Ampland

So I've been using my Fender HRD since about 2009. I admit it's probably the longest relationship I've had with any amp. It's a decent size, hella loud, (and knocking on wood here) fairly reliable, with no issues to speak of.

That being said, it does have some downfalls:

1. It's super loud. I have to use a JHS lil black box to get it to function at a decent sound level. It's only 40 watts, but again, wattage does not equal headroom/volume.

2. While it's small, It's still kind of biggish. I know cab size makes a difference, especially with open back cabinets. But it does happen to take up some space in my trunk. The cab also In my opinion has a bit of flubbyness overall. For bluesy or Americana type stuff its great. I prefer a tighter low end response from a closed back cabinet. Also the speaker is offset in the cab. I can't tell you how many times I had to move the mic on my cab in a live setting as the Soundguy just threw up a mic in the center of the cabinet, no where near the center of the speaker.

I did start to map out the road to mod the amp a bit; change the tone stack, perhaps try to re-structure the gain to be more useful. I was kind of inspired by the Fender Mike Landau HRD. However I was steered away from this avenue, by a buddy of mine who said "there are a lot of great amps out there, you're gonna spend money on something, so find an amp that does what you want, buy it, and sell the HRD, it'll all even out." I kind of agreed with him, the costs of mods could out run me buying a new amp in the long run. I like tinkering and modding, but there's a time where you have to draw the line, and this was it for me. I like this amp, I don't love it. Life's too short for no love. So I started to look around to come up with some solutions

I wanted a low wattage tube amp that interacted with with pedals well. Combo would be cool, one of the many small format heads would also work, as I already have a decent 1x12 Enginater cabinet in my collection. I know it's probably not the best "name" brand amp cabinet, but it does sound good, and is a decent size. Fender, Avatar, Peavey & Mesa/Boogie all make 1x12's that are a bit smaller, and wouldn't break the bank to upgrade to one of them, if i really got brand-itis.

I looked into the Peavey Pirahana, mini head, the 6505 MH, The PRS tremonti MT15, the various Orange micro heads, and they all had plusses and minuses respectively, but nothing that was a super deal breaker overall. I decided to just play it cool, get a lil pile of cash that would cover the most expensive one, and then make my purchase. 

Back in 2008, my bass player bought a Fender Blues Jr. She does play guitar, and she used it a bit, but not enough for her to really justify it, and in 2013 she sold it to a friend of mine. I was a bit bummed back then, as the price she sold it for was pretty great, and I would have loved that cute lil amp.

So last month my friend said she was now selling the Blues Jr, and was wondering if I knew of anyone that might want it. I asked around, but no buyers surfaced. Now this ticked off alot of the boxes I had for amp requirements. I had a couple of extra bucks, and I pulled the trigger on it. It sounds fantastic, I am thinking of going down some mods for it, but right now, I'm really happy. It does interact with my pedalboard nicely and seems to be able to hang with my drummer head room wise too!

Meanwhile, my cousin had fallen out of Love with his Boss Katana 50, and for $100 it followed me home. It's solid state, takes pedals well, and has plenty of effects options inside it. It can also hang with a loud drummer, so no worries there.

I still have my ZT lunchbox and matching cabinet, which makes for a great grab and go amp. I could easily do a gig in my MGB with this lil amp. As it has a speaker out it also pairs nicely with my 1x12 cabinet.

Smaller is better is my theme and i'm also still on for doing my mini micro head stereo rig, with the TC Mimiq, So finding an additional matching Enginater 1x12 cabinet would be cool. to do this rig.

Now this means My Fender HRD is kind of redundant, and will be for sale. I see the Version III's going for $500, and I think mine could go for $400, along with the Black box. It would be great for any player that needs to get loud, still be tube, and take pedals well.

What brought all this small package rig formats to my attention was the fact I have a Mini Coupe, with no back seat. The trunk is bigger than the standard Mini to compensate, but it's still tight. As my Mini is getting up there in mileage, I'm looking into new vehicles in the next year or two, I'm hoping I can find something I like that has a slightly bigger trunk, or at least a back seat. All I can say is, if I buy a Miata, I'm really screwed..

Guitar Center Experience

I don't often shop at GC. Generally, I usually don't find stuff that interests me there. If I'm looking for something specific I try to go to a smaller brick and mortar retailer, and if they don't have what I'm looking for, or offer up an alternative, I do either Amazon or Sweetwater. Where I live and work, in relation to a GC means a bit of a hassle, in mileage and time.

But, this summer my cousin was in the market for an amp. As it was a Sunday, we made a trip up to our local GC. I'm out of the "I gotta get it/have it" phase of my life, and I don't often go into gear lust, as I have a pretty strict budget for myself. Which means I don't tour the local music stores on the weekends like I used to.

So we walk in, and I tried to remember the last time I was in this particular store, it has to be at least a few years. I was blown away at how sparse it was. They did away with the huge counter area, and replaced it with iso booths for lessons. So the accessories/check out counter was now a smaller squared off island like station near the front showroom area. The walls were still packed with guitars, with a pretty decent variety. Pricing in retail these days is pretty standard, so any deals or specials come from coupons or price matching, so no big "oh my god, how expensive/or cheap this is" on any items.

