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Posts Tagged ‘guitar’

A Powered Cable? R&M Introduces the Power Wire

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 19, 2011| 2 Comments »

I was looking around for new gear to talk about and ran across this video at Guitar World:

All I can say is… interesting. As said in the video, the power wire has a tiny amplifier built into the jack that connects to your guitar powered by two long-life batteries.

Not sure how I feel about it, which is why my reaction was a lot more mild. It’s certainly cool, adding more gain to your input signal. According to the R&M Tone Technology web site, the cable comes in 0-6dB gain options. I guess the thinking is that more gain gives you more dynamics, but it also changes the overdrive point of whatever drive pedals you’re using, or if you’re going straight into the amp, where your amp breaks up.

I would actually see this as a benefit for single-coil, or low-output humbucker-equipped guitars, where that extra gain will get you overdrive earlier on. Not sure how I’d like it with hotter pickups such as the ones that are in my Gibson Nighthawk Reissue.

But at $39.00 for a 20 footer and $43 and $47 for 30- and 40- foot cables, it might be worth it to try out. For more information, visit the R&M Tone Technology site.

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Fighting With My Guitars II

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , on April 16, 2011| 2 Comments »

A few years ago, I wrote a post entitled, “Fighting with my guitars.” This was inspired by a post from a now-defunct blog called, IG Blog, where Ig talked about different guitarists “fighting” with various quirks in their guitars and overcoming them to be more expressive. In my most recent post, the discussion turned to this very subject; fighting through quirks in gear.

When I re-read my original post from a few years ago, I chuckled because the way I fight with my guitars is that I actually sort of pick a fight with them. Oh, not by banging them up, but simply by not changing my strings until one breaks. In fact, if a string breaks, I just change that string, and leave the others on.

Part of why I started doing this years and years ago was economics. I just couldn’t afford to do wholesale string changes very often. But now, I prefer well-broken-in strings over new strings because to me they sound smoother (I actually don’t like the brightness of new strings), and more importantly, they make me work harder to get a good tone.

I can do this because my hands just don’t sweat that much. I have friends whose hands sweat so much that they have to change strings after every gig because their strings will start corroding within a few days. But me, I just leave ’em on until one breaks and then I just replace that string. For instance, with my acoustic guitar that I gig with at least twice a week, I finally changed my third string a week ago. The strings on that guitar have been on for over four months! 🙂

Granted, I will do a wholesale change anyway every six months or so to clean up the fretboard and remove pick dust that I can’t get to easily. But my strings for the most part just stay on until they break.

I know, sounds a bit quirky, and it probably is, but it forces me to work hard, and in turn, I feel much more expressive because of the tension that creates.

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You Look Marvelous…

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , on April 14, 2011| 7 Comments »

…but can you play.

For those of us that remember back in 1985, during the heyday of MTV, Billy Crystal put out a video featuring his Saturday Night Live persona “‘Nando” called “You Look Marvelous.” In the video, he says, “My father told me, ”Nando don’t be a schnook. It’s not how you feel, but HOW YOU LOOK!'” Well, as I mentioned in a previous article, looking good is one thing, but playing good is entirely different matter. 🙂

I will submit that how you feel is ultra-important to playing well. Again, I’m going to draw a parallel between golf and guitar. Recently, I stepped up to playing with fairly expensive golf balls. Up to that point, I couldn’t really justify playing with “tour” caliber balls because I was just getting back into the game; so I opted with cheap balls that I didn’t mind losing should I hit an errant shot. But I’ve been hitting a lot more consistently as of late, so before my last round, I purchased some balls that cost about $43 per 4-pack. That’s quite expensive. However, the way they felt and in turn made me feel when I hit them compels me to always buy those.

I wrote an article about that on my golf blog. After I wrote it, I saw yet another connection that I could draw from golf to guitar; and that is that how you “feel” when you’re playing totally affects how you play. If you don’t feel comfortable with your gear, you’re going to fidget and f-up. You’re going to be constantly adjusting to find the comfort zone.  If you’re stressed out – as I covered in a recent article – you’re going to mess up, and completely limit your creativity.

