My Newest Piece Of Gear...

... is the Modtone MT-VOL Xcelerator Volume Pedal .

I know its not the most exciting piece of gear but it really is a valuable and often overlooked piece of gear. Yeah, the guy who has a massive pedal collection is going to have one, and many people may consider a volume pedal as a luxury or maybe redundant, after all, why not just use the knob on the guitar. Well these are all good points, but those who know how to use a volume wisely can explore new and interesting sound that were impossible, or at the very lest, very difficult to do with out one of these pedals.


Swells: I know that these are possible with your volume knob, but they are a pain. Personally, my hand doesn't work well enough to pull of great sounding swells just by using the volume control on my Tele. Pedals are right there at your feet waiting for there moment to shine.


Muting/ Silent Tuning: If you haven't already gotten a tuner with a silent tuning feature, or if you don't want yet another pedal between you and your amp. Often a volume pedal (such as the Modtone MT-VOL Xcelerator Volume Pedal) has a aux out that stays hot even when the output is muted (heel down). Silence when you need it is just as important as the noise you'll be making.


Chain Placement/Gain control: Like many guitarist I use the Gain on my amp to create a dirty sound, but I also use an overdrive pedal to add distortion and volume (kind of a double wammy). I've chosen an atypical spot for my volume. It is after my overdrive and before my delay. This way I can play with swells in my delay and control my overdriven sound without effecting the distortion. Although the gain from the amp will be effected. I can still control the amount of distortion the pedal is producing with the volume on my guitar (hey, Im not a virtuoso but I can still tweak it is mid-play). So in short, the pedal controls the amps gain, and the volume on the guitar can tweak the pedal and overall line signal.


A volume pedal is a great tool to have. This one is a passive modal, so it takes no juice to operate. Thats great because I'm out of room on my One Spot Chain (also a great piece of gear). Another reason I'm so excited about the particular piece of gear is that I picked it up on Amazon for what under MF's price. Shop around, there are better deals out there than the big guys, but buyer be ware, some seller are not on the ball! In the corse of this blog I convened my self I should now use my aux out for my tuner and run from my delay to the amp. Soon I hope to post a blog about my rig and what/why I use the gear that I do.


Till Next Time

Bugera V22 22W 1x12 Tube Guitar Combo Amp

This is only a teaser. I don't own this amp, but I have given it a fairly good run through and so far I'm impressed. It has two channels running through an all-tube amp. These amps are cheap and china-made, but the sounds they produce don't lie. The sounds are good, but some what limited. The 22 watt version breaks up a little too early to play much outside the bedroom. It will get volume but at the cost of your clean tone. Serious musicians would be advised to get the heavier-watt model. As for a bedroom/recording amp aimed at getting nice vintage "brown" tones, this is a solid contender. (of corse you can add pedals, mod, and tweaks and a whole world of options opens up) Its not the greatest amp I've played through, but it has some serious bang of the buck. If you are interested then I would suggest finding one and playing through it. The quality control may be and issue since they do descend from behringer. I'd like a 2x10 or 2x12 model combo, but then again I'd end up replacing the speakers in the cab any way.

The sounds are nice and the potential is there, plus it looks cools...

Aphex Acoustic Xciter Pedal

... if you are serious about playing live acoustic guitar you probably have heard a lot of things about would you should and should do to your signal. Some people think that if you drop the cash on an amazing instrument then it should do whatever you need it to with no questions asked. Others want control over their sound no matter the environment they find themselves playing in, If you've ever played acoustic in a live setting then you know that the sound guy is going to want to plug you in the mains. In order to do that you first have to convert your 1/4 inch into a xlr. Sure they make 30 dollar boxes that do this, but thats not a whole lot of fun.

The Dirt: First of all, what in the world does an "xciter" do? I really don't know. You see the knobs; lo tune, lo blend, hi tune, hi blend, but what really goes on when you hit that little shinny button. It works almost like an Eq, but it also adds compression. Pick noise is a little more evident. And even more so if you are heavy on the hi blend. Its obvious that this pedal is purposed to add a broader range of frequencies. But then again, I'm not exactly sure what all its doing to accomplish that, and that is a little unsettling.

