A Matter of Scale

I remember starting out playing guitar, and one of the tunes I wanted to learn was "Crazy Train" By Ozzy Osbourne. At 14 years old my hands weren't that big (insert your own joke about small hands here, laugh at me, and move on), and that opening riff on a strat, with the longer 25 1/2" scale was tough for my barely mid teen hands. I struggled to play it. Years later I borrowed a friends Les Paul copy for a weekend, and the shorter scale of the Gibson 24 3/4" made it so easy! I eventually realized the Gibson scale was a bit more comfortable. 

Years later after playing my first PRS, I realized it's 25" scale was a nice balance between the Fender and Gibson camps, and was something I really favoured.

A few years later I got a Fender Kurt Cobain Jaguar in for a review. To jog your memory, HERE is a link to the review I did for it.

I dug the short 24" scale length, the Fender neck shape, and the humbuckers. It was fun, and finding fun in small packages is key. Mazda Miata's, Apple Mini computers. USB drives, Multi tools, are great examples of fun and functionality in a small form factor.

One of my pipe dream guitars is a Fender Mustang. They have done some great new versions recently, and offer up the mix of classic and modern with some versions with humbuckers. The price is a reasonable $499 list price, and has a 24" scale length. Even better is Squire has a HH version for $149. One cool thing about a shorter scale length is generally a smaller instrument, and makes it a good candidate for a travel guitar. All of the above instruments are great, but might be too big to be considered a travel instrument.

Ibanez makes some cool guitars, and in the 1980-1990's I really dug their RG series. I Imagined myself with one in my teen years, with day glo colors, ripping it up like Steve Vai. Unfortunately I'm no Steve Vai, and even their Low end RG series guitars were well out of my reach, especially wallet wise when I worked in a supermarket part time. One of my fellow bag boys had a all black RG, with a maple board, and I have to say I was so envious of that guitar.

Recently I did notice some player buying the Ibanez Mikro Guitars, and modding them with better pickups, with some coil tapping options and using them as travel or busking on the subway guitars. It's like a mini RG. I know they're meant for students or small children. With a list price of $150ish means it's not that expensive and the 22" scale is pretty short, even at standard tuning. Allan Holdsworth-ish reaches would be hyper easy. 

They come in a few interesting colors, and the rosewood fretboard model comes with the classic "metal" shark tooth inlays that were the more desired in the halcyon days of metal. There's even a Paul Gilbert version, and there is a Destroyer variant. Those might be out of my comfort zone shape/aesthetic wise. I think I'd aim for the maple fretboard model, just to squeeze a bit more high end out of it.

A set of coil tappable humbuckers with push pull tone and volume controls, or a superstrat switch would bring alot more tonal options. Perhaps this could be an interesting platform for a pair of Seymour Duncan P-rails, a hybrid of humbucker, P90 and Single coil pickups. 

It's an interesting concept, like a Mazda Miata with a V8 under the hood. Yes, the mods could be more expensive than the guitar. If I could find one used, as well as some used pickups, it could be had for alot cheaper. I've seen travel guitars, at full scale that are alot more expensive. One of these, with some mods, could be kind of interesting sounding as a unique instrument, and it would be a functional travel guitar, which kills two birds in one guitar.

Yes I know I have other guitar related projects that take priority, but this one is one of those pipe dream projects that might not fade away so easily.

Some Days are Diamonds

I know this is kind of a guitar/music gear blog, but I'm gonna stretch out a bit on this one.

Rest in Peace

Tom Petty

1950 - 2017

I'm not gonna bore you with my first time hearing Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, we all have one. If you want the complete (and I mean COMPLETE) history of TP&TH, I suggest watching Peter Bogdanovich's "Running Down A Dream", all 4 hours of it. Long, yes, but well worth it, and after watching it, the realization of TP's Passing will probably leave a broken feeling in a certain sense. In the same breath, he's shared alot of music with us, and hearing so many people share their stories really rings true to how good he was musically.

He's kind of the Ferris Bueller of Rock N Roll; Any musician I ever met always said "I dig Petty". Metalheads, Folksy Americana types, Alt Rockers, Classic rock stalwarts. They all found something in there to connect to.

When I started playing guitar I knew I would always be playing, til my dying day. I relished in the dream of sitting on a sunkissed porch with a beat up Telcaster, with a little amp, playing Tom Petty Songs. I'm getting closer to those days. 

We're at the point where life's taking more than it's giving, but TP's given us alot of good tunes. This is probably not my fave song, but I think it's fitting for today:

Walls

Some days are diamonds

Some days are rocks

Some doors are open

Some roads are blocked

Sundowns are golden

Then fade away

But if I never do nothing

I'll get you back some day, 'cause

You got a heart so big

It could crush this town

And I can't hold out forever

Even walls fall down

All around your island

There's a barricade

That keeps out the danger

That holds in the pain

Sometimes you're happy

Sometimes you cry

Half of me is ocean

Half of me is sky, but

Some things are over

Some things go on

Part of me you carry

Part of me is gone, but

You got a heart so big

It could crush this town

And I can't hold out forever

Even walls fall down

Step on it - Part Three

With a collection of about 25 pedals; distortions, modulations, delays, reverbs and filters, I can probably make 2 complete pedalboards out of what I have in stock as well as modify and alter my main board depending on the musical situation. The bummer is that there is always a new pedal that I HAVE to get, or my life won’t be complete. Thankfully the ability to really alter your sound drastically for such a small amount of cash is pretty cool.

