Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Hmm… Cranked Amp? Booster? Overdrive? Distortion?

August 15, 2012 by GoofyDawg

The answer is: It depends… 🙂

More likely than not, when I want dirt, I just crank my amp or at the very least get it to the edge of breakup, then use input volume and attack to get it. For some people, a cranked amp is all they need. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. And for a few years, I didn’t use any dirt pedals for overdrive; just my amp. But overdrive slut that I am, I eventually returned to using them. But unlike many players who use overdrive and distortion through a clean headroom amp, relying entirely on their dirt pedal(s) to give them their distorted tone, I use my overdrives, distortion and booster to enhance the overdrive tone of my amp. Here’s how I set my drive pedals up…

In front of my amp

I’ll usually have three drive pedals that I place in front of my amp. First in the chain is always a transparent overdrive. I use a Timmy for that. Next in line is an overdrive that adds color and that I can stack on top of my transparent overdrive. The longest in that position has been my Tone Freak Abunai 2, which has a great compressed tone in its asymmetrical mode, plus a nice bottom-mid. But I will also switch it out with either a GeekMacDaddy Geek Driver (based on the original ColorSound Overdriver circuit – originals sell for about $1200), a Doodad Check-A-Board Red (kind of a brighter TS-808), or when I’m feeling nostalgic, I’ll put my TS-808 re-issue in that position. Last in that chain would be a distortion pedal. I only have one and that is the incredible EWS Little Brute Drive.

At the end of my effects loop

I place my booster (Creation Audio Labs Mk.4.23 Transparent Boost) at the end of my effects loop, which means it’s the last pedal before my power tubes. This gives a modest volume boost, but if my power tubes are already overdriving, it’ll knock them into full saturation, and I can get some nice power tube compression. This is great when I want to add some drama to a lead.

Some people prefer the “amp in a box” type of overdrives, letting overdrive pedals produce their distortion. I rarely use the overdrive pedals with a clean amp as I love the interplay between the natural distortion of an amp and the distortion of the pedals. What this also means is that because I use these pedals with an already breaking up amp, I rarely crank up the gain on these devices. I think that this where the true power of the overdrive pedal resides, as it is half booster, half soft-clipping device. The boost part can push an amp into breakup, then the clipping section will add another dimension to the distortion. Using an overdrive like this, it can be difficult dialing in a good balance between amp and pedal overdrive, but once I’ve found the sweet spot, it’s total ear candy.

I’ve talked previously about how I use my booster in my effects loop, so I won’t go into detail here, but with a booster, it gives me a secondary area to push my amp: after the preamp and before the power section. I like having two independent ways to introduce more gain into my amp. It’s a little finer control.

This is what works for me right now. A few years ago, that arrangement changed practically weekly as I was experimenting with different things. But I’ve pretty much established how I like to use my pedals, and haven’t changed much other than swapping out in specific positions.

Posted in Guitars | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments »

Gear Review: Keeley Luna Overdrive

August 13, 2012 by GoofyDawg


Keeley Luna Overdrive

Summary: Two-and-a-half years in the making and combining what Robert Keeley feels are the best in overdrive pedals, tube amps, and tone stacks. The Luna overdrive is the result. This pedal covers a wide range of overdrive possibilities, from light grit to fuzz-like, square-wave distortion.

Pros: The Baxandall tone stack is KILLER and totally sells me on the pedal. On top of that though, the pedal reacts to attack and guitar volume adjustments just like a tube amp, so you’ll be right at home.

Cons: It’s pricey for one, and the tight interplay between the EQ, Drive and Master controls makes it difficult to dial in just the right amount of overdrive. But these aren’t big enough cons to give it a lower score.

Features:

  • Hand-made in the USA
  • Op-amp clipping and JFET gain stages
  • Baxandall tone stack
  • Drive and Master controls
  • Classic and Modded overdrive modes

Price: ~$219 Street

Tone Bone Score: 4.75 ~ This is a great pedal. I’d give it a 5 on tone alone, but I knocked off just a bit for making it difficult to get a decent tone out of my amp. I suppose that’s part of the fun in playing around and discovering what a pedal can do, but I have to be fair. It got a little frustrating as the Drive knob is pretty sensitive.

