$200 Guitar Project, Part II: Reciept of the Xaviere XV-500

I received the Xaviere XV-500 via UPS and promptly unpacked it for initial inspection. The guitar was nicely double-boxed, appropriately wrapped and adequately protected during shipment. This is important because I did not order the optional hard shell case. What I noticed immediately was the striking Lemon Drop finish on flame veneer (yes, this is a Flame veneer but on top of a 3/4" thick maple cap). The color just pops, the flame is adequately deep and is very attractive. More importantly, the second thing I noticed upon handling the guitar was that it feels VERY much like the Les Paul Standards I am familiar with. This guitar feels in heft, balance and neck very close to the real thing. Even the finish has a high quality feel to it. The guitar in no way feels cheap at all, and if you dislike the headstock shape as much as I did in the pictures, you'll be relieved to hear it looks much better in person.

The neck has a contour that feels very similar to the Gibson 60s slim taper, but perhaps a little more substantial, but my no means overly chunky and not quite to the rounded 50s contour which I never liked. This neck feels nice and fits naturally in the hand. When strummed unplugged, the guitar continued to surprise with a lot of volume, resonance and sustain even with the factory strings, which are nothing special.

Fit and finish wise, I was pleasantly surprised with how well the ends of the frets were finished, but the frets themselves are not polished. Not unexpected in this class yet something I'll need to correct. I noticed some kind of blemish in the back of the neck (looks more like a manufacturing process oops and is under the finish) and a little knot in the fretboard wood, though it was still smooth, just a little unsightly in that area. The fretboard is also very light in color as compared to higher end rosewood fretboards, but I suspect a cleaning and oiling will improve this. I suppose the only somewhat off putting thing I noticed was some kind of finish issue on the tip of the horn running the whole length of that edge from top to back. It looks/feels like something wore off the finish along that edge and I can't think of what would have caused that. Thankfully however it really isn't noticeable and looks more like wear. There's a tiny finish chip on the treble side of the nut and a strange little finish flaw on the headstock next to the G tuner. Lastly, I noticed a little bit of a clear finish run along a section of the body binding. Aside from these flaws, which really are quite minor and to most people wouldn't even be visible, the finish seems to be nicely applied. The top looks great and the back and neck are the expected reddish stain over mahogany.

I recall Guitar Fetish claims they set these up before shipment, and while the guitar was pretty close to being in tune, they hadn't stretched the strings or attempted to improve the very high action. After a couple of minutes I was able to seat the strings and lower the bridge for much better playability, but I'm still going to do some more work later on. Even with the bridge cranked all the way down it seems the action could and should be lower thought its perfectly playable at the moment. The neck seems true and I ran into no immediate issues with bending notes all over the neck. Maybe a slightly high fret here or there, but really very good and better than many guitars priced two to three times as much.

Overall I am pleasantly surprised with the substantial specs and decent quality of this $209 guitar. Its surprising for this price range and it easily compares if not surpasses what I've seen from Epiphones costing three times as much. I bought this guitar for a platform and intend to replace all electronics and hardware, and for that I can already tell this is a GREAT platform and would be even at twice the price. Even if left stock, this is no toy. I just can't comprehend how they can actually sell this thing for $209. Unbelievable.

Stay tuned for the transformation...

Can a $200 guitar sound great? Part I

I've spent a great deal of time and money building up my guitar rig. I have an amp that will never need to be replaced (maybe just augmented with others) and a near complete pedal board that gives me everything tonally I need currently and for the forseeable future. You can see this rig in one of my earliest posts. Guitar-wise, I'm very pleased with my current arsenal, but I'm still lacking a couple of fundamental instruments; the gap I'm currently working on filling is that which is left by the absence of a Les Paul type guitar. Having played the real deal in the past, I am well aware of what a Les Paul should be, so I started out on an endeavor to choose which Gibson I'd be saving for. I quickly realized however, that these guitars have become grossly and in my opinion unjustifiably over-priced, so I started contemplating the alternative approach; find a good LP type platform, and replace all of the electronics and hardware. As you'll read below, this approach worked wonders on my Dave Murray-inspired Highway One project, so why not do this with an LP? Now all I need to do is find a suitable platform.