What shocked me is the non music instrument related stuff they were selling. They had a T shirt bin, with semi-music related themes, socks & gifts, as well as Records. That was odd. It was like a newbury comics in a sense. I'm wondering if they'll sell Jimi Hendrix Funco pop stuff soon.

The middle of the floor space was a lot more thinned out; where there used to be double tiers of Combo amps, and rows of half stacks were now small islands with whatever could be placed into any spot, no rhyme or reason. The stock on the floor was in good shape, and reasonably priced, but not a lot of variety. I actually saw a few amps that interested myself. Overall the feel of the store was like how a typical Daddy's Junky music store was in their later years. It was kind of shocking and sad, especially knowing how Daddy's ended up.

My cousin ended up with a BOSS Katana 50, for $214, Along with some strings and picks, and all the taxes, which was a pretty great deal. I did a review of the Katana 100 awhile back, and if I had slightly less impulse control, I would have tried to score one of these smaller versions for myself at that price (HERE is a link to my review). A bedroom sized combo, with every effect, that could still hang headroom wise, for that price?!? Yeah..

Anyway, the sales people were pretty good, no haggling or attitude. I looked on my phone for any GC coupon codes and they did have one. When I asked about using it, the sales guy said "I'll make it work". No "um..well that doesn't apply to this sale" situation. Very refreshing.

When GC came to Massachusetts in the mid 90's, smaller retailers feared that they'd go out of business, not being able to compete with GC. Some did. Some stores actually did better, figuring out how to capitalize on music stuff that GC didn't do, like repairs or lessons. In later years, the recession did kill a lot of smaller retailers, and those smaller stores that relied on used gear trades took a hit from Craigslist, Ebay & Reverb, so the Music retail landscape has really thinned out.

A few days earlier, I was in a local mom & pop music store to grab some strings, and even my wife commented that the store seemed like it was on it's way out. I have to admit, even their string selection was pretty week. I did get some strings, but not my usual brand, and the price was a bit high, but I needed them, and I was already there. It's not a bad store, but their selection of products reads like they just buy cheaper stuff, thinking it will sell, and then it just sits there. Back in the day I used to spend at least one day of a weekend crusing music stores, and this one rarely made the list, because of its lack of cool stuff, even back then.

Back when I was re-doing my strat, I went to this same mom & pop store, to see if they had some pickups in stock. They didn't, but said they could order them. I asked how long would it take to get them, and I was told "couple of weeks". I get they probably wait to order stuff to save on shipping, and they probably only order stuff one day a week, but it was a bummer, and needless to say, while I like supporting a local business, it's tough to put down a deposit on something when you're now on their schedule, and not your own. Now I can't fault a store on having some weird pickups I wanted, but the string selection shouldn't be lacking.

Running any retail business is tough, and if GC goes away, or even downsizes (which that store I visited could easily do) will that open things up to smaller mom and pop stores?

Friends of mine have often said I should open up a guitar store. It is tempting, but carving out a niche in this limited retail landscape is scary. Throw in the fact I'd have to deal with musicians like myself, I think I'll stick to my day job.

As an Interesting P.S. to this story. My cousin reached out to me, and asked me if I wanted to buy the Katana from him. He liked it, but didn't LOVE it, and lets just say I scored a deal! I'll have a post on my amp situation soon!

Memories of a Somewhat Mispent Youth - Part 1

It all started here, in the mid 1980s..My first guitar mag..

I'll be honest, I have recently been re-visiting the guitars of my youth. Maybe because I saw Def Leppard this summer for the first time live. Yeah, i'm re-defining Johnny come-lately. I started playing guitar in the mid 1980's (yes I'm old). The age of day glo guitars, of which I only skirted with my metallic coral/salmon Charvel. The time of spandex and hairspray, and shred guitar. The Guitar for the practicing musician magazines had all of the serious guys. All the guys that used to be in the ads for Shrapnel records decorated their pages on a regular basis. There were instructional articles in that now long gone magazine, one was by Joe Satriani. His articles were pretty simple in comparison, they covered basic concepts and ideas in an easy way to follow. It's not hard to realize why he was a good guitar teacher. If a guy that plays that well, can break down the things he does down easily, giving the student the confidence to tackle new things. I was immediately a fan. His main guitars were by Ibanez. But they didn't fall into the 1980's mentality of gimmics and graphics. In fact he used to do his own graphics with paint markers:

Ibanez first made a guitar called the 540R, The "R" meaning Radius. It was a thin body with an airfoil like taper to it; the lower bout was thicker, and the upper side thinned out. Along with their other guitars of the time, it has Ibanez's locking tremolo, and was available as a SSH pickup configuration as well as with Twin Humbuckers. Ibanez kind of names their guitars with numbers, like BMW's so it's easy to mix up model names. I thought I found one of these 540's in the want advertiser, as the seller stated it was like the Joe Satriani guitar, it turned out to be one of Ibanez's S540's. I had a guitar magazine with me, that had a pic of the guitar I wanted. After driving all the way out to Worcester, and then finding out it wasn't the guitar advertised. I realized it was no intentional fault of the seller, when I showed him the pic of Satriani with the guitar, he was stumped, as the guy at the music store who sold it to him was wrong, and perputated the confusion. Regardless, I didn't buy it, much to the seller's chagrin. I think he was more bummed that the music store told him it was a Joe Satriani Guitar.



Don't get me wrong, it was a nice guitar, it's a thinnish body. So thin that the 5 way switch needs a bezel to compensate for the lack of body thickness. The input Jack design is great too, no need for an input jack plate here.