After my beloved Timmy pedal, I thought I was done with overdrive pedals! 🙂 I should know better because I’ve been a slut for overdrive pedals, and I guess there’s really no cure for that. Playing around with the Keeley Luna Overdrive has been a joy, though I will admit I did briefly get frustrated while trying to dial in the pedal. It simply took a bit of time to get used to the active Baxandall EQ. Unlike other EQ’s, it’s not a cut type of EQ, where the EQ knobs turned all the way up give you flat response. With a Baxandall EQ, the 12 o’clock position is flat response. Turn up an EQ knob and you get a boost, turn it down, and you get a cut. But the midrange is left alone. That means that if you turn both knobs fully counter-clockwise, you get a midrange hump; fully clockwise, and you get a scooped tone.

This is a totally different animal from other EQ’s, and it takes awhile getting used to. However, despite the learning curve, this type of EQ provides a much better way of dialing in your tone to fit your guitar, amp, and cabinet. For instance, for my test, I played the pedal in front of my DV Mark Little 40, which goes out to a 1 X 12 cabinet that has a Jensen Jet Falcon speaker, which has a pretty big bottom end. Putting the pedal in flat response made my tone sound really muffled because of the lows (I had my amp’s EQ completely flat). But after playing around, I found that placing the bass at 11 o’clock and the treble at 1 o’clock brightened up the tone just the right amount, then it was all about getting the Master and Drive knobs set.

About the Drive knob… it’s super-sensitive, and you’ll start getting breakup as soon as you start turning the knob clockwise from its minimum position, which is about 7-8 o’clock. I found that the sweet spot for me was the Drive just past 9 o’clock and the Master set between 2 and 3 o’clock. With my amp set at just the edge of breakup, the boost from the Master got the tubes overdriving, and the combination of distortion from both the pedal and the amp was quite pleasing to my ears.

How It Sounds

In my First Impressions article that I wrote earlier today, I said that the pedal adds some color. I’m going to retract that now because depending upon where you set the EQ’s, you can have a transparent tone, or add as much color as you want. I like to err on the side of transparency with most overdrives, and when it came down to it, this pedal was no different. I originally had a nice treble boost, but when I did some test recordings, found that I didn’t like how I had set the EQ’s because of the color. Here are a couple of test clips. Note that both of these were done in the Classic mode, and I was using my Gibson Les Paul ’58 Historic Reissue.

In the first clip, I do a quick clean rhythm riff with an almost imperceptible grit, then do the same riff with the pedal to add some dirt.

With the next clip, I decided to do a dark rhythm track then play a lead alongside it. In both rhythm and lead, the pedal was set the same way, and I vary the amount of overdrive simply by adding more guitar volume or hitting my strings harder. This clip was made purely to demonstrate the pedal’s dynamic response. I also added just a touch of reverb to grease the sound a bit,.

I absolutely love the tone of the lead track. I started out with my LP in the middle position, with the neck pickup at 5 and the bridge pickup at 6. Then when I started driving it harder, I switched to the bridge pickup entirely and dimed it. From there I just closed my eyes. The sonic content that the pedal produces is amazing. There are lots of little harmonics and overtones in the signal, and the note separation is awesome. The note separation takes a little getting used to as well. But this is a good thing because this pedal does not produce mush – even at high gain settings.

In this third clip, I just do a few seconds of a Journey riff. here the tone is scooped with both the EQ knobs at about 2 pm, the Master cranked wide open and the Drive at about 10 o’oclock. Unfortunately, my mic didn’t pick up all the little harmonics and overtones, but the point to this one was that even pushing my amp hard, and with much more gain, the note separation is still maintained.

I know, I only have a couple of clips, but admittedly, I’m still playing around with the pedal. I want to try it front of one my Plexi-style amps to see how it performs.

I did take it through its paces with the Modded mode, and that mode with my amp just past the edge of breakup created some real aggressive overdrive; not over the top, but I have to play around more with this mode and cranking up the gain to experience the upper limits of the pedal.

Overall Impression

As I said above, this is a great pedal. It’s a little steep in price at $219; Keeley pedals have never come cheap. But that said, I’d totally add this to my board to stack with my Timmy (hmm… going to have to try that out). It has been a long time since I’ve been jazzed about an overdrive, and I’m really jazzed about this one.

Interestingly enough, besides a few video reviews out there (that do nothing but blues licks), and one that I saw done by Musicians Friend staff member, there’s not much in the way of reviews, which is surprising. Some of the feedback I saw on a couple of forums said it didn’t work well with people’s amps. I think that has more to do with not playing around with the pedal enough. That Baxandall EQ takes some getting used to, but once you “get it,” this pedal rocks!

