David Allen pickups - First contact

Introduction

How I've ended testing some David Allen's pickups is a curious history that can bore you but, the fact is that I've received three D.Allen strato pickups set, sent by David himself to me for evaluation and demoing.

As already stated in my Read Me page, I am not sponsored or payed by no one and, anyone sending me gear to test is in the risk of receiving a fair and honest review. If I personally love the product, I will recommend it hands down, otherwise, I will highlight the good things and made you aware the wrong things.
I am a guitar lover and, care about my tone so, I would never write a positive article about a negative product. Period.

Clarified this point, let me go ahead with this.

While few years ago, pickups makers were really few and, less the ones with high quality sounding pickups, nowadays it's possible to get top-notch pickups from several big and small pickups makers.

I'm very picky with my tone. My ears are now trained for the small nuances, because of home studio projects needed it. You know, I was happier when tone didn't worried me but, that's the life of a guitarist, to grow in feeling, tone and Technics.

My quest of tone made me to move from standard production pickups to something better, so I was happy to discover Bareknuckle Pickups some time ago, as a class A Boutique Pickups Maker settled in Europe, because most of the makers are in USA.

But, Seymour Duncan, who has a really nice production line (over any other massive pickups production lines, in my honest opinion), has also Class A Boutique Pickups in their Custom lines, as the Antiquity II Surf set.

And to be honest, I would be happy with either of those two makers, among other class A ones, like Franlin, Bill Lawrence, Tom Holmes, etc. So do I really needed some other class A boutique maker?.

I've warned you about it. I am very picky with my tone.
Even that those people are delivering top-notch products, most of time are just reproducing all the parts and materials used for a certain pickup that they've discovered as sounding specially good in some vintage or modern axe. Because, you know that, at the end, there is some unexplained magic that occurs just in certain gear.

But, I had always the sensation that those outstanding sounding pickups could have some margin for improvements, as well. I always wanted to test a combination of different magnets for a strato pickup, to be able to enhance what naturally sounds good in each string and to tame or fix what naturally sounds bad.

Fortunately, David Allen has several pickups lines. Some are 100% vintage-correct (as other Class A makers do) but, he is also doing some R&D and creating some pickups that are based on that vintage-correct sound but, fixing the bad things and enhancing the good ones.
Sounds it interesting for you?.

Then, let's go ahead with this article!.


David Allen: The Man

Probably, good Luthiers and good guitar players already know about David Allen' stuff and, probably they know who he is. If all this is new for you, let's do a quick profile about who runs David Allen Pickups.

David Allen is a Doctor in Physics and specialized in Electromagnetism. He was working for NASA for a while. So the scientific theory, equipment and knowledge is there.

But, you know, cold variable values and awesome theories and formulas know nothing about feeling. Music isn't built based on perfect things, but over things that have some magic just because they have some margin of unpredictable behavior. Transistors can create an amplified copy of the original sound more accurately than any amp tube but, it's just that slight degree of imperfection and the unique character of each single tube, which makes tube amps to sing more musically.

Around everything in a guitar, those things also happen and, nice electronics theories not always can explain why there are so much "this-shouldn't-happen" surprises.
David Allen is also a Guitar Player (and a good one). Same as Tim Mills by Bareknuckle Pickups or, Seymour Duncan. All them are people that love guitars and care about their tone.

So, we are in front of a man with tons of scientific knowledge to know what to tweak every time to achieve a certain tone.


David Allen: The Pickups

Big makers often work with three lines of pickups: those designed as low cost for certain guitar brands, to be mounted in cheap guitars, those of standard quality affordable and delivering a good tone for most of players and, a custom line where used components are different (period-correct, by example) and, the building process is closer to a craftsmanship work than other thing.

Boutique pickups correspond to that third line of guitars that you could find in the big makers. So, it would be unfair trying to compare a sub-production or production pickup against a custom or boutique one.

Honestly, any Custom Shop or Boutique pickup will probably sound good enough for any picky people but, even at this high level of products, you can feel the differences.

D. Allen uses different magnet shapes, sizes and compositions when designing a pickup, whatever is needed to achieve a certain sound or sound characteristics. Maybe some of the characteristics that differentiate his pickups (apart of tone) are:

• Definition: Not a cold and lifeless definition note to note but a very musical one.
• Openness: Outstanding frequential representation, together with the magic that scatter wound seems to give to pickups, the sound is wide, open and full of life.
• Low noise: surprisingly low floor noise, this is key for the rest of characteristics, since a low floor noise increases the signal/noise ration and therefore, the dynamics and definition of the sound.
• Dynamics: The Dynamic Range of these pickups is awesome, allowing you to fully control your sound just with your picking strength and, that's a good thing when you love to run your amp in that sweet spot where you hear the micro-explosions of the tubes when you pick hard and, the beauty of a silky clean sound when you pick softly.

The only drawback that I can find on Allen' strato-replacement single pickups is that to achieve their best, you will need some patience to play with pickups heights. But this is also very common in such a kind of Boutique pickups, which sweet spot is narrower than the sweet spot of other custom shop pickups but, in that narrow sweet spot, they just sound as heaven.

I will give you some tips about how to face a heights set up with these pickups, maybe during my in-depth review of the StratCats set (which is the best strato pickups set I ever tested or heard).

Well, other drawback would be to have to choose just one single set of his pickups, because you will soon realize that all them seem to sound really nice so, think on what you usually love more: low / medium / hot output and musical style and, leave Allen to recommend you the set that better will work for your needs.

Quick video shot out of David Allen StratCats

While I was setting up the heights of pickups and, just once I had the neck sounding to my taste and, before optimizing middle and bridge, I was so excited with the incredible sound of the neck pickup that wanted to record  quick video to spread the word.

As mentioned, I have three sets to test and just a Stratocaster for this and, I am finding myself a tad worried to unload those Stratcats from my axe #1, even to test other D.Allen options!.

But, I will do an in-depth analysis of each set in further blog entries.

So, take this video as an aperitif.
Not my best improvisation. During performance, I was more concentrated in to try every picking level with those pickups, to check their dynamics and how they work in crunch and distortion.
Bridge height is particularly bad and, during the smoking part of the bridge solo, I missed some legato or sustain but, as said, just the neck was fine tuned before the video.


Gear settings

As people seems to like to see how pedals where setted up, I am attaching here the pictures corresponding to the settings of the amp and pedals used for this video.

Resuming the gear, now.

Amp: Fender Princeton Reverb Reissue

Modifications from stock are tubes and speaker.

Speaker is a Weber 10A150T (Alnico), which I find cuts it better than the stock Jensen P10R.

Tubes are:

V1: Mullard 12AX7 reissue
V2: NOS RFT ECC81
V3: NOS RFT ECC83
V4: JJ ECC803S
Power: Tung Sol 6V6GT
Rectifier: Solid State TAD rectifier (plug in the socket of the rectifier tube).


Jetter Gear Jetdrive

This awesome double overdrive owes a separate blog entry. Still testing Jetter Gear stuff, to complete my pedalboard. Blog entries will come.
Used the green channel as a kind of Tube Screamer for crunchy stuff.
Stacked also the green channel for a more driven sound for solos.


Strymon El Capistan

Best digital Tape Echo delay emulation I ever tried. Awesome A/D and D/A converters, nice digital precision and awesome DSP stuff inside. Very natural sounding. Not easy to master but, worths the time.


Wampler Decibel+

Best Buffer pedal I've tested. Very natural sounding. Seems to work better at the end of the chain.
The Clean Booster incorporated, handled with the Gain knob is used here to push the tubes to their sweet spot, since amp volume is relatively low to make tubes to sing.

Home Studio: Dynamics - Sonnox vs. IK Multimedia

Introduction

Thanks to the example song that comes with PT 11, which is well mixed and just needs a pump for mastering, I was able to compare the behavior of my dynamics processors and, very specially Sonnox Dynamics and Limiter against several IK Multimedia dynamics processors and their Brickwall Limiter.


