Every pedalboard must have one of these...

Any gigging guitarist will tell you that one of their major complaints is the amount of noise that's generated through their rig due to overhead lighting and other signal interferences. I've noticed that as soon as I turn on my compressor pedal or drive pedals that the noise floor increases exponentially. Heaven forbid I actually play a guitar equipped with single-coil pickups. Yikes! Well, I've found an awesome solution to this problem and I'm telling you, it really works!

The Decimator pedal really lives up to its name. Place this beauty last in your signal chain, or run it through your amps effects loop and listen to it clean up the noise. It only has one knob for adjusting the amount of noise reduction you need. I start with it set rather low, then I turn on all my noise-makers and adjust the knob until I can't hear any more hiss or buzz. I have found that setting the knob above 12 0'clock tends to 'squish' your sound and some single-note runs may not be translated properly. This is a problem inherent with all noise-reducing circuits. At low to moderate levels they work wonders, but the higher settings start to negatively affect your sound.

I've done pretty much everything I can to keep my rig isolated from the hum and buzz of overhead lights and such, but having the Decimator in my rig has really made a HUGE impact. The sound guys I work with must have thanked me 20 times for buying this pedal. If you have a noisy rig, do yourself a favor and check out this awesome pedal!

Bigger IS better...

It's pretty obvious to us guitar players that as we get older, at some point we simply must own a huge-ass hollowbody guitar replete with a Bigsby vibrato. (I'm sure that it's written in stone somewhere in the 10 commandments for guitar players ;)

Far be it from me to go against the grain, so I decided that I'd join the club and get myself this beautiful Gretsch 5120 Electrosonic from Guitar Center. I've always envied Brian Setzer's guitar and while this is not his signature model it still comes pretty close for about a quarter of the price. I've played quite a few hollow body electrics over the years but have always been disappointed with the ones in my price range. Who wouldn't love to have a Gibson reissue ES-335? But at $3k there are few of us who can afford 'em. At around $600 you can cruise down to your local GC and try the Gretsch on for size. I played this one through a reissue 59' Fender Bassman and I was simply stunned. The pickups really nail that vintage Filter-Tron sound. The more expensive models have the TV Jones pickups in them, but I've not had the opportunity to try them out side by side to compare tonal qualities.

I really dig the clear pickguard they put on this guitar and the setup was really pretty good. I've played Gibson's that are $2k+ that don't play or sound this good. Anyhow, this guitar is one cool Cat and I highly recommend checking one out when you have a chance.

Tone for days...

I'll never admit that there is such a thing as having too many speakers. And even though I needed another pair of speakers like a fish needs a bicycle, I just couldn't pass these beauties up.

I got an email from Brian Wampler at www.indyguitarist.com telling me about this company that was blowing out Celestion Vintage 30 clones for $21 each. Evidently he had purchased some and was astounded at the killer tone for such a cheap price. Of course, I had to hear this for myself so I found the auction on ebay that he had mentioned and I ordered a pair for myself.

The company, Warehouse Guitar Speakers (WGS), evidently started when the owner bought a warehouse full of Celestion clones that used the same soft parts (cones, etc...) as the pre-Chinese made Celestions. The speakers are brand new and still need to be broken in to sound their best, but now that I've heard them myself I'm totally blown away. I compared them in an A/B test against my 2x12" speaker cabinet loaded with an Eminence Red Fang and a Weber Blue Dog and I have to admit that while there is a tad bit less high end, the overall sound is much more pleasing to my ears. I totally did not expect this to be the case, I just figured that at $21/each I would have an extra set of speakers lying around in case I wanted to build another cabinet. Now I'm going to pull the Eminence and Weber out and replace them with the WGS V30 clones.

Anyhow, if any of you are thinking of upgrading the speakers in your amp or cabinet I would highly recommend checking these out.

Finally...

Well, I finally bit the bullet and got myself a true 'boutique' amp setup. I bought the handwired 1965 Marshall JTM 45 head from CeriaTone and had Reason: amps build me a head cabinet and matching Bluesbreaker-style 2x12" speaker cabinet in green with gold piping.

As you can see from the picture, the setup is rather easy on the eyes. I had considered ordering the head and speaker cabs in black tolex with white piping which is the status quo for Marshall amps, but I always like to be a bit different from the crowd so I went with the green tolex with gold piping. I'm considering replacing the CeriaTone badge with a retro-looking Marshall badge with block lettering, but I'm still undecided. The amp was manufactured by CeriaTone to the same specs as the 1965 Marshall JTM 45 schematics. The Marshall badge would be a nod to the designer, not the builder.

As for the sound.....it's awesome! I'm hoping to post some sound clips of this baby as soon as I figure out how ;) True to the original, this amp came with KT66 power tubes, a GZ34 rectifier tube and 3 ECC83's. The supplied KT66's were Shuguang and all the rest were JJ tubes. I replaced the KT66's with the newly released JJ Tubes KT66 and am pleased with the results. I have yet to try out EL34's or 6L6's but I will soon enough. I'll be posting some more pictures pretty soon of the chassis and wiring for those of you interested in amp porn ;)

Until then...