For more information, visit Keeley Luna Overdrive product page!

Posted in effect pedals, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar gear, guitar gear reviews, guitar pedals, overdrive, pedals | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

First Impressions: Keeley Luna Overdrive

August 13, 2012 by GoofyDawg

One of my bandmates showed up at our weekly church gig this past weekend with the Keeley Luna Overdrive on his pedal board. He normally plays clean, and wanted to have something that he could get a gritty sound with, but he hadn’t really set it up, and frankly, it didn’t sound all that good, but I knew that it had more to do with the pedal being new and him not having time to dial it in than with the pedal himself. So I gave him a few pointers on how to set up his amp and the pedal, and we were able to get some real usable overdrive tones out of it.

After service, Dave handed me the pedal to do a test drive on it. He wasn’t sure he’d keep it, as it was pretty expense (he paid $219 for it and wasn’t sure it was worth it), but wisely, he wanted to get my feedback on it before he made a decision. It’s still a bit early to give him a definitive answer, but I’m probably going to recommend that he keeps the pedal after I had a chance to play around with it last night. Or if he still doesn’t want to keep it, I’ll take it off my hands and add it to my board to play after my Timmy. 🙂

So what’s so special about this pedal? It’s the same thing that I find special about the Timmy: It’s the tone controls. With the Timmy, to get a flat response you keep the tone controls wide open, then bleed off the highs and lows to adjust for amp/guitar. The Keeley on the other hand uses a Baxandall tone stack. Flat response is with both bass and treble knobs at noon. Moving either knob past noon adds boost, and vice-versa for moving the knobs before noon. Turning them all the way down will give you a big mid-hump, and cranking them will give you a scooped tone (though note that you’re boosting, so you’ll get more gain as well).

And it’s a different overdrive sound altogether. I detected a slight coloring, even at low gain settings, but it was very pleasing. High gain settings get you into fuzz/square-wave stuff, but nothing like a real fuzz pedal. Furthermore, try as I might, I couldn’t get any compression in Classic mode; even the Timmy compresses ever-so-slightly. This is a different overdrive animal entirely. Though it does add a bit of color (I heard it as a little top-end sparkle; almost like the sparkle you get with an optical compressor), it’s really made to work your amp, and your fundamental tone doesn’t really change all that much. That’s what I dig about the Timmy, though the Timmy is pretty transparent.

No, I don’t have any sound clips – yet. I just spent an hour twiddling knobs and finding the sweet spot on my LP. One thing that I can say that also impresses me is that it’s VERY responsive to input gain and pick attack, and it’s truly a joy to play with low gain settings. Then turning up volume knobs adds more grit and drive – very responsive and VERY expressive.

With respect to the Classic/Modded switch, since I didn’t have any documentation on hand, I can only tell you that it seemed to me that the “Modded” side added more gain and a bit of sustain. I suspect a little compression is also happening as the tone seems to be much more full and “in your face” in Modded mode.

I have to admit that before I played it, I really was trying to be unimpressed with this pedal, but after just playing with it for a short time, I can’t help but to be impressed. Just when I thought I’d heard everything with respect to overdrive, the Keeley Luna Overdrive provided yet another way of looking at overdrive.

Posted in Guitars | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment »

Sometimes You’ve Got to Get Through It, Get Done, The Get Outta There…

August 12, 2012 by GoofyDawg

It happens to me rarely, but I just wasn’t feeling it at Friday night’s gig. I generally did a good job, but I just didn’t have the passion that I normally have. I hate when that happens because try as I might, I just couldn’t get inspired. But when it does, I just tell myself to get through it, get done, then get out.

Things didn’t start out well. I forgot to bring my harmonizer unit; the bag in which it’s carried also contained my stage mic. So I had to use an old SM58 from the restaurant that is long past its prime. Without my harmonizer, I lost the ability to compress my vocals (I compress very minimally, but some compression adds some oomph), and that combined with the lifeless mic, just didn’t sound quite right. Then on top of that, the brand-new singing waiters weren’t prepared with their music (read: they didn’t bring any), so they kept on trying to cherry-pick from my repertoire, which the experienced ones know irritates the shit out of me. Then during one number with one of the newbies, my mic muted for some reason, so we had to stop the song. If that wasn’t bad enough, the girl’s family was there, and her obnoxious father came up and said, “What do I have to do?” and started reaching for the mic cord.

