More Posts Coming Soon

It has been a while since I posted anything but lots of stuff has happened. I have made some gear trades and I have seen and done a lot with music lately. All this and more will be coming soon. I will also be writing a book review, so be on the look out for that!

New Guitar!! Yngwie Malmsteen Sonic Blue Stratocaster

Yes! I finally got one of my favorite Strat colors, Sonic Blue, and on one of my favorite Strat models, the Yngwie Malmsteen signature Stratocaster. I have wanted a Sonic Blue Malmsteen Strat for a while now so when I came across this one I jumped on it. Unfortunately, I had to trade my Custom Shop '60 Relic Strat for it (I also got some cash in addition), but so far I can report that it was well worth it. I loved the Relic Strat but the tone was just too thin and harsh for my taste (even despite trying different pickups), so I decided to move it.

This American made Malmsteen is a 2001 make with a maple fretboard, nice deep scallops and the usual huge fretwire (Dunlop 6000, I believe). It is identical in every way to my '05 Vintage White Malmsteen, but I believe the fit and finish to be a tad bit better on this one. The really awesome thing about this guitar is that despite being 7 years old, it's brand new. And I mean brand new! This particular specimen was bought by the previous owner to collect so it has never been played, has all the hang tags on it and the cellophane pickguard protector still applied. Even the trem arm sticker dot that keeps the arm spring from falling out hadn't been removed. This guitar is factory mint.

I have a new set of pickups currently on order for it. Since I am now in a band (and especially since I plan to gig this guitar) I have to be able to get a certain type of tone from my instruments that compliments the music that we play. In the case of Stratocasters, I usually prefer having a humbucker in the bridge position and a couple of good, high-output, fat-sounding single coils in the middle and neck positions (nothing too ice pickish). My favorite set for a Strat at the moment (and the set currently in my '05 Malmsteen) are: the DiMarzio Fast Track 2 single coiled sized humbucker (bridge) and two DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Blues single coils in the middle and neck positions. I also install a treble bleed on the volume knob potentiometer so that the tone stays nice and crisp as the volume is rolled off on the guitar.

Other than pickups, I plan to install an off-white pickguard to replace the mint-green one currently on it. The off-white color is the most typical pickguard seen on Yngwie's guitars. Also, with the creme pickup covers I have on order the contrast between the off-white guard and the creme covers will look cool and have a vintage vibe. At the moment, no other mods for this guitar are planned (other than Schaller strap locks).

The neck is a fine piece of craftsmanship. It is very level with an easy adjusting truss rod and it feels and plays beautifully with minimal to no buzzing anywhere on the neck. The brass nut is superbly cut and the bridge parts are the typical Fender steel vintage trem fare. Should be easily whipped into shape and made playable in no time. I can't wait to get it broken in so I can start gigging with it! I can definitely say that I am very pleased with this acquisition.

New Pickups in R9 Les Paul

Ever since I had my R9 Les Paul I have had a problem with the pickups being too microphonic for high gain, high volume amps. Some time ago I also changed the pickups in my R7 Les Paul for the same reason (in that case I replaced the OEM pups with a Duncan Jazz and a Duncan JB, neck and bridge respectively).

I wanted to try something a little more "special" in my R9 since I really did like the sound of the stock BurstBuckers that it came with. So, during my "Great Acquision" :) I scored an assortment of WCR pickups at great prices. Two of them happened to be exactly what I was looking for to put in my R9... a double cream WCR Goodwood (bridge) and a double cream WCR Crossroads (neck). This is the "American Steele" combo set as seen on the WCR website.

I love the sound of these pickups in my R9. They have a lively, harmonically rich tone and are very responsive to input. The output is in the lower range, as you would expect from a PAF clone, so they are both very open and woody sounding... but with plenty of high-end "spank" that helps tame some of the dark muddiness that a mahogany body can produce.

Finally, I added a cool lightning bolt strap; which, with the double cream pickups, completes the Ace Frehley look. :)

Bought & Sold New Gear - eBay and The Gear Page

Well, I kind of went nuts! :) I decided to sell a bunch of stuff that I hadn't been playing much in order to invest in some good equipment that I'll enjoy more and some stuff that I can sell later when the market is back up (whenever that happens!).






