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.

The State of Gibson

 

 

The internet has been a buzz with "What's happening/Going to happen" with Gibson. There's been a lot of stuff to note on this, but I wanted to make my comments on this with a preface.

A friend of mine commented recently that I'm not really pro Gibson. I kind of had to correct him on this. I've owned a couple of Les Pauls, a 1989 Studio in wine red, and a 2002 Les Paul Studio Limited Edition, in BASF green. Both were great guitars, but in both cases I parted with them because I needed more than 3 pickup sounds from a guitar, and both were a little heavy. I bought my last LP in 2004 (yes it sat in a music store for 2 years!) and parted ways with it in 2010. As was my 1989 LP, It was kind of heavy for my tastes, and I really like the ability to have some single coil sounds. I added up the costs of changing the pickups and electronics to accommodate this, and then thought, well why not do a tone pros bridge and tailpiece, and some locking tuners. I liked this guitar, however, not enough to sink $500 into it. Yes I've put more into other guitars, but I couldn't justify it for this LP.

Right now if I had a guitar wish list, a 335 would be on there. In fact I've commented that I have been jonsing for a great sounding single P90 pickup mahogany bodied LP Jr. So I'm not really anti Gibson. I don't know how I got tagged for that. Could be I'm known to favour PRS guitars, and because of that Single cut lawsuit situation that had PRS & Gibson squaring off in court. PRS prevailed in that arena, and maybe that's why I got tagged as anti Gibson.

Seeing any company go out of business is never a good thing. There are people that work there, not just factory workers, but IT, Housekeeping, maintenance, marketing, graphics. Think of all the people that work in your building, whether they work for your company directly or from a building management perspective, it adds up. Speaking as a person that worked for a company that shut down a division, and put 100+ workers out in the cold, it's not fun. Now think of all the subcontractors, vendors, suppliers, and again it adds up to people loosing out.

The big digs I've heard people throw out is Gibson's quality control, or lack of it. I can speak from experience as my 2002 LP had some cosmetic issues, specifically the side marker dots on the 12th fret looked as if, well I did them..It was purely a cosmetic thing that didn't bother me.

I've heard horror stories of people buying a Gibson guitar and stuff like pickups were barely soldered in, nuts being improperly cut. First off, if you're gonna plunk down any money, do the diligence. Inspect everything you possibly can, and don't get caught up in the "I gotta buy it" feel. I personally know a couple of guys that buy several guitars a year, just as an impulse buy or the "I have to get this" situation. Take a step back, a deep breath, and really think about it. If you notice a tuner is bent, or a nut is rough or anything is off, walk away. if you ordered it on line, and it's not to your satisfaction, send it back. You're the final QC check on any purchase.

Now people do comment that they love Gibson, but there is room for design improvement. The Neck angle and headstock joint is prone to breaking if hit hard enough. There are different scarf joint designs that would look the same, and be more stable. The Alex Lifeson Les Paul, has a fantastic Neck/body joint that is vastly superior to the original design as well, which would be great on any LP, but Gibson keeps their traditional design on most models. The completion/copycats seem to take the chance to make it better, as I've seen some that have embraced these changes. I've been kind of jonsing for a LP again, but every time I start to go down this path, I seem to find a company that does that same thing a LP does, but, for lack of a better term....better than Gibson has been known to make, and at a better value.

Gibson also has some issues with their actual product lines, with multiple variants. Pick a  model of one of their guitars and go to their website and try to find that actual guitar in less than 5 minutes. It's kind of a quagmire (giggity) of models. Less is more and there are some ways to streamline things. My idea would be to make separate product lines

1-classics, made as they were in the 50's. Same as it ever was. heck, make them at upscale prices, limited editions if need be.

2-moderns, modern construction, newer pickup options and choices, variants on the classics. How about a LP studio with locking tuners and coil taps? maybe a better headstock joint, and a more ergonomic heel/body joint? There is a way to have a foothold in the past and still take steps to be contemporary. It's not easy, but it can be done.

If you're gonna do variants, make them special editions or limited runs. I can't see an actual need for a Gibson LP studio in see through green, mini humbuckers and a bigsby being a full on year round production model. It's a variant of a variant of a variant.

