Archive

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1. How to increase sustain

[musings] November 24 2008 07:28:21 GMT

If your guitar doesn't have much natural sustain, then adding a compressor will be of limited benefit. A compressor can only bring up the level of a signal; if it doesn't get enough signal (i.e. if the note dies) then it can't boost the level. A digital reverb unit with a good-sounding hall program might help, but there's going to be a tradeoff between note articulation and the extra "hang time" you get from the `verb. You should get a bit of a sustain boost from the acoustic interaction between ... (more)

2. Digitech DigiVerb

[gear] November 17 2008 00:55:43 GMT

The Digitech DigiVerb is a nice compact pedal with top-notch reverbs. There's nothing fancy or oddball (with the possible exception of the reverse reverb, which is not as useless as I'd first thought), just great `verbs. The hall and church programs are particularly luscious. The spring reverb program is surprisingly good. ... (more)

3. Electric guitar as a folk instrument

[musings] November 16 2008 04:57:47 GMT

So many guitarists focus on the sound produced by their instrument rather than the actual music executed by the player. The sound of pop music is important. But there's such a thing, I think, as an unhealthy obsession with sound. Or to cast it in more familiar terms: an obsession with form over content. Go into a music store and you'll hear all manner of players playing a few repetitive figures while twisting knobs to evoke strange strange sonic mutations. I won't go so far as to single out sonic ... (more)

4. A survey of lightweight rigs

[musings] November 10 2008 05:04:01 GMT

Up until a couple years ago I was long-time tube-amp fanatic. My preferences in tube amps ran to heavy amps: Mesa/Boogies, then Fender Twins and Vibro-Kings. Eventually I got tired of lugging all that iron (a significant portion of a tube amp's weight is in its transformers). I set out on a quest to find a great-sounding tube amp weighing about 30 pounds. I eventually concluded that can't be done without sacrificing clean headroom. The closest match I found to my requirements was the Tone King Meteor II. ... (more)

5. Are DJs ruining the live-music scene?

[musings] November 10 2008 04:29:32 GMT

I hear this from professional musicians all the time: that DJs are "ruining" the live music scene by "stealing" gigs from "real" musicians. If you look back over the history of live music, you'll see this sentiment repeated over and over. Is there a reason for this? Sure there is is... Ignorance. Jealousy. Maybe both. I'm a guitarist. I don't grok DJs. On the other hand I recognize that there's a vast range of sounds, instrumentation and techniques that qualify as music. Look ... (more)

6. Are tubes good enough for the future of guitar music?

[musings] November 10 2008 01:23:54 GMT

Every rig has its tradeoffs. If the mere presence of tubes was enough to get that "grail tone", none of us would have gone through multiple iterations of a tube-amp rig before converging on "the one" that worked. (Only to go on another quest a few months or years later, but that's another matter entirely...) Modeling has been with us now for ten years. Technologically we're well past the teething stage. Whatever shortcomings may have been apparent in early digital devices have been long ... (more)

7. Effect loop pitfalls

[musings] November 09 2008 20:58:33 GMT

Many guitarists run time-based effect pedals (i.e. modulation and delay) in the loop of their amp. This is a good thing to do when using a distortion channel. But the attempt is not always successful. Depending upon the gear, there may be complaints of volume loss in a loop, mushiness, "filter" sounds when engaged, etc. Often these complaints are associated with digital effect units, leading to complaints that the effect "sounds digital". In reality, digital gear doesn't have a ... (more)

8. "The Cult of the Amateur" & Music

[musings] October 13 2008 06:08:26 GMT

I'm reading Andrew Keen's "The Cult of the Amateur". I spotted this book on display at the entrance to Powell's Technical Book Store and gave it a cursory examination. At first glance Keen seemed to share many of my own observations about the `net, in particular his condemnation of the narcissistic nature of social-networking and popularity-based sites. I also noticed that Keen dedicated a couple of chapters to the effect of the `net on the music industry, a subject near and dear to my own ... (more)

9. Making your own cables

[musings] October 05 2008 02:35:49 GMT

If you're handy with a soldering iron, wire cutter and knife you can make your own instrument cables. Now there's nothing at all wrong with ready-made cables; they're available in a wide range of materials and price ranges. Making your own cables, however, is a good way to experiment with combinations of materials that may not be available off-the-shelf. Additionally, you can save a bit of money even if your cables use the same materials as ready-made cables. You don't have to pay for profit, advertising, ... (more)

10. Anatomy of a listening test

[musings] September 25 2008 05:52:42 GMT

I recently got together with a small group of friends for our semi-annual gear-geekery and jamming. One of our activities this year was a listening test for a batch of ten cables. This was by no means a controlled test. We used three players, three guitars and two amplifiers. One amp was set clean or just below breakup, depending upon the guitar (the amp settings were not changed. The other amp was purely clean. The ten cables were all ten feet long, differing in materials, construction and configuration. ... (more)

11. What's new? (09-2008)

[musings] September 23 2008 04:37:34 GMT

I usually wait until the end of the year to review my progress against annual goals, but so much has changed that I thought it worthwhile to take a look back at the past nine months. My primary goal for the year was to start recording again. Prior to this year the last time I'd done any recording was in 2003. That's a five-year gap. What's interesting to me is the nature of the new recordings. I had originally envisioned doing some multitrack recording. My plan at the start of the year was to collect a ... (more)

12. Comfort above all else

[musings] September 19 2008 21:12:23 GMT

One bit of advice that you'll hear repeated without thought is that "tone is the most important thing". Is it really? Why? This slogan surely sells a lot of gear, which is comforting not only for the manufacturers but also for the gear-obsessed advocates of finding the holy grail of tone in some combination of equipment. After all, a quest without some kind of recognition - or at least the company of fellow seekers - doesn't really have much to sustain it. I've come to believe that ... (more)

13. Gear advice

[musings] September 19 2008 17:37:07 GMT

Here's advice I would have given myself some time ago had I known then what I know now: Pssst: It's not the gear. Once you get beyond finding a comfortable instrument the rest is what's in your head, heart and fingers. Remember the story about Chet Atkins who, when a fan complimented the way his guitar sounded, put it on a stand and asked "How does it sound now?". Don't spend money on gear for the sake of variety. Get one or two good instruments and play the heck out of them. Play with a clean ... (more)

14. Lies, damn lies and specs

[musings] September 05 2008 18:45:18 GMT

As a guitarist you've probably become used to hearing fanciful "cork-sniffer" descriptions of the tone associated with various products. It goes with the territory; the best you can do is to hold your nose, open your ears (and wallet) and hope that the product delivers on its advertised promises. You may have become so used to subjective descriptions that you're inclined to treat objective specifications as gospel truth. Unfortunately, you can't assume that numbers and charts mean anything. ... (more)

15. Simpler, ever simpler

[musings] September 02 2008 04:58:07 GMT

In my quest for a lighter, easier-to-use rig I've taken another step toward simplification. It was nearly two years ago that I ditched my tube amp and pedalboard in favor of a rig based around a digital modeler and a full-range amplification system. Eliminating the iron (good tube amps carry some pretty heft transformers) and switching to solid-state amplification eliminated a lot of weight from my rig. I programmed the digital modeler to sound the way I wanted when played through a full-range amplifier ... (more)

16. Countryman Type 85

[gear] August 28 2008 03:35:43 GMT

The Countryman Type 85 Direct Box is a venerable performer dating back to the late 1980s. It has a reputation for being both euphonic and dependable. It's built (almost literally) like a brick, with chassis-mount connectors and switches rather than the more fragile (and difficult to service) PCB-mounted connectors and switches found on more modern devices. The Countryman is particularly suited for instruments having passive pickups, thanks to its high input impedance and low input capacitance. The unit is ... (more)

17. A.R.T. Tube PAC

[gear] August 26 2008 04:54:57 GMT

I've had this A.R.T. Tube PAC for a while, but only recently got it working properly. This is a handy little unit that can perform several tasks: an active DI for an electric guitar (thanks to its 1M impedance on the unbalanced input), a mic preamp, a converter between 1/4" and XLR I/Os (with level shifting), a phantom power source and a compressor. The controls are relatively easy to understand (although one quick glance at the manual will be worthwhile). the unit sounds fine as a guitar preamp into ... (more)

18. Playing in "the zone"

[musings] July 14 2008 20:44:40 GMT

For me, playing in "the zone" implies a certain kind of detachment. When I'm not in the zone there's a lot of self-evaluation regarding how well my execution matches my intention. I can play through the inevitable disappointments, but they're distracting. When I'm in that frame of mind it's difficult to establish any real "flow"; I tend to lean heavily on practiced parts and motifs. When I am in the zone it's as if every note (and for me that implies voices within a chord - I play very ... (more)

19. Spencer

[musings] July 12 2008 23:39:16 GMT

Spencer is the youngest of five cats in our household. We picked him up from the shelter the day after actor John Spencer died, hence the name. (We were big fans of West Wing). Spencer loves hanging out in the music room, even when I play. ... (more)

20. Ibanez SR530

[gear] July 12 2008 23:07:01 GMT

I bought this Ibanez SR530 in order to have a bass with a wider tonal palette, including more modern sounds. The Bartolini pickups and electronics cover a surprising range of tones when used judiciously. This is the first bass I have ever bought for myself. I spent quite a long time playing basses in the under-$1,000 price range before deciding on this one. The fit and finish is excellent. Unlike many manufacturers offering basses in this price range, Ibanez uses traditional tonewoods: mahogany for the ... (more)

21. Epiphone EB-0

[gear] July 12 2008 22:46:09 GMT

My lovely wife, Mary-Suzanne, gave me this Epiphone EB-0. I like the short scale and the pillowy old-school sound. ... (more)

22. Flat EQ for guitar

[musings] July 07 2008 05:25:51 GMT

From the "everything I think I know is probably wrong" department... We all know how important EQ is in shaping guitar tone. EQ is in the tone stack, the speakers, the pickups, the room ... literally dozens of design/implementation decisions shape the overall EQ. One thing I've always heard - and have taken for granted - is that "flat EQ" (intentionally, if not actually) isn't an appropriate sound for guitar. I've always assumed that an electric guitar DI'd to a PA, for example, ... (more)

