Pete aswer his messages?

[needtopractice]

Does Pete answer his emails or PMs? I've sent him a couple about modding my modules and he has yet to respond.
Let me know!
Jim.

 

[Aaronharmon]

He always answers me

 

[okstrat]

yeah I do, or try to... resend, I'll do what I can. Also depends on what it's about - I get emails sometimes that require a small novel in reply, and if it looks like that then I sometimes have to put it off a bit until I have time to give you a good answer. Sorry about that, resend the email if you don't mind.

Pete

 

[RD/Steve]

pete...i still love you.

i know how that stuff goes.

 

[muzapstar]

actually, i'm having a problem with him. It appears he won't do any work for me because he's mad at me. I put a post up asking the exact thing you are right here - saying how to get in touch with him and how he didn't respond to my pms for about a week and a half, (which is true) When I finally got in touch (because someone gave me his email in that post) he said hed do a module, then when he went back and read my post and my pm's, saying I admired what he did and wanted to learn how to do my own mods and it'd be a big help seeing how he does his (this was secondary mind you to the fact that I wanted the mods to play them) He all of a sudden sent me an email saying he'd never work with me and basically how dare I want to copy his modules (which I didn't and I explained that) yada yada yada. Anyway, I don't wanna get into it and will spare you the details for now. I just wanted to say that I had the same problem with him and to be careful what you say to him. I don't know what I did wrong but i'm very dissapointed. He overreacted to a misunderstanding and when I tried to fix the problem through many emails he said there were no hard feelings but he still won't make me a module (wtf, "there's no problem but there is a problem?"). Also, he said that he is charging for his expertise and that every module is different and he expertly tunes them over gig after gig. Well, if that's what we're paying for, then what does it matter if I learn from it and make my own mods, I already told him I wouldn't copy, I even posted my feelings on it before the fact (modding tips and tactics thread) especially if I pay for 3 or 4 mods from him first. That doesn't make sense. Something doesn't add up there. Oh well, you can only be true to yourself. Sometimes people act like ********. So, did he yell at you for this thread? He yelled at me for mine. Maybe he's just mad because he says he can't make the black album tone, he didn't even try to negotiate anything or get close or ask me what parts I wanted. I'm sure a recto with a couple mods would get close. Oh well. I tried my best. My last 4 or 5 emails to him were either not answered or very short and didn't answer my questions. It's like he got mad over a misunderstanding and then didn't want even consider that he took it wrong and try to make it right. I'm just another customer but he's the only one who does this and it isn't fair for him to say there's no hard feelings but he doesn't wanna work with me without giving a good reason. I would understand if he did it to others but it feels like he's singling me out unfairly. Oh well, that's my story. We'll see if maybe he responds to my last email and decides to make me a module. It's unlikely, but I hope he does. Like I said, just a misunderstanding that I'm very confused and saddened about. God bless and Peace.
-stAr

 

[crankyrayhanky]

I've followed these posts this week, muz, and I feel that this last post is out of line....I think you're overeagerness/excitement led to abrasive impatience; thus to compare yourself to the OP is not a direct similarity.

To write a long rant bashing, through an exaggerated point of view, directed at one who is one of the most influential people on the site, is misleading...just my 2 cents that okstrat is a great guy to work with as well as talented

 

[muzapstar]

I've followed these posts this week, muz, and I feel that this last post is out of line....I think you're overeagerness/excitement led to abrasive impatience; thus to compare yourself to the OP is not a direct similarity.