The Goods: Besides the fact that I'm not sure what all this pedal technically does, I love the way it makes my guitar sound. It adds a punch to the sound. Its not the solution to every problem, and it can cause feedback in many situations, but if you acoustic signal is a little thin, this pedal will put some meat on them bones. Or a whole lot of meat if you'd like. Don't think that this just adds low end. It also adds hi end. In fact, the hi end is more like the presence knob you find on some (better) amps. Its like the knob that other amps leave off, the high hi-end. Then the lo-end is the same in reverse. Its lower than the low on your guitar's Eq

In summery, this pedal is good. It does good things to the sound of acoustic guitar sounds and is in my line when I play acoustic live through a system. Its compact and fits in my guitar case. It can act as a DI or be powered by phantom power (neat trick). Down side is that when you use phantom power, it will need another box to convert to xlr. The unit is a little steep for what it does. 150 from MF, but I found one of ebay for less than half.

This Might Get Loud

I know that a documentary isn't a piece of musical gear, but a film consisting of Jimmy Page (led zeppelin), The Edge (U2), Jack White (The White Stripes and whatever he did after the white stripes) should be of any guitarist interests in one way or another.

I know how you value my opinion so highly, so your dyeing to find out my thought on this film. Well, don't worry, I will tell you. Jimmy Page is no doubt one of the more legendary guitar players. The Edge is built up as a "sound architect". He uses a lot of pedals and sound gear. Thats interesting, but what's behind all that gear processing and changing his sound. Jack White is my main interest. He's turned the contemporary idea of what makes a great musician. on its head.

The film begins with Jack White at a dilapidated porch. There is a board, nails, and a coke bottle. Jack builds an instrument and plugs it into an amp, then plays a tune with a slide. This is amazing. The entire film is worth the watch for this scene. The film gives a look into the players philosophies on music. The looks at the gear these guys use is enough to make most players mouth's water.

I recommend this film to anyone who has a interest in the guitar or any of the band/musicians in the film. It gets a little dry at times but there are spots that are real gems.

My Newest Piece Of Gear

...is The Visual Sound V2 Series V2RT66 Route 66 Overdrive and Compression Guitar Multi Effects Pedal.
I Live by a set of rules and one of those rules is: No Multi Effects Pedals. This is not your normal Multi Effects. It is really 2 pedals in one casing. The two effect work totally independent of one another.

Compression is an easily over looked effect. Some may shy away because they may think that it squashes the tone and yes it definitely can BUT if used properly (and if the effect unit is worth its weight) then one can enhance there sonic achievement by judicious use of a compressor.


Overdrive is a commonly use effect that gets called everything but overdrive. I like to think of it as dirt. A little bit can really be cool, too much and its just a huge mess. I'm not a fan of Distortion, but that does mean that I don't like to get heavy. I think that your sound should come from where its supposed to com from, Your Amp. Overdrive (and really all distortions) come from your line (unamplified) signal being too strong to be processed properly by the amp. Many things can effect the handling of this signal; such as the wiring, capacitors, and routing of the signal. That's a bunch of technical talk for, "Good sound comes from good amps." No Pedal is going to make your amp sound better. They will defiantly make it sound different, but that's not exactly better.


So how does this pedal stack up? Very Well. Both sides of this pedal do what they should do. The overdrive is tuneful. Not fissy. It can go from Tame to Saturated very well... It also responds to your volume control and playing weight very nicely. Compression is something I use very lightly. In most cases I use it to brighten, boost and cut. But I've also been able to enhance me technical playing by using the compression to extenuate

the note that would have gotten lost otherwise. This Pedal has quickly become one of my most used and favorite pedals and has found a full-time spot on my pedal board. Although its not a metal-head's choice, but for just about everything short of metal it can be useful.


Visual Sound V2 Series V2RT66 Route 66 Overdrive and Compression Guitar Multi Effects Pedal, Highly recommended.

Intro:

I bet your asking your self, "Why is there another blog about Music Gear. Honestly, I think that there is too much hype about gear and catch phases and fads. We need to hear the truth about this junk that everyone is running out to the store and buying so that they can sound like the "Heroes of Guitar"



Who am I? Just one of the millions of those smitten by the music. Someone that is ever searching for the next sound that "fits" In the following blogs I will discuss the devices of our craft. I will pull no punches and let you know exactly what they can and can not do.


My resume`? I've been playing guitar for half my life soon followed by the drums, and bass. I've played in worship bands, metal bands, Punk Bands, School Bands, Gospel Choirs, Acoustic rock group, Jam Bands, and just about everything else inbetween. I've been recording for the last five years and have learned the ropes in sound reinforcement and engineering. I've played everything I could get my hands on for the last Twelve years, now I'd like to publish my findings.


If you have any question feel free to comment. Hope this does sound like bragging, and maybe I can help in some way to better your musical endeavors.