Guitar Gear

Every few years, I write about things I’ve learned. I’m an eternal student of guitars and music and performing and I never stop trying to learn because there is always something to learn. So, here’s another chapter in my learning experience.

The sound is all that matters

One might think that after all these years running a gear site that I’m obsessive about my gear. I’m not. What I am obsessive about is my sound and at least from a gear standpoint, what it will take to achieve the sound I’m after. That could come from a cheap guitar or pedal, or it could come from my Les Paul worth thousands of dollars. If I can get the sound I’m expecting, I’m golden.

I no longer obsess over minute details like what kind of chip or circuit a particular pedal may use. I don’t really give a shit about whether an amp has tubes or not. All I need to know is if some gear helps me deliver my sound. The result of that is that I use a lot less gear now, especially pedals. My pedal chain is incredibly simple: Vox Big Bad Wah (if I’m the solo guitar player) -> Peterson StroboStomp Tuner -> BOSS GE-7 EQ -> Wampler Belle (ODR-1 clone) -> Timmy for stacking -> BOSS CE-2 Chorus (just because) -> BOSS DM-2w Analog Delay -> Pigtronix Class A Boost. That’s it. Depending on my mood, I’ll use either my Fender Tone Master Deluxe Reverb or DV Mark Little 40. When I’m in a Plexi mood, I’ll use my Aracom VRX22 (6V6) or VRX18 (EL84). My number one guitar is a Taylor T5z, though I will often switch with my Squier CV Tele.

Test, Test, TEST Your Gear

Before I leave for any gig, I spend an hour or two practicing and testing my gear to make sure all the connections are good, all the knobs are tight, and there are no shorts or anything crackling when I play. If I’m obsessive about anything, it’s making sure my entire signal chain is in good working order. I do this to ensure that once I get to a venue, what I set up on stage matches what I set up at home. Even with my signal chain being so simple, I still do this because I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found issues with my gear before leaving for a gig.

I also test my levels, so there are no surprises when I hook up to the PA. Depending on the venue, I know where my levels need to be, and I adjust them, accordingly, sometimes even going as far as testing through my DAW to ensure my levels are in the right place. When I talk about levels, it means dialing in my stage volume AND checking to make sure that what I’m sending to the PA isn’t too much or too little. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve played with folks who don’t test their gear or check their levels, especially their output levels, only to set up their rig at a gig and monopolize our setup time or eat into our sound check while they dial their shit in at the gig.

Have Two of EVERYTHING

I’ve written about this before, but I bring spares for everything to a gig, though admittedly, I usually only bring a single amp to a gig, but that’s because I’ve tested thoroughly. But I always have a spare guitar. I have two or three extra XLR, 1/4″ cords, patch cables, batteries, mics (vocal and amp). I also carry no less than three packs of strings.

Other important items I bring: A multitool just in case I need some pliers or cutters. For instance, at my last gig, I had to do a quick repair on my mic stand. I was so glad I had the multitool. Another thing I also bring is a high-power tactical flashlight. That has come in handy many times, especially at the end of a gig and we’re striking the stage. That flashlight mitigates leaving stuff at the venue. Finally, I always have a supply of Hall’s Mentholyptus cough drops. As a singer, they’ve been a lifesaver. But even if I’m not singing, at least for me, there’s something about the freshness that helps get my head straight.

Never Ever Wear Beer Goggles

I once played a gig where I was totally fucked up on bourbon. I thought I was playing great, and that the gig went well. But when I heard the recording, I was embarrassed to hear just how much I SUCKED! There were times where I was even singing completely off key! The moral of the story is that when you’re inebriated, you don’t sound as good as you think you do.

Listen to the Bass

I know that sounds counterintuitive since most people tend to think the drums provide the rhythm, but in every band I’ve played in over the years, it’s the bass that holds down the core rhythm. That’s why Peter Frampton refers to his bassist as the “Balls of the Band.” While the drums provide basic beat and tempo, from a musical standpoint the bass provides rhythmic “mood.” This is what I play off. For instance, in my church band, my bassist is not only skilled, but he’s a rock-solid musician who has great command over his fretboard. We’ve been playing together for years and we mix well as we play off each other. It’s a great mix. So while we’re performing a piece, I’m actively listening to what he’s playing and will adjust my playing to match the mood he’s presenting.

