Hands On Review Of The Electo Harmonix Crayon Overdrive

There has been a lot of talk about this little pedal. Most web-stores don't even have the Crayon on there sites yet. A local store selling through Reverb.com was able to hook me up with one. The main thing is that everyone wants to know what other pedal it sounds like. Well I've tried it out and I can now tell you. However, that would be blowing my load a little too soon. So here's what owning and using this particular pedal has shown me.

It's Pretty Good. 

A lot of people liked what they heard from the EHX video demos. The Soul Food was a huge hit, so when they debuted a new light/medium overdrive peoples ears perked up. The Four knobs are a departure from most of their small drive pedals. Giving us Bass and Treble to manipulate is a step up. The clipping is musical and satisfying. The Bass and Treble are responsive and flexible. The Gain take you from clean to filthy with a twist. There is plenty of meat on these bones too. Playing a Tele through a Vox AC15 you'd expect twangy and spanky, but with this pedal engaged you plenty of grunt to thicken up that Tele sound.

The Name Is A Little Silly, Considering...

This pedal is one of the best clean boosts with the gain dialed back. It really preserves the sound of your guitar when playing through it. It doesn't jack with your tone in a bad way. Tube screamers will always add that mid-hump, but this pedal, when set correctly, will give you your tone right back to you, only louder. But not much louder. Much of the volume remain hidden until you start to add gain. But that is the reason to buy an overdrive, right? Besides being named after a childish art utensil, "coloring you tone" is considered a no-no, so when the hype video said the pedal did just that, well, it was a little bit of a face-palm moment.

It Gets You Close To That Sound With Minimal Effort

If you look at my pedal board, you will see that I like stacking my gain pedals. I have a Soul Food almost always on and cranked up to push the next pedal (Tube Screamer/OCD/Super Badass). Some times I'll run the TS into the OCD to get really noisy. I like combining Overdrives with other pedals to simulate the effect of a overdriven amp while keeping to bedroom levels. Not to say that other pedals need  a another in front of it, but this pedal has gotten pushed-a-little-too-hard (in a good way) sound all by it's self. There are a lot of things that I like about the Soul Food in this pedal, but mixed with better EQ and great clipping section.

In Conclusion

If you are in the market for a single pedal to do must of the heavy lifting of your dirt section and don't want to full with stacking different pedals, then this might be right up your ally. What the Soul Food lacks in flexibility, The Crayon Does rather well, with the bonus of being transparent in the best way possible. This pedal is a little more than just the "pre" section of you gain section. It has the grunt to be your entire overdrive section. It does play well with other though. Especially if the other pedal is heavier. All in all this pedal is a great box. Even if it turns out to be heavily "inspired" by another pedal, this pedal is a great addition to an already pretty stellar list of pedals in EHX's line.

The Ugly Truth About Being A Telecaster Guy That Plays A Les Paul

It was nearly twenty years ago that I (or my parents rather) bought my first Fender Telecaster. I played that thing everyday for years. I was actively involved in playing at my church. When I wasn't playing my acoustic, I was playing that Telecaster. It was my only electric for the longest time. I changed the pickups because I wanted to play metal. It was then I realized that, even though I liked the shape and feel of a Tele, I wanted different sounds than the standard Telecaster quack. I've since owned many other Teles that all have something in common, they aren't standard Teles. I have one with P-90s and a Deluxe with Split coils. I have come to appreciate the Standard Tele quack, but I haven't committed to actually owning one. (I can get some quack by playing with my pickup configuration. So yes, I do call upon the mighty quack when I need)

I've Never Really Liked The Les Paul Shape (until I did)

There is something that happens to a guitar when they acquire their first "real" guitar. There is a fondness and familiarity that forms that is hard to overcome. Also, I jump between acoustic and electric so much that a flat-top electric feels more familiar when switching. A fender type bridge and Tonepros type bridge is an adjustment. The first few times I played a Gibson Les Paul I understood that this instrument was a quality instrument, but it was uncomfortable to play. Heavy, bulky, curved. Nothing seemed comfortable. I've owned, for a time, other guitars like a SG and a Jackson SLS. These were also different and good in there own respects, but they all lost favor and didn't suit me as much as my Tele. They were "homebase".