Gibson did try to bring modern technology in from time to time, the firebird with the built in effects, as well as the Robo tuners. They kind of missed the mark on both of them. in the mid 90's they were supposedly going to make a Robbie Kreiger SG, with a carbon fiber neck. I'm not a super huge fan of The Doors, but that proposed guitar really interested me. There's plenty of room there for the purists, and those who want that classic brand, without the classic headaches.

Now Gibson bought a few other brands over the years, Steinberger and Kramer being two of them. I'll admit, when they bought Steinberger, a very 80's guitar with the headless design and carbon fiber construction, and not far after that the vintage market boomed, and Gibson classics dominated. But Steinberger even in the 1980's was a niche instrument and probably could have held it's own even in a limited capacity. Travel Guitars are always a sell, and Keisel, as well as Strandberg, has proven that there are a ton of people that want the headless design.

Kramer also dominated the 1980's, but when they closed up shop, the shred era was coming to an end. The brand went dormant, and Gibson bought them. They were only available on line, but the prices were reasonable. Considering the popularity of the EVH Guitars and the fact that there are players that still want that style, especially over the last 5 years or so, I wonder why Gibson didn't try to run with it, or at least Re-launch it. More than likely Gibson will sell off these brands as part of a financial re-org.

I wish I had an answer to these questions. Ideally I'd love to see Gibson pull out of this nose dive, but based on how they handle their business in both large and small details, it's certainly uncertain. I don't have a solution for their problems, if I was an actual expert, I'd be working as a consultant for these companies and pulling down some good bank doing something I love to do; talk guitars. But I don't, I'm the same Monday morning quarterback as everyone else out there.

As of this writing Gibson has filed for chapter 11, which as I understand it is a re-organization step. Meaning they sort out their debts, sell assets they don't need, and try to move on. The big scary step is chapter 7; liquidation.

One factory that is busy these days is the rumour mill, as to what will happen. in the 21st century, I'm finding that the standard doesn't apply in anything. There is a rumour that Joe Bonamassa might buy, or somehow take some controlling ownership/management. It's a rumour that's out there, and makes sense. He's a big guitar personality with some serious guitar cred. He may have to liquidate some of his guitar collection to pay for it, but might be worth the price.

How To Get Ahead in The Music Business

There are a TON of Guitar Bloggers/writers out there, Yes I am one of them. My friend, Bobbo Byrnes is also one of them. He's a guitar player from my neck of the woods, now currently residing in sunny California. Like me, he's got pretty big opinions on a lot of guitar and music related topics, and I've often found his viewpoints have a very unique angle that make practical sense. His Blog is Guitar Geek Warning. And can be found at...

http://www.guitargeekwarning.com/

He covers topics from recording, performing, and guitar and music Gear. He's just completed his latest CD "Two Sides To This Town" and is getting ready to go on the road with it this summer (it's a European tour, so he'll be on the other side of the road). We had the idea awhile back to do a "takeover" of each other's blogs, as it might expose our musings to some new readers. Be sure to check his blog out!

How To Get Ahead In The Music Business

The first gigging band I was in used to pride ourselves on how quickly we would get off the stage after our set. We’d play the second or third slot at The Rat in Boston and we would have our stuff off stage and put away before the next band finished tuning their guitars.

It was a strange thing to aspire to but I know that the clubs and bands that played with us appreciated it.

The little things, ya know?

A while ago we were playing a gig and a friend’s band was performing the set before ours. The band’s last chords rang out, house music went up, guitar players and bass player packed up and got their stuff off the stage but their new drummer brought all his cases on stage, got his gloves out for handling his cymbals and proceeded to take nearly 20 minutes to break down and pack away his kit on stage.

 

Patiently we waited for one of his more experienced bandmates to say something to him along the lines of “Chris, get your ass off the stage!” (Or at least help him.) But they were all doing their own thing and didn’t notice. We joke about it now but at the time it was annoying and he was new to playing out - no one had explained this etiquette to him.

 

Look, most of us will never play Wembley Stadium, have roadies to clean up after us or have our own crew setting up lights and getting us clean white towels - and that’s ok. We need to learn how to make the most of our time and avoid being known as a “difficult” band to work with. That label is really hard to shake once earned. So these are some of the unspoken rules that help you get ahead in the music business.

