New Gear!!! Fractal Audio Axe-FX Ultra

I got in a Fractal Audio Axe-FX today and had a chance to play with it this afternoon. I am very impressed. This is easily the best sounding modeler I've ever encountered and certainly the best built, most powerful processing unit of its kind on the market.

Interface-wise it is very intuitive and easy to program... but also very deep. Tweak haters beware, there are lots of tweakable facets to each parameter on this thing and you could easily burn a week's worth of playing time fine tuning a single patch. :)

In terms of overall sound I have found I like the unit much better when used as a digital preamp running into a power amp that pushes a real guitar cabinet. Setup this way it is pretty much indistinguishable from a real amp. However, it does need a power amp to function this way... and a tube power amp to really get the feel I'm looking for.

Great unit, well built and you get a new update to the software every two days. :) Great buy if your thing is tweaking and you like tons of paradigm-shifting updates on a regular basis. If you don't like MIDI then you'll probably want to stay away until the next generation comes out sporting some USB or Firewire connections... currently the only way to update the machine and run the optional footswitch is via old-school MIDI apps and hardware.

In Willie Mitchell's Recording Studio with Chris Arena

I had the opportunity to accompany a friend of mine, Chris Arena, into the studios at Ardent and Audio Garden for a couple of weeks to help him record his album. Chris used several select pieces of gear from my collection on the record and it was a real pleasure for me to be a part of it. The main amp used for electric guitar parts on the album was my Kingsley ToneBaron head into my Two Rock 2x12 cabinet. I also lent a few of my guitars to the production. Some of the guitars used were my R9 Les Paul, Custom Shop 1960 Strat, Deluxe Tele and James Tyler Strat. The guys of Audio Garden, Mike Wilson and Jason Gillespie, are the very talented duo that coaxed some amazing tones from that gear (and the players, as well!).

The real treat, however, was getting to visit Willie Mitchell's studio for horn parts. Willie Mitchell has arranged and recorded horn parts for lots of famous musicians such as Al Green and, more recently, John Mayer. It was a real treat to see a master like this at work. We all had a great time!

New Pedal!! Korg Pitchblack Tuner

Just picked up a great tuner pedal called the Korg PitchBlack. It is true bypass with a fantastic led indicator that is easy to read and see. There are multiple tuning patterns available including strobe. Great accuracy and very well built... and it's a cool black color!

I have had great success with this pedal so far. Check it out if you get the chance!

Groove Tubes Solid State Rectifier for Kingsley ToneBaron

After acquiring the Two Rock 2x12 cabinet for my Kingsley ToneBaron and then fixing the intermittent radio reception the amp was picking up, there was only one thing left I wanted to "improve" upon: SAG.

The ToneBaron has a beautiful tube sag feel to it which makes it perfectly suitable for blues and even some faster linear Jazz runs, but pulling off snappier, super fast “shred” licks is made more difficult because of this sag effect. Since the ToneBaron is a tube rectified amplifier, it was easy to convert it over to solid state rectification using the Groove Tubes solid state rectifier plug in place of the 5AR4 rectifier tube that came in the amp. The SS plug lowers the sag effect significantly and increases the amp's response time to the signal coming from the guitar.

What exactly is a rectifier and what does it do? Well the short answer is this: a rectifier converts the AC (Alternating Current) from the wall socket to DC (Direct Current) which electronic circuits need in order to operate correctly. Batteries also provide DC current, by the way, and is what the typical guitar pedal, handheld gadget and/or children's toy uses for power as well. So, when a tube rectifier is used in an amp as the sole converter of AC power to DC power there can be small current drops to the amp's internal circuits when the amp is taxed by digging in more on the guitar or by playing the amplifier loud. The rectifier tube works harder to keep up with the increased voltage demand by the amp which lowers impedance causing a natural compression in the sound (this compression effect is referred to as “sag”). This compression, or sag effect, can also make the amp feel more sluggish to the player and, therefore, make faster licks more difficult to pull off. It feels kind of like attempting to run in deep, soft sand. A solid state rectifier, on the other hand, is built with semiconductors and has a lighting fast response which introduces little to no sag when the amp requires more power. This, as you might expect, produces a "quicker" feel when playing faster licks and riffs.

