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Archive for the ‘Tone’ Category

Gear Review: Hardwire RV-7 Reverb (Follow-up)

Posted in buying gear, DigiTech, effect pedals, Effects, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, pedals, rock star, Tone, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 3, 2009| 11 Comments »

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!

Hardwire RV-7 Stereo Reverb

Hardwire RV-7 Stereo Reverb

 Summary: With seven (7) licensed Lexicon reverb models, this is one bad-ass reverb pedal, and a great value proposition given the relatively inexpensive price of $149.99 for a true bypass pedal. With the Hardwire series, Digitech has really hit a home run!

Pros: Just about the best-sounding spring and plate reverbs I’ve ever heard in a digital reverb. Capable of subtle reverb, to thick, rich and wet surf.

Cons: None. I dig this pedal!

Price: $149.99 street

Features (from Digitech):

  • Reverb Types
    • Room – Fast decaying reverb; great for a touch of ambience
    • Plate – Renowned studio reverb heard on classic recordings
    • Reverse – Reverb in reverse; gradually crescendos to full volume
    • Modulated – Lush, modulating, reverb ideal for chords
    • Gated – Unique reverb with abrupt decay; good for percussive playing
    • Hall – Large, encompassing reverb with warm decay
    • Spring – Classic “surf” reverb; great for Rockabilly too!
  • Tails On/Off Switch – When on, reverb tails are not cut off in bypass
  • True Bypass circuitry preserves your tone in bypass
  • Constant high-voltage operation for tonal quality and noise reduction
  • HardWire Pedals include the following stage accessories
    • Stomplock™ knob guards lock your tone in place and prevent tampering or accidental knob adjustments onstage
    • Green gaffer tape helps you locate the pedal in adverse stage lighting

      • Custom-cut Velcro® pads attach and lock your pedals to your pedalboard

Tone Bone Rating: 5.0 – I did a review of this awhile back, but I finally bought one, and I am oh so pleased with how it sounds!

Yeah, yeah, say what you will about Digitech being known for “consumer” grade pedals, and I’m as much of a boutique pedal snob as the next guy, but there’s no denying the quality workmanship that has gone into the Digitech Hardwire series of pedals. And yes, I know, I reviewed this pedal before, but that review was based upon a test at my local Guitar Center, while competing against the flailing of a wanker sitting next to me, trying to look cool and and trying to play metal licks and failing horribly. Okay, enough of the ranting… Y’all know how I feel about wankers… (search GG for “wankers”).

And say what you will about a digital effect box, but the fact the RV-7 has seven licensed Lexicon reverb voices inside give this pedal LOTS of credibility in my book. As I mentioned in my previous review, I’ve used a Lexicon rackmount for vocals at my Church, and have absolutely loved the reverb effects it contains. Though digital, Lexicon has figured it out, so it’s no surprise that they’re pretty much the standard for digital reverb.

In any case, despite the conditions I had to play within during my initial test, the RV-7 blew me away. Honestly, at the time, I didn’t think Digitech was capable of making a truly great-sounding pedal. Make no mistake, I’ve had Digitech pedals in the past, and they’re all quite functional, but I would never give them a “best in class” rating. They tend to offer great value for the money you pay – which isn’t much for their standard stuff; at least until I discovered the Hardwire series – especially the RV-7!

Since I reviewed the RV-7, I’ve tried several, and even came close to buying an EH Holy Grail. It too is a great sounding reverb, but there was something about its room reverb model which just didn’t do it for me. It’s a great pedal though, but I still liked the RV-7 better.

Recently, I had the chance to go to the local music shop near my work (B Street Music in San Mateo, CA) to perform an A/B test between the Holy Grail and the RV-7. Head-to-head the pedals were pretty close in performance, but the RV-7 beat the Holy Grail with the types of reverb voices it offered, plus the room reverb model on the RV-7 was superb! While the Holy Grail just edged out the RV-7 with the spring reverb, I found I could dial in a great sounding spring reverb with the RV-7 just the same, so that, combined with the awesome room reverb was what sold me. But let’s get into some specifics…

Fit and Finish

All the Hardwire pedals are solidly built with a cool, flat metallic finish. These pedals are very well-built, and surprisingly heavy – definitely gig-worthy. The RV-7 has a purplish, flat metallic finish on the body with a flat silver switch plate that has a nice rubber pad with the Hardwire logo. The pedal featurs a cool, light-blue LED indicator light. The RV-7 has four control knobs: Level, Liveliness, Delay, and a Voice selector knob. The first three knobs are not smooth sweep knobs. They have – for lack of a better term – micro-notches that really add to the whole industrial vibe that the Hardwire pedals have going on. When you look at the pedal, what’s not to like? 🙂 Of course, how it sounds is where it’s at, isn’t it?

Controls

Level – Controls the Wet/Dry amount. Fully clockwise is 100% wet.
Liveliness – This is actually hi-cut filter to add or reduce the amount of high-end freqs that come through
Delay – Controls how long the reverb effect decays after striking a note or chord
Voice Selector – pretty self-explanatory

How It Sounds

In a word, AWESOME! I used it in my weekly acoustic gig this evening, and was thanking the heavens for such a great pedal. My guitar maintained its clarity, no matter how much I upped the level knob. It must have a slight pre-delay built in; whatever, the fact that I could clearly hear the notes and chords I was playing and not having them washed out by the effect was truly an inspiring experience. Add to the fact that it is true bypass, so when it’s off, it’s really off, is yet another reason to love this pedal; no hum, no buzz.

To be fair, I have no idea what to do with the reverse reverb other than to add some interesting effect with single notes in a song. But other than that, I’m really digging this pedal!

Sound Samples

Here are some sound samples I quickly created… Please excuse the recording quality. I just recorded in an open room with no filtering. BTW, I used a Strat with a prototype Aracom RoxBox 18 Watt Amp with a Jensen 1 X10 speaker. In almost every case, all the dials were at 12 o’clock, except for the Hall and Spring, where I set Level and Decay to about 2pm. I prefer a more subtle reverb effect, but as you’ll hear, the RV-7 is crystal clear, and produces a very nice reverb effect.