 

Let’s start with soundcheck.  

 

Singers, get your own mic and keep it simple and decent. Shure, Audix, EV - don’t use a cheap-o $29 microphone or anything that requires phantom power. Many mixing boards won’t have phantom power so make this easy for the soundperson. When you are doing your soundcheck - sing something. Sing something that you are going to sing in the set. Sing it with the same energy and volume you would during your set. Just saying “testing 1, 2, 3” will not let you know what your mic is going to sound like in the monitors and it won’t help the soundperson make you sound good in the front of the house. This all goes for anyone who sings, not just the lead singer. If your rhythm section also sings harmony, they need their own mics and proper sound checks too.

 

Simple stuff right? But did you know it before someone told you? I didn’t.

 

Same general idea goes for the guitar players. Having a “sound check” volume level and then a different “gig time” volume level is going to work against everyone because now you will be too loud in the mix and I know you want to crank that Boogie half stack but this room only seats 60 people and all of them are going to hate you if all they hear is your amp aimed right at them all night.  

 

Now you acoustic guys - you think you’re getting off easy just thinking “I don’t bring an amp, it’s not on me at all.” While that’s true about your volume level - it’s about time you got off your ass, got yourself a decent acoustic DI and stopped depending on the house to provide one. Get a DI that you learn how to operate. If it’s just a passive plug and play, that’s cool. If it has a bunch of knobs that allow sweepable mids and a notch filter - learn how it works. This is your craft, your sound. Learn it.  And for crissakes don’t go unplugging your guitar without giving the soundperson time to mute you - it makes a huge popping sound in the PA that is harmful to their system.

 

Bass players, most of you have your proverbial shit together but if the soundperson tells you your 8x10 is too loud and you are drowning out the band - the correct response is not “Cool.” Unless your name is Les Claypool - tuck in your ugly-ass shirt and turn the fuck down.  

 

Drummers have it the hardest - they typically have the most gear an the hardware bag has a hole in it where the hi hat stand keeps poking through and stabbing them in the side when they lift the bag out of the van. Drum heads are expensive and you’re expected to buy new heads to put on new drums, never mind the fact that you have to buy drum heads for the bottoms of the drums and never hit the damn things! (And yes, you really do need to replace drum heads occasionally!)

 

This next part is with love.

 

Soundperson: “Kick.”

Drummer: This is where you hit your kick drum. Play just a solid thump, thump, thump. Open quarter notes at 120 bpm that are solid and at the intensity that you will be playing at until the soundperson tells you…

Soundperson: “Snare.”

Drummer: Now you stop playing the kick drum and just do the same thing on the snare, quarter notes at about 120 bpm. If trying to remember what 120 bpm feels like is difficult, just sing along to the Cyndi Lauper song “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”, it’s at 120 bpm and it’s a good reference for drum check.

Repeat this for however many things have microphones on them and then -

Soundperson: “Can I hear a little bit of everything?”

 

THIS IS NOT YOUR CUE TO HIT EVERYTHING.

 

This is where the soundperson just wants to make sure they are getting a full mix of your drums and everything sounds balanced.  This is not “Drum Solo” time.

 

The best thing to play here is a simple beat of kick, snare, kick kick, snare for 2 or 3 measures, a small tom fill with a cymbal hit and then the same kick, snare, kick kick, snare but on the ride instead of the hi-hat.

 

Repeat until they say “Ok, we got it.”

 

If you blast into a double-kick cymbal-heavy freak out when you’re supposed to be soundchecking - you will hear the soundperson say “Ok, WE GOT IT!!” but they don’t got it, they just want you to STFU. You have also just pissed off the soundperson and now they don’t give a shit how your drums sound tonight or ever.

 

Keyboard/Kazoo/Pedal Steel/Banjo/Violin Player, for the most part your setup should be like the bass player’s. If you have stupid specific requirements for your setup, you should have all the necessary cables and connectors with you, don’t expect the club to have 4 extra DI’s for all your keyboards, a specific mic for your banjo or the ideal chair to play lap steel on.

 

Another important thing for everyone to remember; unless you are the one soundchecking - STFU.  No guitar noodling, no Seinfeld bass popping, no random drum hitting. Drum tuning should not be happening at this time either - small adjustments at the gig, sure but full on drum tuning - No. Guitars and basses should be silently tuned. No one wants to hear you tune up.

