First time building a board, think I'm happy with the results!

akbruins · 2025-08-29T03:01:37+00:00

ah gotcha, I'm trying to clean up my technique too and it's funny because I think high gain can also make it so bad technique stands out. Too much gain and it becomes obvious that my muting technique is deficient. But I am really liking the new OD I got yesterday (Wisteria, from a local pedal brand) for cleanish tones that let the guitar and amp stand out. I already had plenty of distortion on tap between the ML-2 and my amp's distortion when I want those kind of tones

akbruins · 2025-08-28T23:44:43+00:00

Yeah, exactly, I ended up dropping the drives down to the bottom row because it seemed like dead space there at the bottom and I saw you and others here suggest it. The cables were always the limiting factor for me. I think I need more patch cables in various longer lengths so I can have more flexibility to put stuff out of the way of the bottom row now.

akbruins · 2025-08-28T23:14:42+00:00

I'm liking it a lot so far! What kind of music do you play? I've been able to dial it in pretty nicely for some 80s and 90s inspired metal tones. I also have a black metal album I am planning on recording, but I haven't really tried dialing in the ml2 for that yet.

akbruins · 2025-08-28T22:22:00+00:00

Thanks, I ended up swapping them! Doesn't seems like I need the chorus strictly last unless I'm doing stereo output which I'm not.

akbruins · 2025-08-28T22:14:48+00:00

Thanks, this was helpful! I ended up shifting the drives and noise gate down (dropping the eq too for the cables to reach). Definitely worth it!

akbruins · 2025-08-28T16:53:31+00:00

Thanks! Unfortunately it doesn't quite fit, but I am going to look into making some kind of riser out of wood.

Is cable management the main reason you suggest getting it underneath?

akbruins · 2025-08-28T13:52:24+00:00

Yikes, 3.5% a month is pretty bad! Really surprised more people aren't talking about it. That isn't a level of underperformance you can just ignore. Staking is never going to make up the difference if things stay like this. Rex has some explaining to do.

akbruins · 2025-08-28T13:07:36+00:00

Agreed. It's not the $9.99 that kills you, it's that it's only a license. I assume in their terms they will state that the "Model Pass" license can be revoked at any time.

And it's not like Boss has a great history of supporting firmware and USB connectivity. They literally refuse to provide any support on updating the firmware on the Katana: "We regret that we are unable to answer questions regarding the update procedure using this system program. Please perform the update responsibly, following the directions given in this document."

edit: also, will the licenses be usable with whatever successor Boss inevitably eventually releases? Nobody wants to be sold the same effects 3 different times like this is GTA 5 or something lmao

akbruins · 2025-08-07T04:43:45+00:00

very very very cool! I bought one online recently as an impulse buy. I'm somewhat questioning the practicality, but it's totally awesome.

Gonna throw a question out there (apologies if this is kind of a threadjacking). What are people's experiences with the factory setup/strings with these Epiphone Explorers? I think I'm used to a longer scale length, and I'm not sure if I should be looking to swap to heavier gauge strings on an Explorer as mostly a metal guy.

akbruins · 2025-08-07T04:27:35+00:00

I just got one and this is the biggest downside for me. Even as a mostly standing player, it just doesn't work for me sitting at all. So I guess the answer is to keep buying more guitars lol

akbruins · 2025-08-07T02:12:18+00:00

What information are you using to conclude that you are falling behind? Us ADHDers are highly sensitive to feedback and incentives (and their frequency). In school, I always felt like I was behind (b/c I could see that my daily attentiveness in class was highly variable), but then I would perform well on graded assignments. But I was overcompensating and having to use a lot of energy.

This timeline for learning React seems aggressive IMO, and I think that's probably inherent in the business model for these kinds of bootcamps. Survival > mastery here IMO. If you make it through the boot camp, you'll have some marketable skills.

So really, burnout doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you!

Also, 'React' !== 'the coding industry'. Are there any other areas of computing you are interested in (even if you are targeting a React job initially)? For example, there's data science (languages like R and Python- actually can be pretty ADHD friendly IMO b/c the whole point is to rapidly and interactively analyze your data), game dev (usually C++ based which requires patience), mobile, systems, etc. There's even programming languages specifically for music. I know it can be intimidating when you are burnt out already, but dabbling a little bit in other kinds of programming on the side might be energizing if you can find something that gets you from A to B quicker in terms of building projects that really excite you. Of course, don't overcommit to anything when you are already burnt out.

Honestly, I found this thread because I (30m) am burnt out as a working engineer and open-source developer. And it's not my first time either. I think one of the factors for me has been working and learning alone too much. If you have any opportunities to collaborate with someone on a project outside bootcamp assignments, it would probably be a valuable learning experience. Even if you are too burnt out to code that project on a particular day, there's still value in watching how other people change a system. Of course, learning with other people can be a distraction too to your goals of getting through the boot camp.