Already having a bad day, and already annoyed with the singer for not being prepared, I said rather sharply, “Nothing. Please keep your hands off my gear and sit down.” The saving grace came from a couple of faithful fans that come to the restaurant regularly to listen to me play, and I was able to sit and have drinks with them on breaks to calm down. But despite that, the night was a wash. I shared my lack of passion with one table (only saying I wasn’t feeling it that night), and they said that they couldn’t tell. And that brings to the crux of this article.

It happens sometimes. I’ve been performing for over 40 years, and despite that, sometimes you just don’t feel it. When that happens to me, I follow my three G’s:

  1. Get through it
  2. Get done
  3. Get Outta there

The Three G’s mean nothing more than to execute the performance; you know, “the show must go on.” A long time ago, I was a dancer, and I’ve gone through this. My artistic director just told me, “Just remember focus on your dancing. Remember, you’re dancing for them <pointing to the audience>.” It’s not fun being in a funk during a performance, but I’ll still muddle through it. I may not make as many tips as I normally would (people can key into your energy or lack thereof), but I still muddle through it. And with The Three G’s, I also remember that I’m not just performing because I get paid to perform. I do it because I love to gig. That helps me a lot, and remembering that sometimes breaks me out of the funk.

At Friday’s gig, nothing could get me out of my funk. But I just told myself to get through it. I’ve had better gigs in the past, and I’ll have better gigs in the future…

Posted in Guitars | Leave a Comment »

The SRT System Is Here!

August 8, 2012 by GoofyDawg

Yamaha APX900 Thinline Acoustic/Electric Guitar

Click to enlarge

Shown to the left is my trusty Yamaha APX900. When I bought it a couple of years ago, what sold me was the Acoustic Response Technology pre-amp which, at the time, I felt was unmatched for playing live and plugged into an acoustic amp. Before I finally chose the APX900, I had evaluated several acoustic guitars from high-end Martins, Taylors and Collings to the low-end. The cheapos just wouldn’t do even though some sounded pretty good, they were set up pretty poorly. I almost sprung for a Martin dreadnaught, but would’ve had to install a pickup system in it. I didn’t want to go through the hassle. So I narrowed my search to purely acoustic-electric guitars.

The first time I played an APX900, I knew my search was over. My primary criteria for choosing an acoustic was not for its acoustic sound, but how good it would sound plugged in as I would use the guitar as my on stage acoustic. Nothing, and I mean nothing sounded better than the APX900 plugged in; everything else sounded flat and mid-rangy. It was the Acoustic Response Technology (ART) pre-amp on the APX900 that completely sold me on the guitar. The only drawback of the guitar was that acoustically – without sound reinforcement – the guitar being a thinline concert jumbo didn’t have much oomph, and I knew that if I was going to use in the studio, I’d have to do a lot of tricks to make it sound bigger (like close-micing). But studio work was going to be a secondary use for the guitar, so it didn’t really bother me too much that its acoustic performance was okay at best. The guitar by no means sounds bad acoustically, but it has a higher voicing as compared to a dreadnaught or even a full bodied concert jumbo. Besides, it got me thinking that where the guitar was lacking could be made up with the purchase of a higher-end guitar where I didn’t really care much about the electronics. Just more gear… 🙂

In any case, a couple of months after I got my APX900, I started looking for a higher-end guitar. One of the first places I sought out was the Yamaha site, and what should I discover but a line of higher-end Yamaha guitars that included a new pre-amp system called the Studio Response Technology (SRT). This pre-amp system was even better than the ART, upon which I didn’t think could be improved. With SRT, Yamaha introduced microphone modeling as well as multiple pickups, and the recordings they provided got me salivating to try out a guitar that had this system. On top of that, the SRT system included a knob to adjust the amount of body resonance the system picks up. OMG! To me, it was absolutely ground-breaking! Unfortunately at the time, you could only get the the model that I wanted to try out – the LJX26C – via special order. Even the LJX16C, which is their “Professional” model wasn’t available in the States except via special order, or from small, online dealer of whom I had never hear. The end result is that I’ve just had to drool at a distance all this time. But no longer.

