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Archive for August, 2009

An Evening at Tonic Amps and Fane Speakers

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, announcements, buying gear, GAS, gear, gear announcements, gear find, guitar, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new gear, overdrive, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 4, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Tonic AmpsFane

I love living in the Silicon Valley. While it might not be considered a “destination” for music and culture like San Francisco, New York, Nashville, and Saint Louis, it is a destination for technology, and for decades has led the world in many of the technological advancements we enjoy today. Having lived in the Silicon Valley all my life, and watching it transform from a largely agrarian economy to the mecca of high-tech and venture capital, one thing has remained the same: The Silicon Valley has a certain magic about it that inspires innovation and invention.

So it is no surprise that there are several boutique amp manufacturers in the area. I’ve written about a couple in the past, namely Aracom Amps and King Amplification, but recently, I hooked up with Tonic Amps, located in Mountain View; less than 10 minutes from my home!

Darin Ellingson contacted me  last week, and invited me to come to his shop. While I knew he built amps, what I didn’t know until I did a bit of research is that Darin is Fane International’s North American distributor for Fane speakers! That got me really interested in Tonic – especially Darin’s cabs. Over the years, I’ve heard so much about Fane speakers, but have never had the chance to hear how they sound. And what great fortune that the North American distributor is 10 minutes away from my house!

In a nutshell, I played through three types of Fanes in 2 X 12 and 4 X 14 cabs: Studio 12L, AXA12, and Medusa 150. Plus, I got a sneak peak at some prototype Fanes Darin is having specially made. Through Tonic cabs, the Fanes sound drop-dead gorgeous! I hooked up three different amps to various Tonic Amps: A Reason Bambino, Aracom VRX18 (tube rectified), and a Tonic Torpedo. No matter what amp I played through, the Fanes sounded crisp, articulate and incredibly dynamic. Folks, this is the way to evaluate speakers. Frequency response charts are useful, but until you’ve got the speakers loaded into a cab, you will never know how they truly perform. Tonic cabinets are absolutely top-notch, and if you’re in the market for a great cabinet, you can’t go wrong with these. They’re all solid wood (no pressboard here), and the dimensions Darin has specified really bring out the best character of the Fane speakers.

What was my favorite? It’s a toss-up between the Medusa 150 and Darin’s prototype that he will hopefully bring into production soon. I love the scooped tones of the Medusa and the mid-ranginess of the prototype. Hmmm… can you say 2 X 12 cab with these in it? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Dammit! Gave myself GAS again! It’s probably a good thing I can’t afford them right now – I will have to save my pennies. The speakers and cabinets don’t come cheap, but for this tonal quality, it’s worth every penny. You wouldn’t put a great speaker in a cheap cabinet… maybe… No, I won’t even get into that debate… 🙂

Torpedoes Away

Based upon the classic Trainwreck circuitry, the Torpedo is a pedal lover’s wet dream! I played the 50 Watt version, which is powered by a pair of EL-34’s! Folks, we’re talking clean headroom with this amp, with minimal breakup at the top end of the volume sweep. The tone is thick and rich and very well-balanced. I didn’t notice an overabundance in any part of the EQ range… well… it did have just the slightest amount of midrange, but that’s good though, because this amp’s tone will play nicely in a mix.

At any volume level, the amp sounds great, but its true character comes out when you dime the volume and play it through a 4 X 12 cabinet. Throw a couple of pedals in front of it (we used the British Ball Breaker and a prototype GeekDriver/GeekRanger pedal in front of the amp), and the amp’s tone combined with the 4 X 12 will knock you across the fuckin’ room! Can you say wicked overdrive that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up? It was amazing to witness!!!

The “Torpedo” moniker is totally appropriate for this amp. It is meant to fire out a shot of gorgeous tone, blow you out of the water, and knock you into tone heaven! Even at the volumes we were playing at, this tone isn’t a face-peeling raucous. Granted, a lot of that quality had to do with the Fane speakers we were playing through, but just as with you not putting great speakers in a shitty cabinet well, you don’t play a great amp with shitty speakers either.

If you live in the Silicon Valley, I encourage you to contact Darin and check out his workshop. It’s set up for jamming, so bring an axe or two! Darin’s even got beer! Though next time I go to his shop, I’ll bring a 12 pack. BTW, he like Tecate. 🙂  For more information, check out the Tonic Amps web site! To get a reference for how great Tonic Amps sound, check out Darin’s YouTube site at: http://www.youtube.com/user/MrTonicAmps.

