Angela Collier

That would be Doctor Angela to you, though she’s working in the private sector. She has a mug with a proton on one side and a hydrogen ion on the other, because that’s a joke about physicists and chemists (it’s the same thing). She’s darn good at explaining science stuff and isn’t afraid to throw math at you, because of course you math, right? This is a good explanation of temperature, but be warned, the explanation involves entropy.

Digging To China

China. Economic powerhouse? Future super-power? Communist nightmare? Land of glittering skyscrapers? There are a handful of channels about China, of which I’ve long liked this one. The place is a dysfunctional mess that almost makes the UK look well-organised… almost. This channel provides a good look at a country with about 15% of the world’s population.

The B1M

The world is full of building projects the ambition, size and cost of which dwarfs anything in the past. I think the front pages of newspapers should carry progress reports about all of them, so we can see that some useful things are being done in the world. The papers don’t, so this channel does.

Tanya Shpachuk

Somewhere in the quieter parts of the Ukraine is a workshop full of luthiers (guitar makers and repairs), and Ms Shpachuk has a channel. Marvel at how much work goes into getting the neck of a guitar right. The neck and frets are precision engineering in disguise.

Brandon D’Eon - Cliffs of Dover

Cliffs of Dover is a venerable Eric Johnson instrumental that seems to be for electric guitar what Angie was or is to acoustic guitar. Brandon D’Eon is a twenty-something jazz guitar graduate with a theatrical manner and what looks like a well-subscribed guitar course. 

   

 Yep, it’s gratuitous catch-up time. Eight YT channels I’ve been watching on and off recently.

The Subtle Genius of the Middle-Position Selector of the Les Paul

I’ve recently come to appreciate the subtle genius of the middle-position selector of the Les Paul.

Need to turn the guitar down but don’t want to walk back to the amp / digital controller? Just turn either of the volume pots to 0 - shuts down the guitar output. (It’s a feature of the circuit design, not a bug.)

Need to turn it up for a solo? Turn the dominant (or both) pots to 9 or 10 - doubles the volume. (That’s a feature of the volume pots, not a bug.)

Need to turn it back to play rhythm again? Turn the pots back to where they were, usually 8 or below.

But most of all…

The middle position lets us mix the outputs of the pickups to taste using the volume pots. (The Rhythm / Lead positions are limiting cases of the mixes available with the middle position.)

Is the bridge too thin and nasal? To get a bridge-y tone with a bit more body, put the bridge pot somewhere between 7 and 10, and the neck somewhere between 2 and 4. (*)

Is the neck too full and jazzy? To snap it up a bit, put the neck pot somewhere between 7 and 10, and the bridge pot somewhere between 2 and 4.

Something balanced? Put both on 6 or 7, or 9 / 10 if you want to be loud.

A Strat offers five discrete mixes of its pickups, the Les Paul offers a (theoretically) continuous variation.

When I’m creating a Preset on the HX Effects, I set the volume pots at 6 (which is the actual mid-point when using a Katana) and the tone pots at 7. Then I can use the volume pots to get a more bridge-y or more neck-y version of the tone, and I’m not having to create something that will deal with the nasal bridge signal, and consequently be useless on the neck, or vice-versa.

The Creation of Marshall Amplifiers

On the third day, the Lord did create Marshall amplifiers, and he played his Les Paul through them, and heard the distortion, and even with the Telecaster and the Stratocaster, even the ES335 and SG, it was good.

Sayth the LORD, this sound shall be only for Marshalls. Not even unto the Hi-Watt and Mesa/Boogie. And the Fender shall be clean, and scooped in the mid-range. Even the amp that is Orange shall not have this sound.

He who wishes for this sound shall not find it in the pedals that are between the guitar and the amplifier. This sound shall be unto the gold-and-black that shall be the sign of the Marshall for evermore.

And those who despair that their guitar may be un-blessed, and have a nasal bridge tone, shall play into a Marshall, and what they hear shall be as from a blessed guitar. For the Marshall is the amplifier of the LORD, and all who play through one shall have good tone.

(Yep, my guitar friend recently acquired an f-off JCM800 head to go with a 2x12 Marshall cabinet. I had a play with it recently. Everything you have heard about the ineffable nature of that Marshall sound is true.)