I had hoped to go with a lower end USA Gibson until I realized that the faded series is chambered, has the 50s neck (I prefer something more 60s like) and lacked a maple top. After all, the thick maple cap is in my opinion what a real LP type guitar is all about, so on went my search. Virtually all of the other mainstream manufacturers, including Epiphone, lacked a thick maple cap. It turns out Agile guitars offers one on their $650 instrument, which looked like it would fill the bill until I stumbled upon this brand called Xaviere and their $209 XV-500. I did a lot of research, and I kept coming up with a solid guitar that lacked decent hardware and electronics. Bingo! And some how, this company manages to sell this guitar for $209 yet provides a long neck tenon, a 3/4" maple cap and mahogany back and neck with a rosewood fret board. The base ingredients of that legendary Les Paul tone.



This is only Part I of at least another posting or two to come. At this point I've ordered the guitar and have yet to receive it. I also ordered a set of Manlius Hot Rod 59 pickups, which are hand wound in Syracuse, NY and somehow sell for less than half some of the other boutique makers. I own pickups from the top shelf makers such as WCR and Harmonic Design, so I'm very curious to see how Manlius stacks up. I expect to replace hardware as well but have not made any decisions other than the bridge will have to be of the piezo variety as I intend for this guitar to be nearly as versatile as my main axe, which is currently the Highway One described below. Even if total investment approaches $1,000, if this guitar can compete with a USA Standard or Traditional in playability and tone, then I've really stumbled on to something. Even if I had sprang for the $2,300 plus real thing, I'd still be replacing the pickups and installing a piezo bridge adding hundreds more.



So stay tuned for receipt of the new guitar and a report on my progress. I've had success in making middle of the road guitars in the $600 range sound and play great, but I've never tried to do so with a guitar as inexpensive as the Xaviere. Does it really have it where it counts? Check back and see!

Play often, play well, and may God bless!

Breaking Barriers: the Fender Super Champ XD

You might have read in earlier posts about my main guitar rig, which is centered around a Pure Sixty-Four Mean Street Classic 6V6 with matching 1x12 cabinet loaded with an Austin Speaker Works KTS-70. This rig is a monster tone and volume wise, and even though it is by many standards very portable, it along with my pedal board is still more than I prefer to transport back and forth to rehearsals each week. So for quite some time now I've been doing some research on (or as my wife would put it, obsessing over) an acceptable practice amp.

On one hand, one probably shouldn't expect a lot out of an inexpensive amp whose purpose in life is to simply make enough noise to allow you to hear yourself at band rehearsal. It has to have a clean and dirty sound and not completely suck, but surely you'd never gig with such an amp, right? Well, when you spend as much time, money and energy in your guitar tone as I have over the years, its really hard to settle for just any old practice amp. The conundrum I faced however is that I was not going to spend a lot of money on this amp, so I figured I'd never find anything suitable for so little cash. So on went my research...

I quickly found no shortage of options. I focused on 10" combos of around 30 watts or so. I figured anything less just wouldn't be heard at rehearsal volumes and wondered if even a 30 watts would be enough. After looking at all of the major manufacturers, and thinking I'd end up with some run of the mill solid state or modeling combo, I stumbled upon what struck me as an almost unbelievable amount of positive reviews gushing over the Fender Super Champ XD. Most of the amps I was looking at ran about $200, with the Roland Cube 30X considerably higher at $260. I kept thinking to myself that for another $40 I could at least get some tube-influenced tone and ultimately decided on the little SCXD. What I didn't anticipate is what a monster this little amp really is.

As I stated above, I needed at least a clean sound and a dirty sound - without the need to carry around drive pedals - and the amp needed to sound at least decent and be loud enough to cut through at rehearsal. Since the little Fender does have a full tube power section (a pair of 6V6 tubes, a tube I have always liked and currently run in my big rig), I figured it's 15 watts would be far more powerful than a 15-30 watt solid state counterpart, and I was right. This amp is incredibly loud and easily cuts through at rehearsal. Furthermore, it sounded really good! Interestingly, there's also a 12AX7 in there, so that no doubt has something to do with warming up the - yes, digital modeling - preamp.