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Gear Find: GeekMacDaddy Pedals

Posted in amplifiers, amps, announcements, booster, buying gear, clean boost, distortion, effect pedals, Effects, GAS, gear, gear announcements, gear find, guitar, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new gear, overdrive, pedals, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 3, 2009| 2 Comments »

GeekMacDaddy British Ball Breaker

I had such a great evening tonight! Darin from Tonic Amps invited me over to his shop to try some amps through his excellent speaker cabinets (be on the lookout for a review in the next day or so). He has a very cool workshop that he also shares with “GeekMacDaddy,” who makes some absolutely KICK-ASS pedals! I got to try out a few of them tonight, and absolutely fell in love with the British Ball Breaker, which GeekMacDaddy touts as a classic Marshall Plexi in a box. He’s not kidding, either. This is a helluva pedal, with rich, thick, overdriven Marshall tone. Just set your amp on clean, crank the master volume, engage the British Ball Breaker, and you’ll be rewarded with gorgeous Marshall-esque overdrive!!! YOWEE!!!

You gotta check out these pedals! They just rock! In addition, GeekMacDaddy is just about to release another freakin’ fantastic pedal called the GeekDriver that is a totally awesome take on a drive pedal. It sounds awesome by itself, but this pedal was built to be stacked, providing the foundation tone, then driving another fuzz or overdrive pedal. Rockin’!!!

Damn! Two freakin’ awesome pedals that I will have to get – as if I need more! But hey! You know me and overdrive pedals! I just can’t get enough of them!

Here’s a great demo video of both the British Ball Breaker and the GeekDriver from PremierGuitar:

Notice that GeekMacDaddy’s playing through a Tonic Amp! Those amps just rock as well! However, I’m getting ahead of myself!

For more information, go to the GeekMacDaddy site!

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Albert King: Blues God

Posted in guitar, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 3, 2009| 1 Comment »

I was a bit of a latecomer to playing the blues, but I always dug Albert King. He had this way with playing single note blues that has had a real influence on how I approach playing blues runs. His style is so economical, and listening to him, you always hear a story as he plays. I just dig it! Here’s a great video of him the great song, “I’ll Play the Blues for You.” This video was shot later in his life. Even then, the man could just make that guitar sing.

And here he is with SRV… Amazing!

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In Cantionis Veritas

Posted in guitar, guitar lifestyle, Guitars, Music, musicians, tagged , , , , on August 2, 2009| Leave a Comment »

The title roughly translates into “honesty in singing or playing a musical instrument.” I’m constantly coming to terms with my own playing and singing – especially when I’m doing my solo gigs. And while I’m not the best singer and God knows I’ve got a long way to go before I truly consider myself a great guitarist, one thing that I’ve always strived for is honesty in my performance; that is, I want to stay true to myself while I’m performing. That’s not to say I’m not open to learning new stuff. I’m an eternal student when it comes to music. But when I’m performing, what possesses me is expressing a song or my part of a song in an honest way. I guess you might say, just being me in the song, and expressing it in my own unique way. For me, that’s not many bells and whistles and it’s not many tricks. I wouldn’t call it a comfort zone per se; I just do my best to express a song from my collective experience, not trying to do what someone else might do; though admittedly, my musical influences definitely come out when I play, however subconsciously that may be.

I’ve had many years to develop that sense of honesty, and it comes from being attracted to the sound of musicians over the years who I believe have taken an honest approach to their music. To name a few, musicians such as Elvis Costello, Sting, James Taylor, Peter Frampton, Peter Gabriel, Elton John, John Lennon, Paul Simon, Joe Satriani, Santana, Journey, Sarah McLachlan, U2 and, of course, Neil Young, whom I wrote about yesterday. I know, it’s kind of an eclectic mix of musicians, but that’s the beauty of it! Each of these musicians has their own sound, their own approach to making and playing music. I love Elvis Costello’s versatility, the cerebral nature of Peter Gabriel. But one thing that commonly resounds between all these musicians is an almost uncompromising drive to write and play music on their own terms.

For instance, I had the good fortune to catch a broadcast of Elvis Costello doing Burt Bacharach music – with Burt on the piano! He took some timeless tunes from the Bacharach and David period and sang the shit out of them! At a Sting concert several years ago, after opening up with the expected “All This Time” from the Soul Cages tour, he surprised the entire crowd by breaking out into Purple Haze! It freakin’ ROCKED!!! It didn’t sound like Jimi – it was all Sting and his band.

When I first heard Sarah McLachlan, I was absolutely blown away. This was a chick who had a totally new take on pop. And while she experienced considerable success for a short period of time, what most people didn’t know was that before “In the Arms of the Angels,” she had a few albums to her credit that up until that time saw very little commercial success though lots of critical acclaim. But I thought that some of her best work came from her earlier albums. Like the others mentioned, she writes and performs music on her own terms!

The point to all this is that I’ve learned an important lesson in my own performance. I can only be who I am, and not someone else. I can only sound and play like me. It’s daunting and even humbling realizing how much I DON’T know, yet it’s also what inspires me to keep getting better and developing my own musicality. When I work with younger musicians, I always tell them to never be afraid to experiment, to break out of the patterns of their lessons. The lessons are great; let’s make no mistake about it, but music is expression. The very nature of music is such that how it is performed is a highly subjective, interpretive affair. Mechanics will only take you so far. You need only look at some of the names I’ve mentioned, and you’ll see what I mean.

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