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Posts Tagged ‘thoughts’

In Search of Authenticity

Posted in Guitars, tagged , on February 2, 2013| 2 Comments »

When I first started this blog as a diary of the gear I had purchased or evaluated in my endless search of “tone,” I have to admit that many of my purchases were made based upon their cool factor; as in how cool they sounded. As I was still new to tube amps, and electric guitars in general (having spent almost 35 years playing nothing but acoustic), I was like a kid in candy store, and as such, the decisions I made with respect to gear didn’t have the depth of thought applied to them that my later purchases have had.

Not to take away from the process. I’ve got some great gear as a result, but I also have lots of gear that’s just collecting dust because they just don’t fit my sound, or as in the case of my small collection of overdrives, there’s quite a bit of overlap in capabilities. For instance, I have three or four overdrives that are modeled after the venerable Tube Screamer. But it’s all good. I had to get all that out of my system. But now that I’ve refined the definition of my sound, I’m much more careful about the gear purchase decisions I make. Plus, I’m a lot more careful about the discretionary income I have as I share my passion for gear with my passion for fine wine.

But on top of that, the refinement of my sound has also compelled me towards authenticity in all aspects of my music; that is, being true to myself and what pleases me. I want the gear that I buy to allow me to authentically express myself and whatever musical message I may have, whether I’m playing my own music or covering someone else’s. My feeling is that I can’t be anyone else but me, so when I perform, I want to perform as me and not the personification of someone else.

Especially with doing covers – whether in my solo act or with my church band – I cover the music, not the artist. I arrange the tunes to fit my own interpretation of the music. It’s not about trying to be different just for difference’ sake, but to me, it’s more about ownership, and making a song my own. And from that perspective, I’m pretty careful about the songs I choose to cover. I have to feel as if I can own the songs and not just do them because they’re popular. If a song doesn’t really appeal to me, no matter how popular it may be, or even how well I might be able to perform it, I won’t do it because its lack of appeal to me won’t let me own it. Yeah, I suppose it would be a different story if I was in a show where I wouldn’t have a choice of singing a particular song. But since I do have the freedom, I can do the things I like to do.

Authenticity is important to me as an artist. It’s something I share with young people who sing with me. I tell them that it’s one thing to sing a song, but it’s an entirely different matter when you own a song. The difference in performance is like night and day. I give them an example of a friend of mine that I accompany at the restaurant I work at. She does this one Tuck and Patti song called, “You Take My Breath Away.” I personally don’t like her rendition of it, but our audience does, and the reason they do is that she owns that song hands down. So I appreciate what she’s does with it, even though I don’t happen to like her approach. After all, it’s about pleasing the audience, and she does that. Someone else who would just go through that song would simply pale in comparison.

None of this may make any sense, or you might think I’m completely off my rocker. But ask yourself if you’re being true to yourself with your performance. If you take a hard, honest  look and see that you aren’t, you may surprise yourself by trying to be authentically you.

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Now I’m Not Sure I Buy Into the Les Paul Collectors Choice Remakes

Posted in Guitars, tagged on February 1, 2013| 8 Comments »

les_paul_cc_7So being a fan of Gibson, I of course subscribe to their Facebook page where I get regular updates on what they’re releasing. The latest is another Custom Shop guitar in the “Collectors Choice” series, Number 7. The original is owned by John Shanks, a singer/songwriter/producer, and is a 1960 model. You can get all the details here.

I know, I’ve raved about these in the past, but I’m back-stepping a little bit; not necessarily refuting what I mentioned before, as from an appreciation perspective, the Collectors Choice guitars give me shivers. They’re freakin’ gorgeous!

BUT…. with a MSRP of about $9400, which translates to $4500-$5000 street, that’s not a price I’ll pay for a Les Paul. Okay, I get that it’s made to exacting specs of the original. But it’s still a brand-new guitar. I think it’s the relic thing. I’ve never been a big fan of relics (yeah, I have one, but it’s very lightly relicked, and I got it for a steal). Or actually, let me qualify. I don’t want to pay the huge sums that some relicked guitars somehow command. The exception, of course, are the Roadworn Series guitars from Fender, which are pretty reasonably priced.

But then again, I’d rather beat the shit out of my guitars myself…

 

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The Answer to Getting Better at Anything…

Posted in Guitars, tagged on January 30, 2013| 3 Comments »

“Those who are passionate about performance must be passionate about critique and practice.”
-Ron Mumm, Lt. Col. USAF (ret.)

