u/paspa1801

Hi everyone,

Hoping for some help, a few years ago I had to sell my pedals and amps to help pay for a visa for my wife. I have been using just a digital modelling amp since then and whilst it’s been perfectly serviceable, I want to have fun with proper amps and pedals again.

My favourite genre to play is country, but I also like blues and a bit of classic rock.

I’m wanting to make a good starter country board to use and was wanting input on pedals I should look at. I used to have a Brent Mason hot wired pedal but I think they’ve come out with a newer version since then and I’m not sure if there are better options out there so willing to take any suggestions.

The pedals don’t need to be available brand new as long as there is a reliable supply on the used market. The amp I’ve got is a Fender 68 Custom Vibro Champ Reverb.

Side note, any recommendations for power supplies? I had a cioks before but I remember it being quite expensive for a power supply so not sure if it’s actually needed!

I’ve managed to dial in some really nice clean tones but for the life of me can’t find an overdriven sound that doesn’t just sound muddy and horrible to my ears.

I just want something with a little bit of breakup but pretty much as soon as I add gain it just sounds bad.

I have the Spark 2 if it makes a difference.

I got a new telecaster a couple of days ago and I want to swap out the tuners from the stock fender branded locking tuners.

I’m trying to decide between the GraphTech Ratio locking tuners and the Hipshot Fender Directrofit locking tuners.

Both come in staggered or non staggered options so the main difference is the gear ratios. The Hipshots have a 21:1 ratio on all the tuning machines. Ratio tuners vary between 12:1 to 39:1

Has anyone experienced both tuners and have opinions on which ones are better?

I can get the Hipshot ones for around £85, the ratio ones for like £130. I am happy to pay more for the ratios if they are actually better

I’m looking for some help with a situation that has cropped up over the past year with my wife.

I used to do pretty much 100% of the household laundry because my wife worked a 9-5 in office and I worked 12 hour shifts so had a lot more time off each week. My wife got a new job which is WFH 100% of the time so has been putting on washes a couple times a week.

The problem is is that whenever she puts a load of laundry on, it’s always mostly (or entirely) her clothes. I go to fold the clean laundry and I’m lucky if there are a couple of clean shirts for me in a whole load of laundry.

Whenever I do laundry, I just fill it from the top of the laundry basket until the machine is full. The only time I pick out specific items is if one of us needs something quickly or if it’s something with specific washing instructions. The basket can usually hold two washes worth of clothes so I just do two washes on laundry days.

It just feels quite selfish to me to focus on only your own clothes when living with another person. I’ve brought it up a couple of times and at first it was “I didn’t even notice I was doing that” (which is hard to believe because she would literally have to spend time picking out clothes) and now its “I’m more picky about what I’m wearing compared to you but if you want something specific washed then just ask”.

When we’ve stayed at her parents house the vibe in general is “deal with your own stuff yourself” so it’s probably just a habit picked up from childhood (my family everyone did laundry but again you just shoved in whatever was at the top of the pile) but in my mind it should be an easy habit to break because it’s literally easier to do it my way.

My wife is a wonderful partner in many ways and I love her to bits but this one habit is just very frustrating because she doesn’t seem to think it’s a bad thing. What are your thoughts?

EDIT: Some people have asked if she just doesn’t like the way I wash clothes but she literally washes them the exact same way as me. I got us a fancy washing machine a couple of years ago and I made a washing preset and that’s the one she uses. She doesn’t separate out lights and darks. She does not do anything different to the clothes that would make her prefer doing her own laundry.

I recently got a spark 2 and am mostly enjoying it so far but am wanting to find some more tones that I like.

My main guitar is a Les Paul special with P90’s, does anyone have tone suggestions that would sound good?

Looking for nice clean tones as well as some slightly overdriven sounds. Not really looking for intense distortion or anything.

Hi everyone, I’m trying to work out when exactly in the run of Brent Mason telecasters Fender stopped using the Sperzel tuners and switched to their own brand.

I’m guessing they stopped using them because apparently Sperzel are now incredibly difficult to order from and just don’t make many anymore.

Sorry for such a basic question but I want to add locking tuners to my 2025 Les Paul Special but am having trouble picking a set.

Ideally I would want white button style tuners that are just a straight replacement with no extra drilling required; but for some reason it doesn't look like many companies make locking tuners in white button style?

So they don't have to be white button style but they do have to be able to be swapped over without any modification to the guitar itself.

Due to various medical conditions, I have had chronic constipation for nearly two decades. On the Bristol stool chart I am a type 1, so my poops are tiny, hard pellets.

Because I have constipation pretty much 24/7, my version of diarrhoea is essentially just a normal type 4 stool. I bloody hate it when I do a normal poop.

I never feel gross after pooping normally because since my poops are so dry, cleanup is really easy as nothing is left behind. When the poops are more normal, I feel disgusting afterwards because no matter how much I wipe, even with some damp toilet roll, I just never feel clean. Not to mention the skid marks on the toilet.

Normally my toilet looks like it’s never been pooped in without any effort because my poops are so dry.

Sure, after having a clear out with a normal poo I feel lighter, but it’s not worth it to me. I’ve also gotten used to the constant stomach cramps so it doesn’t even register.

People tell me they feel bad for me when they hear about my “issues” but it is truly them I feel sorry for having to live with this torment every day.

EDIT: Y’all can disagree with me as much as you want but please don’t try to give basic medical advice to someone who has been dealing with multiple chronic illnesses and diseases their whole life. I assure you that “drinking more water and eating more fibre” won’t work because it’s already been tried. Unless you are literally one of my doctors, just keep it to yourself

Sorry all, I know this is a more serious topic than most posts here but I am needing some help and don’t yet want to ask the advice of people at my workplace for reasons which I will explain.

Essentially, I have been under a tremendous amount of stress outside of work for the past few months and it’s gotten to the point where it is pretty unbearable. I don’t want to go in to too much detail but basically my Mum is very sick and I’m a witness in a court case against my father so I have a lot of family drama going on that’s taken its toll.

When I’m outside of work I frequently have migraines, heart palpitations and panic attacks. I desperately want help for this but I’m worried that if I go to the doctor for medication or tell my work that I’ll be made to take time off of work.

I know it may be odd to some people but I love my work and it’s genuinely the only place I can destress right now. I know some of the stuff I deal with could be considered stressful but it takes my mind off of things and I’m good at it. Being able to switch off for 12 hours whenever I’m on shift is practically the only mental break I get. I was recently on holiday in Turkey for two weeks and I still couldn’t relax as much there as I can at work.

Has anyone else been in the same boat and have any advice? Like I said, I want help but if I’m told I can’t work that would genuinely probably be the straw that breaks the camels back.

If it helps I work for Network Rail as a Signaller (I feel I should add I have had 0 delays or incidents since this all started and I know I can still perform my role safely and to a high standard, proven by recent call audits done on myself)

I recently travelled to Maine to go on the SK tour and it got me thinking about his books (obviously) and I was thinking about what books were my favourite.

I was going through ones that I remember really liking and along the way got to Rose Madder. I find it really hard to decide where this would sit on my ranking of all the King books.

I absolutely adore most of the book; I was more tense reading this book than most others. The switching back and forth between both perspectives really adds a lot of dread. I read the thing in one go one night because I couldn’t put it down, and I basically had no finger nails left by the end of it. HOWEVER, that’s only really true of the “real world” parts of the book, all of the bits about the Rose Madder painting itself I didn’t enjoy at all. I know it’s important for the story but every time it got brought back up again I was like “oh god, hurry up and get back to the good stuff”.

I’m not sure why I dislike the painting parts so much, but I honestly think if I was going to read it again I would probably skip those parts.

It’s kind of similar to the sections in Misery where Paul is writing the stories for Annie; I would probably skip them if I read it again but they don’t bother me as much as Rose Madder and I would still consider Misery to be in my top 5.

So, are there any books that are your version of Rose Madder? Ones that you enjoyed reading but there is some aspect of them that ultimately stops you ranking it higher?