As it happens when you try to download a file from Internet, where the weakest (the narrower band width) node in the net sets your maximum speed, the worst gear in your rig sets your sound quality.
I've already did some fair guitar cable comparison long time ago and, there were two cables that were identified on the top of the pyramid: Evidence Audio The Lyric II and Vovox Sonorus.
Some time ago, I've also tried EA Monorail cable but, with George L's jacks, since EA stated that they were compatible. My experience said the opposite. Monorail doesn't easily fits George L's jacks and, combining both is a waste of time.
But, here we are the SIS plug system, which is somewhat similar to George L's system but, easier, faster and tighter.
Monorail and SIS plug system
The Monorail cable is really thin and, very interesting for pedalboard patchcords (as George L's are, indeed). Monorail has the quality sound of EA' stuff: not coloring the signal, good punch and strength, good noise rejection, no microphonics issues...
The SIS plugs are even easier to handle than George L's ones and, while I had to redo several times George L's, because they internally disconnected while playing, after several months of use, I had not a single issue with SIS plugs. Once plugged, they seem to create a tight link.
The small size of SIS plugs' head allows you to create really short patch cords.
As in the case of George L's, the issue isn't the cable (reasonably affordable) but, the price of jacks. But, as in the case of George L's jacks, SIS jacks will last the rest of your life so, it's just an investment that could be re-used as many times as needed.
During my cable tests, George L's cables where coloring the signal in middle-low frequencies and delivering great punch. Monorail seems to deliver an even EQ signal, in the line of EA products.
Look at these pics:
As you can see, the Monorail is so thin and the heads of the SIS plugs so small that, allow you to stack pedals really close in your pedalboard and, to minimize the length of your patch cords and, collaterally, the length of the virtual cable that goes from your guitar to your amp, thru the pedalboard.
To mount a patch is a childs game, as soon as you have some wire cutter tool.
If you still doesn't have a solution for your patchcords in the order of George L's or SIS, I highly recommended you Evidence Audio Monorail with SIS plugs. If you had issues with George L's disconnecting from time to time (I had it!!!), maybe is time for you to try EA SIS system with Monorail.
I love the results, after several months. Not a single issue.
You know, from time to time, you get some (nice) surprises, when you less weren't expecting it.
By a casual, I have answered back to a post (in Seymour Duncan's forum), where the Original Poster was asking "which is the best cable for you and why".
My answer was that "After testing a bunch of cables, from the cheapest Chinese to the expensive ones, I went to Mogami 2524 bulk cables" and that "While Vovox (Sonorus) and Evidence Audio (The Lyric HG) where in the top of the pyramid, Mogami's was just slighly under those in tone but, way lower in price" and that "while My Lyric HG broke, my Mogami's last still".
Well, you never know which eyes are reading you.
I've received a mail from Toni Marinello (Evidence Audio), same day, few hours later.
An Unique and Exemplar Customer Service
Toni's mail was short, barely a telegram but, with just what matters. He said he read in SD forum that my Lyric HG broke and, asked me if he could do something to help me.
My fault. I remember I read a nice interview to Toni Marinello in The Tone Quest digital fanzine, long time ago. I remember very clearly the key figures of such an interview but, I completely forgot the name of da man to be honest.
So, I was thinking that Toni was some kind of Customer Service Representative that was interested on washing Brand Image or, that maybe, Evidence Audio had a nice post-sale service, at the end.
In that scenario, my answer was something like: "hi Toni, thank you. Well, I don't know if you can do something for me. I bought the cable in that online store some time ago and, it broke just playing. You know, you move while you perform, and the cable breaks".
Typical, right?.
How many cables have broken due to the messes that occur while you move while playing?.
What do you do, then?.
You usually buy (or craft) one more and, maybe a new brand/model, with the secret expectation that, this time, it will last longer.
Ok. I have sent back my answer to Tony expecting to receive something like "We are very sorry. This is cable broken by a bad use, etc., etc.". But, what I received back was an answer llike "My cables are warranted for life. I've already talked to store X and I will make a replacement cable for you. The store will place soon an order for me and, I will include such a cable for you". I wanted to send me the Forte (more indicated for guitar to pedal board applications, because it's more flexible), instead of the Lyric HG.
I wrote back a mail saying how gratefully surprised me and thank you him for his interest and kind offer.
I've explained my experience with several of his products: Monorail (with George's L connectors), The Siren II, The Lyric HG and The Forte.
I've explained to him that I gave up trying to mount patch cables with Monorail using George's L connectors (as he suggested, originally), because it was a waste of time with very low success ratio.
Also, that I loved the Siren but, that it would be a nice thing if he was preparing some cables with an extreme with those metallic clamp connectors often seen in combo speakers. In that way I could upgrade my 3 combos.
And, also that being the Forte a great cable, in my honest opinion, it hasn't the same tone (or lack of tone, as per himself words) than the Lyric HG, that the Forte sounded warmer, not so EQ evenly sounding and slightly less defined and chiming as the Lyric HG. For this, I wanted him to send me a Lyric HG replacement that I would use for the run pedal board to amp or just for recording.
He answered me back that, even being a single-man company, he cares about all his customers the same and, he loves to do it that way. That he was glad to have to opportunity to update me with its upgrades and enhancements.
He understood my issues with Monorail / George's L connectors and, explained me that, after some time (I bet that based on customers feedback), he developed a perfect connectors system to work with his Monorail system (SIS) and linked me to his page, which has an impressive video showing how one of his Monorail cables mounted with the SIS system, was supporting the weight of a combo amp!!!.
Watch this video!.
He also pointed me to a page where I could buy the Siren with such a clamp connectors and, that this was released some time ago.
Finally, he understood my point with the Forte but, let me know that the Forte was re-engineered and that now sound exactly the same as the Lyric HG and, it's more expensive, because each thread of the double multi-thread core wires were insulated with Enamel (as big part of pickups' coil wires!!!).
So, I've thanked them again for the great update and, sent the original purchasing info for him to discuss the way with the store. I am waiting that replacement cable.
Pay it once, enjoy it your whole life
As already mentioned above, there are few cables that I will put on the top of the pyramid and, in my personal tests, tone-wise, the best sounding cables where Vovox Sonorus and Evidence Audio The Lyric HG, in every single variable: punch, loudness, definition, low microphonics, tone preservation, plain frequential response, etc. But both presented same issues: they were so thick and rigid that weren't unsuitable for real performance (at least that you stand up quiet as a mummy).
The Mogami 2524 sounded to me slightly better than the Forte and slightly worst that those two heavy weights but, price-wise, the Mogami was way more affordable than any of those and, I could buy the bulk cable to make my patch, cords and cables to the lengths I needed. That's why I went for Mogami 2524, without any doubt.
To be honest, I didn't know that Evidence Audio offered a "for life warranty" and, if I knew that in some point of time, I would probably though that this was just "snake oil".
But, evidently, Evidence Audio is taking really seriously his compromise and, this completely changes my perception of what is really expensive or affordable.
How many cables have broken due to the messes that occur while you move while playing, in your life?.
Evidence Audio cables are the hell expensive, indeed. If you think you should buy again a replacement cable, then you end searching for a more reasonable alternative, as I did.
But understand this key point: you buy once, enjoy the whole life.
I don't know of any other product in musical world (honestly, even out of the musical environment) offered with such a level of warranty and compromise!. Only this subject sets completely apart Evidence Audio from other cable makers / assemblers.
I know that there are many people that think that cables make no difference and, this is just snake oil. And, to be honest, I was in the same position long time ago.
But, instead of discussing about something I had never experienced, I bought several cables, of variate prices and design to demonstrate to myself that I was right.
The surprise was to discover that I was wrong and, that cables make real difference, specially in long runs and when your pedalboard has some respectable number of pedals (12 in my tests).
For those that thing this is just snake oil, please, do your own tests (with significative lengths and number of pedals). This is the only way you will be in a real position to discuss about the subject.
For those that already know cables make a difference and, that were thinking on to go for Evidence Audio but, ended with a more affordable and reasonably well sounding cable (as myself), just consider that to buy an Evidence Audio cable is a one-time expense for your whole life.
Can it be considered as expensive from that point of view?.
Unfortunately, the news about the upgrades and enhancements that EA did, aren't easily seen in his own page. Tony has a presence in Thegearpage and, will probably provide right feedback in some social networks tools (facebook, twitter, etc.) but, since I'm not using those, I didn't new about what he enhanced.
Myself, once I can save the money, I will go back to EA stuff, this time knowing that I am getting the best sounding cables for my whole life, paying just once!.
