Gear in Review: Menatone Blue Collar

I'll admit, I'm currently getting rather impatient as I wait for the Maxon and DOD pedals to sell. I've got my eye on a new pedal (which I won't share at this point as I'll talk about it if and when I get it...) and to afford it, I need to unload those pedals. I'll still net a small profit, but occasionally I need to get something for myself, you know? :)

At any rate, in the midst of my boredom, I'll share another pedal review. And this one is my go-to dirt, which makes it a worthwhile review. I don't think this pedal will ever...EVER leave my board.

Menatone Blue Collar

Brian Mena has something of a cult following among a lot of circles. He doesn't make many pedals, but he's fairly famous for preferring point-to-point soldering over PCB wiring (though he occasionally does PCB) and still managing to fit his circuits in reasonably-sized enclosures.

I first fell in love with Menatone listening to reviews of the King of the Britains pedal. Something about British growl got to me and I kept looking into Menatone, trying to figure out what I wanted. Some amazing pedals, but the one that many were talking about was the Blue Collar. Having recently gotten my main guitar, a Fender Standard Stratocaster in the limited black paisley finish, I was drawn to the reviews that emphasized how well the Blue Collar was highly paired with a single coil guitar like a Strat. I saw some reviews (like here and here), and knew it was really what I was looking for. Capable of getting mid-gain-ey but not over the top, fairly clean if needed, but definitely gritty, it was perfect, at least on paper.

I found a good deal (I think I bought it for $120) and jumped on it.

The day it arrived, I had about an hour to use it, and I plugged in just the Blue Collar to my amp, so I could see how it sounded without any other coloration. In a word, I was impressed. This pedal sounded great!

I don't think it's limited just to single coil guitars, as it could fatten up any sound, but having a presence knob and the ability to add some sparkle by increasing the tone, it really is quite compatible with a Strat. In hardly any time at all, it became my go-to, kicking off the Behringer Vintage Tube Monster (reviewed earlier) and beating away any other dirt pedals I came across, until I found a Klon clone pedal that runs in to the Blue collar to add extra dirt, but the Blue Collar is my always-on pedal. It is my tone.

I highly recommend anything from Brian Mena in the Menatone line. I've seen a lot of praise over the Red Snapper, and that might be a neat pedal to pair with the Blue Collar (a la the Fish Factory custom pedal). You should look into their pedals if you're looking for your tone.

My Favorite Flip, and It Only Took One Step!

I've done quite a lot of flipping in the past 9-10 years, but I have one that sticks with me as being my favorite.

A couple years ago (2011), a new store opened in Urbana, called Buy-Sell-Trade. The shop had an operation in Springfield as well. Similar to a Pawn Shop without the loan side of things, so folks could drop by and sell their gold and silver, collectibles, etc., and people like me could swoop in and buy some of the items.

Side note -- this business has closed down for being absolutely toxic as a business. Apparently they bounced checks to those selling stuff, couldn't pay employees, etc., which is really skeevey if you ask me. Read more about that scandal here.

I actually bought a signed baseball from them, signed by an old roster of Twins players. They had a lot of guitars in their windows and on other displays (including old vintage 60s tube amps, the kinds you buy from Sears, but they were asking way too much). One guitar got my attention because it had the Greco brand, and I knew that there were people who loved collecting Grecos. Here's some pictures (from when I took it home, so I apologize that you know what happened next):


So this was for sale with a price tag of, I believe, $180. Given the condition of the guitar, that seemed pretty high. I decided to do some further research and see what I could figure out. After hitting up a few forums, I came to the conclusion that the big Greco enthusiasts liked the copies that came out of the Matsumoku plant, especially the Gibson copies. This was an original design of theirs, and so wouldn't have as much value. The tuners, at the time, were a hodgepodge, and the finish was quite cracked up, so I wasn't too keen on getting it.

