Aeroplane Flies High

Roanne & Jack’s boards May 2013! #fuzz #zvex...

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 23:25:49 +0100

Roanne & Jack’s boards May 2013! #fuzz #zvex #ghosteffects

PRACCY!!!!!! BIG DRUMS!!! FUZZ!!! KETTLE CHIPS!!!

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 22:06:28 +0100

PRACCY!!!!!!

BIG DRUMS!!!

FUZZ!!!

KETTLE CHIPS!!!

WHERE HAVE WE BEEN IN THE BACK OF A VAN?? YOU SHOULD BE EXCITED...

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:54:35 +0100

WHERE HAVE WE BEEN IN THE BACK OF A VAN??

YOU SHOULD BE EXCITED IF YOU LOVE MUSIC.

A song about pattys from our latest demo sessions!

Wed, 29 May 2013 14:38:57 +0100

A song about pattys from our latest demo sessions!

Some lovely pictures from another of our LIPA demo sessions with...

Wed, 29 May 2013 14:31:56 +0100

Some lovely pictures from another of our LIPA demo sessions with Caesar and Dan!

We recorded three new songs for some lovely demos!

Roanne was using her lovely Fender Mustang into her Swollen Pickle into her Marshall Super Bass! Sounded absolutely massive and super sizzly and all lovely and feedbacky!

I (Jack) was using the Fuzz Factory into a Fender Twin RI borrowed from my Uncle which sounded super gnarly and gooey and spitty and ripping!
And also my Fat Fuzz Factory into my Hiwatt which was HUGE and ripping and goddamn unruly!

We tracked all guitars in one room and drums in another LIVE so the guitar room was insanely loud and fuzzy!

Lots of news still on it’s way… hang in there AFH fans!

You guys have any plans on playing in Birmingham anytime soon? I wanna see you guys and pretend I can dance.

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:30:25 +0100

Heyyy, we would love to play Birminghan but have nothing planned yet haha, we’re playing northamptonshire in August??? Haha

Fuzz factory and Fat Fuzz Factory oscillating in parallel!

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:21:41 +0100

Fuzz factory and Fat Fuzz Factory oscillating in parallel!

WOOLLY MAMMOTH FOR SALE!

Wed, 08 May 2013 12:16:04 +0100

£200
Original Box
2011 model
Well used but in perfect condition,
amazing pedal just doesn’t work in our set up :(
too good to leave lying around the house!

This is a blog post all about fuzz. If you don’t like it...

Fri, 03 May 2013 09:41:57 +0100

This is a blog post all about fuzz. If you don’t like it and/or are scared of fuzz, please don’t read on.

AFTER last nights Liverpool Soundcity gig I (jack) have come to a few conclusions after a long process of going through millions of fuzzes etc! Soundcity itself was good and bad! Incredibly unorganised, incredibly rushed (we got to the Hilton at 20 to 7 to pick up our passes and we were on at 7!!) but at the same time, incredibly great! WE played a great set and it sounded huge! We also got to see our lovely friends Hawk Eyes and Blacklisters who also played boss sets at a ridiculous time of the night. (we missed hawk eyes but we’re pretty sure they were great!).

Next up is Leeds on Saturday which is a British Wildlife gig and should be amazing, on at 10 so we don’t have to rush and lots of great bands etc…

Going through so many different fuzz pedals to find the sound I really love and not only sounds great on recordings and in house but in a LIVE mix too. Jesus Christ if everything worked as well at home as it did in a live mix things would be completely different!!

BUT, things have worked out for me, I’ve been searching for the sound I have finally gotten and now I’m there I feel a massive relief! It’s crazy how stressed out I could get when I had a new fuzz to try and it just didn’t work in a mix or some reason that limited it. Examples are the Bixonic Expandora’s gate is strong enough sometimes but other (especially at SUPER high volumes), it just isn’t gated enough and will screech like hell for feedback! Another example would be the sunface sounded so great and when I finally modded it to be gated it seemed perfect BUT the distinct lack of volume and too little gan meant that it just wasn’t right.