Its actually kind of interesting to see all of the reviews and to read about how surprised people are about how good this amp sounds. In my opinion, there really isn't anything surprising about it other than Fender happened to correctly exploit the true secret behind getting modeling technology to actually sound good: warm it up with tubes! Fender wasn't the first manufacturer to do this as I believe Line 6 did this first with their larger Spyder Tube tube-powered amp, but to be honest with you, a number of us have been essentially doing the same thing for years and well before many of the major industry manufacturers caught on or accepted that tubes needed to be a part of the signal chain (Atomic amps figured this out long ago). Vox figured this out too by using a 12AX7 years ago to make their modeling technology more authentic. The point is, for anyone reading this and wondering what I'm talking about, take the modeler of your choice and run it into the effects return of almost any tube amp and presto, you now have a modeling rig that sounds exponentially better than it did on its own. I've done this with Digitech, Boss and Line6 modelers with very good results.

So getting back on topic, there was another surprise I found in the Super Champ XD, and one that exposed its potential for greatness (and at the same time its greatest weakness). Just for giggles I plugged this little amp into the 1x12 from my main rig, and this little beast really came to life! I could not believe the volume and depth of this amp through that speaker. So my conclusion is that, while no 10" speaker can compare with the 1x12 I had connected to the SCXD, a better, more efficient 10" would do this amp wonders. The stocker just can't stay clean at full volume and the overdrives lose their character and definition when overwhelming the very inefficient little stock speaker. So, true to my form, I did more, uh...research and ordered an Eminence Ramrod. I'll be reporting back on that shortly!

While I've spoken a lot about how the amp performs when played loud and how it could use some help achieving better tone at volume, I can't leave out the important observation that at night time/home office low volume levels, there may be no better amp out there other than maybe some of the really low power 5 watt and under options. This amp sounds just great at very low volumes.

Since this amp's preamp tone does come from digital modeling, which at times is still hard for me to believe, I should at least mention how incredible most of the models are. Channel one is clean only, but my understanding is that it is in fact fixed on a clean blackface model, and going through the 12AX7 and power tubes, it does sound great. Channel 2 has 16 models from clean to screamin, and I have to admit once I found #8 which is very Marshall like, I didn't really go any further. This amp's outstanding tone comes close enough to the core tones I get from my main rig that I can easily rehearse with this each week. Furthermore, since its got tube umph, I can use it with my pedal board as a backup rig and if I really wanted to, I could actually do a gig with just my guitar, cable and amp (as long as I put a mic in front as it would never fill the room unassisted, but would be plenty to hear on stage). This amp is really that good.

So in an attempt to wrap up this already overly verbose post, I'll simply say that $299 has never bought so much guitar amplifier. Period.

Looking for a loud acoustic guitar amp? Buy an active/powered PA speaker instead!

My requirements seemed straight forward enough: a decent sounding acoustic guitar amplifier that would be loud enough to hear on stage with my band. So I started doing my research (and obsessing over the task, as I usually do) and was happy to find no shortage of seemingly well equipped acoustic guitar amplifiers from a fairly large number of manufacturers. Since so few local music stores carry any kind of a selection of these amps, I decided to do my research online and take my chances ordering something sight unseen/unheard. I decided to take a chance on a Hartke AC150, which did not cut it to say the least. After looking for amps that were in the 200 watt plus range and finding very few, or those that were in my opinion overly priced, I began to consider going the active/powered PA speaker route. I had used powered PA speakers in the past with good results and set out to look for whatever current models were available.

I really wanted the convenience of a self contained combo amp configuration, because the 15" EONs and 12" SRM 450 speakers I've used in the past were awfully large given my needs, which is basically to monitor my acoustic sound on stage. With this in mind I looked for and found some very compelling offerings in 10" speakers and narrowed my selection down to the EON 510 and the QSC K8. I ultimately decided on a Boss AD-8 acoustic guitar preamp/processor and the new QSC K10 powered PA speaker. I went with the K10 because the K8's cabinet did not offer a floor monitor orientation. What I found in the K10 was a speaker that not only could keep up with my band but could actually compete with my 40 watt tube rig.