23. Playing guitar through a full-range amp

[musings] July 07 2008 00:02:51 GMT

Here's another in a series of "everything I thought I knew was wrong" articles. I once thought that a flat, full-range amplifier was always unsuited to use with an electric guitar. I'm discovering that's not entirely true. My search for lightweight amplifiers led me to a 20-pound (that's including the carrying case) amplifier designed for acoustic guitar. This amp sounds great with my Koll guitars. There are many common arguments against playing an electric guitar through a clean, full-range ... (more)

24. Electro-Harmonix SMMH vs. Eventide TimeFactor

[musings] June 23 2008 05:16:14 GMT

I'm in the midst of purging my underutilized gear. Because I have a weakness for echo effects, I've given careful consideration to which ones to keep and which ones to sell. One of the more interesting comparisons is between the $400 Eventide TimeFactor and the $215 Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai. I'll spare you the suspense: I'm selling the Eventide. The two units couldn't be more different, right from the time you open their respective boxes. The TimeFactor comes packaged in a large ... (more)

25. Tapco MIX100

[gear] June 22 2008 23:41:36 GMT

The Tapco MIX100 is an inexpensive no-frills mixer. ... (more)

26. How loud is too loud?

[musings] June 22 2008 00:01:26 GMT

Safe exposure to loud noise, including music, depends upon the intensity of the sound and duration of the exposure. When I first posted this article (in March 2004) I was advised by a correspondent that OSHA guidelines (retained below for comparison) are now considered too lax for adequate hearing preservation. I finally found the NIOSH guidelines (also adopted by ANSI) which are based upon actual sound energy. In other words a 3dB increase in sound level reduces the safe exposure time by a factor of two. ... (more)

27. Bits and pieces

[gear] June 19 2008 04:43:04 GMT

Here's a bunch of smaller items, all essential in certain situations. ART passive direct box ART dual passive direct box Boss FS-6 dual footswitch Boss DB-60 metronome Peterson BB-1 metronome Radial Big Shot io source selector Radial Big Shot ABY amp selector Radio Shack SPL meter Roland EV-5 expresssion pedal Visual Sound 1-Spot AC adapter ... (more)

28. AER Amp One

[gear] June 15 2008 21:09:15 GMT

The AER Amp One is a 29-pound 200-watt bass amplifier with a 10-inch speaker and a plethora of I/O options. This is a brand new product from Germany; I'm told that there are only a few dozen of these in the USA at the moment. The Amp One has a single input with a pad switch (to accomodate high-output active pickups), a gain control and a clipping indicator. The EQ section has active low, mid and high controls. The mid control is semi-parametric with a frequency control and a bandwidth switch. The EQ is ... (more)

29. Korg LCA-120 Chromatic Tuner

[gear] June 15 2008 18:26:48 GMT

The Korg LCA120 Chromatic Tuner intrigued me with its large backlit display, slim profile and long battery life. Those attributes plus a host of inessential but interesting features - user-defined temperament, "focus tuning", and a built-in (uncalibrated) sound-level meter - and a low price prompted me to give this tuner a try despite already having a Peterson virtual strobe tuner. The first thing I noticed upon unpacking this unit was that Korg did a really poor job of designing the battery ... (more)

30. Cable Nuances Revisited

[musings] June 15 2008 06:05:58 GMT

I've been saying all along that total capacitance is the sole contribution to the "sound" of an instrument cable. My last article on the subject left me wondering, though, how an "insignificant" difference in capacitance could produce a clearly identifiable difference in a blind test. My argument was that it should take a significant shift in the resonant frequency of the guitar (caused by the change in capacitance between different cables) to cause a detectable difference in sound. I ... (more)

31. Why play?

[musings] May 25 2008 07:49:02 GMT

Every now and then I get introspective. This time I intend to explore and explain my reasons for playing music. I don't need to play music, at least in the sense that I am not compelled by external forces - income and validation, for example - to play. There are, however, other compulsions that come into play. I've always had "big ears", probably from growing up in a family where most of the adults on my mother's side were very good classical musicians. Not that it did me much good - I repeatedly ... (more)

32. Which FRFR system should I buy?

[musings] May 05 2008 06:05:57 GMT

"I have a modeling processor and want to run it through a FRFR amplifier. Which one is best for my needs? How many watts is enough? What else do I need to know?" There's no good short answer to these questions. As with everything else musical, the short answer is always: "it depends..." That's the bad news. The good news is that it's a lot easier to pick out a FRFR amp for a modeling processor than it is to pick out a guitar amp. When you run a modeling processor through a FRFR ... (more)

33. Digitech RP350

[gear] April 30 2008 03:23:09 GMT

I bought a Digitech RP350 several days ago and thought I'd share my first impressions as well as my reason for buying this rather than something else. I jumped off the all-tube bandwagon 15 months ago when I sold my two Fender Vibro-Kings and a small pedalboard, replacing them with a Boss GT-8. The rationale was simple: I was tired of lugging 110 pounds of gear (guitar in case, amp, pedalboard, gig bag and a luggage cart). Nothing wrong with the sound, mind you... Somehow that Vibro-King sounded great even ... (more)

34. Boss RT-20

[gear] April 21 2008 01:26:57 GMT

The Boss RT-20 is a Leslie speaker emulator based upon the Leslie 122. Its four modes offer two choices of mic position, a Leslie emulation fronted by a Marshall 1959 emulation (John Lord fans take note), and a Univibe emulation. A variable drive control is supposed to emulate an overdriven Leslie power amp, but falls short of the real thing by being dark and muffled-sounding. Fast and slow speeds as well as ramp time are all adjustable. A bicolored rotating display which indicates rotor and drum speeds is ... (more)

35. Weight reduction

[musings] April 07 2008 05:27:39 GMT

As you may have noticed, I stopped drinking the "tube-amp cool aid" about a year ago. I bought a digital modeling processor, sold my tube amps, and didn't look back. That was the first step on the road to reducing the mass of gear I have to lug. My old rig (guitar in hardshell case, Vibro-King, guitar, small pedalboard, small gig bag and a luggage cart to carry all that) tipped the scale at about 110 pounds. The luggage cart made the load just barely tolerable; steps, curbs, and uneven ground ... (more)

36. Strings and finesse

[musings] April 07 2008 04:31:08 GMT

It seems like there's this whole mystical post-SRV thing where many guitarists believe that to be a real player you have to string your guitar with heavy strings... at least 12s, preferably 13s. That's workable if you don't do a lot of string bending. In fact, heavier strings are useful for jazz guitar (helps to prevent pulling notes out of tune when you stretch for those big chords) and surf guitar (tremolo picking is easier on stiffer strings.) But repeatedly bending heavy strings can lead to repetitive ... (more)

37. My pedal pops!

[musings] April 07 2008 04:02:20 GMT

"My pedal pops when I step on the bypass switch. What's wrong?" It's a true bypass (TB) pedal, isn't it? If so, it's an interaction between the TB circuit and one of the surrounding pedals or the amp. Popping is a well-known problem with TB pedals. It comes from a small DC level shift as the bypass switch disconnects one set of circuitry and connects another. The leakage current through a coupling capacitor (or from the grid of the first tube in your amp) develops a small voltage across whatever ... (more)

38. AER Compact 60, Rev. 2

[gear] April 06 2008 03:18:10 GMT

The AER Compact 60 is a 19-pound clean amplifier designed for reproduction of acoustic instruments. It works well with my Koll DL guitars and my fingerstyle playing. The Compact 60 has two channels. Channel one has a three-band equalizer, a sensitivity switch and a contour switch. Channel two has a combo input jack (mic w/ phantom power and 1/4") and a two-band EQ. Each channel has a clip indicator. There's a built-in FX processor with four programs: warm hall, bright hall, chorus/reverb and flanger. ... (more)

39. Solo Improv Guitar

[musings] March 08 2008 08:23:16 GMT

A few years ago I decided that I wanted to be able to play music that would stand on its own. The guitar can take on different roles; the most common are accompaniment (rhythm guitar, backing for a vocalist) or a solo "voice" (lead guitar). Both of these roles assume use of the guitar in some kind of ensemble. When I started down this path I had in mind a plan to play largely improvised music. No improvisation is truly "free" - there's always some structure or framework. This is ... (more)

40. Rocktron Deep Blue Chorus

[gear] March 05 2008 04:47:19 GMT

The Deep Blue Chorus from Rocktron is a no-frills unit that sounds really good. The controls have a wide useful range without being "cartoon-y" (like I've found in Boss chorus units, for example) or excessively polite (like certain boutique chorus stomps). The Deep Blue is a bit wider than the typical compact stompbox, but that's good in that it leaves room for full-sized pointer knobs. I bought this pedal to use in front of my Fender Jazz King amplifier. In combination with the amp's built-in ... (more)

41. Technology vs. passion

[musings] March 02 2008 04:09:13 GMT

I grew up with live music. Many of the adults in my mother's extended family were professional musicians who played in symphony orchestras and taught at the music conservatory. Impromptu recitals were common at family gatherings. Although I learned about electric guitars by watching Ricky Nelson on television at about the same time Leo Fender had introduced the Stratocaster to the world, it was the guitar-driven pop of the early and mid 1960s that first caught my attention and fueled my preadolescent ... (more)

42. Echo Roundup

[musings] January 14 2008 00:08:14 GMT

Next to reverb, delay is one of my favorite effects. Being a child of the `60s I tend to prefer delays that have a bit of a tape-echo vibe rather than the pristine precision of `80s-style digital delays. In this article I'll briefly review the delay units I've owned over the past seven or eight years. Korg used to make a stompbox called the 301dl. It runs on 4 AA batteries or a standard 9V adapter. The Korg is incredibly flexible for a stompbox echo, particularly given its size. There are four knobs ... (more)

43. Kritz DH-111t

[gear] January 07 2008 01:08:17 GMT

I bought this Kritz DH-111t guitar in 2003 while visiting Amsterdam. Despite superficial similarities to billions of other Strat knock-offs, the Kritz is loaded with innovations. This guitar plays well, is remarkably stable through seasonal changes, and stays in tune well despite the fact that I have the trem set to float. ... (more)