Since getting the Zvex Fat Fuzz Factory though my mind was completely baffled by just how good and subby and sits perfectly in a mix it was. I used it at a gig in wigan once alone with the POG and it just sat perfectly and sounded huge (another huge issue with fuzzes it there bottom-end preservation). So when I had that I decided I’d try a Woolly Mammoth on my bass signal (form what I’d read and heard it was perfect) and the Fuzz Factory on guitar signal.

SO that brings me to the Woolly Mammoth, it sounds amazing. AT HOME. It really does sounds great though and I’d imagine on a recording (where i’d only heard it previously) there is multiple things you can do to help it cut through the mix. But using that on my bass or guitar signal had a hefty low end which was great but it seemed to have no middle and only LOADS of piercing highs in a mix (I actually thought the Machine was on sometimes!!). Even Roanne tried it with her set-up and it was exactly the same results, I don’t know whether it has scooped mids or what but I know that the EQ of that pedal DOES NOT work in our band mix in any way. Roanne switching over to her Pickle or Pep and they sat so nicely in the mix cutting through with plenty of mids and sizzle.

Hmm….. back to the drawing board!!

After receiving some inheritance money from the passing of my Nan, I decided to buy a pedal that was special to me and was really nice. I decided to buy an original Fuzz Factory as I’ve always wanted one and they look so cool!

After getting it, playing it in the house sounded absolutely amazing and not HALF as thin as people make it out to be. It’s definitely not as fat as the Fat Fuzz Factory but it certainly is big sounding. I still had to be a trimmer inside to help with using a buffered pedal before it but with this pedal only a 100k trimmer was needed. Deciding not to completely sum my love the pedal up before using it in a live mix, I took it off to practice to use as the board you can see above, Tuner > POG > Fat Fuzz Factory on bass signal and Fuzz Factory on guitar signal.

It sounded ABSOLUTELY unbelievable. For the first time in all my fuzz loving days have I ever heard such fuzz. MASSIVE and completely unruly but at the same time feeling so in control because of the marvellous gate features on the pedals. It sits in the AFH mix so perfectly I can hear myself and Roanne in our practice room with ear plugs in perfectly (I’ve moaned about this from day one as I’ve always had a problem sitting in a mix and even sometimes had resorted to thinking ‘ah i’ll just play with the Hiwatt for now and when I can get a Fender Twin to use with it too and split the signals for extra EQ control’)

HOW RIDICULOUS!!!!

I has the most solid bottom end, perfect amount of mids (we like lots) sizzly highs and a hell of growl, splutter, exploding amps,wall of fuzz, gnarly, rumblr, growly, rumblr, gnarly, fuzz, explosion.

I can honestly say, I have never been so happy with my guitar sound before and not only that, but I now feel I can just concentrate on writing songs, having a good time and just ENJOYING my tone rather than little things about it getting me down! (I must admit I constantly would feel a little annoyed that things weren’t working).

So;

Sounds amazing at home/recording - TICK

Sounds amazing/sits well in mix/gated enough LIVE - TICK

Playing soundcity last night also let me hear it properly and if you saw us play youd see my stupid smiles at many reasons, one being that I’m finally happy with my guitar sound! I hope you will enjoy the songs and sounds AFH have to give you for A LONG LONG TIME.

Here is AFH’S first ever TEE SHIRT!Art work done by the...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:07:00 +0100

Here is AFH’S first ever TEE SHIRT!
Art work done by the amazing Sam Curran from the coolest band Effluence.
They are very limited, 30 in total.
sizes S,M,L,XL available.
Small has the least amount, only four.
You can buy them from us in person or at one of our shows for £10
if you need it shipped then its £13

http://aeroplaneflieshigh.bigcartel.com/product/afh-face-tee

Jack; The ZVEX Woolly Mammoth has ARRIVED. This is the most...

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 17:42:44 +0100

Jack;

The ZVEX Woolly Mammoth has ARRIVED.