As a professional in high-tech for almost 30 years, and having worked at various levels in the industry from shipping dock, to analyst, to engineer, to marketing, to sales, to management, one thing that has always been very important to me is leadership. I’ve read tons of books on the subject and attended several seminars on honing my leadership skills. Right now, I’m reading a fantastic book called, “Leading with Honor,” by Lee Ellis, who shares his story of being a POW during the Vietnam War and sharing the leadership lessons he learned from his years of incarceration.

I got the quote above from the latest chapter I’m reading called, “Develop Your People.” When I read that sentence, it hit me like a ton of bricks, for to me, it distilled down to its very essence, that which makes us successful at anything.

In that statement, it’s not just practice that makes us better, but also being open to critique. Feedback allows us to gauge how well we’re doing. Feedback gives us a compass on our performance. Some of the best leaders I’ve worked with over the years have been great about taking critique from others, be it their peers or even those who work for them.

But that statement isn’t just limited to leadership situations. It applies to practically everything we do in our lives; even with playing guitar or some other musical instrument. If you play out, you can practice all you want in a closed environment, but you really have no gauge on how well you’re doing until you get feedback either from your audience or your bandmates.

I practice guitar practically every day; not necessarily doing exercises, but also honing my performance skills. Since I mostly play solo, it’s important for me to have a clean performance, so I make sure that I’ve got my playing – and singing – down. But I’m also big on getting feedback, so I regularly ask the management at the restaurant I work at how well I’ve performed, and even ask customers if there’s something they’d rather hear me play or if something bothered them. Over the years, it has helped me hone the style of music I play in my sets, and helped me calibrate what’s appropriate to do in a song with respect to modulation or playing licks. After all, who measures quality? My customers.

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I Actually Heard Something Interesting from an American Idol Judge

Posted in Guitars, tagged on January 18, 2013| 4 Comments »

I’m not really an American Idol fan, but my daughter was watching it and I had a bit of time to kill before leaving for my gig yesterday. So I sat down to watch the show. I didn’t know that they had a whole new set of judges on board – like I said, I’m not a fan and don’t keep up with any “Idol” news – so it was a pleasant surprise to see that Keith Urban was one of the judges. I dig that guy!

Not surprising to me was that it was Keith Urban who said something that struck me. The judges were discussing a person who had just left the room after their audition, and all the judges were commenting on his easy-going style and his natural feel. Then out of nowhere, Keith Urban said, “He’s like what they say about real musicians. They’d do it anyway.”

That struck me to the core and made me smile because I said something similar to that to my wife years ago when we first got married. She was trying to push me – lovingly, mind you – towards make music a full-time profession. I told her that the reality is that we have a family to raise and that takes precedence. “Besides,” I said, “I’d do music anyway, whether I was professional or not. It’s a large part of what defines me as a person.” I also absolutely love software engineering, and frankly, I wasn’t about to give that up; especially since I was experiencing so much professional success in that area and have had a lot of success to this day.

But I never gave up music. Like I said those years back, it’s part of what makes me who I am as a person. I just do music as a matter of course in my life and really don’t think about it too much. I write the occasional praise and worship song, I record when I can, and I gig a lot (I did about my average of 150 gigs last year). I get paid for almost all my gigs, but there are some I do gratis. I just love to play.

Speaking of getting paid, I remember lurking through a thread on a popular musicians forum a couple of years back where people were debating about whether they’d do a free gig. There were some folks who said they’d play for free, but most said they’d only do a gig if they got paid, and some were quite emphatic that they’d NEVER do a free gig under any circumstances. Though I didn’t reply, the thought struck me that those folks probably don’t gig all that much. I could be wrong, but to me, that’s a bit of a shit attitude.

I did a few free or very low-paying gigs last year. But my take on those was that I needed to take the long view with those gigs, because invariably, people would take my card when I’m done. I’ve been hired several times for gigs based upon people seeing me previously, so I I don’t get paid then, I’ll make up for it later. 🙂 But moreover, I just want to play. It goes back to what Keith Urban said about the real musicians. For me, I don’t claim ultimate virtuosity on my beloved instrument, but as the saying goes, I’m going to play anyway…

ROCK ON!

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For Me, Having All this Gear Is about Gigging with It!