44. Behringer FCB-1010

[gear] December 22 2007 19:22:03 GMT

The Behringer FCB-1010 is a programmable MIDI controller. The manual is brief. One quick read of the manual gave me the gist of the programming process; reference to the provided flow chart got me through the first attempt. I find it quite easy to program the FCB-1010 - all the switches are labelled with their programming functions and the actual flow is easy to remember. The FCB-1010 should be OK for most applications where you can live with being able to send up to five program changes, two control ... (more)

45. Cable comparison, part 2

[musings] December 17 2007 04:59:38 GMT

Tonight I did a blind test using the two cables mentioned previously. The one I liked better in the non-blind tests is a Quantum EPI. This is made from Quantum 2300 cable with gold-plated G&H ends. The other cable was built for me by Blue Jeans Cables from Belden 1800F with nickel-plated Neutrik ends. I was blindfolded. We started with both cables unplugged. Mary-Suzanne picked one cable and connected it to the guitar and the GT-8. I played, listening for the same cues I had heard in the non-blind test ... (more)

46. Cable comparison, part 1

[musings] December 17 2007 04:52:36 GMT

I have what one might generously describe as a surfeit of instrument cables. Some people collect guitars or amps or pedals. I collect cables. At least my quirk is relatively inexpensive. A week ago I was sorting through my cables, probably in an unconscious attempt to make room for more. I got to listening to the differences among the cables. You may recall from other articles that I'm firmly in the camp that believes that there are several important attributes of a cable: (1) capacitance, (2) shielding, ... (more)

47. 2008 Musical Goals

[musings] December 10 2007 04:36:06 GMT

As I've done for a number of years (the most recent of which I've documented in these pages), it's time for me to think about what I'd like to accomplish with my music in the year ahead. My primary goal for 2008 is to start recording again. The last time I recorded anything of my own was in 2003. I'd like to document the progress I've made since then and create an objective record of my playing for future reference. Secondarily it'd be nice if some of my recorded output were to be suitable for public ... (more)

48. 2007 in review

[musings] December 10 2007 04:14:41 GMT

It's time for a review of my musical goals for the year 2007. My musical goals for the year were to challenge myself, improve my playing, expand my repertoire, and break out of familiar habits. These goals are highly subjective. Not only that, but I have no one to whom I can turn for an outside opinion. Nevertheless, I believe that I have been successful in meeting my objectives. I have improved my sense of time and harmony. To a lesser extent I have made some progress regarding my melodic sensibilities. I ... (more)

49. Hearing with your eyes

[musings] November 13 2007 05:56:11 GMT

"Hearing with your eyes" is a real problem in some circles. I've had players tell me that they loved the sound of my "vintage" Vibro-King at a solo gig, going on to wax rhapsodic about the great old amps of the `60s and how they all kick the ass of anything built since 1969 because "they just don't make the parts they way they used to." Yup, there's nothing quite like those three year old Vibro-Kings... Others look down their nose at garden-variety "prosumer" gear: ... (more)

50. Box of 1,000 sounds

[musings] October 23 2007 04:03:30 GMT

Thinking about a modeler in terms of how many potential tones it can create is the wrong way `round, IMO. (Unless you're really trying to nail hundreds of different tones.) The way I see it a modeler has to give me one or two great tones. This is no different than buying any other amp. The fact that you could get hundreds of other tones out of the modeler just means that someone else having different musical objectives could use the same modeler and get one or two other great tones that satisfy him. It's a ... (more)

51. May 2007 Rosedrop Media Circus podcast

[musings] October 15 2007 22:53:22 GMT

Mary-Suzanne and I were guests on Dan and Aaron Linn's Rosedrop Media Circus podcast this past May, along with friends Robert Madrid and Mike Birchet. The hour-long podcast is available for download in two thirty-minute segments. Part 1 Part 2 Part 1 features three of Mary-Suzanne's songs performed live, plus one of her instrumental compositions. Part 2 opens with a jam with friends Robert Madrid (flute) and Mike Birchet (percussion), followed by an "Old Miner Blues" featuring Mike on harmonica. ... (more)

52. Beware of placing form over content

[musings] October 13 2007 19:09:45 GMT

This particular line of thought has been percolating for a while. In short, it's my answer to the question: "What's the point of fancy gear and of the glossy production and promotion of music?" Yes, I do believe that those subjects are related. Let's start with production and promotion. If you live in a city that has a large number of active musicians, or even if you only read the trade rags, you're going to notice that there are a lot of folks willing - you might actually say anxious - to sell ... (more)

53. "Tone" is not the goal

[musings] October 06 2007 18:20:35 GMT

As musicians we need to work with the tools at hand to make music. The obsession with "tone" is a consumption-driven concern: you need to have or buy some tangible product to get "better" tone. But "tone" is just another tool. It's not the goal. If you don't have anything to say in a musical sense, it doesn't matter what you think of your "tone". Sometimes I get the impression that certain guitarists spend the majority of their time playing the same material the same ... (more)

54. Roland CM-30 CUBE Monitor

[gear] October 04 2007 17:30:27 GMT

The Roland Cube Monitor 30 is an inexpensive, compact, lightweight (12 pounds), good-sounding monitor with built-in mixer and an assortment of input types. It can be linked to a second unit via Roland's familiar "stereo link" connection. This monitor can fill a small room with the sound of an iPod. As a gigging amplifier I would choose this only for the most low-key of "wallpaper" gigs in an intimate venue. Despite having the same nominal power rating as the Cube 30-X modeling guitar ... (more)

55. Yamaha STAGEPAS 300

[gear] October 03 2007 01:37:30 GMT

The Yamaha STAGEPAS 300 is a compact stereo PA. The two cabinets weigh a total of about 40 pounds. The powered mixer is detachable and has four mic/line channels and two stereo line channels. Each channel has bass and treble EQ and a reverb send switch. I bought this system to use with my GT-8 guitar processor. It's most effective in larger reverberant spaces where the separation between speakers helps to preserve the stereo image. ... (more)

56. Boss RE-20

[gear] October 01 2007 16:48:38 GMT

The Boss RE-20 pedal emulates the classic Roland RE-201 Space Echo without the maintenance headaches associated with moving tape. Sounds great; loads of fun to play with... If you love old-school echo units, you'll love this. ... (more)

57. TASCAM 2488mkII Portastudio

[gear] October 01 2007 16:39:26 GMT

The TASCAM 2488mkII is an all-in-one hard-disk multitrack recorder having eight inputs and 24 tracks. Four of the inputs include XLR connections. One input has a front-panel hi-Z input suitable for use with a guitar. There are also S/PDIF connections for digital audio I/O and a USB connection for file transfers. A built-in CD writer can be used to back up your work and created audio CDs; the writer supports both write-once and rewritable CDs. A highly-legible LCD display serves multiple purposes depending ... (more)

58. Zoom H2 field recorder

[gear] October 01 2007 16:12:12 GMT

The Zoom H2 is an inexpensive, compact field recorder that records from built-in microphones (or an external input) to an SD memory card. The unit runs for about four hours on a pair of AA alkaline batteries. An AC adapter is included. Also in the box are a carrying pouch, a stand, an adapter for a mic stand, and an RCA-to-1/8" stereo cable. Operation is via a set of buttons for all of the most common operations. An easy-to-navigate menu system handles configuration and less-common operations. The H2 ... (more)

59. Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai

[gear] October 01 2007 15:26:22 GMT

The Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai is a digital delay with lots of "extras". (Apparently "hazarai" is a Yiddish word meaning "all the extras".) The SMMH lives up to the Hazarai part of its name. This little gem does regular, modulated, multi-tap and reverse delays, includes a 30-second looper, and has tap tempo and the ability to save presets. Electro-Harmonix includes a 20-page manual with the SMMH, which is practically a book by their standards. Most ... (more)

60. Boss VF-1

[gear] October 01 2007 15:09:52 GMT

The Boss VF-1 stereo effects processor is a multi-purpose unit targeted to guitar, bass and studio. Its algorithms include amp sims, ambience effects and modulation effects. Its compact size and light weight make the VF-1 attractive as a guitar processor in situations where footswitched changes are not necessary. ... (more)

61. Maybe it's not a phase, after all...

[musings] September 16 2007 03:22:38 GMT

Maybe it's not a phase, after all... Over seven months have passed since I put my tube amps into storage and set up my modeling rig. My main impetus for going to modeling was to reduce the size and weight of my rig while still getting a sound I really liked. I programmed my sound without reference to any of the tube amps... I did the whole thing "by ear". The modeling rig has held up nicely through a half-dozen gigs plus a lot of jams; it's also perfect for my practice sessions without abusing my ... (more)

62. Koll Custom DL #2

[gear] July 31 2007 20:34:06 GMT

This guitar is a variation on my first Koll custom guitar. This guitar was about 39 months in the making (commissioned May 2, 2004, delivered July 29, 2007). It's worth every second of the wait. This guitar has the same construction as the first Koll DL and is very acoustically lively. The P-90s and Bigsby give #2 a unique flavor. Specs and progress photo galleries are listed here. ... (more)

63. Koll Custom DL #2 specs

[gear] July 31 2007 03:07:21 GMT

The construction of the Koll Custom DL #2 shall be the same as the Custom DL #1, except for the following details: ElementNew Spec Top and back: Quilted maple Sides: Quilted maple Neck: 3-piece birdseye maple with walnut stringers Inlays: Split block (ref: Gibson Super 400, Les Paul Supreme) Here's a Super 400. Note that the fret markers on the Super 400 end at the 17th fret. On the Koll, the markers should be present up through the 21st fret. Finish: Transparent blue tri-burst Here's the desired color ... (more)

64. I have to use a modeling rig!

[musings] July 27 2007 20:56:40 GMT

At some point you may be faced with having to use a modeling processor whether you want to or not. Perhaps you travel a lot and want a predictable sound without carrying your own backline. Maybe you live in a city, don't have a car, and need to take a bus or taxi to gigs. Or you might simply be tired of lugging a heavy rig. This past January I put my favorite amp, the one I had been playing 99% of the time for four years - a Vibro-King - into storage because I got tired of lugging a hundred pounds of gear ... (more)

65. Advances in Technology, Revisited

[musings] June 11 2007 00:42:11 GMT

I've been playing my guitar through a modeler - and nothing but a modeler - for four months now. I've had no desire to go back to my tube amps; the modeler sounds great. I am holding on to my tube amps, at least for a while. Tube amps are, after all, the benchmark of great guitar tone. But I'm beginning to wonder whether the benefits of a tube amp aren't outweighed by its disadvantages. I won't belabor the benefits of a tube amp: the dynamic response to a player's touch makes the amp an extension of the ... (more)

