HP42 Animals at the End

Michiel and Cheddar both have small Youtube channels. Well, Michiel's is kind of past-tense. But in this week's episode we thought we'd share what lead us to create our channels, and what lead Michiel to quit his and why Cheddar keeps going despite the protests of the general public.

We've been friends with Henning for a few years, and we thought it might be fun to share some stories. How we got to know him, what it's been like to be friends with him. Is he really like he behaves on video!? Well Cheddar and Michiel will share with you!

In this week's episode Cheddar and Michiel answer YOUR questions. Well, that's only true for a couple of you, since most of you didn't send in questions. But if you did send in questions, maybe it was you! Listen to find out. We talk about gear and music as usual.

Some guitars are flawless from the factory, but other guitars aren't. Some guitars need some work to make them play well even brand new. Is this acceptable? At what price point is it no longer acceptable? Why does this happen? All these topics are discussed and we tell companies run by much smarter people than us how to do their jobs. As usual.

Guitarists tend to focus on specs; fretboard radius, scale length, pickup resistance, how many cartoon devil ladies are painted on the body. But can you really tell if you're going to like a guitar from a list of numbers? We say no! Listen and let us know if you agree.

This episode is being published the day after Henning's birthday, but it was recorded a week before. Wobbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff is afoot through the magic of recorded audio and delayed publishing.

There's a bunch of stuff happening in the music/gear world this week, so we thought we'd talk about several topics. Gibson is suing more people, Reverb is raising fees and Rick Beato is getting blocked on Youtube. We discuss all three topics at length, with some stark disagreement. Henning thinks Gibson are greedy bullies and Cheddar thinks Gibson are greedy, stupid bullies!

Amps are loud. Especially when they sound their best. It just requires turning them up. But how do you deal with that volume? One option is to just crank it so loud you drown out the neighbors banging on your door. Another is to not go to jail and use an attenuator. In this episode we discuss the various options on the market and how they differ in their approach and their features.

In today's episode we discuss why we feel Kemper took an unethical approach to modeling, and which other manufacturers are doing the Right Thing(tm) by amp designers and builders. We also discuss a certain german manufacturer blocking the ability to profile their new amp. Plus, when would we use a modeler or when we would use a "real" amp.

At first I (Cheddar) try to bring up a subject I thought was interesting; whether it's worth trading in multiple guitars to get a different one. But the conversation quickly goes off the rails. After a brief reprise of whether expensive gear matters we then end up talking about Youtubers and who's opinions on gear are really useful and how gear is like cars and baseball cards.

Somehow Henning got Leslie to agree to be on the podcast! So in this episode we ask her questions about how she puts up with Henning and why. There's also some meandering onto other subjects like gear. But mostly it's about Leslie and animals.

No clever name this time. Us three dumb white dudes will talk about the tragic killings of black people by police and paranoid vigilantes and about the movement that has erupted in the past weeks. Which in one way we are totally unqualified to talk about; we know next to nothing about the black experience. So we don't try to talk about that, instead we talk about our own biases and trying to overcome them. We also talk about the response we've seen from the Guitar community and Music Gear industry. Some great stuff and some less than great stuff. Buckle in 'coz this is a long one.

Michiel wants to get a Tonfuchs guitar. They are very nice. I am not sure why but he asks for Harry, Henning and I (Cheddar Kung Pao) to give our opinions on what he should get. Designing custom guitars is fun.

Ok there's no Jonas brothers in this episode. But you try coming up with funny titles week after week. Today we discuss Indie music and why Henning doesn't "get it." Featuring special guest and our friend Harry from HarryAndAGuitar on Youtube.

Another round of viewer emails. This time questions include making a guitar playing Frankenstein's monster, one amp to rule them all and Henning's continued obsession with Hanson. Also terrible ideas about investing.

Did guitar players in the golden era of Rock and Roll have bad technique? Or at least, is the technique of today's players better? Today we see basically unknown players on instagram with flawless technique. If we examine isolated guitar tracks on hit songs of the past, we can hear tons of clams and flubs. Does anyone but guitar players even care? All these questions are discussed in this week's episode.

All creative people that we know deal with self doubt. In this episode we talk specifically about Dave (Cheddar Kung Pao) having an acute case of that the day before this episode was recorded. What can we do? Maybe they're true in some cases? If they are, is that the tragedy that it feels like it is?

We are all dealing with a lot right now, and all things considered the three of us are pretty grateful for our situations. We discuss what is happening with 42 Gear Street this year. Plus of course what is going in in our lives and the world in general.

In this episode we made the questionable decision to live stream recording of an episode. The live stream of this episode can be found on Henning's channel. It's chaotic as we jump around topic to topic responding to the chat and just generally don't know what is going on. So not that different from a normal episode.

In this episode we engage in the classic party game of what our ideal supergroup would be using any living musicians. If you don't like that idea for an episode, like Henning says to Leslie; "At least it's short."

We read your emails in this podcast. What have you been writing? Well it's only the emails you wrote to us, so don't worry it hopefully isn't that embarrassing. In this episode comments about pushing and pulling your knob and a long discussion about budget gear setups for beginners and non-beginners and gigging gear. If you'd like to contribute to a future episode write to the address mentioned in the episode.

Have you ever wondered how Henning has so much gear? What it's like being an "influencer"? Is being a Youtuber just like being in a hip hop video? In this episode Henning opens up and shows us his private... life. Learn about his life before Youtube and what it's like now that he's one of the top 1,000 Guitar Youtube channels.

What has music streaming done to the industry? Can musicians even make money playing live any more? What have we lost by giving up on physical media? Why do I keep asking questions when you can't answer me? Some of these mysteries are discussed in today's episode.

Can the three of us agree on guitar specs for a single guitar? Well not really, but being able to compromise is a wonderful virtue. Unfortunately we're all jackasses. Still, we do come up with something which leads to a surprise M Night Shylamallama ending!

Michiel proposes what if we cast a sequel to "It Might Get Loud", who would we pick to represent various decades? What really are the proper criteria for the people to appear in this movie based on the original choices? This is Dave's favorite episode so far.

In this episode someone proposes that expensive gear makes no difference and some one else says yes it does. We then try to decide the winner by a sword battle to the death but then we remember we're all wussies and decide to just talk it out.

Henning, Dave and Michiel discuss NAMM. Favorite things we saw, how Michiel feels about watching NAMM from the comfort of his own house. Plans for next year. Whether Dave is a victim of marketing or truly sensitive artist and more.

Henning has some strong opinions about Gibson and he's going to share them. Dave and Michiel weigh in on the issues as well. Should Dave sell his '59 Reissue?