More readings
The Tone Quest Report published a nice report The Truth about Audio Cables, where the interview with Toni Marinella will bring you a lot of interesting technical information about cables and cable makers.
In my own blog, I was discussing about the qualities that a good guitar cable should have, in my entry what is a good guitar cable? (including a video comparing several cables) and, a comparison Mogami vs Evidence Audio.
Moved by the mood and own curiosity, some years ago I was testing some V-Picks plectrums.
In that time, I had the sensation that the material which they were made and their finishing were outstanding but, the size and shapes were uncomfortable for my playing.
Just by casuality, I've seen that V-Picks was delivering some picks with very accepted traditional shapes.
The shape I like more is the one that corresponds to Dunlop Jazz III pickups. This size is just perfect for me but, I can live with traditional Fender Shell pickups shape, as well.
So, I was very curious to test V-Picks take of those two highly accepted shapes and, I am really happy with results.
V-picks Small Pointed Pearly Gates and Tradition plectrums
See this picture (click for full size):
As you can see, they are close in shape to "originals" but, not exactly the same.
The Pearly Gates (first pick, on left hand) is close to the Dunlop Jazz III (second) but, while the upper angles of the Dunlop are smooth, the V-Picks has three clear angles.
That makes it a bit less comfortable on hand, to be honest but, in other side, you have 3 exactly-the same points you can use to play so, if one worns you still have two more to use, which gives a longer life to such a pickup.
One of the issues with those Dunlop Jazz III (even the Ultex model) is that they worn really fast, which affects to the accuracy of your picking technics.
The third pick is the V-Picks Tradition, compared to a typical Fender-alike Shell pick (forth).
See that, in this case, the upper angles aren't so smooth as in the original one, which makes that pickup slightly less comfortable. But, once again, they are sharped in a way that you could use any of the three points for your picking but, being the natural point more appropiated for that.
Even that shapes are, overall, very close to original ones, they aren't exactly the same. More than this, the materials are totally different and, the thicness is the most relevant difference.
V-picks seem to be twice thicker than the original models.
But, don't leave that thickness to fool you. Borders of those picks are so awesomelly beveled and filed that it's a pleasure to play with them. Also, that extra thinkness increases the grip of the pick so, it's really comfortable on hand.
It took me about 1 hour to be used to those V-Picks but, as soon as I was comfortable with them, I've noticed a better precision in my picking, playing smoothly.
Surprisingly, that extra thickness (and, at the end, mass) wasn't increasing the attack and making strings to bump out of the nut. I would say that they've worked smoother than the original ones.
After a couple of days, I went to test back the original ones and I had weird sensations. They seemed to me so slim that were tasteless to the touch and handling!!!.
It's really curious how picks impact to me.
Well, from those two models, I am feeling more comfortable playing those Pearly Gates, both because of its shape and because of its sound. I think it has a smoother attack than the Traditional, is more comfortable on hand and, better to get pinch harmonics.
Since, early electric guitars were manufactured in USA, maker's meassures are always given in inches or fractions of inches (1/16", 3/31", 5/64", etc.).
Asian makers are usually manufacturing using milimeters.
So, there is often the need to translate units from one to the other side.
At the end, to properly measure you will need to use quality rules or gauges but, could be use some well know and handy objects to do our measurements?.
Yes. We can. As soon as we measure first the thickness of common objects we have a way to simplify everything together.
We are going to use money for everything better than to buy an instrument: to setup it!.
Crazy?.
Stay reading...
Long life to Euro!
One day, I was using a caliber to measure the thickness of the several Euro coins (but, you could even find those measures in some official page, for any coin).
Most of thickness are really close the measures usually handled with guitar makers for their setups and, therefore, combining some coins we can measure and adjust practically everything in an axe.
Interesting, right?.
These are the thickness of the several Euro coins:
2 Euros = 2,2 mm
1 Euro = 2,32 mm
50 cts = 2,38 mm
20 cts = 2,14 mm
10 cts = 1,93 mm
1/2/5 cts = 1,67 mm
You can check your own coins to stablish a direct relationship between typical measures and one or more coins.
Typical measures used in guitar setups
Pickups heights
Depending on pickup class, output range and magnets strength, recommended pickups high varies but, heights are mostly determined with very few values.
By example, Dimarzio recommends following clearance from pickup poles to string:
First measure is for low string (6th) and second for treble string (1st).
Low output pickups (rails or AlNiCo II, III magnets and alike):
Normal setup
Neck & Middle: 2.4 mm / 1.6 mm
Bridge: 1.6 mm / 1.2 mm
Open setup (weaker but clearer)
Neck & Middle: 3.2 mm / 2.4 mm
Bridge: 2.4 mm / 2.0 mm
High output pickups, humbuckers and AlNiCo V, IV, VIII and alike
Normal setup
Neck & Middle: 3.2 mm / 2.4 mm
Bridge: 2.4 mm / 1.6 mm
Open setup
Neck & Middle: 4.0 mm / 3.2 mm
Bridge: 3.2 mm / 2.4 mm
Some makers also give some specific measures.
Gibson recommends following pickup heights for their humbuckers:
Neck: 3/32" (2,38 mm) both sides
Bridge 1/16" (1,59 mm) both sides
Fender recommends different heights, depending on type of pickup:
4/64" = 1,6 mm
1/8" = 3,2 mm
1/16" = 1,6 mm
3/32" = 2,38 mm (2,4 mm)
5/64" = 1,98 mm (2.0 mm)
So, in fact, measures are usually between 3/64" and 10/64":
1,2 mm (3/64")
1,6 mm (4/64" = 2/32" = 1/16")
2,0 mm (5/64")
2,4 mm (6/64" = 3/32")
3,2 mm (8/64" = 4/32" = 2/16")
4,0 mm (10/64" = 5/32")
And here is where we can use the closer Euro coins to measure those gaps:
So, with a couple of coins of 5 cts, a couple of coins of 10 cts and a coin of 50 cts. we can cover any pickup height.
Quick pickup adjustment trick.
If you don't know recommended height or you are in a hurry, following procedure will give you usable sounds with humbuckers and single coils:
Humbuckers:
A 50 cts. coin in both sides of Neck pickup.
A 5 cts. coin on both sides of Bridge pickup.
Single Coils:
Two coins of 5 cts. on Neck' sixth and, one coin of 50 cts on Neck's first.
One coin of 50 cts on Middle' sixth and, one coin of 10 cts on Middle's first.
One coin of 10 cts on Brigde' sixth and, one coin of 5 cts on Bridge's first.
From there, you should probably have to low a tad the pickups (1/4 of turn to each side each time).
Seems stupid, right?. Just check it!.
Procedure:
Put the coin (or coins) between pickup's pole and the bottom of the string with guitar in a horizontal position.
Push the string on the last fret.
Raise the pickup side until the coin gets trapped between the pole and the string.
Put the guitar in a vertical position (as if you were to play).
Lower the pickup side, step by step, until you notice the coin moving or falling down to floor
You are done!
My card has not credit but, still useful!
With coins we can measure gaps greater or equal to 1,67 mm but, there are some other adjustments that need inferior measures as, by example neck's curvature.
Depending on the maker, heights are in values between 0.008" (0,2 mm) and 0.014" (0.36 mm).
You can do a quick check and setup just with a credit card or any other plastic card, as explained in previous article. Just leave a clearance enough to make the credit card to slightly lift the string.
OMG, I can reuse my broken strings!
Don't throw your used strings!, wait a momment?.
Which are the gauges of strings? they are between 0.008" to 0.054" and, even greater values.
Probably, one or more of your strings can be used to measure some gaps.
You just need to attach those strings to any piece of wood or cardobard and, you have some gauge there!.
Conclusion
With that tedious coins that are only adding weight to your purse and, that you never see the oportunity to pay with them and, some old plastic card and your used strings, you have a lot of measurement tools to do your basic setup without the need of expensive tools.
Note: this is an article long time ago published in my old Spanish version of this blog, that I am revisiting here because I believe it could be of help to lots of people.
If you are already used to set up your guitars to your needs, this article will have few interest for you but, if you never did it or if you don't feel comfortable doing it, I bet this article can be of your help.
Also, for experienced people, here there are some easy tricks to quickly check your set up status.
Many people buys a guitar, tunes it and starts playing it. If it becomes unconfortable, he/she ends setting it appart and buying a new one and, this happens several times.
I should confess that I was myself doing the same for years and years and years, never taking care of guitar' set up, basically because I've never understood what should I do and why.
You should know that factory set ups are very generic and, their goal is to be a good starting point for everyone but, not necessarely the best for someone in particular.
