The Quest for Good Guitar Tone

For this weeks post, I just wanted to let you all know that I finally received my pedalboard power supply. They are finally available!

It is called the Sanyo KBC-9V3U Pedal Juice—a pretty fancy name for something that does something so well and so simply.

This is one of those inventions that was sooo long overdue, one of those “Why didn’t someone think of that years ago?” kind of products.

And it works like a charm. It is a handsome little pedal slightly bigger than a phase 90 that charges in about 3.5 hours. This pedal keeps you free from wall-warts and batteries and extra things to plug in.

Also a plus, at little more than a 1/2 lb, this pedal weighs in at less than the average pedal, so no worries about adding too many extra pounds to your pedal-board.

While charging a small flashing LED informs you of the rate of progress:

Flashing RED: less than 30%
Flashing ORANGE: 30-60%
Flashing GREEN: 60% or more
LED OFF: Fully charged

When the power supply is being used to power your board, the light is steady but the RED ORANGE and GREEN colors indicate the same power status. It has a power switch that comes on with a touch, but needs to be held for a couple of seconds to switch off…no risk of accidental power downs with this bad boy! Well thought out.

So I am sure many of you have questions on how long the power supply will last…well it powered my small pedalboard (see Pedalboards Part 1 and Part 2) for a couple of practice sessions lasting a couple hours or so each, then for for a 6-7 hour recording session, and then a couple more days of practicing for a couple of hours before finally shutting down!…not bad in my book…here is a list that Sanyo provided of some devices and the approximate time that your Sanyo Eneloop pedal with provide power on a single charge.

Analog Effects: Distortion/Overdrive (10mA current draw) 50 hours
Digital Delay/Digital Reverb (50mA current draw) 27 hours
Digital Multiple Effects/mini amplifier/graphic digital multiple effects/graphic EQ (100mA draw) 17 hours
Muti-Trac recorder/synthesizer (300 mA draw) 7 hours
Electronic Drum/percussion instrument (1000mA draw) 2 hours

Powered by a Lithium-ion battery, the unit charges with a provided 5v power supply plugged into a dummy-proof input plug (no mixing up the 5v ins and the 9v outs here), and has 2- 9v center tip negative outputs to power your pedalboard.

The unit is not to be charged while supplying power to your pedalboard and when the output of the two 9v plugs exceeds 2A, the unit will shut down but that is quite a bit in pedal speak, so more than enough for most of us. And if needed, you can always have 2 to power an oversized board.

So there is a good amount of hi-tech safety in this product. Most importantly there is no memory issue with it, so no needing to drain fully before recharging etc etc . And, of course, the charge time will be less than the estimated 3.5 hours, if there is any residual power left from the last charge…

So charge up fully before each gig and you will be more than guaranteed good clean safe hum-free power through your show…and then maybe a (some) day(s) of rehearsing afterwards…of course, be careful to check the power reqs on your pedals before doing your show…I used mine at home for a few days before confidently taking it into a pro recording session. But it really did make everything much easier: just plug the amp in, and then the guitar into the pedals into the amp..no extra chords.

I am loving this pedal…it does everything I was trying to design into my prototype (see pictures of my home made rechargeable power supply) except it is a lot more hi-tech and certainly a lot prettier…

Check out the KBC-9V3U Pedal Juice on Sayno’s site.

This post I will discuss some of the whys and wonders of the non-buffered effects loop. If any of you want to chime in with more in the way of technical details, etc, please feel free to add comments, it will be helpful for those who need to hear more about dB’s and volts.

For the most part, I will keep this post in layman’s terms…best for me too, because when I start trying to rap my brain around some of this stuff, I get a headache! Just wanna play my guitar…

So here is the scenario: You finally get your D-style (or otherwise) amp and you might have opted out of the reverb option or the buffered effects loop (pedal level) due to the additional expense.

However when you plug your pedals into the non-buffered loop, the amp sounds anemic, low in volume and you dreams of a sprinkling of cool effects on your expensive investment, seem to fall short of  tonal heaven.

Then someone comes and tells you about a device called a Dumble-ator, or clone thereof, such as a Loop-a-lator by Bludotone, or the Kleinu-lator by Ceriatone, or the ELI 1/2 by Two Rock.

Well these units for sure will remedy the problem. But that means another piece of gear that you have to carry around, to your gigs more power chords to plug in to AC, more 1/4 inch plugs to plug in (twice!)  to the amp and then a few more knobs to tweak. NO MORE KNOBS… Arrrrrghgggh!!

Then someone else tell you they just use pedals through the front of the amp that will work great….What? Why? Which?

First off, most of these hi-end Dumble amps and clones come standard with a passive, +4 signal level effects loop.

In layman’s terms (based on information that my engineer copied and emailed to me after my begging for simplicity on the subject!)  +4 is the “pro” signal level – the level that high quality units expect to see, otherwise referred to as “line level”. Cable connectors for this type of signal are usually XLR (like mic cables) or TRS – which are like guitar cables except they have Tip/Ring/Sleeve balanced connection (an extra stripe on the plug) as opposed to instrument cables which are usually just Tip-Sleeve and unbalanced.

The alternative to +4 level is -10, which is the consumer or semi-pro standard. These connections are almost always unbalanced, and you need to maintain shorter cable lengths to avoid hum, buzz, radio interference, and signal degradation -  compared to good balanced line level cables (+4) can be run for a couple of hundred feet. The connectors on -10 equipment are either 1/4″ guitar/instrument cables, or RCA plugs and jacks (like you see on a home stereo). Note that on many of these D-clones, the effects loop, even though it is +4 line level, will often have simple 1/4 inch guitar jacks for ins and outs. This is still compatible with the effect unit, even the the effect unit might have the TRS (ring-tip-sleeve). Both have 1/4″ guitar jack connections.