To write a long rant bashing, through an exaggerated point of view, directed at one who is one of the most influential people on the site, is misleading...just my 2 cents that okstrat is a great guy to work with as well as talented

Well, that is your opinion as mine is mine. I am not bashing him if you read carefully. There were no names called or untruths stated. I am simply stating what happened for what it's worth. I do not see how my point of view is exaggerated. Furthermore, I fail to see how you stand to judge as you were not privy to the emails. I'm not asking for anyone to judge either way here. Anyway, none of that should matter. What does matter is that i'd appreciate if we could keep this civil and "unabrasive", as you brought up.
I do not purport to be right, nor do I say that okstrat is wrong. I'm simply stating what happened that from my point of view started as a misunderstanding and turned into a disagreement. I may have been a bit eager and certainly excited but the "abrasiveness" you refer to could only have been when I posted about not getting through to him, and all I said was the truth.
Think of it this way, if you wrote 3 pages of emails explaining exactly what you want after he tells you he needs more info about what you want, then he doesnt read them for almost two weeks, all the while answering other things on the board (of course his right), i'm sure you would have asked the board what's up. By the way, that's the only reason I got in touch with him was because of that post, someone helped me by telling me to email him instead, so it worked.
The thing that sucks isn't that he got mad or whatever, it's that after I explained that there was no ill intent and apologized, he still holds it against me. Granted this from my point of view but so is everything that someone posts. I have just as much right as anyone else and I think that people need to hear this. It's up to pete how he does his business and I respect that even if I disagree with our situation, it doesn't mean he's a bad person or that you shouldn't do business with him.
I've actually heard nothing but good things but for some reason he didn't respond to our pms for quite a while. I called him on it. So what? like I said, I meant no harm. I'm just telling it how it is. I'm sure he'd have a point or two about things I did wrong but I accept that and apologize. I asked for his forgiveness and for us to get past it but he refused to work with me. I didn't like how it went down, that's all. It's his right and it's my right to post about it.
The reason I wanted to work with him is because of what everyone said. that being said, it's my duty to say what I feel so that the next person knows my opinion. I'm sorry if my point of view and experiences were different than yours, Cranky but you should be grateful that they were. Let's not make a big deal out of a foible on a MTS hero's tunic.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

Your posts may or may not be abrasive, didn't mean to come off as Judge Judy

Good Luck

 

[okstrat]

Muzapstar, congrats, you have me where I'm going to reply to your stuff on a public board. Here's one thing that has me pissed off, and yes, was one of the reasons I decided I didn't want to do a custom module for you:

From your posting on Wed, Oct 15th:

I'm not looking to duplicate Pete's or Dave Friedman's mods as they were developed and should belong to them but I would like to know what they do so I can try my own too. I am most interested in the warmth and clarity type mods and how this is achieved whether it is caps and resistors or what. Let's not divulge specific values as that wouldn't be right. These combinations of parts came about by hard work and testing and I believe those combinations are creative intellectual property such as the combinations of notes would be that make up one of our songs.

Ok, great. I agree with that and I'm sure Dave would too. But let's look at part of an email you sent me:

I need to look at your work to understand how to my own amps and find my own mods. I want to be able to do this kind of stuff on all my amps but this information is hard to come by and certainly isn't cheap, but im sure you know that. That's where you come in. I'm getting ready to record in the studio so I need some great amps and I can't wait the years of tinkering it'll take to start to figure out what you know.

Yeah, I really want to bust my *** doing a custom mod for you so you can dissect it. What a great idea for me. I don't care if you say you're going to go in business or not - the fact you posted what you did on the 15th and then tell me something different in email shows some sort of intellectual disconnect going on.

Coming up next: timeline of replies

 

[muzapstar]

Your posts may or may not be abrasive, didn't mean to come off as Judge Judy

Good Luck

Thank you hanky. No problem.

 

[Soulinsane]

Last time I got drunk I called Pete a fascist Nazi ******* or something along those lines lol. Remember that Pete? I don't remember what it was about but I laugh thinking back about it now :lol: I've never asked him to do a module for me but I don't think I need to. It would ruin the mystique and I kinda like wondering what he is actually doing to modules. Thats part of the fun of Pete for me. He keeps everything hidden and everyone guessing. One good picture inside a module and the wonder would be over for me.... unless he dips his modules in magic voodoo snake oil or has some other enchantments placed on his modules lol.