When all I had was free time, I used to run around music stores. Mostly it was because I was looking for other musicians to possibly play with. But at times I came across a few interesting nuggets hanging on the walls and on the shelves of these Mom and Pop Stores. There was this lil music store in Belmont with wood paneling on all the walls, big amps and speakers crammed in there, making it difficult to walk around such a small square footaged area. They had a black SSH Ibanez 540R for sale used. The previous owner must have been a Satriani fan, as it had the Dimarzio quick lock guitar strap on it as well.

The guys that ran the store seemed pretty cool, and when I asked to try it out, I got a great "go for it" response. They asked what Amp I had and when I said a Fender M80, I expected to get pelted with insults. They simply responded with "well we got one in the back, but it's a full stack", I replied that this was not a problem. So there I am, wearing an acid washed denim Jacket, the Ibanez 540R strapped on me, with two 4x12 cabinets. I was in my teenage guitar heaven. It played great, and sound wise was really cool.

If I recall the asking price wasn't too bad, but I had just plunked down $400 on my Charvel model 375, as well as just paid for a brake job on my 1970 Dodge dart. I didn't think I could pick up enough shifts at Star Market to cover it, So I asked if they did trades, and they said yeah, and I said I'd be back tomorrow. I did briefly think I could do an even trade, but Something got in the way and the 540R became one that got lost in time for me.

Years later Joe Satriani's JS series guitars came out, based on the 540R. For some reason they didn't catch on a lot round these parts, either in players hand's or even on music store walls. Then in 1994, WHAM! They were everywhere. Of course at this point the Seattle music scene was all over everything. A shredder's guitar was way out of vogue. The prices were kind of high too, somewhere around 899ish. Considering I got my used PRS for 899 in 1995, I wasn't bumming for cool guitars in my budget.

One thing that did surprise me was around 2000ish, I started seeing them used for $599, but even a few years later, I was seeing new ones at that same price. I used to talk to a buddy of mine, and we used to have a wish list of the guitars we lusted for in our youth. In most cases we marveled at how the prices were far more reasonable, and the fact we didn't have to work our butts off bagging groceries, or running a register to come up with the scratch. His choice of a Floral Pattern Jem, brought me to re thinking the JS. I'm certainly not at a loss for any guitars, but If I was going to go down that Ibanez shredder road, I know who I'd be surfing with.

The Devil's In the Details

Nuances are important. It's the little things. The Devil's in the details. I can't tell you how many times I've picked up a guitar, and some little thing made me cringe. Some time's it's my playing; " I could have done that better" and such. Some times its a bit on my guitar that needs attention or is not quite right, like a switch tip or knob. It's kind of OCD, I know.

Since I got my Tele a few years ago, I've slowly been modding it, and during this process, I've been finding interesting things about guitars that I've never realized. The differences in the bridges, the pickups, as well as the aesthetics of it. I've considered it an exporation and analysis of my OCD issues. I played a lot of Tele's as research for mine, and while it's a nuance, the knobs on my stock Mexican Telecaster bothered me.

Yes, the knobs. My G&L asat had some cool knobs with a pretty good knurl pattern on them, plenty of grip, and felt solid. My buddy Adam has some cool dome style tele knobs on his Keith Richards Inspired Telecaster. I played a few custom tele style guitars and a few had a nice big knurl on them, almost cheese grater-esque. So I went down the rabbit hole trying to find some cool knobs for my tele, as the stock ones, are, well, Stock. I tried to look around and find some that would satisfy my perhaps OCD tastes. I looked at the usual places, like Amazon, & Warmoth, as well as trying to find a smaller builder that might make specialty parts.

I'm a big fan of instagram. It's probably my fave Social media platform. I used to go nuts with fliters and settings, but while I think that's cool that we can all become a digital Ansel Adams, the big thing is sharing your art. I found a company in Texas that had an instagram post on some custom guitar knobs that they did for a customer. They inserted Subway tokens into the tops of some tele knobs.

I knew I had a few old MBTA tokens floating around the house, and after I found those, I reached out to my family to see if they had any as well. and they did!

Most households in the greater Boston area probably have a junk drawer or old coin jar with a few of these in there. In most cases, back in the day, you'd buy a few tokens at the beginning of any trip on the subway, and due to the MBTA being inefficient, you might be able to get through a turnstile without paying. Sometimes it was too late for the T and you'd get a ride or walk.

Regardless, these lil pieces of metal are now out of date, as the T uses Charlie cards for payment. The MBTA gift store does sell the old tokens as souvineurs. Presumably as gifts to friends and family that no longer live in the area as a reminder of sorts. As a Kid the subway token was a ticket to a city adventure, to someplace cool and interesting out of the suburbs. Years later I would take the T to work every day for 5 years, and I'll never forget it, this time for the over crowded trains, the rusty outdated cars, reduced schedules, the derailments, power failures, delays, the vomit on the subway platform (sometimes it was mine, but I digress). These days, the T is kind of a sore spot for me. The cost of commuting into Boston via the MBTA is not outweighing the option of driving into the city. But I still have fond memories when you'd see an establishing shot of a TV show like Spencer for Hire, or Cheers, and the red line was scooting across the Longfellow bridge.

