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Gig Report: TC Electronic Corona Chorus

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I took the Corona to my weekly solo acoustic gig last night to give it a gig test. From the moment I started playing it, I was in love with this pedal! I actually got to my gig a little early so I could play around with the settings and find a “standard” setting that I could use. My thought behind this was that the pedal would just stay on all the time, except for specific songs that I just want my raw guitar sound.

My standard setting was Speed at 11am, Depth between 12 and 1, FX Level at just past noon, and Tone right in the middle. This produced a super smooth, lush, liquid, and sensual tone that also added a three-dimensional quality. It was total ear candy!!! Not only that, I was using no other processing, doing straight into the restaurant’s board and relying on the high ceiling to get my reverb. The result was absolutely stupendous!

I used the “standard” setting for the songs I play fingerstyle, which is most of the time. For songs where I was strumming, I backed the depth to noon. It’s a very subtle change, but an important one, as any chorus can muddy up your tone when you’re doing fast strums. I do this with all my chorus pedals. But the interesting thing with the Corona is that when I wanted to do any kind of adjustment, I didn’t have to move the knobs nearly as much as I would with other pedals. With the Corona, all the controls are interlinked, so it only takes minute adjustments to affect the overall tone. This is totally cool!

I didn’t use the TonePrint or TriChorus modes at all last night. I just didn’t feel a need to use them. As I mentioned in my review of the pedal yesterday, if the Corona only had the standard chorus mode, I’d still buy it. It sounds that good! I could get super-subtle chorus tones to gorgeous, liquid tones ala Andy Summers with this mode. In fact, I played “Every Breath You Take” last night, and just loved the chorus sound that the Corona produced for that.

Finally, a question I asked myself last night was: With how much I love the Corona, will it possibly replace my beloved Boss CE-2? Probably not. Not because the CE-2 is a better chorus, but simply because it has a distinctive tone that no other chorus I’ve every played can cop. Besides, I also like the slight gain boost that the CE-2 gives me when engaged. For bluesy stuff, that gain boost actually comes in handy. But for general chorus duties, I’ve found my go-to chorus pedal. This thing absolutely RAWKS!!!

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Gear Review: TC Electronic Corona Chorus

Posted in chorus, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar gear reviews, guitar pedals, Guitars, Music, musicians, new gear, pedals, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 18, 2011| 1 Comment »

TC Electronic Corona Chorus

Summary: Part of TC Electronic’s new Compact line, this is just about the most tweakable chorus I’ve ever played. Standard chorus most offers a wide range of chorus tone from subtle, ringing tones to thick leslie-like warble. But with TonePrint and TriChorus, you’ve got even more chorus sounds at your fingertips.

Pros: For the chorus lover, the Corona is a tone tweaker’s wet dream! There’s so much you can dial in with this pedal, and guess what? It all sounds great! Great TC sound in a standard-size enclosure? No problem, mahn!

Cons: None. Granted, I haven’t played with it much, but I just can’t think of anything NOT to like at this point.

Features:

  • TonePrint – instant access to custom pedal-tweaks made by your idols!
  • 3 chorus types – expansive tonal options from glassy shimmer to mind-boggling swirls of sound
  • Speed, Depth, Color and Level controls – sculpt your chorus sounds from subtle to extreme
  • Stereo in & out – for added flexibility to your set-up
  • True Bypass – zero loss of tone
  • Analog-Dry-Through – maximum tonal integrity and clarity
  • ToneLock – protects your presets under all circumstances
  • Easy battery access – makes changing batteries fun! (well, almost)
  • Small footprint – save precious pedalboard space
  • High quality components – only the best will do when it comes to tone
  • Road-ready design – ready to follow you wherever your playing takes you

Price: $129 Street

Tone Bone Score: 5.0 ~TC Electronic is finally coming down from the stratosphere. In the past, price was a big barrier to entry, but with the Compact line of pedals, that’s no longer the case. You get great TC tone at an absolutely affordable price.