Room

Plate

Reverse

Modulated

Gated

Hall

Spring

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Gear Review: Aracom Amps Custom 45R (1 X 12 Combo)

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, aracom amps, distortion, gear, gear reviews, guitar gear, Guitars, Music, musicians, Tone, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 28, 2009| 1 Comment »

4.75 Tone Bones - Almost perfect but not quite

Aracom Amps Custom 45R

Aracom Amps Custom 45R

 Aracom Amps Custom 45R

Summary: A great take on the classic Marshall JTM45, with some extra goodies like tube-driven spring reverb, a fantastic master volume (post phase inverter), half power switch (40 to 20 Watts), and bright and bite switches to add hi and hi-mid EQ bumps for more tonal contouring.

Pros: Very versatile amp with a tonal palette that can serve up gorgeous clean tones to thick, super-compressed power tube distortion.

Cons: Heavy – weighs in at 60lbs.

Price: $2195 street (as tested with 1 X 12 Combo)

Specs:

  • Pre-amp tubes: (3) 12AX7, (1) 6BM8
  • Power Amp Tubes: (2) 6L6GC or KT66 (as tested)
  • Rectifier: (1) GZ34 (5AR4)
  • Reverb Tank: Accutronics Long TankHi/Low B+ voltage switch (40/20 watts)
  • On/Off Switch
  • Standby Switch
  • Indicator Lamp
  • Custom Heavy Duty Aluminum Chassis
  • Custom Wound Transformers
  • Impedance Switch:  4, 8, 16 ohm
  • (2) Speaker Jacks
  • Custom Handcrafted Turret Board
  • Handwired

Tone Bone Rating: 4.75 – Sweet amp with lots of tonal variety, but very heavy at 60 lbs. in a 1 X 12 combo! I would definitely get casters for this amp.

One thing I’ve learned about reviewing gear is to never have preconceptions about what something might sound like, especially with guitars and amps, regardless of what the manufacturer might say. When Jeff Aragaki of Aracom Amps dropped his latest amp off at my house, then explained that it was modeled off a Marshall JTM45, but with a few enhancements, despite my normal resistance to those suggestions, I still made a few assumptions about what the amp would sound like. Mistake. I was expecting a Marshall tone; it’s there, but it’s also different. But let’s get into some detail, shall we?

Fit and Finish

All Aracom amps are very well built and constructed. The amp I tested uses the cabinet shown above, but is covered in green tolex, and the same acoutrements as the cabinet above. The cabinet itself is very sturdy and very resonant. The metal grille at the top of the amp is a nice touch, as you can see into the chassis and see the tubes all lit up. I dig that kind of stuff. Jeff uses all high-quality material from the chassis to the knobs, and everything is well laid out.

How It Sounds

This is one awesome-sounding amp! I was actually expecting a real scooped tone, but was very surprised that the amp is actually voiced quite evenly through the EQ range, with just a tad bit of lower-mid range. This gives the tone a darker, almost fatter feel. But still, the cleans are rich and crisp, not chimey like an EL-84 would sound. The huge KT-66’s this amp packs probably account for that.

The reverb is subtle – very subtle – but I really like the effect it has. It definitely won’t do surf. It was as if Jeff wanted to add the reverb as a nice decoration for the amp’s tone. If you’re looking for a deep ‘verb, this won’t do it, but the reverb it does give you, for lack of a better word, just “fits.” Here’s a sound sample that I recorded with my Strat playing the amp clean in the Normal channel with all the EQ’s set to their midpoints:

By the way, the clip is the raw recording, with no EQ or mastering or level adjustments (which accounts for a bit of the distortion as I didn’t apply a limiter). As you can tell, the clean tone is sweet and well, clean. And it has TONS of clean headroom in the Normal channel.

As far as distortion is concerned, before this, I had never played with a KT-66-based amp, so I didn’t quite know what to expect, but this amp can produce some serious distortion. When saturated, the KT-66’s really compress the tone, and the compression comes on with even just a bit of breakup. It’s a great sound, but it’s difficult to cut through a mix with that amount of compression. But hitting the bite switch adds a bit of high-mid-frequency gain, so that compensates for the compression by sort of shifting the EQ up a bit.

The bite switch works with both channels, but the bright switch only works on the Normal Channel. This switch boosts the upper-mids and highs. Don’t expect a ringy sound out of this – it’s more like an instance presence control, though the amp sports a sweepable presence knob as well.

I wish I had a sound sample for my test with a Saint Guitars Baritone Messenger. Even though it’s a baritone, the walnut gives it a fairly bright tone, and that is really complimented by the Custom 45R. I was enjoying myself so much with the baritone, I totally forgot to record a clip! Maybe later… In any case, this amp just LOVED the Baritone! The Messenger also sports two Duncan active ‘buckers, and the drive they produce really made the amp growl with a real savage tone. It was very heavy, and I was just diggin’ it! Yowza!

Overall Impressions

While I really like the tone of this amp, and am having a lot of fun playing with it, admittedly I still lean towards that chimey EL-84 tone or that “Fender” tone that 6L6’s produce. The Marshall-esque tone never has been for me, but if I were to be on the lookout for an amp with that type of tone, I’d definitely give this amp some serious consideration.

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Review: Red Bear Trading Style B Heavy Pick

Posted in buying gear, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitar picks, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, picks, plectrum, Red Bear Trading, Tone, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 23, 2009| 5 Comments »

Red Bear Trading Style B Heavy Pick

Red Bear Trading Style B Heavy Pick

 Red Bear Trading Style B Heavy Pick

Summary: Thick, meaty hand-made pick from Red Bear Trading. You might think a pick doesn’t really matter until you play one of these picks. They’re totally awesome!