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , on December 18, 2012| 2 Comments »

Yesterday, I finished the last gig of a five-day run of gigs – mostly solo – and after I finished the last one, I was driving in the car and thought about the different gear I used for each gig. For the last couple, I used a bare bones rig: Just my guitar plugged into my VoiceLive GTX vocal processor plugged into my Fishman SoloAmp. I didn’t want to bother with lugging my pedal board, so I just loaded a few cords, my VoiceLive GTX and my mic in a bag. I didn’t even use my gig seat – just used a couple of regular chairs to sit on.

The thought that struck me last night was that I have all this gear to have the freedom to add or subtract what I need from gig to gig. When I’m playing with my church band, my rig can change drastically from week to week. Sometimes I bring a combo, sometimes a head and cab; sometimes I bring multiple guitars. The idea to give myself choices. 🙂 He he… sounds a lot like I’m figuring out a way to justify to the wifey why our garage is half-full of my gear. But that’s not really the case. I like having the choices I have so I can adapt to whatever venue I might play. I use practically all my gear throughout the year (I’m bound to with a 100+ gigs a year).

But in my ruminating over my gear, it also got me thinking about several people I’ve encountered over the years who hoard gear but never gig. Hey man, if that’s your thing, that’s fine with me. But I don’t see the point of getting performance gear and not using it to perform. There was one guy I know of who had a bunch of high-end gear. He died tragically a couple of years ago, but my buddy bought all his gear from his wife – it took up two big, enclosed car trailers! I asked my buddy if the dude gigged, but he said never. He just bought up a bunch of gear, and played it at home. Included were several high-end amps from VOX, Marshall, HiWatt, /13, and others. There were several Strats, a couple of Les Pauls, and a nice collection of Gretsch guitars. I just couldn’t believe how much stuff there was, and that didn’t include all the pedals and accessories! I thought I was a gear slut! This dude’s collection made me look like a freakin’ prude!

I personally can’t fathom not gigging my gear. I have a lot, but pretty much everything gets used at least three or four times a year. I have my “go-to” amps and axes for sure; especially now that I feel that I’ve got my sound. But still, from time to time, I break out a little-used guitar or amp. For instance, my guitar of choice is a Les Paul. But there are some sounds that a Les Paul just can’t do; which is why I have a couple of Strats and a Gretsch and other guitars when I need certain tones. Same goes for pedals. Baseline I always have a chorus, a delay and a reverb. But sometimes I need a vibe. For front-of-amp stuff, I always have a Timmy and my EWS Little Brute Drive distortion, plus my Big Bad Wah. But I’ll add other drive pedals, or even change out my wah for “something else.”

I suppose I just can’t justify buying gear if I don’t use it. I don’t have a lot of disposable income, so when I do buy something it’s with the intention of gigging. But that’s just me…

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Quit Wishing (and Bitching)! Do Something About It!

Posted in Guitars, tagged , on September 9, 2012| 1 Comment »

Having worked with lots of people throughout my lifetime, I’ve invariably run into folks – and even I’ve done it at times – who get in a funk and say things like, “I wish I could do _________” or “I wish this would be like ________.” Without saying it directly and being as diplomatic as possible, I usually reply to them to stop wishing someone would do something sometime to make things happen. The time is now and you’re that someone.

But it’s even more than just realizing that you’re the one who has to make things happen for yourself, you have to be willing. Several years ago, I attended a few self-help seminars and something that a seminar leader said always stuck with me – and I’ve mentioned it here a couple of times – was “There’s a fine line between dreams and reality, and that line is called ‘willingness.'” That had a profound effect on how I approached life afterwards, but in the years since, I’ve realized that realizing your dreams takes even more than just willingness. It takes discipline; lots of discipline.

Not meaning to be religious, but there’s a very famous quote from the Bible from the Gospel of Matthew: “So you had not the strength to stay awake with me for one hour? Stay awake, and pray not to be put to the test. The spirit is willing enough, but human nature is weak.” The shorter, more commonly known version is: The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. In any case, Jesus said that to the disciples who were supposed to keep vigil with him while he prayed but instead fell asleep. He was reprimanding them for not having the discipline to stay awake – even for just an hour – while he prayed. Put simply, with discipline, you make the hard choices. Clearly the disciples didn’t have enough of it at the time…

Or take for example the Navy SEALs and their training program known as Basic Underwater Demolition SEALs, or BUDS for short. Hundreds have tried out, and over 80% ring the bell to quit. The SEALs’ motto, “The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday” is a testament to the fact that it never gets easier, it only gets harder. People who quit weren’t losers. Some were top athletes, used to sustained physical and mental stress, but even they broke in the end. The training program is really that hard! The only way to get through that program is to have the mental fortitude to maintain discipline in the face of growing difficulty.