When I first started writing this article, it was going to be an article about the APX900, but more of a discussion of how I use the guitar on stage and in the studio. In the process of writing, I wanted to see the current price of the guitar, and it is now incredibly priced at $549! I paid $799 for it two years ago, and was happy as a clam that I got the guitar at that price. Figuring that Yamaha had come up with an upgrade, I perused Musicians Friend and discovered the new APX1000 which sports the SRT system!!!!! Folks, this is big, Big, BIG news, and as the APX series guitars are Yamaha’s mid-range commercial guitars, there’s a high probability that I can try one out at my favorite local music store! It’s hard to describe the excitement I’m feeling. The ART system totally blew me away when I first played it, and I thank the stars every time I gig with my APX900 that I have a pre-amp system like the ART. But the SRT system promises even better plugged-in performance, and I just can’t wait to try it out!

But on that note, I’M TOTALLY PISSED AT YAMAHA because they do such a crappy job of marketing their incredible products technologies. Those of us “in the know” understand just how good Yamaha instruments are, but Yamaha has always been rather modest about its products. You have to actively search out what they’re doing. Had I known about the APX1000, I would’ve written a review a long time ago! Perhaps “annoyed” is more accurate, but if Yamaha was more active in marketing, I think a lot more people would be using their equipment!

All that said, here is a GREAT demo of the SRT. Read the comments on YouTube, they’re hilarious!

Posted in Guitars | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes…

August 6, 2012 by GoofyDawg

…and acoustic guitar players prefer California Blondes…

I have an original California Blonde by SWR that I use for my acoustic gigs. The “Blonde” is actually a portable PA, capable of handling any acoustic instrument as well as vocals at the same time, though I’ve never had the occasion to use it in that capacity. But for playing my Yamaha APX-900 through it, there’s no better amp!

Since I first heard a California Blonde, I have always been impressed with its sound. Not only is the sound HUGE, but it’s warm and clear, with lots of bass response, which could be a bit problematic, but luckily the EQ is very reactive, and getting a balanced tone out of the amp that’s suitable for a particular instrument is super easy. And when I finally got one, for playing clean, it became my go-to amp. For my solo acoustic gigs I normally use my Fishman SA220 SoloAmp, and it works like a dream. But when I’m just playing my acoustic with my band, I invariably go with the Blonde.

During summer, my church band operates with a fairly skeleton complement of musicians, and today was no exception as we only had our bassist, another guitarist, and me, so I decided to forego my normal electric rig, and go with an acoustic setup, which consists of the California Blonde, my pedal board, and my Yamaha APX900 acoustic-electric guitar.

Talk about a match made in heaven! My Yamaha APX900 is a concert jumbo, and as with that size guitar, bass response can be an issue. But plug that guitar into a California Blonde, and there’s no issue at all. The Blonde’s 12″ speaker has no problem generating lows, so the guitar sounds so much bigger than what you might guess at first blush with a concert jumbo. Add to that the other-worldly SRT pickup system of the APX900, and the combination just oozes tonal goodness. On top of that, the Blonde also has a little tweeter driver (you can see it in the upper right-hand corner behind the grille cloth in the picture above) that adds some sparkle to the output. The end result is a rich, complex acoustic tone that makes a gig totally enjoyable.

If there is a drawback to a California Blonde, it’s the weight, which is 50lbs. But considering the sound that you get out of it, it’s a small price to pay. Besides, I have a hand cart that I use for transporting it to and from my car, which makes it a lot easier to bring to gigs. But weight aside, I’ve never played through a better acoustic amp.

Posted in Guitars | Tagged , | 1 Comment »

Greasing Your Sound

August 4, 2012 by GoofyDawg

As I do practically every Friday night, I did my solo acoustic gig last night. Normally, I use a PedalTrain Nano board on which I put my modulation effects so I don’t have to lug around a big board. But because I re-wired my main board (shown above) and had to use the 5-plug extension that I use on the Nano (didn’t have enough time this week to get a replacement), I lugged my main board to the gig. As an aside, during summertime, I play in the middle of a fairly busy area at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, CA, and even though my area is partially roped off, it was funny yesterday to watch people’s reactions to my board, with all the different colors, but also pretty cool, as there were a few obvious gear sluts who passed by and saw all the boo-teek bling on my board and looked at me with knowing smiles. Must’ve been fellow TGP members. 🙂 But I digress…