I can understand that he wants his actual work kept secret. It might be easy enough to use the same parts he does but there is more to electronics than parts and solder. To him he is protecting his reputation. He believes anyone that could pull the curtain away from what he does puts his genuine work at risk. That could make him just a little upset :evil: Personally I love to share notes and designs, but thats just me. Its all about general ideals, parts, and theory, but that knowledge will have varied results every time depending on how its applied. Pete can sell his services to who ever he believes will maintain his reputation and can deny those who will not. From what I understand he custom tweaks every module so perhaps their are no two just alike? See the problem beginning here with xeroxing a custom module? Modifying a module really isn't that hard but you must know some tube electronics if you what to tweak everything perfect. There is nothing magical about it but it is a trial and error process with no absolutes or shortcuts.

One thing is for sure. His face plates are the best I've seen.

 

[okstrat]

Here's another reason I didn't want to deal with muz - I replied to SEVERAL of your messages. Let's compare what you sent PM wise to replies I sent, date wise:

Muz - Oct 15 12:07 pm questions

Pete - Oct 15 3:34 pm answers

Muz - Oct 16 6:47 pm more questions on mod pricing

Pete - Oct 16 8:08 pm (gave him pricing on mods)

Muz - Oct 17 9:33 pm more questions

Muz - Oct 17 10:22 pm - Muz hit me with this - If so, would you please not do anything like paint over the parts or cover them up (I have heard some people do that but don't know if you do) I would like to learn from you and improve my own modules (i enjoy tinkering too) but I don't have any knowledge and there isn't even anything online.

Yeah, I didn't reply to that PM. Call it me being incredulous. Just for fun, ask anyone who mods amps for money "if you can be sure and do it where it's easy to figure out."

Muz and I threw some emails back and forth after that. I decided from the way he likes to do things and the items he wanted for his mod (for me to replicate the entire black album guitar tone in one Randall module on the cheap, actually in exchange for a KH1 module, and to make it easy to duplicate so he can 'learn to do his own mods by copying mine' - I felt that not only would it be a bad idea for me, it would be a BAD idea. Plus it would be difficult - yeah, I'm going to do Bob Rock multilayered guitar productions in a module for $99.

Please note I had another guy recently ask about a Marshall mod that was quite a bit more realistic, but still going to take awhile and I declined that one too. When I have a backlog like I'm getting now, my time is valuable, and if I charged for my time it could cost you a LOT of $ to make me R&D something for days or weeks. You guys would crap if you knew how much time I spent on that last XTC mod!

I sent muz an email that stated he and I working on a module together would be bad idea for both of us (didn't go into specifics, but figured he could put the puzzle together) but that I sold modules sometimes in the classifieds and he could also find them from other sellers too, and good luck, etc.

I also sent an email that yep, chastised him for trying to take shortcuts, and that copying my mods isn't going to teach him anything other than how to do MY stuff, it doesn't matter anyways as I tweak each module to taste, and he could learn to do it the correct way like I did - by reading and studying and doing it on his own. I also stated this:

I don't really want a reply back from you. Just wanted to be sure you know where I stand on what you wanted to do. Good luck with your future endeavors.

Since then he sent me THREE emails asking if I'd work on a module for him, and then he starts this crap on the board.

Folks, I have done modules for a lot of people, and hope to do many more. I enjoy it. But I can choose who I work with. I choose not to work with Matt, plain and simple. At this point I really hope he finds some Friedman mods that trip his trigger and forgets my name. Let him 'learn' from Dave.

I hate putting crap like this on the board, but I'll be damned if I have someone play wounded victim on this.

Pete

 

[okstrat]

Oh, and before I come across like some ham-fisted never tell anyone what I do goon, I have shared tips with guys I know well on the board, and even gave some of my mod 'recipe ideas' to Jeff Hilligan at Egnater. I've talked about some things I've done with some of the RD guys from Randall too.

Tell you what, just for fun, ask one of the guys who have a business modding amps for his info, or to be sure and make it easy to copy. Trace at Voodoo, Mark at Cameron Amps, James at Peters Amplification, etc... see what they say. Heck, ask Dave F for his Angry Hippie Mod.