If you're still looking for the convenience of an acoustic combo amp, then the Ultrasound Pro 250 (250 watts) and 300W Shenandoah models from Genz Benz are probably worth a look. Street price on those ranges from about $980 to almost $1,300. The combination however of the AD-8 and the K10 will cost about $1,000 and will give you 1000 watts and more clean power and volume than you could ever need. And what's really great about the current smaller powered PA speakers like the EON 510 and the QSC K10 I purchased is that they have integral mixers, so an acoustic guitar pre-amp and a modest vocal processor paired with one of these speakers will give even an solo acoustic performer far more system for the money.

Play well, play often and God Bless!

Signature and pre-worn guitars: Gimmie a Break!

I've always been interested in signature guitar models, mainly because of my interest in some of the unique features specified by each artist. On occasion I've played a few just to check them out. Eric Clapton's V contour neck and special tone control, John Mayer's mid-scooped pickups and Dave Murray's DiMarzio humbuckers are interesting insights into these artist's special requirements. And to be fair to the maker of those guitars and bring some others into the picture, models bearing George Lynch's name and Zakk Wylde's signature are equally interesting. So while I've always been interested in these guitars, because I'm a curious kind of enthusiast, I have never spent the money on one and never will. So at the risk of drawing some contrasting points of view, I'll elaborate on my position, which includes two reasons why I'll never buy one, the one and only reason I could possibly understand why people do and what I did as an alternative.

First and foremost, I believe that the price of American made guitars by the largest and very familiar companies are unjustifiably expensive. And in many cases, the signature guitars in my opinion are no better and often so odd and unique in their appointments, to meet the specs of the people whose signatures grace the headstock, that these guitars are even less valuable to the average player and especially any player trying to achieve their own style and tone. Clearly its the player's name that commands the highest prices and not because the guitar is any better than its more vanilla albeit more useful cousin.

Secondly, as a guitar player, I'm more concerned about being myself than trying to be someone else. If a buyer of these guitars is doing so in an attempt to play or sound more like the artist, then I'd say practice more. If your equipment is even close to the type of equipment your idol plays (meaning single coild guitar versus a humbucker guitar), then let me tell you that a guitar player's tone comes first from their hands. Yes, equipment is an important part, but I can assure you that buying an SRV guitar is not going to make you play or sound like the legend. You'd probably have a better chance striking a deal down at the crossroads. ;-)

Now, I can see a reason why someone would pay the ridiculous amounts of money these greedy companies charge for these guitars, and that's if you're a fairly wealthy person who simply wants a collectors item. If I had unlimited funds, I might line the walls of my house with these guitars, but when it comes to actually playing guitar, I'll play my own guitar, thank you very much!

So lastly, I offer an alternate approach. As I said, I've always been intrigued by these guitars, especially if I've been a big fan of the artist. Most recently, I became very interested in Dave Murry's guitar. Not only because I've been a lifetime Iron Maiden fan, but because one of my most versatile and favorite guitars was a Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster that I modified into a Humbucker-Single-Humbucker guitar with a piezo bridge. So wanting to get back to a guitar like the one I once had, I actually thought about buying the Dave Murray guitar. I really like the way it looked, but soon realized that I could only get it with a maple fretboard, yet I wanted rosewood. I liked the hum-single-hum setup, but I knew I'd rip out the DiMarzio pickups and put in something better. The 5-way switch I would require is only a 3-way on his guitar and the neck was only 21 frets when I need 22. So for $1800 I would have to make hundreds of dollars of modifications, alter the guitar from stock, which would no doubt destroy the resale value and I couldn't even really use the 21 fret neck. The alternative? I made my own.

The platform I chose was the latest version of the Highway One HSS Stratocaster (alder body with 22 jumbo frets on rosewood). I replaced the pickguard with an H-S-H from Warmoth, chiselled out the neck single pickup cavity for a humbucker, installed a Graph Tech Ghost piezo bridge and Acoustiphonic preamp, installed a set of WCR American Steele humbucker pickups and a Lindy Fralin Blues Special in the middle with 500k pots and treble retention circuit, wired the 5-way to split the buckers in positions 2 and 4 and installed a mini switch that gives me mag pickups, piezo pickups or both simultaneously (in stereo) and have possibly one of the most tone-rich and versatile guitars on the planet. And my total investment is still significantly less than the Dave Murray guitar. And wait until I post a pic; it looks just like his guitar (all of the mods are the same colors as his guitar and I even installed the chrome pickup rings - really sharp looking guitar). As a matter of fact, I brought the guitar into my outstanding local music store (http://www.parkwaymusic.com/) and the very qualified guitar playing, tone aware salesman on the other side of the counter looked at my guitar and said: "Oh, a Dave Murray..." I took great pride in correcting him!