Even though I’ve never gone through something quite as physically and mentally extreme and rigorous as the Navy SEAL BUDS program, I’ve also learned over the years that discipline is what needs to take over when you don’t have the motivation to do something. It truly is the difference between success and failure. This concept applies to everything in life, be it your job, learning to play an instrument, or even a making a relationship work (and no, I don’t mean the chips, dips, chains and whips variety of discipline, either).

Circling back to the title of this article, what I’m suggesting here is that in order to achieve anything in life you have to:

  • Realize that you are the only person who can achieve your goals.
  • Be willing to achieve your goals.
  • Have the discipline to do whatever it takes to achieve them.

And please don’t confuse this with “the ends justifies the means” mentality that seems to be so prevalent in American culture these days. Can you say, “Financial collapse of 2008?” There are no shortcuts to success, even though the short-term might indicate otherwise.

So what does all this have to do with guitar? Simply put, apply the three points above to any learning situation with your guitar. Want to play like SRV? Santana? EVH? You’re the one that has to make it happen, you have to be willing to make it happen, and you have to have the discipline to make it happen.

It’s also not just about lessons. I know a guy who has been taking lessons every week for over 10 years, and he’s still a bad musician. He knows lots of licks and tricks, but put him in a band, and he flails away simply because he doesn’t have the discipline to practice and therefore truly understand his instrument. It simply boggles the mind and frustrates the hell out of me that he doesn’t see this – or perhaps more to the truth, I’m frustrated that his lack of discipline affects the band.

So the next time you say, “I wish I could do ______________,” think about what was discussed here because the answer to is quite simple: You can – and will – but it’s all on you. No one can do it for you.

ROCK ON!

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Richlite Fretboards on New Les Pauls? I’ll Bite…

Posted in Guitars, tagged on August 25, 2012| 4 Comments »

A friend of mine has been considering buying a Les Paul Supreme or Custom (hoping to get it as a Christmas guitar). So as a favor, I did a bit of research on new Les Pauls and saw that all the new models, save the Standards use either Richlite or baked maple fretboards. Admittedly, I was a bit shocked by the use of Richlite, which is generally used as counter-top material, and thought what in the world possessed Gibson to make fretboards out of a fabricated material? But doing my best to keep an open mind, I perused my favorite forums to find discussions on the material.

What I found is that there are two camps out there: Purists and players. Purists want everything completely natural, and won’t even settle for laminated boards – they want a solid piece of wood. I was in this camp at first. However, I got brought back down to earth by the “players” whose only concern was that the guitar felt, played and sounded good. That has kind of been my ethos with gear, and I kind of forget it when I started getting into historic reissue Les Pauls. What I forgot is that my guitars are all players (with the exception of “Ox,” my ’59 replica which was specifically purchased for investment). What’s important to me is that a guitar feels, plays, and sounds appealing to me, and more importantly, that I can make music with it.  So I’m going to get off my high horse, and take a good look at Richlite, and see if I can play some new Les Pauls.

As far as Richlite is concerned though, it’s actually highly appealing to me because it’s made in a very “green” way. Part of it is made from wood pulp from managed and sustainable forests plus pulp from recycled paper. On top of that, the heat used to incinerate the volatile materials from the production process is used to dry the material, so there is little thermal  pollution, and finally, NO hazardous waste production.

Perhaps with Gibson getting busted for purchasing exotic woods from illegal sources was a good thing. Also, that Gibson, the manufacturer of what is one of the most iconic electric guitars in history, would choose to use a fabricated, “green” material for a tonewood is actually pretty cool to me, and could lead the way for other manufacturers to consider using green materials as well.

Can’t wait to try one out!

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Important Lessons…

Posted in Guitars, tagged , on July 31, 2012| 3 Comments »

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

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

Lesson 1: Your Rig Never Sounds the Same On Stage

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

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

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

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

Lesson 3: Affirmation of the Effects Loop

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

Lesson 4: Boost Placement

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

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Fender Jaguar: One of Those Iconic ~ and Confusing Guitars

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , on June 11, 2012| 2 Comments »

I’ve admittedly had my eye on a Fender Jaguar for years. I played one a few years ago at a local shop and fell in love with its tone. It kind of sounds like a Strat, or is it a Tele… It certainly has a variety of tones that it can produce, all coming from its various switches. And that’s sort of the rub for me. There are six switches on the guitar, and each affects a different thing.

