Remember, for an in depth analysis of the delays sign up to TheGigRig Tone Review. the ULTIMATE delay shootout is on the way!!! A friend of mine who is another confirmed pedal junkie and I started discussing and comparing notes on what we thought were some of the greatest delays of all time. well, there's only one way to sort this.... FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so we have organized to have some of the best delay units, old and new, in the studio for a quick head to head. included in the line-up are
My business partner and our head tech senior Dave Mapleston is off to North Carolina this week to start the process of setting up our USA hub. It will be our American build, assembly, test and distribution centre. Why are we doing this? We have so many fantastic American customers and we want to look after them as best as we can. We ship so much product to the USA and our postal and courier services are fantastic, but we know we can do even better, so the idea of the USA hub was born. From about the end of June, we will be shipping all TheGigRig USA orders straight from our USA hub. Till then of course its business as usual and we'll be shipping as per normal from the UK. This is a big step for us. TheGigRig is branching out, we're coming of age.
Its nearly here people. The 'Z' cable, the last piece of the puzzle.
In all our endless hours of testing pedals and signal chains, a certain few things have come to our attention. Things that we've found to make a huge impact on your tone and the way your guitar interacts with your amp.
It may come as no surprise that the output from your guitar is very different than the output that comes from an FX pedal or any piece of gear that has a standard buffered output. Your guitar pickup has so many cool things going on and seems to connect in such a musical way when you plug straight into a nice amp. I'm sure you know yourself its when we put buffers, pedals, racks in the way of that signal it can have a less than wonderful affect on that magic guitar to amp connection.
So how does the 'Z' cable help?
The 'Z' cable gets placed at the very end of your guitar chain, the last thing on your pedal board. It receives all the signals from your pedals, buffers, anything that's put into it, then sends your amplifier and signal that is almost identical to the signal that comes from your guitar.
It tricks the amp into thinking it's receiving a signal direct from your guitar.
You can fine tune this process as well so if your normal guitar tone is warm and round or bright and sharp you can dial it in with the 'REACTANCE' control. You can even decide the length of cable that you want the 'Z' cable to sound like. Long, medium, short, even an active output if you want the cable to disappear altogether.
The 'Z' cable can also be incredibly long with NO AUDIO LOSS. What appears at the start of the cable is EXACTLY what appears at the end of the cable. We have 2 standard sizes.
Stage - 4 metres, and Stadium, which is 8 metres.
We will be launching this very soon, pre-orders are just around the corner, but remember... Facebook friends and Twitter followers find out first. So to be the first know when the 'Z' cable is ready send me a Facebook friend request here... and/or follow me on Twitter here...
Hi guys and gals. Pondering tone over countless hours as I have I believe I've had an epiphany when it comes to searching for and finding great tone. Let me give you a quick preface as to what led me to this moment. I spent a week in LA recently with my family, it was the longest I have been away from a guitar or an amp in a decade. On the last day we stopped into Guitar Center on Sunset just to check it out as you do. And if you haven't you really should, its amazing. Anyway, there I am, in holiday mode, completely relaxed, no stress, happy days. Now i begin to recognize the guitar tones flying around me, some good, some ok, some buzzy like bees in a bottle, but I realize i haven't even looked at what gear they're using or what they're playing through. I'm just at peace, barely listening but still taking it all in. When I eventually looked at the stuff they were using, I was genuinely surprised.
Why did you need to know this? because tone is my life, and that life has a pressure, stress and deadlines built into it. The knowledge this life has given me has also led to a certain amount of presumption and its so clear to me now that when you're searching for that tone and you add this all together, it's the wrong head space to be in when searching for tone or trying out potential tone toys. Anyone who's ever bought stuff because of people's rave reviews, then persevered and struggled with it, purely because if everyone is raving about it believing that it must be great if everyone is raving about it so it must be me who is using it wrong. Does this sound familiar? It certainly does for me, so why do we persist? Because we are conditioned to believe that if its 1. Really expensive, 2. used by someone famous, 3. really pretty or 4. raved about by users on an online forum, then it must be amazing.
so I've come up with a new process for trying gear. Maybe you can add to it but so far its working really well.