Oh, and the last part of this peice has to do with the latest trend of paying for guitars that have been pre-beat up! Are you kidding me? Buy your own guitar, play the hell out of it and it will eventually get worn in, by you! It will tell your story and nobody else's. And with the recent trend for some makers to go back to the ultra thin nitrocellulose finishes on moderately priced guitars, like my Dave Murray inspired Highway One, it really won't be that long before the guitar looks and feels very broken in...by actually playing the guitar!

God bless and play a lot!

Club Goers: This One's for You!

Much of this blog has been aimed primarily at guitar players and really anyone playing in a band. Well, a thought came to me earlier that perhaps some "fans" of my latest band, FOUR, might check out this blog from time to time, so I thought I'd write a little something for you, and there are two parts:

Part I - Thank You!
Seriously, thank you for coming out to our gigs and supporting us. You may never fully understand what your positive energy does for our shows, and it is your engagement in what we do that makes the difference between an average show and a memorable show. Even someone like myself who doesn't worry so much about looking or acting the part of a rock and roller and who generally minds his own business on stage literally feeds off of your energy. The louder and the rowdier the better I say, which segues nicely to my next point.

Part II - We want more!
Yes, more. More what? More you! Going out to a club and blowing off some steam is a great way to melt away the stresses of the week; for you and for us (remember, we have day jobs too). So when you come out and spend your hard earned money at the bar, we want to give you as good a time as we possibly can. The best way to ensure you get your money's worth is to engage with the band! Yell, clap, cheer and most of all...DANCE! Dance on the dance floor, next to the bar, on your table and by all means...come up and dance with the band! Seriously, see part I.

In closing, just remember that it's your energy that makes the band and the show, so enjoy your evening with us to the fullest and spend every night partying like there's no tomorrow (and of course be sure to secure a safe ride home)! Thanks to all you club goers and fans of FOUR. You may never know how much we really do appreciate you!

Oh - and to you few who take the time at virtually every gig to compliment my playing and guitar tone, thanks a million! You have no idea how hard I work on my sound!

http://www.fourtheband.com/

Why Tone Matters (or should) to a Guitar Player

When contemplating the importance of tone, there are a number of predictable yet valid responses. Thinking more globally (about the band and or your audience) one might intuitively recognize that good tone contributes to how good the band sounds. It ideally allows your playing to be heard in the mix without being overly loud or obnoxious and when playing covers, can help those songs come across as more convincing or authentic thereby increasing your credibility with the audience. In many cases, its actually tone that can make or break a song, yet the casual listener wouldn't even realize it. Something that might sometimes be overlooked or misunderstood by others is that to a guitar player, better tone makes you a better player. Guitar tone is important to the guitar player even if nobody else cares or appreciates it, and they often don't. Here's a common scenario to support my claim:

As a gigging musician, I cannot tell you how many times I've played in bands where the drummer doesn't know how to tune his drums or when his heads need to be replaced. Or when the bass player is playing through some old muddy-sounding rig and hasn't changes his strings in a year and doesn't realize that even a bass needs to be intonated every once in a while. And what takes the cake is that the vast majority of gigs, house sound or hired, results in the sound man spending all of two minutes sticking an old 57 in front of your amp (usually in the wrong position relative to the speaker), getting a level and then doing absolutely nothing to attempt to ensure that the tone coming out of the FOH/PA system is anything close to the tone coming from your amp. You're lucky if your leads are even heard throughout the night, yet your use of a boost to ensure that they are invariably irritates that same sound man. Yet with all of those things working against you, you envelop yourself in your own sound in your own space on stage, and hearing what's coming out of your rig is what inspires you to new heights, or limits you to mediocrity. Heck, your clean boost isn't even really intended to goose your signal through the sound system as much as it ensures that YOU hear it and offers you that little bit of additional gain and sustain that allows the seamless connection of mind to hands to guitar to amp and back. It's great tone that can ultimately lead to your very best playing.