So the moral of the story is the exact opposite of “You Look Marvelous.” It’s not how you look, it’s how you feel…

BTW, here’s the original video. It’s hilarious:

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New Gear: Fender Announces the New “Pawn Shop” Line!

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 12, 2011| 2 Comments »

No, this ain’t an April Fools joke. Fender has just announced a new line of guitars called the “Pawn Shop” line of guitars under the tag of: “Guitars that never were but should have been…” What a cool concept, and the coolest concept I’ve heard from the Fullerton company in a long long time. Essentially, these are “official” parts casters, borrowing from a base model but putting new twists on them. I won’t bore you with details because they’ve just released a new site dedicated to the three new Pawn Shop guitars. Here it is:

http://www.fender.com/products/pawnshop/index.php

The one I like is the “Pawn Shop Fender ’72.” This has a semi-hollow Strat body, a Tele neck with rosewood fretboard, and two humbuckers. YOWZA!!! I totally love the concept! In any case, check it out.

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Don’t Let Your Ego Get the Best of You

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 9, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I mentioned in a previous article that I play a lot of golf (to be honest, golf and fine wines are my other obsessions besides guitar). While golf and guitar may not really seem very similar, having garnered a bit of skill in both, I can tell you that there are lots of similarities; especially when it comes to gear.

It was an absolutely beautiful spring-like day here in Silicon Valley, CA, so I took a couple of hours to go to the range to practice and what I witnessed at the range today compelled me to write this article. I was about a quarter of the way through my bucket when up walked a guy who kind of made me chuckle. He was decked out in obviously expensive golf clothing: Clean, white and pressed bermuda shorts; white polo shirt with collar upturned; a Fila sweater vest; topping it all off with a Titllest visor advertising his Titlest players clubs (“players” as in low handicap to pro). But even worse was that it was clear that he was looking for a stall to “show off.” What made me laugh was how he was watching people swing. He passed plenty of stalls before he finally picked one two stalls down from me where there were a couple of decent players hitting on either side of him. Talk about Alpha-male syndrome.

Having played for many many years, I’ve noticed that these kinds of players come in two flavors. They’re either REALLY great players (most probably pro), and their clothing is just decorum – though showing off is never a good thing, but at least they have something to show – or they’re total wankers who buy equipment that is far beyond their ability to play effectively because it’s “the best” or most expensive, never thinking that perhaps they should go with gear that will help enjoy the game. Let me tell you, having played with players clubs, you better be able to make great, consistent swings because the sweet spot on those clubs is much smaller than beginner or game improvement clubs.

I watched the guy warm up, and it looked like he had skills. His practice swings had a nice, fluid motion, and his body position at ball address was decent, so I figured he’d be a low handicap player. Then he swung at the ball for real. I had to step away from my own hitting because I started laughing. The guy swung like his torso and limbs were connected to tight rubber bands. It was the jerkiest motion I had ever seen, completely overpowering his club. The net result was that he hit EVERYTHING right and with a huge slice.

I laughed because he reminded me of the “rocker” dudes that go to Guitar Center. They certainly look the part, but then you hear them play. Some are actually pretty good, but most tend to be fairly one-dimensional in their playing, preferring speed over musicality. I suppose that’s okay to just play a single style, but they add insult to injury by cranking up whatever they’re playing, with no regard for the other customers in the store. A lot of times, it’s just not a pretty sight.

I guess I’m just taking exception to the attitude: Hey! Look at me! Forget about how I sound – I sound great, and am a legend in my own mind – but don’t I look great?!!! Well, confidence is one thing, but as Frank Herbert wrote in “The Lazarus Effect,” “No one likes an a@#hole.”