 

No one.

 

Ok, soundcheck is over, the set goes great, everyone digs you and it’s time to break down your gear. Now seems like a good time to address a thing often called “Lead Singer Syndrome” but other band members are not immune from it. LSS can strike any member of a band and a good way to battle it is with pre-gig communication and knowing your role. My wife plays bass and sings in our band. After a gig, she packs away her bass and while we handle the rest of the gear she picks up the mailing list and goes table to table or works the merch booth. This works for us. If everyone knows what is and isn’t expected of them before, during and after the gig - this makes for more harmonious bands.

 

If one of your band members needs help carrying their gear or coiling cables - help them. If someone in your band brought the PA, show up early and help them set it up and don’t leave the club while they are still breaking it down or loading it out to their car at the end of the night

 

Ok, quiz time. You just had a great show, you don’t know the other bands playing tonight - what should you do now? Do you:

 

A - Load your gear out to the car and go home - you know, work in the morning..

B - Start holding court with your fans right in front of the stage oblivious to the next band now playing 8 feet away.

C - Acknowledge your fans/friends and then become an appreciative audience member by sticking around and listening to the next band’s set.

 

Obviously the answer is C. Don’t be that guy that never listens to other bands or other folks in your own circle. If you stick around (and encourage your fans to stay as well!) you will help build support for your local scene, you will discover new music, your life will become more well-rounded, you may even make some new friends and your band will earn the respect of your local scene.

And THAT is how you get ahead in the music business.

Custom vs Off The Rack

The word "custom" has such a big cache behind it these days. It tells people that this item was made for me. In most cases it also carries a big price tag, especially with Guitars.

Now yes there are some production guitars called "Custom". PRS has their Custom 22 & 24, Gibson's Les Paul Custom has been a production instrument for over half a century. But getting factory to do anything out of their norm is a big deal.

I've worked in a Guitar factory in the mid 1990's, and doing special one off's, even just a different color, is a logistical nightmare. I've seen a guitar tagged for a special color, and even under the watchful eyes of supervisors though out the day, as soon as someone looks away, it gets lost and becomes another production guitar, or gets botched up in some way. Variants are not the friend of production back then. Now with modern production techniques and tracking, It shouldn't be anywhere near the nightmare I had to deal with.

Fender has a great feature on their website to custom build your own Strat, Tele, Jazzmaster, J bass or P Bass. You can basically pick the color, woods, finishes and some basic electronics packages. It's free, and at the same time it calculates the cost of this dream instrument. In most cases it can get expensive.

However it's a little weak on the options. Yes it can do the typical 3 single coil strat, or the SSH configuration, but what about some real customizing, like 2 Humbuckers, with a single tone control and a three way toggle? Or a Jazz Bass with a Precision pickup? Considering the technology it shouldn't be that difficult.

In the mid 1990's I also had my first experiences with the Fender Custom Shop. First off, I had my mitts on one custom Showmaster. in red, Black hardware, set neck, rosewood board, matching headstock, p90's. I passed on it. Yes there is a dent in my ass where I keep kicking myself. I came this close to getting it, but passed. The price wasn't that bad either. The guy that bought it plays around my area, and gets it serviced in the same shop, every now and then I see it. Thankfully it's not a case queen, its got dings and dents on it, but they're earned, because the owner plays it a lot!

 
Some master built Custom shop guitars have made it into my grubby hands even one of the $30K EVH Frankenstein replicas. Yes, they are amazing, but seem to have amazing price tags. I haven't pulled the trigger on any of those. Mostly because I think if you're going to want custom, I want to build it in my mind from the ground up first!

Take Converse sneakers for example, you can go to their website, and design a sneaker in a similar manner to the Fender website. Choose the colors and every piece of materials, stitching and rubber, and in less than 4 weeks they're on your feet. Nike and New Balance also offer this as well.

Carvin (now Keisel) used to have a full on production shop that handled custom orders as well. With CNC production it's a lot easier, and Keisel's pretty much has a "sky's the limit" attitude. I'd like to see Fender take that model of custom making any variant. Even something as simple as a reverse headstock on a Tele shouldn't be a big deal.