This is the most appropriately named pedal ever, it’s HUGE like a Woolly Mammoth and it sure is Woolly!!!

After much thought, I sold the Sunface fuzz (it was one of my favorites for a long time but the serious lack of volume meant that that using it along side the Fat Fuzz Factory was very hard!) and also the Bixonic Expandora, another favorite but the fact I wasn’t using it (the gate just isn’t strong enough to use live at the volumes we play) and that the Fuzz Factory can get very similar sounds to it meant it had to go…

But not to despair! It made room for the Woolly Mammoth fuzz!

The WM is a seriously huge and woolly fuzz, with the gate open it gives a massive fuzz that bites and snarls especially with a bass (or POG like I use!) But with the gate up (the Pinch control) is where this pedal REALLY shines. It’s gate is so clean sounding and because the pedal has such a MASSIVE bottom end (and I mean MASSIVE) it really hits so hard! The EQ control on it sounds so distinctive… for me it’s instantly recognizable with all the sounds I’d already heard of this pedal! I love it all the way up with the POG sound as with the organ-like sound of the POG it really ‘Purrs’. That sounds stupid but if you heard it you’d probably agree! It gets lovely and squishy with the gate up too, not really synth-like like some pedals but more of a rounding sound to some of the notes. With big chords it all squishes together and becomes a big lovely gooey mess! Definitely no note-separation in there, but who wants fuzz for that? We want it big, nasty and over the top! And this is what the Woolly Mammoth delivers in spades!!

The only bad thing about the pedal is that just like the FFF, it is extremely sensitive to buffers but this can easily be solved by having a extra resistor onto the input. I put a 1M variable resistor in there and it solved it great and sounds just like it should now!

Compared to the Fat Fuzz Factory, it is definitely fatter but that doesn’t take anything away from the massive bottom end the FFF can deliver… It has a little less sizzle but can be even more searing the FFF with the EQ all the way up. Overall they all completely different beasts and both shine incredibly well in what they do. The FFF for extremely high gain over the top fuzz and the Woolly Mammoth for HUGE, UNRULY and PURRING walls of fuzz! These two pedals are literally the best two fuzz pedals I have ever played and I really can’t see any other pedals taking their place in my mind! I LOVE THEM OMG. I’m using the WM for my POG sound and the FFF for my guitar sound and it’s absolutely the hugest most unruly and wall of sound fuzz sound ever. I’m in love with my guitar sound oh my god am I ok? Is this allowed?? AHHHHH.

Roanne; Hi, i prefer the Wooly Mammoth to the Fat Fuzz Factory, i want one.
Im normally put off by snobby pedals, HAVE YOU SEEN THE PRICE. But i actually really like it, its big and fat and it purrs. It should be called the purring Cat or Wooly Sib-er Tooth…
i like it, and i think the demos don’t show the sound very well so maybe jack should do a demo…
K.

TODAY IS A GOOD DAY.

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 12:51:28 +0000

TODAY IS A GOOD DAY.

The ZVEX custom Fat Fuzz Factory is here!!! ZVEX released this...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 11:19:42 +0000

The ZVEX custom Fat Fuzz Factory is here!!!

ZVEX released this officially at Winter Namm 2013 and the one that was actually at Namm was my one! This is the only red one so far and as you can see on the pictures it has the serial number A001 and is even marked prototype!

The story goes… I saw the Sonar official demo on the ZVEX youtube channel and noticed a comment which said about the Vexter Fuzz Factory in the video (which appears for like 5 seconds) having a little switch on it unlike usual. So I emailed ZVEX and got a reply from sales which said that the feature was top secret and also told me exactly what the feature was and that they could sell me one, but it would have to be ‘on the down low’! So I arranged to sell my Peppermint fuzz (It was a fantastic pedal and a really great fuzz, but since I modded the Sunface to be gated they really sounded exactly the same and the Sunface has more sentimental value) and extremely kindly Roanne helped me out too. (She really is the best!!!)