Anyway I ended up with 7 tokens, My Mom found two in a coin dish, and my Dad, who is a coin collector, had 2 as well. I sent them all off to Armadillo Guitars in Austin Texas, with instructions as to which side of the tokens to be revealed on the knobs. The price was a bit high for guitar knobs, but considering these were hand made by an independent craftsman, I can stomach the cost.

So who gets what? So my Tele gets the two with the T logo:

My Fender Mustang has the Subway icon side:

The 3 MTA (a precursor to the MBTA) tokens will go on my white Strat. Right now THAT particular guitar is getting some Floyd Rose repairs at Adam's place. But when it comes back, I'll put them on. This pretty much finishes off the mods to the Mustang, and to the Floyd Rose Strat. The Tele still has some work in its future, With an electronics upgrade, that might mean new pickups, along with a possible pickguard and control plate change, but that's a post for another day.

If you're a maker of anything, this is an example of how to use a simple instagram post to generate actual customers. Don't discount the power of social media.

If you're looking for some unique knobs and parts here's Armadillio's info:

http://www.armadilloguitar.com/main/

Slappa Da Bass

So as I said before, I'm kind of a frustrated bass player in a sense. I'll admit my Yamaha BBN4 totally covers any of my bass needs. I usually only use it for home demos and the like. 

But this happened:

It's one of my Buddy's, who passed away last year. I've been helping his family out, by selling his equipment, and getting some well needed money to them. 

I struck up a deal with Adam of AF Precision Setups to do thorough setups, cleaning, re-stringing, and generally sort out the instruments. It makes things tough for a prospective buyer to haggle on the price when an instrument plays great, and functions perfectly. I had a buyer claim a Kramer Focus 3000 that Adam did a thorough setup on played better than a brand new EVH Wolfgang and a new Charvel San Dimas. Adam has also become a Guitar archeologist of sorts, when we come across some odd instruments. A 1997 LP custom was a unique project, not only cleaning and a proper setup, sorting out the wiring, but also making sure it was a real Gibson (thankfully it was). Another thing is correcting some "fixes" done by previous repair people. It's a tall set of tasks overall, and he does great work, pretty much every guitar he set up made me want to buy them for myself. He's my go-to guy now, for my guitars.

https://www.instagram.com/afprecisionsetups/

Anyway back to the bass.

A bass player friend of mine & band mate in the early 2000's had 2 EBMM basses at one point, and from what I can remember, the necks were pretty beefy. One was a limited edition with a black sparkle paint job (and matching headstock) and an older, possibly 1980's one that had string mutes. He liked them but didn't love them, and eventually parted ways with both of them. They were cool, but I can get it when you don't bond with an instrument.

When I pulled this bass out of it's case, I immediately felt some cool mojo. The neck wasn't as beefy as the previous ones I remembered, and it felt really good overall, with a nice balance. It needed a general cleaning and a good setup, but It didn't feel tough to play. I'm a guitar player, so playing bass is fun, and I could do a set on pretty much any bass with a band, but it wouldn't be super easy. But on this bass it felt like it wouldn't be as tough. It felt fun and adventurous.

When I brought it to Adam, I played it for a bit, and he said he hadn't seen me as excitedly playing in a long time! When he picked it up, he kind of came to the same conclusion. We figured out what it's worth used, and he said he knew an EBMM fanatic, and would let him know about this bass's availability. I'm sure when it's all done it'll play fantastically, and sound great. Hopefully I can get some $ to my buddy's family, and get a bass in the hands of an appreciative player.

I have no need for a bass, and I do have a couple of my buddy's instruments in my possession as a reminder of him. There are also plenty of other Guitar/music related projects to dedicate my $ to (as well as paying bills) so there should be no GAS here, but for some reason there is. Ernie Ball did licence out their designs to a company called OLP, and They seem to be pretty reasonable, with a lot on Reverb & Craigslist coming in at about $150 or so. Modding one to get it up to spec wouldn't be super expensive either. I don't know if I'm going to pull the trigger on one of those, but I'm certainly looking at these basses in a whole new light.

Will I just start giving my Yamaha more attention, and investigate it's own low end, or will I part ways with it, to fund getting one of the OLP basses, and go down the road of modding it? Maybe, after playing this bass, I was a lot less frustrated.

Tune in next time!

Mark III

I remember when these pro made pedalboards hit the market, and it seemed like so much money when a piece of plywood, and some velcro would do the trick. I tried everything else to cheap out and when they all failed, in one way or another, it brought me to the brand that's pretty much the no brainer, industry standard; Pedaltrain.


When I started building my first real pedalboard back in 2009, I used Pedaltrain's biggest board available.

 

This was the first version, in the early days of my band, The Goodbye Theory

 

 

Eventually it got boiled down to this

 
At a full 36" wide, my idea was to put every pedal I had on it, and have a pedalboard that could handle any musical situation. I even got the heavy duty ATA Flight case. Bad planning on my part for a couple of reasons:

1. I didn't take into consideration I'd need a lot of patch cables to connect everything. Those patch cables add up, not only in signal loss, but $ wise too.

2. Power. I'd need at least two power supplies (no one made a power supply that could handle more than 8 pedals at the time when I was building this board) So there's another $150 I didn't consider.

3. Most of the pedals I had at the time were drive pedals, and I really didn't need more than two. Balancing out all the output levels, and EQ voicings before every set or practice, ugh..

