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Posts Tagged ‘GAS’

New Gear: Peterson StroboClip

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , on August 10, 2010| 3 Comments »

Click for larger image

Peterson is at it again. I did a review on the Peterson StroboRack awhile back, and loved the unit, though as a pedal guy, the rack didn’t make much sense in a gig situation. I’ve seen the StroboStomp in operation, and that’s a cool unit. Now, Peterson has just released the new StroboClip, which combines the strobe technology Peterson is known for along with several “Sweeteners” for specific types of musical instruments, and provides 0.1 cent accuracy; all in a clip-on tuner! How cool is THAT!

True to Peterson build quality, the StroboClip isn’t made of cheap plastic. It is housed in a metal casing, so it should be quite durable, and the backlit LCD display should help a lot in making the tuning bars readable.

If you’re new to Peterson tuners, they use a pattern of left-right moving bars to indicate tuning. Movement left is flat, movement to the right is sharp. Once the bars stop moving, then the instrument is in tune. It takes a little while to get used to, but once you get the hang of tuning with a strobe tuner, it’ll be hard to go back to another type. I had trouble parting with the StroboRack when I had it, but also didn’t want to pay the price of a rackmount unit.

With the StroboClip, I might just be enticed to get one – especially for my solo acoustic gigs. My onboard tuner works okay, but it’s not as accurate as I’d like, and I oftentimes have to do some post-tuning tweaks to get it dialed in. But with a super-accurate tuner like the StroboClip, that might solve that problem.

I’ll hopefully be getting one of these units in for review, and I’ll do a full write-up on it. For now, here’s the press release from Peterson:

——–

PETERSON IS NOW SHIPPING THE WORLD’S FIRST CLIP-ON STROBE TUNER

Unrivaled accuracy in a small package strobe tuner

Alsip, Illinois, USA – 8-6-2010 – Peterson Strobe Tuners has added a clip-on style strobe tuner to their Virtual Strobe™ series line-up. The StroboClip™ is designed for acoustic instruments and contains many new features not found in traditional clip-on tuners. The large strobe display maximizes the StroboClip’s screen area by moving the strobe bands horizontally, rather than vertically as in previous strobe tuner models, to guarantee easy viewing in various lighting conditions.

New and exclusive Sweetened Tuning® presets for banjo, mandolin, and ukulele offer dedicated settings for players of these instruments to facilitate tuning. A variety of other presets including Dobro®, lap steel, and settings for the violin family come standard in the StroboClip. Settings for eclectic instruments such as lute, bagpipes, and oud are also covered along with additional Eastern Temperament settings for instruments of the like.

The StroboClip also features an exclusive Sustain mode™. In Sustain mode, the StroboClip can be set to hold the tuning pattern for a short time after the note has decayed so that instruments with short voices, such as banjo and mandolin, can be tuned quickly and easily. For regular tuning, the Sustain mode feature can be turned off.

“Musicians have been asking for the convenience of a clip-on tuner that has the accuracy and real-time tuning of a strobe tuner for a long time,” says John Norris, Peterson Sales Manager.  “Many features with a low price point is what the target was and we feel we hit the mark with this product.”

The StroboClip is encased in a brushed aluminum shell to help it withstand the rigors of the road and the included cushioned, metal carrying case will keep it safe when not in use. Soft, rubber pads in the jaws of the StroboClip protect the instrument’s finish while providing a firm grip for maximum signal conductivity.

The MSRP of the StroboClip is $89.99 and it is now shipping. Visit www.petersontuners.com or www.stroboclip.com for more information.

***

About Peterson:

Peterson Electro-Musical Products, Inc. has been manufacturing strobe tuners since 1948. The Virtual Strobe™ series was introduced in 2003 followed by the first ever True Bypass tuner of any kind, the Peterson StroboStomp™ in 2004. The StroboSoft software tuner was released in June 2005.

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Gear Review: Sennheiser ew 172 (100 Series) G3 Instrument Wireless System

Posted in GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar accessories, guitar gear, guitar gear reviews, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new gear, wireless guitar, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 10, 2010| 1 Comment »

Click for larger image

 Sennheiser ew 172 G3 Wireless System

Summary: If you’re looking for a great instrument wireless system that is both easy-to-use and a snap to set up, look no further!

Pros: 1680 available frequencies make this ideal for busy RF venues. Super easy to set up sensitivity levels. Transmitter sports a metal housing, so durability shouldn’t be an issue. Integrated guitar tuner in transmitter – works great! 25Hz low-end response – great for bass!

Cons: None.