There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to tube sag. Whether or not more or less of it is desirable is totally up to the individual player and his or her style. I personally like some tube sag in my sound and the Kingsley ToneBaron still has plenty of it despite my replacing the tube rectifier with a solid state plug. By using the solid state rectifier plug the amp’s response to input has increased significantly and I am able to play faster licks now while retaining the tone I like from the amp and getting the response I need in order to play my style.

RF Mod for Kingsley ToneBaron

Ever since I started playing tube amps I have noticed a problem with radio reception here in Memphis with different, random equipment. Not sure what the cause is, but it certainly seems to have something to do with this location because plenty of other locals I've talked to have had similar issues. It doesn't happen with every single amp or pedal, but there is no denying that the potential for radio reception in audio equipment is definitely high in Memphis, TN.

Unfortunately, I was picking up a strong radio reception on my new Kingsley amp and it was distressing. At volume and with copious amounts of gain (which is how I play most of the time) the signal was clear and loud. The station? Kix 106, the Mid-South's #1 Country music station. :)

Behold, the "RF mod"! I had to do something to get that twangy country stuff out of my amp! :) I am a rocker, after all, and I can't chicken-pick so there was no use trying to play along. I got this mod off the Gear Page message board from a post made by Randall Aiken of Aiken amps, a great line of amps in the Marshall vein. He suggests trying this mod if your amp is receiving radio signals only when the guitar cord is plugged in. This usually means your cord is acting as an antenna and that it is less likely that something more internal in the amp is the cause. If you're going to suffer from RF problems, this is the best variant to have because it is totally reversible and very easy to fix.

All you have to do is open up the amp, solder one lead of a .01 mF capacitor to the ground (sleeve) lug or the tip lug of your input jack and the other lead to the chassis of the amp.

(See photo left, note green capacitor soldered to the input jack)

Problem eliminated. And I mean completely eliminated as in zero radio signal heard at any volume. Basically what is happening is the amp is still picking up the radio station, but before it can pass through the cable jack and into the signal path, the capacitor "grabs" the transmission and sends it off to the chassis where it can cause no harm. Pretty cool.

Best of all, the mod costs only a few dollars and you can easily find these caps at your local Radio Shack or similar electronics store.

New Cabinet!! Two Rock 2x12

I love my Kingsley ToneBaron amp, no doubt about it. However, I was having some doubts as to whether the tone I was getting out of it was really something I liked. Since, at the time I took possession of the amp, my only cabinet was my Bogner Over-Sized closed-back 2x12, I had only experienced the ToneBaron through that cab. Big mistake. The ToneBaron seems to require an open-back cabinet in order to sound the way it was intended (after all, Kingsley amps are built and tuned with open-back cabs).

Enter, the Two Rock 2x12. ;)

My buddy and band mate, Doug, has a lovely collection of amps and cabs and is always looking to flip gear for something else. When I met Doug it was at the local Guitar Center and he was looking to trade some amps and cabinets for some other gear... and he just happened to have this particular open-back Two Rock 2x12 with him. I liked the sound of this cabinet from the instant I played it and never forgot about it. So some time after I joined Doug's band I remembered the Two Rock cab and inquired about it (luckily he still had it). I wondered if my Kingsley might sound better through it than my Bogner cab. Doug offered to let me take it home and play it for as long as I wanted to make sure I liked it. And boy do I like it. :)

This is an older model open-back Two Rock vertical 2x12 cabinet, with two (Eminence made) "K&M 65-16" 12 inch speakers at 16 Ohms running in parallel for a total load of 8 Ohms. These particular speakers are said to basically be the same as the Eminence "Red White & Blues" speaker model. They have a fat, round sound with notched upper mids to keep fizz and harshness to a minimum. This is a great sounding cabinet. My Kingsley instantly lost all the fizziness and artifacting that was present on the Bogner cabinet, and the notes got fatter, juicer and more sustainful. The problem with a closed-back cabinet like the Bogner is that the notes are "choked off" by the sealed back design... they never have the chance to sustain and decay. On an open-back cabinet like the Two Rock you get a much more three-dimensional, widely dispersed and less directional tone with notes that ring out and sustain due to the speaker cone being able to vibrate to its full potential. The quick response and low-end of the Bogner 2x12 is great for fast, chunking metal rhythms but not so much for liquidy, searing leads on a Les Paul. The Bogner sounds great, but I think it will sound even better as an open-back cab. I have a spare back panel for this cabinet that I plan to cut to convert it to an open-back cab. Can't wait to hear it this way!

