Grumpyrocker

A couple of weeks ago Line 6 finally released Windows 7 drivers for its audio interfaces. The fact that it has taken this long is completely ridiculous - but at least we now have drivers that work.

I've been using my UX1 interface for the past couple of weeks without incident, I've certainly had none of the white noise bursts that were plaguing use of the device before a proper driver emerged.

However while I do like a lot of Line 6 gear - the M13 in particular is brilliant - this whole experience has made me wary of trusting any of its hardware that would require good software support.

I doubt I'm the only one.

I've just completed my little Squier Bullet project. I've used this cheapo Strat to learn the basics of guitar modification as it's not something I've really done before. I'm quite happy with the resulting cheap yet good sounding guitar.

It was a regular SSS guitar when I bought it. I replaced with the pickguard with one that's cut for a humbucker and the bridge. The pickups are all from IronGear - two single coil Pig Iron models with a Rolling Mill humbucker.

The trem is a Wilkinson model with the solid steel block - this along with the addition of a graphite nut have worked wonders for tone and tuning.

So that's that done. No really major work - I've not had to modify the wood as thankfully Squier had already routed the body for a HSS pickup layout already. I'm not going to go further with a new neck or tuners of anything like that. But I'm very happy with the result.

For the guitarist keen on replacing pickups on their electric guitar there are a wealth of choices. Well known names such as Seymour Duncan and EMG are hugely popular with musicians looking to improve their instruments.

However many of this pickups can be very expensive and if you're working on a budget, or trying to improve a cheap stock guitar these pups can seem like overkill. Is it really worth putting £200 of active pickups in a £100 guitar?

What's needed in cases such as these is a range of pickups that vastly improve on the tone of cheap stock pickups yet at the same time doesn't break the bank. Such pickups do exist and some of the best are made by IronGear.

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Well I finally decided on - and bought - a new amp.

For a while despite the "cheap and cheerful" nature of this purchase - to get it passed the wifey - I did toy with going for something more expensive such as the new 20W Blackstar.

I also toyed with getting a custom build. But the builder I approached didn't seem interested in fitting a feature pictured in nearly every photo on his bloody website, or that interested in my custom at all. You'd think folks would be more friendly when they would be making over £400 wouldn't you?

So spurned by the rude custom amp bloke I returned to the idea of cheap and cheerful. And a larger retail company was much more polite and even price matched for me. So I've taken the controversial move of buying a Bugera V22.

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Here's a bit of advice if you want to get in business selling customised valve guitar amps.

When someone emails with the intention of spending several hundred pounds on your products don't react as though they have pissed on your chips.

Nor tell them that you can't be bothered to do "feature x" even though your bloody website is covered top to tail with pictures of amps you've built with the self same "feature x" installed.

Nor perhaps should you send a prospective customer a photo of their current amp to prove why it's shit, but at the same time show no interest in offering anything better.

Instead why not try to write emails with something other than a "stop bothering me and sod off somewhere else" tone, act pleased someone is interested in your work, or show some comprehension of customer service. Don't just act like a rat.

Thanks for nothing. You've just lost £400+.

Meanwhile I want to say well done to Roy at DV247. After my poor experience with the amp builder mentioned above DV247 was completely the opposite; excellent customer service and even price-matched a rival online store. That's how you do business and retain customers.

Reflected Floyd, originally uploaded by Cartmel Veteran.

Twenty years ago my late mother bought me an electric guitar - a relatively cheap Epiphone HSS Strat. I was always rubbish at keeping up hobbies, but I really took to the guitar rather late and I've played ever since.

I've owned other (and better) guitars but I've always treasured this one that mum bought for me. Alas time hasn't been kind to it - it was used hard before and during my university years and it hasn't really been playable for the last few years.

The Floyd Rose bridge was rusted and had a screw missing. The locking nut was threaded and had a lock missing. The tone pot doesn't work. The volume pot hardly works. The bridge pickup is falling apart and out of its mounting.

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Just a quick update on the Line6 driver issue I posted about recently. I have now got the system working without those white noise spikes.