It seems like big and small companies have a new pedal out almost every month, which makes it even tougher. Right now my wish list is pretty big, and means I may need to re-adjust my pedalboard:

OK, this is the big mama-jamma. I never saw this one a comin. The JB-2 Angry Driver. Boss has partnered with JHS Pedals, cramming a modded BD-2 Blues Driver (one of my fave pedals I have already) and a JHS Angry Charlie in one box. The Angry Charlie goes after that Marshall JCM 800 sound (my fave marshall, btw). I've always loved how the BD-2 reacted and sounded like an amp, and the Angry Charlie sounds like a good compliment to it. The demos of it online sound amazing, and the sounds it generates are right up my alley.

All the Switching/routing options really excite me as well. I've never signed up for a pedal that wasn't out yet, but I'm putting aside the $200 already, as well as enough dough for the remote, which allows a couple of functions to be controlled a bit easier.

 Speaking of pedals that sound like amps...

I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen, much less played through a Dumble, as the price of one is easily 5 figures, and super rare. I have heard a few though on recordings, Robben Ford, Santana. I heard Eric Johnson had one for his crunch sound for a bit as well. Apparently a guy in Japan, Shin, is the Dumble Amp Guru in Japan, and he made a pedal that supposedly captured that sound, and is available in Japan:

It kind of has a bit of that Early 2000's Starting "bouteek" Pedal vibe, with the labeling and hammertone paint finish. I've seen some great demos on Youtube, and it does seem very interesting, especially how the accent and Jazz/rock controls interact, However I bet finding one of these to just try out would be difficult.

But as Yoda said in Return of the Jedi "There is another":

 This is a mass produced version made by MXR. I’ve seen some videos on it, and it does sound cool. Zendrive makes a similar pedal, but the price is a lot more reasonable on the MXR. however, Mooer makes a version as well, that is much cheaper. But Asthetically the green MXR has a great look to it. I’ve bought some pedals in the past just because they looked cool, thankfully 9 out of 10 sounded cool too. Besides I could Always use another distortion pedal. (not really)

I have been lucky enough to get my mitts on Mad Professor's Twimble, which is a similar Dumble-esque pedal, which I dig alot, It's not something I have a use for in my bands, sound wise, but I do dig that kind of transparent-ish tone. I'm curious as to the differences and similarities compared to the Shin and MXR, as the Mad Professor works in a bit of a different fashion than a typical drive pedal. the MP seems to nail the tone that they feel captures that amp, and the controls give a bit of adjustment, but don't really go outside the lines. It's like "you will get this tone, and this is how you will like it!" Thankfully it does sound great tho. A review is available HERE in our August September issue of Performer Magazine on Page 44.

And then there's Mel:

EHX has made a lot of pedals recently that alter the guitar sound into Keyboards or synths. This version follows that idea, this time emulating a Mellotron. A Mellotron was an early synth that used recordings of other instruments on tape. Press a key on a keyboard and it engaged a tape of that sound, after the key was let go, the tape rewound itself. Any late 60’s band used one, The beatles, Rolling stones, pretty much every progressive rock band that had a keyboard player. I could easily justify this for my cover band, the “In-Betweeners”, to really fill out the sound. EHX really hit it out of the park with their Synth 9, as well as the C9 & B9 pedals, so I'm assuming it can hang with those ones.

Keeley workstation-In theory this could clean up my board a lot. With 2 modes of distortion, as well as 2 modes of boost functionality, and a modulation section that has tremolo, phased, flanger, auto filter, chorus and rotary modes. It’s the “3 pedals in one” thing. I checked it out at 2016 NAMM, and It’s a great idea that sounded really good. There’s also a effect loop in there as well, so in theory I could put a delay in there as well for those ambient, swirling effect with the chorus on!

Some of these will probably end up on my board in the future, hopefully. A lot of it depends on what I'm shooting for musically. Thankfully my pedalboard can evolve with me!

Smaller Is Better (in some cases)

 

 

Back in the day, in the peak of my playing in a heavy rock band, my rig was a Hughes & Kettner Triamp with matching 4x12 cabinet, A rack case that held a power supply, and acted as a holder for small items like T shirts, set lists. I had 2 guitars in hardshell cases, and a guitar stand as well. Whew! just typing that makes me tired! I managed to cram all of that into a 2 door Honda Civic.

Back then, Alot of the clubs we played had stages large enough to accommodate my 4x12, My singer's amp, a Bass rig, and a Drumset (sometimes on it's own riser). Since then, alot of clubs have closed, and the new places that have opened don't really have a committed space for a band. In most cases, they just move a few tables off to the side, and have a semi portable PA system set up. Although I have downsized slowly over the years, my old school rig would take up too much real estate in most current venues, never mind, deafen the people within 30 feet of my 4x12.

A few years back I retired my Honda, and got a Mini Cooper Coupe. It has just 2 seats, a small shelf behind the seats, and a trunk. I can fit my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, pedalboard (in a road case) 2 Guitars (in gig bags), a Backpack, and my amp stand in there. Its a slightly difficult game of tetris, but it works.

Yes, it all fits in there, with space for a passenger!

I'm trying to make that game easier. I picked up the Fender HRD because of it's power. In most cases it has TOO much power. I have JHS's lil Black Box in the effects loop to lower the volume. If you have an amp that sounds great, but have to keep the volume hyper low, and not sacrfice the overall tone for volume, this is an easy solution.

Check it out HERE

I've been debating getting one of Seymour Duncan's powerstage amps. It's a pedal sized power amp with a 3 band EQ and volume level. It's around $399 and would fit on my pedalboard easily. Alot of guys are using these for fly dates where the venue has a backline already and uses their cabinets. I could easily forgo my Fender and use a 1x12 cabinet, which is alot smaller. I've heard some great things about these sound wise.