Anyway, for well known brands, factory set ups work the most of times and, you just need to fine tune them, if you are a bit picky.
But, dude, cheap guitars are always far away of a playable set up and, very specially, those axes currently build in China for a budget.
Be aware that set ups doesn't stand for long, even in the best guitar.
While some synthetic materials are structurally very estable, wood is a living being and, reacts to variations on its environment, as humidity, temperature, among other variables.
Usually, it's necessary to check your set up twice a year, commonly, in Summer and Winter, when temperatures radically change.
If your guitar remains in an estable environment, it is possible that your set up can last for longer periods but, some or other day, you will need to revisit your set up. That's for sure!.
Usually, wood used to build guitars needs long periods of drying, to make them structuraly estable but, even being carefull, they could eventually twist or bend with the time.
If you deal with a twisted or bend neck, forget it. Substitution is the only possible cure there but, there many other little things that we can do by ourselves to make that guitar usable for us.
By example, not barnished fretboards tend to dry and, they need to be nurtered, both, to enhance their look and to enhance the instrument feel. If you don´t care about your fingerboard, it will start to crack.
Appart of this, there are still some other little operations that can help us, as to lubricate the spots where strings touch the guitar, neck curve, strings height, pickups height, intonation, etc.
A nice starting point for your set up is to follow maker's recommendations and, from there, you can fine tune the settings to your particular taste and needs.
Even that a professional set up would need of good tools, I will present some easy-to-have-on-hand things that will help us to do a quick inspection and emergency adjustments. Between brackets, I am indicating the "tool" to check or measure each of the basic setup steps.
I hope you will like it.
Quick Inspection
For a quick inspection, we will need very few "tools" and, they are so common that you should be able to do it on any place.
Neck Curvature (credit card or similar plastic card)
Neck Curvature is a KEY set up step. Depending on your neck curvature, you could have issues like fret buzzing and, the need of raising the string height and bridge height to fight against such a buzz.
A correct curvature allows you to lower the strings and bridge heights while providing the right sound. This makes your playing faster, since you have less troubles by walking the fretboard so, take it seriously!.
Steps for a quick inspection
Put a capo on the first fret, to maintain strings pushed there.
With one finger, we press the sixth string in the very last fret of the fretboard.
Introduce a credit card between the fret and the string, around fret number 7 (9 for some guitars). Check your guitar with maker's instructions.
If the credit card slightly lifts the string, you probably have a good curvature there (recommended to read makers' specifications and check it with more accurate tools).
If there is so little clareance that the credit card clearly lifts the string , is very probable that you are having a very soft curvature, and you should have to increase it.
If there is no clearance (string lays over the fret), you probably have a negative curvature and, this is a clear source of fret buzzing and high strings and bridge heights!.
And, if the card isn't touching the string, that means that we have a high curvature there and, we should reduce it to enhance playability.
Why a neck should have some curvature?
If you look carefully to the way strings vibrate, you will see that strings vibrate wider on their center than on their extremes. To don't interrupt such a center vibration, we should leave the neck with an slight curvature (probably even not visible to the eye), to leave room to the string to freely vibrate.
If the neck is so straight, the string hasn't room enough to freely vibrate, which kills the sustain and introduces fret buzzes (hiting on frets).
If we relax neck' strength very much, there is a risk that strings hit the lower frets of the fretboard, which will obly us to raise the bridge, or saddles to increase strings highs.
So, a subtle curvature is a desirable setup in our guitar's neck!.
How can we modify neck's curvature?
Every guitar (even the cheapest ones) usually have a neck's thrussrod, which at the end is some kind of cable made with a twisted thread of steel wires, ended with a couple of nuts. Each nut is being anchored to one extreme of the neck and, one of those nuts can be screwed by us.
When we screw the nut, the steel thread twistes and, that stress is being transferred to the neck, obblying it to move their extremes down and pushing the center up.
Single thrussrods work just in one extreme of the neck (the closer to the peghead) so, the neck is bend from, more or less, its center to the peghead (that is the extreme that has the more visible movement).
Double thrussrods work in both extremes and, therefore, allow more accurate works.
So, to be able to increase or decrease the stress in the neck, we need to work on the thrussrod and, for this, every guitar has some place where we can reach the nut or screw that handles the thrussrod.
Usually, such a nut is found on the union of the neck with the peghead. In case of most Fender's guitars, that nut is easily visible and accessible, since there is no cover that hides it but, in most of other guitars, the thrussrod nut is being covered with an small plastic cover.
Usually, we rotate such a nut with the help of an Allen key, which usually comes with your guitar by default.
You could need to firstly remove the thrussrod cover to move that nut.
To which direction should we rotate thrussrod nut?
If you screwed and unscrewed a screw or nut a day, you will always know to where to move the nut.
Just stand the guitar with the peghead facing you (to see the thrussrod nut) and the body far away from you.
If you move the nut in clockwise, you are screwing so, increasing the stress, straightening the neck and, reducing the curvature. You are compensating strings stress.
If you move the nut counter clockwise, you are unscrewing, relaxing the stress, allowing the neck to create a curvature (because of the stress that strings produce in its extremes). String stress is higher than thrussrod stress.
How many turns should we rotate the nut?
Be carefull, thrussrod is a delicate piece and, as said, a key one!.
If you find high resistence there and, it doesn't disappers with some kind of 6x1 lubricant spray, don't force it. You better go to a luthier for an in-depth inspection.
If you can easily rotate that nut, just try between 1/8 and 1/4 of turn by session.
Very good woods react inmediatelly to changes but, most of woods take between 24 to 48 hours to settle so, leave the guitar to rest and, after a couple of days, tune it and re-check curvature.
Do further adjustments, depending on the results of your previous session.
Once the curvature of the guitar is the right one, we can follow with rest of setup.
Strings Height or action (a 5 cts of Euro coin)
You will measure the clareance between the fret 12th and every string.
Put that 5 cts coin over the fret wire and below the string.
For guitars with independently adjustable saddles (as Fender) you should check EVERY string.
For guitars with one-piece bridge (as Gibson) you can check just the first and sixth strings.
If the coin lifts the string, we potentially have a very low height. If you don't have fret buzzes and, you don't feel its sustain as affected and, if you feel that height as comfortable. No issues.
If guitar' sustain is being affected or you have fret buzzing or the height is uncofortablely low for you, you should raise the height of strings.
If there is some gap, between the coin and the string, you potentially have a high strings height and, you should considere to lower your strings a bit.
Which is the recommendable strings height?
The height of your strings should facilitate to you to push them down, in a way that to walk the fretboard can be confortable but, always just the minimum height that is free of fret buzzing and, that allows the free vibration of strings, to preserve guitar' sustain.
Additionally to this, the height of each individual string is in direct relation with the curvature of your fretboard (radius). In bridges, with adjustable saddles (like Fender's ones), each string should be evaluated separately.
Maintaining same height string by string, respect to the radius of the fretboard, we will achieve the best action for our pickup.
There is a big exception in all this. Those guitars that are being prepared to work just with Slide, will need high heights to facilitate the sliding of the tube, without hiting any fret.
How do I correct strings height?
Well, this will depend on the type of bridge of your guitar.
Usually, you will deal with a monoblock (single piece) bridge, like Gibson's ones or, a traditional floating bridge (as Fender's ones) or, a modern floating bridge (as Floyd Rose, Kahller, etc.).
The quicker bridges to work are Gibson-alike.
You need to screw or unscrew the screw on each side of the bridge to raise or lower it.
Just lower or raise each extreme until the string slightly touches the coin.
Bridges Fender-alike have independent saddles that you have to adjust.
You should check a single string each time and, use the two (in a balanced way) small screws on the extremes of each saddle to raise or lower the saddle, until the string slightly touches the coin.
For moderner bridges, like the Floyd Rose things are a bit more complex, because their saddles aren't adjustable in height with screws. To raise a saddle, you need to insert some kind of steel micro-plates that are sold in a single gauge (I don't remember which one but, they are really slim).
So, you could eventually need to insert more than one of those slim plates under each saddle to get the right height.
But, those kind of bridges are so accurate that the whole system (locking nut, bridge...) is very well set up from factory. So, at the end, guitars with such a kind of bridges are the ones with less string height issues.
Intonation (tuner)
Intonation consists into oerform the necessary steps to achieve that your guitar can give the exact same note with the string open and on fret number 12 (one octave higher).
Intonation is fully related to scale length.
Intonation is checked string by string and corrected string by string.
Any previous modification to setup (neck curvature, string height) will directly affect the intonation so, you should check intonation after having solved previous issues.