Part of it is a recipe for a starting point, but I tweak mine from there. Look at 6 of my recto mods, they are going to have some things alike but some things different, due to each module being somewhat unique. Some modules don't sound as good if you just hurl a handful of carbon comps and orange drop caps in them... and you need to know which ones. How does a ceramic cap sound vs a silver mica? What if you put two caps in series or parallel? What's that do to the sound? What if you mix types? I haven't even changed VALUES yet, just components. You find out by trial and error, and working your butt off. Taking the top off a MTS module and putting the same parts in your module might get you closer, but it still won't be the same thing.

*sigh* the more I talk about this the deeper I dig. lol, time for a beer and to heat up the ol' soldering iron.

Pete

 

[muzapstar]

Muzapstar, congrats, you have me where I'm going to reply to your stuff on a public board. Here's one thing that has me pissed off, and yes, was one of the reasons I decided I didn't want to do a custom module for you:

From your posting on Wed, Oct 15th:

I'm not looking to duplicate Pete's or Dave Friedman's mods as they were developed and should belong to them but I would like to know what they do so I can try my own too. I am most interested in the warmth and clarity type mods and how this is achieved whether it is caps and resistors or what. Let's not divulge specific values as that wouldn't be right. These combinations of parts came about by hard work and testing and I believe those combinations are creative intellectual property such as the combinations of notes would be that make up one of our songs.

Ok, great. I agree with that and I'm sure Dave would too. But let's look at part of an email you sent me:

I need to look at your work to understand how to my own amps and find my own mods. I want to be able to do this kind of stuff on all my amps but this information is hard to come by and certainly isn't cheap, but im sure you know that. That's where you come in. I'm getting ready to record in the studio so I need some great amps and I can't wait the years of tinkering it'll take to start to figure out what you know.

Yeah, I really want to bust my *** doing a custom mod for you so you can dissect it. What a great idea for me. I don't care if you say you're going to go in business or not - the fact you posted what you did on the 15th and then tell me something different in email shows some sort of intellectual disconnect going on.

Coming up next: timeline of replies

Ahh, finally you respond. So is this what you're mad about? That's all? like I said, misunderstanding Pete.

As you said the first post there is no problem, I will not defend it but I will use it as a comparison to show how my aim is true and there is no intellectual disconnect.

As we can see here, I said in the first post to not divulge the specifics of values etc and in the second post "I need to look at your amps to figure out how to find my own mods". The key words you overlooked were "my own mods" That along with the first post showing my ethics regarding not using the same values and or parts as you or anyone else should convince everyone of the misunderstanding. Furthermore, I said all my amps, meaning not only mts but my marshall, h&k, etc. I feel you may not have taken it that way.

Your quote "yeah, I really want to bust my *** doing a custom mod for you so you can dissect it. What a great idea for me" comes off to me as an attitude of "i'm better than you" which may be the problem. I don't want the mod to copy, I want the mod to play. Modding amps is a hobby, playing guitar is my livelihood.
Much like a driver takes his car to a mechanic and pays for his expertise, knowledge is what you make it out that we are paying for - your expertise.
Does a mechanic get mad when the driver asks how he changed the spark plugs? No, and I'll tell you why, because customers either pay for the things that are hard to do or take expertise. If the mods are that easy, then you are charging for the expert tuning that you do, right? If they aren't, then you are charging for the work as well and you wouldn't worry about some kid guitar player saying he wants to learn how to mod from you, you should be honored. I'm sorry but it's either one or the other and either way you overreacted.

Finally, as I said I'm going into the studio and this is the reason I'd like an amp from you. As a bonus i'll get to learn from the best. That was how I meant it and obviously where I was unclear and what helped make the misunderstanding happen. I apologize for that. That and the phrase "that's where you come in" coming right after the modding part. This phrase was intended to be about the studio and needing a great amp, not about learning, which is a tertiary priority - a hobby. I stated it'd be years of tinkering so if you're worried about years from now I'll start modding amps like you, that would show where your head is. I hope that's not the case.