I've been using a pedaltrain pedalboard since 2010, and I purchased the ATA case with it. I kind of realized that the ATA case is a bit overkill, bulky and kind of a pain to move around. Especially considering 90% of it's movement is from my house to my car, my car to practice/studio/gig, and doesn't need that much protection. It also takes up alot of space in my trunk. Insert "junk in the trunk" jokes here, I dont mind.  I have asked Pedaltrain for years if they would sell just the gig bag, and I always got a no from them. Their reasoning they sell it as a complete set, and don't have spares.

Recently pedaltrain announced that they will sell separate cases and bags for their pedalboards, finally. But after looking at the prices the bag for my board will be $129, and that's just the bag. A NEW Pedaltrain board (and gig bag) that's a similar size is $149. In theory I could buy a new board and bag combo, and I could sell my old board and case for $100 and basically get a new pedalboard for under $50.

Mono makes a gig bag that fits, but again, for what I would spend on it, the smarter move would be get a new board and bag combo. They do make excellent bags, especially their guitar gig bags. but considering what I really need, it's still alot of dough to cough up. I've thought of getting their dual guitar gig bag, and that could also make packing gear to fit in my MINI even easier, and be less junk in the trunk. Again, insert second "junk in the trunk" joke here, seriously, do it.

Smaller is better when it comes to unexpected bills, zits, and guitar rigs (when they sound good). I'm hoping I can get small real soon.

Tuning

Tuning

I spent some time at a music store recently and talking to one of the guys there, the subject of tuning and staying in tune came up.
 

We compared a few techniques, and some stories and I thought I’d share them with you all.

First off, the standard guitar, and how the western music scale interact, means the guitar really can’t be in tune 100%. This is a deep concept, and I don’t want to cover that subject, but it’s true. There are nut’s that can be installed, such as Buzzy Feitein or earvana. They do compensate for these inconsistencies. However this falls into the “if it was good enough for all those before me, I can live with without those modifications” category. 
 

When tuning up, it’s tune up, not tune down. If you leave an instrument unplayed, depending upon all sorts of factors like heat or cold, on a stand, or in a case, some strings may go sharp. Using a tuner and then lowering the offending strings to pitch, not really a good thing. You’re basically loosening a string. Ever loosen up a bolt, it’s like that. Once it’s loosened, it can detune further easily. Sharp strings, should be detuned flat, below the desired pitch, then tuned up to pitch. There’s less chance for slippage. Same thing if dropping the E string to D. on wound strings it’s really noticeable. I can’t say how many times I detuned, and then during the song it went really out. 
 

Also it’s my preference to start tuning any guitar from the G string (insert underwear jokes here). Then doing the D, then the B, then the A, followed by the high E string, and finally the low E string. Piano players tune from the center octave out, to evenly spread the tension, and this is the same concept.
 

When playing around the house, I usually tune by ear. If I’m trying to learn a song, I try to tune to the recording. In these cases a tuner isn’t a necessity for me. As long as I’m in tune with everything else I’m OK. I have a couple of inexpensive clip on tuners, as well as a pedal on my main pedalboard, and an old Boss TU-2 nearby my recording work area.

If I’m recording at home (and anyplace else), I use a tuner. Trying to lay down additional tracks to an out of tune guitar is a nightmare.

 I talked to a friend at a music store and he recalled a session where a singer songwriter shrugged off the suggestion for an electronic tuner for his acoustic guitar. He tuned to a Pitch fork. The engineer insisted he use an electric tuner. The artist insisted that a true musician should be able to tune his own instrument by ear. His Guitars and Vocals went down easily, but when it came time to add acoustic piano, it wasn’t working. It was out just enough to be annoying. The engineer pointed out that if he used an electronic tuner this wouldn’t be the case. The artist had to re-tune his guitar to the piano, and re-do his tracks for all of the songs he had already done, as well as the vocal takes. At the end of the sessions the Engineer gave a clip on tuner to the artist as a gift. The artist responded, “Why do I need this?”

Someone on Facebook recently posted “A tuner is like a breath mint, if you’re offered one, you need it.”I don’t remember who, but it’s still true. 

No Regerts (and no I'm not eating a Milky Way)

No Regerts

I’ll be honest, in the years I’ve been a guitar player, I bought A LOT of gear. Too much. A lot of it has since moved on to other people, and I’ve settled on what I have now out of necessity and not gluttony. But back in the day I used to put my then ample tax return to treat myself to something special. Usually it wasn’t a lot of money but one year it was just enough to cover the cost of a new guitar. A Reverend Rocco.

Reverend was started by Joe Naylor of Naylor amps fame. It was a cool design concept; a Single block of wood in the middle to anchor the neck and bridge together, a plastic edge, and a phenolic top and back. They looked very retro, almost danelectro-ish, with a bit more art deco/streamliner era to the overall look. The Rocco model had 2 humbuckers, each splittable with their own mini toggle, and a 3 way switch. There were other models, that had the same overall design, but the big difference was the pickup configuration between them all. One had a tele configuration, another a pair of p90’s, you get the idea.

I got mine for $690-ish. Black with a white edge, Rosewood fingerboard and Locking tuners. They were starting to get popular, due to their price, and the features. When “my” guitar arrived at the store, it didn’t have locking tuners. The dealer asked me if it would be ok, if I would overlook this. I stood my ground and said to him “It’s not what I wanted, I’ll wait for the one I ordered” he was kind of bummed, but didn’t press it with me. I don’t remember that guitar being in his store for long anyway. He did offer to install some sperzels for free. I knew that the difference between the tuners would mean some extra holes in the headstock, and I didn’t want to deal with that so I opted out on that as well.