So I finally got to hear my ToneBaron on a cabinet that is much closer to what the builder originally designed the amp around. I have decided to purchase this cabinet from Doug, and I am happy I found it. My Boogie sounds great on it, too! And it is much easier to carry around due to its smaller size and low weight. This was an excellent find and a good purchase.

Boogie Mark III Retubed (again)

Well, I just can't leave well enough alone I guess. ;) I had been doing some research into Mesa Boogie's non-adjustable fixed biasing and realized that the JJ power tubes I bought were not likely even close to what the fixed bias would be for a Boogie Mark III. So after looking around a bit I came upon Doug from dougstubes.com. He has a reputation for really testing his tubes thoroughly with top notch, high-end equipment so you know you're getting good matched sets and power tubes that fall within a certain range of bias.

Doug also happens to have a nice preamp tube "recipe" for Boogie Mark III's. Very cool! So I called him up and he recommended this specific mix of 12ax7 tubes, in order starting with V1:

- Tung Sol 12ax7
- Mullard 12ax7
- Penta 12ax7
- Shuguang 12ax7 9th gen. (V4 - reverb)
- Sovtek LPS 12ax7

According to Doug, the JJ 12ax7 preamp tubes I had in every position before are too harsh for this amp, particularly the V1 position. The Tung Sol is a current favorite for the V1 position in many amps (my Kingsley also came with a Tung Sol in V1). It really did help smooth out the tone and reduce the harshness I was getting from the JJ.

And for the power section Doug recommends a matched quad of SED "Winged C's" that were tested and verified for the Mesa Boogie bias range.

The result of all this? A much more balanced tone with sweeter, softer clipping on both gain channels. Warmer cleans and a much warmer, pleasant sounding tone overall. This tube recipe took a great sounding amp off the charts and turned it into a true tone machine. Got a Boogie? Well, I recommend to you talk to Doug. ;)

R2 Volume Mod for Boogie Mark III

For some some 16 years now I have grappled with the same problem all Mark III owners have faced... trying to balance the volume of all three channels. It was literally impossible to do this since the Clean Channel settings affect both the Rhythm Channel and the Lead Channel. If you got the Rhythm Channel sounding good, chances are the Clean Channel would be too hot, and on and on...

Enter the "R2 Volume Mod". While I had the amp apart to put it into the new headshell, I went ahead and did this mod. By snipping out a small resistor and replacing the reverb pot with a volume pot and soldering this new pot to two places on the main board, I suddenly have a dedicated volume knob for the Rhythm Channel! I can now balance the volume between all three channels. I had forgotten just how great the R2 Channel of the amp sounds, since I was just using the Clean Channel with a distortion pedal or the Lead Channel of the amp itself.

The R2 has a lovely Marshall-like sound to it that is round, and fat. It's crunchy, but a tad bit more reserved since it seems to have a bit of the higher frequencies rolled off. I find it to be perfect for many Classic Rock rhythm tones and perfect for Blues. I am very happy I decided to give this a try!

Boogie Mark III Gets New Headshell!

Ever since I bought my Boogie Mark III back in '92 I wished I had gotten the head version and a 4x12 cabinet. Back then full and/or half stacks were essential if you wanted to be cool. That trend has changed to some degree these days, but for me having a separate cabinet improves the sound.






I decided to call up Mesa Boogie and see about ordering a headshell for my little Mark III since I was no longer using it as a combo, but rather as a half stack with my Bogner 2x12 cabinet. I discovered that they still build headshells to order, so I put in my request. It took while for them to build it (I think I ordered it 4 months ago) but it was worth the wait. This amp is completely transformed! It looks so modern and new inside the headshell. Plus it is going to be much easier to lug around now without the extra weight of the larger cabinet and 12 inch speaker!