So in a nutshell, if you use a guitar level pedal (unbalanced) with your D-Style effects loop, there is a mismatch in signal level, hence the anemic tone that you might experience. What is the solution?? Well… there is the Dumble-ator, or clone thereof, of which we spoke earlier. This device, about the size of a single space rack unit or smaller, is the missing link that will correct this signal level disparity and restore your full tone. Depending on the model, it might also allow you to add in the appropriate and matched level of effect in parallel.

These loop devices essentially allow you to match the signal of the output and input of your amplifier effects loop with the signal of the effect device that you are using, whether balanced or unbalanced, +4 or -10. Of course, if the effects unit that you are using has the line level option, then you probably do not need them! (Unless you like the extra work of pluggin stuff in and having and more knobs and  stuff to tweak!)

An amp that comes with a buffered effects loop, essentially has a built in Dumble-ator or maybe it is the other way around…a dumble-ator is essentially the workings of an amp that make the loop “buffered” except it exists outside of the amp. hmmmm….I guess the reasons for this unit being separate might be a few…

a) amp is cheaper and possibly quicker to make (some of these boutique babies have 2-3 year or more waiting lists!!
b) less “stuff in the amp, so it can be smaller and lighter, and in simple terms, less complicated technically, maybe even a little quieter.
c) If you are going to be using hi-quality studio grade +4 effects, a buffered loop it is really not needed.
d) Certain effects (other than delay and reverb) can simply go through the front of the amp, especially if your amp does not have an OD switchable channel

Most floor guitar effect pedals run inputs and outputs at the unbalanced level.  And today most effects loops on non-boutique/mainstream amps are buffered. However, increasingly,  we are finding manufacturers catering to the avid, growing population of folks owning high end boutique amps that come ready with a +4 loop, ready for studio hi-quality studio grade effects.

TC Electronics seems to be on the wave of this trend with products such as their Nova System and Nova Repeater pedals. (Click on the images below to enlarge.)

Some other boutique manufacturers such as Fuchs also create some options for +4 effect loopers. Andy Fuchs makes a very interesting pedal called a Verbrator which has High Quality Tube Reverb along with what amounts to a built in tube (Dumble-ator) effects loop. This comes in a relatively small pedal sized packaged. Check this one out if you get a minute.

There are many rack units that offer this option, and few floor pedals that do. If there are any of you that are hip to any other high quality floor pedal manufacturers that are offering the line-level option, please list in the comments section of this post. I like small, light and not too many knobs!!

Now some of you might be just thinking well why not just plug in through the front of the amp? Why not use whatever effects you have after the guitar before the amp.

Well, the answer to that is…hmmm..why not? Well I guess the most appropriate place for certain types of effects is after the preamp and tone-stack and before the power amp (Through the effects loop). If your amp has an OD channel, as do most D-Style amps, and you plug your delay through the front of the amp, when you hit your OD footswitch you will be OD-ing your delay sound…Well…that can be an interesting effect, but most agree that delay will sound better AFTER the signal has been overdriven. Effects such as delay, reverb sound best through the loop.

If your amp does not have an OD channel, the placement of effects in the chain, might be a little less crucial, since you are probably either turning up and cranking the amp or maybe using an overdrive pedal or boost to get your “up to eleven” sound.

I will say that I think a high quality effect unit, whether reverb, delay or otherwise (or some combination of these) sounds HEAVENLY through a +4 effects loop. Essentially there is no added noise and your amp will take on a 3-D quality.

Depending on your set up and pedal choices, it might makes sense to get a buffered effects loop at the time of purchase of your D-Style amp. It will probably add expense and a little weight to your rig.

Many manufacturers of these D-Clone babies don’t offer the buffered loop as an option. My personal optimal preference might be to just use this +4 effects loop with an effect that is hi-quality line level. Seems that way you carry the least amount of stuff to the gig.  (Especially considering more pedal manufacturers are making this line level an option on their pedals, sometimes with just a flick of a switch.)

Please share your thoughts and experiences with this… Happy Looping!

The response to the last post was so enthusiastic, that I wanted to follow up with some more related pedalboard stuff and also post some detailed photos.

The first topic is the Trailer Trash Pedalboard Pro Series, that I mentioned briefly in my last post.

This is one I tricked out myself, using a Marinco inlet for AC leading to 2 T-Rex Fuel Tank Junior power supplies (5- 9v power outputs on each) provided power for 10- 9v pedals. These are velcro’d to the bottom of the board.

Of course, if you don’t know anything about electricity, please get a tech to wire it up for you… Don’t try this at home, kinda thing. But even for me, it was pretty easy to match green black and white wires to get what I needed for power. For a power chord from the wall, I just got an extension chord and attached the matching Marinco outlet that fits right into the inlet on the side of the board. In a pinch you can use any extension cord available since the housing is larger than most outlet plugs.

I also added some 1/4 inch input jacks on the right side of the board and soldered them to a couple of George L cables to feed through to the first and last pedal (just drill a hole through the bottom and attach a George L plug to the cable on the top side of the board). That way, you can just have the board wired up ready to go..all you have to do is plug a guitar in and a cable out to your amp.

This is a very practical approach to getting a board that would otherwise be quite expensive. And, of course, you have some options with the wiring and power supplies, depending on power requirements for your pedals.

This board is essentially the same as my other custom Trailer Trash Board (Though not as pretty! ahem!) Here are the photos.. you get the idea…

To follow up to some requests for more info on my other pedalboard, I am posting some photos of the latest incarnation of the Pedal Train Mini board.

My new recent addition is the Morley Mini Wah…Now!…finally a great sounding wah that does not take up most of the board. I am totally in love with the sound! It is just the right amount of traditional in most of the sweep, then at the end it gets really synth like and contemporary sounding. My favorite wah so far! Can’t beat the footprint for sure..!

Here are the photos:

The signal path is as follows:

1) Korg Pitch Black Tuner
2) Cusack Screamer
3) Morley Mini Wah
4) Love Pedal Magicboy Vibe
5) Dark Echo Delay
6) Fulltone Fatboost

This mini board has become my go-to board. Light, portable, sounds great, no noise! With this board, I can basically get pretty much what I get from my larger board (pictured in the previous post), but I only need a fraction of the floor space and no power chord/wall wart needed. I am very very happy with this board.

