Firstly, looking back at the vision for 2019, I can safely say that I am still a noob when it comes to the Helix. Really all, there is still so much more that I don't know about my favourite piece of gear. So that's a fail for that aspiration. 2019 isn't exactly the year to get a MacBook Pro considering the whole slew of problems their keyboards have been facing. So yet another fail.
There's one success though, which is acquiring a humbucking guitar. The PRS SE Custom 24 and the Gibson Les Paul Standard have made this one a success. Also successful is my many times serving on the Chinese Adults stage. I can only thank and praise God for carrying me through. Now let's move on to what happened in 2019...
In January, I actually re-purchased two pieces of gear that I owned before. One is the Mini Wah pedal, which I actually re-purchased to add some fun alongside the HX Stomp. The other one is the friggin' PRS SE Custom 24. I loved that guitar so much that it had to go through my life for a 2nd time! Eventually sold both items away, again. LOL. The only fresh pedal was the Tumnus Deluxe, which was a rather interesting experience!
In February, I obtained a piece of gear that's still with me even until today. The Blackstar Fly 3 stereo amp set is a classy item to keep on display and it surprisingly packs a punch too! Also, I recorded a lot of videos in February because I was finally free of the training school lifestyle. I had so much more time to do the things I love.
March saw me sacrifice one entire night of sleep to do up a blog post explaining how I can use my iPad to act as a Midi controller for me on stage. It's an amazing discovery that I stumbled upon and I am one of the first few to truly explore this feature! So many people visited my blog in March and this Midi thing really blew up. Awesome! Also, my Helix got coloured with footswitch toppers!
April saw one of the biggest purchase in my music journey as the Gibson Les Paul Standard makes its way into my collection. As a result, the PRS SE Custom 24 was once again kicked out, probably for good this time. I'm absolutely in love with the Gibson, and I haven't even discovered its true potential. Merely recorded a small guitar cover to show it off!
For the month of May, my focused changed to the HX Stomp, since my guitar collection is pretty much stabilised. I begin to find ways to make the ultimate portable rig. Just nice in that period a few products to aid me in my quest got released. I settled on a Pedaltrain Nano and began ordering the different parts of my flyrig. It was a crazy time period because this side project is really complicated. If any of the parts can't work with the others, the entire project would fail.
June was also as crazy. June saw me assembling this very rig. With the Mission Engineering power supply, Ionic Audio converter and Anker powerbank, I pieced together a new era for my music journey. This fly rig served as a permanent platform for my HX Stomp. I even changed my Mono guitar case to fit this new implementation. The amount of time and money spent on this project is one of the heaviest.
In July, the flyrig craze continues as I reshaped the board and kicked off some pedals belonging to the initial plan. The Hotone Vow Press and Prince of Tone got removed. Sadly, Prince of Tone's fate was decided when Line 6 added that effect into their arsenal. Got a Mosky dual switch to do bank-switching and moved the G10 wireless up to complete the set. Also in July, I bought the AMT Chameleon Cab and AMT M1 for absolutely no reason.
August was kinda fun as I bought my second bass guitar ever. This is a short-scale bass, which feels more familiar to me and thus will be used in my future videos. Buying this ahead of time because 2020 is gonna be a huge year for me (read the next post for more details). Flyrig project initial phase was considered a failure as I sold off many of the items I bought. Also, I lusted for more overdrive and distortion pedals just as I saw the OCD-Ge get released in August.
September was a rather relaxing month for me as I went on course in army and didn't have much time to mess with my gear. Played once for youth service and it was a rather refreshing experience. September saw me finally upgrading my acoustic guitar's Mono case to accommodate the HX Stomp in being an acoustic flyrig as well. I also did a little forecast of the next few items on my list.
October was my birth month and also one of the most exciting moments of my music journey. Not one, but two Fulltone OCDs came into my life. I really loved the original OCD that when these two limited custom shop version dropped, I didn't even hesitate and bought them online. This particular pedal will remain my favourite forever, no matter how well they can be digitally reproduced.
November was super duper chill. Spent a majority bulk of my time playing Pokemon as the new Nintendo Switch titles got released. With my New Zealand trip roaming round the corner, my guitars and pedals didn't get much time with me. Did a couple of side-by-side comparison about the OCDs and that's it. Red and blue is still so sexy no matter how many times I look at it.
December was the bomb! First time ever recording a Chinese guitar cover and posting it on YouTube. Also my legendary first time hand-carrying a guitar back from another continent. Seriously, during my solo backpacking trip, I had to endure a few days with extra weight just because this guitar has eluded me on so many occasions. Still great though because my love for a black guitar with yellow binding hasn't even faded a single bit.
Things are looking real good for 2020 ahead just as I more or less completed my goal of owning a humbucker-equipped guitar. Not one, but two humbucker-equipped guitars. Still haven't get a MacBook to get real on the recording side of things. Fingers crossed that 2020 is the year I achieve that goal. With that, thank you for reading my 2019. :)
Edwin Ang
31st December 2019
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