Intonation should be checked every time you mount a new set of strings, if they aren't exactly of the same brand/model/gauges that you used to intonate the guitar. You should wait for a couple of days, until the strings maintain their tuning.
The process is very simple (but boring as a hell):
You should tune all strings the best possible. It's very important to use the tuner with higher precision we can have and, specially some stroboscopic one, with a precision of a cent or a lower value.
You play the string open and, you re-tune it if necessary. Tuning should be accurate.
Then you play same string on fret number 12 and you check tuning.
If it sound flat or sharp, you will need to move horizontally the saddle to correct the defect.
After each saddle adjust, you need to repeat steps 2 to 4 until you get perfectly tuned notes open and on fret 12.
Monoblock bridges, even not having independent vertical adjustment for saddles, have a way to move horizontally the saddles to adjust the intonation. The six screws on the front or rear (depending on how it was mounted) are the ones that you need to toutch for intonation.
Fender alike bridges have also a screw to move horizontally the saddle. In Telecasters, the adjustments are shared by two contiguous strings, unfortunatelly so, you should reach a compromise solution.
Bridges type Floyd Rose, have also long screws on rear side, just to control de horizontal adjustment of their saddles (please, don't confuse them with the micro-tuners, that are over the saddles).
Which are the issues related to a bad intonation?
Usually, the issue is easily heard, if the difference between the tuning of the string open and the tuning of the same string on the 12th fret is important. While we play over the 12th fret, will be sound more or less well but, when we started to play below that fret, we can feel that the note isn't "exact" and, we will probably try to compensate it by doing small "bendings" to tune the note, while playing.
Also, depending on the individual descompensation of each string, chords, triads and diads below the 12th fret will start to sound disonants and, very specially when using high gain or distortion.
Pickups height (50 cts, 10 cts y 2 x 5 cts coins)
Well, from all setup steps mentioned in this article, probably the pickup height is one of the most subjective and personal but, there are some physical facts that we cannot overlook.
If pickups are very close to strings, as soon as we play the lower frets of the fingerboard, the strings will hit the pickup, killing the sound.
Also, if the magnets of the pickup are strong enough and, the pickup is close to the string enough, magnets can excesivelly attract the string, slowing its vibrational movement and, therefore, killing the sustain of the sound.
The closer the pickup to the string is, the stronger the output but, reached some spot, the strength of the magnetic field distorts the note and, an excesive output can also make to sound bad your pedals and your amp.
The farest the pickup to the string is, the cleaner and tuned the sound is but, the signal weaks.
Excesivelly away, the pickup can sound plain in attack and brightness and show a very smooth character.
For all this things, to find the sweet spot for each pickup in each guitar is a matter of patience and interest.
It's incredible how much can the sound of a guitar vary depending on the respective height of its pickups.
And, together with everything mentioned above, we have to take into account that we have to balance the output of the complete set of pickups to don't suffer of excesive volume bumps or drops when switching from one to the other.
Even with all those considerations in mind, there is a quick procedure for checking and adjusting pickups that will give overall good results and, that we will fine tune later.
We will use two "modes", "open" and "regular".
For "open mode" we will set the pickup to a high were the clarity and note by note definition is excellent, as well as the sustain but, the output can be of low intensity (something that you can enhance with a clean booster or a good buffer or, just with the gain knob of your amp).
For "regular mode" we will set up the pickups to a high were the notes will be less defined but, with greater attack and strength.
We will use the following set of (euro) coins to establish the different heights we will need for those modes.
2 x 5 cts. coins
1 x 50 cts. coin
1 x 10 cts. coin
1 x 5 cts. coin
We will need just an screwdriver to move up and down the pickups and, those coins to "meassure" the height.
The height is being measured by pressing the string (sixth or first) on the last fret, while we measure the gap between the upper face of the magnet or screw and the bottom of the string itself.
In the case of having three pickups, the middle one should have same height than the neck one or, an intermediate height between neck and bridge pickups.
To correct the height, we will use a screwdriver in the lateral screws that come with each pickup (warning: a Telecaster bridge pickup uses 3 adjusting screws, as well as other pickups and, some humbuckers use up to 4 screws).
The trick is to insert the coin between the magnets and the string and then raise the pickup until the coin keeps retained between the pickup and the string. Then, start lowering the pickup step by step until the coin falls to floor or slides over the pickup.
Regular mode
Humbuckers are usually setup having same height in both sides (first and sixth strings).
Neck humbucker will need a 50 cts coin in both sides.
Bridge humbucker will need a 5 cts coin in both sides.
Single coils are usually setup having less height in their low string (sixth) than in the treble string (first).
Neck single will need two 5 cts coin in sixth and a 50 cts coin in first.
Middle can have 50 cts in sixth and 10 cts in first
Bridge, 10 cts in sixth, 5 cts in first.
Open mode
Neck humbucker, 2 x 5 cts coins on both sides.
Bridge humbucker 1 x 10 cts coin on both sides.
Single Neck, 3 x 5 cts coin in sixth, 1 x 50 + 1 x 5 cts coins in first.
Single Middle, 2 x 5 cts coins in sixth, 1 x 50 cts coin in first.
Single Bridge, 1 x 50 cts in sixth, 1 x 10 cts in first.
Other way
Instead of use those coins to measure the gap between pickup and string, we can use several 5 cts coins to set up the initial height, respect to the pickguard or body and then to fine tune the height with 1/4 of turn of their screws.
For singles, you put a coin over the pickguard or body, on the side of the sixth string and, you lower the pickup until the pickup cover reaches same height than the coin.
Then, put a pair of 5 cts coins on the side of the first string and lower the pickup until it reaches same height as those two coins.
For middle pickup, use two coins on sixth and three on first.
For bridge pickup, use three coins on sixth and four on first.
For humbuckers, use same trick but measure from over the ring of the pickguard.
If you want to start with an opener setup, just add a coin by side to the list above.
My way
I usually prefer first way for humbuckers and that last one for singles.
In any case, I focus first on Neck pickup.
I know most of people focus first in bridge pickup but, I find myself that the pickup that brings the best tones from your axe is the neck pickup, probably because is the closer to the center of vibration of the string and, gets a very rich harmonical content.
I love neck pickups sounding bodied but crystalline clear and, with a very vocal voice under the 12th fret. I specially check the sound of the neck pickup there and, I just leave the height fixed when I like how it sounds in that area.
Following steps will be to balance the output of the middle and the bridge pickup but, for me, the key pickup is the neck one.
But, take into account that most of people goes the oposite way, that is, controlling first the sound of the bridge and then, balancing the output of the neck and middle pickup (what in my opinion gives you good bridge lead tones but often ruins the nice clean and overdriven neck tones!).
In a next article, I will give you the most common measures used in guitar' setup and, their correspondence with our "measuring tools" (coins, cards, etc), together with some other little trics for cheap but handy tools.
Care and clenaning
Even that these operations aren't directly related to the setup itself, have importance for the "health" of your instrument and, for your pleasure playing the guitar.
Cleaning and nurturing the fingerboard
In every musical intruments store you should be able to buy any proper product to clean the fretboard.
Usually, it will be some kind of spray, which liquid will be never aggressive with the wood and that will volatilize quickly, what will let you to easily remove the dirt with a cloth.
In my opinion, is a good oportunity to make a nice cleaning and nurturing of the fretboard, every time that we need to swap our strings.
Before using the cleaning liquid, is a good idea to softly scratch the borders of the frets with the help of a plastic card, because lot of dirt is being cummulated there.
Once the fretboard is clean, we should nurture it, if the wood isn't coated with some barnish.
Rosewood or Ebony fretboards (and practically any other kind of wood, except for mapple), are usually uncoated and, they tend to dry, cracking and leaving open their pores, what (appart of the sthetycal impact) grants the cummulation of dirt and, the risk of a definitive malfunction of the fretboard, that can end totally cracked.
Those kind of fretboards go immediatelly healty with a bit of luthery special oil or, with the those products used to care woods.
Any instruments store will have such an oil.
The oil should be applied in a slim layer (to moist, not to flood!).
You wait for a few minutes and, with the help of a soft cloth, you remove the excess of oil that the wood wasn't able to absorb.
Together with enhancing the look of the fretboard, this subtile layer of oil will help you to make your fretboard walking quicker and comfortabler.
If you don't have an specialized oil for luthery, you can use any of those commercial products specially designed to care about your furniture (Politus, Pronto, etc.), as an emergency resource.
Cleaning the rest of the guitar
Instrument stores will have also proper products to clean the rest of parts of the guitar.