I also want to let you all know a little more about the power supply I built for this mini board.  Here is one of the responses I wrote about the description of the power supply. I decided to put it in the body of a post so everyone can benefit:

The rechargeable power supply is really simple..with the help of my good friend who is an amp tech genius, we built a prototype with regular 9v batteries and tested it for a few weeks, measuring the voltage each day, while it powered a couple of pedals. I was amazed that it worked so well for so long (7 days continuously), and that it was impossible to find a product like this anywhere, even one that just allowed you to use non-recharge-ables in parallel.

So then I refined it in the next box that I built myself. I use 5 Li-Poly batteries in parallel and it works like a charm to power the whole board for a few gigs…I wired them into a aluminum project box the size of a phase 90. 5-9v Li-Poly batteries fit perfectly with a little organizing of the wires before you solder them together and then shrink wrap them.

The only part that is a little bit of a  drag is that I take them out to use a special fast charger (about 45 min)…but I only do that, say once per week, and I play the board every night for the most part for a couple of hours. The good thing about Li-Poly is there is no memory problems….so I always charge them up to full right before an important gig regardless of when the last time was they were charged…..my next project would be to figure out how to fast-charge them while they are still housed in the box, which I am sure is easy, but I have not gotten around to it yet.

In my upcoming post, I will write about a pedal manufacturer who is making this Li-Poly recharge option available with his amazing pedal. His pedal actually charges with any regular 9v power supply. It is one of those ”How come someone has not thought of this yet?!!! ” kinda things.

Well there is a big company that is jumping on board with this concept, which is why I did not bother to try to go into manufacturing rechargeable power supplies after I refined and proved the concept.

I found out a few months after I made my power supply that SANYO is starting to make a product called an eneloop pedal power supply which is basically what I have made with a couple of extras. A company like SANYO can use their existing tech infrastructure to make what sounds like a great product at a great price (something like 160.00 or so). The 9v Li-Poly batteries are not cheap, at something like 20 each, so a small boutique manufacturer could not possible keep up and still make a profit.

But the SANYO product, from what I have seen, looks good and has battery strength indicator lights..I am waiting for it to hit the market. It was at the last Namm. I may even get one myself!

Here are pictures of my power supply: The stickers are just something I had lying around…my Independent Music Award Stickers! Putting them to good use!

I get a  lot of questions about the power supply when I play live…

Happy Pedal-boarding!

This post I am going to talk a little about my experiences with owning too many different makes and sizes of pedalboards and the 2 boards I have finally settled on as best for me and for folks that have similar gig lives. So you finally get some of the sounds you like, and you need to organize them in a fashion that creates smooth accessibility and convenience, together with a quick set-up time.

For those of you who are like me, there is no such thing as a multi-effect unit (Why doesn’t someone make a boutique handmade custom multi effects unit? There is an idea!) and when you play, you have to string your collection of boutique pedals in the order you see fit for your gig life. The phone rings and you are playing gigs across the board. One day you are a sideman, the other you are the only act for the night, and you have all the time in the world to set up for your evenings 2 sets. On another day you are one of the 10 acts at a festival where you have 10 minutes tops on either side of your show to plug in and plug out. (And hope that everything sounds the way it sounded at the rehearsal space!)

It is hardly practical to carry a string of pedals connected by loops of cable and power connectors and expect everything to fall into place while the stage manager is giving you the 5 finger 5 minute warning sign.

So through the years after trying a lot of pedal boards and I have come up with 2 that work for me and I will share the reasons why.

The first is the ultimate and I think, quite frankly the best:

One year, about 5 years ago, I literally stumbled across the Trailer Trash Pedalboard website while surfing the web, looking for a manufacturer who might have their sights on making the real deal. It was like a light at the end of a long and frustrating tunnel. Prior, I had spent mucho time making, buying trying, plugging in, ripping apart, cutting, setttling. I had a box filled with Velcro attachments and plugs and cables that were just for pedalboard-related geeking.

I decided that my requirements were:

1. Must be light!! Too many years of carrying around a pedalboard that was the weight of an amp!

2. Power supply must be underneath: Well… it only makes sense, use the top for the pedals! Best use of real estate!

3. Must allow me to wire up from underneath: Well I guess that is just an esthetic thing..no clutter.

4. Velcro!!! Must allow me to easily change pedals..hey, what was I going to do with that box of bulk velcro in my closet? In addition, there just might the rare, rare, chance that I find another pedal that I like that I want to add to the mix… right? (Ok… Usually once a month… I confess… but it happens very rarely now!)

5. Must have a gig bag with a handle and a carry strap. For the average sideman gig, my guitar is on my back, my pedalboard is in my left hand and my amp in my right. If I park far from where I play, I dolly the amp, depending on size. No road case for the pedalboard for me! Working musicians don’t need more to carry!

6. Must be angled. Easier access to the pedals on top.

Trailer Trash Pedalboards pretty much sealed the deal for me… It really is unlikely to find lighter and still be able to stand and dance on it… Rooster (the owner) makes an amazing product and does any number of custom options. Of course the custom options are simply the icing on the cake but the basic construction is as rock solid as it gets. His custom work is spectacular, anything from boards that match your amplifier finish to boards that have lighting, various shapes and sizes and materials. In addition, if you know what you are using for pedals and have been using the same set-up for a long time, you can have Rooster do the entire custom wiring and installation for the whole board. Just send your pedals. and voila, back comes your baby. No job is too small or too large.

With my board, I option for installation of the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power Plus under the unit. I have an input and an output on the right side; 2 Neutrik connectors that lock your cables in… no tripping up on a cable and pulling out or damaging the inputs. The board plugs directly into the wall via a power inlet on the right side. In the event of losing or having problems with the power cable, I can run to the corner store and grab a generic power extension cord and make it through the gig. No proprietary stuff here.