I decided to sell the Gretsch Power Jet, the Ibanez JPM P100, the Ibanez 20th RG, the Ibanez 7 string and my Peavey Wolfgang. These were tough to let go, but I really was not playing these guitars as often I as should have to justify keeping them in the collection. I got some pretty decent money for them on eBay, so it wasn't a total loss. I also sold the PAF Pro (hot pink) pickups in the 20th RG separately (plus several more sets of pickups), some other miscellaneous stuff like a drum machine, some acoustic strings and a bunch of assorted audio and instrument cables.

With the proceeds from all these sales I have acquired:

Two Rock 2x12 open-back cabinet fully loaded with TR 65-16 speakers. I scored this cab on the Gear Page for $400 which included speakers and shipping. This was an incredible deal and since it is slightly more worn than my other recently acquired TR 2x12 cab I shall use this one for gigs. It is a little larger than my first one (by one cubic inch) and I can really hear it in the low end. Great sounding cabinet!!


Two Rock 1x12 open-back cabinet, without speaker. I picked this little cab up to use at our rehearsal space with the band. I bought a used Eminence Red White & Blues speaker for it and I couldn't be happier! It is a perfect rehearsal solution and I also get to leave it at our space, so that is one less thing for me to carry. The overall sound is darker than my 2x12 Two Rock cabs, which I think is due mostly to the RW&Bs speaker. Sounds great, though!


Fuchs Mini open-back 1x12 cab (w/Scumback H75-LHDC speaker). Now this was a incredible find for the price... I paid $350 for the cabinet with Scumback speaker and shipping. What a deal! This cabinet and speaker combo simply sound amazing. Due to the low load handling of the speaker (it is only a 60 watt) I must be careful what I hook it up to and how loud I play on it because it would very easily blow if pushed too hard. I plan to use the Mini mostly for recording and light gigs. This thing is tiny, and as such it will make a wonderful cabinet for low-volume gigs.

Fuchs ODS 30 amp! This amp is absolutely awesome sounding. I still prefer my Kingsley, but I must say that the Fuchs ODS line is just stunning and if I weren't such a fan of my Kingsley ToneBaron I'd be a Fuchs player, no doubt about it. This is the Dumble tone at its best! Gorgeous note bloom on the OD channel and shimmery, sparkling cleans on the clean channel. Fantastic amp!


Carol Ann OD 100 amp. I finally got one of the legendary Carol Ann amps that I have been curious about for so long. Unfortunately, this particular specimen doesn't have the gain voicing I like (high gain)... so it comes up a bit short on the OD side for me. However, that can easily be fixed if I send her in to Alan at Carol Ann amps for a simple mod. I just might have to do that. I can report that the cleans are gorgeous and it takes a pedal really well.


Furman Power Factor Pro Power Conditioner. I just stumbled across this thing while looking for deals on the Gear Page. At first I was a bit skeptical as I began to read more about it, since Furman claims a noticeable tone improvement just by plugging your amp into it. The hype is real. I A/B tested it on my Kingsley with my wife in the room and even she heard the difference in tone between wall socket power alone and Furman conditioned power. This thing uses capacitors to ensure that your amp is getting a constant flow of the correct voltage of electricity, no matter how bad the current may be in a given room. It really does work! If your amp is starved for power it won't sound its best, and if you are drawing too much power damage can occur. Surge protection and protection from insufficient power... the perfect solution. If you have an expensive amp and gig it a lot, I would highly recommend one of these.


Gibson Explorer Pro w/case. This was a nice grab for $700 total (with shipping). A practically unplayed Explorer Pro with case and a nice DiMarzio cliplock strap thrown in! It plays and sounds great. I love the cherry mahogany finish and the neck and board feel great.





Assorted WCR handmade pickups. Last, but not least I grabbed a bunch of WCR pickups for a good price for my Les Pauls and other guitars. These are very popular boutique handwound pickups from California. Great stuff!

Well, that is it for the used gear sale/buying spree! It was fun and I got a bunch of nice stuff in return for selling mostly "so-so" decent stuff... I think I made out pretty good!

First Gig with my Band!

My new band, the "New Originals", had its first gig at a small sports bar called RJ's in Millington, TN last night. It was a really cool experience and lots of fun to finally get out there and play the material we've worked so hard on over the last several months.

The crowd was small but I was still fairly nervous because I didn't know what to expect. I hadn't gotten up in front of a crowd like that with a band since high school. :) To make matters worse, we had an unexpected celebrity guest in the audience... none other than Eric Gales! It was really tough to get up there and play lead guitar in front of someone like Eric, to say the least. Somehow I managed to get through the first few numbers and my nerves began to settle.

