Noosh It!
say it really fast...

5-8-10
New day, new site, new host, new home.
I've found a new host and home for sonicdeli.com, the parent company of all I do. I'm really excited to work with Joe and BatCity Productions. It's nice to work with a small, local web company. Hopefully my email situation will be more reliable and it'll be easier to update and put groovy new stuff on the web.

Speaking of new stuff, I got a new toy for my birthday, the Zoom Q3 Handy Video Cam. You may have seen these little guys pop up in Musician's Friend, etc. Essentially a semi-cheesey video cam with KILLER audio. The built-in high-quality condenser mics do a great job of capturing what stuff actually sounds like and makes it really easy to post on YouTube. I've been using it to video band gigs and amp demos. I'm getting some of the best live recordings I've ever gotten of my band. Look for more amp demos and band videos, featuring the Acer (yeah, I really play!;-) and, of course, Ace Pepper Custom Amps.

I should say "bands", as I'm playing in 2 bands right now. I've got a 3-piece band called Mashed Potato Johnson. It's a loud, fast rockin;' blues band with my buddies Glen Erickson on bass and Scott Leidecker on drums. No, you've never heard of these guys but they're old friends, fun guys and rockin' players and I'm stoked about playing with them. We do ZZ Top, Zep, and other blues greats once a month at our favorite bar, The Triple Crown here in San Marcos, TX. Look for video very soon.

The other band is Pepper's Blues. Yeah, I'm into a blues-thing lateley. This group is 4 of us with more old friends. Paul Wilson is singin' (much better than me;-), playin' keys and a lefty Epi 335. Scott Wade is on drums (yes, that's 2 drummers named Scott. yes, it's confusing sometimes;-)and the great Jimmy McFeeley is on bass. I didn't really want/need a 2nd blues band, but when these folks were available I couldn't say no. I'd like to think Pepper's Blues is a bit more refined, not as obnoxious, more songs, less solos. This is the band you could bring your folks to see. The "Peppers" are doing a lot of covers too, but they're less "rock hits" and more well-written songs we like and originals. Paul has some cool songs and we're doing a few of my songs too. We're also lookin for more songs from some of our songwriter buddies in the area. We're so blessed here in central Texas to be surrounded with great songwriters, most of whom you'll never hear of. But they write great songs and I'm looking forward to playing some of those songs with my band. Musiclly this is a very exciting time!

The amp biz is slow right now. Very slow. But, looking on the bright side, it's allowed me time to build an amp for myself. My newest creation is a 20 watt D-Type 1x12" combo. It's based on a Princeton chassis and cabinet. I had the cabinet made for a 12" speaker and it's 1" deeper, front-to-back, than stock. I'm hoping this will give it a bigger sound with more low-end. I'm planning on writing a "build-blog" about this build and future build projects. I hope it'll be a fun read for amp junkies.

Anyway, I've got a gig tomorrow to get ready for, pack gear, etc., so I'm outta here for now.

3-29-10

I'm in the middle of re-donig the website again. Sorry if some stuff has gone missing. It'll be back soon with even more stuff. Ooooh, chck out the "linkage" page. I've added a new "Bias Calculator." I was searching the web for bias numbers and came across this nifty Javascript. Select your tube type, amp class, and enter your plate voltage/B+. The calculator will give you what the bias current ought to be for that setup. you can change any part, tube type, class, voltage, and recalculate. This way you can see a range of bias settings that will work for different setups/tubes/etc. Nifty! More drawings, pics and videos coming soon. Stay tuned sports fans!

1-29-10

yes, we're busy bees this week!
I'm posting "Ace's Cool Tube Amp Book". It's taking the form of articles that will be added to. Take a look at the first couple installments. Hope ya dig it! Lots more to come!

1-28-10

OK, now we're rollin a bit!
Posting new stuff like crazy on the linkage page. 10 Groovy Things You Can Do With A Plexi Board, my 1st web article. More of that on the way too! New layout and schematic drawings for several of my designs, including updated HEAVYwatter and shortBLOCK schems!

Also fleshed-out the Ace Pepper Custom Shop page. Sometimes ya gotta look back to see where you're goin'...