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Archive for April, 2009

GASSED OUT! Finally… for now…

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, GAS, gear, guitar, guitar gear, guitar lifestyle, Music, musicians, new gear, saint guitars messenger, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 20, 2009| Leave a Comment »

For the last couple of years, I’ve had a serious case of GAS – not that I pulled the trigger and bought a bunch of stuff during that time – I did get a couple of pedals here and there to slake my appetite, but no major purchases until recently. Now I can say I’m gassed out – at least for now. If you’ve followed my blog for any amount of time, you’ll know what I’ve purchased, but I’ll recap the major purchases I’ve made in the last couple of months.

Aracom VRX22 Head with a custom Aracom 1 X 12 cabinet with a Jensen P12N

What an amp! I’ve shared with Jeff Aragaki, founder and designer of Aracom Amps, that the VRX22 is the perfect amp – at least to me. It’s a low power amp that packs a HUGE punch; both in tone and volume. It’s something I can use either in my home studio, or gigging. No matter what volume level I’m playing at, the VRX22 simply sounds awesome, never getting flabby in the low-end, and sporting what I consider to be the best Master Volume in the business.

For more information, check out the Aracom Amps web site.

Prestige Guitars Heritage Elite

The more I play this guitar, the more I fall in love with it. When I first got the guitar to evaluate it, I felt that all the adornments were a bit over the top. I’m a fairly uncomplicated guy, and I appreciate beauty in simplicity. But as time wore on, and I got to know this beauty queen better, the more she grew on me. So I decided to keep the guitar. Her new name is “Sugar” because amazingly enough, not only does she sound and play sweet, she actually smells like bubbling brown sugar! Could be because of the maple, but when I opened up the case for the first time, I was overtaken by the sweet smell of this guitar! So that’s how she got her name. She’s an incredibly expressive guitar, capable of producing gorgeous, ringing cleans to heavy grit. Brightly voiced, her tone just cuts through a mix like butter. I am really enjoying this guitar! Here’s a clip of both the VRX22 and the Heritage Elite:

For more information, go to the Prestige Guitars web site.

Saint Guitars Goldtop Messenger

In answer to my wife’s latest question, “Honey, how many guitars do you need?” I use the standard answer, “Just one more…” This was the exchange we had when I told her I was having Adam Hernandez, a close friend and founder of Saint Guitar Company, build me a guitar. It’s a Goldtop with a twist: Instead of the classic single cut body, I’m having the goldtop done on a double-cut. The body back is solid walnut with a maple top, and rock maple neck topped with an ebony fretboard. I wanted to go for a totally non-standard mix of woods that would produce a very bright tone. The bright tone, combined with the super sustain of Saint guitars in general, promises to be one sweet sounding tone machine. Of course, time will only tell, but I have high hopes for this guitar!

This isn’t even mentioning the smaller things I’ve purchased, but at least for now, I’m GASSED out – I’m also broke – again. 🙂

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New Gear: Taylor T3/T3B Semi-Hollowbody Guitar

Posted in Guitars on April 20, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Taylor T3I wasn’t too wild about the T5 when it came out a couple of years ago. No doubt it’s a gorgeous-looking and great-playing guitar. But as I feel about any hybrid, I feel that it was a compromise; not quite an acoustic, not quite an electric. And despite bearing the high-quality of all Taylor guitars I’ve played, the T5 wasn’t a guitar that I’d spend $2700 to buy. For that money, I’d get two dedicated electric and acoustic guitars, and be happy with switching between the two – which I do anyway, so it’s not a stretch.

Enter the T3 semi-hollowbody. This is a dedicated electric guitar, and something I think is definitely worth checking out. With a mahogany back and neck and maple top, it promises to produce a big, expansive tone. Not only that, the T3 sports a push-pull knob that when engaged, pushes the mids up – nice touch. By the way, the “B” model of the T3 includes a Bigsby tremolo with roller bridge.

Ranging in price from $2249 to $2399 street, this is by no means a cheap guitar, but it certainly bears taking a good look at, even if I don’t ever buy one – but I’ve been known to say that, and turn around get something if I totally fall in love it; though it would be pretty difficult to justify that kind of expense with my wife, especially since I spent that much just recently getting a couple of guitars and an amp… ☺ That’s another article…

In any case, check out this video demo of the T3 from the 2009 NAMM show.

From the clips, even though the T3 has humbuckers, it’s amazingly bright, and sounds a lot like a deeper voiced Tele. That tone alone is worth taking a good look at this guitar!

