:...guitar nuts on the quest for superb tone...:

My Facebook

2007-03-05T20:46:00.001-05:00

FunkFest in the GTA

2007-01-29T10:04:00.000-05:00

I'll be heading down to Brampton in a few months to hang with some great artist in this year's GTA FunkFest. This truly is increbile artistry.

Bloom where you're planted.

2006-12-12T13:04:00.000-05:00

Geoff Moore

2006-11-13T15:18:00.000-05:00

I had the oppotunity to spend last Sunday with Geoff Moore and his guitar player Dana Weaver (of SonicFlood). Most folks would remember Geoff's music ministry as the 'Geoff Moore And The Distance' band back in the early to mid 1990's. He's a great guy and a great advocate for Compassion's ministry to children throughout the world. He and his wife have even adopted two girls from China over the years. It's really tough to travel around the world and see poverty and simply do nothing. Geoff has an incredible testimony of faith to action.

I'll be with Geoff and the band again this weekend at Canada Christian College in Toronto as he'll be opening for Audio Adrenaline's farewell tour. It was great to eat Chinese food with Geoff and hear about stories that span the globe. He's been involved with the music biz for over two decades and been partnered with Compassion's ministry for almost as long. Come out and see Geoff's band playing in Toronto this weekend if you've got the time. It's amazing to take in world-class musicians doing what God has empowered them to do so well. I'll be in Calgary through December to work with Geoff Moore again. God is alive in our world, even amidst the worst poverty.

LMT Connection...Funk is the final frontier!

2006-09-26T21:28:00.000-04:00

Whoa - got to check out the great LMT Connection trio live after the newworldson concert this past Sundaynight . Man, this music speaks to the soul - there's such a fourth dimesion to this kind of music. Not only is it my favorite style but something about it goes so much deeper than other genres for me. There's a freedom in this music unlike anything else - both for the player and the audience. I believe that God designed humans to create music... music that goes deep, digs down and plants something. Music was never intended to generate money but fulfill expressions of worship. Funk & soul are certainly deeper concepts than just a genre or an art form... there's something more in this. Can God be found in a martini bar? Killer players all around - crazy good horns! Check out the clip - it's worth watchin.

LMT Connection & BB King's 80th Birthday Tour

Unite In Worship

2006-09-25T20:12:00.000-04:00

I will be travelling to Vancouver with Compassion Canada for this year's west coast Unite In Worship conference. It will be a great event as we hope to see many children in the third world sponsored by caring Canadians. Some great artists in the lineup too - newworldson of course.... doin' the late nite cafe - gunna rock!

:...newworldson...:

2006-08-19T14:01:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm totally stoked about hangin' out with newworldson this week. I first heard their "down from the mountain" single last year on the emptyheart series and was wowed then. Their debut cd is makin waves all over and glad to be able to hear about their heart for ministry and look forward to taking them in live for the first time on Tuesday. I just love how "out-of-the-box" this music is. In an industry so saturated with over-produced pop it's great to see bands like this bring the art back into artist. Check out the newworldson site and myspace. Keep your eye on these guys. If you have a few minutes, please watch this video clip of the guys - great stuff!

newworldson - live

New things....

2006-08-16T20:09:00.000-04:00

Well, just to let you know why it's been over two months since I made my last post: I started new employment in early July and I've been imersed into my new role. Since starting my job I've travelled to Peru for a week and been all over Ontario. It's quite a bit of travel but I get to see some great ministries out there and, of course, get to hob-nob with very cool artists and some with very monstrous guitar rigs (hehehe)... so, I'm still very involved musically and still looking forward to getting back on the guitar bloggin of course. Since my new job involves many other aspects of music and ministry, I've been toying wiht the idea of setting up a sister blog to this one to focus a little more on the details of the ministry I'm involved with. Just a little FYI. I'll blog soon...really I will.

Vox AC30

2006-06-11T19:44:00.000-04:00

For you Vox AC30 finatics: be sure to pick up a copy of "A Service Engineer's Guide To The AC30 Valve Amplifier". I've always been a huge fan of the AC30 clean channel - truly an amazing amplifier creating spectacular tone! Wish I had one!

Korg Triton

2006-06-11T14:25:00.001-04:00

Preceeding the Korg Oasys is the increible Korg Triton. Well, it's just an amazing keyboard! I've heard few critical reviews of this sweet piece of gear - every time I hear one on stage I'm always mezmorized by its versatility. The thing is a monster through a nice PA and sounds unbelievable in the studio. The Korg Trito n is a geat live workstation if you're into texturing your tunes with some creative drum samples/loops... and it's surprisingly affordable - even more affordable on ebay! Some of the biggest artists on the planet today are using Triton for their flagship keyboard. This keyboard is a wise investment for church worship setups. And what of those seasoned keyboard players who love the touch or feel of their own keyboards? Hey, no problem... just plug in the old keyboard into the Korg Triton rack brainbox (below) = same feel with a contemporary twist!

Live Audio Solutions

2006-06-04T19:49:00.000-04:00

There are a number of elements that surround getting that "good" mix at the FOH like room acoustic treatment, accurate loudspeaker placement, reliable power amps, faithful console, great mics and placement, and trained audio techs mixing capable musicians. All that said, I think that most smaller venues like some churches have a difficult time trying to get good mixes from their FOH because of the poor containment levels - noise "bleed" from loud intruments into vocal mics etc... This is most common with drum kits that are unmic'd with no sound enclosure: high frequency audio spills onto the stage uncontrolled, throwing vocalists and other musicians into a frenzy - asking FOH for higher mix levels from their own monitors, pushing the overall SPL through the roof! Laymans terms: the overall sound is really bad! I find drums and floor wedge monitors to be the areas I first put my attention toward when trying to contain sound levels in this type of environment.

I know that many drummers prefer the look and feel of an acoustic kit but these kits are "unrealistic" in most smaller environements that I see them in today (around where I live anyway). Acoustic kits can be contained well but better containment usually costs more than I'd like to spend. I think the bst investment for this kind of containment is a kit like the electronic Roland V-Drums. Because each drum in the kit is wired through the sound console, this eliminates the problem of noise bleed. All you need is nice PA.

Another great way to contain needless "stage noise" is by migrating from monitor wedges to the in-ear monitor system (IEM's). These IEM's eliminate mic feedback from traditional floor monitors and give the musician accurate tone/feel of what they are playing and a greater confidence to do it. Shure Inc. has developed some of the most affordable IEM systems. One great aspect of the Shure IEM systems is that you can purchase them "wired" and then later upgrade the belt packs to wireless when more budget money comes available.

Refining Live Audio Technique

2006-06-04T16:18:00.000-04:00

From time to time I find the need to brush up on proper ways to approach live audio deployment, getting those blasted mics set up properly and, of course, getting that superb mix at the FOH. Well, I always fnd my way back to my good friend and his 'lil list of pdf's to give a helping hand to anyone out there into FOH mixing in church or other venues. Check out this list of live audio helps. Oh yeah, and if you feel so inclined to purchase a new Midas XL8 above, it's totally unreal!!.... oh wait, I know you'll want to migrate to the live digidesign VENUE rig...ya ya... hehe

Eoghan Heaslip

2006-06-03T08:09:00.000-04:00

I'm not one for plugging a lot of contemporary worship music only because I think that most of it sounds the same anymore. For me, going into the local christian bookstore music section is kinda like going to Baskin Robins: pick your flavour... but the flavour only lasts a while then we come back for something else. I mean, how many times can we listen to the same 15 worship songs produced 15,000 different ways? So that said, I'm extreamly "picky" when it comes to whom I will listen to in the worship music realm.
This might sound a little strange but I've had a song running through my head like crazy the past few weeks and I can't seem to get it out of there. I haven't even heard it or played it for 2 years now...odd. Ever had that happen? Well needless to say, I started to hum out the lyrics of the tune and found them to be very encouraging. The song is by Irish based worship leader/song writer Eoghan Heaslip (pronounced Owen Heslip). I first came across his music a few years back - he got some great writing and creativity. Like I said, the lyrics to "Gathering Song" have been marching through my mind contstantly... check them out - I hope they encourage you today:

As we gather, here together in Your presence
As Your people, we acknowledge and remember
The works of Your hands, Your purpose and plan
Your Word through the ages
Like an anchor for all times, as one we sing:

He who has promised will be faithful
He who has promised will be true
He who has begun a good work will complete it
Oh Lord, all our hope is found in You

*sample
*chart

Taylor T5 Thinline Fiveway

2006-05-20T08:56:00.000-04:00

I've always been a big fan of thin acoustic-electric guitars like the Gibson SST simply because I can have the feel of an electric with fantastic acoustic tone. Well, Gibson discontinued manufacturing the SST in January '06 so I've been on the hunt for something similar that I could incorprate in my worship leading and various other playing. If I could have my way I'd have a two necked guitar: one neck being a Taylor acoustic and the other a PRS electric (haha). Well, I'd sure love to stay out of the '80's look on stage... then I came across the new Taylor T5 thinline, recent '06 winner of NAAM's Retailers Choice electric guitar of the year. I had no idea they had come up with such a cool guitar. Not only does the guitar look like a piece of fine art, HC reviews of the T5 are a amazing and promo video clips display the incredible versatility of the guitar. The combo acoustic/electric guitar can take both acoustic and electric strings - whatever feel you need in your style. The price is what you'd expect from a high-end Taylor but would likely pay dividends through the music set night after night - truly a remarkable concept. I'm going to head down the road to the music shop to give one a test drive myself - almost sounds too good to be true.