66. Big Music can no longer afford talent

[musings] May 31 2007 02:38:10 GMT

Music industry commentators seem to be fond of saying that there is no longer a viable talent pool from which they can draw to groom the next hot act. A "creative drought" supposedly prevents the labels from signing artists whom the public will willingly embrace. Yes, it's all the fault of the no-talent artists. Or maybe we're finally paying the price for the curtailment of music education in public schools. A creative drought?! Perhaps from the perspective of the majors. But try to see it from ... (more)

67. The Music Industry is not Broken

[musings] May 28 2007 03:23:32 GMT

Media outlets tell us on a regular basis that the music industry is "broken" because CD sales (based upon sales reports from the majors, apparently) are on the decline. Pundits, celebrities, musicians ... actually, just about anyone who makes, buys or profits from music ... have chimed in with reasons for the current state of affairs and suggestions for fixing the "problem". I'd argue that the decline in sales of CDs by the majors is symptomatic of an increase in the overall health of ... (more)

68. The Downside of Cliches

[musings] May 26 2007 01:44:52 GMT

A while ago I wrote about how cliches are an essential part of music because they provide a point of reference for the listener. If your playing gets too far "out there" the listener will be confused or alienated. You'll need to adhere to some kind of recognizable convention, even if the convention is one that you develop on your own. Listeners need a certain amount of predictability, even when you're breaking the rules. If you go too far into unknown territory, the absence of a discernable ... (more)

69. Do you really get what you pay for?

[musings] May 21 2007 21:18:00 GMT

Recently a correspondent suggested that there's a direct correlation between cost and performance of MI gear. He commented that a $2,000 tube amplifier must sound better than a $400 modeling processor. Or to couch the argument in his terms, the modeling processor can only be "expected to sound like $400 worth." I'll state my response right up front: This is utter nonsense. With that out of the way, let's look at several ways in which the "you get what you pay for" argument falls apart: ... (more)

70. Old Dogs, New Tricks

[musings] May 20 2007 17:19:00 GMT

From time to time I run into a player who got started with guitar "a long time ago", is mostly or completely self-taught and is now wondering how to become more proficient with their instrument and whether the many years of self-instruction will impede future progress. If you're worried about this, I'd like to start by suggesting that you already are as proficient as you can be, given where you are right now in terms of knowledge and execution. That's a bit new-agey, perhaps... my point is that ... (more)

71. Ordering a Custom Guitar

[musings] May 10 2007 23:43:27 GMT

The way I look at it, a one-of-a-kind custom guitar is worth the wait. There are countless issues, both anticipated and unforseen, which must be addressed in order to make a custom instrument. I'm not talking about "checklist customization" where your choices are limited to things you can pick off of a fixed menu. The guys who build "checklist customized" instruments really ought to have a process in place that guarantees a certain degree of repeatability and predictability. If you want ... (more)

72. Evolution and Contradiction

[musings] May 05 2007 03:05:21 GMT

This article is about how I've apparently contradicted myself as my guitar rig and playing has evolved. Yes, I'm happy with my tone now, but it took me a while to reach this point. Along the way I've made some decisions that might appear to be contradictory. I started playing guitar in `99 after a roughly 20-year layoff. When I picked up the guitar again in `99 a lot had changed - technologically - compared to what I was used to in the `60s and `70s. During the first four years I flipped a lot of gear ... (more)

73. Musicianship vs. Sound Reinforcement

[musings] May 05 2007 02:43:26 GMT

Many bands experience problems that they believe to be caused by, or correctable by, proper application of amplification or sound reinforcement technology. The problems include: The vocalist can't be heard over the instruments. The balance among the instruments is not right. The dynamics are limited; everyone seems to be playing as loud as possible most of the time. The musicians cannot hear each other's subtle cues. The entire performance occurs at an extreme volume. Some of these problems can be ... (more)

74. Sound Reinforcement in Small Rooms

[musings] May 05 2007 02:25:33 GMT

For a small room (up to 100 people or so) my preference is to run only vocals (and kick drum, if warranted by the genre) through the PA. There are a lot of benefits to this approach: Audience members can hear more or less as they prefer. There's no escape from a multi-kilowatt PA. It's tough to establish a rapport with your audience when they're flinching from excessive SPL or going out to the street to have a conversation. Complexity is reduced tremendously. You're driving the room from the backline (plus ... (more)

75. Modelers vs. Tube Amps (3)

[musings] May 05 2007 02:07:28 GMT

This is the third in a series of three articles comparing tube amps to modelers from various viewpoints. I like tube amps, but they're not without their limitations: weight - lots of iron in those transformers! reliability - tube wear, failures, microphonics cost - you're paying for components that don't benefit as much from manufacturing economies volume - gotta deal with that "sweet spot" OTOH, tube amps have that sound which is absolutely fantastic when it works for you. Point is, tube amps ... (more)

76. Modelers vs. Tube Amps (2)

[musings] May 05 2007 01:59:43 GMT

This is the second in a series of three articles comparing tube amps to modelers from various viewpoints. Let's be fair... Not every tube amp is a stellar example of the technology. Compared to the number of digital modelers on the market, the availability of tube amps is staggering. And don't forget that the typical price of a tube amp is some multiple of that of a modeler. I'm not going to argue that tube amps have something that you can't get from a modeler. I've recently switched to running a digital ... (more)

77. Modelers vs. Tube Amps (1)

[musings] May 05 2007 01:59:34 GMT

This is the first in a series of three articles comparing tube amps to modelers from various viewpoints. I bought my GT-8 and a portable PA a few months ago because I finally got fed up with lugging close to a hundred pounds of tube amp and pedals. I picked the GT-8 over the competition for a lot of reasons that I won't go into here because that's not really the point of this article. I spent about 20 years away from the guitar; I got back into playing in the spring of 1999. As you might guess, I'm old ... (more)

78. Does gear define the player?

[musings] April 08 2007 20:57:03 GMT

I don't doubt that some players have "stumbled" onto some combination of gear which inspires and defines a signature sound. But I think you have to look at the player's predisposition. Was finding that sound an accident, or did he have the good luck to figure out how to make the kind of sound that he wanted to hear? There's a tremendous amount of complexity hidden just below the surface of a good musical instrument. I think it's a huge mistake to assume that a certain kind of instrument is tied ... (more)

79. The importance of guitars vs. amps

[musings] April 08 2007 20:35:11 GMT

I see a lot of discussions regarding the relative importance of one's guitar vs. amplifier. Common topics include "How much money do you put into each as a percentage of your total expenditure?" and "Would you rather play an unfamiliar amp or an unfamiliar guitar?" I think that one's perspective on this topic has a lot to do with how you approach the instrument. There's no "right" answer. However, if you view the amp as your primary "tone generator" you'll ... (more)

80. DIs, Speaker Simulators and Amp Modelers

[musings] April 08 2007 20:12:54 GMT

I think a lot of players don't understand the differences among a DI, a speaker emulator and an amp modeler. These are commonly-used tools for guitarists who want to play their instrument "direct to the board", usually in situations where it's necessary or desirable to minimize stage volume. Briefly, here's what each unit does: A DI ideally does nothing to the sound. It converts from a high-impedance unbalanced signal to a low-impedance balanced signal. A speaker emulator alters the frequency ... (more)

81. Are tube amps right for small venues?

[musings] April 04 2007 04:35:21 GMT

With the proliferation of modern sound-reinforcement technology, more and more guitarists hear those dreaded words over the sound guy's talkback microphone: "You're going to have to turn your guitar down." This leads guitarists on a merry chase: they want the sound of hot tubes at a volume that tube amps were never meant to operate. I'm sure the situation varies with locale, but around here most venues have a decent house PA operated by a hired sound guy. Most of these are very small venues, so ... (more)

82. Aural fatigue and dialing in your rig

[musings] April 04 2007 04:05:05 GMT

I'm all for having a sound that makes me comfortable as a player. Gawd knows I've been through a lot of gear that hasn't supported my musical goals. It took me a while to find the combination of playing style and -- to perhaps invent a term -- "tonal style" that is right for me. I said "tonal style" rather than "gear" because it's the the tone that's important; I've learned that I can get "my tone" from lots of different kinds of gear, now that I understand what ... (more)

83. Longevity of digital gear

[musings] March 25 2007 19:26:08 GMT

One question that I've pondered since my switch to a digital rig is this: "What happens five or ten years from now?" I see tube amps from the sixties and seventies that are still going strong with minor service. I wonder what's going to happen to these digital wonders over the long term... The problem as I see it is that digital gear after about five or ten years may not be serviceable. There's a lot of purpose-made pieces in these things. Manufacturers tend to cut off support for products past a ... (more)

84. Benefits of a digital guitar rig

[musings] March 22 2007 05:09:47 GMT

I'm going to define a digital rig very narrowly as a digital processor plus a full-range amp and speakers. A processor connected to a tube guitar amp or to a tube power amp plus guitar speaker is a different kind of rig; these alternatives are no less valid or interesting but are not the subject of this discussion. A digital guitar rig is an interesting thing. It's not, and will never be, the same as a rig that has a tube amp at its core. But the digital rig can in fact become part of your instrument, ... (more)

85. Traynor K4 vs. Yamaha STAGEPAS 300

[musings] March 18 2007 04:50:28 GMT

I bought a Traynor K4 keyboard amp today. I'm using the K4 with my GT-8. So far, so good. I also have a Yamaha STAGEPAS 300. The K4 obviously serves the same function as the STAGEPAS (as full-range flat-response amplification for a modeler), so here are the pros and cons of each: Size and weight: Point to the STAGEPAS, which is 40 pounds vs the K4's 50 pounds. The pair of STAGEPAS speakers (with the powered mixer tucked into the back of one) is smaller than the K4. Volume: Point to K4. This was my ... (more)

86. Guitar-magazine reviews

[musings] March 17 2007 05:53:17 GMT

Ever wonder about gear reviews in guitar magazines? Me, too. Editors and publishers defend themselves against accusations of favoritism to advertisers, citing organizational "walls" between advertising sales and the editorial team, a preference to only review "good" products in order to make the best use (best for whom?) of limited space, etc. Frankly, I don't buy the explanations. Here's my advice to guitar-magazine publishers and editors: First, my understanding is that the most of ... (more)

