John Bleeker // Signal Path

PART I @signal.path hit me up to send him some guitars to layer some drums under, and I was all about it. Before long we had @markjohnston roped in as well and were off to the races. Which I think means we’re a band now and the ep is coming…soon? Maybe I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. The strength of this platform is connection. It’s how I’ve met countless builders and brands and fine musician folk like John and Mark. And it’s an avenue to collaborative creation, which I’m a huge fan of. Check back next week for the B section of this jam we put together. -andrew Gear: @jenningsguitarco Voyager Dlx @strymonengineering Volante @chasebliss Habit @hologram_electronics Microcosm @gfisystem Specular Tempus @badcatamps Mini Cat II @uaudio OX Box @istanbulagop Trad Dark 24” 80s @ludwigdrumshq Maple Classic 90s @ludwigdrumshq Supraphonic #ambientguitar #postrock #postrockguitar #explosionsinthesky #thiswilldestroyyou #badcatamps #strymon #ambientnotes #ambientcuration #synth #synthesizer #pedalboard #guitarpedals #looping #recording #trio #musicrelease #relaxation #meditation #geartalk #serenity

NEW DEMO DAY for the incredible @walrusaudioeffects Eons, Eras & Ages. Sporting 15 modes of fuzz, distortion and overdrive across the 3, it’s hard to imagine a dirt sound that can be achieve somewhere within this combo. Head to the tube to hear the full deep dive on this trio and how I’m using each, premiering now!

I often wonder what some of my favorite mono pedals would sound like if we ever got a stereo version, and since the @endorphin.es Golden Master has come into the studio, I've been able to feed those imaginings really powerfully through it's mid/side processing and widening. There's something magical about hearing a very focused mono sound suddenly thrown wide, and here, the @chasebliss Tonal Recall RKM responds unsurprisingly well under the treatment. With the new firmware update for the Golden Master, I have a new deep dive out, covering the sounds and how I continue to use this marvel of pedal-shaped engineering. Go check out the video and the new firmware!

The Chance knob in the @butterflyeffects.world Dobbo is a delightful and intuitive way of creating tiny (or dramatic) variations in your settings. Whether you're looking for subtle movement and gradual change, or intense variations in pitch, grain size and more, there is so much flexibility accessed so easily, without needing secondary controls or any of things that are often needed to create these kinds of intricate sounds. Go check out the Dobbo @littleboxeffects and check out my full deep dive on youtube!

It's not surprising that the Dobbo from @butterflyeffects.world feels like a fast friend. It's so clear even from my very first plucks how carefully curated the sounds and approaches are, leaving you ample room to create and design your sounds, but at the same time, carving away what's extreme in a way that undermines musicality. I'm particularly enamored with the chance and automation implementation. Sounds that I would normally tire of quickly seem to melt with randomness and a musical nudge that keeps me interested and excited to keep exploring sounds over and over again. My full demo in collaboration with @littleboxeffects is premiering now at the link in stories, so come hang and explore the pointillistic side of ambience with me.

It is the end of a very long week, and the @endorphin.es Evil Pet is the mental reset I needed. Reinterpreting a piano loop with help from the @ehx Effects Interface, this has become a calming and meditative combo for little ambient moments within the work week. Time to close the book on a hard won week and disconnect before we prep for the next one. Happy Friday everyone

Ride the edge of breakup with me & the @strymonengineering Canoga. If you asked me what a new pedal from Strymon would look like, I don’t think a 2-knob fuzz would be in my first 20 guesses, but you know what? It’s darn fantastic. Super touch sensitive, articulate and just absolutely inspiring to layer into your phrasing. Head to the link in stories to hear my full deep dive on the Canoga Fuzz + the Fairfax!

The @walrusaudioeffects Meraki is one of those magical devices that can create an entire sound with nearly no outside assistance. So many settings create this incredible blur between a warm, lush delay and cavernous, reverberant atmosphere. One of my absolute favorite pedals to get lost in. Hear the full dive + 4 more pedals I'm telling myself to use more where you'd expect ;)

Today we’re diving deep on the @heritageguitarinc Ascent+ H-150. It is genuinely hard to believe that a guitar this solid could go below $1,000, but they’ve managed to create a miracle with the Ascent+ line, delivering on all of the precision and feel that Heritage is known for, with a price tag that makes it an easy recommendation for anyone wanting to take their next step in their electric guitar journey, or expand their tonal palette. Hear the full demo + sounds at the link in stories!

I’ve got a new podcast episode out with my friends in which we talk about these Heritage Ascent guitars. We talk specs and build quality and all that of course but, more importantly, I really get into what this guitar has been inspiring me to DO musically. It’s a guitar that has had me just sitting down and singing songs again. And that’s something that I haven’t done in a long time. I’ve recorded a few covers of old songs I love with it that’ll probably never see the light of day. But for now it’s also inspiring moments like this; adding some washed out, trem and reverb obfuscated vocals to a track I wrote with my favorite musical collaborators. For me, it’s a big step. I started playing guitar because I love songs. And it’s something I want to get back to. And if this inexpensive hollow body is the guitar that gets me to sit back down with cowboy chords and start singing again then I am grateful for the inspiration. Anyways this swung way more personal than I was intending. There’s a new podcast episode out. That’s the call to action (or CTA as they say in tha biz [biz is what they call business in the business]). Go check out the show. I really like it and I think it’s a good time. Assuming your time is spent doing dishes or something.

AZZC episode 6 is the one where we pivot entirely to being a fidget toy review cast. We catch up about the week in gear, @sourceaudio Pathways, what Mark is incorrectly declaring “The Telessance” and read some of your comments from Episode 5. Head to the link in the stories to watch the full episode!

The @sourceaudio Pathways takes their already impressive catalog of reverb sounds and layers in tremolo with switchable routing to create an expansive and inspiring compact duo of effects. Killer for creating ambient steel tones, choppy rhythm vibes and full on ambient wash, this pedal has an ambience for every approach. The @warmaudio Warm87 Jr. as a 1-mic drum sound shines here as well. Hear the full deep dive at the link in the bio! Gear Used: @heritageguitarinc Ascent+ H-150 GFI Ultra II Pedal Steel @fender Precision Bass @origineffects Cali76 FET @sourceaudio Pathways Reverb & Tremolo @neuraldsp Quad Cortex @laurenaudio Panther Preamp