Building A Stratocaster

2006-04-13T15:35:00.000-04:00

My buddy gave me this link to check out: an inside look at the architecture and assembly of a Stratocaster guitar. Wish I had the time to build one - love these guitars!

Guitars and Humidity

2006-04-12T14:23:00.000-04:00

Before I completed renovations in my basement I did extensive research on how humidity affects guitars - since I'd be playing and storing my instruments down there. Here's a helpful video done by Taylor guitars on what low humidity levels can do to an acoustic guitar over prolonged exposure. I found this small article helpful as well.

David Gilmour - On An Island

2006-04-06T08:56:00.000-04:00

Well, an incredible album that's a must if your into Floyd and just incredible guitar tones. Pink Floyd's David Gilmour has put together some incredible stuff on this one. It's not crazy guitar shred stuff - very blue... very smooth...very contemplative. One of my favourite albums by far! Gilmour tracked his guitars on his house boat studio (built in 1911) - very cool - and Abbey Road Studios hosted some orchestration sessions too - check out the press kit video. You can sample each tune from the record here.

Josh Ritter

2006-04-05T21:18:00.000-04:00

Hey, check out Josh Ritter's new album The Animal Years. A good buddy of mine just sent me this link to sample the audio stream of the record: very cool stuff - refreshing.

Josh Ritter's The Animal Years is the kind of breakthrough effort that will cause listeners new to the 29 year-old singer -songwriter's work to wonder where this guy has been all their lives - and prompt his passionate fan base to just say, well, we told you so. Following the independent release of The Golden Age of Radio (2002) and Hello Starling (2003), Ritter was championed by critics in publications ranging from the New York Times to Details Magazine, hailed by fellow artists who shared stages with him, and name-checked by anyone who happened to catch him on tour during the years he doggedly worked the road. The music-savvy citizens of the Republic of Ireland christened him a major star well before anyone in the states even knew he had a record out. On The Animal Years, his V2 Records debut, Ritter more than lives up to the buzz. He embraces the topical while reaching for the timeless, resulting in an album that's firmly rooted in right now but guaranteed to resonate for years to come.

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Eric Clapton's Gibson ES-335

2006-04-05T08:34:00.000-04:00

Eric Clapton purchased his cherished Gibson 335 in 1964 and played it for over 40 years. He auctioned it off in June of 2004 to raise support for his Crossroads Centre charity. It was purchased by the Guitar Center for a stunning $847,000 USD! Over the next year Eric Clapton, Gibson, and Guitar Center worked on releasing a limited edition recreation of the guitar. You can watch the 55 minute documentary here. Truly an amazing process. I was so impressed to see the craftmanship put into creating a guitar like this. Guitar builders are artists too.

PRS has done it again!

2006-04-01T16:07:00.000-05:00

Back in April of last year I blogged on the incredible PRS 513 Rosewood model and it's unreal capabilities. The 513 just won the award for "Best Electric Guitar of the Year." Here's a snip from the article I read:

The award was presented to the company lastnight at an awards ceremony held in Frankfurt, Germany.

This marks the second consecutive year PRS has won the prestigious award, making it the only guitar manufacturer to win the award twice. The awards ceremony began seven years ago.

The voting panel included editors and journalists of 58 publications from around the world.

"In my opinion, it shows that the international press not only rewarded our unique level of quality and attention to detail but also awarded PRS' quest for innovation and further improvements in the guitar market, which in the end, benefit all guitar players," said Peter Wolf, director of sales and marketing in a statement.

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Mercy Train

2006-02-12T22:59:00.000-05:00

Spent most of the day hangin' out with my band Mercy Train. From left to right: Skip Prokop, Andy Bartha, Matt Shelvock, Ryan Ethier, Jamie Prokop, Donny Paulton. We ate tons of tastey perogies and cabbage rolls, talked about the current record, spoke on spirituality, and chatted about exciting developments for the upcoming record. We spent some time listening to vintage Paupers music and, of course, recent mixes of our own material coming out of the studio. It was all around a great time of fellowship with some great players and brothers. For those of you wondering: Mercy Train will be finishing up the first record soon and we're already ramping up for recording our next batch of tunes...and man, I gotta say,... of course biased a bit... but man, this new material is great - really "out-of-the-box" some powerful stuff in these. Well, I guess you actually gotta hear what we've done first eh? Er...ummm...well, it'll be done soon - really it will.
As for upcoming guitar tones and stuff to expect: Matt and I are looking foreward to tracking some guitars using the MesaBoogie Lonestar (check out my previous post about auditioning this amp - it's UNREAL). We're also hoping to bring back the MesaBoogie Tremoverb for sure...maybe even someone's very incredible Diezel VH4????...eh Nathan? (hehe). Keep ya posted. ;)

Finally...

2006-02-03T09:37:00.000-05:00

I've been out of the blogging loop for the better part of a month. I've been tied up a bit waitng for our third little package to arrive. Aneilya Mae Bartha was borth January 31, 2006. I always find the swell of different emotions sureal thru the whole experience... makes me want to write more songs. As I grow deeper into my roles as husband and father, I understand a bit more clearly the need for "ballad" times - times for the quite, contemplative moments that nurture growth. Being kind of a crazy energy guy, that's tough at times - just the change in pace that is - but I'm getting better at finding that balance between the work and rest. All that to say, cool... I'm a dad three times over and lovin' it. We call her Nelly for short -it sounds cool. Actually, I wanted to call her Nelly officially just 'cause I really like Nelly Furtado's vocals... well, my wife thought we'd name her after her grandmother Aneilya and we could use Nelly for short. We're both happy with the name.

Greatest Guitar Solo's Of All Time?

2006-01-17T15:54:00.000-05:00

Well, some online poll suggests that JimmyPage's guitar solo in Stariway To Heaven is the best of all time - beating out greats such as Ozzy Osbourne, Eagles, Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen for the spot. I guess the whole list is very subjective but looks pretty solid to me. Here's what the poll said were the top ten guitar solo's of all time:

1. Stairway to heaven - Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin)

2. Eruption - Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen)

3. Freebird - Allen Collins and Gary Rossington (Lynyrd Skynyrd)

4. Comfortably numb - David Gilmour (Pink Floyd)

5. All along the watchtower - Jimi Hendrix

6. November rain - Slash (Guns N' Roses)

7. One - Kirk Hammett (Metallica)

8. Hotel California - Don Felder and Joe Walsh (The Eagles)

9. Crazy Train - Randy Rhoads (Ozzy Osbourne)

10. Crossroads - Eric Clapton (Cream)

Just Stop And Think...

2006-01-02T09:13:00.000-05:00

The past year has been full of it's up's and downs... you too? All the technology, guitar gear, and cool opportunitites will never replace the love I have for my wife, children, family and friends. You all mean so much to me. Just stop and think for a minute about your own values... and when you've got a few extra ones to spare, watch this.

Brian Setzer Orchestra

2005-12-29T22:35:00.000-05:00

Every year we all hear the same old christmas carols, with the exception of some hip hop producer coming out with what's supposed to be a "cool" randition of Silver Bells among other crappy remakes... anyway.... a few weeks back I was tuned into my fav. radio station and out rips this totally rippin' 1940's guitar riffin- rockabily- genius-driven band rockin out Jingle Bells like I've only dreamt possible! Hey, I know this guy has been around for a while, or so I've heard after tossing his name around a bit, but man... he's amazing. Of course he's touring with the most amazing horn sections, drummers, bass players I've ever heard (except my closet-fav retro godfather-of-soul artist James Brown). If you have yet to hear him, give him a listen. He aint mainstream rock for sure but he a great player who can make a Gretch sing with the best of 'em! When I first started playin' guitar I got really into Colin James and followed him right into his Big Little Band album - Brian Setzer brings me back to those sounds, memories...aaaahhh...man, this stuff is flavour unto itself for sure.

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-24T20:55:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas to all. Have a good one!

