Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2018 i Guitar Player

IF THERE’S ONE thing that unites us as guitarists, it’s that we’re all tone seekers. Whether you play acoustic or electric, you’ve endured the frustration of trying to coax a certain sound from your guitar and suffered the typically long and often expensive search for the gear to help you do it. Hopefully, you’ve also savored those moments when you’ve succeeded at nailing the tone you’ve sought for so long. With any luck, this month’s Tone issue will make your efforts less frustrating, and even enjoyable. We’ve gathered several artists from a range of genres to offer their insights about chasing tone and share their own enlightening experiences. It wasn’t hard to choose Joe Bonamassa as this issue’s poster boy. Joe has been a tone hound since childhood, and his…

ANYONE WHO’S WASTED precious seconds onstage trying to wrangle the pitch of a low E string knows that tuning accurately, especially under pressure, isn’t easy. Nerves aside, the problem has to do with gear ratio — that is, the number of turns a tuning key must make for its corresponding tuning post to complete one full revolution. Common guitar gear ratios include 14:1 and 18:1, all of which simply means that you need to twist your tuning knob 14 or 18 times, respectively, to spin the post once. Traditionally, every machine head on a guitar has had the same gear ratio. But as we know, each string has its own unique properties compared to others in the set. One outcome of this is that you have to crank a high…

01 Gain Stacking 1. WHAT AND WHY A gain stack combines different types of overdrives to create a new range of tones and options for your sound. Knowing how they relate to one another in a stack is vital, as it’s different from how they usually work independently. The payoff is massive. Plus, it gives you an excuse to dust off your old, unused dirt pedals. 2. UNDERSTAND RELATIONSHIPS Observe the golden rule of stacking: The second pedal in the stack dictates the tone. Thus, the settings on that second pedal will affect the way the first one sounds with it. Think of the stack as a system. Try moving each element in it until you find the best arrangement. Use your ears, not your eyes. 3. THINK VOLUME The…

OF ALL THE classic amps Fender has logged over the years, the Vibrolux Reverb is frequently cited as the best all-round, grab-and-go gigging combo. It’s an archetypal blackface model with the most desirable features and tone of ’60s-era amps. It also brings together a whole bundle of specs that make it perfect for just about any gig or studio date that requires such timeless attributes. Fender’s 1963–67 blackface models are beloved for their shimmering, glassy, bell-like clean tones and easy, dynamic overdrive when pushed hard. The Vibrolux Reverb delivers those qualities in a compact yet reasonably powerful package, which is one reason why it’s so popular. It can handle the bigger gigs that a Princeton Reverb or Deluxe Reverb can’t cut. At the same time, it doesn’t have to be…

TO MY EARS, It’s Alive is one of the greatest rock and roll records of all time. Recorded at London’s Rainbow Theatre on December 31, 1977, it captures the Ramones’ genius at a time when they exhibited a vital energy and eyeballed a future full of opportunity. The Ramones were a band of misfits from Queens, New York, who got their start in 1974. They adapted their band’s name from Paul McCartney’s pseudonym, Paul Ramon, which he used when attempting to travel incognito. At their storefront rehearsal space, drummer and producer Thomas Erdelyi, a.k.a. Tommy Ramone, assigned each of the quartet’s members their names and instruments: guitar for Johnny (born John William Cummings), bass for Dee Dee (Douglas Glenn Colvin) and vocals for Joey (Jeffrey Ross Hyman). Turning a cold…

“I’m a firm believer that tone affects the way you play,” Joe Bonamassa says. “And for the most part, tone comes out of you.” At the same time, he adds, “there are also a few tricks that can help along the way.” And with that in mind, here are five tone tips from the man himself. 1. USE YOUR VOLUME KNOB “If you have your volume control all the way up, it’s like setting a gas stove all the way on high. But sometimes you wanna roll it back to 8. It’s still hot, but what it adds is a little bit of an anchor. If you ever think your guitar sounds thin, rolling the volume back will give you the anchor. It’s not going be like this huge pendulum…