(The image above isn't my actual guitar, mine had uncovered zebra pickups)

When you order something, and it doesn’t arrive as promised, you have a right to refuse. I know every time I would have picked up the guitar, the fact it wasn’t how I wanted it, would gnaw at me. More than likely I would probably not reach for that guitar as much, knowing it would bum me out.

So when mine came in a few weeks later, I was beyond pleased. It played great, with an amazing neck that was really vintage-ish. The pickups were amazing. I loved the individual mini toggles that allowed the humbuckers to be split. For cleans I’d split them both, for a bit more spank, Leave the bridge full on, and split the neck. It was ultra light as well, and really resonated nicely. I did a recording session at a high end studio that had a few notable clients, and the producer suggested I use one of his Les Paul Classic’s for it. When the engineer and I were dialing in sounds, we were really happy with the Reverend, and spent the day tracking with it, no problems. When the producer showed up again he heard the tracks, and said "Aren't you glad you used my Les Paul?" When we told him it was the Reverend, he was kind of shocked. When I showed him it, he was blown away, on first glance he thought it was a Danelectro.

So why part with it? Money. My band at the time was working on our CD, and to cover some of the expenses, I parted ways with it. Back then I wasn’t too bummed tho, as I got what I paid for it. Besides I made the decision after getting my PRS back from a partial re-fret, Im sure that swayed me. In later years I did regret parting ways with the Rocco, and by that time Reverend had moved beyond their oddball construction to traditional wood bodies. Now even worse, those older ones, like mine, have gone up a bit more in value. I do kinda kick myself on the butt for this one.

(me and my rocco back in the day)

A friend of mine and I used to have a list of pipe dream guitars; in most cases they were guitars we liked, but never got super attached to, and would like to re-acquire. This is one of mine, maybe some day another one will come across my door, and I'll pull the trigger.

Stickers, Decals & Graphics

I'm in a minor quandary; my Telecaster looks a bit "naked". The upper rear bout space looks like it should have something there. So it got me thinking of a decal or some sort of graphic to put on it.

Now throwing stickers on a guitar is nothing new. Pretty much any genre of music has a guitar player has thrown some stickers on their guitars:

Stevie Ray Vaughn had a 1970's BMX prizm "custom" sticker behind the bridge, as well as his SRV in mailbox letters

Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day's blue Strat can barely be called blue.

Rivers Quomo of Weezer's strats look the the underside of a skateboard.

Now Im not looking at going this severe, I happen to have a Stickered up First act guitar that I used as a travel guitar, meaning any gigs my band did out of the Boston area. Back then we did a few gigs in New York, Maine New Hampshire and Rhode Island. I had a Seymour Duncan custom in the bridge position, and it sounded great. Overall it's still a great guitar, and I would rather lost this one, rather than my PRS or the Les Paul I used to have at an out of town gig.

I don't need to go this crazy.

To go a bit more subdued, Marty Stuart's "Clarence White" Tele has an American AM sticker

I've seen this cool firebird with the old North American Aviation graphic on it, and it just looks "right" on it:

I'd like it to look a bit weathered too, and recently I found a fellow on the internet that does alot of cool Star Wars models and props. He also has a talent for making things have that used universe look, like this hard shell motorcycle backpack:

Maybe a "Red 5" feel to it would be interesting. Perhaps incorporating some elements from the X wing pilots Helmets and some text in that crazy Aurabuesh font. The Rebel Alliance symbol has some great features and design, as well as having some nice subtle meaning of rebellion and resistance that means a lot outside of the Star Wars universe these days. Might be interesting to blend those concepts with the idea of a "competition stripe" that Fender used to have on their Mustangs and other guitars:

I don't know if I'm going to go with a decal or full hog on a paintjob, but I'm open to suggestions.

Coming through in Stereo

So with all the effects I've had, and all the configurations I've never run anything in true stereo. Admittedly, I did have a Fender Stereo Chorus, and that did have a stereo effects send/return. However I really didn't have any gear that was stereo to utilize.

About a year ago, I acquired one of Hotone's Nano Legacy Diamond mojo head, and did a review of it for Performer magazine. HERE is a link to the article. It's very fender ish. I paired it up with an Enginater 1x12 extension cab I got off of craigslist for $150. I really like this lil head, and have even used it for a gig for my cover band, and recording wise it's really nice, and reacts well with pedals.

This past year TC electronic came out with their Mimiq Doubler pedal, It's pretty awesome. Using an algorithm that combines delays, reverb, modulation and pitch adjusting, it can mimic the sound of multiple tracked guitars, and works really well in stereo mode. Again, I did a review of it in Performer and the review is HERE.

Hotone makes a few versions of their Nano Legacy head, and this time I got to check out their Vox-ish version, The British Invasion. It does that vox sound oh so well..Yep, I did a review of it in Performer too, click HERE for more info!

So with all these neat little pieces of gear, I decided to combine them, and make a lil stereo rig.  To give an idea of what I'm trying to do, here's a little diagram:

I'm still in the process of finding another 1x12 cabinet. Now, Ideally I'd like these to match aesthetically, so I am on the search on craigslist/facebook/reverb for a matching enginater 1x12 cabinet. Hopefully I could grab one for around $200 used.

Ideally if I can get a slightly smaller pedalboard, and forego an ATA case for it, using a gigbag, a pair of 1x12's could fit in the trunk of my mini, along with along with my pedalboard. Add 2 guitars in thin gigbags, and I should be able to gig with it. Those little nano heads can deliver plenty of volume for most gigs that I do. Now for loud volume applications, I may have to go to my Fender Hot rod deluxe, and run in mono (boo!). But in those louder volume situations, the nuances of a stereo rig might get overlooked. In the studio I'd love to be able to run the Fender and Vox flavours of the Hotone heads, Alot of bands in the 90's used this kind of deal, 2 different amps in stereo, blending the two tones. I'm hoping it'll be the biggest lil stereo rig ever.

