Home of Tone Blog
New shirt design incoming!
It has felt like a while since my last limited edition Home of Tone shirt design came out, so it's about time I change that! I asked an illustrator whom I'm a huge fan of, the immensely talented Drew Millward, to come up with a new shirt design and he's done an incredible job with it!
My brief was for something inspired by 50s Sci-Fi film posters and to involve me usual tone pot UFO, and he has taken it step further with a amp valve head Alien overlord design!
There will be more info to come in terms of the final shirt choice etc, but rest assured I'll share it as soon as it's available to order!
My brief was for something inspired by 50s Sci-Fi film posters and to involve me usual tone pot UFO, and he has taken it step further with a amp valve head Alien overlord design!
There will be more info to come in terms of the final shirt choice etc, but rest assured I'll share it as soon as it's available to order!
Redbeard Effects join the Home of Tone!
Redbeard Effects is a guitar effects company based in the UK. Offering highly engineered hand made products, Redbeard Effects is the conjoined brain-child of seasoned rock guitarist and self confessed rock & roll gear head, Mikey Demus (of UK based band, Skindred), and internationally renowned pedal designer and manufacturer, Adrian Thorpe (of ThorpyFX).
Comparing the Fender AVRI, Mastery & Descendant vibratos!
My first experience with a Jazzmaster was more than likely very similar to many other guitarist's first experiences with the offset instrument. It was with a poorly set-up Classic Player JM off a high street guitar shop's hanger which left me feeling pretty let down by the guitar I'd seen so many players I admired playing. Unfortunately I was of an age where I didn't really respect how important a good set-up was to a guitar, so set them aside in my mind for years as a result. Rather foolishly of course. Looking back this does perhaps explain why sadly, so many guitarists disregarded Jazzmasters (Jaguars of course fall into this association too) as inferior playing instruments. Good set-up is key to getting the most out of them, and in more recent years we have seen such a resurgence for the offset with so much more information out there on how to get the best out of them...
5 Years of the Home of Tone!
It has been 5 years since I started James' Home of Tone, which feels amazing to say! Some of you reading may have been following since the beginning, whilst some of you may be totally new to what I do here so I thought the 5 year anniversary of beginning this venture would be as good a time as any to share a little about my story! A great deal has happened over the past 5 years, to say the least, so I'll try not to bore you with every detail! But I thought it would be healthy to touch on some of the things that helped shape the Home of Tone and moments that continue to mean a lot to me and this journey. Plus it's nice to be open about the story behind a business!
The Solderless journey
I've dedicated some time today to making a solderless harness. The first I made using these connectors is sitting in the McNelly Pickups demo guitar and they're proving to be nice and reliable. So I thought I'd have a run at testing the layout and approach of the solderless connections in the trusty Telecaster format. So far so good!
It'll be a little while yet before these become part of my harness range, but when they are, they will hopefully help those who are daunted by the humble soldering iron (you really shouldn't be though, if I can wield one, then anyone can!) & of course help those who enjoy swapping pickups regularly for various sounds!
Project Offset Phase Six - A timely update of how the Squier VM Jazzmaster has continued to be tweaked
Time flies when you're having fun. It has certainly been a long time since I last updated the 'Project Offset' series of blog articles, but a nice customer recently got in touch and reminded me of this series so I thought I'd follow it up, despite the years gone by!
James' Home of Tone on Trustpilot
I've been incredibly lucky to have customers like yourselves, take the time to write an ever growing collection of individual product reviews over on my website. From small parts items to bigger investment items, they all help with me learning about the products I offer and also, the potential customers looking at also ordering. I've closely monitored the product reviews on the website and feel like I've learnt a lot along the way.
How to guide - Installing and adjusting your new Descendant Vibrato
I've just received my fresh batch of the brilliant new Descendant Vibrato Units from Swope Guitars, so I thought I'd put together a install guide which will hopefully help you with installing and adjusting the design. It's all pretty straight forward, but there are some unique aspects to Chris' design that I wanted to highlight in this guide, to help your install go smoothly and help you get the most out of it straight out of the box.
Introducing the Clarity range and new colour options by Loaded For Bear Audio!
Loaded for Bear Audio cables have found themselves right at home here since introducing them as a new member of the Home of Tone family back in February. I've since enjoyed stocking a selection of the range that is all handmade by Jon up in the picturesque setting of Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire. The aesthetic fits in so so well with my personal tastes, and importantly, the cables are wonderfully made with great specs available. Which is why I'm writing this article today, as those great specs have just grown further with the introduction of a new cable range!
Pre-Orders now available on our first batch of Descendant Vibrato Units!
I'm pleased to announce that I have received notification that my first batch of Descendant Vibrato units is finished, boxed up and ready to head out via courier to me! This will be the first stock batch in the UK, and I'm now accepting pre-orders for customers to secure theirs. The product listing is up and available HERE
I sent the Jennings Voyager Deluxe to John Cordy...
...and he has made some beautiful sounds with it (when does he not?!). Here's a bunch of the videos he's made so far with the guitar!
New pedal demo! The Yellowcake Pedals 'Lida Machine'
It has been a very long time since I've released a demo video featuring me for quite some time. I touched on the reason why that has been the case on the latest VLOG (also discussing the Sterling Albert Lee demo guitar), so it was about time I tentatively dipped my toes back in the water with making some demos again. I figured I'd start by recording some sounds with one of my favourite pedals one I proudly represent here at James' Home of Tone, the Yellowcake Lida Machine! I hope you enjoy