Features:

  • Sturdy metal housing (transmitter and receiver)
  • 42 MHz bandwidth: 1680 tunable UHF frequencies for interference-free reception
  • Enhanced frequency bank system with up to 12 compatible frequencies
  • High-quality true diversity reception
  • Pilot tone squelch for eliminating RF interference when transmitter is turned off
  • Automatic frequency scan feature searches for available frequencies
  • Enhanced AF frequency range
  • Increased range for audio sensitivity
  • Wireless synchronization of transmitters via infrared interface
  • User-friendly menu operation with more control options
  • Illuminated graphic display (transmitter and receiver)
  • Auto-Lock function avoids accidental changing of settings
  • HDX compander for crystal-clear sound
  • Transmitter feature battery indicatation in 4 steps, also shown on receiver display
  • Programmable Mute function
  • Integrated Equalizer, Soundcheck mode and guitar tuner
  • Contacts for recharging BA 2015 accupack directly in the transmitter
  • Wide range of accessories adapts the system to any requirement

Price: $499 street

Tone Bone Score: 5.0 ~ I waited a LONG TIME to pull the trigger on a wireless system, and while I could’ve gotten a cheaper one that would work well, but it was hard to argue with the frequency coverage of this unit. The added features of a guitar tuner and EQ are great, but the ease of use factor really hit home with me as well.

As I mentioned above, I’ve been holding out a long time to get an instrument wireless system. When I finally pulled the trigger, I decided upon the Sennheiser G3 Wireless system; first and foremost because of the number of frequencies it has on tap, but honestly, also because it’s a name I trust as my performance mics are Sennheiser. I’m not being a cork-sniffer here. I swear by the brand because of the years of great performance I’ve gotten out of other Sennheiser equipment, so it stands to reason to trust it for something completely new.

As it turns out, true to my past experience with Sennheiser gear, there was absolutely nothing to be disappointed about with the wireless system. I took it to my church gig yesterday and it well, just worked, with no tweaking on my part; save for adjusting the sensitivity levels which I didn’t even think to do when I first opened up the box. In fact, I didn’t even read the manual when I took it out to try in my studio. I just attached the antennas to the receiver and plugged in the instrument wire into the transmitter, popped in the batteries, and let ‘er rip. It literally took less than a couple of minutes to get up and running. Insofar as my church gig is concerned, it was a great venue to put the unit through its paces, as there are potentially several wireless units in operation at one time, including my own wireless headset mic. I’ll talk more about the system’s operation below.

In any case, since this isn’t something that actually makes music, my review areas are going to be a bit different from my normal reviews.

Ease-of-use

As I indicated above, the unit’s pretty plug and play. But of course, you should check the sensitivity of the transmitter and receiver to make sure you’re not overdriving the unit. The LCD’s on both the transmitter and receiver makes setting sensitivity of either unit a snap. Both have an active meter and navigating to the sensitivity menu is just a couple of button presses. Sennheiser did a great job with the menus to make them only two levels deep, so you won’t have a problem getting to the parameter you need to set.

Durability

Both transmitter and receiver have very sturdy metal housings, so you needn’t worry about the units cracking. The transmitter has a real solid feel, and that instills confidence that you don’t have baby the unit, though of course, it’s always good to take care of gear.

Performance

Despite having 1680 UHF frequencies to scan, the receiver locks on to a usable frequency almost instantaneously once you turn it on. That is such a boon to using the unit. You switch it on, and you can use the unit.

One of the tests that my sound guy and I did was for me to walk a distance away from the receiver to see if it lost connection. I honestly don’t know what the maximum range is, but no matter how far I got away – I got about 100 feet away – the transmitter and receiver didn’t lose their connection to each other.

To save battery life, when I’m not playing I always switch off the transmitter on my headset mic. I did the same with the G3 in between songs. Every time I switched it back on, making a connection to the receiver only took a couple of seconds.

Final Verdict

I haven’t even begun to explore all the different features that this system has; one of which is a cable emulation mode that simulates a cable’s capacitance to ensure consistent operation of your effects and amp settings whether you’re plugged in or wireless. This a great feature. Admittedly, I didn’t use this, but my rig sounded pretty much the same with the same dynamics once I dialed in the sensitivity of both transmitter and receiver. Or it could be that the only thing I obsess about with my tone is if it sounds good and I’ve got dynamics. Minute changes due to changes in my chain don’t really bother me too much. So if I got a slight change in tone, since my sound with the G3 system was good with no loss in dynamics, it didn’t trigger anything displeasing with me.

But other than performance and sound and all the other stuff I discussed, going wireless is simply fantastic. I like to move around a lot when I perform, and not being tied to a spot by a cable is so freeing! It really boosted my ability to lead musical worship, and that is so COOL!

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Aracom PRX150-DAG Video is out!!!