Pros: Thick and tactile, this heavy pick gives you instance response as soon as you strike a string. Chords seem to ring out better. Don’t be fooled by the thickness – the beveling makes this pick glide across the strings!

Cons: None

Price: $20

Okay, I admit it, I am now a true believer in hand-made picks! I wrote a review about Red Bear picks a few weeks ago. In the article I asked, “Does a pick really make that much of a difference?” After nearly a month playing with a Style B Medium, and now a Style B Heavy, I can undeniably say that it makes all the difference in the world! In this short span of time, I’ve become a better player, and while I attribute that to quite a bit of practice, I have to attribute a lot of my recent improvements in both tone and attack to the pick I’ve been using. I don’t say this lightly: These picks have totally changed my life with respect to my guitar playing!

When you first hold one of these picks, your first reaction is: Damn! This thing is thick! And while its smooth texture kind of sticks to your skin, it absolutely glides over your strings. And because of its thickness, it produces sound much faster than conventional nylon picks that need to be before they make a sound. The sound the picks produce is also much more crisp.

For instance, playing my Ovation acoustic/electric, I’ve never heard it ring the way it rings – and it’s because of the pick. I’ve had that guitar for over 15 years now, and it quite frankly has never sounded this good! It always sounded awesome to me because of its thick tone. But when I strum it with one of these picks, it now has a gorgeous chime! F-in’ A!

At first blush, you might think that paying $20 for a pick is just way too much. But how much would you pay for good tone? We guitarists spend literally thousands on guitars and amps and racks and pedals and other accessories every year! But most of us tend to play them with inferior plectrums, never knowing what we’re missing by making a relatively small investment compared to the vast sums we spend on other gear. Sure, our standard picks are cheap, and it’s okay to lose them, but there is absolutely NOTHING that compares to the tone you can produce with a hand-made pick. And once you play with a great pick, you’ll never go back to the cheapo picks again.

To be honest and fair, Red Bear is not the only one who makes handmade picks. But Dave is the only plectrum maker who uses TortisTM, a polymer made from animal protein that looks and feels EXACTLY like tortoise shell. Dave has mastered cutting and shaping of the material, something no one else who has tried to work with it has been able to do.

What’s so special about this material? If you speak with people who have played with tortoise shell picks, they’ll tell you about how good it feels to play with one. But by the same token, to play with tortoise shell means that a sea turtle had to be sacrificed to create the pick. On the other hand, Tortis feels like real tortoise shell. In fact, when Dave first sent out his first prototypes, people told him he was full of shit when he said the picks weren’t tortoise shell! That’s how natural these feel!

As I mentioned in the previous article, Dweezil Zappa swears by these! And for good reason. The sound they produce, and how they make your playing much more precise is an absolute inspiration! For more info, and to order them, go to Red Bear Trading!

If you live in the SF Bay Area, and especially near Palo Alto, you can also get them at Gryphon Stringed Instruments.

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Gear Review: Blackheart Engineering BH5-112 “Little Giant” 5 Watt Combo

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, buying gear, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, Home Studio, Tone, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 17, 2009| 7 Comments »

4.75 Tone Bones - Almost perfect but not quite

Blackheart BH5-112 Little Giant 5 Watt Combo

Blackheart BH5-112 Little Giant 5 Watt Combo

 Blackheart BH5-112 Little Giant 5Watt Combo

Summary: Nice, simple, and versatile studio/practice/small venue amp with sporting happening EL-84 tones.

Pros: Sweet and chimey EL-84 tones with Class A circuitry; simple and straightforward to use. Switchable between 5Watts and 3Watts, ensuring usability in just about any smaller venue. 3W mode kicks ass for getting power tube saturation at a reasonable volume.

Cons: I wish it had a Master Volume, but that’s just a nit.

Price: $349 street (used to be $249 when it first came out! Damn! Shoulda gotten one then.)

Specs:

• Single-ended Class A circuit
• All tube signal path
• One 12AX7/ECC83 dual-triode preamp tube and one EL84/6BQ5 pentode output tube
• Pentode (5W rms) Triode (3W rms) switch
• Solid-state rectifier
• DC filament power supply for all tubes
• 3-band EQ
• 16-gauge (1.5 mm) thick, folded and spot welded steel chassis
• Double-sided custom color PCB with 2 oz. copper
• 15-ply, 18 mm thick, void-free birch plywood construction
• Custom-designed 12″ Eminence Blackheart speaker
• 16 ohm, 8 ohm, and 4 ohm speaker outputs

Tone Bone Rating: 4.75 – Very musical and expressive amp. Nice cleans, with a decent amount of headroom.

I first heard about Blackheart amps back in 2007. They were so new that very few people knew about them. And while a local shop was listed as a dealer, only the owner knew about the amps, and they didn’t carry them in stock! Blackheart Engineering is sort of an overseas spinoff from Crate which produces cool, yet affordable tube amps. As a home studio enthusiast, I keep my ear to the ground about low-cost, low-wattage combo amps. When I first heard about the BH5-112, I was excited. I thought it was a bold move for Crate, and a smart one, considering Crate is a huge manufacturer with huge lineup of gear; adding even something cool like the Blackheart line would just get lost in the mix. But Blackheart was pretty low-key. No ads, spotty coverage on the Internet.

So it was a very pleasant surprise to see a few Blackhearts at a local shop yesterday, and among them, the Little Giant. I was actually there to play that G & L Tribute Comanche I wrote about last week; the last time I was at the shop, they didn’t have any Blackhearts, so I wasn’t expecting to see them at all. But with them there, I naturally had to try one out, and luckily they had the Little Giant.

Fit and Finish

This little amp has a real cool vibe going on. I really like the cabinet that Blackheart uses. It’s a closed back cab, and for an amp made overseas, it’s appears to be very well constructed. There were no apparent flaws in the tolex layering, and Blackheart logo on the front is killer. I dig the white vinyl trim used on the front around the grille cloth. Real boutique styling at a pretty affordable price!