Guitarists are some of the most tormented by G.A.S., or Gear Acquisition Syndrome. We're always looking for that piece of equipment that will bring our sound and ultimately our playing to a new level. And while generally I agree that practice is important, if you're not sounding good, you're probably not playing to your potential. Heck just the other night I was playing a gig and had a 12AX7 preamp tube go south on me. I basically had no clean tone and you guessed it, not only did the clean parts not sound right tonaly, but I could tell that the alteration of my clean sound negatively impacted my ability to play those parts as well as I normally would have. It neither sounded not felt right and it was a fight all night to get through those parts. Just look at any field and you'll find professionals that need the appropriate tools to help them achieve their best work.

As a guitar player, you should be spending a lot of time finding tone that inspires you; and remember that tone comes from both your equipment as well as your hands. Its not necessarily about copying the sound of others as it is finding something that inspires you, and when you find that you will also find that even your covers songs become more convincing. With the right tone and technique (the hands piece of the tone equation), you can cover those high gain triple rectifier songs on a Marshall rig just fine; or even with a decent distortion pedal in front of your favorite clean amp. I'll go out on a limb here to and say that while I am fortunate enough to have some very high-end gear, I believe it is possible to get good tone out of some of the most modest even digital gear (because I have done so), but more on that in a future post. Certainly there are no rules about what should or should not inspire you.

When you do find the right tone, you'll get even more satisfaction out of playing guitar, and will be playing better than ever before. If there's anything I can do to help you get there, than post a comment and I'll do my best to try!

Visual Sound H20: Possibly the very best deal in a chorus and delay pedal

I've been through a lot of gear over the years, yet there are some pieces of equipment that I have purchased and sold only to re-purchase because, come to find out, the item I let go really was the best of its kind. One example of this is the Visual Sound H20. I owned the original version, traded it, then purchased the V2 and sold that, then recently purchased another V2 because it served a number of purposes better than any other competitive pedal I could find, and I looked very hard. Here's what I mean:


Chorus
My primary use of the H20 is Chorus. I wanted an analog chorus, which it is, but got into the True Bypass craze and insisted on a TB chorus pedal. After agonizing over what the best choice would be I went with the Voodoo Lab Analog Chorus. This pedal is a truly great Boss CE-1 clone with wonderful chorus and vibe effects on a clean guitar, but put an overdrive pedal in front of it, even a very high quality one like my Xotic Effects BB+, and the pedal became un-usable; significant volume boost and just overall non articulate sound. So remembering that the only chorus pedal I ever really liked after a drive pedal was the H20, I then contemplated TB versus buffered, because the H20 is a buffered pedal (not True Bypass). Suffice it to say however that as a chorus pedal, the H20 is analog, appropriately warm yet transparent and extremely versatile; very tweakable to virtually any chorus effect you could be after. It doesn't boost your volume and remains intelligible even after drive and distortion pedals.


Delay

Even if you are looking at the H20 as a chorus pedal, it is equally as good as a delay pedal. Where the chorus side is analog, the delay side is a digital/analog hybrid bringing the best of both worlds; the warmth of an analog delay with the longer delay times available only in digital units along with a certain clarity that is not overly sterile like some very high end digital units I've owned in the past.

Two in One
Since I was after a chorus pedal, this was an added bonus, because I use my Deluxe Memory Man for longer delays, but now have another delay pedal in the H20 to setup for slap-back. The H20 costs as much or even less than some of the more boutique-like chorus-only pedals out there, so getting a great chorus and a great delay in one box makes good economic sense. While it is a big pedal, it is still smaller than two individual pedals connected with a patch cable thereby conserving valuable real estate on your pedal board and requiring one less power supply.

Buffered Signal
This was an interesting conundrum that ended up a revelation. I have recently been investing a lot of effort into my tone. My natural instinct was to ensure I went all True Bypass. The thing is, once you add a 12' guitar cable to your first pedal, seven more patch cables on your pedal board and then another 12' to 20' from your last pedal to amp, you end up with a lot more of what is called capacitance. The short version (and you can get the very long version with more technical details on some of the better forums, like The Gear Page), is that more than a certain amount of capacitance will suck the life out of your guitar signal. It not only sucks tone, but it alters the way your amp and effects respond to your playing technique. I realized this when I played a straight cable into my amp and then through my whole pedal board (pre the H20, which was all TB pedals at the time) and noticed a significant difference in the quality of my guitar signal. Once I put the H20 in the system and performed the same test, the difference to my ears between straight cable and pedal board was not detectable. I kid you not. A high quality buffer placed in the right place in your signal chain will reduce or eliminate the capacitance associated with long cumulative cable runs and a chain of TB pedals. And it turns out the H20 V2 (I don;t know about the original) contains the very same high quality buffer circuit that Visual Sound once sold as its own separate dedicated buffer pedal.