87. Direct-to-PA

[musings] February 27 2007 06:37:32 GMT

A direct-to-PA rig has a lot to recommend it. Put together a floorboard processor and some in-ear-monitors (IEMs) and you can play any venue that has a decent house PA. Let's not forget the cost and weight savings: that's good for the wallet and the back. It's all very tempting... But there's a lot more to consider than just cost or flexibility or "cool factor"... For example: How many different sounds do you have to cover? Are you in control of your choice of sounds, or is someone else (e.g. a ... (more)

88. More power!

[musings] February 26 2007 18:21:50 GMT

Now that I've started playing my guitar through a modeling processor my amplification has changed as well. I'm using a "full-range, flat response" (FRFR) amplification system. This simply means that the amplification system is a sound reproduction system that doesn't add any significant coloration of its own to the sound. Examples of FRFR systems include PAs and keyboard amplifiers. My FRFR system is a 300-watt portable PA. Yes, that's right... I wanted to play at lower volumes, so I went from a ... (more)

89. Digital rig pros and cons

[musings] February 26 2007 04:17:13 GMT

Four weeks ago I put my tube amps and my pedal boards into storage and replaced them with a modeling floor processor and a compact PA system. This odd and somewhat sudden shift came on the heels of two months of trying to find a good way to lighten my rig's carry weight. My search initially concentrated on lightweight tube amps, none of which were entirely satisfactory in terms of performance or weight. Despite earlier admonitions to myself to avoid digital gear, I ended up buying an ... (more)

90. Lectrosonics IS-400 Wireless System Review

[musings] January 12 2007 01:38:08 GMT

Today I "owned" a $1,200 wireless system for a few hours. I picked up a Lectrosonics IS-400 system from local pro-audio shop Cascade Media the first thing this morning. The deal was that I'd have the package until Monday morning at which point I was to either return it or they'd charge my card. After checking specs and reading whitepapers on the Lectrosonics site, I was convinced that they really have something with the technology behind this unit. I was fully prepared to call up Cascade Media ... (more)

91. 2007 Musical Goals

[musings] January 01 2007 05:08:19 GMT

It's time to think about my musical goals for 2007. I set some fairly ambitious goals for myself in 2006, and blew off most of them without regret. I had a good year overall, making some serious progress in my playing technique and in my knowledge of both theory and the instrument. I made some reasonable progress in the kinds of material I'm able to imagine and to play. I even played a couple of gigs. All good things... I play primarily for my own enjoyment. I have no firm intentions of forming or joining ... (more)

92. A minimalist pedalboard

[musings] December 26 2006 04:47:57 GMT

It seems that guitarists have varying definitions of "small" pedal boards. For many, any board with less than a half-dozen or so pedals is considered "small". Seeing that my "large" (19 by 8 inch) board has three pedals (although to be fair, they're all double pedals for a total of six effects), it shouldn't be surprising that my "small" board is what one might consider "minimalist" in a strict sense. This is a 10- by 7-inch board with only two pedals: a ... (more)

93. Boutique gear?

[musings] December 18 2006 02:09:58 GMT

Boutique gear, for purposes of this article, means any gear that comes from a "small shop". This is in keeping with the literal definition of the word "boutique", but leaves open to interpretation the meaning of "small". I tend to think of a small shop not so much in terms of the number of employees, but rather in terms of distribution. If I can walk into a Guitar Center anywhere in the country and see a vendor's products, then they are (as far as I'm concerned) almost ... (more)

94. 2006 in review

[musings] December 15 2006 18:43:41 GMT

Back in January I set forth my musical goals for the year 2006. I've been doing this for the past five or six years; I find that it helps me both to understand my limitations as a musician and to appreciate my progress as a student and player. Now that the year is drawing to a close, it's time to review how I did in relation to those goals. Learn to read and write. I ended up doing nothing along these lines. Although it still seems like a good idea, I lack a compelling reason to invest my limited time in ... (more)

95. Anectdotes, Theories and Facts

[musings] November 15 2006 04:36:23 GMT

One of the things that has struck me while perusing (and occasionally contributing to) online conversations about musical gear is that many participants are fundamentally, and in certain cases willfully ignorant of the fundamental difference between an anectdote and a fact. Ignorant? It's not a term I use lightly. It certainly does apply, though. ignorance: 1. A lack of knowledge. A state of being unaware or uniformed. 2. (pejorative) The choice to not act or behave in accordance with regard to certain ... (more)

96. Pedal Board 2.0

[musings] November 14 2006 05:50:08 GMT

I rebuilt my most recent pedal board, ditching a collection of boutique effects and replacing them with Visual Sound pedals. I used to cherish subtlety in pedals, but I've come to realize that an effect which can be heard clearly in a quiet room gets buried in crowd noise or the "roar floor" of the rest of an ensemble. That's not to say that the Visual Sound pedals can't be subtle, but it's not their forté. One thing that's really nice about the Visual Sound pedals is that each one contains two ... (more)

97. First time in a studio?

[musings] November 06 2006 02:41:05 GMT

It takes a certain amount of recording experience -- specifically doing one-track-at-a-time -- to become good at working that way. If you want to record like that, plan on spending a lot of time in the studio learning how to do it right. The ideal situation for a first-time recording project, IMO, is to go into the studio with all your parts and arrangements worked out so the band is tight. Have someone you trust -- someone with a critical ear and good people skills -- work with you during the rehearsal ... (more)

98. Boutique vs. commodity pedals

[musings] October 26 2006 18:50:10 GMT

With the recent addition of my Visual Sound pedals I now have two complete sets of pedals. That raises the inevitable question: which set is better? How do you compare the Route 66 compressor to the Aphex Punch Factory, or the Route 66 overdrive to the Blackstone MOSFET Overdrive, or the H2O's echo to the Toadworks Redux, or the H2O's chorus to the DLS RotoSIM? Are those comparisons even fair, or valid? The short answer is that the pedals are different. Not better or worse. Each has its strong and weak ... (more)

99. Developing creativity

[musings] October 26 2006 06:12:11 GMT

More than twenty years as an occasional player didn't see any advancement in my abilities. It's only in the past six years, since I've started playing "seriously" that I've made noticeable progress in both technique and creativity. Here are some notes about my own progress; perhaps they'll help you as well. There's a natural progression, I think, to developing your own musical voice. That progression begins with learning and playing other people's material. There's nothing wrong with playing ... (more)

100. Touch dynamics

[musings] October 26 2006 05:26:11 GMT

How do great "touch dynamics" happen? Is it a matter of equipment or of skill? There's no short answer to this question. There's no simple formula. It's a matter of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. Everything matters. The more range you have in your picking-hand attack, the more you're going to be able to take advantage of whatever touch dynamics the rig has. Tube amps certainly have an advantage. Some of the modellers - the Vox in particular - have a discernible response to ... (more)

101. Multieffects vs. pedals

[musings] October 26 2006 05:01:14 GMT

Should you choose a multi-effects processor or put together a board with a collection of individual pedals? That depends partly upon how many effects you intend to use. If you put together more than a few analog stomps you're going to get some signal degradation when all the FX are bypassed. It doesn't matter whether the pedals all true-bypass or not. Adding a buffer (or a buffered stompbox) is just a band-aid to keep the problem from getting too much worse as you add more stomps. A lot of digital multi-FX ... (more)

102. Life after bands

[musings] October 26 2006 04:50:03 GMT

I played in "original material" bands between `00 and `04 before walking away from that scene. I got to the point where I'd be in a bad mood all day leading up to rehearsals; I didn't want to deal with the drama, the substance abuse, the endless repetition of the same material, and the fact that band members didn't understand the difference between practice (something they're supposed to do on their own time) and rehearsal. Not all the bands were like that, but between the slow progress and the ... (more)

103. Leslie Emulators

[musings] October 26 2006 04:34:16 GMT

Leslie is one of my favorite effects. When I was a kid I used to love to hear the big Hammond organs play through a full-sized Leslie. Of course, Leslies were fairly common on recordings of guitar in those days, and I always wanted to have one for my guitar. I got lucky a couple years ago and bought a Leslie 147 with the combo preamp. Accurate emulation of a Leslie is extremely difficult. None of the emulators can stand up to a side-by-side comparison with a real Leslie. There are a few, however, that get ... (more)

104. Suggestions for guitarists

[musings] October 10 2006 01:27:25 GMT

I was originally going to title this "Rules for Guitarists", but I don't particularly care for rules unless there's a compelling reason; playing guitar should be fun and guitarists shouldn't be subjected to a bunch of unnecessary and unwanted rules. I know that I wouldn't like someone else telling me what I should do, and I suspect that you wouldn't either. On the other hand, guitarists do a lot of things that are self-defeating. Most significantly, we chase "tone" to the detriment of ... (more)

105. High-end Cables

[musings] October 02 2006 02:15:47 GMT

Every part of the instrument -- where "instrument" includes guitar, amp, fx and interconnects, all considered together as a system -- makes a difference in the resulting sound and behavior. For almost every component of the system, you can start with a simplified analysis that explains the gross behavior and then drill down to a more detailed view that explains many of the subtler aspects of sound and behavior. Consider the electric guitar and amplifier. At the simplest level you have ferrous ... (more)

106. Peterson VS-F StroboFlip Virtual Strobe Tuner

[gear] September 28 2006 02:11:38 GMT

The Peterson StroboFlip strobe tuner is faster and more accurate than other electronic tuners. The StroboFlip replaces a VS-1 -- the original "virtual strobe" tuner -- that I bought over five years ago. That VS-1 is still going strong as part of Mary-Suzanne's bass rig. The VS-F features a substantially reduced size, additional temperaments, automatic power-off and -- most importantly -- a folding design that helps to protect the LCD screen when being carried in a gig bag. ... (more)

107. Online guitar forums

[musings] September 23 2006 06:19:14 GMT

If you've been frequenting my music pages, you're no doubt already familiar with a multitude of online discussion forums dedicated to guitarists. There are many such forums, ranging from those having tens of thousands of registered users all the way down to forums of exceedingly narrow scope that don't get more than a few new posts over the course of a week. I have been active in quite a few of these forums over the past five years or so. When I post to online forums, I try to present myself in the same ... (more)