So I downsized from their 36" wide monster to the 24" wide Pedaltrain2, with the ATA case. I really didn't need the hard case on this one either, a gig bag version would have been a better choice. Especially since the trunk space in the MINI is at a premium.

After wiring up my usual collection, I realized I could easily throw a couple of spare pedals on it, albeit not wired up or connected, and still be able to swap stuff in and out quickly at practice. Since I get about 6-7 pedals a year to review, this worked out great. I also had some "unique" pedals on my board. TC Sub N Up, EHX Synth 9 and the like. I liked kicking them in here and there for some flavour, Alot of times when I did that, I'd get the stink eye from the band. Some neat sounds for sure, but it's like putting hot peppers on chocolate ice cream, it just doesn't work.

 

Eventually it looked like this at one point.

So I decided that I was going to be more practical with my pedalboard, and eliminate the excess. I downsized to a Pedaltrain Classic Jr, and I boiled and distilled what I need on my board for 99% of what I'm doing musically at this point.

1. Tuner
2.Overdrive/distortion
3.Boost
4.Chorus
5.Delay
6.Sonic Maximizer

Now I do have a DS engineering chronometer that's really not a pedal, but a timer/clock. its good for planning out set times.

So since I have these lovely looper/patch bay pedals, my idea was to use them and clear off some space on my board. this meant I could place the pedals towards the back end of the board, route the cables to the loopers in the front. it makes for less tap dancing over one pedal to get to another. Less foot action to accidentally move a knob or switch during the act as well.

Loop #1 has the overdrive

Loop #2 connects to the boost

Loop #3 is open, but will be used for something I'll share with you all later.

Loop#4 connects to my chorus and delay pedal in one loop. I love the idea of chorus and delay, and I hate the idea of having to tap dance to turn them on/off individually.

Power is by my trusty Voodoo labs power supply. I did have to get new brackets for mounting it though. 

 
Now I did give up one thing with this board: expandability. There's not a lot of room to add anything, but considering the power supply only has 1 free input now, I'm cool with that, maybe I could jam a mini pedal in there, but the idea is to have a board that does what's practical, guitar tone wise. So what else would I need.

I have debated getting a buffer just in case. So far I haven't noticed a tone loss, probably because I'm using really short cable runs, and everything is true bypass, as well as the loopers. If you're a pedalboard geek at the level of the comic book nerd from the Simpsons, please comment on how I'm doing it wrong, like Dr. Frasier Crane, I'm listening.

Now I don't need the old pedalboard, it's power supply mouning brackets and the ATA case. So I sold it for $100. It's a good deal and it covered the cost of the new board.

This time around I decided that the ATA case was too much, and went with the gig bag option. Earlier (cheaper, non pedaltrain) Pedalbords that I owned, came with gig bags, and they all pretty much got trashed. Cheap materials, Zippers that were made from pot metal, and jammed easily. Stitching that tore apart. No Bueno.The Pedaltrain bag that came with the Classic Jr, is a step up from the cheap ones. I know MONO makes a better one, but it's expensive. 

Pedaltrain used to only offer a case or a bag for their boards. I tried many times to just buy a bag, for my pedaltrain 24" model and I got told it was a no go every time. Recently they did start to offer bags/backpacks, but the cost was almost as much as the pedalboard. The premium bag for the Classic JR is a whopping $119. I paid $118 for the Classic Jr & it's included bag, which I think should be ok for the moment. The ATA case for this version is a bit smaller than my previous board, and considering its $149 price tag it's not a bad deal. If I ever find myself doing alot of shows where my gear will get fondled by strangers, I'd consider it, but for now, going to and from practice, the studio and local gigs, I should be good. Famous last words, said my every guitar player about their pedalboards for sure. I still have another trick up my sleeve though.

P.S.

(why is it I think of burgers when I'm working out my pedalboard?)

I'll have a Classic Jr, and a PT2 With a Case!

Acoustics, Arts & Craft

Recently I did a post regarding small builders and their crafts, pedal wise. Magic boxes of wires that can change the landscape of a an electric guitar's sound. Now for the flip side of the coin; the purity of just an acoustic guitar.

 

Guitar building is an art form, it's palette and canvas is enormously colorful and broad. Then there is the art that comes out of the instrument. Acoustic guitars are even more magical. It's raw materials created from mother nature, processed by an artisans hands, and played by people blessed with the ability to extract more from the final product.

 

My personal experiences with acoustic guitars aren't as vibrant as my journey with electric guitars. My first, an ovation, that I over paid for, and didn't sound all that great. I could take it to the beach though and not worry about it. I traded it in for a used Stratocaster. Many years later I got my second, an Ibanez Acoustic, was a gift from an Ex-girlfriend in a sense, as she got me a substantial gift certificate to a music store that helped fund that purchase. I didn't play it much, as I didn't play alot of acoustic guitar back then. I sold it in 2013. My wife doesn't like it when I sell guitars. She was saddened to see my Green Les Paul go, as well as my Blue G&L ASAT. When I told her I sold my acoustic she was bummed, when I pointed out how I got the guitar, she immediately said "oh get rid of it". I already play the Fender Mustang she gave me this past xmas more than I ever played that Ibanez Acoustic.