Photo courtesy of Taylor Guitars

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New Gear: Roland Cube 80x Amp

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, announcements, GAS, gear, gear find, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new gear, Roland Cube 80x, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 18, 2009| 2 Comments »

Roland Cube 80x

This is actually kind of exciting news: Roland has just released its most powerful Cube amp, the Cube 80x. Sporting 80 Watts of power through a 12″ speaker, this amp is poised to pack a serious punch. The Cube 60 has been quite successful since its inception a few years ago. Hell! Even I have a Cube 60 and I love it! The Cube 80x while being more powerful, also has some new features that are sure to turn heads (taken from the Roland web site):

* Powerful 80-watt output into a high performance 12″ speaker
* 10 COSM® amp models including new DLX Combo model
* Two channels: Clean and Lead plus new SOLO memory function
* New Spring Reverb modeling for vintage reverb sounds
* Easy to use Looper for unique live performance
* Convenient built in chromatic tuner
* Aux input for connecting MP-3 players or other audio sources

The Cube series amps have been known for their versatility. They sound great a pretty much any volume level, and they have enough features packed into them to make it easy to just pack the amp, a guitar and go. I have a couple of friends who use Cubes for club gigs!

There are a few of standout features that really pique my interest: 1. The ability to hook up an MP3 player to the amp to practice with; 2) The looper function, and finally; 3) The built-in chromatic tuner. This amp is made for gigging, and with the line out, you can go right into a board – which I’ve done many times with my Cube 60.

If you’re looking for a great, versatile amp, you can’t go wrong with a Cube. Just pick the one that suits the volume level you need (or the features you want), and you’re good to go!

For more information, visit the Roland Web Site!

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Gear Review: Aracom Amps VRX18 Head

Posted in amplifiers, amps, aracom amps, buying gear, EL84, GAS, gear, guitar, guitar gear, guitar reviews, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, overdrive, VRX18, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 18, 2009| Leave a Comment »

5 Tone Bones - Gear has stellar performance, value, and quality. This is definitely top of the class, best of breed, and it's a no-brainer to add this to your gear lineup!

Aracom Amps VRX18 18 Watt Head

Aracom Amps VRX18 18 Watt Head

 Aracom Amps VRX18 Watt Head

Summary: Based on the original “RoxBox” (no longer available), the VRX18 sports an improved master volume inherited from the VRX22, and a reworked, smoother overdrive profile.

Pros: As dynamic and expressive as its 22 Watt sibling, the VRX22, but oozing that bright, chimey EL84 goodness. When driven, produces a nice, tight overdrive.

Cons: None.

Price: $895 direct

Specs:

– (2) EL84 Power Tubes
– (2) 12AX7 & (1) 12AT7 Preamp Tubes
– S.S. Rectifier with “sag” circuit
– Hi/Low B+ voltage switch (18/9 watts)
– On/Off Switch
– Indicator Lamp
– Custom Heavy Duty Aluminum Chassis
– Custom Wound Transformers
– 4, 8, 16 ohm Speaker Jacks
– Custom Handcrafted
Turret Board
– Handwired
– Weight: ~35 lbs

Head Cabinet
Standard Tolex: Black Levant. See options below for other colors.
– Dimensions: 19″w x 8″h x 8.25″d
– Weight: 23 lbs

Also available in 1 X12 and 1 X 10 combos (or Jeff can custom build one to your liking)

Tone Bone Score: 5.0. When I can swing it, I’ll be getting this amp to complete the VRX Series!

Jeff Aragaki, founder and builder of Aracom Amps, always chuckles when I tell him that he’s onto something with his VRX (short for Vintage Rox) series amps. With the VRX22, he seemed to have stumbled onto a sweet spot that produced an amp that has an incredible and beautfully balanced tone that bring out the best tonal aspects of the 6V6 tube. He’s done it yet again with the updated RoxBox 18, now renamed the VRX18, but incorporating many of the same features he built into the VRX22.

I just purchased the VRX22, having fallen in love with the tone that it produces, and I’ve fallen love yet again, but now with the VRX18. I’m like a hopeless romantic that loves two women for their individual virtues, but in this case, the women don’t mind – they can co-exist with each other. Okay, bad analogy… 🙂

I originally reviewed the RoxBox 18 back in December. At the time, I totally dug its tone, but took marks off because of the mildly harsh breakup at lower volumes. There’s nothing harsh about the tone of this amp now – at any volume! It’s a great amp to play, and as expected, it’s pedal friendly, and responds really well to overdrive pedals. Also, I played four guitars through it, and it sounded incredible with all of them!