So again, the misunderstanding and overreaction. God bless!

 

[okstrat]

Rationalize it however you want, I'd appreciate you not emailing me ever again, and forgetting that I even do MTS mods would be a fantastic pre Christmas gift.

Resisting the hypnotic pull of my modules for sale in the classifieds by me and others would also be appreciated.

God bless!

Pete

 

[crankyrayhanky]

The worst part of this? This time should have been spent jamming on our mts

Go Phillies!

 

[muzapstar]

Pete, do we really have to post the content of the emails and argue over them?

Muz - Oct 17 10:22 pm - Muz hit me with this - If so, would you please not do anything like paint over the parts or cover them up (I have heard some people do that but don't know if you do) I would like to learn from you and improve my own modules (i enjoy tinkering too) but I don't have any knowledge and there isn't even anything online.

Yeah, I didn't reply to that PM. Call it me being incredulous. Just for fun, ask anyone who mods amps for money "if you can be sure and do it where it's easy to figure out."

-Pete, first off, you apparently didn't even read any of my pms after the only one you responded to untill I started emailing you and you didn't even read that first one untill I asked you to. Then you went back after a week of thinking that I was getting a module from you and did a 180.

-2nd, If you want to post the other mail where I said that if you're really worried about me copying then go ahead and paint over it or epoxy it or whatever they do, so obviously that issue is manufactured.

-See folks, what i'm looking for is a good reason for pete to not work with me. You will see that there isn't one that wasn't misunderstood or apologized for.



Muz and I threw some emails back and forth after that. I decided from the way he likes to do things and the items he wanted for his mod (for me to replicate the entire black album guitar tone in one Randall module on the cheap, actually in exchange for a KH1 module, and to make it easy to duplicate so he can 'learn to do his own mods by copying mine' - I felt that not only would it be a bad idea for me, it would be a BAD idea. Plus it would be difficult - yeah, I'm going to do Bob Rock multilayered guitar productions in a module for $99.


-We threw emails back and forth? you basically asked me to rewrite everything I had told you before and then when you read it told me you wouldn't work with me because I was going to copy your mods!

The "entire black album tone in one mod? ", "make it easy to duplicate so he can 'learn to do his own mods by copying mine"

-I heard from someone you were honest so I don't appreciate you trying to put words in my mouth. I especially don't appreciate the quotes if it's your own interpretation. Read the post about the black album tone. I explained it before. I never said anything about copying your mods. You've said this many times but never in any of my emails did I ever say that I would copy your mods. Again, to be a better modder, I wanted to know how you do it. Is it copying if you learn people's songs who's work you admire to learn how they do it, but whenever you write your own it is different? No it's not.



Please note I had another guy recently ask about a Marshall mod that was quite a bit more realistic, but still going to take awhile and I declined that one too.
- You didn't decline it, you refused to do any modules and "chastized" me, like you said.


When I have a backlog like I'm getting now, my time is valuable, and if I charged for my time it could cost you a LOT of $ to make me R&D something for days or weeks. You guys would crap if you knew how much time I spent on that last XTC mod!
- oh yeah and you are making less than minimum wage, we've heard it all before and for me, too many times. We never even discussed price, at least you didn't past what the stock mods cost.

I sent muz an email that stated he and I working on a module together would be bad idea for both of us (didn't go into specifics, but figured he could put the puzzle together) but that I sold modules sometimes in the classifieds and he could also find them from other sellers too, and good luck, etc.
- actually, Pete said it would PROBABLY be a bad idea (and gave no reason after I had apologized and clarified everything - very confusing) and he said that i should get one 2nd hand. If pete was worried about me copying modules why would he want me to buy them? To me this shows that the copying he has been talking about the whole time really is not the issue.

