Amps Updates

After a lull away from the blog I’ve been spending time building up my amp sounds and I’ve got a pretty good setup now.

Two Rock and Zilla cabs, my main amp

I’m using my Two Rock Custom Reverb Signature amp with 2 Zilla custom made 2 x 12 cabs. The cabs are both loaded with Celestion Gold speakers and vintage 1979 Celestion G12-65 speakers, which gives a fantastic sound, super clean and very chiming sound with a very warm bottom end response. When driving the amp the tonal range is superb from being able to keep clarity of the notes through break up to quite a driven sound that is unforgiving as the compression is not there.

I can use one or both of these cabs, the interesting factor is micing them up, they are both open back cabs but with 2 different speakers the possibilities for mic positioning and use is quite big. The volume is also very controllable although driving the speakers at bellow 30watts doesn’t really bring them to life as strong as possible, 30- 50 watts seems to provide a sweet spot.

I’ve also been playing with the idea of a two amp setup, this is more for recording interest than live playing. I’ve been using a Zilla custom built 4 x 10 cab loaded with Celestion golds and a Fender Twin combo.The Fender is configured to have the mid-range quite high with a little trebble while the two rock provides a thick bottom end and a little bit of midrange, the two signals are then mixed.

two rock a twin in perfect harmony

BA003 Finished

This one has been a long time coming and it’s finally here. I wanted a Fender Custom Shop La Cabronita telecaster, which is the high price of approx £4000 UK, however to have the options I wanted (fingerboard/neck wood/etc) I was quoted closer to £6000 UK, which for what I wanted, didn’t seem a nessasary price.  I loved the idea of the La Cabronita, the TV Jones pickups and the S1 switching are a cool feature that don’t produce a similar sound to any of my guitars, the problem I had is I like rosewood fingerboards, which the La Cabronita doesn’t come with and like necks without any finish on.  Due to the quality of what I needed, this guitar needed to be built right first time round, so I decided to work with USA guitar builder Warmoth. Warmoth do an excellent line in Fender licended parts at very reasonable prices, they didn’t however do a La Cabronita set of guitar parts. I had to do a lot of research and measurements (which also included a sneaker visit to a custom shop dealer with a hidden tape measure) to measure up for my La Cabronita body, and that’s what I did, submitted the details to Warmoth and had them build me a body. it’s a medium alder boday routed and positioned exactly the same as the Custom Shop model, the only difference is the electonics cavity which is more in line with a standard telecaster.

BA002 Finished

This post is a little delayed as this guitar was finished well before Christmas but moving the site to a new server, the Christmas and New Year break has delayed this a little.

BA002 is my second real home built guitar, there is nothing unique or ground breaking about this one, it was built to test some stuff out and fill a hole in my guitars that was missing. I’ve now sold all my Floyd Rose trem based guitars as they just where not getting used and didn’t really fit my style any more, however I founded I do actually need a Floyd Rose based guitar every now and then, so this guitar got built. The body is a 63 strat replica (I’ve discovered I really like the true vintage style/shape and weight 62/63 strats) made from a medium alder single slab. it’s vintage accurate in spec, however, I had it routed for a Floyd Rose trem system, no cut away under the bridge, just two pivot points. The body had a true vintage sunburst put on (more yellow than orange) which turned out quite well but had a few flaws in it, so I relic’d it it’s easier to gig a guitar once it has that first knock in it, so this has the first knock put in for me. The pickups are a bare knuckle set, not my normal custom winds, but a much rockier, agressive output set.

BA002 up front and finished

The pickup combo is two cream BK Mother Milk pickups in the neck and middle position, with a BK “The Mule” humbucker in cream and black zebra in the bridge position, in a standard 5 way strat setup with CTS pots. As this guitar had a Floyd on and was made for rock, it needed a little more grunt behind it and a humbucker bridge is a good option (a nicer option than the Sambora Strats I got rid of).

The neck is amazing, it’s a flamed maple standard 63 neck profile, drilled out for a Floyd Rose nut. The neck is totally unfinished and is one of the nicest necks I’ve played. As this guitar was a bit of a trial setup, I put an ebony fingerboard on with clay markers. WOW, I’ve  played ebony boards before with various levels of results, but this one is good, it’s smooth and fast and very comfortable but not harsh on the tone, it’s a real change from my prefered Brazilian Rosewood, and not something I’ll be doing again but it is a one off and a great result. The neck has my 2 point truss road design in it as with BA001, but it doesn’t make enough of a difference to warrent the extra work so I’m dumping that from this point on. The neck is really a work of art, thanks to my Guitar tech Andy Manners as I just didn’t do this justice when I tried.

BA002 Back

The tuners are stock Fender USA standard strat, nothing magical there. The bridge is a Floyd Rose original USA trem, nothing special about it, but my setup is a bit odd, well for me. I always use 5 springs on the trem to lock it down, it gives sustain. This one is different, as I need it to float, 5 stprints was too much to make it sit comfortable and was too agressive on the release of a note, so I’ve scaled it back to 3 springs and it works great. This guitar is a real odd ball for me it’s not the sort of thing I like and was built out of need rather than desire with options I normally would not go for, but some how, it works and a fantastic guitar has been made, I’ve found myself playing and jamming with it over my favourite gutiars at time, it will never replace them but it’s a great instrument and end result. My only wish is that I hadn’t put the Floyd Rose on it, as I hate them and I feel this ruins what has ended up as a great guitar, but that said this guitar wouldn’t have come about if I didn’t need a Floyd Rose, and who knows, maybe one of the reasons it just works is down to the Floyd Rose. Either way, I’m really happy with it.

Playing With A New Drummer

Short post. I had a jam with a new drummer this week, this went very well, he seemed a nice guy both myself and Brandon liked him, he could clearly play, was honest and easy to play with and talk to. All in all very positive. We’ll be meeting up next week for something a little more structured to see how it goes.

Fingers crossed though.

Guitar Effects Pedal Whore

Now that I’m playing a clean amp, I’m coming to depend on effects pedals for tonal changes. I’m really starting to discover the difference between pedals and boutique pedals. Yes I know this sounds snobby and others will disagree but the difference between £25 and a £400 drive pedal is amazing. The tonal quality, the buffers, the bypasses everything is just a light year better  (I’m sure there are exceptions to the rule) I first noticed this when I had a Boss BD2 pedal, its a nice pedal no question, I took a gamble and bought a Keeley modified Boss BD2. The difference is amazing, such a fuller sound, more range and better overall. If you’re playing a crappy or well driven amps I don’t think you notice it, but if your playing a good quality clean amp, it really matters.

I’ve really noticed the difference between a vintage Boss CE2 chorus – which at the time was mass produced and todays CE2 and CE3 pedals. Then we up the game to the more boutique market. I’m finding I’m turning into a real brand snob, depending on the likes of Robert Keeley, Analogman, Klon, Bob Sweet, Rogery Mayer and Mad Professor. That’s not to say others are not good, but I’m just really starting to appreciate the quality put into the higher priced kit.

I’m trying to find a smokey tubeless overdrive pedal at the moment and I’m on the waiting list for an Analogman king of tone version 4.

If you think I’m a gear snob, that’s fine, there is an element of truth in that, however if you read what I’m saying I think it’s worth trying a few of the higherend pedals and see if it makes a difference to your sound and the way you play. It certainly has done for me.