IK Multimedia compressors for Master Bus

I've tested every IK Multimedia compressor in Master Bus, including Fairchild 670, White and British Channels, Precission Compressor / Limiter and Classic Compressor.
Without any doubt the Classic Compressor delivers the most musical sound in that bus, with just a touch of color and a nice punch. The Opto works nice but lacks that kind of warmth that the Classic Compressor has.

As Limiter, just the Brickwall Limiter does the job.


Comparing IKM vs Sonnox

I can make the Sonnox plugin to sound quite close to the Classic Compressor, if I set up the Warm section to 50% more or less.
The oposite isn't possible, since the IKM one is always coloring, you cannot achieve an uncolored result, for this you should use the Opto Compressor, that works awesome also.
But, without coloring the mix, the Sonnox Compressor works better, in my opinion.

In IKM Classic Compressor to achieve a more clear mix in low end, the Side Chain Filter should be pushed up to 78 Hz more or less to achieve same results than with Sonnox Dynamics, which always sounds clearer, even without using the EQ section.

Giving the same compression ratio, controls settings for each plugin clearly differ and, you have to find the spot that better works for each one, often even forgetting how controls were named.
Visually, Sonnox plugin is more intuitive but, sonically I love that Classic Compressor.

Maybe where there is less discussion is around the Limiter.
While you can get a more accurate control over the IKM one (more range of attack / release ranges), the protection level of the Sonnox is higher and, the Dithering button is really great to check if the mix is going  to sound bad once transported to a 16 bits environment.

Compared to those plugins, I find Blue Cat Audio's plugings more complex to control and, sonically slightly behind those. But, I still love their Meter Pro plugin. What a nice one!.

Home Studio: Blue Cat's plugins

Introduction

While crossgrading to PT 11 and missing some of my key metering and analysis plugins, I've found Blue Cat's metering and analysis plugins as firm candidates to fill that gap.
After trying their Meter Pro and Freq. Analyst Pro plugins, I've decided to download their demo versions of all plugins included in their Master Cat's plugins bunde.

This blog entry is all about my impressions after trying such plugins, under Pro Tools 11.


Blue Cat's Meter Pro

To be honest, it takes a while to be used to Blue Cat's user interface. They usually have more knobs and buttons as you could expect but, in 5 minutes, I felt comfortable with this plugin.
The more cryptic aspect was the Crest meter. Since I didn't know for sure what that meter was measuring, I pushed the help button (the one with the question mark) and... oh... oh... oh... the PDF user's manual popped up on the screen (great!).

That Crest meter is just measuring the Dynamic Range, that is, the difference between average and peak measurements. Great.

Once, understood what is behind this meter, I was absolutelly satisfied with this plugin.
It covers any kind of metering system, including the typical (and used-to) K-System meters (K-20, K-14 and K-12) and, I love that kind of cloud events that easily leave you to see how the RMS and Peak RMS are moving in your mix. Really, very good and informative information.
Same cloud system is used for Crest (Dynamic Range), which is really helpful. Click on the image for a full-size pic.

To me, this is a nice combination of the TT Dynamic Range Meter and the meter section of the Inspector XL. I'm only missing rest of analysis tools included in Inspector XL and the Mono button of the TT Dynamic Range. Related to the dynamics / volume / loudness meter, Blue Cat's blended TT Dynamic Range metter and Inspector XL meter and, even improved those.
GREAT JOB!.

While I can save some money, I am using Blue Cat's Meter Pro demo version (which goes in bypass mode from time to time but, allows me to get the sense of loudness and Dynamic Range of my mixes, anyway).


Blue Cat's Freq. Analyst Pro

Well, here it cames most of the rest of analysis tools I was missing, respect of Inspector XL plugin.
While in Inspector XL everything was integrated under a single view, where you had all needed information (Stereo image, correlation, stereo balance, frequency analysis -FFE, 1/3 octaves, frequency loudness- and, even oversampling metering!), you can cover all that with three Blue Cat's plugins.

This particular Blue Cat's plugin gives you all info related to frequency analysis. It leaves you to focus on RMS or peaks for both channels, each separatelly or everything together.

It has a 2D and a 3D display. Ok the 3D is just a nice display enhancement but, adds no real value to the information displayed in traditiional 2D mode. The really exciting part is the one that allows you what to display at any time. I'm missing the 1/3 octave display of Inspector XL but, to be honest, this was the less used of all meters.

Overall, the plugin is a very good analysis tool. The pity is that you have to pay it appart of their Meter Pro and, we have still a pending plugin to cover every Inspector XL meter.


Blue Cat's StereoScope

This is the third Blue Cat's tool that completes the range of meters included with Inspector XL.
Here we have the representation of the the stereo image, in an unusual but practical way and, the phase correlation and stereo balance typical meters.

With those three tools, all the metering tools available in Inspector XL and, the metering info from TT Dynamic Range meter are on your hands (except for that Mono button of the TT Dynamic Range meter and, the 1/3 Octave analysis from Inspector XL).

But parameters to set up the wanted accuracy and thresholds of metering are adjustable, while in the mentioned plugins, it was not possible.
Because of such a personalization level for each plugin, I can understand why they are being delivered as three independent plugins. Each one is just doing a certain task but, all them are doing it in a very good way.


BlueCat's Dynamics

As in the case of Sonnox Dynamics plugin, BlueCat is offering a single plugin that covers most of Dynamics tasks.

It can be a bit cryptic to understand at a first glance but you have there full control on your dynamics.
The input section has a gain control that you can use to provide some gain to the input material before applying any dynamic tool.
A side-chain section allows you to filter the mid band of frequencies that will be affected by the dynamics tools (the side-chain section of Sonnox is more complete, in this case).

The filter on section allows you to remove any unwanted low and high end frequencies from both, unaltered signal and compressed signal (two shelves filters).

The Stereo section allows you to work with linked channels, independent channels of M/S.

Mode section allows you to work with any range of behaviour between a typical compressor and a fast-reaction Opto-compressor and, any mix between focus into peaks or RMS values.

The cryptic Low Curve corresponds to a Gate and allows you to filter those events which loudness is under a certain gain level.

The High Curve corresponds to a typical compressor effect and, allows you to clearly define threshold, knew spot and type, among compression levels.

The Gain section, when working in auto-gain mode, pushes the mix really hot and, reacts to the envelope of the input material with accuracy.

In the Output section, we have the possibility to engage a Brickwall limiter, to push the output (once post-processed) with an additional (clean) gain and (this is really exciting), to determine the amount of unprocessed and processed signals that are blend in the output.
This blender knob allows you for parallel compression, which works really natural.

This is a very good and transparent dynamics processor, without any doubt.
It has some thing that I cannot find in Sonnox Dynamics but, Sonnox has other things (as the Warm or the more complex EQ section) that I cannot find here.
Not exclusive, both are good tools for the proper case.

In the master channel, I made some comparisons by using the IK Multimedia OptoCompressor, the Blue Cat's Dynamics S, Sonnox Dynamics, and the Avid Dynamics III.
I loved the results of all, except the Avid one.

Since the Blue Cat's can behave as a regular compressor, as well as an optocompressor and, everything in between (there is a blender knob that allows you to select the mix of both behaviors!), it can sound quite well the same as the IKM optocompressor but, less coloring (at 100% Opto).
But, the setting at noon (50% VCA-Opto) with 50% Peak - RMS compression works really nice, with a sligth touch of color.

I don't like the auto-gain mode but, love the 2 stages oversampling control.
Overall, a very good compressor, with great dynamics controls, very intuitive, very useful.

That possibility to blend the effects of an VCA and an Opto compressor is unique in my Dynamics plugins. In the case of IKM you can select several different compressors and, for some, you can even select a different mode or algorithm. Same for Sonnox Dynamics, where you can choose a normal, classic or linear mode. But, in Blue Cat's you can blend the amount of the VCA or Opto effect, what gives you new possibilities.
The IKM Opto doesn't allows you to select a knee and, the Sonnox allows you to define knees as steps of -5dB (-5, -10, -15 and -20dB). The Blue Cat's one allows you to define the exact knee.