Selling Like Hotcakes

I called up my buddy Jordan over at Gelb Music in Redwood City today to see if he had any of the TC Electronic Compact Line in stock. He said he had one chorus and one delay left. He had three of each two days ago, and people are calling, so he has a bunch on order. I’ve been reading the buzz about these pedals for the past couple of days, and it seems that dealers sell them as soon as they get them; and for good reason: At least for the Corona, the pedals sound INCREDIBLE! As soon as Jordan told me he had a Corona (which is what I was originally interested in), I told him I’d be down in a few minutes and he said he’d pull the pedal. He knows me too well; if I like and bond with some gear, I’ll walk out the store with it.

Well, such was the case with the Corona. As soon as I got to the shop, Jordan handed the pedal to me. I took it and got set up to test it. I tested it through a 100 Watt Sebago Double Trouble with a Gretsch Electromatic at the shop and immediately fell in love. This is a keeper, and will be going on my board – today! Let’s get to the review, shall we?

Fit and Finish

Can you say, “built like a tank?” 🙂 The enclosure is absolutely solid. The knobs feel totally sturdy, and the bypass switch (yes, it’s true bypass) feels solid. In other words, if the Corona is any indication of the rest of the line, these pedals will be gig-worthy.

How It Sounds

Sorry, no clips yet as I have yet to bring it home. 🙂 But all I can say is that the chorus is simply silky-smooth. The “Analog-Dry-Through” (ADT) technique that they’re using really works. Basically, with ADT, the dry signal stays untouched in the pedal, and the effect is simply blended in. I really like this technique, as it ensures that your signal retains its integrity. So there’s no signal loss, and no gain boost like you get with other pedals that modify the dry signal directly. It also gives you a lot finer control over how much effect  you want.

I tested all three modes: Chorus, TonePrint, and TriChorus. Here’s a synopsis of each:

Chorus Mode ~ If the Corona only had this mode, I still would’ve bought it. Based upon TC’s classic SCF circuit, this is a smooth, sexy chorus. There’s nothing bell-like with this mode, but it just adds some very beautiful character to your sound and it doesn’t sound at all processed. Based upon my initial test, this will most probably be the mode I use the most.

TonePrint Mode ~ This mode, of course, offers the ultimate in tweakability. Out of the box, the default TonePrint is an asymmetrical TriChorus that has some really cool swirls. But if you don’t like that, just hook the pedal up to your computer via the included USB cable and print a chorus sound you like. You can download TonePrints from the TC Electronic site, where they’ve had some major artists provide TonePrints. Want a Bumblefoot chorus sound? How ’bout one from Orianthi? Pretty cool stuff!

TriChorus ~ For me, used subtly in mono, this mode out of the box will give you very cool leslie-like tones. Apparently, it’s best used in stereo. While I liked it, it was the least of my favorites, but I can actually see where I can use it in one of my songs. It’ll work perfectly for that.

Overall Impression

As I entitled my previous article on the Corona chorus, I really thought I was done getting chorus pedals. But this is a must-have for me as I wanted to have another chorus pedal that could do sounds that me Boss CE-2 can’t do. The CE-2 is a really in-your-face type of chorus, while the Corona can be dialed back for a much more subtle chorus tone. I’ll be using this pedal – A LOT!!!

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TC Electronic Releases Seven New Pedals

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 16, 2011| 7 Comments »

At Winter NAMM 2011, under the “Compact” line of pedals, TC Electronic released seven new pedals in a more standard footprint. I spoke about about the Corona Chorus in my previous article, and it is very promising. Now you might say, “So what? There were lots of pedals release at NAMM.” True, but from my standpoint, this is a major departure for TC Electronic; not in terms of engineering and quality, but of its movement into the mainstream.

Think about it: For years TC Electronic has been producing incredible effects that are always highly rated, and known for their high quality. The only problem for me, and while it might not seem like a big thing to others, but it is a big thing to me, was the form-factor of TC pedals. I have always had a problem with their size and shape.