Posted in aracom amps, attenuator, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitar gear reviews, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new gear, PRX150-DAG, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

When you’ve got a guy like Lance Keltner singing the praises of your equipment and calling you a genius to boot, you must be doing something right. Jeff Aragaki of Aracom Amps is someone I’ve been praising for quite awhile, and I’m glad he’s finally getting the recognition he deserves.

As far as the DAG unit is concerned, that’s available exclusively through Destroy All Guitars. I’ve played through one of those units myself, and the high-cut filter works great, and definitely takes the edge off, without throwing a blanket over your tone and dynamics like many attenuators do that include one. If you have an amp that outputs lots of highs when cranked – or somehow hear high-frequency transients –  then the DAG unit is the way to go.

Coming up…

While Jeff has gained lots of popularity with his attenuators, often overlooked are his wonderful amplifiers of which I have three. In the next couple of days, I will be getting a 50 Watt Evolver to test out in my studio. I’m so excited! I’ve played through an Evolver at Jeff’s workshop and that amp has tons of balls! It’s definitely Marshall-esque, but with Jeff’s particular twists. I’m excited to be getting this unit for a full test!

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Gear Review: 1987 Gibson ES-335 Custom St

Posted in es-335, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitar gear reviews, guitar reviews, guitarists, Guitars, inspiration, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 6, 2010| 8 Comments »

Click to enlarge. Sorry, phone pic
1987 Gibson ES-335 Custom St (St = Standard? Studio?) Summary: A rare beauty with a natural blonde finish with classic ES-335 tone!Pros: Absolutely tip-top shape for a guitar of this age. No major dings, but has been well-played. Sounds amazing!Cons: None.Features:

  • Mahogany neck
  • Bound carved flame maple top and maple sides and back
  • Bound ebony fretboard
  • Medium jumbo frets
  • Bone nut
  • Original chrome hardware (look like Tone Pros)
  • Original chrome pickup covers
  • 60’s-style lower profile neck
  • 50’s-style pickup wiring (either volume knob acts as a master, but the tone controls have a different cap value that doesn’t throw a blanket over your tone when you turn it down – this is crucial for playing in the bridge pickup).

Tone Bone Score: 5.0 ~ This guitar sounds and plays like a dream! While the action is a just a tad higher than I like it, the guitar still plays ultra-smooth.

I already talked about how I happened to get this guitar, so I won’t bother rehashing the details. Suffice it to say that I got this guitar for an absolute steal. In a way, this guitar is sort of redemption for me having sold my original ES-335 a couple of years ago when times were tough. So getting this guitar is a real milestone for me.

Fit and Finish

For a 23 year old guitar, it is in absolutely amazing shape. The body has some very minuscule dings in it that fortunately don’t penetrate the finish. I didn’t notice any checking in the gloss either, though that may occur after a few more years if the finish Gibson used was a nitro lacquer. The hardware is aged as to be expected, though there’s a little oxidation in the brass stop tailpiece that can easily be removed. The pick guard has pick marks on it, but no scratches and all the joints are perfect. There’s some fret wear, but nothing major where the frets would have to be replaced. As for the fretboard itself, it’s gorgeous. I love ebony fretboards as they’re so smooth to the touch, and it makes bending a breeze. The back of the guitar has a few nicks that don’t penetrate the finish – and no buckle rash. All in all, for as much as this guitar has been played, I’m just amazed at its overall condition.

Here are some pictures I took with my cell phone. Sorry if the quality is low. I’ll have better ones later…

How It Sounds

This guitar has all the tone I was expecting out of an ES-335, but as it has been broken in and the wood aged, the tone is A LOT richer than what I remember with my original ‘335. As far as pickup positions go, there are three as usual, though I understand that some models did have coil-tapped humbuckers; not this model, though.

I’ve always loved the gorgeous, deep tones of the neck pickup on an ES-335 and this guitar doesn’t disappoint in that department. This is where the ES-335 gets very close to the deep, rich tones of an archtop, but it’s well, different…

Kicking in the bridge pickup in the middle position gives the ES-335 its distinctive “hollow” tone. It’s really hard to describe, but that I’m a firm believer that that middle pickup selector position is what draws people to this guitar. It certainly is one of the main things tonally that originally drew me to the ES-335 in the first place! With the bridge dimed and adding more or less neck pickup, you can get tons of great tones!

The bridge pickup is bright as to be expected – perhaps a bit too bright – but the wonderful tone knob nicely takes the edge off the brightness. I did notice that the bridge pickup is not significantly louder than the neck pickup, which leads me to believe that the original owner lowered the height of that pickup. When I get home from vacation, I’m going to raise it a bit because I prefer to have that dramatic change in volume.