However, after going back to the shop a few times, I decided to take a chance. I asked how much they'd be willing to do and their offer was $150. I told them that I appreciated the offer but that was too much, to me. They put it back, and I had already moved on, looking around at some of the amps. Before I went out the door, they asked if I wanted to make an offer on the guitar. I think the person was a co-owner (and given their reputation, not the person with best intentions...). I told them what I had learned, and said that I could make an offer, but it would be really low. They said that the worst they could do was say no. My offer?

$35.

And they said yes.

It took some research on their part but I allowed them to do the research and they decided it was fair, given the guitar's condition. So I took it home and opened it up. Apart from a cracked pickguard, the electronics were all there, but really messed up. Nothing worked on it, and would require some work. Luckily, with the addition of a tone capacitor (to replace an old and presumably broken one) everything was working great. Some WD-40 on the pickup and you could see red pearloid around the pickup poles, which was really cool. The neck itself had some chipping and dings, which I repaired using superglue and some light sanding. The sanding really lightened up the wood on the back of the neck but it became smooth and fast. New tuners for $15, and with a total of a $50 investment, I had  a decent working guitar, but nothing I would consider a keeper. I decided that was the end of the "improvements" and I would just cut my losses there and try to sell the guitar for $80-100. So up it went on Craigslist.

I waited.

And waited.

...and waited...

And no real bites. Well, shoot, people probably aren't interested in this guitar! Well, let me drop my asking price to $60. Just see if I can break even.

Finally, a bite. Someone e-mailed me, interested in the guitar. Apparently he had owned something similar back in the day and was interested. He asked if I might be interested in a bass. Of course I would be. We arranged to meet.

So he tried out the guitar and loved the sound and its simplicity. I described the improvements. Then he brought out the bass.

Brand: OLP (Officially Licensed Product)
Model: MM2 - MusicMan StingRay 4-string clone

(stock photo, but the exact type I have)

I didn't know much about it, but decided to try it out and see how it played. I never owned a bass and would have liked to own one, so I went for it. Made the trade, straight up.

It wasn't until I got home that I realized what I had. It was a GEM of a bass, with a lot of supporters who viewed it as one of the best values in basses.

See here, here, and here. (Note, they're all from TalkBass.com. I don't really hang my hat on other forums that aren't dedicated to bass players. They're a strange lot, and tend to keep away from the guitarists...for good reason.)

Playing it, there's a couple things that stand out. First, the sustain. This thing has the most impressive sustain that I have ever played. It plays for so long. It makes for a great tone. Second, the tone itself is great, though lacking in the sparkle or spank of active pickups. I've heard good passives but the low notes and tone requires a good active preamp. In the past couple weeks, I've actually installed an inexpensive 2-band EQ active preamp and it really had promising results. There might be benefit from going to the vintage tone of AlNiCo pickups, but I don't want to put much into this or ruin what it already has going for it.

This goes to show you that some flips are not meant to profit. In a way, this was the greatest flip ever because I only spent $50 and I ended up getting a keeper bass that I plan to have with me indefinitely. Always great!

~C

Other Features Coming Soon

All,

I wanted to share some additional thoughts regarding how this blog will eventually end up. Obviously, if I only focused on flips, I probably would have some dry spells...and with my family about to grow, it's likely that would really happen! So, to augment that content with other valuable information, I'll also be making some posts regarding pedals I used to own, my current loadout, and other gear-related posts. So, for example, I'll talk about what my current pedals are, what I've done to them, and what I think about how they work. I might include some video reviews, but I don't consider myself the greatest electric guitar player, so the jury is still out on that one.

I can also talk about the tech work I do on guitars and pedals on occasion. Sometimes a flip involves buying a pedal that isn't up to par, for a good price, and fixing it back up and selling it. Sometimes I'll buy a guitar that needs solder work, or new hardware. I'll post more about what I'm actually doing to the gear, to help those of you who are interested in learning more about the tech side of gear ownership. Finally, I do build pedals and guitars from time-to-time, so expect some build threads and commentary as I go through with that. I'm making new categories now to reflect all of that, so stay tuned for new content. I plan to post at least 1-2 posts per week. Keep me to that!

~C