So after agreeing that I’d be getting sent the pedal after Namm (If you watch ZVEX videos from NAMM 2013 you will see this exact FFF) it was a done deal and I got my FFF a couple of weeks ago!

In short, this pedal is the greatest fuzz I have ever played or heard and I really don’t think that will change. At least I can’t see how I could prefer another fuzz over this!!

It’s absolutely amazing, on top of all the normal Fuzz Factory sounds you have probably read about, this has a three way toggle switch which selects different amounts of subs. Position 1 is regular Fuzz Factory (which I never knew was so thin), 2 is very fat but and 3 is earth shaking!

I’ve been using the pedal mainly with the Stab control all the way up and the gate and gain very high and the comp about noon, with position 1 & 2 this gives a MASSIVE, compressed, ripping fuzz that sounds so out of control until you mute the strings. The gate is incredible as at it’s sweet spot it doesn’t interfere too much with the character of the sound, unlike a regular Fuzz Face with a bias control where you tend to like the sound of it with the bias up but wish it was gated and with the gate on the sound isn’t as good. Usually you would sacrifice a little open-ness or sizzle for a great gate with a fuzz but with the FFF there is NOTHING lost. It remains fat, SUPER fuzzy and sizzly. It really amazes me the sounds you can get with the gate high! And that’s completely perfect for me as I love a gated pedal I can just leave on through our set!

The character of the fuzz as I mentioned before has a ripping texture too it because of the gate and with the subs switched to a more bass heavy setting, the lows are much more rounded and squishy. For regular guitar, position 2 is perfect because it gives a massive fuzz sound but the lows aren’t too squishy or rounded. Although position 3 has such a weight to it it just feels so great playing it loud and gated!!

When picking the strings quite hard (at the very specific pickup and trimmer settings (read the bottom)) it can get a tiny squish which is such a great sound as it sounds like your amp is exploding every now and then!!

I have actually been using this for my ‘bass’ sound which is the micro pog set for full low octave and full dry and it’s perfect for it. It doesn’t just pass all lows, it boosts them to ridiculous levels! It also has such a nice sizzly top end that perfectly complements the POG’s organ-like nature. It is a extremely over-the-top sound that I just love so much, it grinds and screams and sometimes if you hold a note long enough it produces another low octave down (similar to the MXR blue box but don’t worry, it really doesn’t happen much or interfere with anything and it ONLY happens with position 3 with the stab control up) To get the lower octave warbles and clicks the stab control must be turned down.

The oscillation present when the Stab control is turned down is stunning, on position 2 & 3 it generates mostly a click because the frequency is so low your speakers/amp can’t handle it but if you play soft enough or your pickups are just right, you can get a sort of analogue synth sort of sound that pulse and clicks while you play… it really is so much bloody fun!

I literally could talk about this pedal all day but I think I’ve said enough!

If I had to say anything bad about it, I would only say that when ZVEX says the FF doesn’t like buffers, he MEANS it! I use the FFF after a buffer though and I asked ZVEX to put a 100k trimmer inside (which has solved the buffer problem with my sunface) but this proved not to be strong enough resistance for the Micro POG buffer. So I added a 1M trimmer inside to take a little more off the input and now it is perfect! If you’ve ever played a picky fuzz before with strong pickups or a buffer you’ll understand that it sounds like the fuzz can’t breath unless you play softer (hitting the pedal softer) or roll your guitar volume back. It almost has a filter effect as you hit a string hard and the pedal squishes it down and as your string ring quieter the pedal comes to life (not really a good thing and deffinately not good for a bass sound as the low end is completely squished out unless the input is a nice low level).

SO if you’re using this after a buffered pedal, get a 1M trimmer inside!

This really is the greatest fuzz I’ve ever played. It’s so good I want two! One to use on my regular guitar signal and one on the bass! I LOVE IT.

The Ibanez Standard Wau Wau Fuzz! This is a friends pedal that...

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:52:09 +0000

The Ibanez Standard Wau Wau Fuzz!

