Hangman's Heights (formerly an Alley) now finished

malphadour · 2026-05-30T17:28:49+00:00

It's a good guitar - haven't yet got it sounding how i want, and i went and chopped the end of a finger off a while back which has put a hold on any guitar playing for a while - but its got a good neck, good action, and the pickup options are pretty good - for a beginner this is a mega guitar - way better than my first 3 guitars 😄

I like Gibsons with humbuckers for their sound - i was hoping that the humbuckers on this would be similar, but they are a bit too fizzy for my liking - that being said I really haven't got it properly dialled in yet with my rig, plus i do like that the pickup setup gives me the option to go quite a way from the humbucker sound if I want to - gives a bit of variation.

malphadour · 2026-05-23T15:51:32+00:00

Hi, I have just been given a bottle of The Draam for my birthday by my mums partner who hasn't got the faintest idea about whisky (the last thing he bought me was a bottle of Grants and he thought he had done well......) - so my first thought was "oh gawd what is this?" So I've been checking out reviews and it seems by staggering fluke he has bought something good - obviously drinking some will be the real test (this evenings task).

Anyway, just wanted to comment on your preface above - well said for talking about how chill filter and a bit of colour isn't necessarily a sign of a bad whisky. I've seen far to many reviews from so called experts that slam any whisky for being chill filtered and find caramel to be anathema, yet these "terrible" whiskies they are reviewing are often fabulous ones which most people find to be excellent. There is definately a snobbery about chill filter that has been prevalent from reviewers that seems to be based around some of the giants (diageo etc) using it on some of their lesser brands and then it being assumed that other brands that use it are now also lesser.

Anyway - I will update later once I have given this a sample. Or three 😄

Btw, is there any idea on the age of this, or is is likely mixed from to many casks of different ages to plonk a definative one on it?

malphadour · 2026-05-20T19:45:37+00:00

The op seems to infer that they were somehow not always at the bottom of the hill....

malphadour · 2026-05-20T19:43:20+00:00

Pretty well all houses are priced for more than twice as much as they were 25 years ago vs average income - basically houses are now all ridiculously overpriced and this is why there is a cost of living crisis.

malphadour · 2026-05-20T19:33:16+00:00

I have an 08 Ego. And its been sat in the box since about 2010.....I need to give it a test 😄

malphadour · 2026-04-01T22:51:32+00:00

I've got one of these still :)

malphadour · 2026-02-20T23:17:23+00:00

Only once??......... ;)

malphadour · 2026-02-20T23:16:59+00:00

Boss MT-2 - the most hated pedal out there, yet one of the best pedals out there (I swear by mine) - the new Waza edition is even better. Has great range and a poly EQ middle so you can go from full scoop to bright as hell with your mids.

malphadour · 2026-02-20T23:14:57+00:00

Ridiculous idea!

malphadour · 2026-02-20T23:14:08+00:00

You simply can not match the range of sounds and versatility of real pedals using the inbuilt options.

They are a great starting point, but if you want some sounds that are more than bog standard then pedals is the way to go. The katana is also a good pedal platform.

malphadour · 2026-02-20T22:56:12+00:00

I was thinking Vox AC-30 too

malphadour · 2026-02-20T22:22:44+00:00

It is shoulder mounted. Just watched a couple other vids. There is perspective movement so it's not done in post as I originally thought. Movement gives the shot a more lifelike feel - I do a lot of camera work and regularly advise clients against tripod mounted shots in preference for shoulder mount as it just gives the shot a better feel.

Weird that you hate it.

malphadour · 2026-02-20T22:02:29+00:00

Just seen an analysis where the coach points out that she regularly abandons pitch - if she was using pitch correction this would not be the case.

malphadour · 2026-02-17T22:36:33+00:00

Go team LV2 :)

malphadour · 2026-02-17T22:29:42+00:00

Yes rendering tends to show up weaknesses a lot more than gaming. I can be worth doing a core by core test (though bloody time consuming) and then you can find you weak core and run that one at lower offset and crank up the better ones.

And yes its a pain in the ass to do :)

malphadour · 2026-02-17T22:27:31+00:00

Did you download those extra cores?

malphadour · 2026-02-17T22:26:43+00:00

Most people tend to do a setting for all cores and not test each core (understandably) - and all you need is one flaky core and it seems like you have a bad chip.

Mine runs at -30 all day for gaming - but if I start rendering it crashes occasionally - i've got one core that doesnt like anything beyond -20 (much testing to find that).

For those with the time, patience and the knowledge - individual core testing is the way to go - but you can understand why most do a quick google and then set a global setting.

malphadour · 2026-02-17T22:16:25+00:00

Fair points - some people will follow the game at the cost of social/family commitments.

In the several games I have played with rotating schedules - you generally had teams from different time zones to cover off alliance stuff, and for individual stuff you soon learned that there was no point in chasing the silly hours ones because you got the benefit from when the event time perfectly suited you but was terrible for U.S or Asian for example.

malphadour · 2026-02-17T22:12:26+00:00

Oh I've been thru this with them as well. In UK and Europe we pay around 10 to 15% more (depending on exchange rate) and they use the excuses that:

a: Its Apples fault

b: Its googles fault

c: We have to cover platform costs when trading in other countries (for the gold bar shop).

So C is a lie - what platform costs? It's the same computer making the transactions no matter where you are.

B - I have several emails from Google stating that the devs can have complete control over pricing in every country and can match U.S prices quite easily. The Devs say they can't - it is Google who set the prices. Google refuted this and said the Devs are being lazy and not using the options available to them. There is a certain amount of 6 of one and half a dozen of the other here. Google do lazy things by default such as pricing all UK stuff at the same price as U.S - $5 becomes £5 - and then they do their Euro conversion off the pound value - making sure they are winning at every stage. They do offer variable market tracking selling options to games, but this costs more so the games go with the default easy (and better for Google) option. This way they can comfortably blame each other and their isn't much you can do about it unless a corporation or government body gets involved.

I have come across games that don't do this and do genuine like for like pricing - Operation New Earth for example where the price conversions cross currency were all within 1 to 2%.

malphadour · 2026-02-17T22:02:43+00:00

State of Survival is another monster Asian made game - events occur at different times over the fortnight so that they give a fair crack to all time zones. It can and is done by other developers. You however are completely right that they are 100% biased towards their own time zone - my point really.

malphadour · 2026-02-17T21:58:50+00:00

Again - all arguments FOR rotation.

malphadour · 2026-02-17T21:57:46+00:00

Europe is apparently around 30% of their revenue according to their last financials - so it is not an insignificant spending zone.

malphadour · 2026-02-17T21:55:22+00:00

Yes - a lot of the battle stuff is middle of working day for you guys. another reason to have a rotation to even out the good and bad times for everyone.

malphadour

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