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Posts Tagged ‘Guitars’

DBZ Guitars Receives “Best In Show” Award at 2010 Summer NAMM

Posted in GAS, gear, gear announcements, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitar gear reviews, guitar reviews, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new gear, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on July 6, 2010| 4 Comments »

Even though I got this news via a press release, it doesn’t surprise me at all that DBZ won the Best In Show award this year. I’ve been quietly following DBZ since they hit the scene, and I’ve appreciated what Dean Zelinsky  (founder of DBZ and famous for Dean Guitars) has been trying to accomplish with his guitars from the start; that is, build great looking, great sounding, and great playing guitars at a GREAT price. Yeah, that’s a common formula, and lots of people try to do that, but Dean has accomplished that.

Take, for instance, the Imperial Premier model to the left. I had the chance to hold and play around with one of these exact models in Transparent Wine a couple of weeks ago (didn’t get to plug it in, though hopefully the DBZ rep will let me borrow one for a review). The Imperial has some classic styling – it’s shaped very similarly to a Gibson SG, but that’s where the similarities end. If you look at the picture to the right, you’ll see how incredibly thin the body is. That makes for a super, super, super light weight. All I could say when I first picked it up was, “Wow!”

Now you might think that that would never fly, but I have to tell you, that guitar felt absolutely wonderful, and I could feel the string vibrations resonating through the body as I played. The soft v-shape of the neck stands for Very comfortable. The fretboard is nice and smooth. DBZ calls it “ebonized” rosewood – not sure what that means, but it’s as smooth as ebony, and I just love the feel of ebony fretboards.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to plug it in because I was busy picking up my Fishman Solo Amp. But just based upon my initial inspection, and just holding it it in my hands, if I wasn’t getting the Fishman, I wouldn’t have let the rep leave the shop with the guitar. Yup, I was THAT impressed! Even the store manager was completely blown away by the guitar. He’s a jazz player, and while he said he prefers archtops, he loved that guitar.

Here are some specs:

  • Construction/Scale: Set Neck 24.75″
  • Body: Mahogany/Maple Top
  • Flamed Maple Top
  • Natural Scrape Binding
  • Fingerboard: Ebonized Rosewood
  • Neck: Mahogany Soft V Neck
  • Frets: 22
  • Inlays: Premier Series
  • Pickups: DBZB/DBZ5
  • Electronics: Vol/Tone/3-way
  • Tuners: Grover
  • Hardware: Gold
  • Bridge: DBZ Custom Stop Tail

Pretty nice features. You can see more pictures and other information on the DBZ site.

Here’s the real kicker: You can get this guitar for $649 online!!! Fat Tone Guitars outside of Chicago has these in stock. So how is the price so low? Simply put, it’s due to technology. Dean Zelinsky isn’t shy nor embarrassed by this blatant use of tech to build guitars. And why not? With computerized routers, you can ensure build consistency. Plus, I believe all the heavy work is done overseas, so that keeps the prices down. Even though I try to stick to US-made gear where I can, in the end, geographic location is far less important to me than how the gear plays and sounds.

DBZ is still trying to build its dealer base, but I encourage you to check one out if there’s a shop near you.

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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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Taking Your Ego Out of the Equation…

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , on July 4, 2010| 1 Comment »

I’ve mentioned in the past that I do a weekly solo acoustic gig at a local restaurant. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been with the restaurant going on 11 years! But some places just keep you engaged. But more than that, I just love the folks that work there, and they’ve become close friends. But when I first started there, I made a conscious decision to simply approach the “job” with humility. Let’s not confuse that with letting myself get pushed around, but simply put, not letting my ego or my flawed estimation of my abilities rule how I interact with the folks at the restaurant – owners, managers, workers, and of course, customers.

I’ve let my ego get in the way in the past in other areas of my life, and all that created was bad relationships. No one wanted to work with me, and quite frankly, my ego made me think I was a lot better than I actually was. I was intimidating, and made people feel bad; and when I let my ego get in the way, I wouldn’t perform at my optimal level because I didn’t think I needed to give it my all.

To me, artistic performance – no matter what kind of artistic performance, be it music, dance, or otherwise – is all about passion. To make your performance believable, you have to let go of your ego to “feel” what you’re doing, and expressing that inner passion you have for the piece you’re performing. I’ve been performing on some sort of stage for most of my life, and if I’ve learned one thing it’s this: If I want to touch my audience, I have to shed my ego and give them who I really am and be passionate about it.

I have to be uncompromising about this. That passion may turn some people off, but the last thing I want to be is a fake, or act as if it’s a privilege for my audience to be seeing me. And make no bones about it: While technique and talent are important, they’ll only take you so far. If your performance is heartless, technique won’t save you – your audience will brush you off and never remember you, but more importantly, you’ll never connect with them. If you’re a conceited asshole on top of that, no one will want to work with you.

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Question: How many ________ do you need?

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , on June 29, 2010| 5 Comments »

Answer: Just one more!