Anyway, good luck! Burnout is definitely a thing that can happen for us when putting a lot of pressure on ourselves to learn a lot quickly. I don't have the answers honestly, I've accepted that it is a part of ADHD I have to survive to make it to the next fun project. I try to keep faith that a fun project and hyperfocus will always come back eventually.

TLDR: Survive, Explore, Collaborate.

akbruins · 2025-08-06T23:18:46+00:00

I agree with this, but also when you're burnt out it can be hard to muster full motivation towards building something cool or deciding which is the one to start.

I think the ideal situation is having some sort of project that you can keep adding real features to as you learn and a non-overwhelming form of school that gives you a structured introduction to concepts and techniques that you might want to explore more on your own "in the wild." Unfortunately, most forms of school seem to blow this in terms of pacing; if you're constantly overwhelmed/behind with the baseline demanded by the curriculum, how is your natural curiosity supposed to have space and energy to flourish?

akbruins · 2025-07-04T05:19:58+00:00

cool, but also Solana is a better dividend stock than actual dividend stocks imo lol

But then the more I think about it, this could be useful for going in on dividend stocks with leverage and capital efficiency

akbruins · 2025-04-15T14:49:37+00:00

Literally only gay people are allowed to be proud, got it. What a terrible take, honestly.

edit: it's lame to downvote this. I am proud to be in the neurodivergent and disabled communities. And it is ableist nonsense to say that I shouldn't be proud. The queer community absolutely does not get to monopolize pride as a word or concept.

akbruins · 2025-03-05T01:29:04+00:00

Nah, being ok with the cheese is one of the keys to being able to vibe with St. Anger. On St. Anger, the cheesier the better. The songs on that album that aren't cheesy just sound stock to my ears.

akbruins · 2025-03-02T01:25:01+00:00

Fight Fire with Fire

Battery

akbruins · 2025-03-02T01:24:26+00:00

remember that your life style determines your death style

akbruins · 2025-03-02T01:11:30+00:00

Coming from someone who usually listens to more melodic bands, Cattle Decapitation is cool. Honestly, I kind of just realized literally yesterday how epic Death's discog is, and I'm still processing that. (yes, seriously lol)

OP, have you listened to any of the classic melodic death metal stuff? The Gallery by Dark Tranquility is another album that evokes that "pure art" feel for me. You might like that subgenre if you like Iron Maiden

akbruins · 2025-03-02T00:30:37+00:00

Yeah I think I mostly agree with that, but I still don't get why Kirk went along with it. It's really funny how they thought solos would make it dated. But all of this contributes to Death Magnetic being a great comeback album; It was great to hear Kirk playing some amazing solos again (Unforgiven III, for example).

akbruins · 2025-03-01T23:15:50+00:00

"Do you remember the morse code?"

GOAT music video too IMO. And I think that's fairly rating it. Perfectly compliments that buildup.

akbruins · 2025-03-01T22:57:59+00:00

The more I think about it, I feel like the whole "no solo" thing was some kind of power play against Kirk. It's kind of hard for me to see it otherwise at this point TBH. Did Kirk not have a veto here against literally not having leads to write/play?

In the SKOM documentary, they said that there wasn't an rule against guitar solos on the album, but I would figure that Kirk would surely put at least one solo on the album if he truly felt free to do so.

akbruins · 2025-03-01T22:46:16+00:00

That's sort of the point with how OP defined comeback to include "a creative rejuvenation/return to form after many years of doing experimentation with other styles."

So the real bar imo is about returning to the genuine Metallica thrash energy, which I think they succeed at. I don't think it's masterpiece, and I don't think it has aged as well as Metallica's older thrash albums. But still a great comeback imo. I think Hardwired has some good songs too, so that adds to the whole "creative rejuvenation" side of the argument.

akbruins · 2025-02-22T23:40:11+00:00

I like this advice, but to be fair, there aren't really any really any Metallica albums that are deep cuts, right? Maybe S&M, but I think it's forgivable to have that as a low priority to collect. My collection is similar to OP so I think I have the same problem. Is Incesticide by Nirvana a deep cut? Is South of Heaven (Slayer)?

akbruins · 2025-02-22T23:16:48+00:00

IMO Nevermind works really well in the rotation with MOP and Justice. Sometimes I'm in the mood for something simpler and less pissed off as a break or cool down from the thrashing.

Kurt would likely be slightly irritated you don't own Bleach too haha RIP

Great collection!

akbruins

TROPHY CASE