People might say that it’s the tone that should matter and not the form-factor, and I would agree to a point. But from a practical perspective, because of their size and shape, I’d have to sacrifice too much real estate on my board to accommodate an original TC pedal. So though I’ve loved the pedals for their tones, I’ve always passed on them purely because of I’d have to change my board. That is definitely changed with TC Electronic’s new Compact Line.

The Compact Line in a Nutshell

As I mentioned above, the Compact line includes seven pedals. It’s great that TC came out with all of them at once as opposed to staging the releases. It definitely makes a bigger splash. One thing that I can say about the Compact line is that TC had versatility in mind with these pedals. All the modulation effects include TC’s new TonePrint feature, which lets you load settings by major artists into the pedal directly via a USB connection. How cool is that?

Anyway, here are video clips I found on YouTube that really demonstrate the pedals’ capabilities:

Flashback Delay

Corona Chorus

Vortex Flanger

Hall of Fame Reverb

Shaker Vibrato

Mojo Mojo Overdrive

Dark Matter Distortion

The pedals that really catch my ear are the Corona Chorus and the Vibrato, which is VERY cool. Unlike tremolo, vibrato is a pitch modulation, where tremolo is a volume modulation. That could really come in handy!

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Just When I Thought I Was Done Acquiring Chorus Pedals…

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 14, 2011| 9 Comments »

TC Electronic comes out with the Corona Chorus (announced at Winter NAMM 2011). From what I’ve been reading and watching about this chorus pedal, it’s a winner! Very tweakable, with three different modes including their classic SCF chorus, Tri-Chorus, and TonePrint, which allows you to download settings directly into the pedal via a USB connection to your computer.

I have never owned a TC Electronic device; though I’ve tested a few of the Nova line pedals, and they sound great, one thing that has turned me off in the past is the size of the pedals I tested. Now with TC Electronic’s new compact pedal line, all that tonal goodness TC Electronic is known for can be had in a more standard form factor!

I don’t have a lot of chorus pedals; in fact, I only have two (BOSS CE-2 and a Homebrew THC), and I love them both. I use the THC for acoustic guitar, and use the CE-2 for electric. But I was just thinking that I’d like to have a more tweakable chorus to accompany my CE-2, as it’s kind of on the bright side, and sometimes I want something much darker, plus the versatility of the Corona would be awesome to accompany the CE-2 on my board. And no, I wouldn’t remove the CE-2 because it has a very distinctive tone that I have not been able to duplicate with any other pedal – ever.

From the techie side of things, the Corona is true bypass, and as TC Electronic puts it, Analog-Dry-Through, which simply means that the dry signal through the pedal stays dry and the effect is blended in. Very nice. That would definitely make it easy to put in front of an amp.

In any case, as usual Andy at ProGuitarShop.com has created a demo video. It’s pretty sweet:

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Perry Riggs Slash L Guitars “Lana” Clean Test

Posted in guitar, Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 8, 2011| 5 Comments »

When I get any guitar, one of the very first things I do is to test it out clean. I know, I already did a clip of the guitar dirty, but that was just a spur of the moment thing, and I literally only spent 15 minutes with her when I recorded the first clip. But tonight, I wanted to really take some time to dig in, so to say, and run Lana through her paces.

So I hooked her up to my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe because it just has killer cleans. Came up with a simple chord progression in D, recorded it, then laid down the lead. The “rhythm” part of this clip is with the neck pickup coil-tapped. The lead is with the guitar in the middle position, no coil-tapping. Give it a listen:

One of the first things that struck me was the super-organic, acoustic quality of the rhythm track. The inherent sustain creates lots of resonance, so it acts like the resonance chamber of an acoustic guitar. That’s really amazing. The guitar is probably about an inch and a half thick where the neck meets the body (no joint as this is a neck-through guitar), then tapers out to less than an inch around the body. At first glance, you wouldn’t expect this guitar to have so much sustain and resonance, but Perry’s design somehow creates tons and tons of sustain. Excellent!