In any case, here are some clips:

Neck pickup, clean

I love the haunting character of the neck pickup on and ES-335. The wonderful thing about this pickup is that it produces a very deep tone, without sounding like an acoustic. Adding a little reverb “grease” only accentuates the haunting effect.

Middle position, with some grind for rhythm; bridge pickup for lead.

In this, I have the bridge dimed, and the neck about halfway for the rhythm part. The lead is just the wide-open bridge pickup. Notice that it’s bright and almost twangy.

Middle position, clean; both rhythm and lead

I had to do a bit of a tribute to the great Andy Summers with this last clip… 🙂 I added a touch of reverb and chorus to get that “Every Breath You Take” vibe.

For all the clips, since I’m on vacation, I don’t have an amp, but I always carry around an IK Multimedia StealthPlug to facilitate my songwriting or, in this case, create clips. I used AmpliTube Fender. For the clean clips, I used a ’65 Twin Reverb model, and for the crunchy clip, I used a ’59 Bassman.

Cool Funk Lead

There are two parts to this next clip. In the first part, I play in the neck position, then switch over to the bridge in the second part plus attack a lot more. Unlike a Les Paul, the 335 doesn’t sustain as much, but that’s not a bad thing. The net result is that overdrive tones tend to be much more tight and focused. BTW, the amp used here was an Aracom PLX18BB in its drive channel.

Overall Impression

This guitar really moves me. She plays so sweet and sounds so good that I truly am inspired. Of course, the price I happened to pay for it didn’t hurt at all, but irrespective of my price, I’d still give this guitar 5 Tone Bones. It’s really an incredible guitar! I can’t wait to get it home and to a luthier for a professional setup. The shop owner did a pretty good job of setting the guitar up, but he strung it with 11-53’s which, while certainly playable, aren’t really my cup of tea. I’ll have the shop put on a set of pure nickel 10’s.

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SCORE!!!!! 1987 Gibson ES-335!

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on August 5, 2010| 3 Comments »

Or… you never know what you’re going to find on vacation…

Click to enlarge. Sorry, phone pic

I’ve been up at Clear Lake, CA since this past Saturday, and wouldn’t you know it, on Sunday morning when the family and I stopped off at a Safeway in Lakeport to get some provisions, the shopping center just happened to have a musical instrument store called Bandbox Music. Of course, gear freak that I am, I couldn’t pass up looking into the window to see what the shop was like. As Lakeport is a small town, I wasn’t expecting to see much, but what the heck! You never know what you may find!

As I walked up to the window, I noticed a gorgeous, natural-finish Gibson ES-335 in the shop’s front case. I could tell that it was used, but it was in practically pristine condition, save for the pickup covers and stop tailpiece which were tarnished; otherwise the guitar looked great. I could tell that it had been played a lot, but the original owner had taken care of the finish for the most part as from the distance of about 6 feet that I was standing from the case, the only wear I could see where pick marks on the pick guard. Unfortunately, the shop wasn’t open on Sundays, so I made it a point to return to the shop the next day to check it out.

Couldn’t make it Monday, but we were going to Lakeport on Tuesday so the family could check out the town. So on the way to downtown, I had them drop me off at the shop. I walked in and was greeted by a bunch of elderly gentlemen sitting around, shootin’ the breeze. I didn’t want to interrupt their conversation, so I waited patiently until the shop owner asked me if I needed help. I pointed to the ES-335 and said that I’d like to give it a whirl. He graciously responded and removed the guitar from the case, and instructed me to grab a cord.

Ron, the shop owner, proceeded to tell me about the guitar in that it was a 1987 ES-335 Custom Studio. He got it from the son of the original owner (more on that sad story later). He showed me the case, which was the original case it came in, along with the Gibson warranty papers, and the original Guitar Center invoice. While he spoke, I did a visual inspection of the guitar. There were a few miniscule dings on the back, and a couple on the front, but nothing that penetrated the finish. I remarked to Ron that the guitar was in remarkable shape, and he said it was owned by a player, and that guy took care of the guitar.

It probably sat for quite awhile in a closet somewhere, as the metal was tarnished – the original owner probably played it so much that he never bothered to clean it. Ron said he spent a lot of time cleaning the guitar when he got it, but was really surprised at the shape the body was in – so was I! Anyway, I plugged her in, tuned her up, tweaked the amp, to a nice clean with a little reverb “grease” and was immediately greeted with that distinctive rich, full tone that only an ES-335 can make. I was in tonal heaven!

The ES-335 and I have a history. When financial times were rough for my family, I had to sell my original 2003 ES-335 for some cash. When I did that, I swore that I’d never sell one of my guitars again. Hearing that guitar and how it sang reminded me of “Rusty.” Rusty was my first high-end guitar. I was so proud to have him, but putting food on the table was more important at the time, so I had to let him go. This ’87 would be redemption if I got her.