With all three you can achieve nice results, and very similar, in fact. Maybe the IKM is just a pinch warmer (if you don't use Sonnox Warm stage).


Blue Cat's Parametr'EQ

Ah, just a 7 bands EQ, right?.

NOT, IT DOESN'T !!!.
Whatch out!. Nice EQ plugin here!.

It can seem just a typical 7-bands EQ, as the one coming with PT 11 or, the Sonnox EQ plugin but, while the Sonnox EQ plugin has 4 o 5 different EQ modes, this plugin has a lot of nuances.

The key feature is under those little windows named "Non Linear" and "Comp Dist". By changing the ratios on those windows, you have EQ filters that behave very differently, from transparent non linear EQ to colored EQs with phase distortion.
You can choose your color with perfect accuracy and, results are easily heared.
Very recommended EQ plugin, for every task except, maybe, dramatic cuts or de-essing.


Blue Cat's Liny EQ

Well, I didn't tried this plugin. I've forgot to download and install it.
But, if it is able to enhance the Parameter's plugin with Non Linear at 100%, I bet it would be a very good pluging for mastering tasks.

But, to be honest, I cannot say anything about it. Nothing good, nothing bad.


BlueCat Multiband MB-5 processor

Multi-band compressor lovers can go mad with this 5-bands compressor. While most of multi-band compressors are limited to 4-bands, BlueCat's one can work with up to 5 bands and, the most interesting is that you can easily change the crossover areas for each band, as well as any kind of dynamics parameters that you would find in their Dynamics plugin.

Demo version allows me to play with just three bands but, control level over each band is impressive.
Once more, that blender knob in the master section is an awesome tool to make this multi-band processor to enhance the mix doing a parallel compression.


BlueCat Protector

That's theoretically a Brickwall Limiter.

But, while Sonnox Limiter, Massey 2007 Limiter or IK Multimed Brickwall Limiter are intuitive and easy to use (ceil clearly means ceil, max. output level means max. output level), this BlueCat Protector isn't so intuitive.
And, if you look to Avid's Master Meter plugin, the Protector isn't completely protecting your output, since it's generating overasampling events that will translate to clipping events in some players.

To be honest, none of the Limiters mentioned are protecting you 100% but, I clearly prefer the easy to understand interface that other breakwall limiters offer.
What's this trend to change the very well known buttons / knobs / functions?.
This helps to who?.

I'm missing also the dithering controls of the Sonnox Limiter, that are really usefull to check you compression levels before bounce the mix to a lower resolution format.

Not really excited with this BlueCat's plugin, to be honest.


Conclusion

I am very happy to have been discovered Blue Cat Audio. They seem to be doing a great job for a reasonable price.

All plugins are awesome but, I liked specially their Meter Pro, which is now my to-go meter (finally, I can say good bye to Inspector XL and TT Range Meter). I love that kind of density clouds that allow you to see where your RMS and Peaks sit the most, even more interesting than to see the bars go up and down.

To complement the Meter Pro, the  StereoScope is a good plugin. I would prefer some alternative ways to present the Stereo density, as the typical views you can find in most of this kind of plugins but, this is just my personal taste. And I would prefer this plugin to be integrated together with the Meter Pro, to have just an slot busy in the master inserts.

As a final complement to the metering section, the Freq. Analyst gives you loudness by frequency, in several ways but, as the previous one, I would love to have it integrated in the Meter Pro plugin, to have all the info ready at a glance and, to save slots in the master bus.

I am gratefully impressed with their Dynamics plugin. Compared to Sonnox and IK Multimedia plugins, Blue Cat is offering more control and possibilities, with a very intuitive use. The special features that allow you to blend two types of compression: VCA and Opto, that Blender knob that allows you to decide which amount of the unprocessed signal (dry) is in the mix and, the possibility to blend compression based in RMS, Peaks or both, are very impressive and very well welcome.

Their Parmetriq EQ is made in the same way, allowing you to choose between non linear and compensated distortion, with anything in between, making the EQ as colored as you wanted.

Their 5-Multiband and Linear EQ are a plus for mastering tasks but, those are the ones with less use in my case.

Probably, the only plugin that I didn't liked is their Protector. For brickwall limiting tasks, nothing else like Sonnox Limiter, IMHO.

Home Studio: Migrating to Pro Tools 11. Some Reflexions - Part II

Introduction

In previous part, I was sharing with you my short experience while migrating from PT 8.0.5 LE to Pro Tools 11. It was clear that some of my foundamental plugins were missing and, I wanted to check if PT 10 (included with PT 11) could be enough and, which are the differences between the one and the other.

I've spent a couple of days installing all my plugings, after installing PT 10 and, this is a lot of software and a lot of time. Before my memory fails, I would like to share my impressions.


Checking Pro Tools 10

After long time downloading last versions and installing everything, it was the time to check PT 10 and, see if my investment in RTAS plugins was ensured.

The first 3 attempts to start the program failed. The program was crashing while loading plugins. Each time in a different spot so, it wasn't an error related to a certain plugin.

The forth time, I was able to open PT 10 and load the demo song that comes with PT 11 (which I've already modified adding some plugins in the master fader).

At a glance, PT 10 seems really similar to PT 8 and, fortunatelly all the bunch of plugins that I were installing were there, available for use and, this includes several 32 bits AAX and RTAS plugins. My loved plugins where there: the Sonnox Elite pack, every IK Multimedia plugin, Massey Plugins, EZDrummer, Superior Drummer 2, Inspector XL, the TT Range Meter and, some free stuff from BlueCat.

Ok. I started the song trying to do a critical hearing but, after half second, the engine stopped with a warning, asking me to increase the number of CPUs in the Engine's menu.
Fine. Number of CPUs was 4 so, I've raised the number to 7 (I've seen a video explaining that you should free at least 1 for system tasks).

After fixing this parameter, I started to play with the several plugins and checking if they were still working.
I can say that everything was working really nice and, the song sounded nice.
Maybe, the small nuances of the song sounded slightly veiled, compared to PT 11 but, overall, results were satisfactory enough.

I had the sensation that the engine was working with a higher load than in PT 11. I've opened the System window and, the CPU load was around a 30%. Memory and disk usage was ridiculous to be considered in this comparison.
But, later, I've checked same file, with same plugins in PT 11 and, the load was more or less the same but, I had the sensation that, while PT 10 seemed to be overloaded, PT 11 worked way smoothly.
I think the new engine is an improvement, for sure and, I would like to check it again with audio tracks, to see how both deliver when disk is involved in the equation.

Before re-checking the song in PT 11, I was surprised with one more goody: PT 10 was hunging on the void when trying to close it. I had to go to the Tasks Manager to delete the process. That made impossible to open PT 11 without re-starting the system.

I had the sensation that PT 10 was highly unestable, at least running under Windows 8.1 64 bits.
4 crashes in a row, just the first day, seems too much, IMHO.


Re-checking PT 11

Before checking again PT 11, I've installed the demo version of BlueCat Meter Pro plugin, to see if such a plugin is a good candidate to substitute both, the TT Dynamic Meter and Inspector XL.
Well, it can cover both meters with ease but, I will miss the mono button  on the TT Dynamic Meter, that was so useful to check the corrective EQ of the individual parts, as well as hidden phase issues.
From Inspector XL, I will miss the rest of meters, useful to check the stereo balance, stereo image, correlation and, frequency analysis tools.
I am so used to the K-System of metering that, I am really happy to have found a real candidate to substitute both meters.

But, BlueCat has a lot of such a tools also so, I think I will end buying those but, in the meanwhile, I can work with their demo versions, which are totally operative but, with the particularity that they are automatically and randomly bypassed, as part of the demo "fee".
That could be a real issue with dynamics processors or EQ processors but, not for their suit of meters.

If you are in PT 11 and you miss your Inspector XL and TT Dynamic Range Meter, try the demo versions from BlueCat. Not so straight forward (lot of buttons to press) as the former ones and, I loved that display of the density clouds of the average and peak RMS. Very interesting.
I am looking forward to check their rest of analysis tools. They seem promising.