ON MOST MUSICAL matters, Lamb of God co-guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler couldn’t be more different from one another. Morton is an avowed blues-rock aficionado who counts the likes of Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Billy Gibbons and Jimi Hendrix as his biggest influences. Adler, on the other hand, is a hardcore metal guy who never met a Dimebag Darrell riff he didn’t embrace. Morton analyzes and dissects the modes and scales of his melodic, blues-tinged leads, while Adler “plays from the gut,” impulsively throwing in atonal noise and dissonant chords of his own invention. Nevertheless, the two guitarists have peacefully co-existed in Lamb of God since 1994, when the band formed under the name Burn the Priest. The blend of their unique styles and approaches has helped to…

YOU COULD SAY Egon Rauscher discovered his love for guitars at an early age. The Swiss-born luthier built his first electric at the tender age of 11. The idea that he would one day found his own instrument company seemed to be, he says, “destiny.” Or maybe it was practicality. “I couldn’t really afford to buy guitars,” he explains, “so I started to build them myself.” Rauscher has been hand-building those guitars for the past 20 years under the brand name Soultool. The company is based in Buttikon, Switzerland, roughly 20 miles east of Zurich. In Soultool’s earliest days, Rauscher offered just two models. “A Strat and a Tele,” he says, then laughs. “What else?” But since that time, he’s busted out of the traditional mold, as demonstrated by the…

MARSHALL’S NEW ORIGIN series of all-tube heads and combos strikes an impressive compromise between vintage looks and tone, contemporary functionality and appealing affordability. It does so largely by casting aside the multichannel bells and high-gain whistles found on many of the amp maker’s latter-day designs. And while offshore production keeps the line wallet friendly, the company’s British heritage is still evident in its style and tone. In fact, Marshall owns and manages the factory in Vietnam where the Origins are built. The company even produces its own parts there — everything from transformers to ribbon cables, along with finished Marshall amps. The Origin series amps span five-, 20- and 50-watters and offer similar controls, features and styling. The narrow-wall cabinetry, small Marshall logo and pinstripe grille cloth are direct quotes…

JAMES DEMETER INTRODUCED the Tremulator, his first production pedal, some 30 years ago. The new Plus version incorporates features that make it a more flexible tremolo, while it retains the analog, optical-based circuitry that was key to the original’s lovely sound. Housed in a plus-size metal enclosure, the unit reveals hand-wired connections to the jacks, pots, LEDs and footswitch. There’s also a small circuit board that grips the caps, resistors, socket-mounted ICs and VTL5C1 opto-coupler — the heart of the tremolo if you will. Power comes from either a nine-volt battery (you have to remove the bottom plate to access it) or the adapter of your choice. It’s a very tidy package, built in what Demeter dubs his “barn” in Templeton, California. The Tremulator Plus greatly expands on the control…

“THE WEEPING OF THE GUITAR BEGINS. USELESS TO SILENCE IT. IMPOSSIBLE TO SILENCE IT.” Federico García Lorca wrote those words in his 1921 poem “La Guitarra,” but he could have just as easily been writing about himself. Spanish dictator Francisco Franco’s fascist Nationalist militia executed the Spanish poet, playwright and composer in 1936, ostensibly for his outspoken socialist views. Franco further attempted to silence him by banning his works, a prohibition that remained in place until 1953. Despite such attempts to stifle García Lorca’s words and compositions, they have continued to find expression, particularly among musicians. His poems have been set to music by various artists, ranging from avant-garde composer George Crumb to folk singers Joan Baez and Leonard Cohen. Sharon Isbin is the latest musician to present an interpretation…

Raid Dana’s Gear Stash! The coolest part about my role as Guitar Player’s Gear Coordinator is ending up with tons of awesome products that our editors have evaluated throughout the year. Occasionally, when the reviews are complete, some generous manufacturers offer up their wares, giving our loyal readers a chance to “Raid My Stash.” This month, Danelectro has provided us with one of its Big Spender Spinning Speakers from the company’s Billionaire series. This pedal has three simple knobs for volume, treble and speed. Two switches turn the effect on and off, and the ramp switch with an indicator light can create some groovy effects as the speed increases. This is basically a chorus and rotary-speaker simulator all in one, and a pretty sweet addition to any pedalboard. For a…

AS WE WENT to press last issue with a Performance piece on Marcus King, we discovered his new album, Carolina Confessions (Fantasy), drops this month. GP checked back with the rising star of blues-rock to get the inside story on tracking this incredibly deep and soulful record at Nashville’s fabled RCA Studio A with producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson). How’d you find time to prep for the sessions with such a busy schedule? This record has been a lot different from past records I’ve done. I had a lot of material that I’d been writing on the road in hotel rooms and green rooms, in the bus or wherever. I got in the studio with my band and our producer, Dave Cobb, and we sat on the couch…