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New Gear: Rivera RockCrusher

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 5, 2011| 19 Comments »

Meh. Nothing really new, just a new attenuator to enter the market. It’s a bit funny the claim he made about the Rock Crusher being the only switchable impedance attenuator on the market today. He obviously didn’t research the Aracom or Faustine attenuators. Another thing he mentioned about an impedance mismatch with an 8 ohm output hitting a 20 ohm load blowing a transformer I found amusing. Possibly the other way around could do it, or a blown tube, but that kind of mismatch wouldn’t do any harm to your amp. From what I understand, all an impedance mismatch like that would do is reduce the output power of your amp. Can you say Ultimate Attenuator, which a lot of people use? 🙂 It attenuates by using a 30 ohm resistor.

I do like some of the features on his attenuator like the balanced line out. That’s pretty cool. But overall, since I already have a couple of fantastic Aracom attenuators, I’m just not too excited.

But I have no doubt that Rivera will have success with this as they already have a dealer chain, plus the price is $499, which is half as much as the Faustine, and not much more than the Alex which is a single impedance device. Even if it only has two impedance settings, you’d have to get two Alex’s to get that capability. It is less than the Aracom, which is $649 for the Pro, but with the Aracom’s input and output impedance matching, plus its technology, I’ll stick to my Aracom.

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New Gear: Electro-Harmonix Voice Box

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

You gotta dig the folks over at EHX. They take classic designs then put their own unique twist on them. I’ve been considering getting one of their envelope filter pedals for  awhile, but then they recently released a harmonizer pedal called the Voice Box that is very intriguing. I myself have been using DigiTech’s Vocalist Live 4 for a few years, and it has served and continues to serve me well. But after a few years of gigging, things are starting to wear down, and some buttons are just plain broken.

As such, I’ve been looking at either getting a new VL4 or going with a completely different unit altogether. The TC Helicon VoiceLive Touch seems pretty cool, but this new entry by EHX warrants a deep investigation; especially as it is priced at under $220 street, where the VL4 and VoiceLive Touch run about $500.

Granted, the Voice Box doesn’t have many tweaking features, and it doesn’t have nearly the amount of presets as the VL4 or VoiceLive. However, from what I could gather from watching a couple of videos, the sound quality of the harmonies is great, and it includes a vocoder! Now THAT is cool!

For me as a solo gigging musician, a harmonizer has been an important part of my rig. And after years of use of my VL4, I have to admit that I only use four of the 100 presets of my VL4 – just four! So with the EHX’s nine presets, if I can get the harmonies that I use most often, then I may just have to get it. Besides, at around $220, it’s not going to run me broke. It also means that as a pedal, I can mount it on my pedal board, and not have a big unit that I have to run separately into my board. As I only use three effects on my board, there’ll be plenty of real estate to take this pedal!

Here’s a video:

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Sometimes It’s Best to Keep Things Simple

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 30, 2011| 2 Comments »

I have a LOTS of pedals, but sometimes I forgo the use of them in order to just keep things simple. For instance, while I was in my studio this evening working on a new song, I got a little sidetracked and started jamming to a little chord progression that I quickly came up with to warm my fingers up. So much for the songwriting tonight as I ended up looping the chord progression and playing over it – for about two hours. I finally decided to record a clip.

In the clip you’re about to hear, I’m using Amber, my trusty Les Paul R8, plugged into my Aracom Amps PLX-18 BB Trem, which is a 18 Watt Marshall Plexi clone. I’ve been gigging with this amp a lot as of late, as its tone is just to die for! In any case, I recorded the rhythm part with the guitar plugged straight into the amp. Then for the lead, I cheated a little and added a boost pedal to slam the front-end of the amp with gain so I could make sure the power tubes compressed a bit. The amp was in the drive channel cranked all the way up. Also, the rhythm part was done with the guitar in the middle position, while the lead was on the bridge pickup.