It Can Come As A Surprise 

So I messing about like I do in a music store, and on a lark picked up a Les Paul (copy) and slowly realized I like it better than the other guitars that I had picked up that day. I was surprised, not only how much I liked it, but how comfortable it felt. I had owned a SG for a few years, so the bridge was a little less foreign and the neck was slimmer and more "Fender-ish" than others I had play before. The pickups were bright and hot. The neck was one of the better rosewood fretboards I've played. Most other things were passable. All in all, it was a solid guitar, the price was right, so it became mine. No one was more surprised than me.

Having Something New Can Spark Renewed Interest. 

Being an active musician mean playing a lot of music. I Play a set every week with a group. I also teach music to students during the week, so playing "just for me" is uncommon. I'm either preparing, studying, or writing. I don't play for the pure enjoyment of it (even though I enjoy playing during that other times). But when I sat down with this non-Telecaster I was transported back to when the guitar was new. Things worked a little different. Similar enough to feel familiar but different enough to give everything a since of discovery. This would be the first guitar that I've spent a lot of time that had a set-neck, and honestly I thing I'm smitten. There is a sustain that I think is due to the neck joint. I still love my Teles for all the reason that I loved them to begin with, but now there is something else in my collection that doesn't resemble the rest and adds a new element to the mix.

5 Ugly Truths About Relic'ing Your Guitar

My relic'd SG

Lately I've been wanting a new guitar. I have a pitifully small budget, but I wanted something different. I trolled around for a pre-loved instrument on craigslist, but nothing quite hit the nail on the head. Mostly because nobody wanted to handover a guitar free of charge. I was reminded that I had some gear loaned out to someone that wanted to learn (and had lost all interest.) The gears where set in motion, and once again I was in possession of my Epiphone SG 310 (or something like that. I had picked it up. more or less, as a souvenir while traveling with my wife back when I had some disposable income. I never really fit in with my other guitar (all Telecasters) so it go sidelined a lot. Sitting down with one of my good friends and fellow gear-nut, we discussed relic'ing guitars. He has a Mexican Strat that he has reclic'd. As he described the process, I started to visualize going through the steps. It reminded me of when I went about refinishing my Telecaster back when I only had one. I then knew what I had to do. I was going to beat my SG until it and I had a mutual respect for one another. There are some things that I learned along the way that were somewhat surprising.

Photo by musiczoo.com

1. Your Guitar Will Never Be The Same

Let's start with the obvious. You are going to change your guitar in a way that will be very difficult to repair. In some cases, repairing a relic job would mean replacing so many parts that it would more new pieces than original. So you strip your guitar down to its bare parts and get ready to do the deed. When I began to distress my SG, I had no idea what it was going to look like. I stripped a Telecaster and repainted it. Over the years, the paint job I did wore in some spots. I wanted to replicate that effect on my SG. What I ended up with was something complete different. Many of the edges have "wear" marks and dings, but it was very difficult to cause that effect. Many of the bevels that are part of the SG shape have been rounded off in the "wearing" of the paint job. Even if I repainted the guitar it would still have a "distressed" shape. So think about that before you break out your "murder tools"

2. You Will Regret Almost Everything

I worked at a passionate rate. Every time I nicked, cut and ding my guitar I grew bolder. I wanted more of that effect. I wanted to go further. If one looked good then ten would be great. Only, as I work a noticed that this ding looked like that ding and those nicks look like someone did it on purpose (duh). I started thinking that I had made a huge mistake that I can't take back. Those marks don't look real. Why would there be dings like that over there! It was all falling apart just as fast as it had come together. So I put it down, went back inside, and had a good cry (a figurative cry). I came back with the mentality that it was the journey that matter, not so much the end result. I let my children bead on the body with a file. I stood on it. I laid it flat on a concrete floor and kicked it around. To Hell with the nitpicky. This is supposed to be fun!