01 Recording in the Free World RECORDING YOURSELF USING software and effects can be expensive, but it doesn’t need to be. There’s a world of great free DAW (digital audio workstation) software and plugins out there for you to download and use to create your own songs. Many digital audio interfaces and effect units come with free versions of popular software, such as Cubase and Ableton Live. But be sure to also check out various websites like pluginboutique.com and splice.com, where you can download free amp and effect plugins. Meanwhile, Manda Audio’s MT Power Drum Kit (powerdrumkit.com) will give you realistic-sounding drums for your tracks, all for free! 02 Use a Small Amp for Recording IF YOU LIVE in an apartment, you may regret that you can’t use a stack…

IF YOU HAVEN’T heard Bay Area blues guitarist Laura Chavez, you’re missing out. She’s one of the hottest players on the scene right now. Equal parts great technique, tone, soul and fire, Laura personifies what a true blues musician is. She performed for years with Candye Kane, up until the blues and jazz singer’s death in 2016. I caught up with Laura while she was on tour with the Nikki Hill Band to talk about her gear, how she developed her tone and her favorite players. What’s your rig? I generally use a Fender ’59 Bassman reissue for bigger shows and for when I’m home. With the Bassman, I blend both the Bright and the Normal channels together. For reverb, I use the Boss Fender ’63 Reverb pedal — I…

DURING THE COLD War, anything to do with Western pop culture was strictly forbidden in the U.S.S.R. That included rock and roll music and the equipment required to make it. The only way for would-be Soviet rockers to get a well-made electric guitar was through the black market. Unfortunately, the cost of an American, European or even Japanese model was equal to about six months’ rent, payable in cash. Then, once you owned the contraband, you ran the risk of having it discovered by the authorities. As a result, aspiring musicians were left with the only other option: a much cheaper Soviet-made guitar, such as the Formanta Solo Two pictured here. While the offerings of the country’s guitar makers improved over the years, the early builds were atrocious. The Formanta…

JOE SATRIANI IS happy to discuss nearly any topic related to the guitar. But when the subject turns to tone, the voluble master of the six-string becomes downright enthusiastic. “Tone is such an endlessly fascinating concept,” he says. “Right off the bat, what I find interesting about tone is how subjective it is: What’s good tone? What’s bad? There may not be a right or wrong here, because, as it is with all music and art, context is everything.” For Satriani — whose latest album, What Happens Next (Sony Music), was released in January of this year — context goes hand in hand with intention. “Whenever you’re dealing with the idea of matching a guitar sound to a song, the first thing you have to ask yourself is, What do…

NOT MANY MUSICIANS have had their (often single) name indelibly associated with a certain chord. You’ve got Jimi’s seven sharp-nine, Miles’ minor six-nine, George’s seven flat-nine, Donald and Walter’s “Mu” chord and Prince’s funky minor sixes. And then there’s Todd’s mercurial “T-chord,” so named by many of the musicians who have played and/or recorded with Todd Rundgren — myself included — and marveled at (and been confounded by) this ethereal structure that figures so prominently in his music. But unlike the other guitarists mentioned, Todd has always had more than one chord up his sleeve, and I’ve spent the better part of the past half-century translating his primarily keyboard-based voicings to the fretboard. So join me as we dive deep into TR’s harmonic oeuvre and discover the alchemy that makes…

I’VE BEEN A huge Teye fan since I first hit a chord on one. Every model looks incredible and plays beautifully, and their electronics and range of sounds beg the question, “Why didn’t anyone ever think of that before?” The Gypsy Queen range grew out of Teye’s research into the magic of Jimi Hendrix’s flipped-over Strat. That gave rise to the guitar’s reverse six-on-a-side headstock (which affords a longer string length for the low strings) as well as the reverse angling of the bridge pickups on single-coil models. The two-humbucker Queen on review here obviously diverges from Strattiness, but it benefits from the headstock design (and the extended upper horn) for a super-resonant, grand piano–like clang when played unplugged. It rings big and bold, and the substantial neck feels absolutely…