Year In Review

2005-12-19T14:34:00.000-05:00

Hey, it's not guitar related, but, it's always good to reflect on all things past, toast a weiner on the fire while watching the year end round up! Sure glad I wasn't walkin' in his shoes this year!

Mr. Fastfinger

2005-12-19T14:11:00.000-05:00

If you haven't already entered the sanctum of Mr. Fastfinger, you should - great shred show - very funny.

Something's Missing

2005-12-12T09:22:00.000-05:00

I have been listening to John Mayer a lot lately. I find his music to be very relaxing to listen to - his arrangement /vocal combination create an entire new world of music for me - it's a shift from my usual classic & modern rock without going Josh Groban. I love the relationship John Mayer creates between lyric and guitar. I thought I heard some classic bluesy guitar stuff in his recordings, then I found out that he's heavily influenced by late blues guitar legend Stevie Ray Vaughn. I really like one song in particular off his double-platinum "Heavier Things" record. Something's Missing is all about trying to find that one thing that will make life have meaning. Click here to have a listen while you read along.

I'm not alone, I wish I was.
Cause then I'd know, I was down because
I couldn't find, a friend around
To love me like, they do right now.
They do right now.

I'm dizzy from the shopping malls
I searched for joy, but I bought it all
It doesn't help the hunger pains
and a thirst I'd have to drown first to ever satiate

Something's missing
And I don't know how to fix it
something's missing
And I don't know what it is
At all

When autumn comes, it doesnt ask.
It just walks in, where it left you last.
And you never know, when it starts
Until there's fog inside the glass around your summer heart:

Something's missing
And I don't know how to fix it
something's missing
And I don't know what it is
At all

I can't be sure that this state of mind, is not of my own design
I wish there was an over the counter test, for loneliness.
For loneliness like this.

Something's missing
And I don't know how to fix it
Something's missing
And I don't know what it is
No I don't know what it is
Something's different
And i don't know what it is
No I don't know what it is

Friends -check-
Money -check-
A well slept -check-
Opposite sex -check-
Guitar -check-
Microphone -check-
Messages waiting for me, when i come home -check-

How come everything I think I need, always comes with batteries
What do you think it means

How come everything I think I need, always comes with batteries
What do you think it means

The AGS

2005-12-02T18:52:00.001-05:00

Oh man.. check it out - just released from Finland yesterday. Some hard working Finish engineers stopped futile efforts to resolve global warming, poverty, and world war and created something for some real global impact. Way to go guys!

Playing air guitar is like playing rock guitar, only without the guitar or any musical skills. It is a wild show, it is letting go, it is the essence of the rock attitude. But up until now, air guitarists have been limited to playing along existing music.

The Virtual Air Guitar changes all this. It is an entertainment device that you can learn to use instantly - no musical skills required. Just wear the orange gloves and play. The guitar does not merely respond - you are actually playing it. It's a new way of experiencing music. Read more...

If you feel so inclinded so actually watch video footage of these things in action, click here..lol. Oh man...

On finding that tone....

2005-11-26T14:50:00.000-05:00

I'm always on the lookout for helpful hints on how to maximize guitar tone - found a great article by Dan Cross, a professinal guitarist and instructor living in NYC area. Dan got his musical education from Humber College and Mohawk's "Jazz Studies" program here in Ontario. Here's what Dan had to say about 'finding that tone':

One of the cheapest and easiest ways to tinker with your guitar sound is to experiment with different sizes and gauges of picks. Using a very thin pick produces a sound drastically different than using a heavy one. Many jazz guitarists tend to favour using heavy picks (1.5 or 2 millimeters) because it tends to thicken and darken up their sound somewhat. Thinner gauged picks tend to give guitarist's a brighter sound, although it tends to produce tone with a shade less depth (I personally can't stand really thin picks, but some people swear by them, as they feel it gives them much more speed). When choosing picks, be sure they are well-made, and the edges of the pick aren't unintentionally rough, as this can interfere with your ability to play notes cleanly. I have found Jim Dunlop picks to be of excellent quality, but there are many excellent brands of guitar picks available.

Matt, my fellow guitar player in MT, introduced me to these pics back in the summer time. They have definitely changed my approach to playing for sure. I used to float between using a 0.38mm and 0.60mm pic..i know... so many guys think I'm nuts but they work well for my style of rhythm playing. Tip: if you are using a thin pic like .38 use a single-holepunch and put a hole in the middle - you will rarely ever drop it!

Another easy way to alter your sound is via experimenting with different string gauges. A guitar strung with extra light gauge strings will sound completely different than the same guitar strung with medium or heavy gauge strings. The String Anatomy 101 website offers explanations of different types of strings. For links to various string manufacturer's websites, as well as online guitar string retailers, visit the guitar string links page on this site. (It should be noted that changing string gauges on a guitar generally neccesitates an intonation adjustment. You can learn more about how to do this by reading the Intonation FAQ.)

Yup - there's no question about this one. Thicker strings give better tone. I also migrated to a thicker string back in the summer. I was using 9's and moved up to 11's - it was a little too far - felt like I was playing with copper tubing on my fretboard - lol... so I went back down to middle ground with 10's and have been there ever since. 10's give enough flexibility without compromising the thick tone for the dirty stuff.

Making little adjustments to your guitar's setup, such as clamping down floating bridges, or adjusting pickup height, can also make a world of difference in the sound your guitar produces. If you own a Stratocaster, the Strat Tips website offers some great tips on how to go about making these adjustments, and what the "optimal" settings are. You'll find a ton of other ideas for tweaking your axe in the Guitar Repair Archive.

If none of the above procedures offer a tonal solution drastic enough for you, you can always consider replacing a pickup or two. The problem is, there are hundreds of electric guitar pickups on the market, and it's hard to guess what a pickup will sound like in your guitar until you've already bought it and put it in. The Harmony Central site offers an excellent resource; the Electric Guitar Pickup Database, a collection of reviews by guitarists, on specific pickups. The archive is huge, and chances are, you'll find at least several reviews of the pickup you're considering for purchase.

Sometimes, the best way to go about finding a sound that is right for you is to emulate someone else's guitar sound, and then, over time, make adjustments to it. Use the archive of famous guitarist guitar set-ups on this site to experiment with other guitarist's sounds, and try to evaluate what you do and don't like about each.

This should get you off to a great start in re-examining the sound you're getting out of your guitar. Remember - much of your guitar tone comes not from the guitar itself, but from the fingers in your fretting hand, and in the way you strike the strings with your pick. Adjusting the amount of pressure you're exerting, the type of vibrato you're using, the part of your finger that comes into contact with the string, etc., can affect your guitar tone almost as much, if not more, than any of the above suggestions. Good luck, and happy picking!

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Empty Heart...

2005-11-17T15:34:00.000-05:00

It's just a great idea. Skip and I were drivin down to Totonto to record back in the summer when he shared with me the idea behind the Empty Heart music ministry that started over 10 yrs ago. Skip was a part of the pioneering efforts of the ministry and gave me a copy of the EH series to sample. Empty Heart is seeing various recording artists come together, donate their recording time and efforts to create cd's to reach others with the gospel of Jesus. I'd like to share it with those that frequent the blog here because it completely defines what the purpose should be behind the music we create as followers of Jesus: drawing others closer to Him. I wanted to plug the idea just 'cause I think it's great and few people know about it. Here's some info right off the website:

Purpose:

To Create a series of recordings to blend contemporary music with compelling information about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

To provide an affordable, yet powerful tool for Christians to share their faith with family, friends, co-workers, and others.

Empty Heart cd's are available in a range of different musical styles, from Gospel to Jazz to Rhythm and Blues, to Light Rock. The Empty Heart series will continue to grow in multiple styles and languages... provies indiviaual Christians a new and dynamic way for Christains to share thier faith.

Please check out more on the Empty Heart series website... it's just a great idea.

Something special....

2005-11-14T10:17:00.000-05:00

I call it the third dimension of a ministry band...

I've played in a lot of different bands over the years - some good, some not so good. In my time I've seen many two dimesional bands and few three dimesional ones. The first two dimesnsions are the skill and preparation required to pull off stage stuff well - technical stuff, which of course is vital to any good sounding group. But surprisingly I've played in few bands that can take the two dimesional image of the group and create the depth - that element of relationship and depth that turn the stage into somthing else I call a ministry... something special...

Some years ago I had played with a band called Pneumatika - a ministry band that travelled around Ontario with encouraging leaders and leading young people to know Jesus better. Great memories and changed lives - both for the kids and us... we had the chance to get back together and lead again... was really cool.