The control layout is simple: An input jack on the left, volume and three-band eq knobs, an indicator light and an on/off switch, making it simple to plug in, dial in your tone, and start rockin’.

How It Sounds

I’ve really come to love the EL-84 tones, especially when they’re saturated, and the Little Giant doesn’t disappoint when delivering its sound. With the EQ knobs at 12 o’clock, the natural tone of the amp leans toward a slightly scooped tone with a bright voicing. Even with the specially-made Eminence 1 X 12, it’s bright, but it does retain a taut low-end that really smooths out the tone. Quite pleasing. I only tested the amp with that Tribute Comanche, but it didn’t matter. When I test an amp, I play it clean for a lot of my tests to see if it will deliver the natural tonal character of the guitar, and the Blackheart Little Giant fulfills its mission.

The amp is very responsive to volume knob and pick attack. With the volume set at about halfway, and cranking the guitar volume, I was able to get that AC30-like response: Clean and shimmery, with just the slightest bit of breakup when you dig in. Very pleasing to the ears.

Amazingly enough, even though its power rating is a minuscule 5 Watts, with the 12″ speaker, this amp can put out some volume! Hence its name “Little Giant.” It probably couldn’t keep up with a drum set and a band going all out, but it can pack a good enough punch to work well in a small venue where lower volume is critical, and it definitely could be put to great use in a studio!

Overall Impressions

What can I say? I dig this amp, much like I dig the Fender Champ 600. But unlike its Fender cousin, the 12″ speaker really lets the amp breath. And speaking of volume, I was quite impressed with the volume control. Unlike many amps that practically max out by 6, the sweep covered by the Little Giant’s volume knob is nice, even and more importantly, wide. Two thumbs up!s

Here’s a video (excuse the dude’s misinformation about Class A amps – damn! That’s even worse than my faux pas about modes 🙂

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Gear Review: Saint Guitar Company Baritone Messenger

Posted in buying gear, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, Saint Guitar Company, Tone, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 16, 2009| 1 Comment »

4.5 Tone Bones - Very solid performer, and has almost everything but just missing a couple of things

Saint Guitar Company Baritone Messenger

Saint Guitar Company Baritone Messenger

 Saint Guitars Baritone Messenger

Summary: An aggressive guitar that wants to growl! This baritone is well-suited to de-tuned, low-freq, hard-driving metal, yet can be tamed to produce sweet, ringing cleans.

Pros: Very playable guitar, with a fast neck despite the wider frets. The hot, high-gain, active pickups practically eliminate the need for distortion pedals. Will hit the front-end of amp with tons of oomph! Bright tone will cut right through any mix.

Cons: Not really suited for a cleaner style of playing.

Price: $2300

Specs:

  • Solid walnut body and neck
  • Rosewood fretboard
  • Seymour Duncan Blackouts in Neck and Bridge
  • Master Volume and Tone
  • Gorgeous, dark-brown open-pore finish

Tone Bone Rating: 4.5 – Metalheads will love this guitar! I dug its playability, but would probably swap out the active pickups for a pair of ’59’s or Alnico Pro II’s to give the tone a fuller sound. But as with any Saint Guitars instrument, it’s really playable!

I’m very blessed. I have great friends who share my passion for guitar, and several of them make equipment. And I feel extremely grateful that I get to play the stuff they create. Such is the case with Adam Hernandez, whiz-kid owner and luthier of Saint Guitar Company. Adam and I struck up a friendship in the middle of last year, and I get to test (and sometimes spec) guitars he’s adding to his inventory. He doesn’t carry many in inventory as his business is fairly dedicated to creating custom works of functional art. But it’s cool that he lets me play with them. On the flip side, I’m more than willing to do writeups of his excellent guitars.

And while the guitars Adam creates are nothing short of amazing, what really turns me on about the guitars is Adam’s fearless approach to guitar making. For instance, Adam’s tone wood of choice is walnut. Walnut is usually considered bright and dead. But Adam has somehow found a way to shape and construct guitars made from walnut that are incredibly resonant and rich in tone. A guitar player himself, his designs reflect a sensitivity to the working guitarist, with easy-to-reach controls, and beautifully shaped bodies and necks that are more than just pleasing to the eye, they’re meant to be played!

When Adam contacted me and told me he wanted to swap the Faded Blue Jean Benchmark that I had been testing, I have to admit that I experienced a bit of trepidation in making the trade. For one thing, I kind of got attached to the “Baby Blue” as I came to call it, and more importantly, I had never played a baritone guitar, and didn’t know what to expect. But far be it from me to let those things get in the way. It’s not every day that you get to play custom, hand-made guitars. So a couple of weeks after he called me, we met at my local coffee hangout. That was before Christmas, so I’ve had quite a bit of time to play with the guitar.

Fit and Finish

What can I say that I haven’t said before? Saint Guitars are flawless in look and build. With this Baritone, I really dig the open-pore finish! It really brings out the natural grain of the walnut. As usual, the frets are perfectly shaped, and you’ll never find any rough edges or production burrs on the fret wire. And being that it is a solid stain, it’s just beautiful in its simplicity.

Playability

As I mentioned briefly in the summary, this is a very playable guitar. The action is PERFECT, and the jumbo frets make it easy to achieve vibrato just by wiggling your finger ever so slightly. In fact, since I like to really dig in with my left hand, it took me awhile to adjust to the light touch that’s required to voice a note or chord. But that’s a good thing. I’ve said it before: A good instrument will force you to be a better player because it won’t hide your mistakes or the idiosyncracies in your playing.

Adam is partial to wide, but shallow “D” shape necks. The “D” shape on the baritone is less pronounced on the Messenger than it was on the previous guitar I tested. I myself am partial to narrow “C” shape necks, but irrespective, the neck shape certain didn’t preclude me from playing. It did take a little while to get used to, but once I found a good height and angle, the guitar became a dream to play!