Overall, I would say that the mix sounds more airy with PT 11, slightly  (a pinch) better but, difference isn't so dramatical. I would have no doubts on continue using PT 10 and protect my investment but, what really concerns me is the reliability of PT 10. Too much crashes in a very short time.

I dunno, maybe because I am in a 64 bits system, PT 11 works flawless while PT 10 seems highly unestable and, that compromises the possibility to protect my investment in previous plugins.

So, IMHO, you should carefully weight which path do you want to follow, before purchasing PT 11.
If you have a bunch of useful RTAS plugins (even some VST that were wrapped to RTAS) and, their respective manufacturers haven't available a 64 bits AAX version and, they don't have in project to deliver such an upgrade or, if they have it but that means to raise your investment, you should make your maths and take a decision.

If you decide to stay with PT 10, my recommendation is that you work with PT 10 in an estable 32 bits Operating System. Maybe you can have your hardware ready for a 64 bits system but, install the 32 bits version of the Operative System. I bet this would be more estable than running that 32 bits application in a 64 bits system.

In my case, with a 64 bits Operating System, I have no other option than to go ahead with PT 11, after seeing the lack of reliability of PT 10.

Home Studio: Migrating to Pro Tools 11. Some reflexions about.

Introduction

I've started using Pro Tools as a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) around 2008 and, started with version 7.4 LE but, I've bought it just in the moment I had an indult to use 8.0 as soon as it was available, what occured really soon so, we can say that I am mostly a PT 8.0 LE user.

I was really happy with my old PC, with Windows XP Professional edition, my Pro Tools and some plugins I had purchased. But, as soon as I've started to buy serious plugins and to start recording my stuff then, issues popped up.

One of the worst issues that I had was related to a notable delay between the reproduction monitoring and the input recording. Such a big gap lead me to lots of mistakes, since there is no way to go with the click when the reproduction of what you are recording happens half second later.
Most of advanced DAW softwares were using delay auto-compensation and, I ever wondered why the most used DAW in Studios hadn't such a valuable feature.

Other issues were related to the hardware itself. Disk wasn't speedy enough, memory was low and, the CPU (even being an Extreme Edition) started to be highly overloaded with new brand plugins.

I was delaying the need to go for a higher version of Pro Tools for a long while, because that meant to upgrade (or replace) the complete PC and, probably the Operative System.

But, environment pushed me hard. Windows XP support is going to be discontinued very soon (if it isn't already over), what meant that I better go for a never Windows version.

First version of Pro Tools featuring delay auto-compensation was Version 10, which wasn't available for Windows XP but, only for Windows 7 (and then, for Windows 8). That was the one I've planned to buy in a future.

Well, since XP is gonna be discontinued and Pro Tools 10 worked for Windows 7 and 8, I've decided that it was time to change everything: PC, Operative System and Pro Tools version. But then, I've seen that PT 10 wasn't listed anymore and, that Avid was pushing hard PT 11.

Since PT 11 works in real 64 bits, a 64 bits operating system is a must and therefore, I've decided to jump really high and go for Windows 8.1 64 bits.

And this blog entry is all about the issues I've found when jumping so high. Maybe it will let you to better weight whether to go for PT 11 or stay in PT 10.


Buying Pro Tools 11 crossgrade

Once, I've decided to go ahead with Pro Tools upgrade, I went to Avid site and searched for Pro Tools 10.
Huh?. What?. Where is PT 10?.
Avid was talking about PT 8, 9 and 11 but, no trace of PT 10.
What's happening?. I'd swear it was there a couple of month ago !!!.

Ok. It seems that PT 11 includes PT 10 also and, both are independent versions of PT that can be installed in same machine. I wondered why. Answers came later.

Well, reading a tad more, I saw that PT 11 works just with 64 bits AAX plugings, that means that I cannot reuse my RTAS plugins. WHY ???.

It seems that AAX plugins are enhanced versions of PT plugins, that should deal with the new PT Audio Engine, which (as per Avid words) is way more efficient and powerful than the previous DAE (which worked with RTAS plugins).

There are two versions of AAX plugins, those that where compiled for 32 bits systems and those that where compiled for 64 bits systems. PT 11 works just with 64 bits AAX plugins, while PT 10 is able to work with your old RTAS plugins, as well as with 32 bits AAX plugins.

It seems as if PT 10 was the bridge between the old legacy Digidesign Pro Tool versions and the new Avid Pro Tool versions. While PT 10 can handle everything, PT 11 is very restricted.

Since Avid insists to define PT 11 as the biggest step forward in DAW software, I wanted to check first PT 11, before deciding what to do.

But, what about our investment in plugings for our previous versions of PT?.
Ah, ok!. If you want to use your expensive RTAS plugins, you can use PT 10 version.
So good, so nice. If you want to re-use your investment you cannot work with the top notch PT11.
Therefore, have I to work with PT10 and, when everything is ready, to import the project in PT11 to give the final touch to projects?. Crazy.
I mean, if PT 10 is able to work with RTAS stuff, couldn't Avid developed some software inside that new engine to run 32 RTAS plugins inside?.

With all those doubts rumbling in my head, I went ahead. Purchased a powerfuler PC, with speeder disks, lots of memory and a good CPU. Installed Windows 8.1 64 bits edition, some basic tools and, went for PT 11 download.

Huh?. Ah?. Were is my activation key?. I don't see PT 11 listed in my products area!.
Reading more carefully, PT 11 needs the license to be downloaded to a Dongle Key (iLok) version 2.
So, my old iLok doesn't work?. Ok. Purchasing a damned iLok version 2 and, waiting until I get the iLok to start installing my new brand PT 11. How excited I am !.

Aha. I've got the license in my new iLok 2. I've transferred also all my other licenses (not demo ones) to iLok 2 and, started installation of PT 11.

I was very happy to see that, this time, Avid made a single downloadable file for the complete process.
I've installed PT 11, started the Digidesign Rack 003 interface and opened an old project.

Damn!. It doesn't recognizes the audio interface.
After some tries, I've decided to search for info in Avid site and, voilà, you need to install FIRST drivers, which aren't included in PT 11 !!!.
Downloaded and installed drivers. This time the interface comes back to life.

Browsing the user's interface.
Mmm... just the old Audiosuite but, in AAX format, and just a couple of plugins that seem to be new (at least to me).
Overall, it looks the same (nice!) and, you can find everything where it was. This time, the interface was translated to Spanish (nice!) so, I am feeling at home.

Hmm... I am missing instruments and other plugins. Wait, there is some download named AIR Creative Collection. Let's download and install it.
Nice. Most of the stuff that came with my Rack 003 Factory bundle is there.

I am wondering how can I install the Music Production Toolkit 2 that I own.
No specific updates for PT 11 and, it seem those kind of products are discontinued!.
Every license contained in such a kind of bundles ended with an LE is not elegible for upgrade to PT 11 so, bye bye to Smack! LE compressor, among other LE plugins included in MPT2.
Fortunatelly, the MP3 bounce tool is already included, among the rest of not LE things.
Well, crossed feelings here. In one side, I always thought that all that was included in MPT2 should come stock in any PT version but, in the other side, I've payed a bunch of money for that extras and, half of my investment has gone.

Reviewing configuration menus, I see that now you can define a project working at 32 bits and 48 KHz (finally, a Studio setup!), what means a good improvement respect of previous versions that allowed a max resolution of 24 bits.
You can force PT to automatically translate the audio files when importing from a previous version to your project resolution and, what is even more impresive, you can change your project's resolution at any time, something that was impossible in previous versions.

In the ASIO controller (Windows Control Pannel), I can see that you can select the input volume for each pair of channels (1-2, 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8) and, you can setup the resolution and sampling rate for each one separately. Very nice!.

I/O Configuration is easier now and, you have a clear way to identify each input, output and bus and, even to determine the hardware delay for each input / output.
On Menu Options, the sought-after Delay Compensation options. Nice, nice, nice.

Everything looks the same but, with better resolution and more rational configuration options.


The Hell of Plugins

Before trying PT 10, I wanted to check the availability of 64 bits AAX version of my purchased RTAS plugins.