I won’t go into a lot of detail, since I already covered pretty much all the descriptive information I needed to in the original review, so I’m going to cover some important things I’ve learned about the VRX 18 and the VRX series in general. But first, as opposed to doing this last, here’s a short clip featuring the VRX18 to show you how kick-ass it sounds:

For this clip, I used a Strat with just the middle pickup, plugged directly into the VRX18. I just dig that EL84 grind! I had the Channel 2 volume dimed, and the master volume at halfway in full-power mode. It was very loud, much to the chagrin of my wife. 🙂 But I needed to capture at least some of that EL84 compression.

What’s cool about the EL84 is that it compresses nicely when pushed, but still seems to retain a certain openness in its overdrive. This is unlike something like a KT-66 that compresses so much when pushed you lose volume.

The Best Master Volume in the Business

I don’t say this lightly when I say Jeff has the best master volume in the business. I’ve played many amps. But when Jeff created the VRX22, he did something with the master volume that is pure magic. It has a nice, even volume sweep that seems to act independently of the channel volume. This means you can crank the channel volume to get some serious grind, but control the output via the master, and it won’t suck your tone! I’ve found this to be a real problem with other amps. That master volume is incorporated into the VRX18.

The Best Half-Power Switch in the Business

A lot of manufacturers use a pentode/triode switch to achieve half-power settings in their amps. I’ve played several amps with this feature. But in half power mode with the pentode/triode configuration, I’ve noticed a distinct tonal difference between the two modes in amps configured this way. It’s not that the tone is bad. In fact, many I’ve played around with sound great in half-power mode. But it’s like two different amps.

Jeff Aragaki takes a different approach and instead adjusts the B+ voltage to maintain the usage of all pins in the power tubes. I’m not an electrician, and can’t even begin to explain this technically, so I’ll just say it this way: When you switch to half-power mode in any Aracom Amp, the amp doesn’t change its tonal characteristics. It sounds and plays the same!

The Difference Between Old and New

In addition to the great master volume Jeff incorporated into the VRX18, the first thing I noticed was that it was nowhere near as easy to get this amp to overdrive in channel 2 as it was with the original RoxBox 18. This is not a negative thing at all because as I mentioned in my original review, the overdrive was pretty harsh at lower volume levels. I spoke to Jeff about this, and he said that based upon my original tests and review, he decided to mellow out the extra gain stage in the VRX18 so you could get a nice overdrive tone at any volume level.

You won’t get over-the-top gain with the VRX18. But for that, I have a simple fix-all: Get a great booster pedal like a Creation Audio Labs Mk.4.23 (again, the best booster on the planet), and SLAM the front-end of the amp. 🙂

But all that said, if you’re in a venue where you can dime both master and channel volumes, you will be rewarded with gorgeous harmonics and overtones and luscious feedback!

Overall Impressions

Like I said, this is my next amp… It just rocks the house! And at $895 for the head, you could get both the VRX22 and VRX18 for under the price of a single boutique amp! This isn’t a sales pitch. The value proposition of the VRX series is something that should be seriously considered. You’re not getting a production line amp that’s built overseas. With the VRX series of amps, you’re getting a US-made, handwired amp for under a grand!!!

Admittedly, I was a little skeptical when I first ran across Aracom Amps. But I’m now a believer, and a faithful customer!

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So You Wanna Be a Guitar Hero… Study Jeff Beck!

Posted in guitar, guitar lifestyle, guitarists, Guitars, learn guitar, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 16, 2009| 6 Comments »

Pick up one of the major guitar mags, and you might think that to be considered a “good” guitar player nowadays you have to be able to shred it up playing 64th notes up and down the fretboard non-stop. I know, that’s a bit of an exagerration, but the major mags’ focus on shred disenfranchises a very large sector of the guitar-playing population that either can’t play that fast, has no interest in that kind of music, or want to focus on other things rather than speed – like musicality and expressiveness.

Hands-down, Jeff Beck has earned the right to be called a Guitar God. No one sounds like him, and while many people have been able to glean certain Jeff Beck techniques, and can get somewhat close to what he can do with a guitar, duplicating his style of playing is next to impossible. But I’m not here to talk about technique. I’m here to talk about the whole musical package that Jeff Beck delivers in his guitar playing. It’s pure magic. He’s not fast by any stretch of the imagination, but his ability to communicate with his audience through his playing is unrivaled.