So in summary, whether you are looking for a top notch chorus pedal, a top notch delay pedal or both, you really should put the Visual Sound H20 on your list. The fact that it's not hand made in America by our industry's most elite boutiques should not necessarily dissuade you. It even has printed circuit boards inside, oh no! ;-) Try it and I think you might just agree. And to add a little more controversy to this post, the True Bypass thing isn't always all its cracked up to be. It has its place, but that doesn't mean its place is everywhere all the time!

Tuning to Eb: What you need to know

Firstly, in my opinion the primary reason for any band to tune down to Eb either in the studio or on the road is to save vocals. When you're singing away for three or four sets over a four hour gig, singers need all the help they can get, especially if the material they are singing is consistently near the upper end of their range. While the decision to tune down is a relative no-brainer, there are some implications to the guitar player. Here are some things you need to know and do:



String Gauge

Tuning down inherently decreases the tension on your strings, which invariably will cause the guitar to feel different. That decrease will also cause the guitar to sound different and often thinner and less defined. Tuning down just makes for an overall sloppy experience. The best way to offset the effect of reduced string tension is to go up a half-gauge to a whole gauge of string depending on your tastes and your guitars. For instance, one of my guitars is a Charvel San Dimas with Floyd Rose (more on tremolos below). I use this guitar for "shredding" for lack of a better term because I don't really consider myself a shredder by classic definition, but I digress. Since I like a very low action and very fast playability on this guitar, I set it up with 9 gauge strings at standard (A=440Hz) pitch, but go to a 9.5 gauge set of strings when tuning down a half step. This gives me the same feel as the 9s do at standard pitch. With my Reverend JetStream 390 (3 P90 pickups), which I use as a strat-type replacement, I actually use 10 gauge strings at standard pitch for more tension than the Charvel and overall better/fatter tone and use 10.5 gauge strings at a half-step down. Now for those playing Les Pauls or anything that is a shorter scale than a strat-type guitar (24.75 versus 25.5"), you can go a whole step. My Reverend Volcano is a 24.75 scale guitar and I use 11s on that when tuned a half step down. If you're a tone junky, then higher action and heavier strings is one way to achieve overall better tone (worked for SRV anyway). This stands to reason why I consider my Reverend axes my tone machines but look at my Charvel as a shredding machine (though it sounds pretty darn good too, just not as "big" as the others).



Tremolos

My Reverend JetStream and Volcano have Wilkinson (strat type fulcrum tremolo) and fixed Tune-O-Matic type bridges respectively. I crank the JetStream bridge to the body and use it as a fixed bridge guitar anyway so there are no issues with tuning up or down, but my Charvel is a Floyd Rose floating bridge. The only real trick to dealing with floating bridges is to change your strings if you are going to a heavier gauge, tune the guitar down, adjust the springs, tune the guitar again and repeat until the tremolo is at an acceptable position. The "preferred" position is that when your tremolo base plate is parallel with the body of the guitar, but the length of the D-Tuna I put on my Charvel limits my ability to pull up on the tremolo arm so I actually have my Floyd positioned a little ass-end-up for lack of a better description.



Intonation

This surprises some, but depending on how drastic a change in gauge of string, you may actually have to re-intonate your guitar. The difference in thickness of the strings or string height if tweaking bridge height or tremolo float can have an effect on intonation. Intonation warrants a whole separate article, so suffice it to say for the purposes of this post that you should check intonation after changing tuning and/or string gauge.

The Tuner
Not to be forgotten, and an essential piece of this process, you should invest in a good digital tuner. I love my Peterson VS-1 strobe tuner, but find myself using the Korg Pitchblack out of convenience and since its a permanent fixture on my pedalboard. I do still use the Peterson for the more precise intonation process.



