When I’m on tour I sometimes get to do fun things, like visit guitar, amp, or pedal builders. On a recent day off in Portland, Oregon during an Amy Helm tour,, I dropped by Benson Amps to check out their products and construction process. I was greeted at the door by none other than Chris […]
The Rat is one of the earliest distortion pedals, arriving on the market in 1978. Prior to that, there were only a few gain pedals: the Colorsound Power Boost, the Maestro Fuzz-Tone FZ-1, the Sola Sound Tone Bender, the Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, the Dallas Rangemaster, and the Electro- Harmonix Big Muff. Much like we […]
Solderless cables are not a new concept. They’ve been around for a few decades. George Ls were the first brand I was introduced to. I tried George Ls a number of times but they’ve always been unreliable. I would make some and put a pedalboard together, only to have cables fail on a gig. They […]
I’m a self-confessed vintage tone nut. I’m not hiding in the shadows. I’m fully public with my love of guitar tones of past. That doesn’t mean I don’t embrace new ideas. I’m open—unless you bring Kemper or Fractal into the conversation. Mostly because for me, the conversation of signal flow and gain staging to an […]
I recently paid a visit to F.S. Lutherie in Brooklyn, NY. They are a small guitar custom shop specializing in repairs and builds, based in the borough’s Greenpoint section. Owner Farhad Soheili met with me to discuss his new line of custom guitars, FSC Guitars. Farhad worked for many years as the guitar tech at […]
If you chat with a guitarist and mention overdrives, you’ll need to pull up a chair and get comfy. You’re gonna be there for a while. It’s a deep subject partly because there are so many overdrive pedals on the market. It’s flooded with overdrive options. You might ask why we need to add one […]
BrownBox Throughout my years of recording, gigging, and touring I would notice a strange occurrence. My amps seemed to sound different from night to night. At the time, I mostly attributed this to the varying acoustics from room to room. I also thought the warm-up time of the tubes could be influencing the tone of […]
The Klon Centaur has become one of the most legendary pedals of all time. You can find originals going for over $2,500. That’s a lot of scratch for a guitar pedal. There are a few reasons for its inflated status. For one, it’s a great-sounding pedal. But that said, it’s not the Holy Grail. Nothing […]
For some players, the sound of an acoustic guitar through a monitor or PA could be compared to nails on a chalkboard when plugged directly in. This has led to bad associations for many acoustic guitarists. I can’t say it has been my LEAST favorite experience. There was also plunging toilets, cleaning hair from a […]
When it comes to compression, guitarists tend to have a narrow perspective on its uses. People seem to look at a compressor as a tool just to control dynamics. That is what a compressor does—control dynamics. But how you want to control dynamics and its influence over tone is a much bigger subject to discuss. […]