Anyway, what I was absolutely loving last night was my ToneCandy Spring Fever. Tone-wise, I’ve never heard a pedal so closely simulate a spring reverb tank. It’s absolutely uncanny the reverb sound that the Spring Fever produces. But it’s also absolutely finicky with power supplies. But admittedly, I’ve had a bit of a love/hate relationship with that pedal ever since I got it. If you don’t match it with a power supply that it “likes,” it’ll hiss. It’s also sensitive to dirty power sources. Oy-vay!  The weird thing is that it hated my Dunlop DC Brick, but since I re-wired my board and power it with a simple 1-Spot, it somehow likes it. Go figure. The 1-Spot is not regulated like the DC Brick, but for some reason, the Spring Fever works great with it. Oh well, mine is not to question; mine is to simply appreciate and enjoy the goodness this pedal produces. 🙂 One thing I also discovered last night is that the Spring Fever takes awhile to “warm up;” like 20-30 minutes of being switched on. When it’s cold, switching it on and off will cause a bit of a pop. But once it’s warm, it’s absolutely silent. As far as last night was concerned though, I was loving it so much that I simply kept it on all night (I played for 5 hours with only two breaks), and adjusted the amount of reverb as needed.

Now I don’t want to paint a bad picture of this pedal. Although I discussed its idiosyncrasies above, and those could be construed as negatives, they’re not negative enough – especially once I found a power supply that it likes – to make me poo-poo the pedal. Now that I’ve worked through the issues, I don’t think I’m going to ever get rid of it. I actually had it up for sale on CraigsList, but have since removed the listing because last night made me a total believer in this pedal, which brings me to the crux of this article.

Reverb is an interesting effect. As Doug Doppler puts it, reverb adds a bit of “grease” or smoothness to your tone when used sparingly. But setting it is tricky. Add too much and it makes your guitar sound like it’s in a cavern with sound bouncing all over the place, turning your tone to mush; add too little, and it’s like you’re not adding anything. But dialing in just the right amount into your signal provides a certain smoothness and a subtle touch of reflectivity that seems to make your tone float in the air. Plus, that reflective quality gives the perception of your volume being louder as there’s seems to be more presence. That’s the “grease” as your tone seems to just slide right out of your amp as if on greasy skids.

And there’s a lot to be said about an analog circuit versus a digital. The Spring Fever utilizes an analog circuit. What has always struck me about it is that it just seems to have so much more sonic content than the digital versions I’ve used. For instance, I have another fantastic reverb in the Hardwire RV-7 Reverb. But having done a side-by-side comparison between the two, the Hardwire’s digital spring – Lexicon model, no less – is lifeless compared to the Spring Fever’s. That said, I don’t use the spring setting on the RV-7. I love the RV-7 for its hall and plate reverb settings, of which I have found no match. But for spring, ain’t nothin’ mo bettah than the Spring Fever, save an actual long-spring reverb tank.

Yeah, I can get Dick Dale surf with the Spring Fever, but I use it mainly for “grease.” When I want a more expansive, ambient tone, I’ll kick in the Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay. With the Spring Fever set for grease, I can use the DBD with the Spring Fever on, and not produce mush.

So you might be wondering at this point – since I’ve mentioned it a few times – how the hell do I get a “grease” setting? The bottom line is that it boils down to personal preference. However, for me, it’s the point just short of where the reverb feeds back, producing that familiar reverb “bounce.” But just before that point, at least how I perceive it, my tone is more expansive but it doesn’t reverberate a lot or “bounce.” Kind of hard to explain. It’s a setting that while you’re playing, you don’t really notice it. But if you turn it off, you know something is missing. The effect is similar to using an aural enhancer like the BBE Sonic Stomp, or even using mild compression. You don’t really hear what it does while you’re playing, but you know when it’s off. That’s the nature of adding reverb “grease.”

I have to admit that it took me a long time to find that point – like a few gigs till I got it dialed in. And that’s with any reverb that I used. It was a bit easier to dial in the Spring Fever as you only have Reverb (Dwell) and Mix. It took me longer to dial in the RV-7 to the grease point because it has Level, Decay and Liveliness, plus different reverb voicings. But once I got the settings to the grease point, I just keep the reverb on all the time.