IK Multimedia plugins

After trying PT 11 alone, it was time to start upgrading my plugins. I remembered that IK Multimedia was delivering AAX versions of their plugins so, my investment was ensured with IKM.
Effectively, I've downloaded new versions and, everything was ready to be used in AAX format.

Just a side note. Version of IKM plugins that work in 64 bits AAX format are those delivered with the Custom Shop (T-Racks CS and Amplitube CS). So, if you have T-Racks singles, those aren't available as AAX plugins.
Since I went myselft for an upgrade from T-Racks Singles to T-Racks CS Grand some time ago, my plugins are read to use in PT 11.

IK Multimedia is one of the very few plugin makers that will preserve your investment.
THANKS A LOT IK MULTIMEDIA !!!!.

But, the awesome ARC 2 hasn't a 64 bits AAX version!!!!.
What the hell?.
This is a priced plugin and a must in any home studio!!!.
It has a 32 bits AAX version to be used with PT 10.

RNDigital Plugins

To me, Inspector XL is a key tool. All their meters are a must for me to mix ITB during the night, since they offer me more information that the headphones for some critical hearings.

Therefore, I wanted to check if there was an AAX version ready to download, as in the case of IKM plugins.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?. Roger Nichols is dead !!!. RNDigital site is down !!!.

Searching Internet....

Whaaaaaaaaaat?. Some legal issues with the real developer ended closing Rogern Nichols sites and, that plugin isn't available anymore. Elemental Audio that was selling it is also down.

I am really upset. That plugin was key in my toolbox and, costed a bunch of money just being a set of meters.

VERY BAD.

SoundToys plugins

Well, SoundToys site seems to be alive, still but, they doesn't seem to update their software very often.

There is no AAX version available. No way.

Well, this set of plugins is very specific and, I am using basically the Reverb plugin by Sonnox so, I am not missing really nothing here.

Sonnox plugins

I remember to have seen AAX versions of Sonnox plugins available so, let's go there to download them!.

Damn!.
If you want the AAX versions of Sonnox plugins, you have to pay 15 GBP for each one and, even so, there are some plugins that aren't still available in AAX format.
I've spent a lot of money in Sonnox plugins and, now, I have to spent around 150 Eur more to have those working for PT 11.
VERY BAD, SONNOX !!!.

Sonnox plugins were the hell expensive. Very bad I have to pay an extra fee for PT 11.
I've decided to buy one by one, when I really need some but, this leaves me with very few weapons!.


FXpansion plugins

Seeing the issues with AAX versions of my RTAS plugins, I bought long time ago the FXpansion RTAS Wrapper, which was able to convert around 98% of my VST plugins into RTAS versions, directly usable under the AudioSuite Menu.

I have an idea!!!.
They will probably have now an AAX wrapper and, therefore, I should be able to wrap all my RTAS plugins to be used with PT 11.
What a great idea!!!.

Oh, not!. They don't have an AAX wrapper and, they will not do it!!!.
SAD, FXpansion. Your RTAS wrapper was an awesome tool.


TT Dynamic Range Meter

Another of my key metering tools, that costed my some money, on Tyschmeyer' site.
Well. There is no AAX version available to download and, the original maker (Algorithmix) isn't maintaining or selling it. So, another great plugin to the trash can.
VERY BAD, ALGORITHMIX.

It seems that now, Brainworx is selling an enhanced version of such a meter but, isn't available as an AAX version. What a pity!.

It seems that the only affordable alternative to solve the lack of the Inspector XL and TT Dynamic Range will be to buy Blue Cat's Meters. More money, OMG!.
I'm downloading all Blue Cat's freeware plugins to check which quality level do they have, before taking a decision. They seem very complete but, complexer, not dummy-proof.


ToonTrack plugins

Long time ago, I've purchased first the EZDrummer and several EZX expansion packs and, about one year later, Superior Drummer 2.0 and several SDX expansion packs.
Those are rarelly used, when I have to manually sequence some drums parts.

Well, it seems that ToonTrack did their duties and their products are up-to-date, providing 32 bits and 64 bits versions but, the installation is a bit messy. You have to install the original product version and, then to apply first late 32 bits update and then the 64 bits update. You better leave installation directories as default, to avoid weird results.

After a couple of days, downloading and installing everything, I've opened a PT 11 session and, inserted an Instrument Track to check if EZDrummer and Superior Drummer where available.
Both are now listed as Instruments for PT 11. Nice!.
Trying Superior Drummer... ok... Authorizing it. It seems to work.
Trying EZDrummer... CRASH!!!!. PT aborted.

I have to troubleshooting this. Will update status in a new blog entry.


112dB Plugins

Just one 112dB plugin I've purchased, the Red Monitor. This plugin allowed me to mix with headphones simulating same conditions as if I was hearing the mix thru monitors and, was a key plugin to silenty mix, without disturbing my family. Results where very close to real thing so, I liked it very much.

It seems that 112dB plugins are compatible with every PT version except 11 but, 64 bits AAX versions "are in the pipeline" (as per 112dB words).

DESPERATELLY WAITING FOR THAT 64bits AAX version.
Please, make it free!.


Massey Plugins

Well, currently Massey Plugins are compatible with PT up to version 10.
Fortunatelly, that guy is working on 64 bits AAX versions (in Beta Phase as per October 2013).
Knowing how Massey does things or they will be available for free or they will be available for a ridiculous upgrading price.
GO AHEAD MASSEY!.


What about PT 11?. Does it Deliver?.

I was a Cakewalk user for a very loooong time. After visiting some little Studios, I've realized that the to-go DAW was Pro Tools and, when I've tested my old Cakewalk songs in Pro Tools, I've instantanelly noticed a nice improvement in sound, just using stock plugins.

Well, comparing PT 8.0.5 LE to PT 11, I can say that I am feeling same improvement level. Things sound more "airy", more "correct" and, I am not feeling the sensation that the delicate nuances are being missing.

Stock plugins work better, smoother and clearer than in PT 8 and, I see the possibility to make a good mix just using stock plugins.

I was highly impressed with their new Channel Strip plugin. IMHO, this single plugin can do everything you wanted for a track or bus. A master piece of software, indeed.
I've tested it in every single track (bypassing previous plugins) and, it had an usable preset to be used for each track (which I tweaked just a bit to my taste) and, in all them it made an awesome, crystall clear and musical work. My congratulations, Avid people!. This is the best Avid plugin ever.

I've loaded one of my well known songs but, some tracks where missing. I've probably lost some information when swapping the PC so, I cannot blame PT for this. I will do further tests with new stuff, in any case.

I've loaded their demo session and, I was impressed with the bunch of tracks that were loaded, with lots of virtual instruments and, lots of plugins. I've opened the System window to check resources use and, I was impressed how low the CPU and memory usage where.
There are not so many audio tracks in that demo so, it's difficult to know how efficient it will be with audio tracks. Most of tracks where midi tracks triggering virtual instruments.

The Master Meter is also a nice tool to see if your Brickwall Limiter is doing its task and, it seems that IKM Brickwall Limiter isn't able to control everything. There are lots of oversampling events so, I guess I need to go for that 64 bits upgrade of the Sonnox Limiter.

I've tested several IKM plugins, mainly in the main bus but, also in some instruments, just to check if PT 11 was able to stand that load (IKM plugins are running with the highest resolution, what means a lot of load).
Everything worked smoothly. No issues and, awesome musical results (well, that's why I love IKM stuff).

I take advantage of this testing session to check the cryptic IKM Quad processors and, the Quad Imagine was a nice discovery, allowing me to widen the stereo image, just for those bands I wanted it.
I've also used the Bus Compressor (awesome as a glueing compressor, with a very light compression and gain makeup) and the (I confess it, underrated) OptoCompressor, among any other typical studio ones: Fairchild 670, White 2A, Black 79, etc. All them delivered good sound.

