For those that don't know me: I'm a Dutch former nuclear physicist currently working as a software developer for PopCap Games. Yeah, some of you might have read about us in the business section last week ... But foremost I am a closet rocker who loves to play Collings, PRS, and G&L guitars. And collect them too.
Breakfast
We have visitors over from the Netherlands and today we are going to hit downtown. So I'll be out in an hour or so and cannot tell you what lunch will be. But I know breakfast! Yoghurt with these raspberries from our backyard:

Summer has been luke warm (literally) here in Seattle. So my wife and I didn't really pay attention to what was happening out there. But when Jommie (which is the nickname for my wife) checked it out yesterday we had a huge bowl full of berries. Yummies!!
Before our visitors arrived I picked up this gadget last Friday:

This is an absolutely gorgeously sounding Wah pedal. The people at BBE did another marvelous job on creating a rock-steady, very musical piece of equipment. My reasons to select this particular wah are many, not all objective. First, I am seriously turned of by Dunlop and their myriad of special and artist versions of their 'original' wah. So although the perfect wah for me might be in their arsenal, I just wouldn't know how to pick it beyond test driving them all. You can use reviews, which I did, but they only go so far. Secondly, I know of the existence of the BBE wah mainly because of my love for G&L guitars and this board which keeps you abreast of all the latest developments also on the BBE side.
After trials and tribulations, the candidates were pared down to the Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah, the Carl Martin 2 Wah, Morley's Bad Horsey, and this one. If money was no objection at all, it would have been the Clyde. I was really impressed by its tone. Although, and this hold true too for the Carl Martin, too many controls turn me off to some extend. I have a Carl Martin Quattro [sic] as well as a TremO'Vibe, which I both love, so for those reason I was tempted to go with the 2 Wah. However, their wah is somewhat noisy compared to the others. The Horsey dropped off for esthetic reasons. Yup that happens too. But sonically I also fell for the BBE which was not too different from the Clyde. I will not deny there might have been a certain bias, but having experience with their other stuff, I was pretty sure I would not be disappointed anyway. Wonderful wah tones and their 'Harmony' control works beautifully. Although in the end, it still ended up in the middle detent! Both the Clyde and BBE wahs use hand-wiring and meticulous attention to the (recreation of) components used in the device and you can certainly hear and feel it. But in the end, at least for me, it was the price quality ratio that was the decisive factor.
So here's the
Music question of the day
What are you using in making the decision to buy a particular piece of equipment? Money? Word of mouth? Reviews? Artist endorsement? Whatever is available at your local store? And is there one particular piece of equipment that took you a long time to decide on? And how did it pan out in the end?
Since this question touches upon BBE/G&L in particular as well as music in general, it'll have to do for today.
Talk to you later.
- Jos