After playing her for well over an hour, I finally asked Ron how much the guitar was. He said $1200, but he knew it was worth far more than that as he had seen the exact same model in similar condition going for almost triple the price on EBay. I was taken aback by the price! I keep tabs on many guitars, and I knew he was in the ballpark with how much it was worth. He said he didn’t get it for much (I didn’t ask his buying price out of politeness), so he was willing to move it for far less than its market value.

I didn’t do the impulse buy right then and there, and told him I needed a couple of days to think about it, and I’d roll the dice and let it go back into the case. Over the next couple of days I did some research on the guitar. The first place I looked was on EBay, and sure enough, the same make, model, and year ES-335 has an asking price of $3500! I looked at several ES-335’s from the surrounding years, and they’re also going for similar prices!

So I made my decision, and called up Ron this morning and asked him to put the guitar aside, as I’d go to the shop later today. Ron repeated the price of $1200 and I said, “That’s the price you quoted Tuesday.” So I got it for $1200 OUT THE DOOR – no tax! OMG!!! I can’t tell you how jazzed I am about this absolute steal, but I think the best thing about it is that I didn’t have to make a lowball offer. Everyone won in this transaction, and that really pleased me as well!

Wow! Sorry, I got a little carried away… But I do want to tell a little history of this particular guitar…

Don’t know the name of the original owner, but he was a apparently a smalltime pro player. He passed away last year, and left his son his two guitars, a Les Paul (which Ron sold), and the ES-335, which is apparently what he played the most. According to Ron, the son came in to sell the Les Paul first, then a couple of weeks later returned to sell the ES-335. Ron doesn’t know exactly what the son was going to do with the money, but as there’s a real crystal meth problem in the area, he could make a fairly educated guess. That’s sad to me, and it’s this lesson that I want to pass onto my kids: Don’t sacrifice your family’s heritage to satisfy a personal craving. You’ll just end up regretting it.

By the way, I’ll have pictures and sound clips in my next post. 🙂

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Gear Review: 1959 Les Paul Replica

Posted in GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitar gear reviews, guitarists, Guitars, les paul, Music, musicians, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 19, 2010| 4 Comments »


Click to enlarge

 1959 Les Paul Replica

Summary: About as close as you can get to the real deal without paying hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Pros: Bright and super smooth tone, and sustain that’s absolutely to die for! This guitar is everything I imagined a ’59 Les Paul to sound and play like. Sounds and plays better than any Gibson re-issue I’ve ever played.

Cons: None

Features:

  • One piece Honduran (Old Growth) Mahogany body and neck (long tenon), 1959 neck profile
  • Brazilian rosewood fretboard with trap inlays
  • Lightly figured (realistic) maple top
  • Holly headstock veneer
  • RS Guitarworks (Winchester, KY) Nitro Lacquer finish with light aging in a Perryburst (Joe Perry burst colors), includes RS Guitarworks Certificate of Authenticity
  • PLEK and nut work
  • RS aluminum tailpiece
  • Tonepros AVRII bridge (Locking) ABR-1 Bridge with Maple Flame Mod (extra long stainless steel bridge studs)
  • Pots and Tone Capacitors from RS Guitarworks
  • Bone Nut
  • Wolfetone Dr. Vintage pickups with aged Nickel covers
  • Single line Kluson tuners
  • Weighs 9.68 lbs and is a rock machine
  • Year Built:  2008

Price: Vary from $4000 to  $20,000 depending upon who builds it (more on that below)

Tone Bone Score: 5.0 ~ This guitar is a dream come true! I recently wrote on my Facebook status: “There are guitars and then there are Les Pauls. There is no substitute.”

The first thing you’ll notice in the review is that I didn’t name the luthier of this guitar. That’s because I didn’t want to “out” the luthier, lest Gibson finds out and sues them for copyright infringement; that’s how close these replicas get to the original. But despite the risk of litigation, there’s an incredibly active underground market for these replicas, and having played around with this one for a few days, I don’t think that market will ever die. BTW, if you want to know who the luthier is, just send me an e-mail (goofydawg “|” guitargear.org), or if you’re on TGP, send me a PM.

Besides, replicas like this put Gibson back on the relevance map. Can you say Slash and GnR’s “Appetite for Destruction?” Whether or not Gibson likes it, the replica that Slash played made the Les Paul popular among guitarists again.