Adapting

So have I mentioned I am a pedal junkie? Yes.

My first real pro pedal board was a Pedaltrain PT that was HUGE, coming in at 36" wide. My idea at the time was since I was fully committing to switching to pedals, I would put ALL of my pedals on it, and if I need that Boss BD2 sound, it's there, among the other 6 different distortions and overdrives I had. The stumbling block that prevented this came from My Voodoo labs power supply, which tops out at 8 outputs, and since decent power power supplies aren't cheap, I somehow had a hard time finding money for additional ones. Plus it was almost obnoxious, and most stages we were playing were getting a bit smaller. Oh as well as getting more cables, never mind about signal loss or needing a buffer. So I switched to a Pedaltrain Pt-2. It's a more sensible size, but since it's an older one, the power connection for the Voodoo labs is limited because of the Porthole's in the front of the pedal board. I could in theory fit alot more pedals on it, but the power supply situation is a bottleneck. I've been looking into a way of getting a slightly smaller board, and yet fit more on it recently.

My cover band, The In-betweeners booked a show at a place that has bands play in it's lounge area. This means no stage, just an area where the tables, and some ottoman cushions get moved out of the way and we set up there. We borrowed a Bose L1 system from a friend of ours, so that made the PA system alot smaller. We ran vocals and acoustic guitars through it for simplicity's sake.

Our singer and bass player had shows there in the past, and they both knew the small area that we would have to work with. I mentioned using my PT 2 and my singer wasn't too thrilled on that idea. Our drummer, played a neat hybrid percussion type kit, with a Cajon as a kick drum, a snare and floor tom, a couple of cymbals, high hat, and a set of bongos. Since it's a small place, sound travels quickly, and this kit seems to deliver the pulse and rhythm, without the big sound of a regular drum kit, while being unique on its own. Our bassist ran a Hotone Nano bass head into a small mark bass cabinet. So we were all downsizing in a sense.

I planned on using my regular Pedaltrain board, but while taking a break on running through the sets at home, I realized I might have enough pedals that are lying around to make a mini board. A few years ago I tried Ikea's Gorm pedal board hack, and went even further, shortening it to fit in a shelf of an Ikea Expedit bookcase. I used it for a bit around the house, but that was about it. I started to think of the pedals I like to have, but really wouldn't use for this gig, and if I could assemble a smaller board for this gig. I needed the following:

1-Tuner

2-Distortion/overdrive

3-boost

4-Chorus

5-Delay

6-power supply

I had a spare Boss Tu2, so that was a no brainer. Distortion wise, I just got a Vertex Dynamic Distortion for review, and I had been using it for a couple of days so I thought that would be a good way to try this one out. I had been using a TC spark boost on my PT2, so I pulled that one for this mini board. The TC Chorus Dreamscape is my go to chorus these days, and I pulled that from my board as well. Delay wise I've been using the Caynon delay from Electro harmonix. I found one a Sanyo Oneloop lithium Ion battery pack, that's meant to run pedalboards, and charged that up. I did pack a 1 spot wall wart power supply tho jus in case. Getting power wasn't a problem with a 8 way Daisy chain cable. To keep things from shorting out, I put electrical tape on unused connections. If they touched the metal of a pedal's casing it could damage the pedals or even worse start a fire. I had plenty of small monster cables, So Audio wise it all worked. I even found an old laptop bag that all this could fit into easily. Here's a pic of the process, I did try using the Electro harmonix Soul food, but opted for the TC for this gig. Nothing against the soul food, The TC works a bit better with my acoustic.

I went with using my ZT mini stack. It's a ZT lunchbox amp, with a matching cabinet. The speakers are 6.5" but 2 together gives 13" of speaker overall, and at 200 watts I think I had enough headroom for this venue.

Our gig went well, I played about 1/2 the set running my Mitchell Acoustic through this rig. I did a review on this guitar for performer magazine awhile back, and while I don't covet acoustics like the way I adore electric guitars, this guitar is fantastic! The other 1/2 I used my Strat.

I could possibly drop the chorus pedal, and even the boost pedal. The electro harmonix delay has a modulation function in one mode, that would probably work fine. and the vertex could easily be used as a boost, as I ride the volume knob alot. I don't really have to compete with another electric guitar for this configuration, as our singer only plays acoustic. As of now we already have another gig at this place within a month, so this was a nice start. I'm happy I was able to downscale things somewhat easily using stuff I had sitting around already. Part of doing gigs like this is modifying how you you approach the songs but the gear you actually need to do it.

So for the next gig in this venue I'll run a Tuner, A distortion (possibly the vertex), and a delay. The only Item I think I'll need to get is a 3 way daisy chain power cable. I could possibly use my MXR Carbon Copy delay for this gig instead of the Canyon. I'll have to do some experimenting. Thankfully I have a lot of options. I could even drop the tuner, and go with a clip on. The tuner does act as a mute though, so it's something to consider.

We also have a full on electric gig coming up for the cover band, but I plan on bringing my regular pedal board for that, as I'll need some more functionality. I do love having pedals that do odd things like filters and synth emulation, but I'm trying to be realistic as to what works, and what I will actually need for a gig.