I also opted for a courtesy power outlet on the left side of the board, so if I have a pedal that needs a wall wart, I can just use the power on the side of the board to make it through the gig. Of course, if I were using one permanently, I would install the wart under the board. It would be a rarity, since one of my recs for pedals that make it to my board is that they use standard 9v battery or DC… just my thing. I can even plug my board into the wall and use the courtesy plug to run my amp, in the rare situation where there is only one AC input on my side of the stage.

For those of your that are working on a budget and to whom the thought of custom pricing makes you recoil, consider Rooster’s budget version of the Trailer Trash Board for around $150. This is the same basic foundation for the custom board, but you can trick it out yourself! You don’t need to know much about wiring to drill a few holes to run some cable and to install an inlet yourself that you can buy either on line or at your local supply store. Use velcro to install your power supply under the board, and voila, you have the same reliability and rock solid performance in the pedalboard that I have. There is something for every pro musician at the Trailer Trash website… You wont regret it!!!

I highly recommend George L cables for all your connection needs. They are solderless and deliver much better audio quality to my ears than many of the other high priced cable options that seem to have cropped up in the past few years. I have done many A/B blindfold tests with many folks who instantly hear the difference in audio quality.  George L has pre-packaged pedalboard kits with cable and plugs that you can custom fit to whatever your pedalboard requirements might be. The cables are small enough that you can drill very small holes in your Trailer Trash Pedalboard and wire your entire board from below, keeping the top free from all clutter.

There are many pedal power supply companies that make great products. I use the Voodoo Lab Power Plus pedal power unit and it is quite sturdy and reliable and has a few different power options in addition to Sag (low battery) control. However it does add a little weight, so if you are a simply pedal user and all of your pedals require 9v only, then you can get away with a smaller budget 1 Spot Pedal Power Supply unit This works like a charm!

For those of your who are wondering what my pedal choices are in the photos and what the signal path is:

1. Guitar into Neutrik input on the Trailer Trash Pedalboard: Locked solid!

2. Neutrik into
a) Ethos Overdrive for normal use
b) momentary use with a Samson Airline Wireless if I decide for this song I am playing, I will solo and walk out into the crowd or maybe crowd surf..yknow..showmanship stuff but I usually plug back directly after this visual  effect, since there is nothing like the real thing when it comes to signal path!

3. Lovepedal Babyface Mini Tremolo. (After I saw Oz doing his thing, I had to get a tremolo that could chop the wave! Thanks Oz…) I use it here for interesting choppy sounds with OD or just with clean rhythm.

4. Wah Wah Crybaby 95Q: So I can Wah my OD solo sound. I use the 95Q because it is switchless and I need to get back to singing instead of figuring out if I turned my wah off correctly, no not true bypass, but hey, works fine. Sounds great with a volume boost too.

5. Envelope Filter: Electro harmonix Micro Q-Tron (simply the fattest sounding and easiest to use… I sold my original Mu-Tron III when I bought this!)

6. Fulltone Deja-Vibe: Well the original Uni-Vibe is too large and too expensive. Fulltone makes a great product. (See my previous post about the Jetter Gear Vibe for an even smaller alternative that sounds great too. I use that in my mini pedalboard.)

7. Korg Pitch Black Tuner: True Bypass, for whatever it’s worth, so It does not really matter where this goes in the chain for me. As long as it shuts everything off when I tune. Hey, after seeing the Vin Diesel movie with the same name, I had to get this…oh, btw way…it really is a great pedal and the display options are amazing…probably visible for miles…)

8. Tuner into Neutrik output under the board to the Amp.

So that’s it for my dream pedalboard rig. I have a velcro top custom board, with a vintage wheat grill cloth that matched one of the Groove Tube Amps I used to use. George L connectors and power connectors from the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power Plus unit, that is fixed under the board. The connectors snake through the two openings at the top of the board. I have had this set up for some time now and it feels pretty permanent, so at some point, I will permanently wire everything from under the board!

I am also posting a photo of my Baby Pedalboard. This is the Pedaltrain Mini. This is one for really quick gigs where I want the basics, usually for side-man gigs that don’t require much in the way of effects, so this board has a basic coloring pedal line up. Simple and battery operated, I can throw this on the floor and be up and running in 10 seconds.

Here is the signal path on this one.

1. Korg Pitch Black.

2. Cusack Screamer Version 2.

3. Lovepedal MagicBoy Vibe.

4. Dark Echo Analog signal path, Digital Echo (really lush). See previous post for a review on this one!!

5. Fulltone Fatboost.

I use a rechargeable 9v power supply that I built specifically for this board (pictured second from the left). It lasts for about 2 weeks, playing it for a couple hours each night.

Happy Pedalboarding!!!

This post I am going to spotlight a very cool pedal that I recently acquired: the Jetter Gear Vibe. We cover the vibe effect in my online course, Funk/Rock and R&B Guitar Soloing, and I give a little video demo of my larger pedal board components for the on-line students.

Some consider the original uni-vibe the “best.” Of course, finding the “best” vibe pedal if you don’t have the big bucks needed to get an original can be a challenge. But I have found that you don’t have to compromise your need for good tone just because you are budgeting for meals in addition to pedals… and “best” is a term that is purely subjective when dealing with effect pedals. Beyond a certain quality of manufacturing, “different” might be a more appropriate word.

Every vibe I have tried seems to have a fundamentally different character. Of course, the combination of many other variables can add worlds of other possibilites… the pickups on your guitar, placement in the effects chain, the amp, the speakers, the patch chords, the list goes on and on.

I tried testing the Jetter Gear Vibe through a number of configurations and I loved it through everything. This pedal is, without a doubt, the smallest true four-stage light driven ciruit. This pedal fits in the palm of you hand! It is SMALLER than a phase 90!

