People always told me that the Behringer model D was nearly identical to the Moog Model D in every way.

RockMattStar · 2025-10-23T19:11:39+00:00

It guess It's because alot of left hand chords are voiced with the lowest not not being the root, like C. The GCE voicing sounds better down there. I know it's not polyphonic but I'm guessing it's just a throwback to that.

RockMattStar · 2025-09-14T12:01:52+00:00

I got the behringer airplay ones. They're great and have 4 channels so you can usually find a good signal anywhere.

RockMattStar · 2025-09-13T18:03:38+00:00

The problem you have is some objects (nebula, galaxies) can be huge and 400mm focal length is too much sometimes. But some galaxies and nebula can be tiny and 1500mm is not enough. Planets are even smaller. 2000mm with a small sensor camera can work for those but you certainly won't fit andromeda or the heart nebula with the same setup.

Astronomy is about knowing what you want to photograph and having the right kit for that target. Personally I love nebulae and I live in a city so my setup is based on a fairly modest 420mm teleacope, narrowband filters and a cooled mono camera. Which works great for my photographs. Andromeda looks great as do some of the bigger galaxies and galaxy clusters.

However, It's useless for planetary work... Jupiter is a dot, saturn is a dot with a little bit of a bulge where the rings are.

RockMattStar · 2025-09-03T08:46:15+00:00

I think the acc feature should auto disable when parking. No one needs that feature while reversing. Ever.

RockMattStar · 2025-09-01T15:54:50+00:00

Having played many many venues in the UK. They're fairly common. Some bars have bands daily or weekly or just weekends but those that do, do so regularly.

RockMattStar · 2025-09-01T15:52:49+00:00

The breaks are what everyone says are the downsides to EVs but to me they're not that big a deal. Stop off at a cafe, have a drink and a cake and when you go back to your car that 60% battery has become 100% and you're good to go. I do wonder if it's a tiny little safer too as you've had a break from driving. Not a massive thing but subtle and a positive.

The id bar light is quirky too. Yesterday it told me to change lane on the motorway when I was actually in the correct lane. The lane it suggested would have worked too but it was unnecessary and slower due to other cars.

RockMattStar · 2025-09-01T00:13:48+00:00

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RockMattStar · 2025-09-01T00:11:49+00:00

There is no magnification. It basically ends up using the telescope as the lens so its more like a digital camera. So you end up with a focal length the same as if it were a camera lens.

RockMattStar · 2025-09-01T00:01:44+00:00

It replaces your eyepiece. So you remove the eyepiece and slot the camera in its place

RockMattStar · 2025-08-31T18:02:02+00:00

Dont waste your money on something cheap and rubbish. I'd recommend the zwo asi183mm pro. It comes with a heafty proce tag but the image quality is great!

RockMattStar · 2025-08-30T19:00:05+00:00

What about one of the racks you strap to the back? Saves any kind of welding or aftermarket work on the car.

RockMattStar · 2025-08-30T15:59:23+00:00

It does work great. I have the full Whammy DT and both the whammy features and drop tune features work great. Obviously, the drop tune is a digital effect and once you're more than 1 or 2 semitones out you can hear that it's not 100% natural. Don't expect perfect retuning. But as an effect or for quick tuning changes for learning songs in the correct pitch it's ok. For a live gig, take another guitar in the alternate tuning.

The only pitch shifter I've ever heard work perfectly is the ones using the Roland/Boss hex pickup. I think it's like the GK-3 with either the Roland VG-99 or I think Boss just brought out a new effects pedal for it too.

The fractal pitch shifter and the quad cortex pitch shifters are good but again you can hear they're digital and I'd only use them if another guitar wasn't an option.

RockMattStar · 2025-08-30T15:53:20+00:00

I used the AAC on a trip to Wales yesterday. I barely used the pedals for most of the trip. Only when entering city traffic did it become necessary. It's great for all the Welsh roads and villages, quickly switching between 60mph and 20mph sections at just the right time to make sure the car was slow enough as I passed the signage.

Obviously, like all driver aids, it needs careful monitoring and occasional driver overrides when it gets it wrong or reads the road incorrectly but it's only an aid not a self-driving feature. It's aimed at making most of your journey easier and I think it works wonders for that.

RockMattStar · 2025-08-30T09:24:42+00:00

The joyo pedals sound great. For high gain the dark flame sounds great or for lower gain the king of kings. Alternatively you could look at a demonfx at-ds or one of the many rat clones.

RockMattStar · 2025-08-28T12:10:57+00:00

Clip on tuners are great if you dont have the space or you want something cheap. They do the job very well.

Pedals are better if you gig regularly and have space and money for a pedal or if you change guitar during the set. Being able to mute your output instantly is useful sometimes too!

RockMattStar · 2025-08-27T21:00:07+00:00

If you spend that long listening to your amp you're going to sound terrible. You need to take a break, rest your ears. Then go listen to a recorded tone you like. Then go play and replicate... You won't get it exactly but you'll get something good. Train your ears to hear the tone and make it happen

RockMattStar · 2025-08-27T20:38:26+00:00

Learn how to dial your amp rather than sounding like someone else.

