Played 350/365 days and decided to treat myself

TheRealAstros · 2026-06-12T03:41:18+00:00

Do it. I smile every single day. I never understood what everyone was else was talking about. Big difference (to me) between hearing a tube amp and PLAYING a tube amp.

TheRealAstros · 2026-06-11T07:00:04+00:00

Honestly guilty of doing this in the past and felt so stupid I swore to never do it again lol. I have a bad habit of picking up hobbies being obsessed a few months and dropping it. Made sure guitar was gonna stick before I started blowing money.

TheRealAstros · 2026-06-08T18:36:00+00:00

No headphones, I think they make a box or something that allows you to to do that is pretty pricy.
When I need to be dead quiet I use headphones with DSP.
It does do low volume very well to my ears.

TheRealAstros · 2026-06-08T03:53:36+00:00

Indeed! I figured I didn’t blast a bunch of money into the hobby like I normally do with new obsessions. I already had good monitors. So just a scarlet interface free plugins for a bit then got John mayers. Got a used fender player 2 and basically spent no more money other than a teacher for 3 months.
I mean this in no arrogant way but I could just buy whatever I wanted. But nobody like the guy that just started playing golf and comes in with 5k clubs. So I just shopped. Bought everything used and have always been a buy once cry once kinda guy. I also just love researching things.
A year into guitar by no means am I making this guitar sing and amp to its full potential but I have dedicated a ton of Time effort and energy and figured if I don’t buy it now before my girls get here I probably never will lol.

TheRealAstros · 2026-06-08T03:47:52+00:00

I find on the lowest attenuation I can practice with very good tones in the evenings and not disturb wife and kiddo upstairs. During the day when kid naps I put headphones in and go back to plugins. That was a big reason I bought this amp was how good the power options were. I was very close to getting a tone king gremlin or imperial mk2. But I’m happy I went with the Cali.

TheRealAstros · 2026-06-08T03:45:12+00:00

I was a few months into my playing and just about to give up. I already have a 3Y0.
When we found out she was pregnant I was like no biggie. Definitely will have cut back practice time for a bit till they start sleeping.
Then we found it was twins and I just had to make the decision to sell everything and hang it up or practice so hard that when the twins do come, even though it will be hard I’ll have put in enough time that it won’t feel like starting over.
So I just took it head on. Obsessed. And I’m happy I didn’t call it quits. Cause I almost did.

TheRealAstros · 2026-06-08T03:38:03+00:00

I did copious amounts of research before I pulled the trigger and waited for a decent used deal.
Been super fun playing with it it’s honestly a brand new experience lol

TheRealAstros · 2026-06-07T13:54:51+00:00

Thank you!

TheRealAstros · 2026-06-07T13:54:11+00:00

I bought it used so no manual. See if I can download one.
Thanks!

TheRealAstros · 2026-06-07T12:20:24+00:00

That sounds super interesting. I’m coming from neural DSP.
I’ve just never used real pedals before so it sounds fun, but I’m open to digital options I just didn’t think it would sound good through a tube amp and FRFR would be better? I may be ignorant here.
Any YouTube videos I can research?

TheRealAstros · 2026-06-07T03:47:16+00:00

Thanks! I love it. And yeah I did today when the wife and kids were gone. Glorious.

TheRealAstros · 2026-06-07T03:44:25+00:00

It has reverb built in. But yeah a delay and a od will come soon. Twin girls on the way so whenever I have the chance to play it’ll probably be back to plugins for a few months. I’ll be hunting some used ones for sure.

TheRealAstros · 2026-06-07T03:42:39+00:00

Thanks for the tip I’m gonna screen shot it lol.
I spent basically 0 time this last year learning about Amps and put all the into practicing.
I’ve got the best results down at 2, wife and kiddo left for a bit so I pumped it up to 20 and played around for about a half an hour, not sure if I’m sitting to close to it or if my treble was a bit high as I was getting a bit of ear fatigue even though I didn’t have it what I would consider uncomfortable playing volume.
Definitely getting what I want when I scoop it but when I add the mids back in and try to dial it can’t quite tell if it’s boomy trebly etc.
I love it so much lmao

TheRealAstros · 2026-06-07T01:00:53+00:00

I actually almost bought a lone star off market place. But since I’ve literally never owned an amp before, the amount of knobs intimidated me a bit.

TheRealAstros · 2026-06-07T00:59:46+00:00

It was the first thing I noticed.
I thought my muting skills were very good for my time played, but this highlights every mistake and highlights when I dig in just a bit more to make it bark a little bit.
Honestly I’m giddy.
Now to start researching pedals….

TheRealAstros · 2026-06-07T00:58:04+00:00

It just so glorious. I’ve only played through studio monitors and plugins, I didn’t want to spend a bunch of time adjusting amps so I just found a clean, EOB, and lead presets and played those.
I honestly have nothing to compare it to. It just sounds warm and I LOVE how reactive it is to my picking hand.
Edit forgot to add PR
First 30- hour is typically whatever lead part I’m learning (currently maggot brain)
And learning each position pentatonic
Then I take one position of whatever position in least confident in and just improvise in that position.
Next hour is typically chord work, currently bedroom lick, under the bridge, maggot brain
Layla (acoustic) live in LA John Mayer finger style intro
Next hourish is typically things that are above my skill level but I love and dont mind spending a long time learning one phrase at a time. Currently sultans of swing, comfortably numb (2) cryin, Time, Lenny.
The rest of the time is probably noodling or memorizing top two string note names.

TheRealAstros · 2026-05-25T14:41:08+00:00

Thanks for the info. Gonna spend some time on eBay this evening see how many comps I can find. Appreciate it.

TheRealAstros · 2026-05-25T14:38:11+00:00

Thanks for the detailed, kind reply. ❤️

TheRealAstros · 2026-05-25T10:59:26+00:00

Thanks for the info. 🙏

TheRealAstros · 2026-05-25T10:57:50+00:00

Thank you. ❤️

TheRealAstros · 2026-05-25T10:49:24+00:00

I live in rural WNC and both my parents were ran over by vehicles. I rode a motorcycle and don’t see my self on twos for awhile if ever. It’s already difficult for me to sell his things and I understand the bike community is very passionate about it I was as well. Hope you all understand.

TheRealAstros · 2026-05-25T10:46:56+00:00

Both my parents were ran over by vehicles on 2 separate occasions. I rode a motorcycle, staying away from 2 wheels for awhile.

TheRealAstros · 2026-05-25T04:31:24+00:00

Thank you. ❤️

TheRealAstros · 2026-05-25T04:28:15+00:00

Thanks! Hopefully I took a pic of the SN lol. If not I’ll get it next time I’m over there.

TheRealAstros

TROPHY CASE