What's That Dude Play?

Bonus Material: John Mayer

Blake — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:36:07 +0000

Here is a little something extra from the John Mayer show in Houston last weekend. What? Didn’t we mention we taped it? Hey, the ticket said ‘Audio Ok’ so we took them up on the offer! From the depths of our road weary Zoom H2, we tapped into the two-hour show to mine this little nugget of a cover tune – John adding his blues sensibilities to Bill Withers’ classic ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’. He has mixed it into the set list over the first dozen or so dates on his Battle Studies tour and we thought it was worth sharing with the masses. If memory serves, he is playing a red Gibson E-335 on this track. Enjoy!

John Mayer – Ain’t No Sunshine

Swart shows off new fuzz proto

Blake — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:35:16 +0000

Michael with Swart Amplifiers had his range of amps on display this past weekend at the Austin Amp Show… including the stalwart Atomic Space Tone and his new 5-watt reverb combo. Also along for the ride was the company’s newest pedal – the Night Light attenuator and drive stomp. All of those fineries were sweet to sample, but we were more interested in the unpainted, raw metal pedal he had to one side. It is a fuzz prototype that uses Mil-spec Mullard OC44s to create some sweet, but raunchy fuzz tones. No word on if or when the pedal will make it into the Swart line, but gauging by the reaction it was getting from us and others it could be soon! Stay tuned!

Handwired-Effects unveils new Vintage Tremolo

Blake — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:34:01 +0000

Handwired-Effects has debuted another new stomp – the VTR-1 Vintage Tremolo. The VTR-1 was designed to re-create the natural smooth swing of the tremolo-equipped tube amps from the ’50s and ’60s. The pedal is sine wave based and offers slow pulse-like throbs to deep hypnotic vibrato without producing distortion even when hitting the strings hard. The VTR-1 sports three knobs – Depth sets the intensity of the effect while the two Speed knobs work independently and provide the ability to have great contrast between two different speed settings. An additional footswitch lets the user switch back and forth between settings. The VTR-1 cost around $350.

Chops Studies with John Mayer

Blake — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:18:13 +0000

Yes. He can be a real douchebag. Even he admits it, so lets get that out the way right at the top here. But for all of his gum-flappin’, media-whorin’, ego-driven hijinks, the one inescapable remains that John Mayer can flat out play guitar. As the last part of her Christmas present, Mrs. WTDP? got a pair of tickets to see Mayer when he rolled through town this weekend on his Battle Studies tour. Both of us were treated to a two-hour show that was much more about music than talking or ego stroking or anything else. Mayer mixed in plenty of old and new tunes – opening with ‘Heartbreak Warfare’ and ending with ‘Gravity’.

In between, Mayer worked in tunes from his other albums… ‘Something’s Missing’ off of Heavier Things, ‘Why Georgia’ off of Room For Squares. He even threw in a full version of ‘Comfortable’, an acoustic ballad that has yet to land on one of his studio releases, and a pair of cover songs – Tom Petty’s ‘Free Fallin’, which he covered on his Where The Light Is live record and a cool version of Bill Withers’ classic ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’. He also was joined on stage by opener Michael Franti during a hip-hop infused version of ‘Waiting For The World To Change’.

Gear-wise, he trotted out a plethora of guitars ranging from his normal dose of Stratocasters – a gold sparkle model, a gray ‘racing stripe’ (maybe the old signature version?) model, his Hendrix Monterrey replica… even an appearance of ‘The Black One’ at the end of the night. He also played a pair of Teles, a couple of Gibson hollow-bodies, what looked like a EVH Wolfgang and Rick Turner Model 1 a la Lindsay Buckingham. His acoustics were his stalwart Martin rotation. For his backline, it was the usually Two Rock/Dumble combination.

Guitar king Robbie McIntosh played several different guitars as well, including a Tele or two and a Duesenberg. He played through what I believe was a Jackson Ampworks Britain head and matching cab. Guitarist David Ryan Harris worked through a couple of acoustics and at least one Tele. He played through a Metropoulos head and a pair of Port City amps as well.

Check out some pics from the show below!

A few pics from the Austin Amp Show

Blake — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:14:37 +0000

We journeyed up Highway 290 to Austin, Texas this past weekend for an all-too-brief stop into Loni Specter’s Amp Show. We got their fairly early on Saturday (read: before the crowd) and were able to visit with a few builders prior to having to cut and run back to Houston for the John Mayer concert. We spoke with Ozzie at 3 Monkeys about their new high gainer, the BW 119. We talked to Adam with Satellite Amps about his distain for digital processing and FX loops. We also had a brief lesson in C&D letters from Joe Kelemen of Kelemen Amps/JoMama Music. Oh yeah… there were swans there too! Pics or it didn’t happen? Ok, check ‘em out after the jump!