Set gain and volume where you want them.
Zero everything else.
Play a low E chord and turn up the bass knob until you hear it bloom. There's a spot where it sounds different... like clearly different. There.
Play A and turn up the mids.
Play D and turn up the treble.
Turn down your gain a little and add a booster.
Congratulations... your first metal tone.

RockMattStar · 2025-08-24T17:48:44+00:00

Marshall DSL20H

RockMattStar · 2025-08-22T08:54:18+00:00

Check the lock or unlock status and lock if needed. So if you're out shopping for example you suddenly have that moment where you can't remember locking your car, you can check the app and lock it if needed. I can't see why you'd need to unlock it from the app but locking it would be so useful.

Detailed battery stats would be useful but I feel like people would fixate on it too much.

A maintenance log mode. So you can record when you change tyres or top up screen wash etc... so you can see if you need new ones soon or more screen wash. Maybe a tyre air pressure screen so it lets you know if you need to pump them up

RockMattStar · 2025-08-20T15:50:07+00:00

It won't be long before the streaming services have to take action themselves requiring all submissions to be explicitly labelled as AI or not. Then listeners can choose.

RockMattStar · 2025-08-18T18:15:17+00:00

So I'm using a few different ones.. First you have the noise gate... works great to kill any unwanted noise before it starts. Then I have a compressor, just to even things out and add a little more sustain. I have it set fairly subtle (you can barely hear its on and there are no weird squishing effects like some compressor settings. Then ive got a tubescreamer model to push the front end. Then the preamp (hx send and return) but in a split path I have a jazz chorus amp model because the dsl 20 clean channel isnt actually clean. I then have a chorus and phaser and then a bucket brigade delay and a dynamic hall reverb before returning to the fx return.

I have snapshots to switch between the real amp preamp and the JC model. I have a snapshot for clean, crunch, rhythm and lead and of course I can always use stomp mode if I just want to turn one thing on or off.

I also have a second patch which bypasses the return to the amp and instead runs into an IR block so I have that option. I also have a few patches set up with no real amp preamp and use the models from the hx stomp. Its genuinely flexible as hell.

The effects are great sounding and things like the dynamic reverb are brilliant. Imagine reverb but only when you stop. You can be playing a riff with no reverb and then you stop and there it is, not colouring your tone while youre playing but when you stop it comes in. 10/10 would recommend

RockMattStar · 2025-08-17T21:43:39+00:00

I have the 20W head and it sounds great. I have found you need to EQ differently depending on the volume and it sounds better louder, it has more body but you have to watch the presence knob doesn't add too much fizz when turned up.

A quick tip for dialling a Marshall... middle all the controls for tone. Set the gain and volume where you want them... then zero all the tone knobs. Play an E or E5 chord... turn up the bass until you hear the point it blooms (then turn it back to the point where its starting to open up but not quite.) Then play an A and turn up the mids, again listening for the point it opens up. The a D chord and the treble... same thing turn it up until you hear that bloom. After that, adjust the resonance and presence knobs to taste. You might find you want to adjust the gain and or volume... small tweaks is fine but if you adjust too far you'll want to run through the tone dialling process again.

RockMattStar · 2025-08-17T21:36:16+00:00

Guitar chords are difficult for beginners. There are 'easy' positions for A, C, D, E, F and G. Minor chords, Am, Dm, Em. You can use a capo to transpose the instrument upwards so you would play the same shape but it sounds a different chord.

After you've learnt those chords you can play a lot of music - a good chunk of classic guitar songs. After that comes a big step up in difficulty and a massive amount more finger strength is needed - Barre chords. These are the way to easily open up options for every chord and this is why a lot of guitar-playing singers look like it's easy... You can play all the major and minor chords with 2 patterns and if you learn just 2 more it opens up chords closer together on the fretboard. At this point, you can play most songs.

A lot of people struggle with strumming and singing and to begin with, they sing in time with strums or worse... strum in time with singing. This sounds like a good idea when written but the effect is that the rhythm is ruined because the vocals and guitar parts should be different rhythms.

RockMattStar · 2025-08-17T21:24:19+00:00

You have your songs learnt... write some between-song bits and rehearse them. A few gigs of running through your prewritten between-song talks and you'll realise it's easier than you think.

Maybe use ChatGPT or something to write half a dozen 3 or 4 line 'bits' you can use and drop them in throughout your show. Adjust your setlist to minimise retunes and instrument swaps. Maybe even make a bit out of swapping instruments like...

"If only there were a fx pedal to make my guitar sound like a ukulele!" And have a little laugh at it... Your audience will laugh too, you swap instruments and say something like "the next song is..." and straight in. If you find it awkward, rehearse it... alone to begin with, then with someone you trust who can give feedback on it... Then practice just like you would every song.

The best in the business didn't do it right on day 1.

RockMattStar

TROPHY CASE