IT HIT ME suddenly and without warning. I looked down at the massive footprint of my pedalboard and felt silly. The behemoth didn’t fit on small stages without cheating me and my bandmates of personal space, and sound crews rolled their eyes whenever I dragged the thing into venues. It turns out I didn’t need this mothership at all. All I required was a single utility player to cover multiple “glimmer” effects while I deployed my favorite analog pedals for the noisy stuff. Line 6’s HX Effects does the utility gig beautifully — albeit with a caveat or two — and it’s a brilliant first-responder for backline gigs and studio sessions. PORTABLE POWER RANGER Remember that caveat or two? While HX Effects is definitely a portable and powerful effects workstation,…

TRUE PITCH-SHIFTING vibrato is one of the oldest guitar effects, but EarthQuaker Devices’ new Aqueduct Vibrato redefines it for the modern age. Like its namesake, its a channel of watery goodness, allowing you to effortlessly conjure up liquid vintage vibrato tones, shimmering Leslie effects, modern synth-like warbles and even whammy-bar-style bends using the pedal’s various modes. The Aqueduct has wide-ranging controls for rate and depth, as well as a dial for selecting from among eight modes: Sine, Triangle, Ramp, Square, Random, Envelope Depth, Envelope Rate and Envelope Pitch. Sine is smooth and subtle, delivering the familiar classic effect. Triangle, with its sharper rise and fall, is more pronounced, while Ramp produces a sharp downward bend, followed by a slower return to pitch. Square has the most abrupt pitch change and…

> Born Anne Erin Clark in Tulsa, Oklahoma, she took the nom de plume St. Vincent in 2006. The choice was inspired both by her great-grandmother, whose middle name was St. Vincent, and by Nick Cave’s song “There She Goes, My Beautiful World,” which refers to poet Dylan Thomas’s death in Manhattan’s now-defunct St. Vincent’s Hospital. > As a teen, she roadied for her relatives Tuck Andress and Patti Cathcart — a.k.a. the guitar-vocal duo Tuck & Patti — and saw firsthand how powerful music can be. “I’d watch Tuck & Patti bring people to tears,” she said. > Following stints with the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens, Clark launched her solo career as St. Vincent. Her seamless blend of rock, jazz, electronic and classical music made her second album,…

SOUND OFF! GET EXCLUSIVE NEWS. COMMENT. CRITIQUE. SHARE TIPS AND TECHNIQUES. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR E-NEWSLETTER. FACEBOOK.COM/GUITARPLAYERMAG TWITTER.COM/GUITARPLAYERNOW GUITARPLAYER.COM CHRISTOPHER SCAPELLITI Editor chris.scapelliti@futurenet.com ART THOMPSON Senior Editor arthur.thompson@futurenet.com JUDE GOLD Los Angeles Editor judegold@gmail.com JIMMY LESLIE Frets Editor jl@jimmyleslie.com DAVE HUNTER Gear Section & Video Contributor dhunterwordsmusic@yahoo.com ALICE PATTILLO Production Editor alice.pattillo@futurenet.com ROSIE WEBBER Art Editor rosie.webber@futurenet.com…

01 Change Your Tone Without Changing Your Guitars OUR DESIRE TO change our sound often becomes an excuse to buy a new guitar. But how about revamping your existing guitar’s sound with a new pickup? There’s a vast range available, allowing you to make dramatic tonal changes without routing your guitar’s body or replacing your pickguard. Want to swap your humbucker for the punchier cut of a P-90? Try a humbucker-sized P-90. Want the opposite? Check the offerings of Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio, Fralin and others. There are single-coil-size humbuckers for players who want more meat, and coil-splitting mods to deliver more diversity. 02 Check Under Your Pickguard JUST BECAUSE YOUR guitar is factory-fitted with a single-coil pickup doesn’t mean that’s all it can take. Look under your Strat- or Tele-style…

01 Use Two Picks in a Set for Dynamics NEXT TO YOUR own hands, the humble plectrum may be the most important tonal tool you have. Many of us just find a favorite type of guitar pick and stick with it, never experimenting or trying others to see if something else might inspire or suit us better. Instead, when performing, try swapping between two picks of different gauges, such as a thin pick for a softer strum and a heavy one for a more hard-driving sound. The variation in sound could be just the thing your music needs. 02 Mark Your Pedal Settings IT’S EASY FOR your favorite pedal settings to be moved when your pedalboard is in transit. Avoid confusion by marking them with masking tape in a strip…