When I played the lead, the humbuckers were simply thick and juicy, but without even a hint of boominess, even through my Hot Rod Deluxe, which can get pretty fat in the bottom end. Though I ultimately recorded the lead in a single take, I recorded it after about an hour of looping through the chord progression, just playing lead lines.

To me, that’s the mark of a truly great instrument. I lose all track of time when I’ve got a great instrument in hand. I’ll play for hours on end, and not stop. That’s how good Lana is. She can absolutely sing! I’d put her up against a Les Paul any day; and that’s saying a lot! Can’t wait to hook her up to my Plexi-style amps!

As to the recording, the guitar was recorded completely raw. I didn’t add any compression or EQ or do any mastering. The guitar was plugged straight into my Hot Rod, and I just set the Reverb on 3 to give it just a little grease. But that’s it. What you hear in the recording is just that.

By the way, even before I do the formal review of Lana, she’s going to get 5 Tone Bones. I know, I’m letting the cat out of the bag, but this is such a damn great guitar that I’d be lying if I gave her anything less than a 5!

If  you’re looking for a great custom guitar, Perry is the man to talk to. I don’t have his contact info in front of me, so I’m not providing it just now. Perry, if you’re reading this, please let the folks here know how to reach you.

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First Impressions: Perry Riggs “Lana” Guitar

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 8, 2011| 3 Comments »

Okay… hmm… what to say… How about OH MY F-IN GAWD!!! I recently wrote about Perry Riggs last week, and true to his word, he sent me out the guitar. It arrived this afternoon via FedEx. Funny aside, my wife called me up as soon as it arrived, and asked me, “Did you buy another guitar?”

I replied, “No honey, I didn’t. Why?”

She said, “Because a Gibson box just arrived from the FedEx guy. You bought another Les Paul didn’t you?!!!”

“Really honey, I didn’t. I promise!” I exclaimed, “It must be the guitar that I’m reviewing.”

“Well,” she said, “As soon as it arrived, I said, ‘He got another guitar!’ but the FedEx guy said, ‘You can never have too many guitars!'”

Gotta love it!!!

Anyway, as soon as I got home, I didn’t wait. I opened up the box, took the guitar out to my studio/garage, plugged her into my trusty Fender Hot Rod, and started playing. Didn’t do an inspection, didn’t make any measurements. “Lana” as she’s called is one of the most beautiful guitars I’ve ever seen in my life! She weighs something like six pounds, and her neck is perfect – really similar to a 60’s Les Paul neck, so I felt right at home, right away!

Well, I just had to share how she sounds, so here’s a clip (sorry for my little “clams,” I did this quickly in one take before I have to leave for tonight’s Sharks game at the Tank):

I played the first part of the clip in the bridge pickup, then in the second part of the clip, I switched to the neck and activated the coil tap to get that spanky, single coil tone. But unlike a single coil, the notes continue to sustain. Man, I love this guitar!

You have to be here to appreciate it fully, but Lana sustains for days! I can’t believe the natural sustain this guitar has! It’s as much as any Les Paul I’ve ever played, and she’s an absolute dream to play! Notes even bloom like a Les Paul, which is amazing.

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I Used to Feel Naked…

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , on March 6, 2011| 4 Comments »

…without a pedal board. But last year, I started to going to gigs without my pedal board, and relying entirely on whatever amp I was playing to provide my tone. With just my guitar, amp, and an attenuator of course, I can usually cover all the tonal landscape I need to cover with just that. With a great amp, like my 18 Watt Plexi-style amp (Aracom PLX18-BB Trem), I just crank it up, set the attenuator to the stage volume I need, and just go to town.

It’s actually been quite liberating. Of course, the challenge of playing without effects is that if I make a mistake, I don’t have anything to hide behind. But that has just pushed me to practice more and make less mistakes – or find other ways to cover them up; usually the latter… 🙂

Now I have to admit that playing without effects wasn’t a calculated thing – well, it kind of is now… But I was kind of forced to do it once when I was running late to rehearsal, and forgot to load my board into my car. Instead of driving all the way home, I decided to just rely on my fingers. From then on, especially with my church gig, if I arrange a set that doesn’t need effects (which is actually a lot more often than not), I just load my amp, guitar and attenuator into the car. It certainly makes things interesting, but I’ve found that I’ve become a much better performer since playing without effects.

