Zoom h5 recorder: feels like cheap plastic until you batteries in it. Then it feels like regular plastic.

Metal marshmallow pro: solid and durable feel to this mic. Smaller than expected, even after watching their video. Straightforward one sheet of directions included to prevent disaster.

Sennheiser Mikro 421. Sounds just like a Big 421, but it's smaller.

Kniferide wrote: Tue Sep 30, 2025 3:00 pm Sennheiser Mikro 421. Sounds just like a Big 421, but it's smaller.

Just checked it against my old 421. Sounds like 90% the same, but has a little more low end bluster than the vintage, maybe just because the voicing circuit just isn't in there at all. Pretty cool little guy. IF they fall under $200 on the used market I'd say they are a good buy. At new cost I'd rather just buy used regular 421's for around the same price point.

RTOM Black Hole drum mutes

I’m fortunate to live in a place where my neighbors don’t mind me wailing on drums but for politeness, my own hearing, and the sanity of my dog, I often play with mutes. I had been using these neoprene pads called Sound Off that do work but the feel is meh and they don’t hold up and kill all the tone.

The rtom mutes are an edrum mesh head and fit into a channel in a heavy duty rubber ring that itself stretches over your metal hoop. The kick drum mute fits inside the wooden hoop. The head would be rather loose, but rtom fits a metal rod (formed in a circle) that fits under the mesh, and with a turnbuckle will exert pressure out to tension the head.

It’s pretty clever and the mutes fit well and feel pretty good. As good as a mesh head e-kit and a lot better than the rubber disks.

It sounds like quiet drums… in the same way my perforated low volume cymbals sound like cymbals.

For 4 mutes it was like $350. I think that price point is… ok for what I’m trying to do. Overall, my kit volume is low enough so neighbors won’t notice but folks in the house will.

So far a solid A for my purpose, but maybe not for everyone.

You can also get triggers that work with these.

I just got a set of Mr. Fabulous Firebird pickups for my Revstar. These are potted, and they sound pretty great at first impression. It kills the hum, but also has great articulation. I never got into Firebird pickups until I tried one a few months ago. They are their own thing, and I like it.

Also, the guitar looks cool as hell:

Revstar New Pickups by benadrian, on Flickr

benadrian wrote: Thu Oct 02, 2025 4:36 pm I just got a set of Mr. Fabulous Firebird pickups for my Revstar. These are potted, and they sound pretty great at first impression. It kills the him, but also has great articulation. I never got into Firebird pickups until I tried one a few months ago. They are their own thing, and I like it.

Also, the guitar looks cool as hell:

Revstar New Pickups by benadrian, on Flickr

Looks totes rad! Heather has been wanting a new guitar and I've floated the Revstar idea. They are pretty cool guitars and I love the look of those FB pickups. Are they crazy mid rangey? A friend has a Firebird and it was really present in the 700ish hz range. Sounds like a Strongman Christian Warrior ripping phone books in half. It is weird.

700Hz is like stuck wah territory. That's not how my guitar is performing. This has maybe a lot of information in the 1.2k to 1.5k range. Plus, it's solid in the lower mids/upper low region; like maybe120-220 Hz. It's not scooped, though. It's maybe like an extra angry tele bridge vibe, and a non-woofy, solid neck tone.

benadrian wrote: Thu Oct 02, 2025 5:07 pm 700Hz is like stuck wah territory.

Yep. His Firebird sounds like a wah is on but not boosted as much as a wah. Nasal and papery. It's really odd. He likes it because shreads and shit. It's REALLY weird clean. Kinda useless to me.

FWIW, it is this guitar. Maybe his is broken and he doesn't know because people that play Gibsons are weirdos.

You hear all sorts of crazy shit about modern firebird pickups. Some of them are supposed to go up to 25k?!

Most of the aftermarket stuff is based on the golden age Gibson stuff that is more sensible. They are somewhere between a humbucker and a P90 but are their own thing, very cool. Sounds good clean or with some gain from a pedal.

Fenders are kind of ruined for me now. Too goddamn many of them.

benadrian wrote: Thu Oct 02, 2025 4:36 pm I just got a set of Mr. Fabulous Firebird pickups for my Revstar. These are potted, and they sound pretty great at first impression. It kills the him, but also has great articulation. I never got into Firebird pickups until I tried one a few months ago. They are their own thing, and I like it.

Also, the guitar looks cool as hell:

Revstar New Pickups by benadrian, on Flickr

That's damned classy.

So I sent Mr. Fabulous a message through his webpage. I'm really considering a set of his Big Birds (full sized humbucker versions of a firebird) or some variation of his PAF offerings for one of my two Burny Les Pauls. I'm keeping one of them with the original pickups because, while the guitar is a little dark, that thing fucking crumbles earth when you get it fuzzed up.

The other one, the three pickup model, I play more often, but the original pickups just seem to be holding it back. While it has three pickups I usually have the middle one bypassed. It's got unpotted ~8k "vintage style" humbuckers. The bridge position actually sounds pretty good, but the neck pickup is woofy and dull. Plus it over powers the bridge when I try to combine them. So I'm thinking of either the Big Birds or maybe a more open/ballanced PAF. I was leaning towards the former, but worry they might be a bit thinner than I'm used to or maybe too bright or harsh.

What do you think? It's hard to find good demos of pickups where people play big chords or less classic rock stuff. And what sort of problems did the unpotted versions give you? I'm used to unpotted pickups in my old guitars, this Les Paul in particular, but I don't play at high volume very much. They stay really quiet but you can hear if you tap them or whatever.