No, this is not one of those excited-puppy-dog-with-a-new-toy types of posts, though with the way I’m feeling about the Little 40, it could very well be. But excitement aside, I did another test of the amp early this morning. I’m not a big believer in doing demo clips for demo clips’ sake. I do them because people ask for the raw sound, but when I started GuitarGear.org, I did it with intent of evaluating gear within the context of its application; specifically, how I might apply it to my own rig. My thinking has always been that unless you’re actually using the gear, you never really know how it performs.
So this next test was done to get a feel for the dynamics of the amp within the context of a song. I recently finished demo production of a song I wrote several months back called “I’m in Love with You Lord,” but hadn’t gotten around to create a finished recording until this past week. The one thing about that song is that it has a gradual build-up in feel and intensity as it progresses, and the electric guitar track plays an important role in this as it is the instrument – besides my vocals – that drives the emotion of the song. And my personal requirement was that I needed to do the entire electric guitar part in a single take, which means the amp has to be ultra-dynamic.
Originally, I recorded this with my Aracom VRX18, which performed flawlessly. But I wanted to try out the DV Mark with the song to see if I could achieve the same level of dynamics that the VRX18 had. Not only did it deliver, I’m probably going to use it as I love the snarling dog growl it delivers. 🙂 Here’s the song:
Guitar Gear 
Nice sound. I hear the snarling dog growl. Great song. You make worship music sound good. Nice one. How long does it take for you to write a song on avaerage.
Thanks, Gary! Love that snarling dog growl!
As to your question, tt actually depends on the song. Most of my songs come from a stream-of-consciousness inspiration, and I’ll get the general idea written all out in around 1/2 hour. Then I’ll let the song sit for a day or so, then tweak the lyrics – it’s usually necessary. The getting the demo recorded can take a few days; at least. One of my songs that I just released call “You Bring Out the Best in Me” took me several months to write because I couldn’t get the right words. And couldn’t get come up with a melody that I felt worked. That one was tough because I was consciously juxtaposing the traditional lyrics with a modern rock tempo.