Features a solid, sturdy construction, beautiful artwork, and will even run on a 9v battery for about an hour if you need it to in a pinch. The two knobs control rate and intensity/depth. Although I wish it had a volume control to compensate for the apparent reduction in signal that happens with most pedals that deliver chorus-like effects, I was able to dial in unity gain sounds that made me very very happy; especially when compared to larger vibe pedals and when considering the small amount of pedal board real estate that that the Jetter Vibe demands. Tones from fat and lush to subtle and warm were within a few small tweak between the two knobs. I found the depth-intensity to be quite sensitive and the range ran the gamut from a subtle chorus to full on intense vibe throb.

The Jetter Gear Vibe retails for around $229 and I think it is worth every penny. I have recently outfitted a small pedalboard with a number of high quality smaller pedals for gigs where I don’t have much time to set much up. It is actually a big relief to travel with a small pedalboard that gets me some of the big sounds I need without the back-ache. The convenience of the Jetter Vibe with the powerful tone it gives is unmatched!

As I get older, (in addition to good tone) portability and ease of use weighs in high on the criteria for a pedal making it to my pedalboard and the Jetter Vibe wins on ALL fronts!

Here are some of the product highlights from the website:

THE JETTER GEAR VIBE

1. True four-stage classic light driven circuit. Each stage is electrically matched.
2. Each unit individually calibrated for consistent performance.
3. Modern circuit interpretation that retains the critical aspects of the classic vibe.
4. High input impedance — it will not load down your guitar signal.
5. Unity gain output — no fooling around with a volume control.
6. Custom voicing circuit provides a sweet, liquid tone.
7. The smallest four-stage vibe that is pedalboard friendly.
8. True Bypass
9. Operates on any high quality 9V power supply such as the Boss PSA-120, Voodoo Lab Pedal Power, or the Visual Sound 1-Spot.
10. It will work with a 9V battery (not included) for up to one hour — it can get you through a set in a pinch.
11. Custom, USA, made steel enclosure with fully welded seams.
12. Hand built in the USA with the highest quality components—no SMD technology!
13. Pulsing status LED that indicates Intensity as well as Rate.

Don’t you think it is interesting that most vibe demos sooner or later, play a lick or song from Band of Gypsies? The Gold Standard!!!

Check out my new video review of the Blackstone Mosfet 2SV3 pedal.

This is a great companion to the written review of the pedal, which I posted back in January.

This post I am going to let you know of two little known secrets: The Groove Tube Soul-O 45 and the Groove Tubes SFX100/SFX Spacestation.

The truth is Groove Tubes as a company has always been a little ahead of the curve when it comes to tone and gear. Founder Aspen Pittman is also well known as the publisher of the book that every tube amp lover must have: The Tube Amp Book, This book is the definitive authority on all things tube. Groove tube products have always fascinated me: amps, microphones, pre-amps, all give fantastic results both in the studio and on the road.

For something like 10 years, starting around ‘97, I used the Groove Tube Soul-O 45 tube amp for my #1 working rig. I was amazed at the number of practical features available, like being able to run something like 12 different types of power tubes, and user biasing, along with simple features that made gigging without a roadie a do-able experience. The amp was compact and relatively light compared to most tube amps in the mid to late 90’s and packed a solid punch of 45-60 watts depending on what you decided to use for tubes. There was a parallel effects loop that had a level send which also functioned as direct input to the power amp… so you could essentially A/B between an external preamp and the Soul-O 45’s preamp. Or even use a volume pedal in the loop for boosting or cutting without changing tone.

The great thing was that you could go from EL34’s to 6L6’s depending on your mood. It was impossible to overdrive the front end of the amp… mucho headroom. Aspen designed it to be a pedal amp; what you put in is what you get out without amp coloration. Depending on ratings of the tubes you chose, you could have a completely different sounding amplifier to the other Soul-O 45 down the block. Tones from classic bell-like Fender-esque or gritty crunch were all within reach. Just a simple tube switch and re-biasing with a radio shack voltmeter using the current draw method. They even sold a bias kit with instructions. In a few minutes you were up and running as a tube amp technician!

Download a PDF of the one-page info for the amp with all details and specs here.

Originally priced at around 1300, the amps could be found new at around the $899 price in late 90’s at Guitar Center. They did not catch on and were eventually discontinued, but you can still find them on ebay for around the 600 give or take price range depending on condition. Definitely one for the collectors and, in addition, it was a great amplifier. Tube amp modeling, only with real tubes, way before it’s time!

Here is a clip of a solo using the amp with a variety of pedals. This is a track from my new DVD, Live at Bose II: The DVD.

OK, now let’s talk about the Spacestation… futuristic sounds… Yes, Yes, I know, I am a tube amplifier addict. However there is one—and only one—solid state amplifier in my arsenal of sound generators for electric guitar. The Groove Tubes SFX Space Station Mk II is one of the most fascinating, yet little known pieces of gear to come along in a while. The price tag was originally around the 500-700 area, but I have seen these units on ebay for really short money, 300-450.

Groove Tubes developed this propriety technology and licensed it to Fender for their award winning Acoustasonic series of amplifiers.

These units allow you to create a stereo audio field from a single source. Now I cannot tell you what the exact science is behind this amazing sonic illusion, but I will tell you that it works.
It has something to do with center channel cancellation or phase/out of phase stuff. but the end result is that you hear the sound literally coming from the left wall of the room (or the right) depending on how the signal is panned. For rotary effects the sounds appear to be spinning around the room. I have done a few blindfold tests with folks in a room with this unit and they cannot make head nor tails of the audio source!

The SFX100 and the SFX spacestation were revised, retweeked, and became the SFX Spacestation Mk II. There are 2/ 100 w amplifiers in the unit which is quite compact and about the size of a computer CPU tower. But loud loud loud. I use the SFX for solo acoustic gigs and if you are lucky enough to have the SFX 100, in addition to the 2 inputs from a stereo source, you have a mic input with reverb. However the Mk II has better overall sound and headroom, so a small stereo mixer with effects into the Mk II unit works perfectly.