I did master the clip a little bit, and added some EQ texturing on the master track, but I left the guitars alone EQ-wise, and only added a touch of reverb to each track. At least to me, the end result is just pure, cranked Les Paul/Vintage Marshall tone. No distortion or overdrive pedals, just getting my distortion from gain. The is just letting my fingers do the talking. 🙂

I remember when I was weaning myself off of drive pedals, it was really hard because all the drive pedals I have add a bit of sustain. But with no pedals, you just have the natural sustain of your guitar and the sustain that comes from overdriving the amp. But once I got used to it, and learned to wiggle my strings effectively, I found I preferred playing like this most of the time. But that said, I will always have drive pedals on my board as they produce distortion sounds that my amps can’t produce by themselves, and they do come in handy for lead breaks when I’m performing live.

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On Gear Critics and Critiques

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 30, 2011| 4 Comments »

Yeah, I suppose I’m a gear critic, considering the nature of GuitarGear.org. But one thing that I NEVER wanted to do was establish myself as someone who came off as “my word is is law.” To be honest, I would consider myself an expert on guitar gear – at least in general with respect to guitars and peripherals and how they all work together – but I also realize that my own proclivities and tastes are my own. And despite the fact that I employ rigorous testing in both studio and on stage, inspect every piece of gear closely, looking for build or finish flaws, or admiring the workmanship of some gear; in the end, my analysis is simply… an opinion. Because of this awareness, I’m always careful about making gear recommendations. I rarely, if ever, tell readers that they have to buy something; rather, I suggest they check it out and try it for themselves.

The reason I’m covering this particular subject is because as I was reading through some wine reviews this morning (yes, that’s yet another passion of mine besides guitar and golf), I realized that the critics I gravitate to are the ones whom I consider to have considerably more expertise than me, but rather than dictate, they suggest, and also provide contrast by illustrating similar wines.

Then I looked at my participation in various online forums, and the various so-called experts that practically live there. There are some for whom I have great respect and admiration who give and have given me some great insight and advice on various gear topics. But there are others who love to bandy about their knowledge, pulling out their credentials as proof that you need to listen. The worst thing is that they’re all very eloquent so many people are taken in by the things they say and advise, then they go out and buy a particular gear that the “expert” says they need, and they’re convinced beforehand that it’s everything they need; only to find out some time later that it just doesn’t work with their sound.

Look, I’ve been down that road; hanging on every word that a so-called “expert” says. And yes, I’ve been burned. Just remember this, as said in the movie “Platoon:” “Opinions are like assholes. Everyone’s got one.” 🙂 Seriously though, and I know, I repeat this all the time. Don’t just take the word of someone who raves about gear. Try before you buy. And if you can’t try it, make sure you do your homework and research!

“guitarboy” who is a reader of this column teased me recently about getting my Timmy pedal. To be completely honest and transparent, I’ve never played one. But I did do my research, listening to tons of clips, and fortunately for me, seeing/hearing one in action at a friend’s concert (Dylan Brock of “Luce”) where I could see how he set it. I was also able to talk to him after the concert to get his insights on the pedal. That particular conversation sold me on the pedal.

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Bucket List…

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , on March 29, 2011| 1 Comment »

I suppose I’m not the only one who has a bucket list, but I thought I’d share mine. And no, I’m not thinking about my life ending, but the other day I thought about things I’d like to do, see, or have before I die. So here goes (not in any particular order):

  • Build a huge wine cellar devoted to my favorite wine, Pinot Noir; focused specifically on California, Oregon, and Washington, categorized by region and appellation. Oh, I’d also stock it with French Burgundy as well. I suppose I should share that I also have a blog about Pinot Noir called The PinotPhiles.
  • Play a real ’59 Les Paul, if not outright own one. And it wouldn’t sit in a glass case. I’d play it.
  • Own an original Marshall JTM-45 and an original Plexi 50
  • Have all classic Les Paul Reissues: R7, R8, R9, and R0
  • I’d really like a Corvette Z06.
  • Speaking of automobiles, one of my dreams is to see the F1 Monte Carlo Grand Prix, and have a room that is on the Casino Turn, overlooking the race course.
  • Back to music, once the kids are grown up – or maybe earlier – I’d love to build a nice studio/sound stage in my back yard.

Well, that’s all I can think of for now… 🙂

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