Jackson Ampworks unveils the Britain 2.0

Blake — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:05:35 +0000

Jackson Ampworks has a new hand-wired tube amp available – the Britain 2.0. The new amp features two separate channels that can be blended together to create an infinite number of new tones. The Britain 2.0 also offers switchable 18W Class A or 50W Class A/B operation that allows the user to adjust the power and feel of the amplifier to suit any musical setting. Channel 1 sports a EF86 preamp with footswitchable boost mode and independent Volume, Treble and Bass controls. Channel 2 offers a 12AX7 preamp with independent Volume, Treble and Bass controls. The amp also boasts series FX loop for each channel. The Britain 2.0 is available now for $1995.

New, smaller Pearl Drive coming soon

Blake — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:13:32 +0000

Corby at OceanEFX chimed in this week with news that his latest redesign of his company’s popular Pearl Drive stomp will be available soon. The new version of the Pearl Drive retains the same great circuit, but will now come housed in a much smaller enclosure. After some minor issues with the redesigned Pearl Drive circuit boards, Corby said the new, smaller Pearl Drives will be ready in the next two to four weeks. The smaller stomp will boast all of the same controls – Volume, Drive, Mids and Treble knobs… and the bass response toggle. You can check out a prototype of the redesigned Pearl Drive (in purple) after the jump!

Austin Amp Show this weekend

Blake — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:33:29 +0000

Any gearheads in the vicinity of Austin, Texas on 6-7 March should make the effort to check out Loni Specter’s Amp Show. The show is a must for boutique amp lovers. Rarely would you get hands-on time with one or two units from the scheduled participants, much less 50-plus! Slated to exhibit are the likes of 3 Monkeys, Budda, Egnater, Goodsell, Hermida, Swart, Tonic, Trace Elliot, Xits and more! There are also door prizes from Celestion, Fargen, Egnater, Fender, Swart, Wishbone, ZT and others. Just $20 gets you in tube amp heaven for a day. For more info on the show, go here.

Don’t fear the Reaper

Blake — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:00:03 +0000

Fuzz is a subjective thing, really. Some folks dig it while others don’t. We’ve always been partial to fuzz around these parts… so many different pedals, tonal options via build style: original… versus clone… versus clone with upgrades, etc… We first took notice of the Earthquaker Devices Tone Reaper when it was a limited edition (30+ pcs) pedal. The Reaper is a vintage style fuzz based on the three-knob Tone Bender. It is a silicon/germanium hybrid capable of producing a wide range of tones with careful tweaking of the tone and fuzz controls, according to builder Jamie Stillman. Once the Reaper entered the regular production line, we jumped to land one.

The production EQD Tone Reaper is the same circuit as the limited edition, but packed into a smaller footprint. Jamie’s goal with the production model was to have it clean up better and have an improved tone control over the LE. The Tone Reaper comes in the standard little white pedal box. Besides the pedal, inside the box is a short and sweet instruction sheet, a sweet linen drawstring pouch for the pedal and an EQD sticker. The pedal itself is blood red in color and sports three control knobs – Tone, Fuzz and Level. The Tone knob adds treble to the left of noon, and bass to the right of noon. The Fuzz knob controls the sustain and nature. The Level knob controls the overall output.

Starting off, we’ll dial back the Tone knob for a little spitting fuzz. Using the Strat, bridge pick-up, we keep the Fuzz at noon, but roll back the Tone knob to around 9 o’clock and Level at around 10 o’clock. First clean, then the Reaper.

Rolling the Tone knob to the treble side results in a more brittle sounding fuzz… as rolling the knob right beefs things up. Twisting the Tone knob can also get you more crunch introduced into your fuzz tone… if you dig that hybrid distortion/fuzz territory. Shifting up the neck pick-up on the Strat we work more fuzz into the equation and roll the Tone knob back to center. So… Tone at noon, Fuzz is dimed and Level remains around 10 o’clock, here is the Reaper again. Clean, then mean.

Noticeably hairier, but never out of control, the Tone Reaper can get nasty without becoming unruly. Moving to the Les Paul, we keep the Fuzz dimed, but roll back the Tone again to brighten the humbuckers up a bit. With the Tone knob around 10 o’clock, the Fuzz full right and the Level constant at around 10 o’clock, here is a simple chord progression. Clean tone first, then the wall.

The wall of fuzz tones here near ground shaking territory, especially if you go bass heavy via the Tone knob. We really liked the orchestral overtones and fluidity to this wall of sound setting, almost as if it could be a distorted keyboard playing that progression, and not a guitar.

Hey, we said it at the top… we like fuzz! And we like the Tone Reaper. It has enough versatility to run with many of the ‘bender family tones. It won’t be mistaken for a smooth, singing-type fuzz, because that’s not its game. We found it great for a variety of styles from ’60s psychedelia to nasty modern blues and beyond with just a few tweaks of the Tone and Fuzz knobs. At $145, there is nothing to fear from the Tone Reaper… unless you’re a fuzzaphobic! That’s our opinion anyway… your mileage may vary!

PLEASE NOTE: All YMMV Review clips are played through a Fender ‘65 Princeton Reverb RI using Lava Clear Connect cables. No reverb or other effects were added to the clips. Guitars used in this review include a 1979 Gibson Les Paul Custom and a 1998 Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster.