1 - Ignorance is Bliss Once you have decided to try out a new piece of gear STOP SEARCHING for info about it. All that matters is the tone, no ifs, ands or butts, this is everything. Don't ask how much it costs, (this is not always possible so go to step 2), don't ask who uses it, don't ask what's in it, just leave all that alone till you've played through the thing. You don't want any of that info influencing your decision on weather or not to buy it.
2 - I don't want your money honey, I want your love OK, now this may sound strange but trust me, there's a reason for this. You're plugged into what ever you're going to listen to, before you start, imagine that the pedal is £20 Beringer, or the amp is a Digitech practice amp, what ever is the uncoolest thing you can imagine. It must be so uncool that you would never ever mention you own it on TheGearPage. Take the 'cool factor' out of the picture.
3 - Relax, this won't hurt a bit Get into a calm peaceful space, clear your head and just let the tone do its thing. Don't listen as such, just be aware, play and see what happens. How does it feel? How do you want to play with it? If you sit down and try to analyze it, rather than just experience it, it once again puts you in that strange headspace which is not conducive to making music. ' the truth is there is no spoon'
Here's the thing, rock stars who have all the money and endorsement deals in the world can basically buy and play anything they want. They don't have this 'gee my amp is cool because its so expensive' attitude because to allot of them its not. If you've ever seen a rock star audition a new piece of gear you'll know that they don't give a toss about how it looks or how much it costs, all they care about is how they connect with it and what comes out in the air. Most are not impressed by the 'boutique' signature, they just want it to sound right... period. I've seen an artist plug into what all around him would class as an amazing amp and he dismissed it as crap in 10 seconds. Same guy plugs into something off the shelf costing 1/3 the price and just wailed, didn't care who made it, or how much it cost. Just wanted the tone that worked for him.
So the next time you're trying a new piece of gear, or even the stuff you have now, get out of that pre-judging mind set. Remember we are all different, and this stuff makes NO SOUND, it only amplifies and colours what we put into it.
This approach can save you years of heartache, but even if it only saves you one disappointing gig, then my job is done.
pedal boards of the stars - Paul Turner - Jamiroquai One for the bass players! Paul Turner recently asked me to tidy up his pedal board before his latest Jamiroquai tour so I whipped out the video camera and documented the process. Really interesting for bass players or for anyone putting together a pedal board and wants to do it properly.
TheGigRig in Doug Dopplers 'Get Killer Tone' DVD This week our good friend Doug Doppler took delivery of the pedal that I put together for the Guitar Player review. Doug has started work on one of the coolest projects we know about, a video series on 'How To get Killer Tone'. Doug tracked us down at NAMM this year and we organized to get him sent this pedal board for him to put through its paces. Doug is yet another guitarist totallycommitted to squeezing every last drop of tone available from his gear, he's a great guitar player and we're proud to have him rocking out on our gear You can see his YouTube channel here
The board we put together has some really tasty pedals on it including a vintage 70's EH Small Stone phaser, Keeley modded CE-2, original Ibanez AD-80, Analog Man Beanoboost, Tone Freak Severe and the new AC+ booster from Xotic. Guitar Nation - the aftermath Firstly i want to say a massive thank you to everyone who came down to Olympia in London on the weekend. It was a really great weekend and great to see so many tone obsessed guitarists.
Tone Hungry Crowd Gathers
From the minute the doors opened on Saturday the crowd around TheGigRig stand was constant. It's where the tone was at doncha know. We were there with my mate Jesse and his band of merry men from Lazy J amps (ooh.. so very tasty..the amps, not the merry men)
It was full steam ahead from start to finish.
My good friend and guitar/producer legend Paul Stacey dropped by to say hi and proceeded to have schwang (which is a technical term for playing guitar with passion and gusto!) on my rig. Man, the guy is just amazing!
I have started a petition to get Paul and Jeremy back to the 606 club asap for another of their rock gigs. If it happens you owe it to yourself as a musician to get down to the 6 and hear these guys play. It'll put hairs on your chest, guaranteed. In all seriousness Paul is one of the most amazing guitarists I've ever seen. Just the amount of music that comes out of the guy is incredible.
Rock legend Phil Hilborne stopped by before his gig on the main stage to say hi. Phil has been using TheGigRig Pro-14 for a few years now and his tone is fantastic. He's just returned from a sell out 'Monsters of Rock' tour in the US where night after night he's been playing to packed stadiums. That big grin on his face is not forced!!