CeriaTone JTM45

Ok now, most gearheads will agree that the holy grail of amps is a 1950's Fender Tweed, a 1960's Marshall or the rarest of all amps, the Trainwreck or Dumble. These 'point-to-point' handwired amps are the epitome of craftsmanship as it pertains to tone. Very few amps these days are built the old-fashioned way, instead manufacturers have found they can save a ton of money by using PC boards instead of having the amps handwired. While PC boards afford a great amount of consistency from unit to unit, they also have some serious problems as well. Tube amps are famous for producing obscene amounts of heat which has a way of warping the epoxy which PC boards are made from. The traces are etched onto the board and can actually pop off over time as they are heated by the tubes. When this happens you pretty much have to buy a new board, which usually ends up costing as much as the whole amp. Bummer!

The few boutique amp manufacturers who are still handwiring their amps demand a pretty penny for their wares. Most of us working 'Joes' don't have $3k-8k to spend on a single amplifier. One of the latest crazes has been 'kit' manufacturers. Basically these small companies sell you kits with all the parts you need to handwire your own boutique amp. It's a great project for those with the know-how and the determination. The cost savings are incredible and the experience is priceless. But what if you aren't up for the task of wiring one of these complicated beasts? Well, there is a solution...

CeriaTone is a small amp kit company based in Malaysia who provide high-quality amp chassis, faceplates, transformers and all the parts you need to build your very own dream amp. They have made some of the most sought-after amp models available as do-it-yourself kits. Amps such as the 1959 Fender 5F6-A Bassman, the 1965 Marshall JTM45 and the Trainwreck Express. For a reasonable amount of money they will even build the amp for you and ship it to your door ready to fire up and scare the neighbors with. Nice!

Well, far be it for me to pass up an opportunity like this! I contacted Nik at CeriaTone about which amp he thought would suit my playing style. About 20 emails later I decided on the 1965 Marshall JTM45 which is Jim Marshall's variation of the 59' Fender Bassman amp; albeit with a British twist. Nik informed me that this amp has the reputation for having the sweetest clean channel known to man, but also has the ability to break up in a very musical way when pushed. Perfect!

Lead time on these amps is about 3-4 weeks on average. That should give me time to sell some of my other musical goodies to make room (read: cash) for this new addition. I am planning on ordering a custom head cabinet from Reason: Amps to house this beauty. The standard Tolex combinations for Marshall amps is either black, forest green or purple. Black is too common and purple is too psychedelic for my style so I'll be going with the forest green with gold piping and grill. It should look quite stunning with the gold plexi faceplate of the amp. I'd like to order one of their 2x12" speaker cabinets in the same color to complete the set, but that will have to wait a bit.

I got myself on the waiting list with Eurotubes for their new JJ KT66 power tubes which are expected to arrive the beginning of April. The original JTM 45 used the KT66's instead of the more common EL34's, but the KT66's have been out of production for long enough that the NOS supply is very limited. The sound of these tubes is supposed to be very rich and complex without the harshness that other tubes produce. Being that my style relies heavily on a nice warm clean sound I am planning on sticking with the KT66's.

I'm anxious for this new beauty to arrive. I have a limited experience playing through the high-end amps that are out there, mostly because I'm afraid that they will ruin my sense of 'content'. I remember playing through the Bogner Shiva head that RKS Guitars borrowed after the last NAMM show; I was quite disappointed with everything else after that. Last week I played one of the new limited edition Marshall handwired 1974x 18 watt amps at Guitar Center and was blown away. The sound was so different from what I've gotten used to with my budget tube amps. I guess it must be like driving a Ferrari after a lifetime of commuting in a Hyundai. The sound was so warm and organic; it really made the guitar sound like a living creature with a voice all its own. THAT is the sound I've been searching for. I'll keep you posted on the outcome when that baby finally arrives...

King of the Blues

In case you haven't heard, Guitar Center is putting on their annual 'King of the Blues' contest in hopes of discovering the newest blues virtuoso. It's open to all the GC stores in the lower 48. They accept 30 contestants per store who then battle it out for the rights to move on to the regional competition and eventually the finals . The prizes get better with every contest you win. The grand prize is a 2007 Ford Mustang, a year-long endorsement with Gibson guitars, $5,000 cash, a recording contract with Little Dog Records as well as some other cool stuff.

For those of us who missed the opportunity to enter the contest (I only just stumbled on the competition the other night when I stopped in at GC for some weekly gear-lusting) there is still an awesome prize for us too. Guitar Center recruited veteran producer and ace string-slinger Pete Anderson to write/produce the backing tracks for the competition. There are 22 tracks in every conceivable blues style from which to choose and they are offered either as a CD (only at GC stores) or as downloads from the KOTB website. The best part is that they are FREE!! Yup, now you can practice your blues licks while being accompanied by some of the best session players the world has to offer. Thanks Guitar Center!

Rock n' Roll: It does a body good...

This is Eddie Van Halen at age 52.

Need I say more...