Ambient Reverb Is Only Good for the Studio

When the Christian group Hillsong broke through with their hits like “Oceans” and “What a Beautiful Name,” it seemed that every other Contemporary Christian band started using ambient, long-tail reverb like the Strymon Big Sky. The sound that pedals like that can produce is pretty awesome, but that sound only works in the studio or in a controlled environment.

I saw Hillsong live a few years back at the Oakland Coloseum arena. The guitars sounded like shit! They used all that ambient reverb and the guitars were completely washed out and muddy-sounding. The FOH guys compensated by boosting their levels, but that was a mistake. It just created an amorphous wall of mushy guitar sound. It was a shame because their guitarists are excellent musicians.

As Doug Doppler put it, “I add just a touch of reverb to give my tone a little grease. More than that and it turns mushy.” I totally agree. A little bit of reverb is fine. But as you add more reverb, you lose articulation as notes start overlapping each other. And in a live situation, that can be disastrous to your sound. It may sound great to you up close, but once the sound projects out to the audience along with all the other instrumentation and vocals, it will get completely lost in the mix. So as much as you might like that “big sky” sound, it’s probably a good idea to dial it down.

Using Less Gain

There’s nothing like the sound of a sweet, creamy distortion. But over the years, I’ve learned to use a lot less gain, especially with my overdrive pedals because too much gain causes your signal to compress. What then happens is your sound becomes completely muddy. For example, several years ago I went to the Experience Hendrix Tour with Joe Satriani. It was a great show, but when Joe first came on stage, he had way too much gain in either his pedals or amp and his tone was completely muddy. It was difficult to make out the notes he was playing. The FOH guys compensated by turning up his volume in the PA, but all that did was make his shitty, muddy sound louder – excrutiatingly so. Fortunately, after his opening number, he realized how bad he sounded, made some adjustments on his board, then all was well.

Personally, playing mostly classic rock, I’ve rarely gone into high-gain territory with my sound. But I’ve learned that like reverb to add enough gain to add some grease to my sound and get a great distorted tone without ever getting muddy.

And as far as overdrive is concerned, it boils down to setup. Whatever amp I use, I set it to the edge of breakup, so that if I attack harder or turn up the volume knob on my guitar, I’ll get go into overdrive. I normally use two overdrive pedals with a booster at the end of my chain. With the overdrive pedals, I add just enough gain to color my sound, but I make sure that the levels are at unity. If I stack, I expect only a modest jump in volume. With my overdrive pedals I want to make sure I have lots of control over my levels from my guitar. I kick in the boost for solos, which will slam the front-end of my amp, so I get a bigger jump in volume. That will also increase the amount of distortion, but I still fall short of fully saturating my front-end, which would cause compression and muddy my tone.

Get a Graphic EQ

It’s hard for me to believe that for as long as I’ve been playing, up until recently, I didn’t even consider using a Graphic EQ in my chain. But since I’ve added one to my chain, there’s no way that I will ever be without one on any of my boards. As Phil McKnight puts it, “A Graphic EQ solves problems.” Truer words could not be spoken. And the thing is that you don’t need much adjustment to affect dramatic change to your sound! When I use it on my acoustic board, because my piezo pickup is a bit midrangy, I setup my EQ in a slightly scooped pattern. We’re talking just a couple of dB on the low end and upper frequencies. But the affect that has had on my tone is insane! On my electric board, when I’m playing my Tele (which is most of the time), I slightly cut the lowest frequencies, and boost up the upper mids and slightly cut the highest frequencies. Talk about a rich tone!

You don’t have to spend a ton on one either. I purchased the BOSS GE-7 simply because I know that a BOSS pedal will withstand hundreds of gigs. But Behringer makes a good pedal for a quarter of the price. But no matter what you end of getting, you’ll be amazed at what it will do for your sound!

I just pulled the trigger on a BOSS GE-7 EQ pedal last week. It was a game-changer for me. And while I looked at a bunch of different graphic EQ pedals such as the Behringer EQ700, the MXR Six- and Ten-Band EQ, and even the very cool Source Audio EQ2, in the end I went with the standard GE-7. Why? Simply because I know it’ll just work right out the box with minimal fuss, and even more importantly, I’m confident it will continue working for years, even with lots of use.

