For anyone who has actually been reading this blog, you might recall from earlier posts that I've acquired a high end amp and use high end pedals. You also have seen my general disdain for overly priced guitars and the enjoyment I get out of making relatively cheap guitars sound really good. While I have generally succeeded in the endeavor, I've never really got any of these guitars to play spectacularly. Luthiery is not in my list of skills, so my setup work is generally limited to truss rod and bridge tweaks. What I've been finding at our recent gigs is that, while I love the tone coming from my amp, I am usually fighting with my guitar, and that has been diminishing some of the joy I get from playing live. As a result, I returned to gear obsession mode (as my wife puts it anyway, I call it 'focus'), and had been contemplating what high end guitar I could treat myself to; preferably one that felt and played as great as the rest of my rig sounds. Turns out I found precisely the instrument.
I won't share all of the details of the madness that goes through my mind when deciding even what type of guitar I should look for, but in short, I wanted something more like a Les Paul, without being a Les Paul. I've had spotty experience with the quality of even their USA instruments, and I need better upper fret access and overall more versatility. I never liked the looks of an SG, which is too bad because its actually a really usable configuration and at a far more acceptable price point. So as I started coming down from the delusion that I'd actually pay $4,000 plus for a truly custom built McNaught or similar small-builder instrument, I found myself reminiscing about the PRS guitars I've owned in the past: an original late 80's Custom 24 10 top with birds, which I was too young and dumb to have owned and then sold (yeah, its worth a LOT now), a 90's Standard which I was smart enough to love but dumb enough to sell and most recently a single cut, which I just didn't like. So zeroing in on possibly getting a PRS again, I remembered how I preferred their wide thin neck to the wide fat, but that both necks seemed just a little too wide for my liking. I also wanted something at least a little more versatile than a typical hum-hum/3-way pickup config and remembered that, while PRS has a neat 5-way rotary knob, that config didn't really get me what I wanted, which is essentially occasional access to some decent, basic single coil tones. Then I stumbled upon the PRS DGT (David Grissom Tremolo) signature model. Whoa, what a find!
After some initial research on the specs of the PRS DGT and a great deal of feedback on some of the more 'credible' forum posters, like the good folks over on The Gear Page and some compelling YouTube videos, some feature David G. himself, I sought out to find a DGT Gold Top. I actually had a hard time finding one, but eventually did at Magdon Music, who had very competitive pricing, and setup the guitar to my specs. Upon receiving the guitar and conducting an initial inspection, unplugged in my office, I immediately realized this was a special instrument. And kudos needs to go to Magdon Music for very fast shipping and a spot-on setup; the best I've experienced to date.
Aside from the classy look of the guitar, which is superb cosmetically, the neck just felt right. Its ever so slightly narrower than the standard PRS neck carve, and just a little deeper than the wide thin, but not nearly as baseball bat like as the wide fat. This model has higher frets on it too, which contributed to an extremely smooth and buttery feel. The guitar is a 25" scale, and I wanted something closer to the LP scale than a Strat and this is a great compromise between the two; ideal in my opinion. Unplugged, the guitar just rings out loudly and the playability is amazing. Never have I played a neck so comfortable; even with action a little higher than I might normally like, it seems to play faster than I would have expected. I believe the fretboard radius is only 10", so the strings have to ride a little higher to avoid fretting out when executing severe bending on the higher strings.
The guitar was strung from the factory with 11s, and even though I tune down a half-step, I quickly opted to replace with 10.5s (the GHS Gilmour Red Set, which has a .50 low E). I often need drop-D tuning, so I pillaged the Tremol-No (best trem stabilizer out there) from my Charvel San Dimas and with some complication got it installed on the PRS so I could run full floating or either dive only or full lock so I can do the drop-D stuff.
Plugged in, I haven't been able to give the guitar a fair shake. I love my little Fender Super Champ XD, but its still an inexpensive production amp, and I won't really know how the guitar truly sounds until I crank it through the Pure 64 this weekend. Even if the pickups need to be changed, the DGT delivers in every other way (and changing pickups is easy). My impression of the pickups so far even through the little Fender is that they'll probably be very acceptable. No humbucker sounds perfect when split, but I sense these will be passable, especially in a live situation, though I have no expectation this guitar would ever replace a Strat for that definitive Strat tone. Its definitely closer to an LP-style replacement, but really has its own identity and character.
I'll update this blog with a tone evaluation after this weekend's gig. Can't wait to let her rip!
Play good, live well and may God Bless!
- JV
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
$200 guitar project, Part III: Complete
Its been a while, and I'm still not 'used' to having a blog, but I figured I'd follow-up on the Xaviere XV-500 project. Cutting to the chase, I still consider the guitar an amazing value, but I did run into a few things that gave me some pause soon after a wrote about Part II.