In an emergency situation, you can use those speciallized products for furniture's care but, be very carefull with axes that were covered with nitrocellulose paint, because those need very specialized products.
Nitro paint is really delicate and, entering in contact with certain chemical agents can ruin or "wash" it. Please, verify the kind of finish applied to your axe and, ask the maker in case of doubt.
Lubricating the pieces
Even the best mechanized pieces, with the best finish can end breaking your strings, just because of friction.
I have the habit of lubricate EVERY spot where the string enters in touch with other piece, with some kind of lubricant.
Most people uses graphite grease and, I am lately using liquid teflon but, in an emergency case, you can use some of those lips care sticks that you can buy in any pharmacy store.
You could even use the pencil lead (which, at the end, is graphite) to lubricate those areas.
If in your guitar same string is the one that breaks, and always by the same spot, it's clear that you have an issue in that spot. Lubricate the area around where the string enters in contact with other piece (a saddle, the nut, the tuning key, or whatever else).
If the string breaks close the the tuners posts then, the hole of the post can have be so sharp that breaks the string.
If the string breaks on the strings tree, the issue is the friction of the string against it.
If the string breaks on the nut, the issue is in its slots.
If the string breaks on the bridge, issue is in saddles.
If the string breaks on its ending ball, the issue is in the piece that retains the string.
And, if the string breaks on the middle then, the useful life of that string is over and, it's a good time to swap the whole set.
So, you can apply a drop of lubricant on each of those contact spots and, this will make the life of your strings clearly longer. Try it.
You will loose also the fear for extreme bendings, because now it will be really difficult to break the string with one.
Guitars with a Floyd Rose have just two spots of contact, the saddles and the locking nut and, therefore this operation isn't usually necessary.
The kind of guitars with more issues are those with vintage floating bridges (like the Strato). In those guitars, there are a bunch of contact spots (including the block of the floating bridge, where strings are being inserted).
Guitars with fixed bridges, like LPs, have less contact spots (stop tail, bridge, nut and key posts) but, you should take care of those few, also.
In those guitars where strings tresspass the body, you should care also about the holes where the ending balls of the strings are being retained (bottom side of the body) and, the output holes (upper side of the body), as well.
Conclusion
A Luthier makes things way more importants and of a deeper impact than everything that was mentioned here but, it could you demand between 60 and 100 Euros for a basic setup as the one explained here.
And, after his work, maybe which he/her considers a nice setup could be not the best for your particular taste.
At the end, it's your axe. You should care about the setup to make that guitar to be played as a dream.
You see, a few coins, a plastic card, a screwdriver and an allen key is everything you need to set up your guitar.
From all the operations described above, clearly, the thrussrod adjustment is the one you should take the best care to don't force it. Repairing a broken thrussrod isn't cheap and, your guitar will remain out-of-order until the thrussrod can be replaced.
Be patient, give maximum 1/4 of turn by session and, wait 2 days to leave the neck to estabilize.
If the nut seems locked and, some special lubricant oil doesn't unlocks it, stop. Go to a luthier.
A guitar is a balanced system. Any change in its pieces affects that balance.
If in your guitar A works better a set of strings D'Addario of 0.10" and, if in guitar B, a set Ernie Ball 0.09" and, in C a set of Pyramid 0.11", every time that you swap strings use exactly the same maker/model of strings, to keep your instrument balance. Otherwise, a new setup will be necessary.
Even respecting this game of substituting the old strings with a new set of same maker/model, the guitar is a living being and its balance is being altered also due to environmental changes.
It's very usuall to have to check and adjust the guitar setup twice in a year, around winter and summer, where the temperature changes are more dramatic.
Now, you know the goals of each operation, easy tools and, with just a little of interest and patience, your guitar will seem to you better than ever. Maybe you will end loving that axe that was so painful to play before.
Videos
Sometimes is easier to understand what you see than what you read so, here you are three videos with some explanations about this basic setup.
First video introduces our "measuring tools" and "adjustment tools", also explaining how to check and adjust neck's curvature. It also discusses about the different types of thrussrods.
Second video talks about the check and adjustment of string and pickups heights.
And, in the third video, wi discuss about the intonation issue and, several care and maintenance recommendations.
When we want to use some pedal effect, between our guitar and amp, we usually don't put attention to voltage and current stuff. We just plug the pedal, check it and, love or hate it. But... are we hearing the pedal as its best?.
Batteries / DC Adaptor
Most of pedals are designed with a constant DC current / voltage in mind. That means that the best way to know if a pedal can deliver what you are expecting from it is to test it with batteries first.
Your mains (as in my case) can be inconsistently delivering voltage and current and, very few pedals are being made with a subsystem that helps them to internally regulate such fluctuations.
So, if you wanted to know if that pedal is for you, please, try it with batteries first.
After you've tested it with batteries, you would probably want to run this pedal with some DC Adaptor, to avoid the typical case were your can run out of battery because you leaved plugged your jack in its input. Or you would like avoid the case of running out of battery in the middle of a performance, specially if that pedal isn't a true bypass one (which can completely shut up your guitar).
But, since mains voltage and current are so variable, your DC adaptor will provide variable outputs, your pedals will receive variable inputs and will deliver variable sounds, from full bodied and musical ones to, thin, trebbly and weak ones.
There are some kind of pedals that work best with lover voltages than the nominal one. This is the case of vintage germanium fuzzes, that seem to deliver a better sound when used with old worn batteries.
There are some other pedals that can sound really enhanced with higher voltages at their inputs. Usually, boosters, overdrives and compressors can open their sound and have better dynamics and headroom at higher voltage levels.
There are other pedals that simple don't seem to be enhanced with a higher voltage than the nominal one but, since the nominal voltage is often not reached (because of fluctuations of your mains) they just don't deliver the right sound.
When moving from batteries to DC Adaptors, it is time to carefully study your needs and to plan your pedal board needs.
Planning your pedal board needs
If you are going to use some DC Adaptor, it is a must for you to carefully read the technical specifications of every pedal and, tech specs of your DC Adaptors, as well.
Every pedal needs a minimum voltage to properly operate and, have a maximum voltage they can receive to not damage the unit. Some pedals can run just at 9V, like the Strymon El Capistan or the Dry Bell Vibe Machine or, those Weehbo pedals that have the Dynamics Switch (which doubles internally the voltage).
Most pedals will allow a voltage input between 9V and 12V or, between 9V and 18V.
Every pedal drains a maximum amount of current (expressed in mA) and, that max current will depend on the voltage so, when you increase the input voltage, the drawn current increases proportionally.
Every of your DC Adaptors can deliver a maximum power, with maximum current on its output (or outputs).
You MUST be sure that every pedal is being feed with the right amount of voltage and current and, that you aren't overloading your DC Adaptor, demanding more power than it can delivers.
Practical Case example
You know, every pedal board is alive and, pedals enter and exit constantly. At a certain point of time, a single DC Adaptor wasn't enough to run my heavily loaded pedalboard so, I am currently having two Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus units and, therefore, I am planning my voltage / current needs with the help of both units, which I try to balance in the best possible way.
If you read the tech stuff of that Pedal Power 2 Plus Adaptors, you will get more or less the following basic information (after a big headache trying to understand everything together).
There are three groups of outputs: 1 - 4, 5 - 6 and 7-8.
All work the same when the micro dip switch is on its "normal" position for each entry. All them will deliver 9V.
What makes them different is that groups 1-4 and 7-8 will deliver a maximum of 100 mA, while the group 5-6 will deliver a maximum of 250 mA.
So, if you have a pedal that drains more than 250 mA (as some synthesized units) you will never get a good result with this Adaptor, you will need to go for anything else (Voodoo Lab has one more unit, specifically for this, able to deliver 500 mA by output). By example, the Carl Martin Octaswitch MKII cannot be feed with any Pedal Power 2 Plus unit.
As I said, there are pedals which sound can be enhanced by running them at higher voltages.
The Area 51 wah it's recommended to be feed at 12V, as the Weehbo Bastard.
I know there is some improvement in openness, definition and dynamics in other pedal types, as the Wampler Decibel+ or the Wampler Ego Compressor, at least, because feeding them at 12V ensures that at least 9V are reaching their inputs.
But, if you plan to increase the input voltage, make your maths before and plan a proportional current drain.
If the pedal drains 30 mA @ 9V, apply a proportion rule and you will find that it could potentially drain (at least) 40 mA @ 12V and 60 mA @ 18V.
So, first step is to know each pedal specifications and see what each pedal requires for your needs and see how those needs can be covered with your DC Adaptor (or adaptors).