How It Sounds

I’ll let you decide for yourself. Here’s a clip:

And here’s the same clip with my Strat layered on top. I did this to see how well it played tonally with a standard scale guitar.

Okay, I did add a touch of reverb to the guitar in the tracks above, but the natural resonance and sustain even without reverb is astonishing! You can dig into a note, wiggle your finger, and the guitar will happily carry that note into the ethers forever. It’s very pleasant.

Now here’s the rub… and the reason I gave it 4.5 Tone Bones. For my style of playing, which leans towards the blues and classic rock, the Seymour Duncan Blackouts were way too aggressive for my tastes. I could clean them up just fine, but the guitar in this configuration was simply way too aggressive for the styles of music I play. For instance, when I recorded the rhythm track above, the guitar’s volume was set at around 3, the amp’s volume was at 2, and I used the Master to get clean headroom. Any higher on the guitar, and the gain the Blackouts produce would just slam the amp’s front end (BTW, I used an Aracom RoxBox 18 Watt head and a 1 X 12 cabinet with an Eminence Red Coat “The Governer” speaker). It sounds great clean, and if I were to purhase this guitar, I’d have Adam swap out the Blackouts and go with a pair of ’59 humbuckers or Alnico Pro II’s. They’re very vintage sounding, and a lot more full-bodied.

With respect to the natural aggressiveness from the pickups, while I played with the guitar a lot in the past month, I just couldn’t get inspired to write anything that took advantage of the high gain of the pickups. It just wasn’t in me this round, which is a shame because it is such a fine instrument in every other way. What I’d like to do is play the guitar with different pickups.

So what about with high gain? Damn! This guitar simply screams! With the volume knob dimed, it slams the front-end of an amp and causes immediate saturation! I usually have to bolster my Strat with a clean boost or an overdrive pedal to achieve the kind of high-gain this little monster can produce by itself! It’s very cool to hear!

Overall Impression

I think this guitar would be metalhead’s wet dream come true in stock form. In fact, Adam constructed and equipped the guitar with thrash metal in mind, and tried to see if he could get James Hetfield of Metallica to play it. Alas, he couldn’t find a way last time they were in town. But I can attest to what this guitar can do to an amp! But with different pickups, I’m sure I’d give it a perfect score.

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Gear Announcement: They’re Baaaack… that is, Way Huge…

Posted in buying gear, effect pedals, Effects, fuzz, GAS, gear, guitar, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, pedals, Tone, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 13, 2009| 2 Comments »

Back in the early 1990’s, Jeorge Tripp started Way Huge and created a line of pedals starting with the “Fuzz Box” that for all intents and purposes started the whole boutique pedal movement. Later in the decade, he decided to go on to other stuff (I believe he went to Line 6). I didn’t play much electric guitar back then, but I do remember a couple of guys I knew who used to rave about Way Huge pedals. I had never heard of them, and as a primarily acoustic guitar player, didn’t really pay too much attention because distortion was not part of my tonal palette. That all changed when I started focusing on electric guitar a few years ago. I’d visit forums and lurk discussions about how people were paying hundreds (never saw any go for thousands, but apparently some did) for these rare pedals. I was amazed. These pedals must’ve been something special if they were in such high demand.

Then a few weeks ago, I had heard that Jeorge Tripp struck a deal with the Jim Dunlop company to resurrect Way Huge. I did a google search to see if I could find any info, and came up pretty empty-handed. Even the Way Huge site had no information – until I did another search about ten minutes ago, and saw that a search on “way huge” produced the result “Jim Dunlop – Way Huge” as a search result. Naturally, I had to click the link, despite the seemingly sexual undertones the link title might have implied.

To my everlasting surprise, the Way Huge site was completely transformed from the comic book-like line drawing theme into a real site, replete with Flash graphics! But to be clear, the fact that it’s Flash did not get me excited. It was the fact that it was a real site. You have to check it out!

Featured on the site are the three pedals Way Huge is offering right now: The Swollen Pickle Mk II, The Fat Sandwich, and the Pork Loin. The Swollen Pickle is a pure Fuzz machine, while the Fat Sandwich and Pork Loin are soft-clipping overdrive pedals. Each has a very unique voice. The sound samples really display the capabilities of each pedal, so I encourage you to check ’em out.

Personally, I’ve never been much of a fuzz guy, but I do love soft clipping pedals. So naturally, I gravitated toward the Fat Sandwich and Pork Loin pedals. Very nice sounds indeed!

Visit Way Huge at http://www.wayhuge.com

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Move over OCD, the Holy Fire is where it’s at for me now…

Posted in booster, buying gear, clean boost, Creation Audio Labs, distortion, effect pedals, Effects, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, Holy Fire, inspiration, Mk.4.23, Music, musicians, overdrive, pedals, playing live, reason amps, SM25, Strat, Tone, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 11, 2009| 2 Comments »

Creation Audio Labs Holy Fire Overdrive/Distortion Pedal

Fulltone OCD Drive Pedal

What do you do when you have two kick-ass overdrive/distortion pedals and don’t know which one to choose because both pedals bring so much to the table? The obvious answer is to use both. But my problem in choosing is exacerbated by limited pedal real estate, so I have to make a choice.

Actually, the choice wasn’t too hard to make once I started playing with the Creation Audio Labs Holy Fire. While I love the OCD, the Holy Fire wins hands-down for its versatility and total transparency. While the OCD is somewhat transparent, it can get kind of muddy and a little choppy at high drive settings, whereas the Holy Fire’s distortion section reacts a lot like a power tube at high gain settings producing a compressed effect that just rocks the house!

I still love the sound that the OCD produces. It really brings out harmonics and overtones, and set in a “sweet spot” produces a nice sparkly distortion that really sounds great. But as of late I’ve been gravitating towards retaining the natural sound of my guitar and amp, so the added artifacts that the OCD adds aren’t really what I want right now.