As I mentioned before, the setup of the guitar - after a few tweaks - remains decent, even pretty good. While adjusting the truss rod however, I got a big scare in that I ended up feeling some play in the truss rod nut. I thought that perhaps it was stripped or that I was using the wrong size wrench, but upon further inspection I realized that there;s about a quarter-turn of play before the nut engages the rod. The rod does seem to be moving, but I honestly wonder if the nut will cease to bight one day, rendering the neck un-adjustable. The frets are not perfectly level, so I do get some odd buzzing here and there, but the guitar remains to be very playable and frankly very enjoyable to play.
I received the Manlius Hot Rod 59 set and upon replacing pots and the toggle switch, I came upon the utter hack of a routing job. They just butcher the insides of these things and you end up with inconsistencies thickness of the top; some pots sit higher or lower than others, requiring some creativity with washers to get everything even. I opted to abandon the traditional Les Paul-like vol-vol/tone-tone config and went with a master vol and tone, disconnecting the others and leaving them there as dummies and then installing a cap and resistor across the volume to retain treble. Regarding the new pickups, the Manlius set is wonderful; better than the mass produced PAF clones. Its difficult to explain, but they seem to have more dimension than their machine wound cousins.
Soon after receiving this guitar, I was reminded of how poor access is to the upper frets on this type of guitar (any LP style instrument with a traditional neck joint for that matter). As such, I abandoned my plan to add a piezo bridge to make this one ultra versatile and just left it as is with the new pickups and electronics. I have since gigged with it with very good results; feels and sounds like any Les Paul I've ever played, and with a total investment of less than $400.
One thing that remains to be modified, and something that I read about on the forums and can confirm for anyone interested is with regard to the tuning machines. The tuners aren't the worst out there, but they do sometimes slip and allow strings to go flat. I'm a seasoned player and well versed in re-stringing techniques, stretching and seating and all that, and while tuning stability is generally good, every once in a while something will go out of whack on a string or two. For true gigability, you really do need new tuners.
So all in all, I really like this guitar, and it serves the need which was to give me access to Les Paul playability and sound, and it does exactly that at a bargain basement price. And another kudos should go out to Manlius guitar pickups for their excellent design and incredibly reasonable pricing! If you're looking for a hand-wound, cost effective alternative to the usual pickups manufacturers, give these guys a chance!
Play good, live well and my God bless!
As I mentioned before, the setup of the guitar - after a few tweaks - remains decent, even pretty good. While adjusting the truss rod however, I got a big scare in that I ended up feeling some play in the truss rod nut. I thought that perhaps it was stripped or that I was using the wrong size wrench, but upon further inspection I realized that there;s about a quarter-turn of play before the nut engages the rod. The rod does seem to be moving, but I honestly wonder if the nut will cease to bight one day, rendering the neck un-adjustable. The frets are not perfectly level, so I do get some odd buzzing here and there, but the guitar remains to be very playable and frankly very enjoyable to play.
I received the Manlius Hot Rod 59 set and upon replacing pots and the toggle switch, I came upon the utter hack of a routing job. They just butcher the insides of these things and you end up with inconsistencies thickness of the top; some pots sit higher or lower than others, requiring some creativity with washers to get everything even. I opted to abandon the traditional Les Paul-like vol-vol/tone-tone config and went with a master vol and tone, disconnecting the others and leaving them there as dummies and then installing a cap and resistor across the volume to retain treble. Regarding the new pickups, the Manlius set is wonderful; better than the mass produced PAF clones. Its difficult to explain, but they seem to have more dimension than their machine wound cousins.
Soon after receiving this guitar, I was reminded of how poor access is to the upper frets on this type of guitar (any LP style instrument with a traditional neck joint for that matter). As such, I abandoned my plan to add a piezo bridge to make this one ultra versatile and just left it as is with the new pickups and electronics. I have since gigged with it with very good results; feels and sounds like any Les Paul I've ever played, and with a total investment of less than $400.
One thing that remains to be modified, and something that I read about on the forums and can confirm for anyone interested is with regard to the tuning machines. The tuners aren't the worst out there, but they do sometimes slip and allow strings to go flat. I'm a seasoned player and well versed in re-stringing techniques, stretching and seating and all that, and while tuning stability is generally good, every once in a while something will go out of whack on a string or two. For true gigability, you really do need new tuners.
So all in all, I really like this guitar, and it serves the need which was to give me access to Les Paul playability and sound, and it does exactly that at a bargain basement price. And another kudos should go out to Manlius guitar pickups for their excellent design and incredibly reasonable pricing! If you're looking for a hand-wound, cost effective alternative to the usual pickups manufacturers, give these guys a chance!
Play good, live well and my God bless!
Monday, November 30, 2009
$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...
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...
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
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!
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!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, October 12, 2009
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!
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!
Friday, October 9, 2009
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!
.JPG)
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!
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!
.JPG)
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!
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