When I need more reverb, I just turn up the mix. But usually, what I really want is more ambiance, so I kick in my Mad Professore Deep Blue Delay. I think that’s the reason for me keeping the reverb sound subtle. When I want a more ambient tone, I lean towards a more haunting color. To me, a delay does that much better than just adding more reverb. And set for “grease,” the reverb’s touch of reflectivity really enhances the delay, which is also why I run it after the delay. It’s all about the grease…

Posted in Guitars | Tagged , | 1 Comment »

Important Lessons…

July 31, 2012 by GoofyDawg

Yesterday, the power supply on my pedal board (Dunlop DC Brick) went out. It sucked because it’s a great power supply that isolates and regulates the power to each individual pedal. But luckily I had a Visual Sound 1-Spot plus two 5-pedal extensions. With that, I could use one plug on an extension to power up the other extension, and that would cover all nine pedals on my board. So I removed all the wiring from my DC Brick, removed the brick, then got ambitious and took off all the pedals so I could clean my board and get all the wiring right. The result is to the left. Click on the picture and you’ll see. It’s not pretty, but it works, and everything flows.

In any case, I decided to experiment a little bit with my pedals and swapped out a couple of stalwarts for pedals I hadn’t used for awhile. I first swapped my Tone Freak Effects Abunai 2 for a Doodad Guitars Check-a-Board red overdrive. I then swapped my beloved BOSS CE-2 Chorus for a Homebrew THC, then swapped out my trusty Hardwire RV-7 Reverb for a ToneCandy Spring Fever. I got everything wired back up, then did a sound check. Everything sounded great. Then I went to my gig, and that’s where I learned the important lessons that I’ll share here; lessons that I’ve spoken about in the past, but hadn’t experienced them in awhile, so I needed to relearn them.

Lesson 1: Your Rig Never Sounds the Same On Stage

Once I got my pedal board squared away, I ran a test through the amp I would use for my gig yesterday. I was sitting three feet away from the amp. But at my gig, I was 10 feet away, and the settings that I had used for sound check sounded like CRAP! The bottom end was all loosey-goosey, and my overdrive pedals sounded extremely harsh. Ouch! Puzzled, I moved closer to my amp, and everything sounded great, which was good because I rely on the PA for sound projection. But it made me extremely uncomfortable to have it sound so bad; especially with my overdrive pedals. So my solution was actually to turn down slightly and turn the amp a few degrees – and I’ll talk about that in a second. But the lesson here is that until you get on stage, it’s a whole different ballgame; and if you’re relying on the projection of your amp for your gig, be prepared to tweak.

Lesson 2: Floor-Bounce Effect Can Totally Screw Up Your Sound

Floor-bounce is a well-known audio effect that has to do with sound reflecting off a floor that causes cancellation or emphasis of certain frequencies; mind you, that’s fairly simplistic explanation, but the effect is that it could make your tone sound harsh as certain frequencies cancel out and others get emphasized. Actually, reflectivity off any surface could cause your tone to sound harsh, which is what happened to me at my gig yesterday. Close up, there was no reflectivity, but my speaker sits on the floor, plus I had it closer than normal to a low wall, so reflectivity off the wall was coming into play. Because I stack my amp, attenuator and wireless base station on top of my cabinet, tilting the cab back wasn’t much of an option. But turning the amp slightly away from the wall helped quite a bit. Also, turning down my volume (increasing attenuation, not reducing gain) helped as the reflectivity effect was much less pronounced. Since I use the church’s PA for projection, turning down wasn’t an issue. Our sound guy would balance that lower volume into the mix.

It’s hard to describe exactly what it sounded like, but the effect was as if I had ripped my speaker cone. The bottom end was extremely farty, and even at low- to medium-gain settings on my overdrive pedals it was like sanding with 50 gauge sandpaper which is super rough and used for stripping paint versus 400 gauge sandpaper which is gritty but leaves a much smoother finish.

Lesson 3: Affirmation of the Effects Loop

When I got my DV Mark Little 40, it was the first time in a long while that I had an amp that had an effects loop, and now I’m completely sold on the importance of having one. Running mod effects in front of an amp is fine if you’re running into an amp set for max clean headroom, and you put your drive pedals in front of them. But mod effects in front of a distorting pre-amp sounds really harsh – at least to me. Not sure the technical details behind all that, but I do know that running my mod effects in my loop sounds so much better to me. With my current board setup, I run four wires out to my board. Two are for the effects loop, then two are for input from my wireless base station through my drive and wah pedals into the front of my amp.

