It is my full intention

.... to pick sloes for more sloe gin this evening on the way home. So far we've got a couple of litres going, but even with Chris getting a second lot on Monday we were still short, and have about 800ml of gin still to use up. Not far from here is a place where she found plenty of berries on Monday, and hopefully I can do the same tonight. We probably won't drink it all at once, but it's nice to 'make hay' etc.

BTW since I'm sat doing data organisation for another company I put headphones on with the MP3 player to ease the boredom. It's playing songs in alphabetical order (haven't managed to turn that feature off yet :-/ ) and so I've had a pastiche of worship songs, hymny stuff Fleetwood Mac and Johnny Winter wandering across my aural space. (note - on the hymny album they have a Sophie Bextor-Ellis disco style arrangement that's sonically sore-thumbing - even more so after Johnny Winter that's just come on. Oh yick - it's just gone into a mock-gaelic violin solo). Back to Johnny Winter JW FTW.

In other news, it seems amps are like London busses - nothing interesting for ages, the 3 wander across my path. I wasn't especially hunting for one, but 3 really interesting and very well priced (the word unmissable wouldn't be inappropriate) models have just appeared. I've been selling of other random guitar-related stuff that would help pay for ONE of them. Choices are a Vox Cambridge, Frenzel 5E3 type and Tech 21 trademark 60. I'm heading toward the trademark, because it's a highly versatile SS pro-featured amp with all sorts of features like headphone and DI outputs that I wouldn't design into my own valve based gear. The Frenzel is interesting because I've long fancied a Deluxe-style amp (I really prefer Fender cleans over Marshall or Vox). The vox is interesting because it's small, light and attractive (and cheap) plus when it dies I can gut it and build another valve amp.

I Played a Trademark 60 about 6 or 7 years ago when looking for a new amp, and rather liked it, although it was quite a bit of cash used even then. It should take effects and the processor well too, and would probably give me a few more years using the processor before I feel obliged to retire it and go fully over to pedals.

We'll see. I did go to look at an interesting guitar last night (Fender Esquire GT if you care) but there was too much structural damage around the headstock to take a gamble on it. If I can walk away from a guitar I don't need I can do the same with an amp, even if there's nothing wrong with it.

But darn, Johnny Winter's tone makes me fancy that 5E3 clone.

Back to work.