3. It Will Always Look "Manufactured"

Indeed, the marks on my guitar may not fool the "expert" but like I explained above, it is something that I enjoyed. So lets talk about your guitar. No matter how well you think you did, it still going to look manufactured to the one person that matters, You. No matter how well you recreate those marks of instruments that have seen decades of heavy use you will know that your were caused by the tools in your garage. Each time you pick up your guitar, no matter how great you think it looks, you are living a lie. It may be an innocent little fib. Your instrument didn't really earn (or deserve) those marks of abuse. Many people will not even question how those got there, but you know that you did it. there is almost an aspect of exhibitionism. You know a dirty little secrete about your guitar and you parade that secrete in front of everyone just to see if anyone will call you on it.

4. You Won't Want To Stop

It is almost addictive when you wear through your finish and you see the wood underneath. You want more. You want more visible wood (that could be taken wrong). You want more battle scars. You rack you brain to think of where the wear should go. You think about wear the pick would scratch or wear the head would bump into something, or how missing the input jack might put a ding in the finish. You could add cigarette burns (man, visible wood and cigarette burn, this might put me on some sort of watch list) or yellow your finish. There is no limit. I guess you could keep going until your instrument is no longer playable. You could do some real damage if your not careful, but in all seriousness...

5. You Need To Stop

Why do we do this to our guitars. There is really no other group of musician that do the thing we do to there instruments. You don't see drummers spend time and energy into making their instrument look abused (it just happens naturally). Pianist take care in preserving their instruments, much like nearly every other musician. Symphonies take pride in the pristine way their instrument are cared for. Marching bands make their instrument shine before every performance. But a faction of guitarist think that they should degrade their instrument to the point (and past said point) of realism. There are guitar that make my heart sink when I see them. I know that someone has beaten it to the point that it looks like it was recovered from the wreckage of the Titanic. So please, if you are going to add "wear" to your guitar, know how far is too far.

The Ugly Truth About The EHX Satisfaction Fuzz

Electro Harmonics' Satisfaction Fuzz

Recently I've spent some time at my local music store playing with their selection of fuzz pedals. I personally am not a huge user of fuzz in my sound. I love the over-saturated sounds that some pedals can get. I don't use much in the applications that I currently play, also I am notoriously cheap, so I haven't whipped out the cash to get a pedal that I don't use much. So when Electo Harmonics came out with the Satisfaction Fuzz my interest was peaked. EHX makes my current favorite fuzz, the Big Muff Pi with Tone Wick. So I'm a fan of what EHX can do with a fuzz circuit, but the satisfaction fuzz was made with a particular sound in mind: the guitar sound in the Rolling Stone's Satisfaction. If you subscribe to rock and roll folk lore, the sound in question was made when the amp Keith Richards played through busted a speaker, creating a nasty buzzing sound. They decided they liked the change and the rest is rock and roll history. EHX set out to make a pedal that recreated the sound of Richards' amp.

Was I satisfied?

With that in mind, I plugged into a Fender Super Sonic amp and started playing with a Blacktop Telecaster. The sounds the pedal made were good. There was a lot of top end. This pedal refuses to be covered up in the mix. I cut the highs on the amp to recreate some of the other fuzz noises that I like. Thinking that I could recreate some of the Big Muff Pi sounds. No dice. With the highs at 10 o'clock and the bass almost pegged, the sound was nearly the same as before. I cut the tone knob down, but nothing really produced the kind of sounds that I was looking for. I'm not trying to say that there is no way to produce other tones with this pedal, but from the beginning this pedal had one thing on its mind.

Who's really in control?

The lack of control is explained in the fact that it only has two knobs: Volume and Attack. You'll notice that neither of those knobs control tone. Compared to the Big Muff Pi this fuzz is very one sided. If you are looking to recreate those famous tones that the Stones played decades ago, then you have your pedal. If you are looking for an all-around fuzz that you can use to create different tones, look elsewhere. The ugly truth, The EHX Satisfaction Fuzz is a one-trick pony. To some it up, I didn't get no satisfaction.

4 Ugly Truths about The Guitar You Are Playing

It is easy to think that the guitar that you play on a regular basis is special. You probably take great pride in it's condition and savor it's tone as you play. Perhaps you invested a great deal of money in your instrument so that you could have a recognizable name on the headstock or a certain feature. Well that money you so willingly forked over bought a guitar with some frequently overlooked truths.

