Speed of Sound

I'd bought a Digitech RP350 Guitar multi-effect pedal. It cost me Rs11700. I'd been targeting this music gadget for a very very long time, because all these while i was using my friend's old Digitech RP80, but as i got more used to the sound, i started to get sick of it.

When i brought this new gadget back, i was damn excited and the first thing i did was to jack-in my Fender guitar and then jack in the pedal to my Marshall 10W amp. For an instance, there's no buzzing noise at all when i turn on the amp, unlike the RP80 which produce lots of hissing unwanted noise. Then the second thing i did was to test the difference between direct connection between guitar and amp, with connection of guitar->multi effect pedal->amp, under the Bypass mode, the sounds between both are indistinguishible, which i'm real happy as the old one has so much sound loss at the 2nd test. This pedal brought me to a whole brand new world of tones. It has total of 118 different models of tones, including Distortions, Wah wah, lots of Amps models, lots of Cabinet models, Compressors, Delays, Reverbs, Chorus/FX, Drum machine, USB interface for computer recording and tuning, built-in Tuner, built-in Expression pedal etc etc.. For those who do not know a single term that i wrote above, you're forgiven cz few months ago i was in the same situation.


The sound it produce is very very raw and 'analog', full of power and pump, without any distorted sound, unlike the old RP80 which sound very flat, unreal, muddy and 'digital'. It uses a latest digital music processor (DSP) - AudioDNA2, which is better and more well developed than any other brand's DSP in the market today. The learning curve of this machine is darn simple, and it only took me 15 mins to understand all how they work. I love the tunes a lot, but i'm yet to discover all of them. Imagine mix & match 118 different effects, the net sum is enormous, and the results is never predictable. Sounds are perceived differently by different people, some are sensitive to even slight change in tone and frequency; some are totally tone deaf, while some cannot tolerate whatsoever sounds.. Sounds can hardly be described by words, as i'd tried so hard. It's a very subjective interest and i presume not many people who read this post will understand much, if at all, what i was talking about.

A multi effect processor is never as good as a real life Amp or Cabinet or analog single effect stomp boxes. However, imagine it had digitally combined 118 types of real life huge amps & cabinets and numerous pedals on the floor into one small piece of machine and reproduce them to be as "real" as possible, plus the price is like 118 times cheaper, for an amateur guitar player like me, it's more than enough for daily practicing, even playing live and recording. I love my Digitech RP350, as i think it's better than any other products of the same line of other brands elsewhere. I hope it'll last me for a life time, as long as my beautiful fingers can still dance and tap on the fret board of the guitar. My personal target as a guitarist is to become a guitar player who're able to perform on stage well, so that people will say" oh, this guy is not bad". I'd not dreamt of becoming as good as my guitar heroes like Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), or Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton, or even someone who can invent new riffs and write songs. As long as i can perform well with the "machine gun" baby on my hand, i'm happy. Hopefully my target will be realized.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Yeah, today i just finished off my Pharmacology supplementary exam. I did really well this time and kicked it's ass, haha, hopefully can get a first class. (Duh, i failed it 5 months ago and i studied this one subject in extra 4 months, of course i'm expected to kick ass) Now, i can start concentrating on my coming sessionals exam which features Ophthalmology, E.N.T, and Community Medicine. I'd never really touched all these 3rd year subjects yet cz all these while if not playing so many computer games, it's playing guitar and reading my Pharmac. That's how i spent my first 4 months in 3rd year MBBS, swt. The sessionals kick off on 3rd June, which is damn near actually. Come on, study!! (Compare to 2nd year, we have only 3 subjects this year and the books are so much thinner) My ambition is to become a Ophthalmologist, and let's see how well i do in this subject this year, and may God lead my future.


English Premier League had just finished. Man United retained their well deserved title, but had to get it till the last match of the season in a really long long tussle with Chelsea. So where my Liverpool stands? Erm, 4th, zz.. In the beginning of the season we started damn well, met all expectations, people thought it's maybe our time to get our 1st title in 18 years, but in Dec, our 2 stupid American idiot owner fought against each other, and it had affected everything, both on and off the pitch. So we slumped to a 2 months winless record, diao. But in March, everything went well again, and we won almost all our games. However, Liverpool still has plenty of things to be proud off:

• Fernando Torres, our record signing of 21 million pound broke all records by scoring 24 goals in his debut season (the highest scorer of a foreigner in his 1st season). At last, after Owen, we have one truly prolific and skillful and fast and strong striker, yes!! Love ya!!
• Pepe Reina got the Golden Glove award again, for 3 seasons consecutively, for keeping the most clean sheets in whole season! So who is the best keeper in England? Cech? Van Der Sar? haha
• Liverpool is the English club that scored the most goals in all competition this season - 119 goals! That way above Manchester United. In Champion's League itself, we have 40 goals!!Imagine!!

Ok whatever, we still need to improve a lot a lot, cant always rely on Gerrard and Torres. Next season will surely better, hopefully..


My neighbor Liew bought a new guitar multi effect pedal last week - Zoom GFX 5. It cost Rs11000, but it's really good. Before he bought that, i'd already targeted mine - Digitech RP250 which cost Rs9500, but he got his pedal first and i was left behind still considering. Then this week he bought a new guitar - Ibanez Prestige RG 2570 that cost Rs54000, which is super good looking and super nice to play and as it's name implies, super prestigious. Me? Still stuck on my Fender Squier Strat. So, feeling outdated and get sick of my Strat's 'dull and soft' sound, i decided to modify it myself. I researched so much online, and at last managed to do some fine tuning, and now my guitar sounds much nicer and warmer and louder, and easier to play. I know i cant change a crow into a phoenix, but it can becaome a parrot at least. Today, as i surf for great guitars, i stunbled upon Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster. I was like.. drool..wow..it's the best guitar manufactured by Fender. It's so sexy, and according review, it's touch is so warming and playing it is so exciting and satisfying. It has 3 Samarium Cobalt Pickups, 22 Jumbo frets, Synchronized Tremolo, Sealed Locking Tuning Machines , S-1 pickup switch and highly detailed engineering. Now, it's in my wanted list already, and it's so going to be my next baby.
But wait, let's face it, where do all the money come from? The guitar will cost $1700, which is at least Rs80000. Before this I'd already decided to save more money this term but still i managed to spend so much recently. Finger cross i must not buy all these so fast, at least wait for another 6 months because i think i don't deserve them now, i really don't deserve to have this baby yet. My skills is still noob and i should be happy to settle with my Fender Squier and Digitech RP80 which a friend don't want and gave me. Now, i have a guitar which is not so bad, and a multi effect pedal which has many many effects to be played. Enough Chee Chung!! Be satisfied already!!