Forget how close it may come to the sound, feel, and dynamics of the original. Playing this guitar is like a religious experience! With this particular model, the original owner had the neck slightly tapered near the heal to relieve some of that “baseball bat” girth. It worked marvelously! Combined with the PLEK treatment, this guitar is absolutely easy to play. I usually have to take a few days to get to know the feel of a new neck. I even had to do this with my beloved Gibson Nighthawk. But with this guitar, I felt right at home!

Weight-wise, it has some heft at 9.6 lbs., but it’s so comfortable, and once I started playing, I completely forgot about the weight.

Here are some pictures:

Pictures courtesy of Bennie Delumpa (my son).

Fit and Finish

As you can see from the pictures, the guitar has been lightly relicked. I’m not normally a fan of aging a perfectly good guitar, but the purpose behind the aging was to produce a guitar that looked like a well-taken-care-of guitar from 1959. It has a couple of nicks on the binding of the body, and the lacquer has been very, very lightly checked. But other than that, it’s gorgeous.

How It Sounds

Unfortunately, my studio is still in a bit of disarray after the construction I had done on my house, so I don’t have my usual sound clips. But all I can say about the tone of this guitar is that it is nothing short of spectacular. The tone is on the brighter side of midrange, but the guitar produces all sorts of overtones and harmonics. The pickups used in the guitar are not hot at all, but that just makes it real smooth. Another thing is that the cap values used for the tone knobs make them quite usable. You can really knock the tone down, and the tone will not muddy up. I love that, as it gives me that much more tone shaping capabilities that I can do right at the guitar, as opposed to doing it at the amp.

The guitar also sports the classic Les Paul “bloom” as the body resonates, and boy does it resonate! Pluck a string, and you get your note, and then the body starts resonating, and you can hear AND feel the swell of the string vibrations as they course through the tone woods. I just close my eyes and go off to Never-never land.

There’s a lot to be said about old growth wood that has been drying for 50 years. Jeff Aragaki, who is quite knowledgeable about Les Pauls (he has many) is convinced that the combination of materials (old growth woods, hide glue, nitro-cellulose lacquer, correct hardware, etc.) that were used on this guitar make its sound that special. I really have never played a guitar that sounds and responds to like this!

I was just thinking that once I do manage to get a recording of this guitar, it just won’t do justice to the feel and dynamics of this spectacular specimen. I’ll hopefully be able to capture at least some of what I’m talking about.

Overall Impression

As I said above, forget about how close it may come to the original. I’ve never played a guitar that felt and sounded as good as this. I’ve never played a real ’59, but this guitar just oozes Les Paul goodness, and it’s everything I believe a Les Paul should be!

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I Wish I Never Met Jeff Aragaki

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 18, 2010| 4 Comments »

…of Aracom Amplifiers. Let me tell you why:

  • Jeff is super-smart, and makes incredible devices like the PRX150-Pro.
  • Jeff’s amps are to die for. If you’re looking for anyone who “gets” the Marshall vibe, it’s Jeff. I have three of his amps, and am waiting for his upcoming JTM-45. I’ve played the prototype, which has period-correct components, down to original mustard caps, and that amp just oozes vintage Marshall goodness.
  • Jeff is a gear freak like myself; but not just any gear. He’s nutso for vintage Les Pauls and Les Paul Jr.’s – he has many.

And the last point is the problem: Because of Jeff, I’ve gotten totally hooked on Les Pauls and Les Paul-style guitars! Take, for instance, this guitar below:

Jeff dropped off this guitar at my house yesterday for me to evaluate. It’s a gorgeous, relicked ’59 Les Paul replica that has been meticulously copied by a master luthier, using old wood and proper hardware. Even the glue used is the same as the original, and the lacquer finish is not a plasticized lacquer – it’s the real deal. It doesn’t have original PAF’s, but the pickups have been wound to original output specs. The guitar’s original owner sourced the wood from a distributor specializing in high-end furniture and guitar wood, had a master luthier shape it, then sent the guitar to RS Guitar Works for finishing, and they confirmed their work with a certificate (apparently, they’re one of the best in the business for doing conversions and replica finishing). The net result? According to Jeff, this is about as close as you can get to the real deal without paying hundreds of thousands of dollars (the “cheapest” one I’ve ever seen was a slightly modded one for $275,000).

After playing with it for a couple of hours yesterday, I’m now REALLY hooked! I personally don’t know what a real ’59 sounds like, but I’ve done some research on what to expect with respect to response, dynamics, and tone. Mind you, I’m not a cork-sniffer, but all I know is that this puppy sustains for days, and the wonderful bloom that ensues from holding a note due to the resonance of the tone woods is ever-present. As for the tone, it’s absolutely gorgeous! Heavy on the upper-mids without being biting, with inspiring cleans and smooth drive.