The guy is a legend and lives, eats and breathes guitar.
Jamiroquais' Rob Harris is another Pro-14 user and is on the road again with JayK. The new album sounds great and the Pro-14 was used extensively as well as a MIDI-8 courtesy of Jamiroquai's bass player Paul Turner.Rob's rig is fantastic and with him behind it sounds truly incredible.
New British blues sensation Stephen Dale Petit uses a MIDI-8 at the heart of his rather amazing sounding rig. His new album'The Crave' is out now to well deserved rave reviews. I'll be going to a gig at the 100 club that he's putting on on with special guests Ronnie Wood and Mick Taylor. That's going to be massive!!!!
Fresh from a tour down under with Bonnie Tyler, Matt Prior was at the show. Along with yours truly, Matt is going to be doing clinics as a member of the British Guitar Academy alongside Marilion's Steve Rothery and Mr So and So's Dave Foster. It's going to be really great so watch this space.
There were a few amazing things about the weekend which were really cool and I'll never forget, including a name drop by Mr Steve Vai at his Master Class, but one image will stick in my head forever. We were lucky enough to have Mr Phil Harris with us who just happened to bring along his original 57 gold top Les Paul, yes folks, its a real one. You don't play this guitar, it plays you! All I can say is anyone who doubts the argument for vintage guitars hasn't heard this thing. So I was talking to some guy at the stand and I hear some Led Zep being pummelled by this 11 year old kid... on this guitar! Firstly, all 11 year olds should be made to learn Zep tunes as part of their curriculum at school, so major kudos points for that one, but apart from it sounding so good I was left wondering if and when this kid would ever realize the significance of him playing those songs on this guitar. Truly amazing. So thanks Phil, and thanks to every for coming down. See you at the show! Finaly, a proper guitar show returns to London!!
Guitar Nation is happening this weekend 13th and 14th of November in London at Olympia in Hammersmith. You can find out all about it here... http://www.guitarnation2010.com/index.htm
We're at stand 316 so come down and say hi. It should be a really great weekend
TheGigRig does the Albert Hall I'll never forget the first time I saw TheGigRig at the Albert Hall, of course I won't, and either would you. If something you'd worked so hard on for so long was going to be onstage with one of your favourite artists at one of the worlds most prestigious venues, you'd be there too right? So this was a very important moment for me. Paul Stacey was playing guitar for the Finn Brothers at the time , I'd spent endless hours putting together the pedal board for Paul for that tour and so excited at the prospect of seeing it onstage at the Royal Albert Hall, on top of all that I was also getting to meet one of my all time heroes Neil Finn at the same time. However my excitement was soon turned to deep sadness as it was that day the world found out that Paul Hester, the Crowded House drummer had taken his own life. The gig was later confirmed as going ahead so i went along to the sound check where the band played the most astounding rendition of Don't dream its over. I'd heard this song a million times, played it a million times, seen Neil perform half a million times, but the version at sound check stopped everyone in their tracks. From the sound guy to cleaners, everyone in there just stopped and their eyes were transfixed on the stage.It was a moment that will stay with me for the rest of my life. So I got to meet Neil Finn, i had all these thoughts on what i was going to say, how i would offer to sort out a really tidy little pedal board for him etc, but those thoughts were such a long way away now. I just said hi, and how i was so sorry to hear about Paul. What else could i say? He was gracious and personable, we chatted for a few moments, and that was that. The gig was emotionally charged, but none the less, and incredible performance all round.
(in this shot you can see Paul Stacey's white Pro-14 in the lower left hand corner)
Since then we've had numerous artists play at the big dome, each one being special. This image was sent to me by Donny Little, who plays for Paolo Nutini, the MIDI 8 on stage at the Albert Hall only a few weeks ago.