1) Its overpriced

I assume that anyone looking at a gear blog is probable an avid musician. Being so mean you probably don't have an entry level instrument. This leads me to believe that you've paid to much for it. There is several things that go into the price of an instrument, but the most important thing to a manufacturer is, "How much are you willing to pay for said instrument.". You may notice that many brands have several "lines" and even some related brands that manufacture copies of more expensive guitar. These guitars look very similar to the more expensive ones, but don't have a particular brand or features that the others do. Fender has their high end "American" line, then their "Standard" line that is manufactured in various place other than the US, and finally they have some models that made in China. They also have a sub-brand "Squire" that makes practically the same instrument in China for much less then similar models made under the Fender brand. I'm not say that Squires are the same guitars as the American line of Fenders, but if someone where to know how to carefully select and set up an instrument then a Squire could perform just as well as a much more expensive guitar. There is just something intangible about owning a genuine article. But remember...

2)Its mass produced

No matter how much your guitar is "the one" remember that a limited run still mean around 500 units. There might be little differences with fit and finish, but the features are the same. There is a lot of talk about a guitars tone being heavily influenced by the type of wood it is made from. There is truth to that. Density influences mass and has a lot to do with reverberation. What does all that mean? Meh... But what has the most influence over the sound your guitars sound? Pick ups. Whats that? You play an (straight) acoustic? Have you read this blog before? Lets look at you signal. You have you guitar (wood and all) and its steel strings that produce notes, these travel through your pick ups and other components. That is just in you guitar! It travels through you chord (hope you got a good one) and trough whatever else in your path; tuner, effects, preamps, and whatever else. And you're worried about your choice of mahogany or maple? Once you decide, keep in mind...

3) There are many like it

Well duh, the woods used, the pick ups, the materials in the hardware, fretboard, inlays, and other part will be the same as many other guitars. In many ways this is a good thing. If your guitar is ever in need of repair, then you have plenty of options. Other than fitting your guitar with serious mods, your guitar is extremely replaceable. Everything from the neck and the body to the string trees, Your guitar is just a series of parts put together by someone that is probably in another country. (By the way, if your guitar wasn't made in another country, then most likely some of the parts were.) No matter where you guitar was made or how many were made with the exact same options by the same people...

4) It is the only one exactly like it

This is what every guitar thinks about their guitar, despite the number of guitars that are just like it. A guitars journey through its life changes it. Take my first Telecaster. It have been through a lot. I've covered it with stickers, repainted, and recovered it with stickers. Its also been thrown against a wall and nearly broke in half. It has had the pick ups, and some other hardware replaced. The dents and dings are more than character, they actually help me feel where certain frets are. The neck has seen more nasty sweat than a cheap motel mattress (thankfully that is the only body fluid its seen. I hope...). Even though I can replace every singe part on the guitar and even buy that exact model again. It would be my tele. It couldn't be my tele. I've owned several Telecasters, and despite being extreamly similar, There is only one.

5 Guitars That Every Guitarist Should Own

There are a lot of guitars out there. If you've been playing for a while then you've no doubt found what you like. It take little more than a trip to the music store to see what you like and what works for you. For me it is the Fender Telecaster. There is something comfortable about the shape and weight. For others it might be a SG or something from Ibanez. There is nothing wrong with any of these, but sometimes we gravitate toward a particular shape and style. If you are the collector type, like myself, then one guitar is never enough, nor is one type. So, how do we go about being a well rounded guitar owner? Diversity.

5) The Pawn Shop Special

There is something about find a diamond in the rough. Sometimes you have call them like you see them. If the guitar is a dud, its a dud. Sometime you find a guitar that was made for about five minutes by a company that doesn't exist any more. Other times you find a guitar that has been loved a little too hard, but despite the looks, the guitar of a soulful tone machine still lives. The best part is that prices are usually pretty flexible. This is a great idea that for the collector with limited cash. It can also serve as a great platform for mods and experimenting.