While BOSS pedals are considered by many guitarists to be utilitarian, and their looks are pedestrian at best, one thing no one can fault them for is reliability. For instance, I have an original MIJ CE-2 Black Label from 1980 that I still use today. It has withstood thousands of gigs over that course of time; though truth be told, because it has so much sentimental value to me, I’m going to retire it soon and replace it with a new CE-2w. But regardless of me retiring it, imagine me lugging it to gigs and using it for over 40 years!

A lot of that reliability has to do with how rugged it is, and that is also an earmark of BOSS pedals. Their all-metal enclosures are thick. You can ding the paint (my CE-2 paint is nicked and chipped), but you will never bend the body of a BOSS pedal! Unless, of course, you take a hammer to it…

So what about sound? Well, that’s totally subjective. Guitarists like John 5 use mostly BOSS pedals. For others, they may be a bit too pedestrian. But one thing is for sure: BOSS has a TON of pedals to choose from, and the fact that they have been around for as along as they have means that they have a sound that’s appealing to lots of guitarists. And even after several decades in the business, they still find ways to innovate. They’ve never sat on their laurels. Even with their Waza Craft pedals, they’re bringing back their classics but upgraded with newer and even more reliable electronics. I have several delays, but the one that’s on my board is my BOSS DM-2w.

BOSS pedals aren’t the cheapest, but also aren’t as expensive as handmade boutique pedals. Cost-wise, they sit right in the middle. But as I mentioned above, they’re reliable. And while some boutique pedals may have more bells and whistles than a comparable BOSS pedal, lots of them do not have the same level of quality control. I’ve had several boutique pedals that didn’t last more than a year, with a couple failing after just a few months! But my BOSS pedals just keep on working.

And though it might not seem like much of a big deal, BOSS pedals are stocked in pretty much every guitar store, which means it’s easy to replace a BOSS pedal should it ever fail, in pretty much any city you go to. Very few gear stores don’t carry some BOSS pedals. I’ve never had to do this even though I have traveled hundreds of miles from home for gigs. But I do know of some guitarists who’ve had one of their pedals fail and they just ran to the nearest guitar store and got a replacement.

And here’s another great thing about BOSS pedals. Their footswitches are unmatched in the industry! I’m not sure if their design is patented – it probably is – but there’s no footswitch like a BOSS footswitch, especially if you play on a dark stage. I’m mainly a singer and rhythm guitarist, and I often play at a venue where the second set is pretty dark. I always have to look down to activate my dirt pedals that all use a latched, circular switch. But the BOSS footswitch is basically a hinged flap over a latched switch. It’s hard to miss!

On a more personal, qualitative note, at least for me, BOSS pedals are my benchmark for pedals. When I review a pedal, it has to be at least as good as a comparable BOSS pedal if it exists. And I’m not talking about price, though that may factor into my decision, especially with boutique pedals. For instance, if a boutique pedal costs three or four times as much as a comparable BOSS pedal but offers little extra, then I probably would pass on it.

But if it does something way beyond the comparable BOSS pedal then I’ll probably get it. Such was the case with my Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay. When I got it, it costed $325. But after comparing it to the DM-2 and MXR Carbon Copy, it was the hands-down winner. It eventually failed, so I now use a DM-2w, but in the back of my mind, I still kind of crave for a Deep Blue Delay.

There are lots of other things I can say about BOSS pedals, but I think you get the idea. Yes, they’re middle-of-the-road. But their longevity is a testament to the quality and reliability that has kept them around for so long.

Duke Ellington once said, “If it sounds good, it IS good.” I’ve used that saying when talking about gear for years. And it still rings true today. When my rig sounds good to me, I’m inspired to play. I become more creative and expressive. I do more to eek out more from what I’m playing. My response to a great sound is visceral. That great sound can come from super-expensive or super-cheap gear. As it stands, half of the pedals I own are in the $150+ range, with some in the $300 range.

But when I’m playing a gig with one of my bands, the audience doesn’t know the value of any of my gear. And frankly, they don’t give a shit, as long as they’re entertained.

And that’s the crux of this post. Over the years, I’ve heard lots of people scoff at others for buying incredibly expensive gear. Hell! A couple of my buddies gave me a little shit when I bought my R8, saying, “Dude, the audience doesn’t care about your guitar. You could get a similar tone with a PRS SE that costs a quarter of what you paid.” My reply to them was, “But I care.”