I still don't like their Metering suite. I think it's bogus or, I cannot understand what the hell is it doing.
Even pushing the mix hard, RMS levels stay always around -20dB, while I clearly see in other meters (as in the Limiter) that RMS are way over -20dB, maybe around -12dB.
That's why I loved Inspector XL and TT Dynamic Range Meters and, that's why I need to solve this ASAP.
I'm missing the K-System all the way!.

Overall, from a reproduction point of view, PT 11 seems a step over previous versions and, that channel strip is a top-notch workhorse that will make lot of people to smile, when using it in their mixes.
Don't forget to try it!. It's a GREAT plugin!.
The drawback is that it looks like a tad arcane, with lots of parameters and possibilities.
Best approach is just to recall some of its presets and then, to tweak a little bit something.
It deserves an in deep analysis to fully understand this incredible good tool.

Lots of tests are still pending and, very specially, those related to recording and, how PT 11 handles the delay or low latency monitoring.
I'm still pending on testing PT 10 also, that seems the Island I need to go to preserve my previous investment in plugins.


Conclusions

Pro Tools 11 seems the near future but, it cannot be the present. The present is Pro Tools 10.
Plugin makers are still dealing with their 64 bits AAX versions. Some will do that for free, some will charge you more or less money for an upgrade.

Currently, you cannot expect to smoothly re-use all your purchased RTAS plugins with Pro Tools 11.
It seems that Avid shaked the plugins market and, due to the highly technical development behind any audio plugin, it's gonna take a while for makers to have their plugins ready for a 64 bits AAX version.

Will I recommend to crossgrade to PT11?.
Yes, indeed.
It will take a while to have all your wanted 64 bits AAX plugins ready but, since PT 11 includes PT 10, you can buy PT 11 for tomorrow and use PT 10 for today.

Go for a 64 bits PC and Operating System. This will ensure you that you will be able to use PT 11 once everything settles. In the meanwhile, you can use that 32 bits PT 10 in a 64 bits platform without issues and,  you can process tracks in PT 10 and import processed audio files to PT 11.

In a next blog entry, I will share my tests of version 10. I hope I will recover all my beloved plugins there but, how the system will work?. How nice it will sound?. Would it be a notable sonic difference respect PT 11?.
Ah, Ah, Ah!. Too many questions to be answered.
Stay tuned.

Wiring DIY: in-phase, out-of-phase and hum-cancelling concepts

Introduction

While dealing with just a single pickup or coil, it makes no sense to be worried about things as "out-of-phase" or "hum-cancelling" but, as soon as you combine together a couple of coils or pickups, those concepts have big impact on resulting sound.

If you are interested on pickups and on moding your guitar wiring to achieve alternative sounds to those few that came stock then, the wording "in-phase", "out-of-phase" and "hum-cancelling" would be part of your language but, what at the does it mean and, how do we know if we get one or the other when trying to combine one or the other coil of a humbucker with a true single coil pickup?.

Along this blog entry, I will try to let you understand what is behind this concepts and how to achieve your wanted results and, how to avoid the wrong ones.


How coils are wound, phase and polarity stuff

Usually, coils are made of a continous thin (42 to 44 AWG) isolated (formvar, etc) copper wire wound around  a frame to form a coil. Since engines rotate usually clockwise (CW from now), the CW winding direction is the usual way as EVERY coil is being wound.

The starting side of that single wire that forms the coil, after so much turns stays in the inner part of the coil while the finish of that single wire stays in the outer part of the coil (since it belongs to the last turn).
Usually, that start "wire" is connected to ground, while the finish "wire" is connected to hot (to the signal path).

That means that we assign positive electrical polarity to the finish wire and, negative electrical polarity to the starting wire but, for this to be true, the magnetic field should have South polarity.

So, most of COILS are of type CW-S (wound ClockWise with South Magnetic Polarity).
The typical Fender Strato coils are CW-S and, most of strato direct replacement pickups are, also.

In the case of humbucker pickups, both coils were wound in the same direction (once again, CW) but, since they are being placed over two different poles of the same magnetic bar, one has a North magnetic polarity and, the other South magnetic polarity.
Usually, the screw coil (adjustable) has North polarity (CW-N), while the slug coil (not adjustable) has South polarity (CW-S).

To get rid of hum in notch positions, Fender started to produce RW/RP (Reverse Wound / Reverse Polarity) middle pickups, to achieve hum cancellation in positions  2 and 4 of a typical strato.
But, take also into account that some models of Fender were historically mounted with flipped magnet rods, which created pickups of type CW-N (instead of CW-S).

A RW/RP pickup has a reverse wound and reverse polarity RESPECT OF THEIR model pickups.
That means that if for a certain model or group of models, the standard coil is CW-S, the corresponding middle RW/RP will be of type CCW-N (Counter ClockWise, North polarity) but, if the original set had pickups of type CW-N (ClockWise, North), the respective RW/RP will be of type CCW-S (Counter ClockWise, South).

Most of Fender Strato pickups are of type CW-S and, their middle RW/RP is CCW-N but, certain models, as the Texas Hot are of type CW-N and their respective RW/RP is of type CCW-S.

Following picture (click for full size), shows the different scenarios we can find when combining the 4 different types of coils described above.

You can see that for each two coils combination, we have two different columns in this table.
First one (in-phase) will have a YES if both pickups are electrically in-phase or NOT if they are electrically out of phase.
Second one (hum-cancel) will have a YES if the combination is good for hum-cancelling or NOT, if not the case.
Best scenario (in-phase / hum-cancelling) is shown in green, worst scenario (out-of-phase / not hum-cancelling) is shown in red and the in-between scenario (in-phase / not hum-cancelling) is shown in yellow.

When two coils are in-phase, they produce full sound, they just sound good.
When two coils are out-of-phase, the sound becomes thin, weak, hollow, nasal and sharp, do to the fact that most of the signal originated by the movement of the strings and caught by each coil have oposite sign and they are being cancelled.
When two coils are arranged in a hum-cancelling configuration, most of the noise (not signal) caught by both coils has oposite sign and therefore is being cancelled while the signal remains intact, in-phase.

But you should take into account that the signal produced by two different coils isn't exactly the same, never and, neither the hum or noise present.
For two coils to generate the exact same signal and noise, those should be exact clones one of the other and, stay in the exact same physical place.
As you can easilly understand, this is practically impossible, in real terms. So, even two twin coils of a humbucker will get the signal and noise slightly different and, therefore, the resulting signal will be slightly different to the signal we would get from one or the other coil alone and, also because of this, not all the hum will be completely cancelled.

The more equal that two coils will be and the more close they can be physically, the purest the signal and the lowest the hum.
The same coil placed in different spots along the guitar strings will produce different signals and noise levels.
You should have noticed that the neck (or front) pickup is always rich in harmonics and generates a strong signal, while the bridge (or rear) pickup sounds weaker, thinner and brighter.

If pickups makers didn't changed the number of turns or wire type or magnet strength in the differently placed pickups (bridge, middle, neck) we wouldn't be able to balance their output levels.

To reverse the phase (electrical polarity, in fact) of a pickup, swapping which wire goes to hot and which wire goes to ground has same effect as to reverse winding the coil.
So, if you have a CW-S coil and you solder to hot the start (natural negative) and to ground the finish (natural positive), you pickup is now acting as a CCW-S pickup. The oposite is also true.
Just understand that you are not able to change the magnetic polarity that way, just the electrical polarity.

To reverse the magnetic polarity, you need to flip 180º the magnet bar (humbuckers) or the magnet rods (single coils) and, this is always harder and very specially with single coil pickups.

So, if you have two CW-S coils, swaping the hot and ground wires in one, will leave you in a CW-S / CCW-S scenario, which (take a look to the table) is a very bad one!.

To achieve an in-phase / hum-cancelling scenario, you need two coils with reverse phase (electrical polarity) and reverse polarity (magnetic polarity).

We said that both coils of same humbucker pickup were wound in the same direction (CW) but, one is placed over the North side of the magnet bar, while the other is over the South side of the magnet bar.
So, in a humbucker we have a CW-N coil and a CW-S coil. But search that case in the table above!. That's a bad case!.