On the other hand, the overdrive on the Holy Fire is totally unique, and nothing like I’ve ever witnessed in all my tests of overdrive pedals (and believe me, I’ve tested a lot). The overdrive has what Creation Audio Labs calls a “wave shaping” circuit that evenly distorts the entire bandwidth of the incoming signal as opposed to creating a mid-range hump, or scooping the EQ. It really is completely even. You don’t lose any lows or highs, which is common in overdrive pedals. And the circuit reacts to both volume and pick attack, providing more wave shaping as you hit the front-end of the pedal harder. Simply put, you retain all the natural tone of your guitar! It’s insane! And it’s so special, Creation Audio Labs is trying to patent it!

I gigged with the Holy Fire for the first time this evening at my weekly Church gig. Make no mistake, this may be a church service, but we regularly hit above 100db in our sets, so there is plenty of room to let our amps breath, and take advantage of the higher gain settings on our equipment. Tonight, I made sure to pick music that would allow me to use the Holy Fire throughout my set. Talk about being inspired! I used it with my Strat and a Reason SM25 amp. What a combo! I set the gain to just above unity with the clean channel (about 10am), the overdrive at about 2pm, and distortion at about 3pm (so the distortion section would compress – it does this at around 2pm). The breakup was so smooth and delicious, I wanted to keep it on all the time! Unfortunately, I couldn’t do that with some songs, but where I had the entire band playing all out, the Holy Fire just made my heart sing!

The Holy Fire also plays well with other pedals. My mainstay overdrive pedal is my trusty green machine, an Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer. That’s one pedal that will NEVER leave my board! But here’s the cool thing: Running the Tube Screamer in front of the Holy First was like nothing I’ve heard before. I did this with my OCD as well, essentially getting a combined tonal effect that the TS and OCD produce. But the Holy Fire maintained the tone the Tube Screamer produces! On the other hand, it smoothed out and thickened the distortion. The result was the expected mid-range hump from the Tube Screamer, but with super-creamy distortion, plus the TS tone, that was like candy to my ears. No extra coloration that I came to expect by running my TS into the OCD. It was like playing a fatter Tube Screamer!

Believe me, despite playing in a worship service, the way I was feeling with both those pedals running together made it seem I like I was flying with the angels! I’m not exaggerating! There is absolutely nothing compared to the feeling you get when you’re playing with wonderful tone. It inspires and emboldens you, and you take your playing to places you didn’t think possible.

That was the feeling I got when I first started playing with the OCD, and frankly, I didn’t think it could get much better. But the Holy Fire has changed everything.

On top of that, I was using another Creation Audio Labs pedal, the Mk.4.23 clean boost, yet another amazing product from those electronics wizards. I used the booster to give me just a slight gain boost for when I was doing solos, or was in the refrain section of a song when I needed just a bit more volume. It too is a totally transparent boost, adding ZERO artifacts to your signal, so all the time I spent dialing in my settings wouldn’t be lost when the Mk.4.23 was engaged.

I swear, I must sound like a twitterpated, googly-eyed schoolgirl! 🙂 But it’s been a long time that I’ve felt truly inspired, like everything was totally right with my world of tone. I’ve finally (at least for now), found total balance in my tone. The circle is complete…

At least until I get a bad case of GAS!!!

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Gear Find: Plush “The Verbrator”

Posted in buying gear, effect pedals, Effects, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, pedals, Tone, tubes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 9, 2009| 1 Comment »

Plush Verbrator

Plush Verbrator

I dig interesting pedals. in my search for a decent reverb, I came across the Plush Verberator that is a tube-driven effects loop and a 24-bit reverb in one pedal. I’m not too sure about the effects loop bit, but the reverb sounds really awesome. Here’s the product description from the Plush site:

The Verbrator® is a new multipurpose pedal which combines an all-tube effects loop with a studio grade reverb featuring a 32-Khz clock speed for full 16-K audio bandwidth. The Verbrator® is our most innovative pedal offering to date. It’s an effects loop, it’s a reverb, it’s both!

Unlike other “tube pedals,” the Verbrator® power supply features a unique regulated switching technology that takes the incoming 9 volts and converts it up to the optimal high voltage a tube really needs to operate best. In addition, a 6-volt DC regulator provides consistent clean DC power for the tube filament assuring lowest noise and consistent performance despite any changes to incoming line voltage.

The Verbrator® can be used as a pedal on a pedal board as a reverb pedal. It features a level control and decay control allowing you to have a short medium or long decay reverb algorithm. It can also be used as a tube buffer to convert an incoming high impedance signal to a low impedance for long cable runs or driving a pedal board. The recovery (gain) stage can be used to boost the level of a guitar or pedal board with a true tube audio stage. It provides a warm sweet utility gain stage with a multitude of uses.

The effects loop portion of the pedal features a unity gain cathode follower to work with any amp that has passive preamp output – power amp input patch jacks, and not a true active effects loop like Ceriatone, Dumble, Bludotone, Brown Note, some Marshall models and others. It has a send level control and high headroom. The return portion of the loop features a high impedance input (250-K) and a low output impedance with its own level control as well. The loop can be run in series or parallel modes, and features a level adjust switch for rack or pedal style effects.

9-volt DC adaptor provided, the Verbrator® features a unique “window” showing the tube. Like all Fuchs pedals, the Verbrator® features solid cast aluminum powder coated enclosure with heat cured silk screening, dual sided heavy circuit boards, premium switches and controls, and premium electronic parts throughout.

Like I said, I’m not too sure about the effects loop part of it, but the reverb really sounds good. Check out the video below:

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Gear Review: Reason Amps SM40 Head

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, buying gear, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, reason amps, SM40, Tone, tubes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 8, 2009| 1 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!