Got home late Sunday night from spending a weekend with a great bunch of guys and gals.
We left London around 11:00am on Friday to play a number of worship sets up at mbc during feb's jr.high youth bedlam event that ran until Sunday. To some it up: we had a fantastic time of practicing, playing, leading, and hanging out with sooo many kids... I had lost my voice on the Friday - not due to strenuous vocal activity but was the after fx of the flu I had the week before. Anyway, I litterally couldn't say a word all weekend... no singing... no laughing.... no talking. It was really frustrating at first but soon realized the importance of just being a part of a team without opening my big yap all the time. I realized the importance of listening well to other people - something I'm learning is so important on any team. Interesting: I was thinking to myself on the ride home in the van (cause I coulnd't talk yet LOL) about some of my fav. sports leaders and how little they say in the heat of the battle during games...hmmm... just made me think about the importance of 'taming the tongue' I suppose - a great weekend for me.

Got to hang with a cool band called hello kelly - a local canadian band with a sweet, sweet sound doing a good thing. They rocked out a concert after our Saturday night session. Man, check out the band - cool guys wiht a cool ministry. If you like OurLadyPeace you'll really dig the vocals and riffs in this band. Gear was cool: guitars were gibson and guitar players were usin' Crate and Mesa stacks - good sound... real nice guys too. If you get a chance to book 'em do it... very entertaining show. Had to laugh...typical guitar rockers: i went back to the board and looked at the levels a bit... I noticed the mutes were pressed on the guitar channels during the enitre show..lol. Eric the engineer just shrugged and laughed... those guitar players just wouldn't turn down for some reason lol... Man those guitars were reeeeaaaalllly loud! The venue provided sound basically to run the vocals thru..lol. Oh well, sounded great and the kids loved it... a great weekend. :)

Rock on...

2005-11-09T19:27:00.000-05:00

hey everyone: check out Fatima Hoang, 2005 US Air Guitar Champion lol... Man, as u can tell, i love to search around for cool and funny things relating to the world of guitars, tone - well just about anything remotely related to the subject of guitar... I rarely come across something as hilarious as this... i think i got my head buried in the sand or something 'cause this made me laugh hysterically behind my computer screen for like 10 minutes (just don't get out much i guess). You just gotta check this out: There is a US National and International Air Guitar Competition... like this thing is huge. It even gets a spot on CNN when the annual US champ is announced... I must be just reeeeally Canadian or something 'cause man, this is hilarious! Here are the official rules of the competition:

- Each performance is played to one minute (60 seconds) of a song chosen by the performer or the event organizers
- The 60 seconds can start anywhere in the song
- The instrument must be invisible and must be a guitar, i.e. air drums are not permitted but air bass is permitted
- Personal air roadies are allowed, but they must leave the stage before the performance begins
- Back-up bands (air or real) are not allowed
The US regional heats will each consist of two rounds:
- Round 1: each competitor performs to a song of their own choosing
- Round 2: the top five from round 1 perform to a surprise obligatory song selected by the organizers
- The first round is performed to music selected by the contestants themselves
- The obligatory song is the same for every contestant contestants will all hear the song before going on stage.

rules via

Check out these video clips - wanring: ur gonna laugh yerslef till ya pee!

Gibson's Guitar Hero (part II)

2005-11-04T09:25:00.000-05:00

Well, it's official: Gibson's Guitar Hero PS2 interactive game will hit stores November 8, 2005. Haha - man it makes me laugh. I was wondering how exactly the game would work - like how to keep score and such. Well here's what I found:

Guitar Hero, which will come packaged with a special guitar-shaped controller, challenges wannabe rock stars to thrash to some of rock's most classic tunes. Like in dancing rhythm games, a sequencer will show gamers which frets to play and when to strum. The better the score, the more the cyber-crowd will rock out and the closer gamers will come to being a legend.

lol... the game also has a cool list of tunes by some very big bands - these tunes are, of course, not covers but have been customed for the game itself. A partial list of the in-game songs include (via):

-- Red Hot Chili Peppers - Higher Ground
-- Boston - More Than a Feeling
-- Megadeth - Symphony of Destruction
-- The Donnas - Take it Off
-- Jimi Hendrix - Spanish Castle Magic
-- ZZ Top - Sharp Dressed Man
-- Black Sabbath - Iron Man
-- White Zombie - Thunderkiss 65
-- Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows
-- David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
-- The Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated
-- Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
-- Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water
-- Cream - Crossroads
-- Sum 41 - Fat Lip

The Gui-tarlet - custom crapper!

2005-11-02T21:38:00.000-05:00

Had to post this... I had no idea that people go to huge lengths to customize their toilet seats! If I had my way I'd sit myself down on this sweet package - the Guitarlet. It's not a joke either - check out Jammin John's for yourself. Man, i guess rocks stars go crazy on custom toilet seats - like in the $100K + range - yikes...whatever. I've heard that this guy is a legend in the business of making cool toilet seats. Everyone wants to leave a mark...i guess...lol.

Cool Guitar

2005-10-25T17:50:00.000-04:00

I always love to see reeeeally cool guitars...and this one is wild! Man, that's some incredible woodwork! This guitar was handcrafted at Ed Roman Guitars in Las Vegas for Swedish born shredder superstar Yngwie Malmsteen.

It has recently come to light that this unbelievable one of a kind piece of art was handmade as a tribute and present for Yngwie Malmsteen!
This guitar was displayed at the NAMM show a few years ago, Ed saw it there, and having a penchant for odd guitars took photos of it at that time. There the story of this unique instrument takes an odd twist. The guitar was then sent to Miami for Yngwie, but It was never claimed. Because it was not claimed (for whatever strange reason, possibly he was on tour), it was impounded and then bought at a very dear price at auction.
The new owner contacted Ed a couple of years ago to sell the guitar. He described the guitar to Ed. When Ed told him he had a picture of it on the website already he was quite surprised and immediately knew that Ed would be the right person to sell this fine one of a kind collectors dream instrument !

via

ps - anyone else got a cool guitar pic on the net somewhere send the linx - would be cool to check out.

Gibson's Guitar Hero

2005-10-22T08:48:00.000-04:00

Ha - was wondering when the guitar business world would latch on - just picked up the morning guitar e-news and found this via:

Sunnyvale, Calif., August 30, 2005 – RedOctane®, a leading creator of music video games and peripherals, has announced an exclusive deal with musical giant Gibson Guitar where several famous Gibson models will be featured in the new game Guitar Hero™, the highly anticipated rock'en roll guitar video game coming in the fall of 2005 to the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system.

"Gibson guitars are an essential American rock element revered by musical artists worldwide for their incredible style and amazing sound." said Kai Huang, CEO of RedOctane. "This is the first time a guitar manufacturer has been exclusively featured in a video game, and we're excited to be working with such an iconic company."
"Gibson Guitar is the perfect partner for this high energy game from RedOctane," said Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO Gibson Guitar. "Gibson is every Guitar Hero's instrument of choice and now they can have it in a rock-n-roll simulation game too."
Guitar Hero, developed by veteran music video game creator Harmonix®, combines the best of rhythm game action with classic American music. The game puts you at center stage of your very own rock band, featuring unique characters, a selection of Gibson electric guitars to play and concert venues that grow in size as your music career progress. The title includes over 30 licensed rock songs including tracks originally made famous by such artists as Ozzy Osbourne, David Bowie, Boston, Sum 41, Audioslave, White Zombie, Franz Ferdinand, and The Ramones.

"Seeing Gibson guitars in the game adds a sense of realism to Guitar Hero, that we feel will really appeal to rock fans." said John Tam, game producer of Guitar Hero. "The game is going to feature a number of legendary Gibson guitars, and players will be able to choose from a number of different paint schemes for each."
The game has been met with rave reviews in the gaming community, winning "Best of Show 2005h at the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) and was one of twenty-five games invited to demonstrate at "G-Phoria" – G4 videogame TV's annual award show in Los Angeles.

Check out the video trailer - lol.

Lonestar.... a beatiful thing!

2005-10-20T20:01:00.000-04:00

Well, I've been gettin' real serious about amplifier hunting these days - need to get a good amp to record and gig with - been borrowing waaaaay too many amps over the past 5 years (thanx to all you who've helped me out with the loners). Anyway, went down to Long & Mquade's with Matt to trial a few amps and man, we spent from about 1:00pm - 4:00pm pushing some great amps to the limit to see what kind of tones we could get out. We auditioned mostly mesa...like all day - with the exception of the Peavey JSX 212 combo amp just to see what the hype is all about - conclusion: great amp if you're into shredding ...like... alot. Anyway, of the mainstream brands we really prefer mesa anyway - like totally.
I've been puting lots of thought into the fact that huge amp stacks put out way too much wattage for my liking - i doubt i'd ever turn the master above 1 or 2. I wanted to see if I could really get an amp to sound great on its clean and dirty channels while pushing it to its middle range pot settings - maybe take a 30 - 50 watt amp and push it and see what i can do instead of going huge triple rectifier head and only using 1/16 of its capabilities - u get the picture. btw: whoever is making reverbs at the factory to put into these amps: stop making them suck! Sheesh. To this day I have yet to find an amp that's got a "great" reverb sound. If anyone out there could convince me pleeeease let me know.