This is the excel sheet I was using to plan my own pedal board needs, with all those pedals I've currently having there and those foreseen in a near future.
At header, the output voltage and max current by output in each Pedal Power 2 Plus unit, when using their outputs in "normal" mode, delivering 9V.
Those values change when the DIP switch is switched on, for each particular group.
In the case of the group 1-4, the max current drops to 60 mA and voltage steps up to 12.3V by output.
Below, the detail of each pedal, with its max drain value at the voltage I would run it, expressed in the last column (9V or 12V). The middle two columns (Unit A, Unit B) are the assignment of each pedal to each particular output of a particular unit. The two following columns are assigning the max current load for each unit, which total "load" can be seen as totals on the summarizing line at bottom.
You can see that one of the Pedal Power 2 units is using all their outputs and, that the second unit is feeding just three pedals but, even this, the "load" of that second unit is still higher than in the first one (390 mA against 377 mA).
In my planning, I am first allocating the big stones and, the bigger stone here is the Strymon El Capistan, which needs 250 mA, just the maximum current a Pedal Power 2 Plus can deliver in a single output. This level of current can be achieved in outputs 5 or 6, only. I've assigned output 5 of the second unit (physically closer to the pedal) for this.
There are four pedals I wanted to run at 12V. Any Wampler pedal will deliver a good sound if you can at least feed them with 9V and, all them allow voltage levels up to 18V.
To feed them at 18V means that two outputs of the Pedal Power 2 Plus unit should be allocated for each single pedal but, switching on the DIP switch of each required output for group 1 to 4 will deliver me 12.3V with a single cord and a single output.
Therefore, I've switched on DIPs for outputs 3 and 4 in each unit, to run my pedals at 12.3V.
You can see that the Area 51 Wah was assigned to output 3 of Unit A, Wampler Decibel+ was assigned to output 4 of same unit, Ego Compressor was assigned to output 3 of Unit B and, Weehbo Bastard (to come) was assigned to output 4 of same unit.
Then, I've started to assign each pedal, beginning with the "weighter" ones (more current drain) and, ending with the "ligther" ones, until I've got an acceptable current drain balance for both units.
The total maximum current is 767 mA (0.767 A) so, I should be sure also that the extension sockets rule has a cord that can support such a current and that the output of the Phonic PC9000E power conditioner can deliver such an amount of current.
Sure, if you use just batteries, you can completely forget all this but, if you need DC Adaptors, be sure you are planning the marriage of each pedal with the right Adaptor output, to get the best from your pedalboard.
Maybe, you never had voltage issues. In fact, I never had those before I've moved to a new house but, I've noticed those issues when giging, also.
Or, maybe, you are currently having voltage issues and you don't know it!.
Voltage issues affect to each single device that is actually connected to the mains and, it has more or less impact depending on how many devices are depending on such an energy source.
This entry is just a reflexion about the importance of voltage in our rig, after experiencing myself several related issues and, after observing how it affects to every gear.
Voltage = Dynamics
I don't know if this is a written rule but, what I've observed is that Voltage means Dynamics in Audio.
If you don't know what dynamics means, please read this past entry: Home Studio: Mixing - Part 4.
The more the voltage a certain gear has, the more the dynamic range and, therefore, the more natural, organic and open it sounds. The less voltage, the less dynamic range and, therefore, the more compressed it sounds. And, this seems to be true for every single thing in our gear.
Pickups
While most of people seems to focus on DC Resistance when choosing its pickups, I am more interested in other specifications.
Maybe DC Resistance talks about the overall EQ of the pickup but, resonance frequency and resonance peak will better talk about where this guitar will be placed in the mix and, how piercing will it be.
In fact, resonance defines somewhat the place in the frequential range called Presence where this guitar will be recognized. If it's its natural place in the mix everything will be fine, otherwise, that track would need extra EQ work to make it to cut the mix. You can eventually have issues trying to differentiate your guitar when playing with your band, also.
Then, one more parameter that interests me a lot is the output voltage of a pickup. This output voltage tells a lot, not only about the strengh of the signal but about how dynamic can be the sound. The higher the voltage, the more gap you can represent between soft and high volume notes and, therefore, the sound will be more natural, open and organic. The less voltage, the more compressed the sound will be.
Pickup voltage isn't depending on your mains source, because the pickup generates it. So, this is the the more special case we are going to discuss here. Rest of gear depends on your mains.
Since voltage in a pickup depends on the magnetic field variation, all components in a pickup have something to say (magnets, screws, rods, coil, wire, etc) and, trying to optimize some pickup characteristic have an impact in other characteristics.
You can get more voltage with a powerfuler magnet but, this can also impact in the resonance peak and make the pickup brighter or even piercing. You can change to a thicker wire to wind the coil or, to wind more turns there but, this will change the overall EQ, by example.
We are choosing pickups for how they sound and, every pickup design is a compromise between the several specification characteristics so, we get at the end a given (maximum output) voltage for each pickup and, we usually don't change it.
Pedals
If I didn't had the incredible variation in voltage levels in my actual mains, I would probably never noticed how important voltage is for pedals that are being feeded with some AC adapter.
Most pedals are designed to work, at least, with a battery (typically 9V) but, there are some exceptions, like most of Lovetone pedals, that are so small that doesn't have room for a battery and, some other pedals, as EH's Electric Lady or Morley Wahs, have their own AC adaptor and run at higher voltage levels (12V, 18V or even, 24V).
Probably, first time I've experienced the matter of voltage was with the Fulltone OCD V2 overdrive. While I was browsing its characteristics, I've read that it was possible to enhance the sound running it at 18v, instead of 9V and, since I had a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 adaptor that allowed me to use two different 9V outputs to feed a pedal with 18V, I did the test and, I was greatefully surprised with the results.
Since that day, I tried to feed all my critical pedals with 18V. Boosters, overdrives, delays. Anything not needing a compressed sound (as distortions or fuzzes, by example) can benefite of a higher voltage level.
The drawback is that the number of outputs is limited and, that if each pedal needs two outputs, you cannot really have a large chain of pedals.
The Xotic EP Booster is another example of how much open and dynamic the sound can be with 18V. If you wanted to try this, please be sure to read your pedal' specifications to check the admited voltage range. To run a pedal with a higher voltage than allowed can destroy your pedal.
I love to death Weehbo Effekte's approach. Every Weehbo pedal has a DYNAMIC switch that changes the internal voltage from 9V to 18V. You will need to feed the pedal just with 9V and, the pedal will internally double this voltage, if you want it. That smart switch demonstrates the importance of voltage for dynamics and, in my experiences, converts a good pedal (at 9V) into a top notch pedal (at 18V).
I already saw that inner doubling system in other pedals and, I liked it but, to have a switch outside the pedal is the first time I see it and, something for what Weehbo should be congratulated (among THE sound).
Some pedals, because of their design, will not noticiable enhance their sound when stepping up in voltage levels but this, every time that your mains delivers a consistent and stable voltage level.
Vintage effects can even need a worn battery to sound their best. This is typical in vintage germanium fuzzes, that work better with worn low efficiency batteries (forget Duracell and similar). At this point, you should guess why!. The fuzz is an ultra-compressed sound and, therefore, wants low voltage range to compress the most.
So, to run pedals at higher voltage usually makes sense but, not always. Hear your pedal, stock. Do you feel it could sound better if it had just a tad more dynamics?, then increase the voltage level and, check it.
All that was just related to dynamics but, considering that your mains source delivers a stable voltage level but, in my home, this is far away from real world. I am having voltage variations between 185V to 240V in the lapse of a couple of seconds, some days. Other days, the average level can be at any level . This seriously impacts all my rig, from amp to pedals.
The easier way to avoid this issue would be to run all my pedals with batteries, instead of feeding them with a power adaptor. But, you know the drawbacks of this. Batteries worn really fast in some pedals and, can leave you without a certain effect during your performance. If you forget to remove each input patch cable in each pedal, your batteries will dead while you sleep and, you will have no pedal board next morning.
Since power adaptors are my way to go, there are some things I could do. First, to claim the company and ask them to deliver me a good electrical line (something that I've already did with more or less same outcoming). Second, to buy a Power Regulator, to ensure a consistent and filtered electrical power (something I cannot do because of its price).
Probably, the company can fix issues at my home (after several claimings, I hope so!) but, this will not solve the issues when I have to gig outside. I had exactly same issues when giging. So, probably, best solution is to buy a Power Regulator and bring it with me in any circumstance.