Other than vocals being a little too low in the mix for the crowd to hear, and despite playing a bit too loud overall (we were asked to turn down a couple of times), I think the audience was fairly impressed with us in the end. We fully expected to have some technical issues (both in our playing as well as with our overall sound)... after all, it was our first gig. We learned a lot from the experience and I am certain we'll be much better next time. I had so much fun and I can't wait to do it again!

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 the Recording Studio with Chris Arena

I had the opportunity to accompany a friend of mine, Chris Arena, into the studios at Ardent 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.

Another treat 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 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. ;)

New Gear!! Korg Pandora PX5

I just picked up the Pandora Px5 guitar effects processor and amp modeler. This is one cool little piece of gear! The sound quality on these things is truly unreal... I would easily put it up there with a Pod XT for recording. These are great for practicing and/or quick recordings of scratch tracks or musical ideas. If handled properly even final guitar parts could conceivably be done with it.

Click the link below for a quick demo I did using only the Korg Pandora Px5 for drums, rhythm guitar tones and lead. I used the free Ableton software included in the box to record everything.

Korg Pandora Px5 recording test (mp3, 2.02 MB)


Unlike previous versions you can now plug in to your computer via USB for updates and also to create and organize patches, drum loop chains and more. It is a very cool little device that is not much bigger than a cellphone! I highly recommend one of these for someone looking for a great practice tool that can also double as a piece of serious recording gear.

Deluxe Strat Overhaul

After the resounding success in cutting a new nut for the used Music Man Sub1 I recently purchased, I decided to go ahead and replace the nut on my '02 Candy Tangerine American Deluxe Stratocaster. Some years ago the original nut was replaced with bone by a local luthier soon after I bought the guitar, but I quickly realized how badly bone nuts can bind with tremolo use so I had it changed to Graph Tech by another local luthier. This nut was very poorly installed, with a large empty space underneath most on the length of the nut! This practically killed most of the open string notes on the guitar.

Cutting the new nut took me two tries to get right, mostly because of the funky nut slot in this guitar. It was not a nice, neat slot like the one on the Music Man. I finally got a good fit and I am very pleased with the result! Of course, I used my favorite nut material (Slip-Stone) since it works so well with tremolo use... plus, it is creme colored for a stock Fender look.






Next I took off the horrible Graph Tech hybrid saddles I installed some time ago and went back to the stock stainless steel bridge saddles the guitar originally came with. Not only do these sound better, but with a small application of 3 in 1 oil on each saddle at the point of string contact they also bind less than Graph Tech saddles. No kidding!

One last thing I did was to put back the original string tree that came on the guitar. My goal with the nut material color, original saddles and original string tree was to get the guitar back to its stock look. And I succeeded. ;) It plays and sounds better than ever.

Les Paul Boutique Pickup Shootout!!

I was privileged to get to try out some fantastic boutique humbucker pickups that a great guy from the Gear Page was kind enough to lend me to try in my Les Pauls (thanks, 70sRocker!). Two of the specimens I received were WCR humbuckers designed specifically for Les Pauls (though they'd probably sound good in other guitars, as well), and the other was a Voodoo Florence. Each one had its own flavor and tone, and they all sounded good. I installed all these for testing in my '06 R7 Goldtop.

The three I had were the Peter Florence Voodoo (bridge pu), the Crossroads (neck pu) and the high-output Ironman (bridge pu). I really liked the Ironman due to the massive sound and output. This thing is a monster! :) Overall, though, it was a bit dark for my taste.

Test recordings done with the Ironman bridge humbucker in my 2006 Les Paul R7 Goldtop:

Dirty Lead (mp3, 1.2 MB) - Lead over a backing track I laid down - both tones recorded with Line 6 TonePort

Clean Tone (mp3, 434 KB) - Clean tone using Mesa Boogie Mark III, Bogner 2x12 cab mic'ed with SM57 straight into the computer, no EQ.

Next up was the Crossroads neck pickup. This thing was warm and creamy... just the perfect thing to fatten up the neck position in a Les Paul. Sometimes Les Paul neck pickups can be a bit on the bright side, and I like that sound, too... but this pickup was just gorgeous and fat.