108. Musical Clichés

[musings] September 18 2006 16:47:51 GMT

I'm of the firm belief that musical clichés are good. Without clichés the listener can get lost. IIRC, Pat Metheney's "Zero Tolerance for Silence" CD is entirely free of clichés. I just can't bring myself to listen again to confirm my first impression. Even the stuff that was supposed to be cutting-edge when it first appeared is full of clichés. Bop, fusion, various metal subgenres and prog may be technically demanding, but they wouldn't be identifiable without their respective clichés. Take this ... (more)

109. Reconsidering the "palette" analogy

[musings] September 15 2006 03:22:44 GMT

Guitarists are fond of justifying their collections of guitars, amplifiers and effects with the argument that the collecion offers them a broad tonal "palette". If one guitar is good, three must offer more variety. Two different amps must cover more ground than one. And having a variety of pedals offers myriad ways to add "spice" to one's basic guitar sounds. All of these arguments have merit, up to a point. But the analogy to a painter's palette is overworked and not at all faithful to ... (more)

110. Hippie Music

[musings] September 05 2006 02:15:34 GMT

(I wrote this at Burning Man 2006.) You hear a lot of different music out here on the playa. Techno is certainly the most prevalent, but possibly not the most annoying. Once you recognize techno for what it is: machine music designed solely for a consistent tempo allowing segues that give the impression that the music never stops, you can ignore the fact that it has nothing to say except perhaps in a social sense. And in that sense, it's dance music, pure and simple. Techno neither demands nor encourages ... (more)

111. Fender Trans-Impedance Power Attenuator

[musings] August 21 2006 01:57:09 GMT

With the Summer 2006 announcement of the Princeton Recording amp, Fender has announced its intention to ship a tube amplifier with an interesting new bit of technology: The Trans-Impedance Power Attenuator (U.S. Patent #6,816,009). In this article I'll discuss, in a mostly non-technical manner, what makes Fender's attenuator so special. If you want to delve into the technical details for yourself, consult the patent. A "normal" attenuator (Power Brake, Hot Plate, etc.) puts a power resistor ... (more)

112. How many true-bypass pedals is too many?

[musings] August 19 2006 03:19:58 GMT

Guitar players have observed that a bunch of true-bypass pedals will cause degradation of their "all bypassed" tone, which kind of defeats the purpose of a true-bypass switch, which is to avoid degrading the uneffected tone of your guitar. It's true. It depends upon a few factors, but you'll start running into problems at around four or five true-bypass pedals. The problem is capacitance. You know that a longer cable from guitar to amp will cut treble because it adds capacitance. (The added ... (more)

113. Combatting GAS

[musings] August 19 2006 01:38:04 GMT

Everybody's different, and there is no single way to combat GAS. I found that it helps to have goals and to keep notes. The problem I've had with buying stuff because it "completes a set" or because "it's a bargain" or for various other non-musical reasons is that I'd end up not using this new gear for more than a few days, weeks or months. After that, the "cool" would wear off and the gear would go neglected. But it'd still be there and I'd feel guilty about not playing it, ... (more)

114. Bonding with my Gear

[musings] July 09 2006 02:01:52 GMT

It has been a while since I've written about why I chose to put together the kind of rig I have. I've written bits and pieces about different pieces of gear, but I really haven't made a comprehensive statement about why I like what I like since my days of favoring Mesa/Boogie and Gibson. A lot has changed since then, but my goals have remained fairly constant. My main rig now consists of a Fender Vibro-King, a Koll Custom DL Thinline guitar, and a few pedals. Let's start with the guitar. The Koll Custom DL ... (more)

115. Gain, volume and dynamics

[musings] July 08 2006 21:47:46 GMT

Gain and volume are independent concepts as they're commonly applied to guitar amps. How much gain you need depends upon what kind of sound you're going for, how loud you play, how you attack the strings, how you set your tone controls, what kind of pickups you have in your guitar, and on and on and on... Don't confuse gain with volume. Although they're related at at technical level, guitarists perceive gain as being independent of volume. Gain is usually associated with distortion. And distortion ... (more)

116. Amp Loudness

[musings] July 08 2006 21:17:54 GMT

You can't predict amp "loudness" just by looking at the power rating. There's a lot more going on... Differences in speaker frequency response and efficiency typically matter more than a doubling or halving of amp power. Ditto many specifics of the amp design: EQ will greatly affect perceived loudness. So will the size of the output transformer (in general, more iron will give you greater bandwidth - more lows and highs - at or near full power) and the design of the power supply (less sag will ... (more)

117. Roland SH-32 Synthesizer

[gear] June 20 2006 05:59:18 GMT

This Roland SH-32 synthesizer is a compact analog modelling synth with two oscillators, a filter, a VCA, two LFOs, an arpeggiator, a rhythm sequencer, a chord memory, a multieffect processor, and lots of storage for patches. The SH-32 can perform four parts with up to a total of 32 voices. Synthesizers are one area in which digital music technology is actually an improvement over the "bad old days" of pure analog devices; the SH-32 is infinitely less temperamental and substantially less expensive ... (more)

118. How does the Vibro-King compare to a tweed or blackface Fender amp?

[musings] June 13 2006 05:53:25 GMT

On the "tweed to blackface" continuum, the VK is kind of in-between. That's a tough one to explain since the tweed amps went through so many changes in their tone stacks. You have the the tweed Deluxe with its treble boost/cut control, the high-power Twin and the Bassman with their Marshallesque tone stacks, and some really oddball designs like the stack in the low-power Twin. Low power supply voltages contributed to a darker sound and low headroom. Also, the various phase-inverter designs had a ... (more)

119. Improving as a player

[musings] April 19 2006 21:12:41 GMT

At some point, every guitarist wonders whether they'll ever unlock the mysteries of the guitar. Players who are just starting out often wonder whether they'll ever be able to play by ear, or to improvise, or to understand music theory, or to master some technique or style. The good news is this: everyone goes through it. The bad news is: everyone goes through it. Many times, in fact. Be patient and have faith; your playing will improve. Improvement never comes all at once, but you will make progress over ... (more)

120. How to use a standby switch

[musings] April 18 2006 22:49:37 GMT

There's a lot of information on the `net and in manufacturers' literature about how to use the standby switch on your tube amp. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of different procedures. In the words of at least one frustrated player, "there's not a lot of concensus among the experts." Most of the experts cite the "cathode stripping" boogieman to convince guitarists to religiously follow a standby switch ritual. Their notion is that applying high voltage to the circuit before the ... (more)

121. Turn that amp down!

[musings] April 18 2006 01:34:09 GMT

OSHA recommendations state that you can listen to 90 dB levels for 8 hours a day. Every 5 dB increase halves your safe exposure time. To get a ballpark estimate of your exposure, assume that your speaker has an efficiency of about 100 dB/watt (most modern guitar speakers are close to that figure) and that most of that power is making it to your ears (a reasonable assumption in the small spaces most of us have to play in). Every doubling of amp power adds 3 dB. Multiplying amp power by 10 adds 10 dB. A five ... (more)

122. Is it the gear, or not?

[musings] April 17 2006 05:21:20 GMT

One point that guitarists will debate ad infinitum is this: "Is it the gear or the player that makes great music?" On the surface, the answer seems obvious: It's the player. No amount of gear is going to produce music by itself. Photographer Ken Rockwell argues a similar point in his article, Why Your Camera Does Not Matter. He asks: Why is it that with over 60 years of improvements in cameras, lens sharpness and film grain, resolution and dynamic range that no one has been able to equal what ... (more)

123. Small amps and big PAs?

[musings] April 15 2006 20:00:43 GMT

What's up with the small amps? Everyone and his brother wants to find a quieter tube amp with that big tube-amp sound. I can almost understand that desire for folks who play at home. Never mind that home players would be better off with a modelling amp; even a "small" five-watt tube amp is very loud - far too loud for a typical hundred fifty square foot room in a quiet dwelling shared with family or roommates. And I can even see the benefit for a modern rock or country artist, touring stadium ... (more)

124. Biasing the Vibro-King "by ear"

[musings] April 14 2006 19:35:36 GMT

Fender recommends using this "by-ear" approach to adjust the bias on a Vibro-King: Thanks for your inquiry and your interest in Fender Musical Instruments. On this model, the Bias doesn't need to be measured to be accurately set. To set the Bias without removing the chassis, set the Volume knob between 1-1/2 to 2, and adjust the Bias knob (located on the under side of the chassis, next to the power cable,) so the amp produces the maximum hiss. Strum a full chord and let ring. Now, turn the Bias ... (more)

125. Things I need to be reminded of...

[musings] April 10 2006 17:07:44 GMT

I've been writing about guitars and music for about three years. I've been playing for a lot longer than that. Sometimes I cover old ground or retrace old footsteps, thinking that things will be different this time around. They're usually not, especially when it comes to gear. This article is a reminder to myself of things that I really don't need to rediscover yet again. Things I Need to Remember Flexibility does not lead to musicality. Flexible options provide me with little more than a way to spend time ... (more)

126. True bypass, cables and buffers

[musings] April 10 2006 03:20:49 GMT

A recent addition to "conventional wisdom" for guitar players is the notion that you should add a buffer at the head of your pedalboard (but after wah and fuzz, which like to "see" the guitar) if you're running a bunch of true-bypass pedals between your guitar and amp. The rationale is that you should isolate the guitar from changes in capacitive load caused by switching engaging any of your pedals. As with most things about which guitarists obsess, there's a grain of truth behind the ... (more)

127. Balancing music vs. gear aquisition

[musings] February 19 2006 21:48:38 GMT

Every now and then I hear from someone who's confronting the issue of gear vs. talent. These people want to know whether they're wasting time and money by having nice gear or lots of gear (or lots of nice gear) at a time when they perceive their playing abilities to be relatively weak. This kind of introspection is counterbalanced by players who view collecting gear as a hobby in and of itself, largely independent from one's ability to play. I believe that there's a beneficial balance to be struck ... (more)