 

I admit the one I play now, isn't expensive or flashy. It's a Mitchell Grand Auditorium. Mitchell is Guitar Center's in house brand, like Kenmore or Die Hard. I did a review of it years ago, and I was really gobsmacked as to how good it played and sounded. It retails for about $300. I was able to keep it, thankfully and It's gotten alot of use, in my original band, my cover band, and just playing around the house.

 

In the past year Taylor has sent me several guitars for review; inexpensive mini models, to their top of the line instruments. The value of each one was staggering. It got me thinking of what you get when you take those big leaps. Each one got closer to purity. I used the Taylor Builder's edition K14CE in the studio for a recording session, and it moved me in a way that was beyond what I would expected.

https://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/acoustic/builders-edition-k14ce

 

It's not cheap, but when I saw the price, I didn't even flinch. It's worth every penny. I didn't think a guitar could get any better. But take it a step further, and it goes into this territory:

https://www.atelierrosenkrantz.com/

 
Instrument design and production has greatly benefited from modern technology, but seeing a craftsperson work in the traditional sense is amazing.
 

In the past, when most guitar media was perpetuated by a few magazines, as well as some "in the know" music stores, it was a small world. I knew of small guitar builders, from Eric Schoenberg, Danny Ferrington, and Dana Bougeois. I knew Parker guitars were made in Massachuetts, and I even worked for them for a bit. Now it's overwhelming, as there isn't just one funnel of information, but a tsunami that our internet and social media has become. Sorting out and finding the people out there, honing a craft and sharing their art, is mind boggling. It was neat to hear of a person sharing their craft that was semi local to me.

 

I admit, part of this post is to dig into something I haven't really blogged about; Acoustics. The other part is the recent passing of Anthony Bourdain. Yes he got his start as a chef, then a food writer, then a TV host on the food network, and the travel channel, then to CNN.

 

Over the years his shows started on foods, the people that made them and their cultures. On CNN it shifted, there were still explorations of foods, but people, and their cultures took the focus. I had no idea there was this Raw Craft show existed. But in going down the Youtube/Amazon/ondemand/netflix rabbit hole of his shows, looking for solace in the loss of a person that I never met, that took me to places near and far,  I found this video. It got me to think about the purity of a hand crafted instrument. In this case, he was the perfect ambassador to investigate this amazing builder and her work. Again, he took me to a new place, not far from where I am. it's inspired me to explore more in my own backyard and work my way out. They called him the Elvis of bad boy chefs. He often referenced The Ramones, Iggy Pop, Queens of the Stone Age. Not surprising as music, is like food in a sense; good ingredients, assembled properly, and shared with others. Making instruments and making music falls into this ideology as well.

 

It's sad to see that someone could share the exploration of so many things pass on. Music can be as complicated as an amp simulation algorithm, or as simple as an acoustic guitar being played on the beach. In a sense, so can life. Try to find the simplicity in things, and the issues at hand tend to become less overwhelming.

 

If you need help, you are not alone. Reach out. Call a friend, call a family member, call the national suicide hotline at 1-800-273-talk. The world needs creative, and passionate people that share their creative arts and experiences with us all, in all of its forms.

Rest in Peace - Matt "guitar" Murphy

It's sad to see living legends pass on to history. We're all destined to leave the second we arrive, but when people that shared, and gave so much are gone, it's still not easy.

With a heavy heart, I'm sad to report that Matt "guitar" Murphy has left the building at the age of 88.

I'm not a blues fan, in the truest sense. I have seen Buddy Guy multiple times, BB King once, and once I did see Matt "guitar" Murphy live at Harper's Ferry. Hell of a guitar player, no nonsense, no tricks. He laid it all out on the stage. He's best known for the blues brothers. The praise I could heap on to the movie "The Blues Brothers" would be a dissertation, not a blog post.

Every Musician in that movie held their own, on their instruments, and as actors. At no point in the film, do you cringe at the delivery of the lines. There were no long deliveries given to them, just the sharp punctuation and jabs that is inherent in a musician's DNA. The music was their dialogue. 

Strangely enough, in my early teens, it was on TV, and scrolling through channels, my Dad, said to stop and watch this. I thought it was one of those deep 1980's movies where two comedic actors did a serious film that didn't perform as well as a blockbuster. I was so wrong. A comedic musical journey, complete with nuns, ex-girlfriends that have a penchant for explosives, cheese whiz, orange whips, a shitbox Dodge traded for a microphone, and of course, Nazis. The band was smoking, and guitar wise, had Steve "The Colonel" Cropper. If you're gonna do a blues themed movie, it's a good choice. Add in a guy that backed up Ike Turner, Otis Rush, Muddy Waters, and it's a one two punch that leaves you speechless. That guy was Matt "guitar" Murphy.

There have been several albums released around the time of The Blues Brother's movie, and the soundtrack is cooler than liquid nitrogen. Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Cab Calloway. If you're gonna be on a record (or in a movie) with those greats, you're in great company.

There are several movies that I can quote, line for line, beat for beat. The Blues Brothers is one of them. It's a movie my Dad introduced me to, and gave me a dip in the pool of a music that's truly American. He's was a legend before the Blues Brothers, He was a legend in The Blues Brothers, and he'll always be Matt "guitar" Murphy.

Q&A (well at least the Q part, for now)

So when I re-activated this blog as a writing exercise in music stuff, I didn't think much of it. They say to get better at anything is to constantly do it over and over, and be critical of yourself. I wanted to be a better writer and be better at communicating in general. I do a lot of product reviews for performermag.com and I do some general music articles, but I sometimes like to stretch out a bit, and with a magazine's limits of size, doing that was going to be tough.