But, while this is economicaly possible, what I've recently noticed, while testing a couple of Weehbo units, is that pedals with a higher voltage suffer the less that voltage dropping.
I loved Mad Professor and Wampler pedals, while they were sounding good (when my voltage was correct) but, without knowing the root cause, I moved from Mad Professor to Wampler because I've noticed that the sound was very inconsistent in Mad Professor pedals, to finally discover that I had same issues with Wampler pedals!!!.
As Weehbo pedals are doubling the input voltage, I guess that there is always more than the original 9V available for that pedal. Imagine that the voltage that the Power adaptor delivers at the end falls to half (4.5V). This will be very poor for an unit that was designed to work at 9V and, that's why Mad Professor and Wamplers were failing delivering the right sound in my case. But, since Weehbo is doubling the voltage internally, 4.5V x 2 = 9V, I will get the minimum voltage to get an usable sound from that pedal (that sounds good at 9V and incredible good at 18V).
I didn't thought on this when buying those Weehbo pedals. I was just so interested in how they sounded but, this smart design helped me to have a consistent sound even when my electrical line was delivering a weak voltage.
When I was trying the Carl Martin Octaswitch MKII unit, I tried it with the wrong power adaptor. Since they current needs of the Octaswitch where so high, there was no way to feed it with the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 and, therefore, an additional adaptor was a must. My first try was to re-use some of the adaptors I had around (with less current levels) and, the result was an awful wistling and permanent feedback, when switching on the unit.
With weak current and voltage levels, I've noticed that even top notch pedals can start generating strange or unexpected noises, high pitched sounds, etc.
Amps
The design of an amp determines its dynamics and, there is really few you can do to increase it without hard moding it. A vintage-voiced amp has usually way more dynamics than a high-gain-voiced amp (designed to cover highly compressed sounds). There are amps with several channels and, each channel very differently voiced and, with very different dynamics.
What I've noticed is that the more dynamics the amp has, the most affected by voltage variations is. I instantanely recognize that my mains is weak when that amp starts to sound thin, weak and liveless. I take a look to my Power Conditioner's voltimeter and, I visually confirm that I am having voltage issues.
When this happens, all my rig is being compromissed and the resulting sound is just annoying. We already discussed about the convenience of a Power Regulator to fix this issue.
When the electrical line delivers an stable and regular power, I've noticed that tubes can change a tad dynamics of the amp (always within the boundaries stablished by its own design). Even same tube maker / model, with different characteristics (output, transconductancy, etc) can make a difference.
Usually, tubes with a higher voltage output are increasing dynamics, also. As happens with pickups, to optimize certain tube characterist affects the rest of them so, maybe getting more voltage means to have less transconductancy (inmediatness) or less output (strength) or any other parameter (EQ, break-up spot, ...). As we do with pickups, we choose tubes based on how well perform for a certain position of a certain amp and, therefore, we are somewhat limited by amp's design and tube's design, respect of our dynamics. A very dynamic tube that produces an sterile sound interest us nothing, at the end.
What I've noticed is that the impact of voltage drop in amps is less dramatical than in my pedals. If pedals work fine, the amp can stand more range of voltage drop than pedals can. So, even that there is a clear change in sound quality, by using those Weehbo pedals, the sound remains usable most of the time. Just extreme voltage drops seriously affect the resulting sound and, make me to hung the guitar and switch off everything.
GAS or need?
Indeed, we want everything we see and buy just what we can, even if we shouldn't do that!. This is GAS and, it's difficult to deal with it.
I recognize that apart of one amp and one guitar and one pedal of each type, everything else I've got is GAS but, in the particular case of pedals, my move from one to the next one was motivated because I wasn't achieving a good tone with such a pedal.
Did you ever noticed that that pedal that was sounding incredible good and that you loved to death is lately sounding annoying?. If so, maybe you have a voltage issue. Check it.
If I probably knew the real impact of this kind of issues, I would save a BIG amount of money if I'd purchased just a Power Regulator first and, then those pedals I liked more.
First pedals that were sounding incredible nice for me where Mad Professor's ones. But, since (before understanding what was going on with my mains) I was finding myself re-tweaking each pedal several times in same session or, every new session. I was fed up and, decided to move to other maker and, Wampler was my next election. But, once more, I am having same issues. I KNOW those pedals sound awesome, because I'VE ALREADY HEARD them but, I cannot get a consistent tone and, I am tweaking those pedals constantly, what drives me crazy.
The issues seems to be less dramatic with Weehbo pedals, by now but, for sure, I need more time to be convinced on that. Clearly, I need a Power Regulator but, that's a lot of money so... time to Time. I hope my own (bad) experiences can be of help to you and, I hope that you can save more money than I did, also.
Note: This entry was already published in my old Spanish version of this blog, around July / 2011. I am just revisiting it here.
Amps and rest of studio gear are delicate electronics devices, that you should protect against irregularities in your mains source. Even that the standard for Power Conditioners in Audio seems to be Furman, their prices seem to be as really high for such a kind of device.
For a correct protections, just a Power Conditioner isn't enough. We need a Power Regulator also. Both should have some kind of transformer inside that can physically decouple the ground of our mains from the ground of our gear, to clean up a dirty ground.
Browsing an online store, my first impulse was to buy a Samson unit (a brand with some reputation and excellent relation quality / price but, absolutely forgotten by everybody) but, there were nothing in stock.
So, in the range of affordable power conditioners, I've found this Phonic PPC9000E, that has a Voltmeter and 3 protection levels, typical in this kind of devices and, very similar to those that Furman offers.
My goals
Far from thinking that this device could remove the noise in my signal, my goals were:
To really know which voltage is reaching my amps (I was suspecting something wrong there)
To protect amps and pedalboards from the common dangerous electrical alterations.
A bad Voltage can make amps to work below of over their possibilities, affecting the tone.
In such a case, best is to have some Voltage Regulator device (instead of a Power Conditioner), which will deliver a stable and filtered mains but, their price is really high and, maybe is a better idea to use some kind of UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply), with a nice capacity (between 5 and 10 KVA), not being so necessary to support a long offline time (running from batteries). But, UPS world is still more complex than expected.
Recently, I had seen a worker from the electrical company that was making changes to the electrical lines because, it seems that some neighbor was claiming about not having voltage enough at home.
That made me to think about, which quality of mains did I had. So, I've expected that the voltmeter of this device would inform me about any irregularity in my voltage source.
I've decided to go for this unit because of two reasons.
First, the price. If it didn't worked at the end, I had wasted not so much money and, if it worked fine, I would save a lot of money. Second, I've already have something else of this brand. I have a SPL Meter also by Phonic and, it looks a good device to me, with quality enough and nicely working.
Presentation
The unit comes packet in a cardboard box, commonly protected, as any kind of consume domestic electronics device. Inside also, an User's Manual in English, Chinese and Spanish.
It looks like solid and with an standard quality. It has not that "cheap Chinese" look. Seems as good as any other of my home's devices.
It has 10 output plugs, of the same type of those that we usually see in PC's monitors, videos, TV sets, etc. Those outputs are protected and, you activate them by pushing a frontal switch.
Additionally to those 10 protected outputs, there is one more output in the front, unprotected.
This device supports a maximum current of 10 Amps, situation that forces the device to shutdown, until we re-arm the device, with the corresponding frontal switch.
The device takes the room of 1U Rack and, can be inserted in any Studio Rack.
It has a couple of telescopic lamps (included), that can be lighted on via one more frontal switch and, which intensity can be regulated with a potentiometer.
In my case, the unit is laying over a 4x12" speakers cab, feeding all amps and pedals.
Since the plugs aren't compatible with amp's plugs, I had to source some aerial adaptor cables, to connect everything there.
The front has a set of leds in three colors. Red for very low voltage levels, yellow for values between 210 and 220 and, green for values between 220 and 250 and, red again over 250V.
The accuracy of the voltmeter is of +/- 2V, more than enough.
Operation
The device is being plugged to any wall socket of your mains and, you connect each one of the gear to protect to any of the 10 available outputs. You switch on the switch to activate the filtering and, everything works transparently.
It was very curious to see how my mains voltage varies, constantly. Without going below 220V, there are very frequent oscillations between 220V and 240V.
What I am missing is a general switch. The voltmeter is always working, as soon as the device continues plugged to your wall socket so, to avoid any energy consumption you should unplug the device. Weird.
Till today, the protection circuit never jumped and, at least, I can see how consistent is the voltage I am receiving at home and, it's ok by now (I had doubts).
What I never imagined is that this device, that has not a system to decouple the ground, could clean the sound in any single way. Surprisingly, the sound of some engines (freezer, ...) that were inducing some noise in my amps seems to be over and, the pedal board, overall works more quietly.