128. Assembling a band

[musings] February 19 2006 19:08:17 GMT

There are two kinds of bands. One "just happens" when a bunch of like-minded players get together to make music. The other is put together to fulfill someone's musical vision. The latter kind of band is incredibly difficult to assemble; you need to find band members who are willing and able to follow your vision without trying to impose their own agenda over time. In an ideal world you'd have your choice of band members so you can pick the "perfect fit" right from the start. In the real ... (more)

129. Boss RT-20 rotary simulator reviewed

[musings] January 27 2006 05:27:09 GMT

I was able to play one of the new Boss RT-20 rotary simulators today. This is one of the "double-wide" dual-footswitch units. It's laden with knobs, lots of knobs: a mode selector, separate wet and dry level controls, an accelleration control, separate horn and rotor speed controls, a horn/rotor balance control and a drive control. The footswitch functions are simple: one engages the effect, the other switches between fast and slow speeds. If you press both footswitches at once the simulator ... (more)

130. Delay effect comparison

[musings] January 27 2006 05:20:21 GMT

I've been through a bunch of delay effects, and I've loved `em all... Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man I love the sound of analog delays, with their syrupy warm echo decays. The DMM also has a built-in modulation LFO which lets you get as close to the sound of a well-worn tape echo machine as I've ever heard. And of course you can tweak the delay knob and get pitch-shifted echo repeats, or crank the feedback control for runaway feedback. Very psychedelic. The downside of the DMM (and most other analog ... (more)

131. Tips for guitarists

[musings] January 18 2006 05:35:14 GMT

Make sure that your guitar is in tune. This should be obvious. Unfortunately, it seems that quite a few guitarists don't do this. Make sure that your guitar is properly intonated; it doesn't do you any good to tune the open strings if notes fretted higher up the neck aren't in tune. Control your volume and tone with your picking hand. Your picking hand is much more nimble and expressive than controls and pedals. Learn to go from a whisper to full-on crunch with just your picking dynamics. Learn to play ... (more)

132. Can you have too many guitars?

[musings] January 15 2006 23:41:15 GMT

Can you have too many guitars? Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on your needs and goals, I guess... If you're a studio guitarist, you're probably going to need a lot of gear in order to be able to cop different sounds. They're just tools for doing your job. If you're playing in an authentic cover band, then sure... why not cover all the bases? On the other hand, check out your keyboard player... He doesn't lug a Rhodes, a concert grand, and upright piano, a harpsichord, a Mellotron, a Farfisa, a Vox ... (more)

133. The voice is not the message

[musings] January 15 2006 19:12:56 GMT

Take a look around on internet guitarist forums and you'll see that there are a lot of players trying to copy someone else's guitar tone. There are different ways to copy your guitar hero's tone. You can copy the sound of someone else's rig and adapt it to your own playing style, or you can want to play like and sound like someone else. The latter approach is actually useful, I think, for a guitarist who plays sessions or in a cover band or tribute band. Unfortunately I hear a lot of players attempting to ... (more)

134. The "Class-A" illusion

[musings] January 13 2006 04:29:21 GMT

While I don't dispute the technical definitions of the operational classes, I believe that they have negligible predictive or descriptive value when it comes to guitar amps. When amp classes were defined (a long time ago, in the `30s or `40s) everyone concerned assumed that the goal was linear amplification, free of distortion insofar as the technology allowed. I don't believe that operational classes are useful in describing guitar amps because the goal is for their power stages to be operating ... (more)

135. 2006 Musical Goals

[musings] January 02 2006 06:40:08 GMT

I might as well get this out where everyone can see it. Every year since 2000 I've been setting musical goals for my self. I do this in lieu of new years' resolutions because, frankly, I'm more motivated by the musical goals. Learn to read and write. I haven't had any exposure to musical notation since I took a one-semester music theory class for non-music majors. That was a long time ago. I struggle so much with trying to make sense of written music that it's quite useless to me today. I'm going to take ... (more)

136. The Internet and the Quest for Perfection

[musings] December 19 2005 05:29:28 GMT

There's a lot of information available online about guitar gear. Reviews are everywhere. Opinions are everywhere. Recommendations are everywhere. Discussion groups feature an inexhaustible series of little dramas consisting of discovery followed by extreme hype followed by abandonment of the hot "flavor of the month" product. And the language... Guitarists have their own language consisting of colorful adjectives like "smooth", "creamy", "buttery", ... (more)

137. Art vs. artifice

[musings] December 12 2005 15:55:48 GMT

I'm beginning to realize that playing the guitar is a kind of parlor trick. Every guitarist has his own style, his own flair, his own bag of favorite tricks. Put a guitarist into an unfamiliar musical situation - improvising a part to someone else's music, or playing with unfamiliar musicians - and he'll fall back onto his familiar bag of trigs. Granted, some tricks are more sophisticated, flashy, memorable or impressive than others. But they're still tricks - practiced, conditioned responses designed to ... (more)

138. Are boutique amps just another amp in the end?

[musings] November 21 2005 18:14:20 GMT

There are plenty of reasons to go boutique. The most important is to get an amp that's not otherwise available in current production. For example, if you really want an old blackface or tweed amp but don't want to deal with the costs of ownership of a 40 or 50 year old relic... There are also boutique amps that offer unique designs. Some that come to mind are Dr. Z and /13 amps. These guys aren't copying anyone, so you get a chance to try something totally new. Finally, boutique amps are built to higher ... (more)

139. Tube amp attack sensitivity at home

[musings] November 19 2005 04:42:46 GMT

The short answer to the question, "Can you get tube amp attack sensitivity at relatively low volumes?", is "probably not". The reason I say that is because I assume that when someone says "relatively low volume" it really means "much quieter than stage volume." Depending upon who you listen to, stage volume can be upwards of 95 dB; modern trends are toward lower volumes to satisfy the sound guy's need to mix everything through the mains. Most guitarists complain ... (more)

140. Pedal hangover

[musings] November 19 2005 04:40:16 GMT

I have to wonder why I bother buying pedals... A couple nights agoe I was playing through two amps at once (without hum, thanks to Ebtech Audio's nifty little Hum-X gadget) and decided that I should try all the tricks I've been wanting to try with my pan pedal and Morley ECV (echo/chorus/vibrato). I had fun for about 20 minutes, then got a bad case of "FX hangover." That's where you realize you're listening to the electronics and not the guitar. Not only that, but you realize that you're playing ... (more)

141. Solo Improv Performance

[musings] November 19 2005 04:16:08 GMT

This is a slightly-edited version of a note I sent to my Boogie-Talk friends after I played at an open mic on Oct. 24th: Not counting BTNW, this is the second time I've played in public since quitting Almost Milwaukie in August of last year, and the first time I've played for people who don't already know me. I really wanted to get an unbiased reaction about what I'm trying to do with my playing. I swore Mary-Suzanne to secrecy and made her promise that she wouldn't stack the deck by inviting a bunch of ... (more)

142. Technological Obsessions

[musings] November 01 2005 07:08:37 GMT

There have always been guitarists who seek to improve their instruments. Richie Blackmore with the scalloped frets and the tape-recorder preamp, Hendrix and his collaboration with Roger Mayer, Pete Townshend and his request to Jim Marshall for more power, Danny Gatton and his customized Teles, Carlos Santana and the early Boogies, Les Paul and lots of cool gadgets... One difference today is that a lot of these tweaks have become commodity items rather than true DIY (or collaborative) projects. The spirit ... (more)

143. Amp terminology: Touch Sensitivity

[musings] October 19 2005 04:12:26 GMT

It seems that most of guitarists equate touch-sensitivity, sag, compression, and the "forgiving" nature of an amp. The opposite would be a "stiff" or "unforgiving" amp. Obviously there's a spectrum of these behaviors, and I think there's at least one other category: "saturated" or "mushy" (different connotations, depending upon whether you like that kind of thing or not...). This is the sustain-forever kind of behavior, a la Santana, where touching the ... (more)

144. Ground switches and "death caps"

[musings] October 19 2005 03:59:13 GMT

This is probably more than you ever wanted to know about ground switches and "death caps"... In the US, conventional power outlets have one side of the line at ground potential and the other side connected to the "hot" lead. The ground switch works by creating a high-impedance connection, through the grounding or "death" capacitor, between the chassis and one side of the AC line. The "correct" connection attaches the capacitor to the grounded side of the AC line, ... (more)

145. The future of digital guitar amplifiers

[musings] October 01 2005 21:56:48 GMT

The one thing that digital modellers still can't do as well as tube amps, IMO, is to produce great touch sensitivity in the critical clean-to-slightly dirty range. The Vox Tonelab does well in this area, but technically it's not using digital modelling to create the amp response. Line6 does well in the pristine clean (e.g. JC120) and dirty to stupid-amounts-of-gain sounds, but falls apart in the middle ground between clean and slightly dirty. I don't really care if it sounds like a cranked Bassman or ... (more)

146. Sounding good with the gear you have

[musings] September 27 2005 16:10:17 GMT

There's a point at which all the gear-flipping in the world isn't going to help your playing. However, ... For me there was a period where I went through a lot of gear trying to figure out what really worked for me. I spent a lot of time messing around with gear that touted "flexibility" (you know the kind: digital modelling amps, channel-switching amps, rack gear, effects, guitars with a bazillion switching options, etc.) before I discovered the joy of simple gear. Now my rig is normally just a ... (more)

147. Edirol PCR-50 Keyboard

[gear] September 12 2005 04:28:07 GMT

This Edirol (Roland) PCR-50 keyboard has both a MIDI interface for use with my QY-700 and a USB interface for use with Mary-Suzanne's Macintosh and Garage Band. ... (more)

148. Will you pay to self-distribute your music on the internet?

[musings] August 24 2005 04:25:02 GMT

I recently said this about the music industry's response to file sharing: It's not about loss of current sales; if anything, file-sharing is free advertising. Remember how the major software producers moaned about piracy in the `80s? Remember the "drop a dime" campaigns and the high-profile raids? Remember the flurry of "look `n feel" litigation? And how about the (still ongoing) push to build "war chests" of software patents? It's the same thing all over again with file ... (more)

149. Golden Age, or beginning of the end?

[musings] August 21 2005 23:50:52 GMT

Any guitar player who's been in the game for at least a couple of decades will probably agree: this is the Golden Age of guitar gear. It's strange then, that there are so few guitar heroes in the public eye. And yet MI sales in general, and guitar sales in particular, are higher than they've been at any point in history... Which raises several interesting (possibly annoying, depending upon your viewpoint) questions: Who's buying all this stuff? Is it mostly "old-timers" like us who remember or ... (more)