Best laid plans…

Blake — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:40:22 +0000

You know… sometimes things go exactly the way you would hope. Other times, you get thrown a wicked googly! Sad to say the latter is what we’re dealing with at the moment. February was supposed to feature four fuzz pedal reviews. So far, we’ve delivered one. A couple of different factors are at work here. We’ve had illness (currently ongoing), schedule conflicts, pedal malfunction, and tour box timing all play a role in keeping the fuzz reviews at bay. We’re hoping to get one more done this weekend. We’ll keep the others for later. The tour box pedals are getting reviews as well… so there will be no shortage, just a bit of a wait. Stay tuned…

Montgomery Appliances debuts fuzz duo

Blake — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:29:44 +0000

Montgomery Appliances has unveiled two new fuzz stomps for 2010 – The Badlands and the No. 219. The Badlands is a thick fuzz with origins in the Big Muff circuit. The pedal is loaded with four NOS germanium transistors. The pedal’s Sustain control swings tones from lower-gain vintage fuzz to full-on devastation. The No. 219 is a Tonebender MKII-influenced silicon fuzz loaded with NOS Motorola transistors. It has controls for Volume and Sustain, as well as a Midrange control that allows users to dial in a scooped midrange or a fat boosted midrange as desired. The No. 219 cleans up well with the guitar’s volume knob. Check out some video demos after the jump!

Analogman launches AstroTone fuzz

Blake — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:56:52 +0000

Mike Piera over at AnalogMan has introduced his first new pedal of 2010 – the AstroTone fuzz. The AstroTone is somewhere between a fuzz and distortion, it acts differently into different amps. The pedal is based on the old mid-60s Astro Amp Astro Tone fuzz and uses the original 1966 Fairchild Silicon transistors, which are not affected by heat like a Germanium-based fuzz. According to Mike, the pedal’s sound is not as compressed as a Fuzz Face, not super thick and saturated, but it is closer to a fuzz than a pure distortion. The new stomp sports three knob controls – Volume, Fuzz and Tone. The AnalogMan AstroTone is available now for $185.

MGG gets the last of the Woofer Wailers

Blake — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:56:29 +0000

The crew at Music Gear Guys chimed into The Gear Page this week to let everyone know that it will be received the final ten Woofer Wailers to be made by Dr. Scientist. The Woofer Wailer is Tube Screamer-esque, but tweaking the knobs a bit can get you into other gain territories. According to Dr. Scientist, the Woofer Wailer is an analog overdrive unit that can take your guitar tone from gritty volume boost to fat, crunchy overdrive to loud, crispy distortion… with all kinds of awesome variations in between. Gregory at MGG expects these last stomps to go fast, so if you’re interest in one, shoot him an e-mail sooner rather than later.

Mule train rolls into town

Blake — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:05:26 +0000

Gov’t Mule brought their special brand of boogie blues and roots rock through Houston last weekend, the last stop on a winter tour in support of their latest CD – By A Thread. Warren Haynes and company played two sets and a pair of encores for a packed House of Blues. The band opened the evening with ‘Streamline Woman’ off of 2006’s High & Mighty. Songs played from the new album included ‘Broke Down on the Brazos’, ‘Steppin’ Lightly’, and ‘Railroad Boy’ – the last played with a capo’d Les Paul 12-string. Mule also reached back in their catalog to play tunes like ‘Lay Your Burden Down’ off 2000’s Life Before Insanity and ‘Rockin’ Horse’ from their 1996 debut.

We’ve been fans of the Mule for a while now, but oddly this was the first time we’d seen them live. Warren played a variety of Gibson beauties, including the aforementioned Les Paul, dark wood-grained Firebird, a black SG, a ‘59 reissue 335 and more. The amp spread on stage ranged from Warren’s Diaz and Soldano heads to a Marshall/Category 5 head tandem being used by Jorgen for bass. There were a couple of additional Category 5s on stage – including one that appeared to be set up as Matt’s guitar monitor. Like the night before at TSOOL, there was a bit of keyboard mischief, but it appeared to be limited to a bum Line 6 DL-4.

Warren came out early, with opening band Carney, and jammed their closing tune. That band’s guitar playing brothers returned the favor during the Mule’s final song of the night, ‘Lucky’. Check out a few photos from the evening below.

Fuzzhugger raises its Chalice

Blake — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:04:22 +0000

Last week, Tom Dalton – the fuzz master of Fuzzhugger(fx) – tipped his plan to introduce a new fuzz pedal based on the his popular AB-Synth fuzz tones with no oscillation and more gain control. A few days later and behold the ‘pinnacle of FuzzHugger(fx) fuzz’ – the Chalice. As promised, this non-oscillating stomp delivers all of the AB-Synth fuzz tones and more. The AB-Synth itself evolved from the company’s 1134 fuzz. According to Tom, the Chalice fuzz captures all of the 1134 fuzz tones as well as all of the AB-Synth fuzz tones. The Chalice sports four knob controls – Level, Volt, Fuzz and Gain. Info on availability and pricing when we have it. Stay tuned!