I feel a little glow every time someone tells me who much they love using the gear we make, I'm grateful and proud that the artists have chosen us to carry their tone. For me this is what being passionate about what you do is all about. I see this MIDI 8 on stage at the Albert Hall, and all these rich memories come back, none of which would have happened if my business partner Dave Mapleston hadn't answered a letter I wrote to him that i scrawled out on a kitchen table 7 years ago.. but that's a story for another day more pedals, more joy where will it end? You know what, i don't think it will, in all honesty. I just bagged this old MXR phase 45 that sounds lush and glorious, just a touch understated than the 90 and works wonderfully. I'll give it its first night out at the Tin Spirits gig tonight, but i', also rediscovering a bunch of pedals I have int used for a while. I pulled our my old Hot Cake the other day, bugger me, its just fantastic. Into the DC30 it really does sing. I love the way pedals catch your imagination, you conjure soundscapes in your mind as to what the end result might be, maybe this is the one! Yes, they are only a part of a long chain and totaly reliant on what goes in, and where they go out to, but when you get that combination right, well its a glorious thing. Doug, is the back door open??? I don't know about you but as much as I love my gear, every now and then i find myself being reminded of how special some of this stuff is and how gutted i would be if it were to , i don't know, lets say fall out the back of a van doing 80MPH down the motorway. After a great weekend of gigs finished off with a night of battling with the loudest DJ in the world we packed up the van and headed home. After about 15 miniutes driving a truck overtook us on the outside lane. 'He's very loud' thought I, then i had a horriific thought. I swung around and see the back door of the people carier we were in wide open like the worlds biggest spoiler. I shrieked like a 6 year old girl, "THE BACK DOOR'S OPEN!!" Doug casualy pulls the van over and jumps out. "Jees Dan, you're lucky, your guitar was hanging a foot outside the van". I felt sick. Writing this, i feel sick. I could just see it happening so vividly, this incredible guitar that has survived half a century finaly meeting its demise shattering into 1000 pieces on the M25.
Today I have been cradling my guitar rocking back and forth like a mental patient who's taken just a bit too much diazapan. - there there, it was all just a dream
Its wierd but these little things can give you a new perspective on the joy of great tone. Had my guitar been destroyed last night i would have been talking about all the wonderful moments i had with it, now i'm just looking forward to enjoying it even more. I will only ever play this guitar a finite number of times. I will only ever get 'that sound' a finite number of times.
We're hear for a good time, not a long time, so make your tone time count. NAMM Day 4 - The end of NAMM but the start of a new era for TheGigRig The day began like any other for us, hundreds of guitarists trawling through my pedal collection, being mesmerized by the swirling tape of my Hiwatt Custom Tape Echo. Then the application of the MIDI-8 and Pro-14 looming large on the pedal board starts to freak people out. All you users out there know what I?m talking about. Anyway, you?ll be glad to know that the Yanks have embraced us with open arms. We have had literally dozens of offers of distribution all over the States and internationally. Four days on the show floor with people constantly at our stand has us completely tapped out, but I make exhausted look good. We have met loads of great people who share our passion for gear and made some great new friends. We want to thank everyone who came down to say hi and check out our stuff. Thanks to all TheGigRig users who came up to tell us how much they loved our gear, it really means the world to us. To Phil and Christine from Matchless and Joe and Mac from Two-Rock, you guys make the best amps in the world, thanks so much for the generous loan of these incredible tone machines. To Dereck from ToneFreak, the SEVERE has blown my mind, incredible pedal, thanks for getting it to me. John Chandler from Pedal Train came by to say hi as well. I?ve been emailing John for a few years now and we finally got a chance to meet. Roy Kariok who plays guitar for the 'Backstreet Boys' among a load of other top artists has a MIDI 8 winging its way to him. Right at the end of the day Doug Doppler came bouncing on to our stand. Doug is making a 'How to get great tone' DVD and did some recording of the rigs we had at the show. Great to finally meet you Doug. The show has been a tremendous success, I met guys from some of my favourite shops in the world including Pro Guitar Shop, Manny?s, The Guitar Center (keep your eye out for their new boutique section) and loads of others who all took the time out to come by and introduce themselves to us and give us their details. The players at the show have been immense and so many of them have ordered rigs from us. As it was our first ever NAMM it?s something that we?ll never forget, but for me the best thing has been meeting so many of our U.S. players who already use and love our gear and really believe in us. Ronnie Parker has been using our gear for ages and everyday at the show he kept bringing his mates down to experience our rigs. Thanks Ronnie, you?re a complete legend and I look forward to that pint next time you?re in town. So we?re sitting at LAX just about to get on the plane to go home back to the UK, I can?t wait to see my kids and Tine. We?ll be back next year for sure, with even more new stuff the we guarantee will rock your collective worlds. Thanks so much everyone, I?m feelin the love, See you next year NAMM NAMM Day 3 - stick a fork in me...I'm done No photos today folks, and why? We turned up to our stand at 9am, and from then till 6:10 we didn't leave, we were rammed all day. And people are telling is that this is a quiet year, i just don't see how it could be busier. At points in the show you can barely walk its so rammed. But you can see why, some of the stands are just outrageous, and the players doing the demos are spectaular. Every 10 meters there's a guy (or girl, yep, this youg girl banjo player, she couldn't have been more than 16 was just shredding) who make you rethink you life there that good. so getting ready now for the last day, our feet are bruised to the bone, the jet lag has us by the neck, but this is NAMM, and its so very worth it. last day, here we go... NAMM - Day 2 I'm still in awe of how well put together this thing is. I guess they have been doing it for over a hundred years but the sheer size and amount of exhibitors boggles the mind. JOe and MAC from Two-Rock stopped in to say hi. These guys shipped in a wonderful Jet Sig 1x12 combo for us to use and it sounds spectacular.