Awhile back, my wife walked into my garage/studio, and saw me playing my Reason Bambino. She asked, “How many amps do you need?” As usual, my answer was (with a facetious grin on my face), “Just one more, honey.” Her reply to that was, “You’ve got a wall of amps! I don’t see how you could possibly need all of them.” Actually, she was right, and it didn’t help that half of them weren’t mine, as I was doing reviews on some amps at the time.

Still, I felt I owed her an explanation. After all, I do have a lot of gear, and I actually use all of it, with the exception of a couple of my very old guitars that I’m too busy to service. So I followed her into the house and said, “You know, since I don’t have a band, and I’m doing all this recording on my own, when I’m after a certain sound or dynamic, and I don’t have that sound or dynamic well, I have to find it. Ultimately, that means I get more gear.”

Or maybe I’m just an obsessed, sick individual that needs to have shiny new things all the time. 🙂 Heaven knows I’ve fallen victim to impulsive urges. For instance, just the other day, I was looking at Telecasters on CraigsList. Found a really nice black one with a mirror pick guard for $400! The guy didn’t indicate where it was manufactured (I’m “kind” of looking for an American Telecaster or American G&L ASAT). Luckily I called him up and he said it wasn’t an American because I would’ve scooped it up post-haste! Then I thought to myself, “Dude, you gotta stop this!” Dodged that bullet… 🙂

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New Gear: Aracom-DAG PRX150-DAG Power Attenuator

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 29, 2010| 2 Comments »

The venerable “Destroy All Guitars” shop has teamed up with Aracom Amplifiers to come up with a new version of the fantastic Aracom PRX150-Pro. Sporting a smaller cabinet (sorry, not reduced weight), and a couple of very cool new features, the $785 PRX150-DAG is the answer to anyone who wants to go to the extreme in transparent power attenuation.

Here are the features:

* Proprietary SRT Power Attenuation Technology
* Six levels of step attenuation, plus a continuously variable attenuation control (bedroom mode)
* 40dB of attenuation–attenuates 150 watts down to .015 watt
* 150 watt power rating
* Independent input and output impedance selector switches:
– from the amplifier and into the attenuator, select from: 2, 4, 8, 16 ohm
– from the attenuator and to the speaker cabinet(s), select from: 2, 4, 8, 16 ohm
– uniquely allows 16 possible Input and Output impedance combinations
* Hi Frequency Cut Filter with a True Bypass Switch
* Features a Load setting and is equipped with a Line Out Jack and Line Out Level Control
* Rack Mount Option
* Handwired in the USA

The two notable features are the Hi-Cut Filter, and the increased attenuation down to -40dB attenuation. With respect to the high-cut filter, some people had mentioned that they heard a high-frequency artifact coming through when they hooked up the original PRX150-Pro. I myself have never heard it, though I suppose anything’s possible. In Jeff Aragaki’s (of Aracom Amps) words:

The PRX150-DAG is equipped with a High Frequency Cut switch, that rolls off the highs above 6KHz, that some users might find useful with amplifiers that have a pronounced high end frequency response. Some guitarists go to great lengths to control the high end response of their amplifier, by carefully selecting speakers, tubes, and other components to roll off the highs. Now with the PRX150-DAG, a guitarist might not need to rely on changing these components; the high cut filter switch allows the flexibility of rolling off the high end or not. The true bypass switch allows the filter to be completely bypassed, providing the full frequency response of the attenuated amplifier to pass through to the speakers.

The other great feature is the Min/Max variable attenuation modes Jeff has introduced. Minimum attenuation mode is the traditional -16dB down to about -30dB variable attenuation, whereas the Maximum variable attenuation mode goes from -27dB to -40dB. With a 100 Watt amp, that’s taking down the output power to .015 Watt!!! Wanna have full dynamic response at bedroom levels with your 100 Watt amp? Look no further!

The Aracom-DAG PRX150-DAG is available exclusively through Destroy All Guitars. Check it out!

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John 5 ROCKS!!!

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , on June 26, 2010| 1 Comment »

Alternate title: You can’t judge a book by its cover…

Most people associate John 5 as the guitarist for Marilyn Manson, and being that that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, most folks probably don’t know just how gifted of a musician he is! I myself totally dismissed him until I saw a video of him demonstrating chicken pickin’ on YouTube (sorry, can’t seem to find the original video). I was so taken aback by the disparity between his appearance and his ability to play a style of a guitar that was the antithesis for what he was known for, that I spent the next several hours searching for as many John 5 videos I could find just to confirm that it was indeed him.

In the end, I was totally blown away by his versatility in the genres he could play, but more importantly, I gained an appreciation for his musicality. Make no bones about it: John 5 is the s$%t when it comes to making music, not just playing guitar!

John 5 is also an accomplished songwriter, having contributed tunes to KISS and the Scorpions. You don’t get those kinds of gigs without having your stuff together!

In any case, what got me thinking about John 5 was the fact that I’ve lately been into Tele’s; I mean, really into Tele’s, ever since I got my Squier Classic Vibe 50’s. And gear slut that I am, I’m always looking around for deals. So in my sojourns, I remembered that the Tele is John 5’s axe, so I thought I’d write about how much appreciate his musicianship!