Step on It! (part Deaux)

Now I often hear guitar players say “I don’t deal with effects or shit like that”. I some cases it's been thrown my was as a jab at my rig. I take it with the proverbial grain of salt. Usually the ones that throw that out there, don't play in a band, in some cases, barely play at all. I try not to discourage others, especially when it's regarding to a creative outlet like music. Do what you do, and enjoy it. Anything less than encouraging, or dismissive interest, shows where you really stand.

I should point out that my main overdrive for almost a decade has been a fulltone GT-500. It has a distortion section, that utilizes an inductor (like a wha wah pedal uses) for EQ control. As well as a separate boost section. I’ve found using a lot of different overdrives and distortion pedals live can be problematic, getting the levels to all be at the same level. Some also don’t play well with others, even using clean boosts after overdrives, the noise can get to be a bummer. Recently I've dabbled in using a separate boost and Distortion/overdrive pedals, and I'm having some interesting results, but I don't dare part with the GT-500.

This pic is from around 2011, and while most of those pedals have been filed away, the GT-500 is one that I keep handy in the pedalboard case.

The rest of my pedals are truly “effect” pedals, meaning it’s an effect that gets thrown in for certain punctuations, and not as part of my signal path’s major use, Right now I'm in a bit of flux but the big faves that seem to be making apperances on a regular basis are:

TC Sub N Up

Source Audio Stingray

Earthquaker Devices Night wire Tremolo

TC John Petrucci Dreamscape Chorus

Electro Harmonix Canyon Delay

The good thing about pedalboards with individual pedals, I can swap ones out when the mood strikes me. As I test and review pedals for a magazine, the ability to throw in a new pedal to try out is key. 

The only thing I leave on 100% of the time is a BBE Sonic Stomp. It’s a pedal version of their Sonic Maximizer. For me, it just adds a slight bit of clarity. For cleans and distorted sounds it works great, for both settings at “noon”. This pedal is certainly a "your mileage may vary" piece. I had one of their rack systems for a bit, connected in the effects loop of my H&K triamp, and it felt like I had a blanket over my speakers. Years later I grabbed one of the larger sonic stomp boxes, and using it at the end of my pedalboard, I was really pleased. This year they came out with a mini unit, and my awesome wife got me one for xmas! So since I had my old one lying around, I let my singer use it in his guitar rig, and he was "meh" about it. So it's certainly not for every one, or for every rig. I hear guys say it's better in the effects loop on one amp, but horrible in another amp.

So I’m really not using a daisy chain of effects all on at the same time for my tone (however during big rock endings of certain songs it does sound cool) I’m basically using 2 pedals for the most part. If I ever jam with someone or sit in, I usually just grab a distortion pedal and a tuner, but it's nice to have some options!

Step on it!

I’ll admit it, I’m a pedal junkie. There I said it. I’ve been on the search for that perfect stomp box since day one. I’ve had lapses in my affliction, but it always seems I come back to stomp boxes.

Starting at the obvious beginning, I had a cheap “rig”: a black Hondo Strat copy with Van Halen-ish stripes (came from the factory this way!) and a white pickguard. My amp was a Gorilla solid state 1x10, and a DOD American Metal Pedal. The amp’s “overdrive” was sad; “block-y” and harsh, and the DOD gave a much smoother, compressed sound. I had that pedal for years.

I’m not going to list EVERY pedal I ever had, that would make “war and peace” look like a leaflet. But I’ve had people say, why not just get a good amp that has great overdrive/distortion, or get a modeling amp/multi effects unit?
 

Good question.
 

Let’s address the first one: Why not get an amp with a great distortion or overdrive?
 

I’ve had some great amp rigs in my tenure, here are my faves: A Fender Prosonic 2x10 Combo, Hughes & Kettner Triamp head and matching 4x12 cabinet, Mesa Boogie MKIII head (with every option) paired with a 2x12 Avatar cabinet with Celestion Neodymium speakers (that cab weighed almost nothing!).  I didn’t use any overdrive pedals with those, each of those amps had their own thing going on, with great overdriven distorted tones, as well as really nice cleans.

What brought me to my current amp was an interesting turn of events. I was doing a lot of playing with a variety of musicians at a practice space called Jamspot. It's a practice facility that can let musicians rent fully equipped practice spaces with amplifiers, PA systems, and drum kits by the hour. The guitar amps they have there are Fender Hot Rod Deluxes. I went there a few times, and it was great to bring a couple of pedals, plug into an HRD, and get a great tone easily. Since I was going there a lot, I decided to make my pedalboard my “command center”, with the ability to plug it into any decent clean amp. Eventually I scored my own HRD on craigslist for $400. It’s a tube amp with 3 preamp tubes, and 2 power amp tubes, meaning re-tubing is relatively cheap. My H&K triamp had 10 preamp tubes, and 4 power amp tubes! Re-tubing that beast cost (back then) $250! So maintence wise, the Fender has a +1 there. It’s also LOUD, meaning it can keep up with most volume situations, even at 40 watts! But in most cases it’s still too loud, I’ve had to get a JHS lil black box, to reign it in. The distortion sound isn’t my bag either, it is too blocky and clanky for my tastes. But the clean is amazing. Pedals react to it very well though, and using it as a tube driven powered speaker with my pedalboard, blends the warmth of tubes, with the clarity of whatever pedals I have on my pedalboard.

This approach came in handy, as at one gig my HRD had a bad preamp tube that decided to misbehave. Thankfully one of the other bands there had a guitarist with a HRD, and let me borrow his for the gig. Within minutes, I was back up and running, with no tonal adjustment to deal with. If I relied on an amp for my distortion sound I’d be screwed if it failed. I’m sure it could change in the future, but right now this method works for me, the ability to change overdriven tones by swapping out a pedal or two, is a lot cheaper than having multiple amps.

Why not a modeling amp/rig?
 