G&L pretty much offers up everything. You want a 2 humbucker Legacy or S-500, with a reverse headstock, no beveled edges, and a stop tail. Done! You will pay for these options, but I've recently priced out one of their Doheney Offset guitars and even with some custom options it was far less than what Fender would charge for their stock top of the line  (non custom shop) Jazzmaster.

look at the image of the Jazzmaster at the top of this post. I created this version with Fender's design it yourself program. Now look at the images below on the Custom G&L Doheney.

There are tons of options, neck shape, matching headstock, inlays, body colors. Yes they're not free options, but I'm fine with that! I'll pay for it, just shut up and take my money!
 
A truly custom guitar would be one where every facet could be decided by the owner, guided by the builder. Recently I checked out Creston Guitars in Vermont and he has a great approach: he has a list of things he does well, and he prefers (top loading bridges for example) but it appears he'll work with a customer to really make something cool. He lists his prices as "Seldom less than $2500, usually not more than $3000ish. Sometimes a lot more". That seems reasonable. he follows a lot of traditional electric guitar designs that aren't too retro or way to futuristic.

Danocaster has a similar approach and start around the same price. The usual flavours are there, Strat-ish, Tele-ish, Offset-ish, you get the idea. The custom end comes from how far can you take it and have it still be a traditional guitar. His prices are in the $2500ish range as well.

So when you add it all up, when a big company has a "custom" section, what are you really paying for/getting when the options are limited?

Trading Places - Boss ME-70

So I did a trade recently, a Set of EMG 81 & 85 Pickups, for a Boss ME-70 Multi effects unit.

It was made in 2008, and while it's hard for me to wrap my head around the fact 2008 was 10 years ago, It's still very contemporary. All analog style knob controls. A full preamp, with varying amp models, Overdrives, modulations, delays reverbs, a looper, expression pedal. They were selling used at $170. I thought this might be a great pedal to use for my acoustic band. I could have a boost, delay, reverb and modulation in one simple box. Even better is it runs off of a standard Boss 9v power supply or a bank of AA batteries 

There's no Midi, or digital editing situation, just a bank of knobs, some footswitches and an expression pedal. Set them where you like them, hit one button twice, and it saves it to one of the footswitches. each bank, has 4 recallable effect and amp configurations, and if needed, can go into manual mode, turning on or off each individual effect.

I downloaded the manual from Boss's website and thankfully the English version of the manual is only 20 pages and It was super easy to edit. It's pretty easy to navigate, and work with. No layered menus and parameters. You want more bass, turn up the bass knob. It's pretty simple. I won't walk you through every facet of this, but for a unit made 10 years ago, it's still pretty contemporary. Yes the amp models and overdrives are a bit much for my tastes, but with some tweaking they are acceptable. They're kind of like the boss cube stuff. Not bad, but a little extreme sounding and over the top, and getting some natural tones, especially with headphones is kind of tough. But the headphone out is great for home practicing as well as an interface to a DAW. I really like the ambient tones, and it delivers some great chorus-y,reverb-y, delay-ish sounds that are really nice and spacious without a lot of tweaking.

I've used it at a practice for my acoustic cover band, it does the trick; boost, reverb, delay and some modulation for some nice imaging.

I'm planning on making a bank for acoustic:

1 - Reverb only
2 - Chrous, Reverb & Delay
3 - Chorus, Reverb, Delay, compression with a boost
4 - Dry with Compression and boost

And of course one for electric:

1 - Clean, with compression
2 - Clean with Chorus, Reverb & Delay
3 - Semi dirty, rhythm sound, with slight reverb
4 - Dirty, Lead tone, with reverb

Now there are multiple banks I can assign 4 presets to, but at this point these are the core versions that are applicable to my tastes/needs.

However, One really interesting patch I designed is really wild with come compression, a octave shift down, and some slight modulation and delay. It's kind of a modern Jack White kind of thing and It tracks very well overall, especially with a bridge pickup. Even my Mustang brings some mean low end. It's nice to get something extreme without a lot of pedals, cost wise and actually laying out all those kind of individual stompboxes for just one sound can be a pain, never mind the signal to noise ratio.

It also easily fits in my Timbuk2 backpack, so bringing it to gigs or to a friends place to jam isn't a big deal.