Well, after going thru the mesa F50 for a while we slipped over to the Lonestar 1x12 and 2x12 combos for a while. My PRS sounded unreal thru the Lonestar 1x12 combo - like amazing! Nice clean tone from the single coils and good chunk on the drive channel thru bridge. We were playing these amps for like an hour or so when shop Mesa guru Don says that mesa puts out the exact same technology as the combo but in a head/cab model. We thought hey, why not just check it out. Well... WOW... like WOW! It was the same brains inside the head but took the tone like 100% thru the roof! We must have played the thing for like a good hour - cranked it loud..i mean loud. Guys at the front desk came up to us with a smirk and asked if we could just one it down a touch - they couldn't even hear their telephone ring in the store..lol. Er..umm...sorry (whatever)...this amp was unreal. Some real earcandy to chew on. And yeah, to boot it had a not-sooo-bad reverb on it. I think my ear drums were creating their own reverb effect after cranking it that loud for so long..lol. Real impressive combination. Nice thing about this head was the 30->15->5W selection settings - switch it to create some drastic tonal changes! Really amazing sound - very "matchless" without spending the big$$. Matt and I are both looking to pick up a Lonstar Special Short head/2x12 OB cab after the quest. Man, if you haven't yet, check out the Lonestar.... a mesa amp that's a bit more than a mesa...

Check out the official specs of MesaBoogie Lonestar Special here.

Harmony Central Review for the Mesa Boogie Lonestar Special head/cab here.

Just for fun, click here.

McPherson

2005-10-12T20:02:00.000-04:00

So when my buddy Michael Olson was in town a while back I was able to check out his McPherson acoustic. I was like, 'yeah yeah so what's with the dumb hole location, right?' Well, read on. He was going on about his Taylor acoustic and how he thought it was superb (as it is and always shall be...) but was overwhelmed with the tone and action of the emerging fabulous McPherson's guitars (one's he tours with). Well, I got a chance to test drive his McPherson a little: yup - it's hands down one of the best acoustic guitars out there right now. For all you high-end "Taylor-made" acoustic guitar tone lovers, you gotta check out a McPherson, period.

bgv session

2005-10-09T09:13:00.000-04:00

Here's a pic of the vocal crew just after our final bgv session of this project - a great day of recording. From left to right: Kathy, myself, Skip, and Richard. We got thru two songs in about 6 hours of recording. Not bad considering we laid about 100 vocal trax on those two songs alone. This wraps up most of the vocal work on this particular segment of our cd project. Final mixdowns and mastering should be completed sometime in December. Good news too: Mercy Train is on deck to record an additional 10-12 songs starting in January - we're totally excited about the new material and can't wait to get started. We are looking to realease these first six songs as a "sampler" cd and record the next batch of tunes to form our debut album - very exciting times for us.

finally -bit of home recording -- guitar -- as promised

2005-09-20T20:21:00.000-04:00

Well here is a little bit I recorded to a backing track found @ harmonycentral
Just the into,
please omit the mistakes (o: and the clipping,

Intro cherub rock

btw Andy thanks for the putfile website I had not heard of it before.

the setup

Les Paul Custom w/ JB in the bridge
Diezel VH4--> Mesa 4x12 traditional w/v30's
Shure SM-57
Mackie 1402 VLZ
M-Audio Delta44
Cubase

3 tracks of guitar

NB

'65 Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue

2005-08-15T08:59:00.000-04:00

Here's a pic of the nicest amp setup I've ever used in recording. Matt and I had a chance to mess around with it for some tracking in the studio a few weeks back. What amazing tone! Nice work Richard. Gotta get me one of those '65 Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissues and tweek it a bit. Could not believe the tones coming out of that thing! (Yeah, the Strat & pedal board combination were nice too...:)

Been a while....

2005-08-15T08:21:00.000-04:00

Yeah, man it's been a while since I've done my last post... still love those iem's.

So much has happened since we last spoke. Not too long after my last post in May I was asked to play guitar/vocals for a very cool emerging christian band called Mercy Train. Jamie Prokop, son of Lighthouse great Skip Prokop, is fronting the band and all I can say is that God has His hand on this group. I prayed about the opportunity and within two weeks was sitting in a studio waiting for my first attack on the songs. The rest is history. There is something special about this music. I've never played anything quite like it before. I can't wait until this thing is done.

The first cd that is being released is a 6 song sampler for distribution that should be complete by October. We'll be adding 6 more songs to complete a full cd project by about March of 2006. Oh yeah, got tons of guitar tone stories to tell about the studio work hehehe...

Fantastic, that's for Shure!

2005-05-08T14:40:00.000-04:00

Well, all I've got to say that it'll be hard to go back to floor wedge monitors after using these amazing in-ears! On the quest of eliminating stage noise the church was able to invest in a bunch of the Shure E2 IEM's last week and man, what a difference - amazing!. At first it seemed a bit weird - listening to a "sterile" mix... all tones so crisp and clear on the stage is new to me. I've just been so used to playing in live environments where there is so much noise bleed everywhere that it becomes impossible to fine tune tones and fx - not anymore...muwhahahaha! These little E2 buds are the next best thing to sliced bread and Betty Crocker. Not only can I hear my guitar clearly but I can get a fantastic mix of the drums, bass, and BGV's... and these E2's are little brother to Shure's dual-driver IEM's. Even without the low-end driver these babies rock! I only use one in the left ear so that I can still get the low end of the bass off the stage amp and hear the rest of the auditorium. It would be difficult to go back to the floor wedge now... and man, my AC30 patch sounds even better through these babies!

Edward Van Halen

2005-05-01T22:45:00.000-04:00

http://www.amptone.com/eddievanhalenrig.htm

Here is a very interestnig article on the legendary EVH tone. It always seems to be a hot topic in which discussion leads nowhere.....I think a large portion of it is in his fingers. I believe it was Ted Nugent who played through EVH's rig and noticed he still sounded nothing like Eddie.

I think this series of articles and email conversation contains some very interesting ideas.*

***DISCLAIMER*** THE WRITER WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR GENERAL ANTS-IN-THE-PANTS OR NUMB BUTTOX UPON READING( this suckah is loooooong!)

Here is an interesting thought i just read, not on the topic of guitars at all. I think Billy Graham hit the nail on the head.

Today our young people are asking for direction and perspective. They are looking for models to follow, for patterns of purpose.
They are like rows of beautiful new automobiles, perfect in every detail but with no gasoline in the tanks. The exteriors are fine, but there's nothing inside to give them power. And so they just sit and rust -- with boredom.

This was taken from Billy Graham's "Peace With God" from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

I'm sure any member of this blog cannot count how many people they have known that fit this exact description. This is an older book (I assume '80s), but this chapter is more relevant now than ever. The relevance is even stronger because many of my peers are reaching an epiphany. Soon we all have to close a chapter in our lives and move on from the all-to-prolific halls of secondary school. Everyone is searching now, turning to one empty thing or another, but for most the search is fruitless. I believe many are still awaiting a "near-life" experience...to realize a relationship with their Creator.

First Day Recording!

2005-04-23T20:50:00.000-04:00

Mercy Train has been in Richard's studio three times since April 2/05, and today was my first day laying down electric guitar overdubs. Today was my first time in a studio. I feel quite spoiled to be using such a high quality facility, and to be working with such high quality talent and skill.

I used a mesa/boogie dual rectifier tremoverb mic'ed with a 57, approximately one inch away from the center of the speaker, and a Soundelux U195 approximately one foot away from the center of the amp.(<---that's for you Nathan =] ) My POD 2.0 was used direct on a few tracks for it's automatic volume swell. I know nothing about mic'ing guitars, but I really like Richard's way, it sounds fantastic. You can't argue with results, lol.

I went right into the amp from my wolfgang, and it sounded smoking! I was extremely pleased with the tones I was able to achieve. Between Skip and Richard, the control room was smokin' hot with good ideas that made their way onto the tracks.

Dare You To Move

2005-04-16T14:00:00.000-04:00

There are so many "spiritual" rock bands out there trying to capture the hearts & minds of young people all accross the nation. Switchfoot has always been a favorite of mine ever since they crash landed in my mind with their huge hit "Meant To Live". It amazes me how so many bands can use the same chords structure to convey so many different messages (thanx to U2 :). Check out Switchfoot's song "Dare You To Move" - a song about redemtion, salvation, restoration, elevation from where you are to where you must go. A deep song that would do little for me if it weren't for those cool tones - gotta love video post-production.