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Gear Review: G5122DC Electromatic® Double Cutaway Hollow Body

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 5, 2011| 18 Comments »

Gretsch Electromatic G5122 GuitarSummary: Big hollow body Gretsch tone in an affordable guitar. This is one impressive-sounding axe!

Pros: Unlike higher-end Gretsch models, this guitar is pretty basic and straight-forward. But that’s okay because it has tone for days! And for the price, it just can’t be beat.

Cons: None.

Features:

  • Laminated maple hollowbody 16″ W x 2.2″D
  • Laminated maple top
  • Laminated maple neck (24.56″ scale)
  • Rosewood fingerboard
  • 22 medium jumbo frets
  • 1-11/16″ (43mm) nut width
  • Vintage style machine heads
  • 2 Gretsch chrome-covered Dual-Coil humbuckers
  • #1 tone pot control setup
  • G-Arrow Knobs
  • Adjusto-Matic bridge on rosewood base
  • Bigsby® B60 vibrato tailpiece
  • Gretsch knurled strap knobs
  • Chrome-plated hardware
  • Urethane finish

Price: $675-$699 Street

Tone Bone Score: 5.0 ~I’m all about value, but when you get value along with fantastic tone, I’m all over it! This is a SWEET guitar that also feels as good as it sounds!

I’ve never been one for pure hollow body guitars, but the Gretsch Electromatic that I just played during my lunchtime has completely changed my mind about hollow body guitars. I literally was blown away by the sweet sound that the guitar produces, and also by its incredible playability. For me at least, this is one guitar that I’m going to have to take a real serious look at.

Fit and Finish

There’s a reason why this guitar is so affordable: It’s made in Korea. But that shouldn’t stop you from considering a non-USA made guitar. Both PRS and G&L use Korean manufacturers for their affordable lines and for good reason: The quality of the workmanship is excellent. The Electromatic line from Gretsch is no exception. The finish is incredible, with the poly coat evenly applied over the body with no bubbles or gaps. I played the walnut stain model, which is a reddish-brown, and the thin, translucent stain brings out the gorgeous grain of the wood, producing and almost wine-red effect. Very sexy.

The Bigsby trem bar finishes the look to give the Electromatic that classic, vintage Gretsch look. Truth be told, I’ve never been into Bigsby trems, but it just works for this guitar. I wouldn’t have it any other way!

For a Gretsch, the Electromatic Double Cut is quite simple. Not sporting the filter knobs and switches that you normally see in the higher end models, the Electromatic has a pickup selector, a single tone knob (next to the bridge pickup), independent volume knobs for each pickup, then a master volume knob. That’s it. If you’re looking for simplicity, then this is a great guitar to have!

How It Sounds

Most reviews of the guitar’s sound are very good, though there are some who don’t like it. I think it really depends on the amp you play it through. I played it through a Mesa Royal Atlantic at a local shop, and it sounded absolutely gorgeous! In fact, the tone was incredibly acoustic. The G5122DC is generally known for its “twang.” But dialed in correctly, I could see using this guitar in my acoustic sets. Really. The neck pickup was definitely my favorite, with the middle pickup, which allowed me to blend the two, coming in a close second. The bridge pickup’s tone is definitely twangy. Overall, tonally, this guitar is very versatile. I could see using it in a variety circumstances, not just limit it to blues and rockabilly. I love it! I’m going to get it! 🙂

Update May 13, 2011 – Since I’ve been seriously evaluating this guitar (and am picking it up today, as a matter of fact), I played it through a few amps and also directly through a PA board, and my Fishman SoloAmp. It’s going to do the job and then some for my solo gigs!