Sound like a bunch of hyperbole? Just watch the video below. But don’t just observe what he’s doing with his left hand, which really isn’t all that difficult. Look at what he’s doing with his right hand, manipulating the tremolo bar and volume and tone knobs to achieve different voicings. That’s the magic in the performance of the song! No one does it as well!

Let me be absolutely clear here: The things that Jeff Beck does with his right hand while playing aren’t just parlor tricks to show off. They’re done to ellicit specific responses from his guitar, and make it sing like no one else can. To me, being a good guitar player isn’t just about technique; it’s about getting your message across. As Albert King once said (and I’m paraphrasing Steven Segal here), “The challenge [speaking in reference to the blues, but can be applied to any style of music] is to get your message across in as few notes as possible.” Sometimes that takes a bunch of notes; more often than not though, you can say the same thing with just a few, but express them in a such a way to make your point.

I’m of the school of thought that playing music is having a conversation with your audience. The best conversationalists do it with an economy of language, fully conscious not only of their glossary of terms, but the expression and inflection that goes along with communicating.

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New Song: Running from the Future

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, aracom amps, fender, GarageBand, guitar, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, prestige guitars, songs, songwriting, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 14, 2009| 5 Comments »

runningaway

Ever been in one of those situations where you have to face up to something you’d said or done, but avoid it all costs because it gives you this feeling of impending doom? I was recently in a situation like this, and it wasn’t at all comfortable going through the emotional and psychic turmoil leading up to the conversation the ultimately resulted in – nothing. No slap on the wrist, no punishment. Just a good conversation where everyone involved learned from the experience.

Anyway, last night I was noodling on my guitar; my eyes were closed, letting my emotions drive my playing. Then I remembered that situation, and came up with the rhythm track for the song. It’s all instrumental – it’s not something I would ever want to put to words, but I did want to convey the emotions. Give it a listen let me know what you think:

Gear Used:

Rhythm Guitars: Strat and Prestige Heritage Elite
Lead: Prestige Heritage Elite
Amps: Hot Rod Deluxe (Strat); Aracom VRX22 (Heritage)

For the rhythm parts, the Strat/Hot Rod is panned to the left of the mix, and the Heritage/VRX22 (clean channel) is panned to the right. The lead part sits dead center.

I’m particularly pleased with the Hot Rod’s tone. The clean tone with that awesome spring reverb is to die for (though I had the reverb down pretty low on it to give the Strat more presence). I’m also diggin’ the Prestige Heritage Elite; especially after I set it up. In particular, I adjusted the pickup heights to smooth out the treble pickup, and to get less boom from the rhythm pickup. It’s now very balanced; and played through the VRX22, it sounds just awesome. I played the lead part through the drive channel of the amp, and set the volume so that it was just on the edge of breakup, so if I dug in a bit, I’d get just a touch of overdrive. I wanted to create an effect of subdued aggression, and the VRX22 is so dynamic, I can achieve that easily.

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Say a Prayer for Ted Weber

Posted in Guitars, tagged , on April 14, 2009| 4 Comments »

I was just perusing my favorite forum, The Gear Page, and ran across a thread about Ted Weber being in the hospital. Apparently, Ted’s really sick. Here’s an excerpt from a quote of his: “As for my health, I have pulmonary sarcoidosis, a hardening of the lungs. I’m on oxygen 24-7 and am waiting to be qualified for a transplant. Transplants are around 50% success rate at 5 years, so I’m not doing any long range planning.” I’ve never bought a thing from Ted, but I have e-mailed him about different types of gear, and he’s always been so gracious. Please join me in sending him some good vibes!

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Falling in Love Again…

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, aracom amps, eminence governor, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, prestige guitars, Strat, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 13, 2009| 3 Comments »

Over the weekend, and after a few years of owning it, I finally replaced the original speaker on my Hot Rod Deluxe with an Eminence Red Coat “The Governor.” I had already replaced the original tubes and had some other mods done to the amp to smooth out the drive channel, but there was always something missing, and that turned out to be the speaker. What a difference that has made! I feel like my Hot Rod is now no longer a Padawan but a true Jedi. 🙂

The Hot Rod was my very first tube amp, and when I bought it, I just loved the sound, but as time wore on and as I played some really great amps, my love for the amp faded, and while I’d use it for some applications, it just didn’t have a sound that I considered to be first class. With the new speaker, it is now – in my opinion – a first class sounding amp. The cleans are gorgeous and the overdrive tone is nice and open, but well-defined, with no flabby bottom end. I’m in love again! Now with my Aracom VRX22, I’ve got two great amps!