Overall it was a good trade, and will be a useful tool for my cover band, as well as a decent home demo and recording device. It's not super sexy or trendy, like one of the Headrush, Line6 Helix or even a Kemper, but it's a fraction of the cost and with it's ease of use, and the cost I really can't beat it. I recently gave my Line 6 Pod Pro HD to my cousin, and while I really liked that unit, editing was kind of a pain. It'll get a lot more use out of the ME-70 overall, and was a great and easy deal.

I've included a quick track/video I did with the Me-70. Nothing crazy or anything, I just banged both the audio and video out in a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon. I didn't really want to go crazy with the lead guitar/melody track, as I have some other ideas for it. the guitar I did it with was a neat Traveler Guitar I had for review this month. I'll have a review of this neat guitar in an upcoming in an issue of Performer Magazine (www.performermag.com)

Enjoy!

Sessions

Pretty much all of the time I spend on musical stuff, is my own material, my band’s stuff, or at the least a something I’m invested into for long term. I don’t often work on other people’s musical projects. Last year I was asked to help out on something and I wanted to share it with you. It’s not specifically guitar related, but more of an overview of the recording process, and how it related to my guitar playing.

My singer, Rob, has a really nice studio. Since I've known him, which is approaching 2 decades, he has always done his own recordings, and we’ve done about 8 official recordings for the bands we’ve been in together. He’s also done a lot of recordings for other artists. In most cases these projects usually have their own dedicated guitarist, so I’m usually not involved in those adventures.

However Rob was approached for an interesting project. A local author, Tony McMillen, had a book coming out, and it’s centered on the bass player of a fictional band, named Frivolous Black. The band is supposed to be very “Black Sabbath” esque. Tony had 2 songs he wanted to be available to download, as a companion piece to the book. Rob asked me if I wanted to play some lead guitar on it, and I was flattered.

Tony came down one night, and Rob set him up to play some rhythm guitar. After dialing in a great dirty rhythm guitar tone, using Rob’s Fender Hot rod Deluxe and Rat Pedal, Tony jammed along to a click track, outlining the song. Afterwards Tony did some vocal takes for reference.

Anytime when I record at home, especially when doing instrumental parts, I like to have a cue to signal a change is coming to the next part. It may not end up in the mix, but it’ll help me keep the flow. Tony’s vocal takes helped a lot in this manner.

Rob & I gathered on another night to map out some stuff that would help out the recordings in the future; arrangement tracks, as well as some clean-up. Some guitar parts had to be moved around, just to get them to line up more with the beat. It’s a lot of tedious stuff, but it makes adding other tracks in later easier if the source tracks are nice and tight with the beat. Rob ended up doing some rhythm guitar tracks to compensate and adjust for some glitches that sometimes occur when moving stuff around. It could have been done through cut and pasting, but it was easier, time wise, to do it this way.

The next session was Drums. Rob’s wife, Tia, plays drums in our original band “The Goodbye Theory”. Her style was a good choice for this 70’s heavy rock feel. They set up some mics on her drum kit one evening, and on the next day started to track her drum parts. Since everything was now aligned to a click track, all she had to do was play along to the Rhythm guitar and vocal tracks.

In the past we would try to track the drums, while putting down a rhythm guitar scratch track, and vocal scratch track at the same time. About 2 years ago we switched it the other way around. This gives the drummer a consistent backing track to play to, with cues. So far we’ve been able to do a couple of EP’s as well as other demo’s and recordings and get some great tracks this way. In a couple of hours Tia was done.

The next session our bassist, Jen did her bass parts. I had gotten some Ampeg Bass pedals, and we fooled around with them. The Fuzz bass pedal was nice, but a bit over the top. It was more Motorhead than Sabbath, so we used their bass preamp pedal, rather than a fuzz, and it gave that warm tone, with just a bit of grit.

After that it was up to me. I got one of Joyo’s “Californian” pedals for xmas that year. It’s basically a knock off of Tech 21’s Boogie DI pedal. We ran that into the DAW, and the only other effect I used was my Vox Wah. Tony had requested the feel of Faries wear boots by Sabbath. Thankfully My Wah pedal still worked. It hadn’t been on my board for a long time. One issue came up though: one of the songs didn’t really have a “solo” break, just a few parts between the choruses and verses. I put some stuff in those spots, each time playing a similar line that varied a bit. I tried to imagine 70’s Birmingham.

Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi lost his fretting hand’s finger tips just before they were to get signed, in a machine shop accident. Once he healed up, De-tuning his guitar to C# with light gauge strings, and some rudimentary fingertip prosthetics enabled him to play. I can certainly see how that made them sound different, and I tried to capture some of that. Slower guitar parts, bigger notes, not a lot of flash.

The next session Tony came up to add some rhythm guitar tracks and vocals to the completed bits. It’s a lot easier to play along to an actual backing track than a click track, and it certainly worked, bringing a lot more of the 70’s feel to it, while reacting off of a real rhythm section.

I showed up to this session, and brought my lil rig again, just in case he wanted something extra. It was a good idea, as he had me do some extra bits on both songs, as it’s his project, and I’m there to help bring his idea to life. I listened to some of his vocal takes, and he did some doubling that captured the essence of the early 1970’s in England’s industrial area. He doesn’t SOUND like Ozzy, but he really nailed that feel and color that comes to mind.

At this point I was done, and as always it falls on to Rob to sift through and mix. It’s not the most exciting part to me, it takes a trained ear, and a lot of perspective to deliver a great mix. it can be a lot of work, not just getting levels, but making sure the EQ of each instrument doesn’t intrude on another. Even more daunting is making this have the feel and approach of a 70’s British proto-metal band. My hat’s always off to him in this arena.

Overall it was a fun project to work on. I never knew Tony before this so, it certainly adds to any stress of “am I giving this guy what he wants?” element. Thankfully I have worked with everyone else before, so that eased things a bit.

Here’s a link to Tony’s book, and a link to the tracks we did.

LINK - Book

LINK - Music

I don’t think this project will turn me into a session player like Steve Lukather, or Mike Landau, but it was fun working with Tony, as well as going a bit outside of my comfort zone.

Gigging Practically

 

 

 

So we have a gig coming up, Saturday, March 17th at the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston. It's been a long time since my original band, The Goodbye Theory has had a show, February of 2015. It was right in the middle of a series of blizzards and snowstorms that dumped about 5 feet of snow in less than a week. Climbing the snowbanks with my gear, felt like I was climbing Everest.

 So I'm boiling down everything to what I really need to bring to a show. My pedalboard usually has a couple of drive pedals and a boost, and some odd noise making device like a Sub N up, Synth 9 or some filtery pedal. Stuff that I like to have, but yet haven't found a place for in my bands tunes yet. My bandmates  gives me an "oh really" look whenever I try to find a way to get that into a song, especially the B3 organ sound. I know it's out of love though. As much as i Love gear, and all the extra tones I love to have access too, practicality wins out. I'll have 15 minutes to get my stuff on stage, get it running, and 40 minutes to play through some post-2000's rock music. I need a rhythm sound that works with a boost, and a way to engage my chorus and delay for some parts that require some ambience. That chorus and delay probably only gets used 3 times in a set, depending on the songs in it. As orgasmic it is to have a pedalboard with all that other stuff on it like my EHX Synth 9, or TC, or extra drive choices, this is going to be down and dirty.Overall, it's less stuff to go wrong. How much gear do I really need for less than 3/4 of an hour's of music?

2 Guitars are coming along for this, as I have a need for a drop D guitar for certain songs. In the 3 years Since our last gig, I've gotten some new guitars, and while I do love them, I'm planning on taking my tried and true PRS's to the gig. They both play well, and their sounds compliment each other in the set. I was planning on bringing my Fender Mustang, but the 24" short scale compared to the 25" long scale is pretty wild, especially if I'm playing them both in the same set!

Right now the most important item I'm planning on bringing is a Guitar stand, Yeah I'm looking for a Dual electric one. It's no longer a good idea to have a guitar resting against an amp, waiting to slide off and go smash on the floor.I've been to gigs where I've seen that happen to other musicians, and it's not pretty.

I always seem to forget something when I finally get to a gig. A cable or something like that, nothing that would stop me in my tracks. The singer for one of my old bands once forgot his guitar amp, but that's another story..