Playablity

Gretsch’s have always been known for their playability, and the G5122DC is no exception. Didn’t matter where I was on the neck, I could get great tones out of this guitar, and it always felt incredible. The action was perfect on the guitar I played, and frankly, I just don’t have a single complaint about the guitar; not a one. I love the thinner profile of the neck, and the gentle “C” feels like a 60’s Les Paul neck. Not sure what kind of rosewood they used, but it’s very smooth to the touch, and digging in feels amazing!

Overall Impression

Here I was all GASsed out after getting my Les Pauls, but this Electromatic G5122DC is a clean machine. Add a little ‘verb and some slapback delay, and you’ve got a great rockabilly tone. Take out the delay and add just a touch of ‘verb and back off the volume knobs, and you’ve got an incredible acoustic tone. How incredibly versatile!

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Ilegitimi Non Carborundum

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

…or “Don’t let the bastards grind you down.” Many have probably heard this saying, though it’s not real Latin. But who cares? It’s a cool saying, and something I always remember when I visit gear forums. The great thing about the Internet is that it has made the world a lot smaller, but the darker side of it is that it has allowed people to exercise a certain anonymity, and some folks use this anonymity as a license to be an asshole. It’s really too bad because the Internet after all was meant as a way for people to collaborate. But that doesn’t mean it’s all bad; and in fact, you can gain lots of useful information on the various forums – I belong to several – that can help you in your buying decisions. But just remember: Don’t let the bastards grind you down.

In light of this discussion, the Internet and web forums are great resources for learning about gear. But here are some rules of thumb to consider when doing a search for some new gear:

  1. Never ask an open-ended question: “What is the best __________?” That’s just going to invite lots of useless discussion, and oftentimes lots of argument. Instead, phrase it like: “I want to achieve __________ kind of sound. In your experience, what would help me get there?” With your question framed like that, you’ll still get a lot of answers, but they’ll be much more focused.
  2. Just because someone “sounds” or gives seemingly intelligent responses, doesn’t mean they’re knowledgeable about a particular subject. On the Internet, you have to remember that until you’ve proven someone’s bonafides, everything they say is an opinion.
  3. Verify, verify, verify. This simply means what I say over and over again: You have to play something to truly know if it “fits.” Going purely off the word of someone – even someone whom you trust – could be an expensive learning experience. Believe me, I’m quite familiar with this. 🙂
  4. Take what you hear or read from manufacturers with a grain of salt, and don’t get pulled in by their bombast. There’s one manufacturer in particular that I won’t call out by name that is notorious for this, claiming things about his product and charging a super-high price, and he uses a $10 part that does most of the heavy lifting. Instead, get opinions from other users and see if they’ve made comparisons between competing products. That’s more valuable than the hyperbole of a manufacturer.

There are probably more I can think of, but these should suffice for now…

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It’s Hard to Ignore a Custom Guitar

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on March 2, 2011| 13 Comments »

As you know, I’ve had a guitar custom built for me by Saint Guitars. It’s a thing of beauty. Well, another custom guitar builder contacted me about doing a review on one of his guitars, and I have to say that that is an absolute thing of beauty! Made by “part time” luthier Perry Riggs out of Houston, TX, I have to say that just based upon the looks of the guitar in the pictures below, that if that’s the result of a part time gig, then this dude is onto something!

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I’ll provide more details once I have the guitar in hand, but here are specs on the guitar above:

  • Through neck – flamed hard maple with mahogany center
  • Pau Ferro fretboard – 24 frets, Gotoh mini tuners
  • 25.5 string length, bone nut
  • Gold tint jumbo frets
  • 1 ¾ neck width
  • .88 at nut
  • .94 at 12th fret
  • Abalone dots, both side and position
  • Mahogany body with a ½ inch quilted maple top, tinted cobalt blue
  • PRS style “binding no binding”
  • Fralin unbuckers – Coil splitting available via the tone cntrl
  • Gotoh wraparound bridge
  • Approx. weight: 6.5 lbs

I absolutely DIG that Gotoh wraparound bridge! It makes setting action and intonation so easy, plus string vibrations seem to transfer so much more efficiently to the body with just a single point of contact.

Stay tuned for a review!

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