150. Musical journeys: Reflections on a gathering

[musings] August 20 2005 18:02:39 GMT

Last weekend I attended a gathering of musicians from an online discussion list. Those of us in the Pacific NW have been getting together a couple times a year for the past couple years; a larger gathering in the late summer, and a smaller gathering in the spring. We bring our musical gear - mostly guitars and amps - and hang out for a day or two. These events always provide plenty of food for thought; this article explores a very personal perspective, inspired by the diversity of musicianship we see at ... (more)

151. Even better Vibro-King "Ticking Tremolo" fix

[musings] August 05 2005 04:20:06 GMT

Here's an even simpler trem-ticking fix for the Vibro-King. Starting with a stock amp: Cut open the trem bug. Remove the neon lamp. Replace the neon lamp with a red LED. (See notes.) Tape up the modified trem bug. Note 1: The LED is polar, so it'll only work one way. Before you tape up the trem bug, warm up the amp and see whether the LED blinks. If it doesn't, reverse its leads. Note 2: You should pick an LED that's about the same size as the photocell(s) and frosted so it diffuses the light to cover the ... (more)

152. Do you want good tone?

[musings] July 04 2005 05:05:21 GMT

David Torn (a.k.a. splatt) recently posted this thought-provoking question on The Gear Page: do you want a) good tone, or..... b) exceptional (ie, personal) tone? I'm not even sure that such a thing as good tone exists in isolation. What works for one musical context is not necessarily even appropriate, let alone good, in another context. I want my instrument (and by instrument, I mean guitar and amp) to be expressive in the sense that I can use it to convey nuances of expression. I don't care so much ... (more)

153. Vibro-King "Ticking Tremolo" Fix

[musings] June 30 2005 04:10:09 GMT

The Fender Vibro-King has a well-known problem with ticking tremolo. It's present in all the Vibro-Kings I've played (about five of them), and I've heard about many others that have the same problem. It's kind of surprising to encounter such a persistent problem in a $3,000 amp, but it's there. Fortunately, the amp has other positive attributes to recommend it... The trem ticking is really not so much a design flaw as it is a problem inherent in the design of the circuit. Older Fender amps have this ... (more)

154. Are guitar players stuck in the past?

[musings] June 07 2005 21:23:17 GMT

It's not so much that guitar players are traditionalists as they are "practicalists" (is that even a word?). Players select instruments that help to make music in some manner that appeals to them. Instrument manufacturers, on the other hand, are always looking for the next big thing. The manufacturers introduce tons of new instruments based upon technological innovation and fashion. With very few exceptions (Steinberger and Ovation instruments come to mind) the manufacturers do not create ... (more)

155. Phil Lesh: "Searching for the Sound"

[musings] May 14 2005 19:07:50 GMT

I listened to a lot of Grateful Dead in the mid-70s. I attended maybe a half-dozen shows, mostly while they were touring with the wall of sound. I don't consider myself to be a Deadhead. I wasn't planning to read Phil Lesh's book, "Searching for the Sound", but got drawn into it by some of Lesh's writing about the early days. At least half of the book focuses on the `60s and `70s. That period was, for the band, full of adventure and boundless optimism. It was clear that Lesh had a tremendous ... (more)

156. Amplifier "class" distinctions are useless

[musings] April 12 2005 17:27:28 GMT

There's a lot of confusion over the term "Class A" as applied to guitar amplifiers. The term has a precise technical definition created in the days when engineers were concerned with linear signal reproduction. Class distinctions (A, AB, B) are defined for operating conditions not expected of guitar amplifiers, namely that the intended operation of the amplifier is to minimize the generated distortion. The problem is, any guitar amp that pushes the output stage hard enough can't be Class A no ... (more)

157. Musical Evolution

[musings] March 22 2005 17:36:14 GMT

I've been playing guitar on and off since I was in my early teens. I played mostly folk and rock, plus a little bit of blues. I started performing as soon as I could play a few songs. I grew up around classical musicians and do have an appreciation for some classical music. Never studied, though... my guitar skills were "self-taught". I've always preferred music that had some good harmonic ideas: prog-rock rather than blues, folk rather than metal, Beatles rather than Rolling Stones, etc. ... (more)

158. Best (and worst) musical performances

[musings] March 04 2005 06:53:35 GMT

Unexpectedly Good Blue Oyster Cult at the Roseland Theatre in 1994. I've been a fan since 1972, but never heard a live show and (based upon their live recordings) never really cared to. But I figured that this might be my last chance to see them, so what the heck... Well, I was truly amazed at what they managed to pull off on stage. Kinda put the lie to my notion that they were really a studio-only band. They put on a truly outstanding performance in rather intimate venue - there were only a couple hundred ... (more)

159. My musical influences

[musings] March 04 2005 06:43:46 GMT

I'll be 51 in June. I grew up with a lot of classical music. Just about everyone on my mom's side of the family was a classical musician. They all played and taught. My mom actually played at Carnegie Hall once. Her dad was a violin maker; he won an award for his instruments at the 1939 World Fair. Despite all that, I have no formal musical training. That was my own choice - one that I occasionally question. I was certainly afforded the opportunity to learn about music, but as a child I was far more ... (more)

160. My technical background

[musings] March 02 2005 20:26:54 GMT

I learned electronics hands-on at a very young age. I literally started when I about four years old. While other kids were reading comics, I read things like the ARRL Handbook and the RCA Receiving Tube Manual. I built a lot of gear as a hobbyist - mostly audio and later digital. Never did get the hang of RF, but learned a lot about layout in the process. I spent a couple summers in high school as a bench technician, repairing TVs, stereos, tape recorders, etc. Mostly tube gear at that time, although ... (more)

161. Losing my Boogie "religion"

[musings] January 12 2005 07:08:27 GMT

I used to play channel-switching amps. Boogies in particular. I've even had brief flirtations with a few "swiss army knife" solid-state and digital modelling amps. But I was first and foremost a Boogie guy. I thought I needed the "flexibility" that came from being able to instantly kick in different levels of gain and EQ. But I got tired of tap-dancing on the channel switches and dealing with the horribly finicky dialing-in to balance the channel volumes properly for the band, only to ... (more)

162. Advice for first-time amp buyers

[musings] December 29 2004 05:06:13 GMT

Buy a really good guitar, then worry about the amp. You connect physically with the guitar, so that's far more important than the amp. Especially when you learn how to get the sounds you want with your hands rather than effects... The choice of the "right" instrument (and this includes amps as well as guitars) depends upon the player's preferences, skills, musical objectives, budget, etc. I'll try to cover some of the important considerations in this article. First, let's talk about power vs. ... (more)

163. Boutique Amps

[musings] December 25 2004 19:13:23 GMT

I'm not sure that you'll find a lot of agreement on what constitues a "boutique" amplifier. For most products, that label implies cost and exclusivity. Literally, the word boutique is French for "small shop". My take on boutique amplifiers probably doesn't agree with most peoples', but I think it makes more sense: I define a boutique amplifier as any modern handwired non-PCB amp. To me, that makes a lot more sense than the "it's boutique because it's sold to people who buy boutique ... (more)

164. Yamaha QY700 Sequencer/Synthesizer

[gear] December 16 2004 02:27:14 GMT

This Yamaha QY700 sequencer marks my musical entry into the digital age. I'm the third owner... with any luck I'll be the first to actually do something with it. ... (more)

165. So you want a custom guitar?

[musings] December 07 2004 05:54:12 GMT

I didn't start by wanting a custom guitar. I bought and sold a lot of guitars. Every one was different in some way: body style and size, scale length, pickups, vibrato, fret size, neck shape, fretboard radius, woods, construction, ... lots of variations. I played them all; gigged them all. Along the way, I made note of the details that I liked and didn't like. I used that knowledge to guide my next purchase. Over time, that led to one guitar which was almost perfect for me. I played that guitar almost ... (more)

166. Simple Gear, Complex Music

[musings] December 06 2004 05:59:53 GMT

Over the decades since players started using electric guitars, guitar gear has become more complex and less expensive. Look at the progression from simple guitars and low-powered amps in the fifties, to the seminal early effects and stompboxes of the sixties (echo, fuzz, wah, compression, boosters), to the first guitar synths and high-gain amps in the seventies, to the overblown racks of the eighties, culminating in the introduction of modeling amps in the nineties. Each new technological introduction has ... (more)

167. Multi-Amp Pitfalls

[musings] December 04 2004 05:40:26 GMT

One of the easiest and most effective ways to get a breathtaking clean sound from your guitar rig is to add a different amp, or even two amps. The combination of different tonality and response adds a depth and complexity to your sound that goes beyond what you could achieve with any single amp. And it's easy to do, assuming that you have an extra amp or two. In most cases, you don't even need any extra gear aside from the amps and an extra cable or two. If your amps have two inputs, typically labelled 1 ... (more)

168. Troubleshooting the Blue Angel

[musings] December 01 2004 03:54:12 GMT

I loaned my Blue Angel amp to my son a while ago. It was fine when it left my house. When he returned the amp last month, the 6V6 side (the amp is switchable from 2x6V6 to 4xEL84 or all six tubes at once) wasn't working properly. I'd get various odd noises when I took it off standby, the power level would jump up and down, and once in a while I'd get some redplating in one of the 6V6s. If I switched it to the EL84 side (or even the combined setting) then the problem would go away. The schematic for the ... (more)

169. Preamp Tube Substitutions

[musings] November 17 2004 05:38:35 GMT

The following tubes may be substituted in most amplifiers to tune the gain of the stage in which they're used. Type Av 12AX7 100 7025 100 5751 70 12AT7 60 6072 44 12AY7 40 12AU7 20 ... (more)

170. Computer-based recording

[musings] November 13 2004 18:59:43 GMT

I'm dead set against computer-based recording, but wouldn't discourage anyone from going that route. Let me explain... Most of my friends and acquaintances who record use computers for their studio. At the time I set up my studio, I asked for recommendations from as many people as I could find. Virtually all of them expounded on the benefits of using a computer: expandability, availability of FX plug-ins, portability, etc. The sales pitch took about five minutes. Then, without exception, that was followed ... (more)

171. Are