Now I know you might be wondering, do I use this unit for electric guitar? Well, Not as a rule, but I have found some very interesting sonic possibilites when used in conjunction with a tube amplifier. It works particularly well for clean sounds that have stereo processing. So for those of you who use hi-fi effects (+4) and want to create an amazing stereo spread on stage, you might consider this unit and split your signal so that your stereo effects run out to the Spacestation… Just make sure you have your tube amp there, too!

Very, very interesting with rotary and chorus sounds, or stereo delay…

Here is a PDF with info and specs.

Enjoy!! And collect…

This week I am sharing you a pedal that should be a staple in everyone’s tone shaping arsenal.

The Blackstone Mosfet 2SV3 is manufactured by Jon Blackstone in New York. This pedal has been a part of my life for the past 3 CDs. I In addition, I recently released a live performance DVD, Live at Bose II: The DVD. All guitar solos on this concert film were played using the Blackstone Overdrive.

One of the neatest looking pedals and with great tone to match, the Blackstone gets first prize in the overdrive category for the most useful features in a small space. This pedal is a 2 CHANNEL OVERDRIVE PEDAL in a box the size of an MXR phase 90.

The BROWN channel I use for my Robben Ford-esque lead and boost tones. The RED channel I use for more saturated overdrive settings at one end of the spectrum, or at the other end for crisp rhythm crunch. In addition, The RED channel has two settings; one best for single coil, Strat-type pickups with a full,fat low end, and the other with less low end for Les Pauls or guitars with humbucking pickups. So we might easily consider the pedal a 3 channel pedal!!!

At first glance, on the front panel are 2 footswitches, one is Bypass (on/off) , the other is to toggle between your Red and Brown channels. A closer glance reveals countersunk controls that can be turned with a finger tip, finger nail or guitar pick. These 5 controls are for:

1. Brown Channel gain
2. Brown Channel volume
3. Red channel gain
4. Red channel volume
5. Mid cut (I had Jon modify my mid cut to be a hi-cut; more useful for my applications)

The advantage to these countersunk controls is obvious…set the pedal how you like it, create your signature tone, and leave it, with no worries about settings accidentally changing in transit, while in a gig or pedal bag. I have had my Blackstone OD set at the same settings very long periods. Once in a while, if I feel adventurous, I change the setting and leave it for another year..etc etc..you get the picture, Signature tone: Creating a sounds that you can take with you to each gig, that become the voice that folks associate with your playing. The Blackstone in that respect is not just another average overdrive pedal, but a dynamic instrument that becomes a part of your tonal signature.

In addition, for tone tweaking, there is

1. an internal presence control
2. an internal gain control that works in co-operation with the presence control
3. two optional exchangeable capacitor plugs.

So the bottom line is a highly tweakable pedal that can give you sounds from Robben to Satch at the tap of your toe.

The most amazing feature of the Blackstone Mosfet 2SV is its ability to clean up completely between 10 and 7 on the volume knob of your guitar. Yes folks, I am 100% serious about this. Many try to claim this but I will testify to authenticity with this pedal.

I have owned previous versions of this pedal that required that it be the very first in your signal chain after your guitar, in order to facilitate this feature. In the latest version of the pedal, Jon has added an internal buffer switch, that allows you to place the pedal anywhere in your signal chain and still have access to this very dynamic feature. Often I keep the pedal in the “on” mode and then turn my volume up to take a solo. Very much like a good ol’ tube amp.

When I first stumbled across this pedal many years ago, I read Jon’s tutorial on overdrive on his website, complete with waveform explanations, demonstrations, and audio clips, and wave diagrams. After reading, there was no doubt in my mind. Here is a pedal manufacturer that understands the Quest for Tone!

My first Blackstone OD I purchased used, soley based on the wealth of info on Jon’s website. Of note was the last paragraph. I was tired of getting lost in the cymbals during a guitar solo, so when I read, “Distorting the guitar is a very subjective thing. Probably every pedal preamp or amp out there no matter how it sounds is the perfect thing for somebody out there. But if “fizz” or “plinkiness” bothers you and you want something that inspires expressive playing, check out the Blackstone”. Well that pretty much sold me!!! The Blackstone has been a part of my arsenal of tone creating machines ever since. To clarify, I consider it part of my instrument, since I use it dynamically as a main contributor to my overall sound.

The pedal is handsomely crafted with a powdered black finish and a metal label with engraved writing, reminiscent of retro machinery.

It really does not come any spiffier than this for a pedal. The inputs are all on the top of the pedal, one of the golden rules of best use of pedalboard real estate. The pedal is true mechanical bypass and a 9v battery will last you 30 hours!! That amounts to something like seven 4-hour gigs…! It will run with the standard 5.5 x2.1 center negative 9v DC adaptor also.

At a retail price of 225.00 the Blackstone Mosfet OD 2SV3 brings multiples of that value to your tone! 10 Stars and more for sure..

For more information check out Jon’s website and read the tutorial about the science of overdrive. You just might find yourself smiling. Somebody understands!

Here are some clips of me using the Blackstone Overdrive in performances through the years.

This week I am commenting on a recently released movie called It Might Get Loud. Many of you have probably made a point to see it already, but if you have not, I highly recommend it, regardless of whether or not you are a fan of any of the players.

I was interviewed by the Boston Phoenix about the iconic stature of the electric guitar, all seen in context of this movie about 3 guitar heroes. The director chose from 3 generations of rock/blues guitarists: Jimmy Page, The Edge (U2), and Jack White (White Stripes).

I enjoyed the movie even though I felt a little as though it was a designed to be user-friendly, possibly for digestion by the general public.

I would have loved to hear more detail on the stuff I think we know every guitarist goes through, the universal quest for tone!

Well, maybe Jack White is not as picky, but Jimmy Page and the Edge might have gone through a rig or two or a guitar or three, searching for those fat Led Zeppelin tones and cutting U2 rhythm sounds huh? I found myself waiting to hear more details about that stuff we know everyone goes through… Right right??? Huh? Huh?