If we link the start of each coil to negative and the finish to positive, we have exactly that case CW-N / CW-S but, if you remember, by swaping the two wires in a coil we are achieving the same as winding such a coil reverse so, if we just swap the wires of the North coil, we achieve a CCW-N coil and, now our scenario is CCW-N / CW-S. Take a look to the table. Yes, in-phase / hum-cancelling !!!.

This little trick allows the makers to achieve in-phase / hum-cancelling configurations even using coils wound in the same direction (CW). And that's why the typical arrangement of wires in a humbucker is as follows:

south start -> to ground
south finish - north finish (linked together, coils in series)
North start -> to hot

or you can swap ground and hot in south and north starts.

Which start goes to ground depends on each pickup maker, because for braided single conductor pickups (old school humbuckers), the start wire that is ground, is ground together with plate ground wire.

As we explained in other articles, a covered pickup creates some kind of Faraday's cage, which will get the noise in cage's walls and that noise will be thrown to the trashcan if that cage is being soldered to ground.
In braided single conductor pickups, the cage is in contact (soldered to) with the "humbucker ground wire" and, therefore, if we try the trick of swapping both coil wires we will positivize the cage, achieving an antenna that will catch lots of noise that will be thrown to the signal, instead of to ground!!!.

That's why some special mods make no sense with such a kind of pickups. You have braided single conductor examples in humbuckers, mini-humbuckers and P-90 single coils, by example.
But some Fender' single coils have a metallic plate on its bottom that is usually connected to the start (negative) of the pickup.
Once more, swapping the two conductors, we are positivizing such a plate with unwanted side effects.
That's why Telecaster mods that use out-of-phase or that need both pickups in series use a neck pickup with three wires (start, finish and plate ground).

This is not an issue with a humbucker having 4 conductors (start and finish of each coil) and an extra bare wire (for plate / cover ground).


Typical scenarios

Now that we have the background info of the previous version, it will be really easy to understand typicall scenarios and what to do in each case.

Let' start with Strato single coils.
In positions 1, 3 and 5, nothing of what was discussed here has any relevance, since each coil is being selected alone.
In positions 2 and 4 we are combining the middle pickup with either the neck or the bridge pickup.

As we explained above, most of coils are wound in CW direction and, they way as Fender mounts their magnet rods, give to that coils South polarity. So, each pickup is a CW-S case.
The black wire is the start wire and should be grounded.
The clear wire (white, yellow or alike) is the finish wire and should be linked to the hot path (pickup's output).

For those notch positions, in a standard Strato, we have an scenario CW-S / CW-S and, if you look that table above, that means that those positions are in-phase but not hum-cancelling. The sound, in this case has a nice bite and quack but, it's noisy.

Standard Strato coils, with a RW/RP middle pickup, will correspond to the scenario CW-S (neck or bridge) / CCW-N (middle) and, if you look to that table above. This is an in-phase and hum-cancelling scenario.
Since both pickups aren't exact clones and, since they are distant one from the other, some of the original signal will be cancelled and not all the hum would be removed.
The resulting sound has less presence than in the standard case, the quack isn't so pronounced but, the noise is clearly reduced.

So, sometimes, to achieve hum-cancelling positions can make slightly duller the tone of two coils combined together.

In the way the coils of any regular humbucker are being arranged, with the two finish wires soldered together and used to split the to one or the other coil (grounding the linked wires or, linking them to hot), there is the risk of splitting to the coil that, combined with that Strato single will lead to a wrong scenario. So, to understand what are we doing at every time is key for success.

When combining two humbuckers of the SAME maker (and I would say, model also), when splitting to North coils or South coils in both humbuckers, we will get in-phase but not-hum cancelling scenarios and, when splitting one to North coil and the other to South coil, we will achieve an in-phase and hum-cancelling scenario.

As explained in the case of Strato singles, which one to choose will depend on the wanted effect. If you can stand the noise and get a punchier sound, go to split same coils in both pickups. If you cannot stand the noise, go to split oposite coils in each pickup.

So, let say that we have a bridge humbucker with following color wires (Seymour Duncan's example):

You can see that the North wires were swapped (start wire goes to hot, instead of finish), to achieve that CCW-N type, while the South wires are standard (start to ground, finish as positive) so, we have a coil type CW-S.

Now, if we have to split that bridge pickup in position 4 (middle + bridge), in a Strato-alike guitar then ...

If we have a standard Strato pickup in the middle position, that would be of type CW-S.
If we wanted to achieve a typical position 4 (with the quack and the noise), we need to get a CW-S / CW-S scenario (by example, not the only possible). Since the South coil is just that, a CW-S, splitting the humbucker to South will give us that typical standard 4 position.
But, if we wanted to get a hum-cancelling position, we need to get a CW-S / CCW-N scenario and, that corresponds to split to the North pickup.

But if we are in the case of a standard RW/RP middle pickup, we have a coil type CCW-N.
If we wanted to achieve the typical positon 4, this time we need to select a CCW-N coil in our humbucker, that is, the North coil.
And, if we wanted a hum-cancelling position with that middle, we need a CCW-N / CW-S scenario and, therefore, we need to split to the South coil, this time.

Which color was used to identify which wire (north and south coils starts and finishes), widely changes from pickups maker to maker but, once you are clear about the scenarios described in the table above and the tricks we already discussed here, you will be able to always get what you wanted to achieve, while designing your wiring project.

Taking as example the above color wiring, if we put black to hot and white linked to red, the North pickup is type CCW-N and the South of type CW-S.
If we put white to hot and black linked to red, instead, we have North of type CW-N and South of type CW-S and, what we get is a  humbucker with their own coils out-of-phase. This will result in a weak signal with a nasal, hollow, thin, and sharp characteristic sound. But, maybe this is what we wanted to achieve!.

If we leave the North pickup linked as in the picture but, we swap red and green, we are having a CCW-N / CCW-S scenario and, once more, we get that characteristic out-of-phase sound.

To get a scenario with coils in-phase but not hum-cancelling isn't possible inside a humbucker. Look at the table above and, you will see that for that, you need two pickups with the same phase and polarity and, this is not possible since each coil has a different magnetic polarity.
So that kind of scenario takes place just when combining one coil of a humbucker with other coil of another humbucker or single coil pickup.

So, at the end, we can achieve following distinctive sounds out of a humbucker:

North coil alone (split to North coil)
South coil alone (split to South coil)
Coils in series and in-phase (regular humbucker sound, strong and warm, also hum-cancelling)
Coils in series but out-of-phase (weaker than previous one, thin, nasal, hollow and sharp)
Coils in parallel and in-phase (slightly weaker than a coil alone, open, clear, defined, bright and hum-cancelling)
Coils in parallel but out-of-phase (the weaker of all, thin, nasal, hollow and sharp)

Same is posible if we talk about two coils of two different pickups (being those another humbucker or just a single-coil pickup).

While for most of people the out-of-phase sound is unusable, Peter Green's typical tone was achieved with two out-of-phase humbuckers, in the middle position of the pickup selector switch (rythm + treble).
I personally like the OOP sound mainly under high distortion, when you need a razor-sharp screaming sound. I don't like so much for clean stuff, to be honest.

When dealing with Reverse Polarity Fender pickups (as the Texas Hot, among other models), which are CW-N, you will often need to swap the south and north start wires to get the wanted combinations with the trick to solder to ground or hot the link between both humbucker coils to achieve one or the other coil split.

Pedals: Jetter Gear Jetdrive - First contact

Introduction

After trying pedals like Weehbo's ones, it's difficult to get a pedal that can excite you enough. Weehbo pedals are, to me, one of the best preserving your tone and dynamics, while providing you a tone shaping tool to mime other aftersought amp sounds.
But, at least with my Fender Stratocaster, I don't feel them as having the right amount of gain I am needing.

I've bought a Suhr Shiba, a Suhr Riot and a Xotic SL, trying to cover all my gain needs.
Well, those pedals are "cooked pies" and, they work awesome but, to me, they lack the great dynamics of Weehbo effects and, they have a "cooked tone".
The three sound awesome, don't be fooled but, they are not what I really need, for how I like to play and combine pedals.