Reason SM40 Head

Reason SM40 Head

 Reason Amps SM40 HeadSummary: Deep, lush cleans, with bright, ballsy and aggressive overdrive. The SM40 is a classic rocker’s wet dream come true.Pros: Touch-sensitive and expressive. The voltage sag in the 5U4 is just enough to create almost a reverb quality as the signal fades. Truly lovely sound!

Cons: None.

Price: $2195

Specs:

• Output: 40 watts RMS @ 10% THD
• (4) EL84 output tubes, in Class A Cathode Biased configuration
• (2) 12ax7 preamp tubes
• 5U4 Rectifier tube
• 3 way Stack switch – Normal, Stack, Bright
• Normal channel – Volume, Tone
• Bright channel – Volume, Tone
• StackMode™ – Bright & Normal channel controls are active, Stack Volume & Hi-Cut
• Oversized extra capacity power supply
• Harmonics Switch – works in the final output stage to change the harmonic structure of the
overdrive.
• Power Switch
• Standby Switch
• Half-power switch
• Independent output jacks for 4,8, 16-Ohm operation
• Footswitch access to all three channels/modes

Tone Bone Rating: 5 – This is a blues and classic rock machine!!!

This review is a long time in coming as I evaluated the SM40 over a month ago, but as they say, better late than never. As many may know, I’ve had a love affair with the SM25 that the Reason guys sent me to review, and that amp will be in my rig (see my review here). In my view, very few amps can match it in versatility. It is an extremely expressive amp that is capable of producing lush, ringing cleans, to searing overdrive. And according to both Anthony Bonadio and Obeid Kahn, the founders of Reason Amps, the SM25 Combo was built specifically with versatility in mind. It is very pedal-friendly, and StackModeTM is the greatest thing since sliced bread!

But sometimes, you just don’t want or need that kind of versatility because with versatility comes compromises. For instance, the SM25’s Normal or clean channel breaks up a little earlier than you’d expect though I actually rarely if ever play at the volume so it’s a none-issue for me. Since I play a variety of styles, versatility is a key factor in my decision on an amp. But that versatility is lost on those who just don’t need it. And mind you, that’s not a bad thing. It’s merely a matter of choice, which is why you have a number of amp options to choose from with Reason Amps. Premier Guitar already covered the SM50, which gives a fair picture of the SM50’s capabilities – though I do have to take issue with Premier Guitar giving it the “Loud As Hell” award. It’s not just a noise-maker. It’s just that you’d swear the SM50 is 100 Watts as opposed to 50 Watts. It’s an extremely powerful and expressive amp with classic EL-34 goodness.

The SM40, on the other hand is a very interesting take based upon EL-84 output tubes. Where the SM25 and SM50 are based on EL-34’s in Class AB fixed-bias configuration, the SM-40 is built around two EL-84’s operating in Class A Cathode Bias configuration. Like the other Reason Amps, the SM40 has two independent channels with the trademark StackModeTM “channel,” that combines the fully amplified signals from both Normal and Bright Channels in a series with an extra gain stage, while retaining both the volume and EQ control that each channel contributes to the combination.

The Story Behind the SM40

I called the Reason guys up to shoot the breeze a bit yesterday, but to also pick their brains about the SM40, Obeid Kahn (Reason’s amp designer) and I had a great conversation about the story behind the SM40. For all intents, and purposes, the SM40 was Reason’s first production amp. Obeid had gone through several prototypes before he finally produced the SM40 which included StackMode. Previous versions had completely independent channels with separate inputs, then evolved into switching between the two, then finally evolved into connecting the two channels in a series. So the SM40 could be considered the eldest sibling in the Reason amp line and the first successful incarnation of StackMode.

How It Sounds

The SM40 is targeted at blues and classic rock players, and it definitely shows that in the way it’s voiced. Moreover, there’s something really special about the clean tone of an EL-84-based amp. It’s naturally chimey and glassy, and guitars that have that natural quality bring that tone out even more. On the Normal channel, the kind of voicing is beautiful; chimey with lots of mid-range, but not overdone. And there’s TONS of clean headroom in this channel, which makes it ideal for use with pedals. Put a booster in front of this channel, and you get that AC-30-like breakup, which is subtle and smooth. Very nice.

The Bright channel, on the other hand, is actually not that much brighter than the Normal channel. In fact, the tonal differences between Normal and Bright are so subtle that you’d think there’s no difference at all. But that’s by design. Unlike the SM25 which was built around versatility, the SM40 is a much more focused machine, which is why you only get volume and tone on any channel or mode, as opposed to the SM25 which includes a 3-band EQ on the Normal channel. The idea behind that makes sense: Players who buy this amp will mostly play a certain style of music and don’t want to be bothered tweaking knobs to dial in their sound. Not that the amp can’t be used in a variety of genres, but players who play this won’t want to stray from the general tone the SM40 produces.

Similarities between the channels aside, the real kicker for me is the StackMode “channel,” which combines Normal and Bright channels in a series, while retaining both volume and tone shaping in both channels. This really opens up a whole new pallette of tones you can produce. It’s super-expressive, and because you’re essentially working with three gain stages in a series, this mode makes the amp incredibly responsive to volume knob and attack. Dime the volume on your guitar, and you can get tons of overdrive. Back it down and pick lighter, and the tone cleans right up. In my tests of both Reason amps, StackMode was pretty much all I used, unless I was playing something where I needed a pure, glassy clean tone for which the Normal channel excels.

An interesting switch labeled Odd/Even resides on the control panel. This is a harmonics switch that works with the phase splitter in the final gain stage. The idea behind it is that at super-high gain, you start getting a “notch” type of distortion. Flipping the switch smooths that out. I actually didn’t notice that much of a difference with the switch in either Odd or Even positions, but maybe that was because I was only 3 feet from the amp, and it was cranked! 🙂 For the most part though, the switch won’t have too much of an effect until you get into really thick overdrive.