Well I guess the general public would never understand…

Anyway, this is a very captivating movie, and surely one for your collection, along with all of the other great guitar movies, Woodstock, Crossroads and even… Spinal Tap… (this one goes up to 11)…

Here is the movie review as written in the Boston Phoenix, my comments are quoted throughout the article along with the directors. There is a clip of a trailer at the end for this week’s video. Enjoy!

Some guitar teachers will tell you there’s a right way and a wrong way to play the guitar. But Davis Guggenheim’s rousing new documentary, It Might Get Loud, reminds us that that’s not true at all.You can saw at it with a bow, as Jimmy Page did in “Dazed and Confused.” (For that matter, you can jam screwdrivers into the bridge and hammer at the strings with your fists, as Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo are wont to do.)

You can run it through a galaxy of effects pedals — the Wah-Wah, the Superfuzz, the Big Muff, the Echohead — and towers of amps and racks. That’s the sort of thing that enables U2’s the Edge to turn simple chords into sounds that are shimmering, shape-shifting, alive.

You can cut it open and customize it, take it apart, and put it together again. You can slice out new soundholes or add supplementary pick-ups and knobs and switches. You can even, as Jack White hired one luthier to do, install a secret compartment in which to hide a harmonica microphone, to yank out and scream into whenever the spirit moves you.

White stars, with Page and the Edge, in It Might Get Loud, a film that might approvingly be called “guitar porn.” Its soundtrack coruscates with power chords and scorching solos; its hi-def close-ups lingers lovingly on lacquered wood and polished chrome.

A guitar, after all, is “like a piece of sculpture,” as Page rhapsodizes — and also, not for nothing, “like a woman.” But it’s not just eye candy. As the Edge points out, every element of a guitar’s construction “is there in the sound.” He would know, having built an electric guitar from scratch — scrounging the materials, sculpting the wood, winding the wire for the coiled pick-ups — at age 14.

“There’s something really iconic, almost supernatural about this instrument,” says Thaddeus Hogarth, a Berklee guitar-department professor who writes a blog, “The Quest for Tone,” about his ceaseless exploration of the guitar’s sonic palette. “The sounds you can get from it, the quality of the kinds of tones you can get. There are some great piano players out there — but they can’t get feedback.”

As I write this, untold numbers of fingers are clickity-clacking on the multi-colored buttons of Guitar Hero and Rock Band controllers. For every song powered through in those games, there’s a guitar somewhere that’s not getting played. As former Phoenix staffer James Parker writes in the Atlantic, for all we know such simulacra could slowly be “sounding the last trump for rock and roll as we know it.”

But the guitar is not dead yet. And it’s a transcendent affection for this instrument, one so simple yet so complex, that led Guggenheim — who directed Al Gore’s global-warming jeremiad An Inconvenient Truth and Barack Obama’s convention bio-pic and prime-time campaign infomercial — to convene three of rock’s most iconic guitarists on a Hollywood soundstage.

It’s difficult to think of three more disparate personalities and guitar styles than those of Messrs. Page, Edge, and White. Each is about 15 years older than the next. Page is the classicist, steeped in blues and English folk, the dab-hand session man, the riffmaster, the archetypal guitar god. The Edge, weaned on punk and new wave, is a rhythmic and tonal alchemist, intent on breaking boundaries, besotted with the endless transformative possibilities afforded by technology. White is a wild primitive, happy to wrestle sound and fury from cheap or homemade instruments, bleeding (literally) all over the strings.

“Chemistry is mostly about opposing energies,” says Guggenheim. And that’s precisely what he was after when he picked these three men: “Edge, with all his technology, versus Jack, who is so anti-technology. Jimmy, with his sexuality and moodiness, versus Edge, who is so direct and austere.”

Guggenheim says he was “terrified” that these three distinct personalities would come attached to three distinct egos. But you can sense the mutual respect the men have for one another — even as, at the same time, you can see the three of them subtly sizing one another up.
Guggenheim concedes that “for the first two hours, the conversation was actually boring. I’m thinking to myself, ‘This is going to suck.’ ” Then, he says, “Jimmy picked up his Les Paul and played ‘Whole Lotta Love,’ and it was like a throwdown. Basically saying: ‘Here’s what I do. Let’s stop talking, boys, and get on with it.’ After that, I knew we had a movie.”

Although talking shop and trading solos form the centerpiece of the film, Guggenheim does a fine job of weaving a narrative out of the three men’s life stories.

We travel with Page back to Headley Grange, the English country house where he recorded “Stairway to Heaven” with Led Zeppelin, and see black-and-white archival footage from the ’50s of a fresh-faced “James Page” strumming a skiffle song on local TV. (Afterward, he tells the host of his intention to pursue a career in “biological research.”)

But the best moments come from watching the three interact. White and the Edge seem to have a genuine rapport, and both gape in fan-boy awe as Page unleashes that timeless “Whole Lotta Love” riff before their eyes.

Page, for his part, is curious and inquisitive, watching intently as White — whose own playing owes much to Page’s ’70s pyrotechnics — walks them through a White Stripes song. And he gamely joins in on U2’s “I Will Follow,” even if he seems a bit nonplussed by the Edge’s unique phrasing and self-invented chords: “You sure about that?”

That bonhomie wasn’t necessarily a given. “U2 came up as a band in direct opposition to bands like Led Zeppelin,” says Guggenheim. “They wanted nothing of it — the endless guitar solos, the sexuality. U2 was political, punk, straightforward. That’s what’s so great about rock and roll: each generation has to come and destroy and reinvent the music before it. Look at Jack and the White Stripes and Dead Weather. He’s the anti-U2!”