Phil from Matchless is here as well and was so great to meet him. He's given us a Clubman rig to rock out on so when it comes to a nice chunky piece of amp tone, we're well sorted.
To add to the joy of the day some incredible players stopped by to say hi incuding Reeves Gabrels. What a legend this guy is, Bowies guitarist for many years and did the 'Tin Machine' project with him. It was a real honour to meet him
Dave Linsk from OverKill who will soon be the proud owner of a Remote Loopy2 and a bunch of other stuff we make
Owen (guitar) and Jason (drummer)from Purple Melon an amazing band from the UK who are out here blowing peoples fragile minds stopped by to say hi and let rip on my tele. There's a vid of Owen on our homepage at the moment, the guy is an astonishing player and the band are incredible. If you're in LA onn Monday the guys are playng the Viper room
Two of our artists Prashant Aswani and Dave Wood bummped into us as well. Prashant is playing shows at NAMM and is one of the guys who seem to be able to play anything without limits. Dave plays for Jesse McCartney, Hilary Duff, Taylor Hicks, Norah Jones (hello ladies)
To top it all off i was finally able to nab a pedal that i've been after for ages. Within the space of a day I had two freinds call and say 'Daniel, you simply have to get a SEVERE from ToneFreak ( www.tonefreak.com ) Dereck from Tone Freak was kind enough to stop by the stand and set up one on my board. This thing absolutely KILLS. The best sounding high gain overdrive pedal i have ever heard, and i think I've probably heard all of them, (i know what you're thinking but I've heard that one, owned that one, and heard that one too) seriously it is a freakin marvel. So its been an incredible day, we're running on pure adrenalin but having the time of our lives. Day 3 is now upon us, another beauiful day in LA. Here we go .... NAMM Report - DAY 1 Doors opend yesterday for the first of four days at NAMM. It was a real moment for me, I've known abour NAMM since i was a kid. Players would always ask 'are you going to NAMM' which in Australia seemed a world away and was a really big deal. If you we're going to NAMM you were obviously somebody really important. Doing the trade shows in the UK is great but NAMM is truly something to behold. They do things BIG in the States and NAMM is no exception. Infact when i got off the plane i thought i had shrunk, everything is just that little bit bigger. So we set up and the show starts and before you know it we're swammped. Joe and MAc from Two-Rock who most graciously lent me a Jet Sig combo for the show stopped in to say hi. One of our artsists Prashant Aswani who is playing at NAMM found us as well. I met Phil from Matchless who also lent us a Clubman. It's so funny but as soon as there seems to be a lull, i just strike up a couple of bars on those two amps and a crowd gathers, they sound just beautiful. Scott from 'Axe and you shall recieve' came down to meet us. What a difference it makes when you meet your customers face to face. You can sometimes forget how inportant it is when most of your day is spent in front of a computer but it makes all the difference in the world. So day 1 is done, the feet are killing and the Jet lag has me in a dream state, but what a fantastic day. I can report that the passion for great tone is alive and well. So if you're at NAMM we're in Hall E stand 1458, come and say hi. More tomorrow..... NAMM, here we come!!!