Here’s a GREAT video of John 5 demonstrating some chicken pickin’ techniques:

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If I Could Play Every Day for a Living…

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , on June 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »

…I’d do it in a snap. After seeing a couple of Vegas shows this past couple of days, I got to thinking that it would be a great job – almost better than the road:

  • You play in front of a different audience every night.
  • You crawl into your own bed after you’re done.
  • Yeah, you don’t get to see too many cities, but you’re not stuck on a bus or flying on an airplane and eating restaurant food each day.
  • With the right show, even if you’re playing the same material night after night, if you’re given some freedom of expression, you could have room to let your solos breath. The two guys I saw (in Cirque du Soleil Mystere and Terry Fator) had lots of places where they could improvise. Totally cool!
  • Because you’re playing every day, your chops are always sharp.

So if I ever get a chance to do a show as a full-time musician – and if it pays well enough to support my family – I’m there!

Now mind you, that I don’t think being on the road is a bad thing. I’d love to do it now and then, but with a family at home, and having traveled quite a bit for business, being away from the family for long periods of time is just not practical – at least for me.

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I Wanna Join the Circus!!!

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , on June 23, 2010| 1 Comment »

Imagine, if you will, playing at least 10 shows a week for a major production. That’s what the guitarist for Cirque du Soleil gets to do. Yeah, you dress up in a costume for each show, but you get to rip it up! I just saw the show this evening (my wfie and I are in Vegas), and the guitarist playing in the band was a monster with great chops!

His chops were excellent, and it appeared he got to do lots of free-reign soloing! Of course, a lot of what he played was by the chart, but there were several parts in the show where it seemed he was able to just run freely. But irrespective of that, I’d love to have a gig like that where I can play every day in one city – it would be my job.

Maybe it might get old, but with a family, it would be tough being on the road all the time. For me at least, with a gig like this, you do two shows a day at 7pm and 9:30pm, you have Thursday and Friday off, and you play five days a week! If it’s a great-paying gig, well, I could hopefully support the family.

Unfortunately, once guys land these kinds of gigs, they rarely, if ever leave. I suppose you’ve got to be in the right place at the right time…

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You know you’re obsessed…

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , on June 22, 2010| 3 Comments »

…when you’re in Vegas and writing an article in your room – though I am sipping the remains of my wife’s Hurricane.

My wife and I are celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary for a few days in Vegas. This is strictly for relaxation. We’ll be going to shows and having nice meals. It’s a great break.

The cool thing for me is that while I did bring my laptop so I could write in my blog, I don’t have to worry about my duties at work or home, and that’s helped me just empty my mind. Of course, when I clear my mind, I think about playing guitar; or at least writing music. I’m working on the structure of a song right now. I’ve asked my eldest son to write the lyrics because I want a younger perspective on the song. Feedback that I’ve gotten on my latest songs is that lyrics are “mature.” Damn! That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it certainly narrows my audience. So I’ve turned to my son who actually liked the basic song structure when I played it for him, and we’ll see where it goes.

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New Gear: Maxon ST-9 Pro+ Overdrive

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 21, 2010| 8 Comments »

Click to enlarge

“Guitar Player” mag took a recent poll asking: If you could only have a single pedal in  your rig, what would it be? Overwhelmingly, and actually not too surprising to me, most pollsters chose an overdrive pedal. I personally didn’t take the poll, but I would definitely fall into the majority. You know me, I just can’t enough of overdrive pedals!

So much to my great pleasure, Maxon has released the new ST-9 Pro+ Super Tube Screamer Overdrive. Based upon Maxon’s classic “808” circuit, and building upon the original Ibanez ST-9 and its ability to control the amount of “midrange hump,” this “reissue” adds features that have the potential of making this a truly great Tube Screamer-class pedal.

  • First of all, the ST-9 Pro+ sports 9V or 18V operation. 18V mode adds more headroom and warmth. This is controlled by a slider switch in the battery compartment.
  • In addition to the Drive, Level, and Tone Knobs, the ST-9 Pro+ also has a “Mid-Enhance” knob which controls where the mids are boosted. Clockwise moves the boost towards the high mids, while counter-clockwise moves the boost to the lower mids. To me, this is probably the most useful feature, as you can dial in the mid boost to adapt the pedal to different amps.
  • The ST-9 Pro+ also has a switch that selects either “Classic” or “Low Boost.” Low Boost gives a 12dB boost at 100Hz and a 4dB boost a 500Hz. This can be quite useful for fattening up single coil guitars!
  • Finally, the ST-9 Pro+ has true-bypass switching.

OMG!!! I love the features on this pedal! Were I to consider getting another pedal in the Tube Screamer lineage, this pedal would be at the top of my list! However, with a street price of around $206, it’s not a cheap proposition. But with it’s features, it certainly warrants a close look; and based upon my experience with Maxon pedals, their build and sound quality is undeniable. While I don’t use it much any longer, my CP-9 Pro+ compressor is a testament to that quality (I paid $250 used for that pedal), and it’s a pedal I’ll always have. As for the ST-9 Pro+, I’ll see if I can find a place where I can audition it.

Finally, here’s a great demo video that shows off the ST-9 Pro+ quite nicely:

For more information, check out the Maxon ST-9 Pro+ page!

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