4)The Classic

We are talking the big four. Strat, Tele, Les Paul, SG. Many of these are made and lots of people make clones. It is actually hard Not to own one of these guitars once your collection reaches a certain size. There is not a lot to say hear. There are some icons that should be experienced. If you do not already like one of these options then look into these guys. Many people like at their choice of guitar as a reflection of themselves, and to an extent it is, and getting one of these classics seems to cliche. There is a reason that these are so prolific.

3)The obscure

Just like owning a classic is important, owning a guitar that no one really knows or has ever thought about since the last one rolled off the production line. Often times these are terrible guitars, but every once in a while these surprise us and end up being fantastic guitars. The pawn shop is a great place to look, as is craigslist.

2)The "Out of your comfort zone"

Get weird. Get way out there. BC Rich is a great place to start. Maybe a flying V or Explorer for the more timid. A seven or eight string guitar will challenge you in many ways. Perhaps it as simple as losing the low E string and tuning a guitar to and open tuning. You should also consider extended range guitars such as a baritone. Resonator or slide guitar could be your "walk on the wild side". Everyone has their own comfort zone, try to find something that is definitively not typical for you.

1))The Fixer-upper

With a little luck and a few tools, you can take a guitar that others would pass up and make it into an absolute player. Maybe this a low-end model that could use some new guts, or a used unit that needs a nice set up. In any case, there is nothing that connects you to your instrument like putting honest work into bringing it back to life. This is a great experience for any guitarist. Working on a guitar and improving its status is good practice for when your main ax develops a hiccup. Skills like soldering and wiring take practice to perfect, so working on a guitar that isn't already an important part of your emotional well-being might be preferable.

The Telecaster

Many years ago there was a man named Leo Fender. He was a man's man. He made things when his hands. There was a vast fascination with music and music in those days was live and acoustic. Any type us amplification of instrument was crude and mostly ineffective in a live setting. Loud volumes were accomplished by multiples of the same instrument playing the same note at the same time. The face of the modern "band" was changing and Leo was greatly aware.

The first guitar the Fender musical instrument company ever produced was called the esquire. The Shape and line are that of the present day telecaster. The instrument was a hit and many musician flocked the the sturdy, reliable, and cheap new instrument. The popularity gave Leo the latitude that he needed to move forward with the two pick-up version of the esquire, The Broadcaster. I know what your thinking. An Esquire with two pick-ups is a Telecaster. Well, the broadcaster's realise got a lot of attention, even the attention of the established Gretsch instruments. They already had trademark a line called Broadkaster. The claimed that the Broadcaster guitar infringed upon that. So the name was changed to "Telecaster".

So the Telecaster was born. Thank goodness, because I would have no idea what I would spend all my money on if it weren't for Leo Fender and his amazing instrument. But since the induction of the Telecaster there has been many models and changes made the guitar. The original Telecaster came with three saddle. The adjustable intonation was relative. Later model changed to six saddles for a more precise set-up. Many combinations of woods, and hollow bodied models have been produced. The Telecaster has worn just about every hat in the book, which adds to the reason I love this particular piece of gear. My Tele.

My First Telecaster was a standard model (made in Mexico) and I still play it. I've owed it over 12 years now. It has seen many places and has been through it all with me. I've replace pick-ups, input jacks, pots, wires, and strap buttons. Its been slung across a room and into a wall. I think toothpicks and wood-glue hold it together and I wouldn't trade it for the world. It still plays like a dream.

My next Tele was a gift from my wife. A Tele Deluxe. Double humbuckers in a Tele, its like awesomeness in awesomeness. I was given that guitar about a year ago now. It seems like a long time but it's just now getting broken in. It has gotten its first sticker (and that was a 6+ month process). Now its just a matter of time before I find the right gauge of string and peg the set-up.

My last Tele (actually belongs to my wife) is a Tele Custom with P-90's. I haven't really had that much to do with P-90 Pick-ups but I thought this would be a good way to learn, plus the guitar looked good and it was a Tele. When my wife picked it out at the store and told me she wanted it I just had to let her have it.

The Telecaster is an amazing instrument worthy of the praise given here, but it is far from the perfect guitar. I would rather play a Tele but other swear by there axes just I do mine. The best thing is to get out there and play them. See what feels right to you. I own, and have owned, many types of guitars and there's just no getting around it. I'm a Tele player.


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