I am quite happy with the look of the amp as a head and I look forward to gigging with my little Boogie I bought so long ago.

Treble Bleed Mod Done on Various Guitars

The "treble bleed" mod is one I have had stock on a few guitars for years now (my Ibanez Jem and Ibanez JS both have factory installed treble bleeds). What this mod does is to preserve the treble frequencies in your guitar signal as you turn down the volume knob. Most potentiometers without this mod will cause the sound to get bassy and muddy as the volume is decreased.

The mod couldn't be simpler to perform and the parts are quite inexpensive. I used a 500pF silver mica cap in parallel with a 220K resistor (carbon film, metal film, etc. it doesn't matter) across pins 1 and 2 of each of the volume pots I wanted to modify. I have installed this mod on both my Les Pauls (bridge and neck volume pots), as well as on my Ernie Ball Music Man Steve Morse guitar, my Carvin DC135 and Peavey Wolfgang.

I can now turn down the guitar's volume while playing with high gain on the amplifier and "clean up" the tone significantly. If I am using a lot of gain, the tone may never quite clean up all the way, but it certainly reduces the distortion a great deal which leaves me with more of a crunch tone than a full-tilt lead tone. This is very useful... it's almost like having the gain knob of your amp right on the guitar!

I Joined a Band!!

Well, I joined my first band today since high school. ;) I met my band mate, Doug, at Guitar Center one day (as we share the same sales guy). He invited me over to see his gear and to jam a few times and we started keeping in touch. So one day out of the blue he invites me to this audition for a guitar spot in a Classic Rock band he's putting together. I ultimately ended up declining the offer since I really have no musical repertory to speak of, and certainly not when it comes to Classic Rock.

So after a second invitation I end up going to the audition with not one single song worked up. ;) They seemed to like me in spite of this, and actually let go of another candidate they were looking at. So now I am in a band! ;) I have a lot to learn and I am looking forward to getting all the experience that comes with it. I really like all the guys in the band and I feel like it could be one of the rare experiences where the whole band gets along really well.

We have yet to name ourselves, but we have some ideas already. More to come as the details unfold.

New Amp!! Kingsley ToneBaron

Well, my Kingsley ToneBaron is finally here! The amp I have been waiting for since before X-Mas has arrived and I am so excited. :) Simon and I decided to make some last minute changes to some of the features of the amp, and I can't wait to try them out.

I received it yesterday afternoon and played it for about 5 hours straight (I only had a couple of momentary distractions). I got up this morning and played it again for a few hours and then off and on all day for a couple of hours at a time.

My first impression is, yep, this thing sounds just like it does on the website. Which is good, because that is why I wanted one in the first place! ;) The tone sounds so good and so organic (for lack of a better word). It has a lot of natural compression, or sag (maybe?)... which I could hear clearly in the OD clips on the web, but wasn't sure how much it would come out playing it in person (it does). I really like this sound... it almost "folds in over itself" in manner of speaking. Very cool, indeed!

The cleans are gorgeous... very fat, round and sustainful. I was really impressed with how loud I can play without ear fatigue. This amp gets loud without seeming loud, if that even makes any sense.

There are so many tones and options for sounds on this thing that it will take me a while to explore it all. Add to that how different it reacts (as you would expect) to different guitars with different PUs and you've got a recipe for lots of long weekend afternoons chasing tone.

I do, however, have a pretty good grasp on the main features of the amp and the controls, so I'll be ready to do a full review soon. I have gotten to hear it in the mix playing with some backing tracks and some of my own stuff and it simply sounds amazing with accompaniment. It is also a very easy amp to record.

More to come as I continue to dig in.

Tyler Strat Pickup Mod

I love my Tyler, but I was having some trouble playing it with distortion on a loud amplifier. The bridge pickup would squeal uncontrollably on the gain channel of my amp with the volume cranked up to rehearsal/gig levels. I figured it might be the cover on the Duncan JB, so I decided to pull the cover off and give it a quick test. I was correct. ;)






Typically, factory covered Duncans do not have pickup tape installed on them, so I just stole some off an old, cheap Ibanez pickup (I was never going to use anyway) and taped it up. The pickup looks stock, and now my Tyler behaves at high volume. ;)