I also sent an email that yep, chastised him for trying to take shortcuts, and that copying my mods isn't going to teach him anything other than how to do MY stuff, it doesn't matter anyways as I tweak each module to taste,
- here we go again with the "copying", my gosh Pete, get over it

and he could learn to do it the correct way like I did - by reading and studying and doing it on his own. I also stated this:

I don't really want a reply back from you. Just wanted to be sure you know where I stand on what you wanted to do. Good luck with your future endeavors.

Since then he sent me THREE emails asking if I'd work on a module for him, and then he starts this crap on the board.

-Well yeah, Pete said the problem was that he had a big backlog and I couldn't wait for it, and I wanted to tell him it was no problem. Also I wanted to make it clear that he was mistaken about me wanting to copy his modules (which he still doesn't get) and having unreasonable expectations for the sound. Did he even read them?
-As you know Pete, in the last email, I said that if you still don't want to do the work, just send me an email telling me and It's over, I wouldn't mail you again. I sent it with the title saying that id appreciate a response, but you wouldn't even show that respect. --Then, I find another guy who had some of the same problems with Pete and felt I had to tell my story. That's why This started.

Folks, I have done modules for a lot of people, and hope to do many more. I enjoy it. But I can choose who I work with. I choose not to work with Matt, plain and simple. At this point I really hope he finds some Friedman mods that trip his trigger and forgets my name. Let him 'learn' from Dave.

-I'm glad you enjoy what you do. It's too bad we can't work together. I accept that and respect your choice. Of course, I am frustrated that you are so touchy about your mods and seem to take it personally even after I tried so hard to compromise, that's all. However, just like it's your right to choose who you work for and with, it's my right to post my opinions and yours too. I think we've both said how we see it and the MTS users can decide for themselves.
-I ask that we leave it up to them to decide and humbly offer you, Pete, If you stop posting, so will I as it's not my intention to fight or cause you any more trouble and each time we post on this, it goes to the top of the board, I believe, thus giving undue attention to our dispute. You have had many happy customers from what i've heard and it'd be a disservice to our community if this got more attention than all the glowing reviews. Again, I respect you and although I disagree with you and your decisions regarding me, I am a bigger man than to try to attack you. I just simply want to tell my story and hopefully help someone else not have this kind of disagreement. We are both to blame, but once more, I apologize for the misunderstanding and anything that offended you. I hope you can do the same. Good luck and God bless you.

 

[muzapstar]

The worst part of this? This time should have been spent jamming on our mts

Go Phillies!

Hell yeah, that's what I was thinking. First when I was mad "shouldn't pete be working on people's mods" then "God, I don't wanna do this either." I'm going to my MTS right now and hopefully pete will agree to stop posting about this too as it's really in his best interest. I don't have much to lose but it's his business so the uglier it gets the worse it is for him. Good thing is that not many people are on now as it's late. Hopefully this will be a dead thread by tomorrow morning. Maybe Pete should go and post in other threads to bury this one now.

 

[okstrat]

I actually laughed when it was mentioned this was a 'warning' to others. Strangely enough, nobody needed the 'warning' before you. You did this 'warning' because you were pissed at me and thought if you put it up on grailtone I'd scramble and beg for you to take it off. ...not gonna happen.

I'm not worried about burying this. Hell, I'm almost ready to pass along copies of our email and PM exchanges to anyone else I can think of who does mod work so they have a preview of the Matt Grithole experience.

Matt, that warning people thing? ...it works both ways.

Sleep tight everyone.

Go Cubs 2009!

Pete

 

[JKD]

The worst part of this? This time should have been spent jamming on our mts

Go Phillies!

Hell yeah, that's what I was thinking. First when I was mad "shouldn't pete be working on people's mods" then "God, I don't wanna do this either." I'm going to my MTS right now and hopefully pete will agree to stop posting about this too as it's really in his best interest. I don't have much to lose but it's his business so the uglier it gets the worse it is for him. Good thing is that not many people are on now as it's late. Hopefully this will be a dead thread by tomorrow morning. Maybe Pete should go and post in other threads to bury this one now.

Wow, and there's me thinking there should and would be an apology in here