Yet whether it’s Page’s Les Paul Sunburst or the Edge’s angular Gibson Explorer or White’s J.B. Hutto Montgomery Airline, one thing with six strings unites them. That doesn’t mean you can sound like your guitar hero simply by dropping a few thousand dollars at the local music shop. “People go out and buy it [equipment] thinking they can get the same sound,” says Hogarth. “It just doesn’t happen.” With the best guitarists, he adds, the phenomenon is “otherworldly, almost like their soul coming through the instrument.”

Yes, there’s something ineffable — some might say preternatural — about the bond between a guitarist and his guitar. In the film, the Edge describes first picking up that Gibson Explorer, gauging it, considering its heft in his hands. He knew right away: “This guitar had possibilities. There were songs in this guitar.”

Hogarth describes a common affliction among Berklee shredders: “gear-acquisition syndrome.” But we see White going in the opposite direction, treasuring shitty plastic guitars, instruments with warped necks and ever-slackening strings. In his mind, a guitar should be wrestled with, a player should “pick a fight with it and win.”

Indeed, at the beginning of the film, we see White, in seconds flat, fashion a one-string guitar with a plank of wood, some nails, a coke bottle, and an electric pick-up. As a cow looks on, bemused, White peels off a quavering blues lick. “Who says you need to buy a guitar?”
Or a video game, for that matter.

“This movie is the anti–Guitar Hero,” says Guggenheim. “Guitar Hero is about getting the highest score, about hitting ‘chords’ at exactly the right moment. These guitarists, Jimmy, Jack, and Edge, became great by not conforming, not doing it the way they were taught, and expressing themselves, especially if it was the wrong note at the wrong time. That’s what made them unique and visionary.”

Hogarth, at least, is encouraged that so many are flocking to a video game that’s notionally based on his favorite instrument. “I think a lot of the kids who are playing it are playing it because they want to be guitarists. But now that it’s proven that the electric guitar can generate this kind of amazing interest, I think it would be great if some music education were incorporated into the game, even if it’s just minimally — a rhythm, or a note, or maybe have the guitar be a bit more representative.”

Meanwhile, It Might Get Loud appears at a poignant moment, with the passing two weeks ago of Les Paul, who pretty much single-handedly ensured the electric guitar’s centrality to pop music in the second half of the 20th century. “The way Paul took his guitars apart and modified everything, that’s what this movie is about,” says Guggenheim. “The kid who must destroy something to find himself and a way to express his voice.”

And anyone who doubts the power of the guitar’s “voice” to transcend genres and generations need only watch Page, the Edge, and White trading solos on one another’s songs. It’s a visceral thrill, for the viewer and — you can tell — the player.

“These are men who use words as a second language,” says Guggenheim. “The guitar and its huge vibrations speak for them the most. When I watch the movie, I look at their eyes as the others play. It’s an unspoken respect and fondness and awe that moves me.”

Lately, living in a tiny studio apartment and not wanting to annoy my wife with my cloddish guitar playing, I’ve been making do by putting on headphones and playing a Guitar Hero knockoff game on my iPhone. After this movie, I went home and restrung my Alvarez. For a while, it did get loud.

This week I am writing a review on one of my favorite Overdrive pedals: the Ethos Overdrive Pedal. In a previous post, I mentioned combating the dynamic tone effect using a few devices, including this one. The Ethos Overdrive is designed and manufactured in New England by Robbie Hall.

Inspired by the legendary Dumble Overdrive Special amplifier, the retail price is a much lower $395 for the Ethos Classic and at an extra $35 for the TLE mod. The TLE mod tightens up the low end. For the frugal pedal purchaser, the price might initially seem steep but in all honesty when considering the features you get in this single unit, packaged in a compact sized, die cast aluminum case, it screams value! The pedal comes with an ac adaptor but will run with a single 9v battery!

The Ethos is much, much more than just overdrive and it does all of the following things very very well:

1) The Ethos adds 2 highly-tweakable independent channels to your existing amplifier with an integrated boost switch (tone stack bypass), essentially adding 3 different foot-switchable sounds to your amplifier (total 4!) Both channels offer really good tone, whether clean or overdriven. Transitioning from various degrees of overdrive is dynamically dependent on the articulation of your guitar pick in conjunction with guitar volume control. Three bands of EQ and a presence control on each channel add to the variability of tone, along with the traditional Brite/Normal, Modern/Classic, Rock/Jazz that you find on the Dumble amplifiers. The various combinations of switches and EQ’s offer a seemingly unlimited number of choices at your fingertips.

2) The Ethos is a direct interface for a recording console, PA, computer etc. So, for those who are looking for something other than the popular line 6 pod for direct recording, the Ethos is the more organic sounding alternative. One of the two outputs on the unit is a speaker simulator output designed expressly for this purpose. Direct Dumble tones for your Imac or studio session!

3) The Ethos can be used as a preamp for any power-amp, speaker combination. In addition to the choice of output in this application (Speaker Simulator vs. Normal Out), there is also a Guitar Amp Compensation switch along with an overall high-cut control. These give you the ability to add more warmth to your signal to further tailor your sound to match the system through which you are playing, whether tube or solid state.

For those who are seduced by the probable illusion of “true bypass” pedals, the Ethos, unfortunately is not, but it would be a challenge for you to notice any difference in signal when the Ethos is taken out of your chain. When the Ethos is off, the signal runs through a unity gain buffer. The buffer is flat band in response.

In conclusion, I have used the Ethos through a number of diverse playing combinations and it is amazing…a highly recommended pedal for all round tone-tweaking purposes along with great singing overdrive that does not sound narly. This pedal is a must for folks who record, tour and play different rooms with different back-line amplification provided. It allows you to keep a consistent tone through many different shapes/makes of amplifiers and provides a familiar tone-tweaking platform for very little floor space. It allows you to bring your recognizable signature sound, from your home studio to the pro-recording session and then on the road for your world tour. You will still sound like yourself.

For those of who you might be looking for a pedal that will make your Fender Twin Reverb sound exactly like Robben through an Alexander Dumble Overdrive Special….well…aren’t you really are asking for a lot? but…the Ethos is as good and as close as it gets an A+++++