Going through the checklist now of stuff we're taking to NAMM, oh what fun. As long as we can get to the airport through the foot of snow outside our front door we'll be in LA on Monday night, rready for a week long gear-fest. Hoorah! should be a blast. I'll be keeping a bog diary of all the NAMM events so keep an eye out. We are launching a few new products this year, We've been working solidly and i can finally give you a sneak preview of one (or 5) of the new products launching at NAMM. Please note these are not on the website yet, just a quick sneak preview of what we've been up to, but more info will be available soon TheGigRig finalist in British Engineering Excellence awards Well this is very cool, and quite a suprise, but we are very proud to announce that the GigRig ltd was selected as a finalist in this year?s engineering excellence awards... who knew!
This is a quote from BEEA... 'The GigRig was selected for two main reasons... As a new company the GigRig ltd has demonstrated engineering excellence and innovation based precisely at customers needs... The other attribute that impressed the Judges, was the GigRigs attention to the environment, not just with Compliance to standards and re cycling, but with the patented invention of the Virtual battery'.. ?The virtual battery will remove 100,000 PP3 Batteries from the environment every year?.. Said Kate Bellingham, former tomorrows world presenter and journalist, in her presentation of the final five companies.
Now i'm just waiting for the knighthood!!! an encouraging word on your hunt for tone Amidst the chaos and stress of getting ready for NAMM I recieved an email from a client thanking me for the advice on puting his dream pedal board together. We get a lot of similar emails but I'm grateful for each one because I know how much it means to them. Getting to a point where your sound is your voice is a real moment in any guitarist's career. I've been fortunate enough to do thousands of different gigs from stadiums to boozers all over the world and if there is one thing I know its that when my tone is on form it has a tangible effect on people, a connection is made. And if my sound was off, the opposite was true. I've seen great players miss out on gigs because their tone was off. I have personally got gigs over much better players with better hair because of perceived tonal quality. People, this stuff is important. TheGigRig was not born from a business plan, but from my own efforts to improve my own sound, but I've met so many players who share my passion. I'm still learning new things every day because its a journey. But I can say that once you experience great tone, it can literally change your life. The art of HUSHsshhhhhh part 2 Sometimes, infact most times buying an expensive low powered amp is not always viable, it may not even give you the sound you want. Yes, my 59 AC10 twin rocks, but it's still not quiet, and the bottom end just doesn't feel the same on the tiny low powered amps, so how do we get our big rigs to rock out at low level. I'll share with you a little trick that i've used very succesfully around the office. Firstly, i'm not a big fan of attenuators, i know many swear by them, but for me the fundemantal change in tone is too drastic. Here's a nifty little trick to try. I set my rig up as I would normally and turn it up to a decent stage volume, (oh it sounds so good!)but at this level it is completely impractical for anything except full on rocking out. OK, now from the output of my rig which normally goes into my amp i put a fab sounding low gain OD pedal. I've had great results with a King Of Tone, HotCake, Kingsley Jester, even a Blues Driver. I set the pedal up to be almost transparent so you can't tell when you have it on or off. After this is done i simply use the master volume on the pedal to turn down the entire rig. The cool thing about this approach is the pedal compresses like the back end of the amp when it's cooking so you still get a bit of that natural feel even though the volume is really low. Try it and see what you think! playing queit - the art to hush I played in bands for many years fronted by female artists. They were fantastic but a consistent problem was stage volume. After this it was bands with the boys and balls to the walls rocking out! Now with the new prog project the levels are much more controlled. Instantly, as soon as the volume drops that old 'quiet tone syndrome' comes back. So how do you do it? Get that tone at low levels? There are so many elements to great tone but one thing that stays consistent is the relationship between the amps' output stage and quality of tone. One of the most popular modern boutique amps being made today is the 15 watt ac15 style amp. The advantage these amps have is that you can turn them up without killing people. And when that output stage gets working you get that lovely output stage clipping that sounds so fab. Pair this with a matched low powered speaker and those great tones start to emerge. However, 15 watts is still by no means quiet. its generally ok if using a drummer but sometimes the use of a less efficient speaker is needed to get the amp cooking. Over the next few days we'll have a look at some more techniques to get the best tome at low volume. more madness on the way I wish i could tell you more, i really do, but let me just say i haven't slept in 3 days, we've been working around the clock on a new tone toy and it is going to be stella! Hopefully we'l have it ready to go for NAMM, in fact we hope to have a couple of new toys ready for NAMM in Jan, so i'll keep you all in the loop, pun semi intended.