PS... dare you to move.

Crappy Monitors

2005-04-15T19:31:00.000-04:00

Well, i just got back from testing my Mesa/Boogie Formula Pre at New Hope. This has been my first time testing the preamp extensively with our PA. I also used my digitech S100 rackmount effects unit, which is decent quality. I'll probably only use it for a little bit of reverb though, as I don't have a midi controller for it.

Anyways.

I placed the 2 units stacked on top of eachother on top of a small stool, sat on the floor, and began tweaking. I couldn't get around how muddy it was...so i sat there for an hour trying to coax even *a little bit* of tone out of it, no luck. I was only coming through one monitor strongly, but later when I walked around the stage i heard a very faint signal coming out of another monitor, and it sounded about a million and four times better....Clayton had warned me that the monitor i was using wasn't great, but i didn't think it would make a huge difference. He said i could try listening through various monitors before he left, but i couldn't figure out which channel my guitar was going into as nothing is labelled :S

So i ended up unplugging clayton's direct box that he leaves on stage, and using the XLR cable for his channel, because i knew it would come through all of the monitors. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!! I had a cool tone dialed in seconds....and then i rocked out solitaire-style for like an hour.

So for months i have been severely disappointed in the tones i've been using, and all this time it was those crappy monitors (there is two of them, they are some make i have never heard of) that have been throwing me off. The whole time i was compensating for a very muffled sounding monitor, I can just imagine what it sounded like in mains. This monitor doesn't sound anything like the mains...or even the other monitors. Hahaha...Oh well =D. Word on the street is we're going in-ear soon anyways.

PRS 513 Rosewood

2005-04-13T08:57:00.000-04:00

Just when you think prs has done just about every sonic thing with a guitar they come out with this baby! I had to go to Matt's Music this week to pick up my new tremolo sleeve for my prs. Prs was kind enought to send it out no-charge - way to go prs!. Anyway, I took the opportunity to test out the very vast Crate amp selections at Matt's and strum a few of their beautiful prs guitars. One of the guitar nuts in the store was telling me about the recent release of the prs 513 that has the capability of configuring 13 different tone selections with its five single coil pickups! Yikes... check out the detailed specs here. I think the store is getting one in so all can salivate... very very cool. I'll have to re-mortgage the house for this baby.

A lot to be said about clarity...

2005-04-05T20:14:00.000-04:00

Had to blog about my latest totally amazing toy. I picked up a BBE 100X active a few weeks ago and wow... what a huge difference it's making! As soon as I flipped the sonic maximizer on it was like...vooom - clarity!!!..... especially low and mids. It's making my PPXtLive light on fire...It's unbelievable really. It's making my prized AC30 patch sound soooo authentic. Big brother of the 100X, the 1000X, comes with the additional passive option feature, Jensen transformer and 0-30dB pad pot. Guitar Player Magazine did a good review of the DI's in August 2003, profiling both - check it out here. If you haven't yet, ya gotta go BBE (or Jensen, 'cause they're good too:)!

London Power

2005-04-05T15:44:00.000-04:00

London Power

London Power, located in London, Ontario is run by Kevin O'Conor. He started by doing amp mods, and then he went on to build his own amps out of dissatisfaction with avaiable amplifiers.

The most interesting things about his amps are the power scaling feature, and the 0-10w studio amplifier. It's only 10watts (which is actually half the power of a 100w amp) so you can get more juice out of the power tubes as opposed to preamp gain.

I have to run now, so here is a little snippet of info on power scaling from the site:

"Introduced in 1995, Power Scaling was actually developed prior to 1990 by London Power. This proprietary technology allows the output power of a tube amp to be dialed down. It provides the ultimate control for players who live in a "non-master" world. The London Power STUDIO amp is the first commercially available Power Scaling amp, with unprecedented tonal diversity for use in the studio.
The London Power SESSION amp is a jazz club legend.
The London Power SPECTRUM amp is awe-inspiring. Clean. Loud. Quiet. Toneful.
The London Power SUPER STANDARD is simply the Ultimate tube guitar amp."

Getting good tone on Tape

2005-04-04T22:49:00.000-04:00

I have been on a bit of a personal quest lately... to get the guitar sound or well close to the guitar sound I hear on many commercial recordings.

In my very modest home setup resources are limited but I'm trying.

I'm really after the full "wall of sound" tone.

If you guys have some additional pointers please share.

Here are a few of the best of the web:
Recording Electric Guitar, SOS
Recording Guitar, MIX
Recording Electric Guitar, Electronic Musician

I have been using a Sennheiser e609 silver and a shure SM58 (my 2 dynamic mics) --> a mackie 1402 VLZ Pro --> Maudio delta/44 -->PC running Nuendo.
and so far the results have been well fair... more experimenting to come.,. and hopefully some of my own clips? update.... I have a SM57 on the way (ebay) so more mics to play with.

Just so you know the ballpark sound I am aiming for; Here is a clip recorded by a fellow forum member at the HC amp forum, ..
I was blown away to hear the sound this guy got @ home with no outboard gear (besides the preamp)
*Note this is the best clip I have heard on there in a while, They make these clips just to show the capabilities of the amp and not sit well in a mix (o:

Mesa F50 - by Tommi Inkila

This is done with 1 solo guitar, and 2 rhythm guitars (left and right)

The signal chain is Ernie Ball Musicman--> Mesa F50--> H&K 4X12 w/celestion Vintage30--> Shure SM57--> SPL goldmike MK2---> Cubase

SPL Goldmike MK2
.

Im my opinion the clip above sounds very 3-d, clear and defined while being fat and full range all at the same time. It just seems to have so much clarity.
With my setup I am having a hard time finding the line between muddy and shrill; and well that may be partly due to the mackie preamps I am using. I just cannot seem to achieve the clarity I have heard in some other recordings.
Now the questions,
Do any of you have experiance with higher end recording interfaces, preamps or channel strips?
Do they make a big impact on the final recorded sound compared to a cheaper pres like the ones on a mickie mixer or similar? I am thinking this should be my next studio upgrade... any recomendations?
Thanks
NB

Speaker Tones

2005-04-04T20:42:00.000-04:00

I found a cool article on the web regarding the importance of using the correct amp/speaker configurations to get great tones from the guitar - thought you all might like the read. The following are a few tips within the article by Pat Hennessy, a session player in LA. You can check out the entire article here, but for a quick overview check out these helpful hints. He talks a lot about head/cab configs, something I'm just not a big fan of... I just think there's a bit too much power to contain in the environments I play in. Anyway, some points you may already know, but some good reminders regradless:

* Natural valve and speaker distortion sounds better than simulated distortion.Try to match your speaker/amp combination using speakers that handle only a little more power than your amp can put out, for example 2 x 30w 12" speakers with a 40w amp.

* Use open back speaker cabinets. These are far less beamy as the rear sound gets reflected. Your band can hear you better.

* Use multiple speakers - 2 x 12", 4 x 10" etc. These have a fuller, fatter sound than single speakers.

* Use 10" or 12" speakers mainly because these are most popular and there is a huge selection to choose from. 15" speaker cones are too heavy for guitar. I prefer 10" speakers because they are less beamy, less searing in the upper mids and are generally a little less efficient than 12" speakers. A 10" allows a warmer, less midrangy overdrive tone at a lower volume level. If you're radical try 8" speakers which theoretically give even less beamy dispersion at high frequencies, but there are few suitable for guitar 8"s to choose from.

* Use a valve amplifier of no more than 50 watts for average club gigs. If you have a high powered solid state amp you may have to under power your speaker to at least get some speaker distortion. But, you'll have to be careful not to run your amp too hard or you'll blow out your speakers.

* If you're a clean-only player, use high efficient general purpose PA speakers by JBL, EV, RCF, etc. Be warned, this can add several kg's to your amp.

* 100 watt Marshall amps and Quad boxes were designed to fill up large halls and stadiums without PA assistance. Many Quad boxes use 280 watts worth of speakers. If you're a hearing damage volume freak, use these set-ups as is. If you want a more usable amplifier, try detuning the amp to 50 watts after the warranty has expired.As an aside, this also works for Fender Twins or any other 80 watt plus amp that has four output valves. Have a knowledgeable tech remove two of the output valves. The amp will only put out half the power. Remove the Quad speaker back and replace it with two strips of plywood allowing the middle 50% of the back to be open. Use only two of the speakers or downgrade to four G12L-35 Celestion (35 watt, 93 dB sensitivity) or similar by Fane, McKenzie, Eminence, etc. As a temporary measure point the speaker toward the back wall of the stage.This will cut volume, highs, and spread the sound out.