I have no problem being hard or critical on myself. I'm not going to drift into the stereotypical abyss of booze and self loathing all great writers aspire to. I'll take to being a less than great writer, have my liver intact, and be able to enjoy life. My exploration of music has been fun for a majority of the time, and my writing about it, has been the same. But getting better means keep doing it, over and over, until you get it right.

In my list of articles I'm working on I try to vary things up, However I am curious as to if there are any topics or questions you, the readers, have for me. Any particular subject I haven't covered? A theme I alluded to that you'd like to go a bit deeper with? Please feel free to reach out to me on this, and I'll try to cover them in future posts. This blog does have an analytics section for the owner (me) and while I can't see who's looking at this page, I do get a breakdown of data, as to how many visitors I get, and what posts get checked out. I've been a bit surprised at the numbers coming in, so apparently I do get quite a few people looking at this page, and since you've given me your attention, I'd like to give you, the reader mine.

Drop me a question or message me in the comment section below this post.

Or friend me and direct message me on twitter: https://twitter.com/_chrisdevine_

instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christophermdevine/

I look foreward to hearing from you all.

Thanks

Making Stuff

About 15 years ago I started cruzing the internet looking for amps (like you do), and I came across a few webpages that specialized in information on making your own amps, providing schematics, instructions, tips and tricks, as well as a gallery of completed amps of people that have made as resources.

The schematics didn't look too nutty, and seeing that other people did it, in some cases, also had no experience doing this type of work before. I was kind of inspired. The designs were pretty simple, based off of the old RCA tube amp diagram that even Leo Fender used as a basis for some of his earliest amps. I even had a pipe dream of making my own amps as a product, starting my own company. But real talent makes anything look easy and after looking into it, I realized that this wouldn't be easy. A few people that were making them back then, have started companies since, and few have gotten their stuff into the hands of professional players. When asked about it, they usually said , "it hasn't been easy". With guitar trends being fickle, and economy that was as stable as jello, they kept at it.

So I set my sights a little lower, I do like making, fixing and tinkering with stuff (that explains my love of vintage British cars!),  so I started thinking about making some of my own pedals. I grabbed a copy of "electronic projects for musicians", made a trip to a large electronics supply house (not radio shack!), and plunked down about $150 in miscellaneous parts.

Starting out simply, I tried an A/B Box. The circuit wasn't hard to do, but drilling the holes in the boxes, making sure things looked even, like they were machined in a factory was kind of tough. The holes on my 1st one looked like a blind man did it. Eventually I got my drilling down pretty good, and made a few for friends. Another project I undertook was making Amp channel switchers that didn't look like they were designed in the 50's, and they came out ok. I made a passive tone unit for a local studio, their enginneer loved using that with guitarists that had solid state amps, as it took some high end edge off.

Then I tried a few tougher things; 1st was a fuzztone. As much as I checked and re checked the circuit, it couldn't get it right. Comparing it to a EHX fuzz, and a Dunlop one,  It just sounded like junk. It didn't even have the "well it's got a sound that would be good for something" feel to it. Moving on, I attempted a distortion pedal that was based off of the DOD overdrive, again, it just sounded like poo. I scoured news groups (this is before reedit), looking for corrections or mods for these circuits, as much as I like a challenge, it proved overwhelming. I liked the experience I got from this, but in no way was I going to get into making pedals for sale.

Eventually I gave the remaining electrical components to Steve Varao, who was making pedals, doing mods, and the like. He has the talent, knowledge, and ability to really make some cool stuff. He modded my Boss BD-2, and made a good pedal sound great! I asked him to make me a couple of true bypass loop pedals in exchange for the pile of parts. He had the abilities to make this collection of components look like a factory made piece. I still use them to this day, and are well worth it, considering how I have my pedalboard configured.

I still have the urge to modify and tweak stuff, but considering the time and money investment, I'm going to leave it to the pros. I learned a lot going though all that, and know where my talents lie, as well as knowing when a pedal costs a bit more, and where that extra $ goes.

I applaud anyone trying to get into starting a business making pedals or amps. The market is full of small companies, putting out high quality products. It's like beer: back in the day there were like 3 beers you could get at a bar or store, now there are beer stores and bars that only sell small batch, hand made craft beers. It's not an easy thing; to come up with a new pedal ideas with so much competition out there. Makers like Keeley, and JHS have gotten really big, building on mods, to each developing their own thing tonally. If you find a small manufatcurer in your area, and they're starting out, I highly suggest supporting them.

That being said, there are 2 companies that I feel need to be shared with you all; Fuzzrocious and Coppersound. 

Ryan at Fuzzrocious makes some very wild pedals, it great to see a company go from DIY to production. It's a family affair as well, with his wife and kids stepping in, designing some very unique graphics to some very unique pedals. Name a new family business that's this cool, I'll wait.

Coppersound Pedals are VERY local to me, as they are a Massachusetts based company. It's great talking to them about pedals, they get it. They do offer up a range of pedals, and any of their pedals could easily replace any mass produced pedal on your pedalboard, and give more options at the same time. My fave right now is their tele inspired Broadway Preamp. The Telecaster design isn't a gimmick, its big.