Playing It

The SM40 was tested with a Strat copy and a Saint Guitars Benchmark with humbuckers. With the Strat copy, you’re immediately taken to the roots of blues. The chimey vibe really comes out with single coils, and I found myself closing my eyes to take in the sweetness. With the Benchmark, the SM40 grew big balls of steel. Not that you’d do metal with this amp, but humbuckers make the SM40 want to growl. It’s really nice.

Overall Impressions

The SM40 is a sweet amp, and like its sibling, the SM50, it’s really made for the stage. It’s expressive and ballsy, and is meant to be played hard. As both Anthony and Obeid have both told me, this amp is made for active musicians. And while I wouldn’t want to keep people from buying it because it sounds so good, by the same token, I wouldn’t recommend it for bedroom use. You wouldn’t be able to take advantage of its full range of tones.

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Gear Review: G & L Tribute Series Comanche

Posted in buying gear, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, Tone, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 7, 2009| 5 Comments »

4.75 Tone Bones - Almost perfect but not quite

G & L Tribute Comanche in AmberBurst

G & L Tribute Comanche in AmberBurst

 G & L Tribute Series Comanche
Summary: Super-affordable, production version of the venerable Comanche. Has the same swamp ash body and rock maple neck with Fender Avenue parts. Comes with either maple or rosewood fretboard.

Pros: This guitar is a great value! My eyes almost popped out of their sockets when I saw the price! Plays just like the original I played last year, and the Z-coil hybrid pickups produce a creamy-smooth tone with sustain for days. Bridge pickup is the most tonally balanced bridge pickup I’ve ever played!

Cons: I prefer a satin neck finish with maple necks (it’s that Strat thing), but the Tribute still sports the same vintage gloss neck finish as the original. It’s still very playable, but it’s a feel thing for me.

Price: ~$1300 list / $799-$899 street

Tone Bone Rating: 4.75 – This guitar would be perfect with a satin finish on the neck.

Back in March of last year, I had my first encounter with G & L Guitars in a little shop in Sacramento. At the time, I didn’t have any idea of the existence G & L company and how it was Fender Version 2 (I was still getting acquainted with the non-big-name manufacturers). But no matter, I picked up a Comanche off the rack, and instantly fell in love. So much so that I just had to write a review about it! But I had to temper that love with the reality that the street price for the guitar at $1700 was just way out of my price range. And having worked with Saint Guitars these past few months, $1700 is not that much to pay for a handmade guitar, but it’s still more than I can justify considering I have a mortgage and tuition to pay, not to mention food to put on the table.

So it came as a complete surprise to me yesterday to finally play a G & L Tribute Series Comanche and be completely blown away by the price of $799! All the feelings that the original guitar I played back in March came flooding back. This was the same, sweet-sounding guitar that made my soul just sing! The skies opened and I envisioned a chorus of angels singing sweetly to the music I was playing. All was right with the universe. Okay, I’m exaggerating… But a choir of angels should’ve been singing because my heart soared to even greater heights as the Tribute was over half the price less than the handmade version, and it still sings as sweetly!

So why the big price difference? The Tribute series of G & L guitars are their mass production versions of their original makes made in Korea. Using overseas production but the same parts typically lowers the price point of items assembled this way. However, that doesn’t mean that build quality is sacrificed. A good example of this is the SE series of PRS Guitars. These guitars are also produced in Korea, but their build quality is practically flawless! I totally dig the SE Soapbar II that I have. It plays like a dream, and has a nice, aggressive, yet expressive tone. G & L didn’t skimp on quality with respect to the Tribute series. The Tribute Comanche I just played had no build flaws that I could detect, and the guitar in Amber Burst is GORGEOUS!!! So looks great, sounds great, and affordable is a great combination!

From what I’ve been able to find out in my research is that G & L actually researched doing overseas production in Japan, but Korean production quality is now on par with Japan, and costs far less to produce there. G & L also spent two years teaching the Korean facility the correct way to construct the guitars. The end result is a very high quality instrument!

Fit and Finish

From a distance, I couldn’t tell an original Comanche from a Tribute. They look the same, though closer inspection yields slightly different hardware, but  you would swear they’re just different styles of the same model of guitar. The Amber Burst finish is absolutely gorgeous! And I detected zero build flaws. Nothing was misaligned, and all the joints were perfectly matched and mated. This is one well-built and guitar!

Playability

One might expect a production model guitar to be a little less refined with respect to playability. Not so in this case. The narrow neck with the jumbo frets make playing the Comanche a dream to play! You can be light to the touch or really dig in, and the guitar just responds. And especially for me right now, where I’ve been gigging a lot as of late, having an easy-to-play guitar is simply wonderful.

How It Sounds

At first blush, since the Comanche looks so much like a Strat, you might think it sounds like a Strat. It kind of does to a point in that tonally, it’s thinner sounding than a guitar with humbuckers. But the tone is much thicker than a Strat. Furthermore, the tonal character between the different pickup combinations is not as dramatic as with a Strat. For instance, with a Strat, positions 2 and 4 produce that distinctive, ringy and jangly Strat tone. With the Comanche, you get the ring, but it’s definitely not as dramatic; especially in position 4 which is the middle/bridge combination.

With position 4, the less jangle has a lot to do with the bridge pickup, which is a hell of a lot fatter sounding in the Comanche than it is with the Strat. Frankly, I love the tone of the Comanche’s bridge pickup. It’s really the first bridge pickup I’ve found to be truly useful. It’s brighter-sounding than the other pickups, but not nearly as tinny sounding as a typical Strat bridge pickup. But then again, it’s just different; it has its own unique character.

If I could pick a single word to describe how the Comanche sounds, I’d have to say, “smooth.” Everything about the tone the Comanche produces is silky smooth. I love the tone it produces.

Overall Take

On value alone, the Comanche gets a 5 Tone Bone rating. But as I stated above, I prefer a satin finish on the neck – it’s more of psychological thing – so I took a quarter point off. But make no mistake about it. This guitar kicks ass!

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