If you own a nice old Fender Super Reverb or any other 50 watt or less combo amp that does not have a master volume or overdrive, do the following. Set your guitar on full and turn up the amp volume until the amp and speaker are just starting to distort simultaneously such that when you turn your guitar back to 8 or 9 it's clean. This is your clean tone. Do not turn up the amp any louder. For leads or sustain kick in an over- drive or distortion pedal.

* Do not point your speaker at the sound tech during sound checks. They'll tell you to turn down and you will not be able to get a decent tone.Twist your speaker so that open back points at the drummer and the front sound reflects off a wall to the audience. Your drummer will hear you better and you will not sear off the faces of your close audience.

* Do not set your tone with your speaker on the floor firing at your legs. For sound checks, walk out front as far as your lead will get you (a wireless is great for this).To hear more treble on stage, get your speaker up or lean your speaker back as Steve Vai did at his recent Auckland concert. This can be hard on your ears.

* Get advice. Look for people who not only know their own area of expertise (the easy part), but can see how all the pieces fit, effecting one another (the hard part). New Zealand has the talent - right in your own back yard and the ones I know, like myself, give lots of advice for free. All the greats, past and present, have their tones. You may never have heard the song before but you know the tone, it has to be... it is.... no one else has a tone like that. In the end, you'll have your own tone created by your complete set-up of which speakers are major. You be the judge. It's your tone, your signature.

Samson AG1 Wireless System

2005-04-01T18:48:00.000-05:00

Had to blog about my Samson AG1 Wireless System. Here are a few reasons I enjoy using my AG1:

It eliminates the guitar cable (obviously) thus providing more free movement on stage
In my playing environment, I can dock & power my AG1 reciever on my SPB-8 pedalboard while setting up my guitar on stand 50' across stage for quick pickup - I just roll up my volume pot and play (once again, no tripping on that blasted cable)
The transmitter is small and has a -15db pad switch (for active p/u's), reciever is quipped with a pad pot and trim pot too :)
Just one AAA battery in the transmitter can last up to 14 hours...they say... I charge two AAA rechargables on my SPB-8 - I use one for about 5 hours of continuous playing and still have a backup AAA if I need it, and like I said before, I power my reciever unit via SPB-8, but always have the option to go 9V battery
I have been using the AG1 for about two years and in that time have never noticed any guitar tone/signal degradation. I keep all my pedal/amplifier connections plated with nickel if not gold for good signal transmission.

I have used the AG1 in numerous audio environments (including outdoors) and have never had any crazy issues. Well, there was just one time... but that was almost two years ago and due to some power cable being laid ontop of my reciever and poor pedalboard configuration. Since working out those bugs, my AG1 is one of my best purchases and has remained very faithful to the ongoing quest for stage tones.

I always check out gear reviews at Harmony Central (HC) - just to see what other guys like and dislike about a piece of gear before I go and invest my $ on it. You can check out the Harmony Central review of the Samson AG1 Wireless System here. FYI: HC gives the AG1 wireless an overall 8.2/10 with the lowest category in the reviews being customer support from Samson (who needs the support when the AG1 manual is published online...?).

I prefer the AG1 of course and love it to death. I have used other wireless belt-clip packs before for stage use and can honestly say that they do not deliver a "more clear" tone to the amp than the AG1. Anyway, here are a few other wireless systems to compare with the AG1:

And the answer is clear really... Samson was a biblical prophet and hero after all... he was the strongest man ever to live...see any obvious parallels here? (Judges 13.24...lol)

Tone Of Gold

2005-03-29T16:25:00.000-05:00

Ok guitar nuts - I need some help. Crystal Lewis has to be one of my all time fav female artists. This album called "Gold" came out in 1998 and contains some of the greatest guitar tones I've ever heard. Shawn Tubbs is the session player on the record and man can this guy play. I'd like to ask any of you out there what exactly Shawn is doing on track nine (Why). The lyrics/guitar/bass combinations draw my ears back to listen time and time again - I just can't get over how much the guitar sings as much as Crystal in this song. There is soooo much power in finding and utilizing great tone - and to make that tone communicate a message... what an art. I understand that post-prod. ie)eq etc.. has a great deal to do with the final outcome of any guitar track recorded, but Shawn's doin somethin' right on the tracking end. Any comments welcome to me. I'd sure love to play like this guy. Wow. It's one of my favorite songs to savour... The song itself is a bit dark and bluesy but the tones...wow... the tones!!! Give it a download from iTunes and have a listen. The entire album is pretty cool but track nine has my ears in a trance. Amazing what great tone can do.

Andy

PS - here's a snapshot of Shawn Tubbs' rig.

One More Thing for Tonight....

2005-03-26T21:53:00.000-05:00

The Fender Amp Field Guide

This website is an information gold mine on fender amplification! I came across when i was researching a friend's mystery amp. A student of mine was given an all tube fender amp by his father's friend. Upon first inspection i could tell it was somewhat unique. The amp features 2 normal inputs, 2 reverb inputs, vol, treb, bass, reverb and volume, treble, mid, bass that all feature a boost option. This amp didn't have an obvious model name written on it (although i realized it did today), and the grille has been redone. Upon finding the amp online i learned that the amp was only manufactured in '80 to '81 and features a tube rectifier(5U4) and tube reverb. You cannot get tube reverb on some of the new tube fender models (deluxe and deville), and you cannot even get a tube rectifier on the fender twin (their flagship model, although many of the older ones had solid state rectifiers and some did not). I actually don't think that either of those are vitally important, but some tube-purists refuse buy amps with things like solid state tremolo on it (nevermind reverb!)!!

I'm considering saving some dough for a deville or delux, as they both have a "power amp in" on the rear panel. I'd really like to run my mesa/boogie" formula 1" pre amp through a tube poweramp, to do it some justice. It has sounded fantastic all of the times i have used it with a tube power amp (i've tried it with a mesa strategy 500, peavey classic 30, mesa 50/50, and my buddy's fender 30). Until i can get my hands on something with a tube power amp, i'll be using my POD 2.0.

Amps?

2005-03-26T21:32:00.000-05:00

The ultimate reference source for all the classic amps!

This deluxe revised edition contains 40% new material, with a comprehensive A-Z section covering all the great tube amp manufacturers, with histories, photos, and information. Brands include Ampeg, Dr. Z, Fender®, Gibson, Hiwatt, Marshall, Matchless, Mesa/Boogie, Orange, Vox, Watkins and many others. Features a CD-ROM with 800 schematic and layout diagrams, from Ampeg to Western Electric, plus dramatically improved design and page layout. The book's technical tips, in-depth electronic specs, explanations, 350 schematic diagrams, and full-color plates make it a must-have for tube-tone fanatics. Hardcover with convenient enclosed spiral binding. 416 pages.

I thought this would be a really interesting resource to own, i'm going to check music123.com and amazon to see if they have it. (musician's friend doesn't ship to canada, unless they've changed in the last couple years)

I wonder why fender is the only company listed with the "®" beside it...

World's Smallest Guitar...

2005-03-26T00:29:00.000-05:00

A "nano" guitar? Just read to believe..

The Dance

2005-03-25T23:00:00.000-05:00

So I'm sitting around doing my chemistry ILA on molecular structure and my mom puts on a cd while she makes her signature italian soup (it's my favourite food EVER!)......It's Fleetwood Mac's live CD "The Dance" recorded in '97. My mother has owned the cd since she has owned a cd player, and over the years the music has seeped into my subconscience. I was able to sing a long with every single song. I haven't actually heard the cd in years, but every day (especially when we lived in FL) me and my bros would go swimming and my mom would have Fleetwood Mac on while she tanned or whatever. I didn't appreciate the music as much back then, although when I was 11 or so i learned "I'm So Afraid" and "Big Love."

As I was listening to the cd today I found new appreciation for Linsdey Buckingham- vocalist, guitarist, song writer, and producer. He has a very distinct sound both tonally and in his phrasing. I think he's fairly underrated, he's no Phil Keaggy, but he's definitely great. And his guitar looks weird, that always counts for something. =)

Strings Too

2005-03-25T01:38:00.000-05:00

I know that strings play a huge role in the kind of tone that comes out of a guitar. I've been seriously considering resetting up me prs with thicker strings. I currently equip the prs with D'Addario .009 - .0046 and it's hard to believe that I haven't paid too much attention to my strings... partly becuase I was grid-locked in a very rhythmic style of play - very clean, warm sounds - very little drive on the amp. I think I've played the past 5 years this way. As I gravitate toward trying to develope some killer tones, I seem to get stuck on getting that full-bodied, rich crunch that I'm going for. No matter what kind of processing I put my guitar thru, my quest for this crunchy, messy tone is nothing without a string upgrade to the axe. Lately I've noticed that as my playing intesifies, so does the fret-rattle - even to the point that when I strike an E chord the low E string worbles almost up to an F!!! Sheesh. I know my style is going through some musical evolution so I've got migrate the string setup too. I buy D'Addario's 'casue they are cheap. Any good suggestions on some strings I could try? I'm not going to kill my fingers and move up to 11's - probably just 10's. Give me some suggestions - and yes... I've tried Elixir's and I find they snap easy - anyone else? I think Elixir's look really cool in the pretty pink package but that's about it. You can try to sell me on 'em anyway, just for fun. Well, I'm open to try just about anything after I setup the axe... and I'll give you all the official update when I'm finally happy.. with my superb tone... for now...

Now I did find a web-site here that's a shop based in TO that sounds like they've got good strings. Might try them out too... who knows.... back to my 9's for now...

Ken Parker

2005-03-24T15:19:00.000-05:00

http://www.tonequest.com/articles/article23.htm

Ken Parker is the guy who pioneered Parker guitars. This is a very interesting article, he began basically making furniture, and then started builing solid bodies, tool-making...and then began working on the Parker design.

He has some interesting views on tone wood as well. He proposes that thickness from front to back of a piece of wood is what causes a guitar to sound better, not the mass (although the two are proportional).

" That means that when you take a guitar neck and add some material to it, you don’t make it a little bit stiffer – you make it hugely stiffer, and that’s what we do with the composite materials in the Fly guitar. It allows us to make a slender neck that behaves like a big, fat neck. "

I also liked this quote:
"The term tone wood is almost meaningless… I mean, a weed in your garden
could be almost anything… if you’re growing strawberries and a rose pops up,
that could then be considered a weed (laughs)."

Different strokes for different folks, eh.

Ken also explains how people tend to neglect the tonal contribution of the neck, and just how paramount the neck really is.

I found this to be an interesting read, a lot of things for me to think about.....

Cool album...

2005-03-24T11:07:00.000-05:00

Just had to plug this album my buddy Trever gave me this week. It's not a new album - actually was realeased in 1999 by... Garth Brooks? Yup - that's him on the cover. It's a wierd story actually. Garth redid a bunch of Chris Gaines songs for a movie he was writing the script for called The Lamb. The movie was never released for some reason... it's just a very cool album - full of many different styles - and Garth is fantastic. Here's a bit more about the movie etc...from Chris Gaines' web link:

The Lamb has been the subject of many rumors over the last few years. Mainly because it was well known that Garth Brooks was writing a movie script, and that it would be a story about the life of a musician in the public eye. That was the majority of details known about the project. Not much more is known now.

This wasn't going to be an autobiography, a new character was created, nothing at all like Brooks. In the Fall of 1999, Chris Gaines was introduced as the main character of The Lamb. Producers Don Was, Babyface, and Garth got together and recorded the first Gaines album to get people familiar with Chris and his music, well in advance of the movies release. The CD case to "In The Life of Chris Gaines" describes itself as the "Pre-Soundtrack" to The Lamb.

Other than the fact that Paramount Pictures will be distributing the movie, further details are sketchy.

Garth has taken on the on-stage character of Gaines. However Garth has not been cast to play Gaines on-screen.

As of February 2001 The Lamb was in pre-production, and could possibily be released to theaters in late 2001 or 2002.

American Idol

2005-03-23T09:57:00.000-05:00

poor guy... anyway, anyone following idol this time round? How 'bout that Carrie Underwood last night - she's been my favorite from the beginning. AI has not had any country singers take the title yet - she's my favorite to win the competition... either her Bo Bice...lol what a rocker! Is soooo good to him up there - great stage presence. Anyone gonna challenge me on the fav to win?????????

DL4

2005-03-23T09:38:00.000-05:00

okokokokok.... is this delay not to die for? Anyone else think this is the best darn delay out there? It's soooooo nice. ALthough I only had mine for 6 months before I ebayed it, I still think it's fantastic.. and besided I've still got line6 delays comin out of the XtLive... I sure like the fact that I can run my delays pre or post the amp mods... pretty cool... anyway, just had to plug the DL4 for sure... sorry. I just think the boyz at Line6 are briliant!!

BIG-MATT ATTACK!!!

2005-03-22T20:11:00.000-05:00

Well, i just got home from school and i got Ando-matic's email about this nifty new blogger....I figured I'd leave some sites for your perusal.

http://www.engl-amps.com/engl-amps/

Here's an interesting company that offers amps, cabinets, rackgear, and combos. In and around various forums i've seen a lot of gear head's giving them rave reviews...it's difficult to tell the quality from the sound samples they've given me (basically using computer mics, LOL!), but they seem pretty crushing!

http://www.rhinoamps.com/

Rhino amps..who wouldn't want to sound like our favourite large, horned, smelly mammal?! These sound pretty neat based on *their* samples (obviously they may be misleading). The reason I'm interested in these amps will be apparent to those who know me upon entering...hehe. Malmsteen uses a big, stinkin' wall of marshalls anyways....these guys are kidding themselves. EDIT: I forgot to mention that their site is sort of wacked right now. I checked the source code, but i couldn't find any link tags....so basically their website is inaccessable, but you can still check out the nifty front page hehe.

http://www.fuchsaudiotechnology.com/index.html

Fuch's amps have caught my attention recently due to their miniscule guitar world add (ususally near the front of the mag), and a jazz/blues/fusion guitarist i listen to uses these, and he has a dead-smoking tone! I dont' believe he's signed or anything (last time i checked!) but he's an excellent musician. I just remembered his name, Scott Learner. http://www.fuchsaudiotechnology.com/RhumbaBlues.mp3 here is a sound sample of Scott in action, hosted by the Fuch's site.

http://www.jimsoloway.com/27inch.htm

"Sweet, shocks....peggs...lucky!!!" -Napoleon Dynamite. These 7 string guitars have a 27" scale (hence, "the swan"), are semi-hollow, and are available in many different high quality tone woods. I haven't even heard of some of the available wood selections, so they must be good!!

http://www.edromanguitars.com/

Here is a very popular site visited by guitarists all over. I first heard of this site when i was living in Florida, my friend Vern turned me onto it. Ed Roman's Custom Shop builds and modifies some of the most beautiful guitars i've ever seen.

http://www.carvin.com/

K, everyone has heard of carvin, but they seriously are THAT good. A buddy of mine bought a custom 7-string for $1500 (including a lovely tweed case). It is absolutely smokin'. One of the best guitars i have ever played. I bought a small power amp from them to use in conjunction with a marshall cabinet and pod 2.0. The thing is really sturdy for what it is, although a solid state poweramp combined with an outdated digital modelling device doesn't go very far, as far as ear candy is concerned. It's a mediocre sound. I'm looking forward to eventually buying a tube poweramp to use in conjunction with my mesa/boogie formula pre. I'm trying to avoid buying an actual mesa power amp unless i can get a really good deal...they sound great, but are severely overpriced, to me.

Well, Dinner Time!
Gotta Run!
Happy Surfing.

Time To Connect...

2005-03-21T13:15:00.000-05:00

This week I will be making a few of my own patch cables out of supplies from George L's patch cable co. south of the border. Any hard-core guitar nut has a wack of GL's cables on the rig. They're pretty sweet actually: you can order any length of .155 or .225 cabling and choose from a variety of different plug&jacket combinations - the.155 cable is perfect for stomp-to-stomp connections on the floorboard and for rack stuff - the .225 is best for guitar-to-pedalboard and pedalboard-to-amp connections. Good quality connections are essential in delivering the best available tone to the house mix. Can't wait custom up my GL's!

My New Pet, Furman!

2005-03-19T15:36:00.000-05:00

Well.. this just in. I had done some ebay shopping over the past few weeks and finally was able to aquire some new guitar gear to add to the rig. My Furman SPB-8 Pedal Board came in yesterday and I've got to say it's one slick unit. Some great routing options for a stereo amp/pa setup and has ample power to run the gear I've got then some. For now I'm using the PodXt Live on the floor board routing into my my BBE 100X DI . I've also been able to patch my Samson AG1 wireless thru the system for great mobility on the stage. The majority of my playing is at church and unfortunately is wired up mono at present (soon to be changing). Because I'm wired direct into the system from my PodXtLive, most of my great stomps and fx like ping-pong delays, tremolos, etc. have huge limitations in a mono environment. When the current PA migrates to stereo I will be able to run two amplifiers in stereo for some really great tones. Until then, my current rig will suffice. No complaints at all actually. The Pod Xt Live has fantastic sonic representation of some of the worlds best amplifiers. One of my favorites right now is my very own custom Treadplate head & 4x12 cab patches. The PodXt Live is so versatile that I can even use different microphone techniques (digitally of course), like... using two 57's on or off axis for a certain tone or exchange the 57's for a dynamic and pull it back a few feet for some depth - quite amazing really.