Tag: randylin guitar

Best Small Modeling Amps

I’ve become quite tired of pedals recently and sold all but two of my favorite ones. I got tired of power supplies, so many connectors, tone mismatching and so on.It was thus that I started looking at “all in one” modeling amps as a way forward into my 40th year (yikes) of performing.

I have had Roland’s Microcube in two incarnations ( original and gx) and found them to be a really useful kind of everything you need in a small box. I’m waiting for a possible upgrade from that to come out this year.

But the other amp that has my attention recently is the Yamaha THR5. I’ve got to say, for feel, the THR has the Microcube beaten by a long shot. The amp models feel and sound like a real amp, no digital tizz or runaway gain. The interface is simpler, with everything laid out in a horizontal line. The only thing I can fault it on is the tremolo setting, but Yamaha gives you free software to access that and some hidden features, as well as recording software to make use of its USB output.

So what can I say? I’m set on the THR5. I’m not even advertising for them. This is, to me, the best small amp available. I’ll miss the Microcube’s acoustic emulation setting. Maybe Yamaha will have that in the software. Anyway, I hope to play it for you at a show soon.

The Story Behind Tokyo Love

In 1991, I had an opportunity to go to Japan, my first time abroad. I had about 6 months to prepare the money to go. I was living in Houston’s Chinatown, barely getting by as a busboy. My income got so low that i was actually homeless for, thankfully, an hour. Nevertheless, songwriting was going good and was about to get better.
I left Chinatown for a brief time to move in with my brother near River Oaks district. This was the first time I had been exposed to what was (in the 90s) a very free and artistic area to live in. I had never lived in a soho, and i was really inspired by the many shops and bookstores.
But Chinatown never left me. Right down the street across Westheimer was Auntie Chang’s Dumpling House, still there to this day. I got a job as busboy all day until 5pm. My favorite thing at that age of 24 was to take my tip money, get on the Westheimer 85 and stop off at Miyako’s for sushi happy hour (and to see a waitress, which made it a very happy hour, of course). Then I would take my transfer, continue down Westheimer to the second run movie theater, dream about asking my waitress to the movie, catch Bill and Ted’s Bogus adventure, then take the 85 back home.
The other crazy thing was I was also in love with a girl at a karaoke near Beltway 8. I used to go sing for her every Friday. It turned out she knew my boss and passed her number thru him to me. WOW!
Somehow, I didn’t call her. But I went to the karaoke that night and asked her out. She said she was busy. This was actually the last night my brother and I could keep that apartment. He was moving in with friends and the landlord was renting it out. But i met a guy who invited me to be his room mate. He liked Japanese culture, so we attended the Houston Japanese Church together.
It was then I knew why I was there.
I became one of the pianists for the church. And i was asked by a pastor to visit Japan. That sparked me. I got a job and started saving for the trip. Then I borrowed a keyboard and wrote three songs, the surviving of which is Tokyo Love.
That song enveloped my hopes in japan. It’s innocent, maybe even a little corny by today’s standards, but I think it stands as a great song. 30 years later, one of my students loves it. I still do, too.