This is a friends pedal that I’ve borrowed for a few weeks and it is a 70’s Ibanez (even though there’s no logo, that’s what he was told it was and the there is exactly the same models with the Ibanez logo) fuzz.

It’s the same fuzz circuit from the Ibanez Standard Fuzz which Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys) uses.

Jack;

It’s a nasty (but not too nasty) upper-octave fuzz that can be scooped or less scooped with the Tone Change footswitch. Unlike the Fender Blender which can get really high gain and nasty and spitty, this fuzz is quite open sounding and has a little more dynamics but definitely less overall gain. Into an OD or hot amp is where it shines, it becomes a lot more unruly where the pedal is providing a chewy and splatty base and the OD or hot amp is providing a little more gain and nastiness. It’s scooped setting is INCREDIBLY scooped and dull and I don’t think it has any use really but with the mids engaged it’s a really great sounding fuzz. I must admit it’s not a crazy as I thought it would be but with a hot amp or OD it sounds like the Black keys, all spitty and nasty but in a wholesome way. The wah sounds great too and has a reverse pot on it so when you press the toe end down it’s bassier and then treblier with your heel end! A really great fuzz and definitely one to check out! I’ll pass this over to Roanne now as she loves it too!!

Roanne ;

Jack’s making me write about the pedal because he likes that i played on it paha.
Well, i have never played on a wah pedal before, i’ve never needed to / had the want to.
I played on it because i’m really into super fuzz esque pedals and i really want one, and the fuzz on that is basically a super fuzz.

IT SOUNDS BOSS.
when i put the wah on, it was also really cool! it’s fun.
It’s good with hotter pick ups and a buffer.
I LIKE WAHS AND I WANT A DID WAH ON MY BOARD, BUT I DON’T THINK I’D EVER USE IT IN A SONG.

BYE

WE WENT DOWN SOUTH….TO LONDON.Friday 15th Feb, we ventured...

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 12:29:08 +0000

WE WENT DOWN SOUTH….TO LONDON.
Friday 15th Feb, we ventured to Rochester, to play the Singapora Lounge,
we left Widnes at 11am and arrived bang on time at 7pm.
The gig went super well, the room was tiny, the ceiling was low. It was packed, and cosy, and sounded great!
First on was Spite House, whom we knew each member from Georgia Asphalt and Cuss Words, they were boss, dead noisy, Hum esque at first.
Headlining was UpcDownc, instrumental post-rock, who were also great, and sorted the gig out for us, and Chris put us up for the night!

Sat 16th Feb, was AFH’s best gig to date. After spending the day around Greenwich, we played a gig at The Birds Nest, super cool pub/venue!
IT WAS SO FULL. Lots of people there to see US! we didn’t even know most of them, when we played everyone was dancing and singing to our songs. You know the chorus on Blossom ‘CAN YOU BLOSSSOM’ well they sang that for us.
Such a buzz. After the gig it didn’t end there, we got chatting to awesome people such as the guys from Francobollo and Neil from Snaketown. (Who we are releasing an EP with soon).
Aswell as chatting, great music and dancing was on-going till the pub closed at 1am, lots of Hole.
We stayed with Zach, who is BOSS! This weekend has put Liverpool to shame, what’s going on Liverpool?
BOTH NIGHTS WERE FREE TOO AND WE GOT PAID!
AMAZING!

Thanks so much to everyone involved, love you!

We’re playing Leeds Santiagos this Saturday with ‘Super Luxury’ and ‘Humans as Ornaments’.

Aeroplane Flies High recording Log AFH are in the middle of...

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 17:37:57 +0000

Roanne's Marshall JCM800 Super Bass

Jack's Hiwatt Custom 100

All our pedals

Fender Telecaster

Fender Mustang

Gibson Les Paul

Aeroplane Flies High recording Log

AFH are in the middle of recording six songs to be used in some way, probably use one as a single, anyway.. Drums and Guitars have been done so here is a lovely geary update for you to get excited about!