These guys know it's not an easy business to be in. They take the time to talk to players, and listen to them. It's R&D, it's Public relations, it's what makes them unique. 

I stepped into a local music store this past spring, and another customer asked a sales person to try out a coppersound pedal. I chimed in "that's a good choice" and quickly pointed out a feature i liked on it, adding "they're local & great guys too". The sales person, in his hipster uniform of ironic facial hair and plaid shirt, shot back a snarky and sarcastic "yeah that's what I look for in a pedal, Nice guys". 

Yes, its a bonus. The same way I won't ever go out of my way to buy an item in your store, because of that remark. Here's a local company, being sold in a local music store, by a fellow that misses the true credo of a hipster "Here's something cool, you've probably never tried, and it's local". the same sales guy probably thinks Subway makes a great chicken parm. That experience at that music store just made Amazon and Reverb.com look better to me. It's sad to hear of brick and mortar stores hitting hard times, but when a brick and mortar store acts douchy, my sympathies fade away. The bummer will be when a local company looks for a place to sell their stuff locally, and there will be limited places to go.

With the media telling us that the guitar is dead, no one actually buying music, and few examples of people actually making music, why get into all this? From my experience, it's love, it's a connection. I'll bet on Love, and like every bet, it's not gambling, if it's a sure thing.

Amp Regrets - Fender Amp Blues

Fender Pro Sonic

Awhile back I did a post on a Guitar I kinda regret selling, The reverend Rocco. I've had a lot of Amps over the years and the one I really regret parting with was my Fender Prosonic 2x10. I've always loved Fender amps. They seemed to sound great with any guitar.

My first experience with a Fender Amp was in the late 1980’s. I had started with the beginner’s standard amp when I started playing guitar, A Gorilla. Yep. I worked my way up to a Peavey Rage, but something was always missing. One day at the music store I frequented and took lessons at, I heard my guitar teacher playing this great amp. It was a Fender M80. Covered in a grey felt like material and red knobs, it was amazing. I asked him how it sounded so good, and he commented that fender amps always had great reverb. That was it. Of all the effects I had at the time, Reverb was the one that I couldn't put my finger on. I scraped enough dough together to buy that amp very quickly. My guitar teacher almost bought it, I beat him by a couple of hours.

I had that amp for years, through college it was super reliable. Solid state, and the distortion wasn’t that bad. I worked my way up after that, with a Fender Ultra Chorus 2x12 stereo combo, and finally to the amp I kind a regret parting with. The Fender Prosonic.

Fender had started to move into some new amp territory and they had the Vibro king, and some other tube amps that were a step beyond what they had previously offered, as well as the Blues Deluxe and Deville’s But the Prosonic was a bit different. It had 2 gain stages that could be dialed in, with the second gain stage, kind of working like a saturation knob. I liked the drive channel on low settings, it was really nice and rootsy, in a gritty way. At full throttle, it really sang, and was very rich sounding overall. Cleans, Fuggaboutit, its a Fender, no need for a description there.

Size wise it was kind of close to the Deluxe Reverb, I’m betting part of the deal was getting a new amp that could fit into a cabinet that Fender was already producing. It looked like a "Bouteek" amp, with the chicken head knobs, and it was available in a few different colors.
while it was a 2 channel amp, it shared the same EQ, which was a bummer, but I made it work with minimal tweaking.

The only downfall was the 2x10 speaker configuration the combo came with. I was using that amp with a more pop like group, and when I transitioned into a new heavy rock band, it just didn’t cut it. I think I may have actually blown out a speaker at one point and had to have it replaced. I remember looking into swapping out the speaker baffle with one that would accept a 1x12, but I kind of shrugged it off. I think it was because there wasn’t a lot of info or DIY modification info out there. Eventually I went to another amp, a Hughes and Kettner Triamp. (That amp is a whole other story). I used the Prosonic as a backup, and I tried running it into a 2x12 cabinet, which did sound much better, but I was now bringing 2 big box like items to gigs, and that was tiring. The amount of gigging I did back then was a lot, and hauling a 2x12 and a 2x10 combo up stairs and in parking garages in the winter made it a back breaker. I eventually sold it and got a short chassis Mesa/Boogie MKIII head and used that with the 2x12.

On a lark, I started to do an on line search on them Both Reverb.com, and craigslist came up very short. Apparently these amps are really hard to find in the used market, and I can see why. Ideally I’d like to find one and see if I could fit a 12” speaker in it.

Fender did come out with an amp called the supersonic a few years back, I remember looking at it and while it did sound good, the amp’s cabinet was about 25% bigger than the prosonic, which gave room for a second channel's controls.

Right now I'm in a bit of an amp quandary. I ran this idea of finding a Prosonic combo, and modding it to fit a 1x12, but a buddy of mine kind of pointed out that after the cost of the amp (which can be upwards of $700) and modding it for a 1x12 speaker baffle, and getting a 1x12 speaker, never mind fixing any issues the amp may have I could be into it for over $1k. There are a lot of great 1x12 Tube combos with a similar gain structure and profile out there, that would fit my needs, and be at the same cost point. I could turn my efforts to look for the head version, and match it with a great sounding 1x12, but if I'm going to go with a head/cab situation, I'd like to get a small 1x12 and a lunchbox size amp head.

I don't know where this amp quest will end up, but I still miss that lil beast.