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Archive for June, 2011

When a Guitar and Amp are Like Oil and Water

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 8, 2011| 3 Comments »

I recently purchased the gorgeous Strat to the left. It’s the first Strat I’ve played in a long time that I actually like playing. But this past Sunday, I took it to my church gig and played it with one of my Plexi variants – my favorite amp, an Aracom VRX22. I did not like the sound at all! Yikes!

Like all Plexi’s I’ve played, the VRX22 is voiced bright. And for me, it’s a perfect complement to my Les Pauls and deeper voiced guitars like my new Gretsch Electromatic. Not so with a Strat, which is very bright. And even though I cut the highs out, it just didn’t sound right.

So later on that evening, I went into my studio and plugged my Strat into my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. What a difference! My Hot Rod has a big bottom end, and that is the perfect complement for a bright guitar like my Strat.

It just goes to show the importance of finding the right combination of gear to get your sound. In my case this past Sunday, it took playing through another amp altogether. No amount of EQ or combination of pedals was going to get it “right” for me.

Lesson learned.

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The Importance of Good Posture and Great Shoes

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , on June 7, 2011| 1 Comment »

I’ve been playing at the same restaurant gig for almost ten years every Friday. This is a long gig from 6pm to 10pm. Last week, I was talking to a friend who asked me how I can play such long sets; and several times over the years, people have asked me how I can play four-hour gigs with just a single 10- to 15-minute rest period in between sets.

The answer I give comes in two parts: First, I simply lose track of time. I just love to play and perform, and I start jumping from song to song, not ever keeping an eye on the clock. The second part of the answer is that I’ve got good posture; and it’s something I constantly monitor.

Having good posture; that is, a straight back, ensures that your entire bone structure is being used to support your body. This in turn ensures that your weight isn’t isolated to just a single or a couple of spots.

Look at the pictures of Eric Clapton and Joe Satriani. You think it’s an accident that their backs are straight? Joe being a guitar teacher is probably acutely aware of his posture. Not sure about Clapton, but I put him up there simply because of his longevity. Both of these guys have done monster gigs over the years. It’s not a wonder to me that they’ve been able to perform as long as they have. Their great posture ensures that the wear and tear on their backs will be minimal at worst.

Another thing that I’ve learned over my many years of gigging is to always wear a great pair of shoes. This has become much more important over the last few years, but I’ve always had a thing about wearing comfortable shoes that provide lots of great support. My rule of thumb: Great shoes make for happy feet, and happy feet mean that you don’t get tired as quickly.

As of late, my shoes of choice have been the “Unstructured” line from Clarks. I’ve got the pair to the left, but I also have two other pairs. I absolutely swear by these shoes. They feel so comfortable on my feet, and I can literally stand for hours at a time, and my feet will be happy.

So do yourself a favor: Be aware of your posture and your feet and you’ll be in gig nirvana!

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The EWS Little Brute Drive – My Next Drive Pedal?

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

AH! HA-HA-HA HAHAHA! <manic laughter>

I guess my love affair with overdrive pedals hasn’t waned one bit – even with getting my Timmy. Don’t get me wrong, my Timmy will NEVER leave my board, but this totally cool, ultra-compact “Little Brute Drive” from EWS Japan is nothing short of amazing to me. Lots of overdrive/distortion on tap, right out of the box! And look at the bottom of the picture to the left: It ain’t much bigger than a freakin’ 9V battery! Amazing!

The way I envision using this particular pedal is for when I need heavier distortion than my Timmy, which is a light- to medium-gain device. The Little Brute has a much wider range of distortion; from fairly light to searing. And like the Timmy, the distortion is fairly open and uncompressed from what I could tell from clips. But even more important is that like the Timmy, it’s fairly transparent. I couldn’t detect much tone alteration from the clips I heard. So awesome!

You can fine-tune the output level and tone from inside the box – see the two blue adjustment screws in the picture? But from what I could tell, the factory settings are perfect.

Here are a couple of video clips:

Cost? $129, which is as much as a Timmy, but unlike the Timmy, you can get this online. Here’s a link where you can buy the pedal.

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New Gear: Homebrew Electronics Skull Crusher Overdrive

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on June 4, 2011| 2 Comments »

How can anyone complain about a great-sounding boutique pedal at mainstream prices? Taking its design cues from industry-veteran Gary Hoey who wanted to ensure a great-sounding, built-for-the-road but affordable pedal, HBE has created just that. This is a simple, road-worthy standalone overdrive that costs just $99. Nice!

Not much media on this pedal yet since it’s so new, and I’ve only seen one video of this so far, which was okay, but the demonstrator only used a single guitar, and only made a few adjustments; frankly, to me not enough to give a good representation of the pedal’s capabilities. But based upon what I heard in that video, this pedal is more standalone distortion than overdrive, but really a better test will determine that.

In any case, you can find a bit more information at ProGuitarShop.com. Andy hasn’t done a demo video of it yet, but since he praises it, I’m sure he’ll produce something soon.

Myself, I think this pedal is going to be worth a serious look just based upon the principle of it being so affordable. Damn! I’m GAS-ing again! 🙂

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Why Have I Avoided Hollow Body Guitars For So Long?

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I gotta tell ya… I’ve got a new love, and it’s in the form of my new Gretsch G5122DC Electromatic. I’ve been playing it at my solo acoustic gigs, and I’ve been playing it at my church gigs. It’s an incredibly versatile axe! Clean, it has a very natural, acoustic tone, and even though the pickups have enough gain to push an amp into overdrive, it helps to use a drive pedal to give it that extra oomph. Of course, I use the Timmy that retains my guitar’s tone, and I just LOVE the overdrive tone this guitar produces!

Which brings me to the title of this article: Why have I avoided hollow body guitars for so long? It’s probably because I always equated them to jazz guitars, and I was always pretty much a straight-up, four-on-the-floor rock and folk guy. So it was either an acoustic or a solid- or semi-hollow body guitar for me.

But then I completely overlooked one of my very favorite rock guitarists: Ted Nugent. I forgot that back in the 70’s, that madman used a Gibson Byrdland, and he totally ROCKED THE HOUSE!!! The sounds he could get out of that guitar were incredible!

After having used my own Electromatic for the last few weeks, like I mentioned above, I’m totally in love! Clean, dirty, you name it, the guitar can do it. It is definitely going to be a part of my arsenal from now on.

What about my Les Pauls? Don’t get me wrong, they’re not collecting dust. I’m still playing them, and to be honest, while the Electromatic sounds great in overdrive, the natural  sustain and the balls-out power of my Les Pauls just can’t be matched. But the Gretsch has a completely different sound than my LP’s, and when I need that particular sound, that’s what I’ll play. But to be frank, I probably won’t be using it too much for my rock gigs; that’s what I have the LP’s and my Strat for. But the Electromatic has completely replaced my acoustics at my acoustic gigs. It has an acoustic enough sound to pass for an acoustic guitar, but the tone is so much more smooth and mid-rangy.

If you get a chance, try one out. Its sound will blow you away! And at less than $700, you get a gorgeous-looking and -sounding guitar.

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