What amps did we use?
Roanne: I used a Marshall JCM 800 Super Bass, into a 1960a Marshall Cab. I used it set on the edge of break up, this head is fantastic with pedals and has lots of head room! i love it.
Jack: I used a Hiwatt Custom 100 set loud and clean into an Orange HP8 cab! I bridged the two channels on the head for extra bite too.

What guitars did you use?
Roanne: I used my Fender Japanese competition Mustang for the majority of the songs, it has been recently fitted with a Dimarzio Chopper so it is much hotter and works boss with my pedals. You can still tell it is a Mustang, which is the best thing! For Control i used my Mexican Fender telecaster as i wanted it to sound like the original!
Jack: I used my trusty Gibson Les Paul Standard. I love it.

What pedals did you use for each song?

In time
Roanne: For ‘In Time’ i used my Way Huge Swollen Pickle, it’s amazing, very ‘wholesome’ which is always my fav, its the perfect ‘muff’ even though it’s not a muff, it kinda is… has mids and loads of mods on so you can get the perfect sound!!!! Super recommend.
Jack: I used the EHX Germanium 4 Big Muff set for massive unruly noisy fuzz. For my bass tone i used the EHX micro Pog and my Analog.man sunface. I used the Zvex Machine to boost both into HORRID fuzz land.

Pieces
Roanne: For Pieces i used my Ghost Effects Pep box with tone control mod, this song shows off the pep really well. Its sizzly, crunchy and super gnarly.
Jack: For Pieces i used my Analog.man Sunface for both bass and guitar, set super high gain and gated for that splatty fuzzed out tone.

Not Blossom
Roanne:For Not Blossom i used the Pep Box, i needed it to be gated and tight and this is the perfect pedal.
Jack: I used the Boss Power Driver for a super mid-rangey stingin’ tone.
Almost like a cocked wah. For bass i used the Sunface. I also used the Zvex Machine to boost both.

Sun
Roanne: The main pedal i used for Sun was the Pep box, but there is a load of feedback at the beginning, so for that i used the pickle as it’s super noisy.
Jack: I used the Sunface for guitar boosted occasionally with the Zvex Machine for super nasty fuzz. For bass i used Roanne’s Swollen Pickle for a different grind.

Control
Roanne: I used the Swollen Pickle for control as in the original version i was using a Russian Big Muff boosted by a Marshall Guv’nor, so i had to keep it muffy. For the feedback i combined the pickle with Jacks’ power driver.
Jack: I used the Bixonic Expandora for guitar and bass, just like in the original. I boosted the bass with my old fender blender which is the signature ‘BwAM… BwAM’ sound.

Untitled
Roanne: Ooh, for this new secret bad boy, i use the pep. I like to keep things simple and the Pep is very versatile for our songs.
Jack: I used the Sunface for both!

Stay tuned for more updates! Get excited! and watch this video for more tone secrets.. CLICK DIS.

Sorry if our new theme looks like sick.

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 21:38:54 +0000

Sorry if our new theme looks like sick.

meeting-people-is-easy replied to your post: What’s going on? is it strange that I’m...

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 21:34:30 +0000

meeting-people-is-easy replied to your post: What’s going on?

is it strange that I’m recording drums for my dissertation the 26th, going watching dinosaur jr on the first and recording guitar on the second too?

Haha, no way, thats pretty cool! see you at Dinosaur!

What's going on?

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 21:26:08 +0000

A lot is happening for Aeroplane Flies High.
Here are some dates for your diary.
26th January- Drum recording
1st Feb- we’re going to watch Dinosaur Jr.
2nd February- Guitar recording
VOX yet to be scheduled.
13th Feb- Liverpool gig at Elevator Bar
15th Feb- Rochester gig
16th Feb- Greenwich gig
23rd Feb- Leeds gig at Santiagos
7th March- we’re going to watch Triggerfinger
8th March- Grand Central gig Manchester.

Hopefully see you there.

Updates coming soon.

Roanne’s new black scratchplate!!

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 19:32:51 +0000

Roanne’s new black scratchplate!!