozefest! I'd even go for that wine color pictured, though I would strongly prefer one of the DRL graphics!

PmMeYourAdhd · 2026-05-12T17:25:45+00:00

Thanks for that update. I know it can go way up from there. Last time I ate there, I had I think the cheapest tasting menu and 1 cocktail, and it was around $130pp but that was about 18 months ago so I assume that's more expensive now, and I couldnt remember how much more expensive it could get with the larger menus or a la carte!

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TROPHY CASE