The neck has also been “pleked” so it’s an absolute dream to play! I didn’t have to spend much time at all familiarizing myself with it. No wonder ’59’s are so highly sought-after! These were special guitars, and this replica captures everything I was expecting to feel and hear!

Circling back to why I wish I never met Jeff Aragaki, that guy gets me gassing for gear! ALL THE DAMN TIME!!! As I mentioned above, I’m hooked on vintage and vintage-style Les Paul’s because of him!

As if Jeff’s Les Paul obsession is bad enough, as I said, Jeff’s amps are to die for! He is so talented! I haven’t played an Aracom amp that I haven’t absolutely loved. And being that I get to try out all his new designs, all I can say is that this dude knows his stuff about amplifier technology and electronics! His amps rock!

With respect to his electronics genius, just look at the PRX15-Pro attenuator. Jeff has employed technology that NO ONE has employed. Other manufacturers may brag about their products and how they may have spent years working on their designs. I won’t take that away from them, but they just modified existing designs. Jeff discovered a completely different way to attenuate, and it’s no small wonder that players like Joe Satriani and Doug Doppler love this device!

Actually, I’m very glad I’ve befriended Jeff. He’s also just an all-around great guy. He’s incredibly humble and self-effacing, and his warmth and friendliness just draw you in. I guess I have to chalk up my GAS to lack of self-control. But with a friend like Jeff, it’s hard to control it. 🙂

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Review: Wegenpicks Trimus 350

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Well you know me, I LOVE thick picks (2mm and above), and you probably also know that it’s dangerous for me to go to a guitar store because more likely than not, I’m going to walk out with something. 🙂 Today was no different…

My good buddy, Jeff Aragaki, of Aracom Amplifiers came over to the house to drop off some gear for me to evaluate: a ’59 Les Paul replica (I’ll have a review of that guitar in a few days after I’ve played it a bit) and a new Jensen 1 X 12 speaker. In turn, I was going to give him a pair of Groove Tubes Gold Series 6L6’s (GREAT f-in’ tubes). After that, we’d go get some lunch and catch up as we haven’t hung out in awhile.

We ended up going to a great Japanese curry place in downtown Los Altos. After lunch, we got in my car and Jeff said, “It’s too bad there’s not a guitar shop around here.” I of course know where all the shops are and replied, “You know, there’s one that’s about 10 minutes away. Let’s go there.” So I took him to Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto. It’s a high-end acoustic guitar shop that has been around for years, and in addition to having a great stock of Martin, Collings and other high-end acoustics, plus a limited selection of electric guitars and some VERY nice vintage stuff including a 1960 Telecaster for $17,500,  they have high-end picks. It’s the place where I discovered Red Bear Trading pics.

I did have a motive for going there as I needed a good stage stand for my guitar, and Gryphon carries the very awesome Hamilton guitar stands. After my guitar almost got knocked over by a gust of wind at my gig yesterday, I knew I needed to get a good stand, and it was a good excuse to go there with Jeff so we could jam for a bit as well.

So the sales guy rang up my stand, and then I made the mistake of looking into the case to see what picks they had. Mistake. I didn’t know they carried Wegen picks, and there they were: Three cases full of ’em. I couldn’t resist. I had to try them out. Now I had learned of Wegen picks from various forums, but never had the occasion to play one until today. So the verdict?

Well, I liked the material enough as I ended up getting the Trimus 350, which is 3.5mm thick. That’s just a bit thinner than my V-Picks Snake. So what’s so special about this pick that I was willing to drop $20 on it?

First of all, it has a different feel than V-Picks or the Red Bear picks. The material feels softer than either the Red Bear Tortis and the V-Picks acrylic, which makes for a nice, smooth tone. The points are beveled, so you do get a snap that brings out the highs.

Now Wegen claims that the material feels a lot like real tortoise shell. I’ve felt real tortoise shell, and this feels nothing like it. But that’s not a bad thing. What really turned me on about this pick is really the feel. It’s not as smooth in feel as either the V-Picks or the Red Bear, which have glass-like finishes. In contrast, the Wegen pick has a bit of a texture. But amazingly enough, that doesn’t translate to stickiness on the strings. Whatever Wegen I tested, it just glided over the strings.

Another nice feature of the Wegen picks I tested were the grooves cut into the body of the pick. Add to that a depression in the body, and what you’ve got is a pick that you can really hold onto!

I chose the Trimus 350 because I like the shape – it is very similar to my V-Picks Snake and my Red Bear B-Style Gypsy Jazz. It’s also thinner than both – not by much – but still just a bit thinner. But Wegen has a lot of different picks. If you get a chance, check one out!