Well I’ve been down this road before, with a line 6 pod Pro rack, connected to a Tubeworks power amp. I even had the short 4 button controller, and the larger “command center” one that had the expression pedal. You can get amazing sounds out of them, but after tweaking parameters, and settings, it just kind of sits there. Making any small change can be a pain, dealing with menus and editing. Plus, whenever something new comes out effects wise, it seems like trying to intergrate it with a rig like that always has some compromise: either tonally, or requires extra special cabling, or adapters.

How about a multi effects floor unit?
 

These types of units have come a long way, and some are truly amazing, but again, if something new comes out, it’s not easy to bring that into the fold. Failure is also an issue. I had a friend with a really nice floor based multi-effects unit. He had it properly configured into his rig too. The particular unit had the ability to route the time based effects like, reverbs, delays and modulations running through his effects loop in his amp, while running the distortions, wah, and EQ’s in the front of his amp. It sounded really great, plenty of clarity and depth. It also could control the channel switching on his amp as well. 

One night at a gig, a very drunk woman was dancing near the stage, right in front of him. She put her beer down next his multi effects unit, and when she went back to reach for it she knocked it over. It spilled all over his board, and it promptly died. The drunk woman just walked away. He finished the gig with just his amp. After finding a place that could actually repair his multi effects pedal, he was told it would be about a month until he would get it back. With a few gigs coming up he found a few pedals and got by with those. Eventually he got his multi effects pedal back, about 2 months later. The beer seemed to just short out the power supply thankfully. The fear of having everything in one box, and that box failing, leaving me high and dry is too much.
 

With pedals, I can change my tone quickly, just swap out whatever isn't working. As I change as a player, I can change my sound easily. If something fails, I can easily bypass it. If I feel I need more or less, it’s hands on, no hunting through menus to adjust paramaters. A lot of professional musicians that aren’t playing big venues, are just bringing pedalboards and guitars to gigs, and renting or using amps provided by the venue.
 

I don’t discount or get snobbish against what other people use. I know there are gearheads out there that look down upon guitarists that don’t follow their lead. Whatever works for others is great, but in my experience, for what I’m doing and how I want to make music this is my method.

Oddballs

I admit, I'm not one of those traditionalists. Back in the day, I admired radical designs such as Explorers, BC Rich's, anything odd or extreme looking. The love of traditional looking Strats, Tele's and Les Pauls came later on.

As I previously mentioned before, I'm sort of a frustrated bass player in a sense. Some of my fave bassists are Chris Squier and Geddy Lee. Both made the Rickenbacker 4000's series basses part of their signature sounds. I always liked the design, and back before the Internet, and living in the time when suburban legend was our information source, I would ask around to music stores and musicians in my area how come no one, even Rickenbacker themselves, made a guitar in that shape. I always got the answer, no one does, It's only in it's bass guitar format.

Since I'm a draftsperson, I thought of possibly making one on my own. But this wouldn't be an easy task. Guitar building is complicated, and I think it would be overwhelming for a 1st time project, So I kind of put that off as a "to be attempted at a later date" project.

Then the Internet came along, and I was enlightened. Rickenbacker did make a version of the 4000 bass, as a 6 string guitar; the 480.

I never saw one of these rare birds in person, and the specs are interesting: 24 Frets, a bolt on neck, and a solid body. I'm sure the playability is probably traditional Rickenbacker solid body. I have had some experience playing various 360's and 620's. They're not shredder type of necks, but neither is the sound, so it fits nicely with rhythm and nice melodic playing.

Now Rickenbacker did make a version that had full size humbuckers in it, the 481.

Now while it did have a more traditional pickup choice, the frets were slanted for faster playing, but the action was reportedly so high that it offset any improvement.

So now AGAIN, I'm debating a 480 style guitar. I've seen a few small builders on the Internet make their versions. and in theory could make a version with humbuckers, a traditional toptail/wrap around tailpiece, even possibly fit a Piezo pickup in there. I have a digital file of the body outline, which means I could design it in autocad, and then find a place that could CNC cut the body, meaning alot of jigs and tooling that would be expensive, can be done in one shot. Even better I could make it with  a "swimming pool route", meaning give it a ton of space for pretty much any pickup combination. Designing a pickguard would be easily as well, I thought of getting a few versions laser cut in wood, or metal, with a few different pickup configurations. The prime one would be 2 humbuckers, and a Hum-Single-single version, as well as a Humbucker and Single coil. it could give it alot more versatility sound wise. I do also have the Rickenbacker 4000 headstock in CAD format as well, so Getting a Warmoth Paddle head Neck can eliminate any worries about the headstock not looking right, or using an off the shelf replacement neck.

Now, that path could be expensive, as any custom guitar would be. A bigger downside is always, it's a guitar that usually has no resale value that comes anywhere close to the investment. Doing alot of the work myself in autocad, will save some $, but I'd still like it assembled by a professional or experienced tech. Also I'd have to paint the body/headstock. Getting that right would be tough. I could go natural with a sealer or some tung or gun oil. Regardless, building a regular partscaster isn't easy, or cost effective, let alone a custom designed guitar.

Currently a 1973 Rick 480 is on Reverb for $2500. That's not cheap either. Considering it wasn't popular enough, makes it rare, which also means there's not a huge market for them, beyond guitar nerds like me that like oddball instruments. It being a rick, it might not be my main guitar, which means It may get played a bit at home or in the studio, but probably won't get taken out to a gig. Most of my original band gigs, I bring my 2 PRS guitars, and for my cover band gigs, I like the idea of bringing a Strat, and a humbucker equipped guitar. Not alot of need for that authentic Rickenbacker tone, with the exception for a Tom Petty tune in our set list.