What got me first interested in this guitar was that I first noticed it back in the 90’s when the Tom Hanks-directed movie “That Thing You Do” featured one, played by the lead guitarist, Lenny, played by Steve Zahn. He probably wasn’t playing the guitar, but it sure looked pretty cool just the same.

It’s actually VERY cool, but it’s one of those guitars that would take a lot of time for me to dial in. I was able to get some great tones almost immediately, if memory serves, but I do remember that I spent more time trying to figure out what switch combinations worked for me than actually playing the guitar, so that was a bit counter-productive.

But still, there’s a certain appeal about the guitar. For one, it looks very cool. I dig the body shape, with its rounded lines. The neck is only 24″ long, so it’s an easy player. The C-shape neck is very comfortable. And on top of that, it weighs less than 9 lbs.; not super-light, but not as heavy as a Les Paul. The American Vintage Series like the one in the picture can be had for around $1600. Not really too cheap, but not bad. And you can get one on sale for a few hundred bucks less because these guitars just don’t move that quickly. For instance, the one I checked out was on sale for something like $1200, but I got my Gibson Nighthawk instead – and I no longer have it, either. 🙂 I’m pretty sure I’d hold on to this one if I got.

In the vintage market, original ’62’s (the first year they came out) can be had for about $6000 on eBay. Again, probably out of my reach right now, but certainly not a bad price for a vintage guitar – and certainly not a bad price for a first production year guitar.

Maybe one day… I do have a few guitars on my “to get” list that are ahead of it, like a Les Paul Supreme, but this is definitely a “getter.”

Here’s a pretty good video demo of a vintage Jaguar:

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On Finding Great Tone: It’s All About Context

Posted in Guitars, tagged , on May 29, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I’m one of those people that believe that tone is in your hands. I’ve been playing long enough now where no matter what guitar I pick up, I’ll sound like me – quirks and all. I saw Slash perform on HDNet last week and he switched between playing a Gibson Explorer and a Les Paul, and he still sounded like himself. Of course, the actual sound that he was making was different with the different guitars he played, but the style and execution were singularly Slash.

All this led me to realize that there are two types of tone: The actual mechanical sound your rig makes separate from a song, and the expressive tone that comes from making music. Some might argue that they’re one and the same thing, but I’m not so sure any longer. Along these lines, I’ll argue that the mechanical “tone” forms the foundation of your expressive tone. Get this right, and it’ll open up all sorts of creative doors, and this is where context plays a huge role.

Don’t know how many times and how much money I’ve spent on gear that sounded great on its own, when I tested it or listened to clips online, only to be a huge fail once I put it in my signal chain. That’s happened more with pedals than other gear, thank gawd, but I still have a milk crate with lots of very nice pedals that just don’t work with my overall rig. They sound great on their own, but within the context of my signal chain, they just don’t work.

And that’s why context is important. You never really know how well something works until you make a sound with it within the context of your signal chain. I say “make a sound” because you want to check the mechanical sound and see if it’s acceptable. Before I started doing simple mechanical tests on gears, I used to just try stuff out (playing licks and progressions and such), get excited by the sound of the gear on its own, buy it, then get slammed back down to earth when I put it in my chain. It’s probably a reason I have so many drive pedals that I just don’t use. But having learned that lesson, my initial test of gear involves putting it in my chain first, then doing simple, expressionless things like strumming a chord or playing a single note. If it sounds harsh or muddy with this simple stuff, then it just won’t work, and I’ll return the gear or sell it.

Admittedly, you can’t do that with everything. I took a big chance on my Timmy overdrive, but I spent many, many months listening to clips and reading posts and speaking with Paul Cochrane before I pulled the trigger to order one. But though I did take a chance, it was a fairly educated chance, so when I finally got it, I was pretty confident that it would work. Of course, there was a slim chance that it wouldn’t work with my rig, but it turned out to work fantastically well with all my pedals, amps and guitars; so much so that it’ll never leave my board.

All that said, if you just like to collect a lot of gear irrespective of its context within your signal chain, more power to you. But be forewarned that you may look upon your expanse of gear and realize, “Holy crap! I’ve got a lot of stuff that’s collecting dust.” For myself, I tend to be a lot more careful and measured about my gear purchases. I still get bad GAS, but mechanical testing helps manage that.

Didn’t Gibson just release a new Les Paul Standard? 🙂

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