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Doppler on Gear Part I

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on July 10, 2010| 2 Comments »

Yeah, I know, this is a bit of a long time in coming, but I actually got REALLY sick there for awhile, and was sidelined for a few weeks. But as I say in the video, “Better late than never.” In this particular clip, Doug shares a bit of wisdom on choosing gear that’s right for YOU. I’ve been a big proponent of that on this blog, and it was affirming to hear Doug speak along these lines. Here’s the video:

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Report: ’58 Fender “Tweed” Champ

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 5, 2010| 1 Comment »

I know, not a very good picture, oh well…

In any case, I recently won this amp in an eBay auction. As soon as I got it, I turned it over to Jeff Aragaki of Aracom Amps for him to inspect it, clean it up, and make it “safe.” The amp was in excellent working condition, considering it’s 52 years old, but to be safe, I wanted to make sure there was nothing amiss.

One of the first things Jeff looked at were the capacitors. Visual inspection didn’t reveal any leaks, but they needed to be measured to ensure that they were still able to keep a charge. Amazingly enough, they were still measuring well within operational tolerances, and none had to be replaced, which Jeff said indicated that the amp was being used. With those old paper capacitors, if they sit for a long time without use, they’ll eventually leak acid. But these were in great shape!

The next thing Jeff checked was the speaker. Interestingly enough, the speaker was a replacement, and not only that, it was a 16 ohm speaker, which actually attenuated the amp a bit, so I had Jeff replace the 8″ speaker with a new ceramic speaker.

Since the amp used a two-prong electrical plug, I asked Jeff to upgrade it to a three-prong medical-grade plug. Unfortunately, the way the amp was designed, doing that would require playing with the heater voltages, and while that wouldn’t necessarily harm the amp, it may have had an effect on the tone – not a good idea. So I just had Jeff replace the cord, which was in decent physical condition, but according to him, wasn’t carrying a full load of current to the amp.

In addition to cleaning it up and making sure it was in good working order, Jeff wired up an A/B switch box to the amp, so I could flip between using the internal speaker and an external cabinet (which is how I’ll normally play this amp). Jeff did this to avoid having to install a 1/4″ jack which would alter the amp from its original condition. Being a vintage gear collector, Jeff thinks about that stuff… This amp is going to be a player, so that wasn’t much a concern to me, but he kind of insisted, just in case I decide to sell it later.

Finally, since the amp didn’t have a back plate (which accounts for the great price I got it for), Jeff cut a nice 1/2″ ply board to protect the chassis. We’ll do a proper back plate with a tweed cover later, but I wanted to start using the amp right away, so we’ll do that as a future project.

Gig Report

With the amp complete, I played it all week to get used to how it responded. Now that I have one of these, it’s no small wonder why these have been long-time residents in studios all around the world. Hooked up to my 2 X 12, loaded with a Celestion Blue and Gold, the amp’s voicing is super rich, if a little on the bright side. But no matter. The cleans are absolutely incredible! They ring with a vintage chime that at least to me, invokes a visceral response in me that’s hard to explain. It’s a classic Fender clean, and through my 2 X 12, the cleans resonate and float through the air! As far as dirty is concerned, the Champ is no high-gain amp. Overdriven, it’s a dirty grind, perfect for blues- or classic-rock tones.

The Champ is also incredibly pedal friendly. I hooked up my super-versatile Doodad Guitars Check-A-Board RED overdrive/booster up to it, and the amp just responded! The overdrive is wonderful on this pedal, adding great sustain without overly compressing the signal, but where the pedal really worked with the Champ was with the booster. Slamming the front-end of the amp, I was rewarded with a gorgeous, smooth overdrive tone. Again, I thought to myself, this is why this little monster has been on so many songs over the years!

Yesterday, I took the amp to my church gig. Being the 4th of July, we had a skeleton crew: Just one other guitar besides myself, but no matter, I wanted to play it live. For this gig, I just used my custom Aracom 1 X 12 with a Jensen P12N, and I played my “hybrid” Fender Stratacoustic Deluxe through it. Despite the fact that I was ostensibly playing an acoustic guitar through the amp, the tone was absolutely natural. I was like, “This really shouldn’t sound that good, but I’m amazed at how it sounds!” Granted, the Stratacoustic is more like a hollow-body electric than an acoustic, but the Champ just took its natural voice and amplified it beautifully.

Once I have my studio set up again (just finished construction on the house, so I lost my recording space temporarily), I’ll make some recordings!

If you live in the Silicon Valley area and need some amp work, though Jeff sells his own line of amps, three of which I own, with a fourth on the way, Jeff is one of the best amp techs I’ve ever worked with and he’ll hook you up! He thinks of things I would’ve never thought of! Check out his site at http://www.aracom-amps.com. Needless to say, he is also the creator of the best attenuator on the market, the Aracom PRX150-Pro.

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