I found that if I removed my other sound card from the third PCI-E slot the problems disappear. Previously I'd also found disabling the two graphics cards in the other PCI-E worked too.

Obviously removing my other sound card is not a permanent solution - the hardware configuration worked fine in Windows Vista x64, but at least I can now record with my Line6 UX1 until Line6 actually releases some proper Windows 7 drivers.

If you're struggling to get your Line6 recording device to work feel free to leave a comment and I'll see if I can help.

Line6 is a company that does make some really great guitar hardware. I've owned a Line6 Spider III 75 modelling amp that is really good fun and I recently purchased an M13 Stompbox Modeller. The M13 is an amazing piece of kit and I'll be reviewing that at a later date, but it could be the last time Line6 gets any of my money.

The reason? The company's really awful Windows 7 support. A few months ago I purchased a Line6 UX1 USB interface. This clever bit of kit allows me to record guitar and mic on my PC with next to no latency and monitor in realtime. It really is a fabulous little device and comes feature packed with Line6's famous amp modelling tones.

Until recently the UX1 worked flawlessly. And then I updated to Windows 7.

Windows 7 clearly has come as something of a surprise to Line6. After all it's not as if there's been any publicity about it. The company has issued a beta Win7 driver for the Ux1 but as far as I can tell it seems to make no difference whether I use this driver or the previous Vista one.

The previously brilliant UX1 is rendered useless now due to poor driver support from Line6. When trying to use the device with a DAW such as Reaper or Cubase the UX1 will regularly emit ear-piercing white noise spikes which make using headphones hazardous and speakers plain nasty. It's random and horrible and makes recording anything a nightmare.

Line6 has set up a beta discussion forum which is full of people with the same problem and very little feedback at this point from Line6 itself. It's gone awful quiet over there from the company. Now one might have expected these kind of driver issues while Windows 7 was still in beta, but the OS has been available at retail for several months now and still Line6 can't make the UX1 or UX2 work properly with it. The lack of communication on the issue makes matters even worse.

So until Line6 actually bothers to fix its drivers I'd recommend against buying any of its USB recording interfaces.

In my review of the Peavey Vypyr 75 I pointed out that to get the full functionality of the amplifier you would need one of the two Sanpera pedals. The larger and more feature rich version - the Sanpera II - is the feature of this review.

The pedal board is housed in a sturdy metal chassis that feels like it could cope with some hard gigging. The two expression pedals also feel tough and all the foot switches are solid. It certainly seems a sturdier system than one might imagine at this pricepoint and the build belies the slight silliness of the design.

While the Vypyr allows you to store and recall 12 presets, adding the Sanpera II opens that up to 400 presets. The Sanpera also opens up the functionality of the looper and gies you pedal control over volume, pitch shift and wah.

The looper functionality is somewhat disappointing but Peavey has promised to address this in the next firmware update for the amp. The problem is that the loop always play back too loud, even almost muting it via the volume pedal while recording is not ideal. This isn't an actual problem with the Sanpera II though, and the pedal controls for recording/play and stop/reset work perfectly well.

So to do the other pedals which allow you to change the delay tap tempo, move memory banks up and down, and choose from one to four presets in each bank. Pushing forward on the volume pedal allows you to enter tuner mode. The other pedal is initially inactive but pressing down on it enables the wah, or pitch shifter if that's what you've selected via the amp effects section.

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Modelling amplifiers are becoming an increasingly common option at the less expensive end of the guitar amplification market. Previously if you wanted to emulate more expensive amps you would have to buy some kind of effects unit and footpedal that you would connect to your amplifier.

Now companies such as Line6 with its Spider amps and Peavey with the Vypyr series are offering all in one solutions that aim to provide guitarists on a budget with a selection of tones they could only previously dream of.

The Peavey Vypyr 75 combo modelling guitar amplifier is an interesting beast. Though it does not feature vacuum tubes it is not a wholly digital device, distortion sounds are created in an analog fashion via Peavey's transtube solid state technology. The practical upshot being that the distortion and overdrive on offer sounds much more warm and natural than many rival digital-only offerings.

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