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Archive for February, 2008

Manage Your GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)

Posted in buying gear, GAS, gear, guitar, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars on February 5, 2008| 6 Comments »

GAS Comic

CHECK OUT THE AUTOMATED G.A.S. EVALUATOR I BUILT AFTER YOU READ THE ARTICLE!!!Every tone freak goes through phases of GAS; that is, Guitar (or Gear) Acquisition Syndrome. You hear a sound or lick, or you have a sonic vision of a tone you want to produce, and you’re suddenly overcome with an urge to go and buy that piece of gear that will satisfy your craving. If you’ve been playing for a number of years like I have, you probably have a garage full of gear that you don’t use any longer. You see, the worst thing about GAS is that it never goes away because over time, your playing style and gear needs change. It’s unavoidable. Another fallout of GAS, is that it’s a very impulsive behavior. You might be completely satisfied with your current rig, but something sparks in your brain, and BAM! You’re ordering new gear online or going down to your local music equipment store.So the question is: Is there away to control GAS? Sure. The obvious “controllers” are easy to identify:

  • You don’t have the money – that’s a great control.
  • Your partner won’t let you – I get this all the time, but I have my own “gig-money” bank account that she’s not allowed to touch, and since it gets depleted, I usually end up at point 1 anyway. 🙂

Those are certainly practical ways for controlling GAS, but they operate only on the physical plane. What about the psychological plane? After all, GAS is an impulsive behavior. For that, I’ve developed a series of questions that I ask myself before I press the “Order Now” button, or bid on an eBay item. They’re tough questions that require a lot of thought, but they definitely help to bring me back to earth, as it were; and I’ve avoided a lot of what turned out to be unnecessary purchases. Here they are:

  1. Does this gear solve a real issue right now, or is this something I just want to try out? Solution = +1, Experiment = -1
  2. Am I playing anything right now that requires this piece of gear? If yes give yourself a +1. If no, give yourself a -1
  3. Have I really taken the time to research and evaluate this product and make comparisons to competing products to determine if it’s a right fit for me to integrate into my overall tone? If yes, give yourself a +1; otherwise a -1.
  4. Now be honest: Do I really have the skill to use this gear effectively? Yes = +1, No = -1
  5. If I don’t have the skill, but have answered positively to the previous questions, do I really have the time to put into getting to a level of expertise with this where I can perform in front of people? Yes = +1, No = -1
  6. Am I trying to sound like somebody else with this? No = +1, Yes = -1
  7. Again, be honest: Will this gear truly expand my tonal palette? Yes =+1, No = -1
  8. Will this purchase have a significant impact on my available funds? No = +1, Yes = -1
  9. Finally, do I want pay for this with credit or cash? Cash = +1, Credit = -1, I can afford the monthly payment = 0

Now add up the pluses and minuses. You’ll either get a positive or negative value because there are an odd number of questions. With anything on the minus side, even if it’s a -1, I don’t buy the gear. But that’s just the discipline I’ve placed on myself. For positive values, I will only buy the gear if I score a 6 or 7, and it usually has to be a 7 because I have limited funds. Again, that’s just personal discipline. With respect to the last question, it doesn’t factor (gets a 0) if I’m willing to afford the monthly payment. But my personal philosophy is to only pay for my gear if I have the cash to pay for it.Ultimately, controlling GAS is about personal discipline; having the discipline to not react to our natural proclivity to be impulsive. With this series of questions, I’m not trying to cure GAS at all. In fact, I embrace the fact that we all get GAS. But after purchasing thousand of dollars worth of gear over the years, I’ve come to realize that I’ve got to have some discipline, and take some time to give my purchases a thought, so I can take action based on information, not emotion. That action can either be purchasing the gear or passing on it. I’ve passed on a lot of gear using these questions.Now here’s a sample evaluation for my latest purchase of a pair of THD Yellow Jacket tube adapters:

  1. Yes, this solves a real problem for me in that I need to get into breakup at a lower volume. As it stands, I’ve got to crank up my gain to get a smooth overdrive from my amp, which means a huge jump in volume. Reducing my output to 5W will allow me to do this at a much lower volume.
  2. Absolutely, at all my gigs.
  3. It doesn’t necessarily add to my overall tone as it helps me achieve the tone I want, but at a lower volume.
  4. n/a in this case
  5. n/a in this case
  6. Nope – just a quieter ME. 🙂
  7. This will expand my tonal palette because I can do the hard-driving stuff without having the rafters crash down from the ceiling. This is especially applicable at Church and in my home studio. With recording, I have to wait until the weekend to drive my amp hard.
  8. Little impact. At $100 bucks, we’re good.
  9. Cash for sure. I’ll pay for it with my debit card.

Admittedly, you can probably reason anything away, and I used a fairly simple purchase. But I’ve applied this “reasoning” to my desire to purchase a Les Paul Double Cutaway or a PRS DGT (as of late). In both cases, I scored a -6! No way am I going to buy either of these any time soon.So there you have it: Not a cure for GAS, but definitely a sane and reasonable way to control it.

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Turn that F&%kin’ Thing Down!!! Part II

Posted in amps, gear reviews, Guitars on February 4, 2008| Leave a Comment »

THD Yellow JacketOne of my first posts on GuitarGear.org was entitled, “Turn that F&%kin’ Thing Down!!!.” In that post, I introduced the Dr Z. Air Brake attenuator. Yes, I’m still using it, but I continued to search for that volume sweet spot. Even with an attenuator, my volume’s still pretty loud, but it’s much more controllable now than when I didn’t have the attenuator. However, an attenuator can only take you so far, because it is essentially a power resistor. It doesn’t reduce your power in any way. But all that’s changed…

Introducing the THD Yellow Jacket

I discovered this in the latest issue of Premier Guitar in the DIY amp column (don’t remember the original column title, sorry). Essentially, the Yellow Jacket is a combination adapter/tube replacement for 6V6, 6L6, EL34, and 7591 tube amps. Using lower-output EL34’s the output wattage of your amp is significantly reduced, thus lowering your amp’s volume. The following comes right off the THD web site:

What are Yellow Jackets®?
Yellow Jackets® Converters are a type of specialized adapters which permit the use of EL84/6BQ5 power tubes in place of 6V6, 6L6, EL34, and 7591 types.