Awhile back my original band did a gig, and the singer for one of the other bands had a 480, and when I complimented her on it, she was excited that someone knew what it was. Her rig was a Roland Jazz Chorus 2x10, and it sounded great (although she didn't use the chorus alot on it). I asked her where she got hers, and she said through the Internet, years ago, and actually had another one at home. I may just have to start saving my pennies for when the day comes that I actually find one of these. 

Now there are some "New Guitar" options with this too; a company called Zachary Guitars http://www.zacharyguitars.com/ makes a version. 

The headstock design is interesting, and a version of this in black or a red stain could be cool. I'd personally like to see a dual volume and dual tone control situation, but it's nice to see a small builder out there that has the same interest.

I have come across some interesting 4001/480 style guitars on Instagram by a guy named TC Ellis. His website doesn't happen to list the "Lemmy" guitar. I personally think the hand carving is amazing, but I would like something more traditional looking.

So this might be one of those "pipe dream" guitars, but it's nice to dream. Maybe get one of these made as a baritone, and kill 2 of my birds with 1 stone!

Strat Updates (The Adventure Continues)

So I’ve previously posted about my 50’s reissue Strat, and all the mods that I’ve done to it. There should be an upcoming article in Performer Magazine soonish regarding the background on this venture. But in the mean time I’ll give the bullet points; Pickups were swapped out for Seymour Duncan hum cancelling stacks, a new pickguard, and some wiring changes.

What brought me to do all of those upgrades was a dilemma; GAS, Guitar Acquisition syndrome. There are a lot of companies out there, making great strat style guitars. Danocaster does some great vintage-ish stuff, and Suhr has so many flavors of the rainbow. G&L still does a new-meets-modern with pretty much any option you can think of for the money. Of course the original, Fender always comes up some great versions. All of these companies give me GAS after every NAMM show.

So in preventing GAS I decided to modify this guitar and give it a lot of the options I would want in a new or custom strat style guitar. In recent years I’ve had a lot of discussions with gear nerds, and one thing came up a lot to improve a guitar’s tone is the bridge.

The standard Strat bridge isn’t bad, it’s good enough for all those classic recordings from Hendrix, Mark Knopfler,  Eric Clapton (you get the picture), and despite its flaws, we still enjoy the music created on them. I looked into the option way back into putting a fishman power bridge on this guitar. It would have given me acoustic sound options in this guitar. I’d need to do something externally for an acoustic preamp, as well as re-thinking the knobs and electronic controls to be able to use this in an optimal fashion. Taking all that into consideration, as well as the added cost, I passed on this option. I’d still love a guitar with this feature, but that might be a way off in the future for me.

I thought of putting graphtech bridges on the existing strat bridge. I had some on a different strat back in the day, and I had no problems with them. The string breakage factor was really good, and sound wise I was happy.

But anything worth doing, is worth overdoing. So after talking to John Mann I decided to go with one of his Mann Made bridges. John was a big part in designing the PRS tremolo, and now he offers versions of them as upgrades for PRS Guitars, like S2 & SE’s, as well as core models. Strats being one of the most popular guitars out there, he also does a version for pretty much every variation of strat ever made.

Since I picked up my CE24 in 1995, the PRS tremolo is one of the best non locking tremolo I’ve come across. The saddles sit in a nice walled in area, meaning there’s no side to side movement. The tremolo arm is a push in style, having a delrin bushing with a set screw for adjusting tension. The idea of bringing this bridge to my strat wasn’t a real hard decision

With my strat having a vintage style bridge, I never floated the tremolo. I loved the sound but the tuning issues would come around, especially with new strings, when the tremolo was used. I used 3 springs, and had it mounted hard to the body to compensate for these tuning issues. On my PRS I have mine set even, so the bottom of the bridge is set with a little float, but not a lot. For the most part it can handle pretty aggressive use, I don’t do dive bombs and such, but for a non locking system it works fantastically.

So with this new bridge, I have the feel of my PRS in a strat. It stays in tune a lot better as well, with it set up as a floating bridge. Tonality wise, it’s kind of enhanced things. I still have that strat sound, but it’s like an out of focus image has been dramatically sharpened up. I love the feel of the push in arm, although I have to bend the angle of it a bit more to my tastes. That’s not a big deal, as I used to do it on other strats.

The final cost was $255, parts and labor. The pickup and electronics upgrades were about $350, so I’m at about $600 of mods in a guitar that I paid $325 for in the mid 1990’s. So is it a $925 guitar now? No, it’s only what someone is willing to pay for it, and since it’s been modified to MY tastes, I doubt there are a lot of other players that would want all these mods on one of their guitars.
However I’d be hard pressed to find even a custom guitar that would be under this cost, and I doubt could offer these options.

I still have some other things to get sorted out; I’ve recently found some vintage looking locking tuners, which I’m very interested in. Electronics wise, I’d like to make the tone control for the bridge pickup have a bit more range (yes my bridge pickup has a tone control), right now it really doesn’t to a lot, until it’s rolled back to 2, then it just goes dark. Fender also just came up with a volume control that doesn’t lose top end when it’s rolled back. I’d like to also see if I could incorporate this.

I recently acquired one of Gruv Gear’s gig bags, and I’m thinking of making it my strat’s main bag. A nice Couch strap is also on my list to finish off everything.

My to do list on this is still pretty long, but I finally got over the hump, it’s all downhill from here!
Of course I still have some things on my Tele, and my PRS CE to do..It never ends. These little projects satisfy my GAS, as well as tinkering tendencies. The big problem is what to do after I have all my guitars brought up to where I want them..Ugh