Here’s a clip I put together while playing around this evening that demonstrates how gorgeous the clean tones are:

I used my Strat for the rhythm part – amazingly in the middle pickup, which I’m really starting to love – and did the simple solo with my Prestige Guitars Heritage Elite with both pickups with about 60/40 mix of bridge and neck, respectively. The reverb you hear in the solo is the spring reverb in the Hot Rod. I have to say that Fender does reverb right. 🙂

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Follow-up: Creation Audio Labs Mk.4.23

Posted in booster, clean boost, Creation Audio Labs, effect pedals, Effects, gear, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, Mk.4.23, Music, musicians, overdrive, pedals, Tone, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Creation Audio Labs Mk.4.23 Boost

Creation Audio Labs Mk.4.23 Boost

If you read this blog with any regularity, you’d know that I have this thing about overdrive and distortion pedals. Not that I’m a shredder or let alone a virtuoso at guitar. I just love tone, and there’s something about overdrive that never fails to bring a smile to my face. But ever since I started playing with some great amps, and now that I’ve got a great new speaker in my Hot Rod, I’ve been relying less on overdrive for my grind tone, and much more on the natural breakup of my amps. Enter the Creation Audio Labs Mk.4.23, what I consider to be the best clean boost on the planet.

A lot of pedal manufacturers claim to have transparent boosters, and I’ve tried several that come close, but the Mk.4.23 totally delivers true transparency. You get the natural tone of your guitar and amp – just a lot more input gain that will send your pre-amp tubes into saturation. Mm-mm-good! I already wrote a review of this pedal, but thought I’d do a follow-up on how I’ve been using it over the past few months.

I’ve been using the Mk.4.23 in a few different ways (in order of how much I apply it):

  1. First, I use it by itself with the volume dimed on the pedal into my drive channel to slam the front-end of the amp, and seriously overdrive it. In this mode, I usually don’t use any other effect in front of it, though I might use a compressor with my Strat to fatten up the tone. That way I know that I’m getting my guitar’s and amp’s true tone.
  2. Then I use it by itself to boost my clean channel when I need just a bit more volume when I’m doing a clean lead break to get over the band. In this mode, the volume’s set just past unity gain. I also set the volume knob on my guitar to about it’s midpoint so I can fine-tune the volume via my guitar.
  3. Finally, I use it in conjunction with one or more overdrive/distortion pedals to add even more gain to what the other pedals have to offer. Using it this way doesn’t really add any appreciable volume, but the effect is that the overdrive tone gets super thick and raunchy. It’s not all the pretty when playing chords, but single notes absolutely scream!

For such a simple pedal, the Mk.4.23 has really changed the way I approach achieving different tones. For more information, check out Creation Audio Labs’ web site!

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Simple Fender Hot Rod Mod II: Swap Out Your Speaker

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, eminence governor, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitarists, Guitars, speakers, Tone, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 11, 2009| 15 Comments »

Fender Hot Rod DeluxeAfter having my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe for a few years now, I finally decided to swap the stock speaker for an Eminence Red Coat “The Governor,” which is a moderately-priced ceramic speaker. What’s difference now? The Hot Rod Deluxe is a very mid-rangy amp in the first place, but at higher gain, the tone became a little flabby. In fact, when I knew I was going to play at gig volumes I had to dial down the bass to about 9 or 10 o’clock, and set the mid and high around 3pm to get a more crisp sound. I was able to alleviate a bit of that flabbiness with better tubes than the stock Groove Tubes, but I always suspected that the speaker had a lot to do with the flabby bottom end. I don’t know why I waited to do this simple, simple modification. It literally took 10 minutes to swap it out.

So why the Eminence Governor? Mainly because I wanted a nice mid-range focused speaker that had a smooth bottom end, and slightly sparkly highs. I had also played the Governor in a couple of different amps, and was really impressed with its brighter voicing. Here’s a frequency response chart for the Governor:

The Governor Frequency Response Chart

As you can see from the chart, the bottom end portion of the curve is a nice, smooth line. In the mid-range, the frequency response is fairly complex, then in the highs, you get some nice peaks in the 2-3 kHz range, finished off with some subtle motes above 10 kHz. The tone in the amp reflects this well. The bottom end is there, and very tame, and the mid- and high-freq response creates a gorgeous, and spacious tone. I’ll probably have some clips in the next few days, but here are clips directly off the Eminence site:

Clean

Heavy Distortion

Overdriven

All in all, this has got to be the most significant improvement to my Hot Rod’s tone!

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