Lesson 4: Boost Placement

Another important lesson I learned was something I picked up a few months ago from Gene Baker of Fine Tuned Instruments and luthier of the B3 guitar. In a demo he did of the Xotic Effects EP Booster, he said he ran the booster at the end of this effects loop chain. He said it “steps out a lot nicer than trying to hit it on the front end.” I’m a big fan of power tube overdrive, so I tried it out, and put my trusty Creation Audio Labs Mk.4.23 transparent clean boost at the end of my effects loop chain. OMG! It’s never leaving that position. The cool thing is that it’s like adding a separate gain stage after the pre-amp to slam the power tubes, but not necessarily with a more pronounced volume boost. It also provides a different kind of distortion than the pre-amp distortion on my amp which tends to be a bit bright. When I slam the power tubes, I get a beefier overdrive sound. It’s very cool for doing solos. So now, I put my OD’s in front of the amp, then when I want “more,” I slam the power tubes.

Posted in Guitars | Tagged , | 3 Comments »

Stuff For Sale

July 27, 2012 by GoofyDawg

I’ve got lots of gear, and lots of stuff that I’m just not playing. So I’ve decided to put some stuff up for sale. If you’re interested, send me a message. By the way, I’m offering this gear at good prices, so I’m not going to negotiate. Also, I won’t be doing any trades. All prices include shipping


Gear: MXR M-169 Carbon Copy Analog Delay Pedal
Description: I have only gigged with this three times, and it’s in great condition. There’s a little adhesive on the bottom from a velcro strip that I put on it, but other than that, there are no scratches or dings on it whatsoever, and it still has the rubber tabs on the bottom. I bought this as a second delay pedal to put on my other board, but I have since gone to a small board, and only use my Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay, so I’m selling this one.
Comes in original box.
Price: $110

Gear: VOX Time Machine Digital Delay

Description: Again, I have only gigged with this a few times. It’s a great delay with tap tempo and lots of features, but once I went to analog, I just stopped using the Time Machine. Comes in original box.
Price: $140

goldie41Gear: Custom Saint Guitars Messenger Goldtop

Description: I have a whole page dedicated to this for more information. Check it out here…

Price: $1500 – priced to move. The guitar is in pristine condition. Add $50 for shipping.

Posted in Guitars | Leave a Comment »

Can a 1 X 12 Cabinet Be Louder Than a 4 X 12?

July 25, 2012 by GoofyDawg

Like I have been doing practically every morning for the last few years, I peruse my favorite gear forums and came across this thread discussing whether or not 4 X 12 cabinets are a dying breed. There were lots of responses both pro and con, but a sidebar discussion ensued about loudness; specifically SPL (sound pressure level) and perceived loudness. So that got me thinking about the mechanics behind loudness and that led me to the title of this article. So how can a 1 X 12 be louder than a 4 X 12? Well it has to do with a combination of several things, but at least from what I understand, you can boil it down to two things: Speaker efficiency and frequency response. In any case, I found a great article that discusses this subject in detail here. It has some good technical information while maintaining a chatty, conversational tone. It’s a good read, and actually explains how a 1 X 12, given the right combination of amp, speaker sensitivity and frequency response can be louder than a 4 X 12. Pretty cool.

But all this ruminating on loudness also got me thinking of how I got pissed at one of the guitarists in my church band who kept on stepping on everyone this past weekend with the volume of his amp. It got to the point where I finally said, “Look! I’ve had it with your volume; either turn it down or I’ll turn it off.” Thinking back on that situation and the information that I read this morning, I realized that the frequency response of the speaker of his amp – a California Blonde – is probably heavy in an area where he can’t hear it, so he cranks it up so he can. Plus, its spread is really narrow and as he has the amp right in front of him, he probably can only hear only a slight portion of the volume that amp can produce (I have one as well, and that amp really projects). The point to bringing this up is that perceived volume also has to do with where you are in relation to the front of the speaker, and that frequency response plays a huge role. If your speaker produces lots of sound in an area that’s not or less perceptible by the human ear as compared to other frequencies, you’ll perceive it to be not as loud.

For myself, I’m pretty sensitive about the frequency response of my speakers because as the lead guitarist, I need to cut through the mix. The interesting thing about this is that I don’t have to be loud to hear myself as my tone tends to be on the bright side – though I will admit that I like to be loud just because there’s nothing like SPLs. 🙂 However, that said, as of late, I’ve been much more sensitive to my stage volume, so I’ve reined in the volume a bit. My thinking is that as long as I can hear myself through the mix, it’s all good.

Posted in Guitars | Tagged , , | 4 Comments »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »