I use an OnStage RS7000B amp stand amp stand to get my amp off the floor. This makes a world of difference in the sound of the amp. Positioning the amp on the floor is great for a very small leprechauns, or a good knee massage.
But putting the amp on a stand, angled slightly upwards, allows you really hear the sound of the amp as intended. And getting it off the floor reduces bass boominess.
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I often refer to (and recommend) Helmuth Lemme’s article The Secrets of Electric Guitar Pickups. The author succinctly describes the guitar circuit and discusses how each component of the circuit contributes to the resulting guitar tone.
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At a recent rehearsal with The Drop Daddies, my buddy Ian made an amusing and insightful comment…
Last year, I added a Rocktron Banshee talkbox to my pedal board, so that I could nail the intro to Sweet Emotion, and the solo in Weezer’s Beverly Hills. Yes, it does that sound, and it does it well.
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Our Mackie DL1608 Mixer has a frustrating flaw. And I have an inexpensive low-tech solution that works.
See that row of 16 gain knobs along the DL1608 back panel? They are super-low torque and easy to turn, which means that every time we transport the mixer between gigs and rehearsals, something gets bumped. More
This looks sweet! Looks like a massive 32×16 channel ipad-controlled console. The cool thing is, it’s part of the DL line, so it may result in software updates for our DL1608 mixer.
In this article, Pete Biltoft at Vintage Vibe Guitars explains how the magnetic orientation and winding direction of single coil pickups affects their phase relationships and hum cancellation.
Thanks again to Pete for the permission to post this here!
Howdy!
In this newsletter I would like to cover how to “match” two single coil passive magnetic pickups. More
I’m often asked for advice on choosing volume/tone pot values for a particular guitar/pickup combination. My answer is usually “get a selection of component values, and experiment until you find what you like”.
I may also mention some general principals for working with passive guitar circuits: lower pot resistance will sound darker, while higher pot resistance will be brighter; larger tone capacitance will result in a darker sound; higher resistance pickups will be hotter but darker; etc, etc. More
Trying to video a live band in low light is a challenge! Grainy footage, crappy sound, dying batteries… the list goes on.
At this year’s NAMM show, I saw a new camera from Sony which intends to improve and simplify this- the HDR-MV1.
In addition to playing guitar and running the sound for my band, I’m also in charge of the cameras and making the videos. So I picked up an HDR-MV1 and have been using it for a few months to record some rehearsals and gigs. More
I’ve been playing an Epiphone 1960 Les Paul Tribute Plus for the last couple years, and loving it. On a whim, I recently tried a couple of these unbelievably inexpensive Monoprice Route 66 guitars.
A couple weeks ago, my birthday rolled around, and I ended up purchasing a new Gibson 2013 Les Paul Studio. The Gibson is twice the price of my Epiphone and nearly ten times the price of the Monoprice. What are the differences? How do they stack up? More
A couple years back on my birthday, my family gave me a 2012 Epiphone 1960 Les Paul Tribute Plus. I love that guitar – and have played it nearly every day for two years. Aside from some cosmetic issues, the only real negative about the Tribute Plus is that it’s heavy- it’s a solid body with no weight relief. I’ve been playing many long gigs and rehearsals with my band the Drop Daddies, and the weight really does takes its toll. More