Test recordings done with the Crossroads neck humbucker in my 2006 Les Paul R7 Goldtop:

Dirty Lead (mp3, 1.2 MB) - Lead over a backing track I laid down - both tones recorded with Line 6 TonePort

Clean Tone (mp3, 434 KB) - Clean tone using Mesa Boogie Mark III, Bogner 2x12 cab mic'ed with SM57 straight into the computer, no EQ.

Test recordings done with the Voodoo bridge humbucker in my friend's 2003 Les Paul R9 Dark Burst:

Dirty Lead (mp3, 1.2 MB) - Lead over a backing track I laid down - both tones recorded with Line 6 TonePort

I did a control test using my beautiful 2007 R9 Cherry Burst Les Paul with stock Burstbucker pickups. I think the Burstbuckers in this guitar sound every bit as good tonally as the boutiques. Let your ears be the judge. ;)

Test recordings done with the BurstBucker bridge humbucker in my 2007 Les Paul R9 Cherry Burst:

Dirty Lead (mp3, 1.2 MB) - Lead over a backing track I laid down - both tones recorded with Line 6 TonePort

Clean Tone (mp3, 434 KB) - Clean tone using Mesa Boogie Mark III, Bogner 2x12 cab mic'ed with SM57 straight into the computer, no EQ.

Test recordings done with the BurstBucker neck humbucker in my 2007 Les Paul R9 Cherry Burst:

Dirty Lead (mp3, 1.2 MB) - Lead over a backing track I laid down - both tones recorded with Line 6 TonePort

Clean Tone (mp3, 434 KB) - Clean tone using Mesa Boogie Mark III, Bogner 2x12 cab mic'ed with SM57 straight into the computer, no EQ.

Well, that is it for the boutique pickup shootout. ;) It was a lot of fun and very eye opening in terms of tone and pickup types. I really enjoyed this a lot, and if it weren't for 70sRocker from the Gear Page, I'd never have gotten the chance to play with these.

New Guitar!! James Tyler Classic Strat

Yes! It finally happened... I got a Tyler. I've been wanting one of these for a couple of years now, but I could never just pull the trigger and buy one. It turns out that Jim Tyler is now sick with a number of ailments and the future of Tyler guitars is uncertain. It is rumored that he may even decide to stop building instruments altogether, so naturally I just had to snap this one up when it came along.

A very nice friend from the Gear Page (that also lives right down the road from me) grabbed this brand new beauty at a guitar show in Nashville, TN over the weekend (this guitar was unplayed and still in factory packing). At $2600.00 and some change the price was near wholesale, which also made buying this guitar a good investment. ;) This particular specimen is a Candy Apple Red Classic model with a covered humbucker in the bridge position and two singles in the middle and neck with a 5 way switch, a volume and two tone knobs. It has a Wilkinson vintage tremolo bridge, standard Graph Tech nut and awesome quality Kluson tuners that I've never seen before. Not sure if these are Schaller, Sperzel or Grovers... but they are very nice tuners.

The whole guitar is a work of art from the ultra smooth finish to the precise fretwork and perfectly sculpted neck and body. It is a real pleasure to play and it sounds fantastic! The bridge pickup is low output, very clear and not too bright (not sure yet if this one is a Tyler creation or a Duncan). However, it sounds more like a single coil on steroids than a true humbucker. The two single coil pickups are almost certainly DiMarzio Virtual Vintage singles. I have two of these in another Strat and so I am pretty familiar with them. The overall sound of the guitar is nice and dark with Stratty overtones... this is definitely a modern sounding Strat... no ice pick here. This a pure progressive rock, fusion guitar with plenty of balls for when you need it, but still gentle and elegant when you're going for the melodic lines.

The weight is nice at 7.69 lbs. and the fat neck is dream to play on. With tall wide frets, multi-radiused fret board and neck join cut-away shred licks are a breeze and the satin finish guarantees fast playing action. The only mod I've done so far was to drop a Strat tremolo arm spring into the Wilkinson trem arm holder to keep the tremolo arm from sinking too deep into the hole. This is a design flaw on vintage style Wilkinson tremolos, but a super easy fix nonetheless. I have the trem float set to about one full step of pull-up on the G string at the 12th fret. This is usually where I set my floating Strat tremolos as a rule, and this guitar is no exception. This gives me enough pull-up for good vibrato and cool 80's style flutter effects when desired. ;)

This is a fantastic guitar and I am so happy to finally have one in my collection. I waited to the last minute to buy one, that's for sure. But had I bought sooner I'd have surely paid too much, so it really did work out in the long run.