BACK IN THE 20th century (1976, to be exact), I wrote an article for Guitar Player on how to build the Stage Center Reverb. That spring reverb effect mutated into a dual-spring reverb tank design, with the inputs wired in parallel and out of phase so that when the reverb first hit, the sound cancelled. As the reverb progressed, the decays became more dissimilar and were no longer out of phase. As a result, the reverb would “bloom” after your initial pluck, emulating the sound you hear onstage, where the reverb bounces off the room’s surfaces and eventually comes back to you. (This circuit is still available on Paia.com as the “Hot Springs” DIY kit.) But with a tip of the hat to Blade Runner 2049, it’s a new century.…

PULL UP TO the entrance of Joe Bonamassa’s Los Angeles residence and you’re greeted by a large glowing sign that’s proudly emblazoned with the phrase Welcome to Fabulous Nerdville, California. The display is a nod to the famous signage at the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip. And indeed, for a certain type of nerd — one that hyperventilates at the sight of a ’59 Les Paul Burst, a ’54 Strat or a room full of vintage Fender tweed amps — Bonamassa’s home is a guitar gear jackpot. Just how much equipment is currently housed at Nerdville? Bonamassa estimates it’s somewhere south of 1,000 guitars and amps — but maybe not too far south. “When we go out on tour, I always say, ‘When you have more guitars —…

“WHEN I HEARD JACK WHITE, I REALIZED, MAYBE I DON’T NEED THESE BIG AMPS AFTER ALL” FOR YEARS, ZACH MYERS was convinced that size matters. But at the age of 34, the Shinedown guitarist admits he’s maturing and now recognizes good things can come in small packages. “I used to be one of those ‘the bigger the amp, the bigger the sound’ kind of guys,” he says with a laugh. “I was young and into flashy stuff. I started touring at 14, and I wanted lots of big amps. For the longest time, I was all about ‘more, bigger, more, bigger.’ And the funny thing is, it wasn’t making my sound any better.” Slowly, though, Myers’ attitude changed. He recalls going to a Dallas Guitar Show and playing through a…

PERHAPS THE MO ST accurate and astute observation of Rush’s sound I’ve ever heard came from my then-seven-year-old daughter, Sofia. Upon hearing their classic track “The Spirit of Radio” for the first time, she concluded, “It sounds like they’re playing three songs at once… but in a good way!” Sofia seemed to get to the heart of the Canadian trio’s appeal — namely, their ability to seamlessly blend complexity with unbridled visceral thrill by combining elements of prog rock, heavy metal and new wave into a unique and evolving style. From their 1974 self-titled debut album until their unofficial “retirement” in 2015 — following the triumphant Clockwork Angels album — Rush have cultivated and maintained an intensely loyal and growing fan base. They are a particular favorite among musicians, who…

MESA FOUNDER RANDALL SMITH based some of his early, pre-Mark 1 amplifier designs on tweed-era Fender circuitry. Although he ultimately found that those Fifties-era circuits didn’t provide the clean response he was looking for, he remained a fan of their sonic qualities, particularly when they were driven into distortion. Fast forward to 2018, and Smith’s most recent guitar-amp design, the Fillmore 50, debuts as a simple (at least by Mesa standards) tweed-based amp that features two identical or “cloned” channels (each with a Clean/Drive/Hi mode switch), a tube-driven spring reverb, an effect loop and a global half-power switch. The combo version on review here carries a single 8Ω Celestion Custom 90 speaker, which is driven by a pair of 6L6 power tubes generating 50 watts in Pentode mode and 25…

WE REVIEWED A set of Monty’s Guitars’ full-size PAF humbuckers two years ago and found them to be among our favorites of several reproduction PAFs tested at that time. Recently, the London-based pickup maker sent us a pair of its Mini Humbuckers designed in the image of the best of the beloved Epiphone/Gibson Minis from the ’60s and ’70s. And where did Monty’s find “the best” to emulate? From none other than Pete Townshend, who has been using Monty’s re-creations in two of his touring guitars ever since the adventure began. “I got a call from Alan Rogan, Pete’s long-standing tech,” Monty’s proprietor Matt Gleeson tells us. “He said Pete wanted to have two Strats with Minis on them, and would I like to give it a go? Hell yeah,…