Toys or tools for guitar

the vox MV50 AC and a typically sized effects pedal to show scale.

a pencil on top of the speaker cabinet 

to show the miniature scale of the whole set

I am not going to go on and on about the above. I just want to say this is one of the most extra ordinary pieces of work gear I have bought for many a year.

The MV50 comes in three flavours, Clean which is an American styled sound and it is very clean. Then there is the Rock version which is self explanatory with a good modelling of the British rock amps like Marshall. The one I chose is the AC which is a version of the famous Vox AC line. probably the most famous of these amps is the AC30 made famous by the Shadows and the Beatles. Brian May of Queen uses eight Vox AC30s.

The MV50 AC has a lovely sustained chime and a very useful overdrive with lovely over tones. The amp has a 50 watts rating with two speakers and 25 watts with one. It has a headphone / line out which is great for recording and a new kind of valve set up. Portable and well built this is a great tool.

Enough to say working with this amp is addictive. I think it offers high value for a low price and provides a solution to what to do about an on stage spare amp, what to take to the pro studio that doesn't need a transit van and two roadies or what to use in your bedroom studio.  I am teased with getting the extra cabinet for work on my new album.

By the way the pedal in the photo is the JOYO JF-02 Ultimate Overdrive Guitar Effect Pedal. At the price of £39.43 it is probably the best value overdrive pedal going, It is alleged to be a clone of a very expensive US pedal. With the MV50 and my 71 Fender stratocaster it gives great results.

peace 

in the bleak midwinter

The UK Christmas spend has been estimated to be more than £78.69 billion in 2017.

A new NHS hospital in the UK with 210 beds cost £75 million plus another £15 million for roads, equipment and infrastructure. That's £90 million.

UNITED KINGDOM achieves a Happy Planet Index Score of 31.9  and ranks 34th of all the countries analysed.

Latest official figures show an estimated 5,174 people were forced to sleep outside in UK in 2016.

The lives and futures of millions of children are in jeopardy. We have a choice: Invest in the most excluded children now or risk a more divided and unfair world.

1 in 10 young women in UK cannot afford to buy sanitary products.

It is estimated that 20% of all Christmas presents are unwanted and unused.

Why don't we protest more? Why don't we care enough to stop austerity?

Leaked report on mental health crisis in UK indicates a rise in suicides and that 75% of people needing help / treatment are not receiving it.

The Trussell Trust is the largest food bank network in the UK, and it handed out around 41,000 food packs in 2009/10 compared to 1.2 million in 2016/17.

Every year we are warned that if the High Street Christmas spend is not enough our economy and therefore our quality of life will suffer. How mad is that?

"I am not dreaming of a white Christmas" - Homeless young woman aged 19.

Why are thing such a mess? Could it be that it is because we want the wrong things.

Why does the UK government increasing appear to be a reactive body that can only see a problem when it is critical to their re-election. Then they act too late with too little? Perhaps it is because they don't know what to do. When questioned in the House of Commons by the opposition leader about the recent UN declaration that austerity had seriously harmed the well being of disabled people, May replied - "There are more employed disabled people than ever before".

While so many are with out essentials, Christmas is a mostly indulgent, bloated festival of self interested greed that doesn't extend to the poor and dispossessed though, it is claimed to be a time of love and good will to all.

Will things have improved by next Christmas? It partly depends on what you want. Time for real change?


peace