So for those thinking about tuning down to save vocals or even to get a little heavier sound, don;t be afraid to. Just pay attention and make the tweaks I mention above and you should be good to go!

My Rig

In my first post about cables, I alluded to a recent Tone Revelation. I still want to reserve some time to write an appropriate story about that, but for all of you gear hounds out there, I figured I'd cut to the chase and describe my current guitar rig, which is as follows:

Guitars, Pickups and Strings:

• Fender Highway One (highly modified): WCR American Steele humbucking pickups, Lindy Fralin Blues Special middle pickup, 5-way switch splits humbuckers in positions 2 and 4, 500k pots with treble retention circuit, GraphTech Ghost piezo saddles with Acoustiphonic on-board pre-amp and Quick Switch wired in Stereo (magentic at tip, piezo at sleeve), original Strat tone 2 was replaced with volume knob for piezo system. GHS Santana 10.5 gauge tuned to Eb.
• 
  Reverend JetStream 390 w/3 Harmonic Design VP90 pickups, GHS Santana 10.5 gauge tuned to Eb
  
• Reverend Volcano ("V" shape) with a set of Dimarzio 36 Anniversary PAF pickups, D'Addario Pure Nickel 11 gauge tuned to Eb
  
• Charvel San Dimas Style 1 2H with Semour Duncan JB and '59 in bridge and neck respectively, D'Addario 9.5 gauge tuned to Eb
  

Amplifier, Cabinet and Speaker:

• Pure Sixty-Four "Mean Street Classic" 40 watt Head (4x6V6)
  
• Pure Sixty-Four 1x12 Cabinet
  
• Austin Speaker Works KTS-70 12", 8Ohm
  
• QSC K10 1000 watt powered PA speaker for piezo signal on Strat

Effects (all True Bypass unless otherwise noted):

• Korg Pitchblack Tuner
  
• Fulltone Clyde Deluxe Wah (newer black model)
  
• Xotic Effects BB+ Overdrive
  
• MI Audio Crunch Box Distortion
  
• Visual Sound H20 V2 Chorus and Delay (buffered)
  
• Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man "Classic"
  
• Keeley Electronics Katana Clean Boost
  
• Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Power Supply
  
• Pedaltrain PT-2 Pedalboard
  
• Boss AD-8 Acoustic Guitar processor for piezo signal on Strat

Cables:

• 12' Sommer GrindyCop Beast from guitar to board
  
• (5) 6" Sommer GrindyCop Beast patches on pedal board
  
• (2) 18" Dimarzio patches for longer pedal board runs
  
• 12' Monster Rock from pedal board to amp
  
• 2' Cardas Audio Crosslink Speaker cable from head to cabinet

Cables Matter

I've always considered myself very into my own guitar tone, but I've recently been awakened to a whole new world. More on the Tone Revelation later, because right now I'm thinking about how I cannot believe what I have been missing cable-wise for virtually my entire guitar-playing career.

I've always played very decent gear, some basic yet solid and some top shelf, but I never paid much attention to cables. Seems the music store Whirlwind guitar cables did the trick just fine until I recently started getting very serious about my tone. After much research and agonizing indecision, I purchased a 12' Sommer GrindyCop Beast (what a name!) from www.lavacable.com to connect my guitar with my pedal board and half a dozen 6" patches to outfit my pedal board. A Monster Rock remains in place from the pedal board to amp. My thinking here was that if I could improve everything from guitar to the only non-true bypass pedal on my board that contains a very good buffer (a Visual Sound H20 V2), that I would improve my tone without having to make drastic changes further downstream. Turns out I was right. The moment I took my amp out of standby and touched the guitar strings, I could tell something was dramatically different. Not only was there even more of my guitar signal coming through the amp, but even the response to my picking was different. The best way I could explain it is that it felt like there was nothing between my guitar and the amp; faster attack might be one way of describing it. Better lows, more present mids, beautiful highs and very responsive to my playing.

The best news is that this cable, while not cheap, is a fraction of the cost of some of the highest end cables available but is widely touted by many of the folks over at The Gear Page forum (www.thegearpage.net) as performing as good if not better.

So the moral of this story is: if you are serious about your tone, don't overlook your cables!