You’ll never hear me say something like that, and though it’s true that the audience can’t tell the difference between a $50 or $500 pedal or a $500 vs. a $2500 guitar, what counts is what inspires you. Whether you’re playing cheap gear or expensive gear, the important thing is that the sound that your gear produces inspires you.

And when you’re inspired, the audience can see it. They can feel the energy. That’s what they care about. They may not be able to hear if you’re playing a Bad Monkey or an original TS-808, but if you’re rocking what you’re playing, they will respond to that.

tldr;

Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it all before. There’s no way a solid-state amp could sound as good as a tube amp. Tell that to Joe Satriani who used a Roland Chorus on “Surfing with the Alien” or George Benson who used one for years. The point is that if sounds good, it is good. And to me, the Fender TM Deluxe sounds killer and has the dynamics I’d expect out of any amp, regardless of it being tube-based or solid-state. Moreover, the audience doesn’t really give a shit.

Having now gigged with the TM Deluxe regularly for over a year-and-a-half, the amp has been a game-changer for me. At 23 pounds, it is light and easily luggable, even when I play in urban venues. It projects such a smooth, pleasant sound that works well with my guitars and board.

But the Line Out has been its greatest feature, allowing me to set my stage volume to a level where I’m not blowing out my eardrums, send the signal out to the PA for sound reinforcement and projection out to the audience. It took a few gigs to dial in the balance between output and local volume, but it has paid off in spades.

Here’s how I currently have it set up:

Here’s my signal chain:

Guitars (in order of use): Taylor T5z, Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster, Gibson R8 Les Paul

Effects: Wampler Belle > Paul Cochrane Timmy > BOSS CE-2 Chorus > BOSS DM-2w > Pigtronix Class A Boost

On the amp, I have the Master set at 4-5, then adjust the Volume knob based on the guitar so that I’m at the edge of breakup when I’m just past the middle on the guitar’s volume knob. My overdrive pedals are set just beyond unity gain when active, so they’ll push the amp into distortion while adding their own dirt. I use the boost for leads to give me 5-8 dB bump.

It’s a pretty simple and straight-forward setup that doesn’t require me to worry about settings once I’ve got everything set. This is important because even though I do some leads, I’m not the lead guitarist as I do a lot of the singing.

This is such a great amp. Great sound, so very versatile in a band setting. There’s not much more I could ask for!

Since I got this amp last year, I have gigged with it a bunch of times! The Tolex has a of couple of dings, and the faceplate has a couple of minor scratches; about what I’d expect after a year of regular use. Mind you, it’s not that I don’t take care of my stuff, but gigging takes its toll on any gear and dings and scratches are the price you pay.

That the Deluxe has survived those “battle scars” (plus being knocked over a few times while setting up) is a testament to its ruggedness. I’ve had lots of other gear that was so delicate that I’d never gig with it. And to be honest, if I can’t gig with it, it’s practically useless to me. But the Deluxe has not only survived the rigors of regular gigging, but it also still sounds incredible!

To this day, I have only opened it up to the full twenty-two watts once. The way my band’s sound is set up, I usually only need enough volume to hear myself; that is, unless our lead guitarist decides to crank it, and by that time, everything goes to shit. For the most part though, I keep it attenuated to 1 or 5 watts and even 0.5 watt for small venues, then use the line out to run my signal into the board. With the attenuator, I can still get good overdrive through the pre- and power amp stages (I know, it’s simulated rather than being real), and it sounds damn good! When I hit it with a booster or an overdrive pedal, it takes it over the edge, acting so much like a tube amp, I forget that it’s a digital amp!

And I suppose it could be argued that I’m not getting the full range of sonic content from my amp because I’m not pushing SPs. But I’d rather keep the hearing I have left than push the amp to a volume that introduces speaker distortion, something that in the end is merely nuance and frankly, only matters to me. Besides, since my sound reinforcement is coming from the PA, that’s a moot point.

For those who’ve read my blog for a while, you may remember that I was a huge Boss Katana fan. I still am, and still have the amp. In fact, it turns out that the “problem” that I seemed to have with it wasn’t the amp at all, but a bad patch cable. Oh well… But since I’ve had the Deluxe, I totally get what Fender was after with the Tone Master amps: Do one thing really, really, really well. And at least with the Deluxe, they got it in spades!