Even that the manual specifies that it cleans the noise, in very different degrees, depending on the frequency ranges, I wasn't expecting a real change but, surprisingly, it seems to do something good.
Conclusions
A nice purchasing, considering performance, quality and price.
If you talk to some electronics guy, he would probably agree that Furman' stuff is highly overpriced and, there are some other cheaper alternatives of quality at lower prices, that correspond to well known brands in the industrial sector but, probably unknown for musicians.
If you wanted a best protection and a higher attenuation of electrical noises, you should go for a Power Regulator or an UPS, with a transformer that could decouple your mains ground from your gears' ground.
The equivalent of the Phonic PPC9000E in Furman is the model PL-PLUS CE. While the Phonic costs 85 Eur, the Furman costs 338 Eur (a huge difference !!!).
Samson had a device very similar to that PPC9000E but, with an slightly higher price.
Related to a Power Regulator, Furman has the model P-1400 AR E, that costs around 1125 Eur.
I am quite sure that you could find Power Regulators with similar characteristics in the industry, at lower prices but, even an UPS of between 5 to 10 KVA could be a good solution. You don't need a long batteries time, because you don't want to close a Server, you just want a consistent voltage, a good filtering and a right protection, that's all.
Update July, 17th 2011
Today, I've chased the ghost!.
As ever, I had reviewed the setting of every pedal and amp before starting my practices.
Everything was sounding great and, I was enjoying like a mad... until that, after one hour, more or less, I've noticed that everything started to sound thin, hollow, lifeless.
I thought: "what a strange, I don't feel tired, I am not bored but, this isn't sounding any good... are my ears or what?".
I've turn my head and saw that the Voltmeter was in the Red area!. I had a voltage below 200V!.
So, finally, my suspects were right. I've noticed that some days the gear was sounding awesome, while others every was sounding really bad and, none of my settings seemed to work.
Well, after this, I have arguments enough to claim to my power company, because they gave me a bad line and my gear suffers their lack of quality.
Also, a friend of mine went to my home and, he was surprised saying that everything was sounding really quiet and, asking me what I did. I've introduced him that Phonic unit and said: "this little boy, for 83 Eur is doing the job!".
The Low Voltage Detector came before and, I tested it on the whole rig, confirming that everything was ok, what probably meant that I had a good ground at home. But I was waiting for that Socket Tester to see if that was really true and, if I had all my gear correctly plugged and... I had some surprise!.
Since, I have an extension sockets rule plugged to the wall socket, then a Phonic 9000E Power Conditioner, then a air schuko cable for each amp and, for one more extension rule, where I plug my two Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus to feed pedal effects, and one more extension rule to plug the Zoom Q3HD recorder, I had several spots to test.
I've started with the wall sockets and they had good readings. Then, I've tested the first extension rule and, realized that isn't the same to plug your cord in one or the other way. To have Line (Hot) and Neutral (Cold) in the right side, you have to properly plug your cords.
Look at this picture:
You know that your plugs make the ground contact with two lugs but, see that one of those is bigger and, has some hole (for an eventual prong). This side should be up, when plugging it in your socket.
If Line and Neutral are in the proper position and you have a valid ground, the three leds will light .
As soon as your Line and Neutral are swapped, just the right led will light.
Ok. On the wall socket, everything was correct. Then, I've realized that the cord from the extension sockets rule had also that bigger ground so, I plugged that cord with that bigger ground on top and, then, I've read rule' sockets.
You can plug the tester up or down and, you have different readings. In one direction you get the three leds light and, in the other, the right led alone so, there is just one correct way to plug any other thing to that rule!.
I saw that I had my Power Conditioner reversed so, I flipped the cord's plug to plug it in the rule in the right way.
From the Power Conditioner, I've got 8 outputs with an aerial cord ending in a schuko female. I had to test every output cord to determine how to correctly plug the three amps there. I had some reversed, also.
In one of those aerial cords I have one more extension sockets rule (for my pedalboard) and, once more, I had some plugs facing one direction and others facing the opposite one, some were correctly plugged, some were reversed!.
Finally, in that extension rule, I've got one more extension rule plugged, for the recorder and, sockets worked in the opposite way as the previous rule!. What a nice!.
Well, it was easy and quick to do all this, thanks to that awesome inexpensive device.
I don't know how important can be that you swap Line (Hot) and Neutral (Cold) and, if it has any real impact in tone (as any phase issue), as the lack of ground or grounds with different potential have (if some electrical schooled mate wants to chime in, he/she will be very welcome!) but, at least, now I am 100% sure that everything is "in-order" and, that I did everything it was on my hands to get rid of electrical issues.
For sure, I will bring with me this little device to my next gig.
This is a very short reflexion about how few do we now about our gear.
A friend of mine and me are preparing an occasional gig we have in few days.
He went home for a couple of days to work on the several songs for this gig and, used my gear.
He'd bring with him his loved Gibson Les Paul Standard, which I was really expectant to hear in one of my amps. Because of that darker tone of an LP, I've recommended him to plug it to my Night Train amp, while I was plugging my Stratocaster in my Princeton Reverb.
I've asked him, if he was clear about which effect pedals to use and, he answered me back that he had no idea on what to do and that he preferred to work with the guitar plugged straight to amp.
I said: "ok, let's start working on these songs. Let me hear your guitar and, we will decide later".
The only things he'd bring with him were the guitar and a guitar cord. Ok.
As soon as we started to work on songs, I've realized how bad his guitar was sounding. I was thinking: "this doesn't sounds as an LP should, this sounds muddy, dark and distant. We have to give some life to that axe".
I said: "ok, ok, let's stop and fix that axe, please. I cannot stand it anymore. Let me see what do we have here... don't tell me you are using one of that Planet Wave cables!".
I've explained to him the importance of using a low capacitance cable to avoid loosing high end (as happened) and, I wanted to demonstrate him that, even with a high capacitance cable, every guitarist has a nice tool to bring back the whole guitar' sound to life: a buffer pedal.
I went with him to my pedals stock (those that I've used some day but still didn't resold) and choosen a few pedals for him. I've choose the Mad Professor Red Ruby Booster to bring back to life that LP.
The Red Ruby Booster is an awesome buffer and booster pedal that incorporates also a Treble booster. A high quality tool that will bring back to life any guitar.
We tried it and a wide smile was drawn in his face. "Now, this actually sounds killer".
I said: "wait, we aren't still done. Don't you feel your sound is very 'in-your-face'?. We need to push back a bit the sound of your guitar in the mix. Let me add this delay pedal".
And I've added the Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay at the end.
His smile was still wider: "Man, that sounds as Heaven now".
I said: "Ok. We are done with your cleans. Let see what we can do for your crunch and distortion".
I've choosen the Mad Professor Little Green Wonder, an awesome overdrive, based on the Tube Screamer thing but, with enhanced tonal control. "This will bring you a nice crunch for blues and will help to make your guitar to cut the mix when necessary".
His smile was touching both ears, now.
Finally, "let's choose something for your soloing stuff. Here you are Wampler's Pinnacle. Try it alone and, then stack that Little Green Wonder before and... enjoy it!".
Man, that axe was sounding really killer. It remembered me to Slash or Bonamassa. What an incredible sound. I was thinking: "I will end buying some real Gibson Les Paul, some day. That sounds incredible good!".
The paradoxical thing is that this guy is a killer player. In fact, he teaches other guitarists about music, scales, techniques and so on. It was so strange to me to see how much he know about the instrument and how few about the rest of the tools that a guitarist have that we agreed: "ok, you teach me in musical stuff, I will teach you in sound stuff, ok?".
In previous entries, I've already discussed about the importance of cables and that they really make a difference but, even with bad or good cables, sometimes, the only way to restore the full signal strength and frequential content of your guitar is to use a quality Buffer pedal. That was the clearer example I've ever seen with my own gear.
I highly recommend Wampler Decibel+ and Mad Professor Red Ruby Booster as two of the best buffer/boosters on the market. Mad Professor's one is even more versatile, since it includes a Treble Booster, a Booster and a Buffer, while the Decibel+ has a Buffer and a Booster.
Carl Martin's one has also nice comments but, honestly, I didn't tried one so, I cannot opine.
Please, don't leave your axe to sound weak, muddy, dark, distant and poor. Make yourself with a quality Buffer pedal and leave her to shine.
Note: a low quality buffer can be worst than leave the cable alone!.
If you still don't understand why, I recommend you to read my article The Cost of the Cup of Tone.