How do they work?
They give you simple Class-A operation from any amp.Yellow Jacket® Converters not only rearrange the pin locations of the tubes, but also provide the necessary current limiting on the screens and cathode as well as blocking the amplifier’s grid bias voltage, while configuring the EL84 in a Class-A, Self-adjusting cathode-bias circuit. In other words, there are no adjustments to make and no modifications necessary, you simply plug the Yellow Jackets® into the amp’s output tube sockets, (in cathode-bias amplifiers) screw the ground wires under one of the output tube socket mounting screws, plug the provided EL84’s into the Yellow Jackets®, turn on the amp and play.

How will they change my amplifier?
It’s like getting a whole new amplifier! In Champ and Deluxe type amplifiers, the Yellow Jackets® output is smooth, strong and more even than with the stock 6V6s. When the Yellow jackets® Converters are installed in larger amplifiers intended for 6L6s or EL34 output tubes, the high plate and screen voltages are reduced as well as current limited to protect the EL84 and to drop output power. When a pair of Yellow Jackets® are used in a Marshall 50 watt or similar amplifier, the overall power drops to about 20 watts and takes on more of the character of an old Vox AC30. The distortion is smoother and more even and the output is both substantially reduced and more compressed due to the Class-A nature of the Yellow Jackets®. In a 100 watt amp like a Twin Reverb or Marshall 100, either two or four Yellow Jackets® can be used. If only two are used and the other two sockets are left empy, the output is dropped to about 20 watts. With four in place, the amp puts out about 40 watts and takes on a whole new warmth and richness.

In the cases of the YJ7591 converters, the overall ouput power remains the same, but the sound becomes fuller and the extinct 7591 are replaced with common and inexpensive EL84 tubes. In old Ampeg Reverb Rockets and the like, you experience a warmth and sweetness that you could never get with the now unavailable 7591 tubes.

Will they hurt my amp?
No! Yellow Jacket® converters are safe for all amplifiers and transformers. As all Yellow Jacket® Converters internally limit voltage and current they put no extra strain on amplifiers’ power and output transformers or internal components. Using the Yellow Jackets® in higher powered amplifiers actually reduces the strain on the transformers and internal components because it reduces the overall wattage of the system. Furthermore, the heater (or filament) current of the EL84 is lower than that of the 6L6, EL34 or 7591, so the Yellow Jacket® will reduce the strain on the filament windings of the power transformer as well.

I called THD about the Yellow Jacket to find out what was appropriate for my amp. Most Yellow Jackets come in two flavors: a Standard that lowers your output by 50-70%, and a Triode version that lowers your output by 70%-90%. I went with the Triode version for my Hot Rod so I could essentially have a 5Watt amp. According to the guy at THD, the great thing about the Yellow Jacket is that you don’t lose your tone. Just reduce your power. The Triode version also has a smoother distortion and earlier breakup – at lower volumes, which is what I want for my home recording, and playing Church.

So if you’re in search of lowering your volume but not having to invest in a smaller amp, look no further! The THD Yellow Jacket is it!

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Gear Review: PRS DGT

Posted in gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear on February 4, 2008| 9 Comments »

PRS DGT

When I think of PRS guitars, there are certain words that pop into my head: Distinctive, gorgeous, player’s dream. Generally, PRS guitars come at a price, but from the guitars I’ve had the chance to play in the past, I know they’re well worth the money.

So here I was perusing through my new issue of Premier Guitar, and came across a great article about the two new PRS models: The Mira (pr. “mee-ruh”), and the DGT (David Grissom Trem). After reading through the interview with David Grissom about how he helped design the DGT, I just had to go to the PRS web site to see a demo. I wasn’t disappointed. Check out the video of J Hayes from PRS giving a demo:

For those of you familiar with David Grissom, you know he’s played a PRS McCarty for some time. At first blush, you might think that the DGT is just a modded McCarty. It’s not. While it has the classic lines of the McCarty, I think it has an even richer sound. It’s kind of a different animal altogether. PRS has used a glossy nitro-cellulose finish on the body, and according to David Grissom, this has a huge effect on the tone.

I have yet to play this guitar, though I will be remedying this quite soon. In any case, here are some standout features that really turn me on about this guitar:

  • The neck length lies between a Strat and a Les Paul. This is actually really cool because the DGT is strung with higher gauge strings (.010 to .049), but with neck length plus the larger frets, bending is apparently very easy on this guitar.
  • Several PRS guitars employ coil taps, but I think PRS has definitely hit a home run with the DGT. I’ve played with guitars that use coil taps in the past, and I’ve typically stayed away from them because the single coil mode sounds way too bright. But with the DGT, you get a thinner tone that has incredible balance and expressiveness without being too bright. This is what appeals to me the most about this guitar. It’s incredibly versatile!
  • I love the narrow, C-shaped neck. That’s always been my preference, and this has it.
  • The DGT also comes with independent volume controls for each pickup. This makes it possible to dial in a variety of sounds by altering the balance of signal coming from each pickup. Yowza!

I want this guitar. Period. But at $2500, it’ll be a difficult proposition to convince my wife that I want yet another axe… Oh well, time to save my gig money!

BTW, here’s DG doing a demo at NAMM 2008. I just love the way he plays – simple, straight-forward, in your face blues.

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