I don't know how, really!, but accidentally saw some youtube video demoing a Jetter Gear pedal and, I was interested from second one.

Taking into account that those three pedals mentioned above, where covering "cooked sounds", I wanted this time some kind of tube-like clean overdrive, able to get the harmonics from my amp, while playing in the clean channel and quiet volumes.

After reviewing Jetter Gear stuff, I thougth his Jetdrive could be the right pedal to complement my pedalboard.

Today, the Jetdrive came and, I had a short one-hour session testing it.
And, that's all about this blog entry, my impressions after my first contact.


Jetter Gear Jetdrive

Presentation

As usual in Boutique Pedals, this pedal comes in a sad blank cardboard box, with one sticker on the upper side, with pedal name and serial number.
Inside, just the pedal and a single sheet with a few information.

I am lacking technical specificactions. There is nothing about how much current it draws and, which are the voltage ranges supported, etc. This information is key to plan your pedalboard.
Also, some sample settings would be welcome.

The pedal includes a battery and, to remove it, you need to unscrew the four short screws that stand the back plate.

To be fair with the other overdrives in my pedalboard, I plugged the DC input of the Jetdrive into a 12V output of the Voodooo Lab Power Pedal 2 unit.

This pedal weights considerablely and it seems to be built of a high quality components. Its size is even smaller than I thought. Same width than Weehbo's but, slightly longer.

Operation

It has two different overdrive channels that can be selected alone or stacked.
Each channel has its own Drive, Volume and Tone knobs (even if they are being called in other way).
Easy to tweak and, always useful tones.

No cryptic controls, highly dependent that can lead you to an infinite search of the right sound.

Sound

Awesome!.
Did I said awesome?.
Yes, awesome!

This pedal shines out-of-the-box, whith controls at any position.
From subtle gain ranges to medium gain ranges, covering all drive needs, except for high gain stuff.

The Green channel sounds to me with some bump in mid-lows frequencies. Not a clear roll off of low end or high end but, as if it had some bump in mid-lows frequencies.
It seems to generate even harmonics, which gives it a silky and warm voice but, fully respecting your guitar and amp tone. It's just like driving your tubes to their sweet spot.
All notes are clearly audible and distinguishable but, just with that rich harmonical content.
I am finding this channel as the main overdrive channel for most of songs, even that for certain songs, I prefer the definition of the blue channel.

The Blue channel sounds to me with a plain EQ and a crispier tone, slightly more crunchy while transparenter. It's like if it was generating odd harmonics, that create a more defined sound, with an slight crunch that I wouldn't define as Marsallish.

Both channel stacked complement really good and allow you for liquid solos, while preserving all your guitar and amp nuances and QUIET enough.

Stacked with other pedals

I have to go to more in-deep tests but, I honestly didn't like how this pedal interactuates with my Area 51 Wah pedal. Probably, because the buffer of the Area 51 is on (I have to switch off that buffer !!!!).

I still have to check it with my other pedals but, had no time enough.
This will come in a new entry in this blog.

Stay tuned!.
I am planning some demo video, once I am more done to this pedal but, after testing it, I DIG FOR A DHARMA TO DEAD!!!!!


UPDATE 13/12/2013

I had the oportunity to check in depth the pedal and relationships with the rest of my pedalboard.
The first thing I've noticed is that the Jetdrive DOESN'T LIKES ANY BUFFER BEFORE.
It sound way better without its input being buffered.
I had to un-buffer my Area 51 Wah, move the Wampler Decibel+ to the end of the chain, and switch off the buffer in the Vibe Machine.

Second thing is that, compared similar settings between the Jetdrive and the Suhr Shiba, Suhr Riot and Xotic SL, the Jetdrive gets same overall feeling but stays more defined and dynamic so, I've ended romemoving those three pedals and, now, my pedalboard is of a very small size.

I would probably go for some pedal with that Hellium from Jetter Gear and a nice hi-gain distortion, to complete the picture.

I can unload the Wampler Decibel+ since, it's doing no good and, at the end, I am planning to substitute the Vibe Machine with a Strymon Mobius (for all the modulation stuff) and that Wampler EGO with some good and no-brain compressor. I found Wampler's as thinning a tad my tone.

This is the picture on how my pedalboard was reduced, to cover a lot of ground:

Just the minimum!
And the decibel+ can disapear, I have it switched off all the time.

Pedals: Suhr Shiva Drive, Suhr Riot and Xotic SL Drive - First contact

Introduction

Here we are again, testing new drive pedals. I think I will never end!.
Well, Weehbo effects are absolutely top notch pedals but, I've found them difficult to drive with my needed amount of gain, without compromising their tone or having clear feedback.

To be honest, I was thinking on to get again a Mad Professor Little Green Wonder (which I sold to a friend) for that bluesy sound and, some clearer overdrive for opener and sparkly sound.
For Hi-Gain, I wasn't satisfied with the sound of the Bastard. It's eq'd in some way that sounds veiled to my hearing and, I am not able to dial a cutting EQ without going harsh.

Maybe, all that is my fault or, just because of my gear but, it clearly didn't worked for me so, I went back to the market looking for something else.

For clean overdrive, I've choosed the Jetter Gear Jetdrive, because in my book it seems that will fill that hole. For hi-gain, I wanted to check again the Suhr Riot, even that I remembered that the sound was a tad too much for what I was looking for and, for bluesy overdrive  I was angry to get again the Little Green Wonder, after selling it.

I was surprised seen that Suhr enhanced their Shiba and Riot pedals, this time renamed Reloaded. I've carefully heard some videos and was interested on to try those (so, I could forget the LGW, by now).

In other side, one of the sounds that I love more is the sound of a Marshall 1959 SLP.
The Weehbo JCM Drive goes really close but, once again, it hasn't the amount of gain I need and, as per other users comments, the JVM Drive is not the remedy.
Being familiar with Xotic effects, I saw they were delivering that new SL Drive and, after looking some videos, I thought it worths the try.

Today, those three came and, I had my first contact with them so, that's what I would like to share with you in this article.

I am still pending on receiving the Jetter Jetdrive, which I expect also for this week and, will do a review of such a pedal very soon, also.


Presentation

Well, I know the picture doesn't makes justice to the nice look of this pedals but, my mobile's cam has serius issues trying to focus a pedal with some shinning metallic logo or part (as the SL) so, sorry.

Those Suhr pedals have the best presentation I've ever seen in a pedal maker. And, I am not talking about the appealing cardboard box, I am talking about how well protected the pedal remains inse the box.
The box has a preformed foam that completely envolves the pedal. Even the box' tap has a preformed foam pad.
Very good job, Suhr !!!.

When you remove the pedal, on the bottom there is a 9V battery, ready to use.
Pedals seem well made and with parts of quality.
No user's manual inside so, you have to go to Suhr' site and download the manual.

The Xotic SL comes in a very unpersonal white carboard box, with just an sticker on one side, identifying brand and pedal. Inside, the pedal is wrapped with paper (do you see the difference?). and, you can find the typical single-sheet user's manual and some advertisings.

While the two Shur pedals are light as helium, the Xotic is heavy as an output transformer.
After removing the battery from inside, the pedal still weights considerablely so, don't be fooled with its size because it's built like a tank.
I always wonder how that Xotic people is able to put so much tone in so little boxes.
While Lovepedal does the same, no Lovepedal of such a size works with a baterry, since they have no room but, Xotic always have room for a battery.


Controls

The three have three controls and, the same three: Volume, Drive and Tone.

Volume controls the overall output of the effect and, I've found them as working really nice. I was able to easily get the unitary volume level for each one so, it was easier to stack all them together.

Drive controls the gain or amount of distortion of the effect. All them have a nice range of gain, from subtle to beefy gain. Nice.

While the Tone control has a broad range, I find that in the three cases, the tone is reasonable between 10:00 and 2:00, before or after the tone goes or so muddy or so harsh. But, this will always depend on amp and guitar, at the end.

The two Suhr have a mini-toggle switch to choose between three different voices, that affect to EQ but, also to compression or clipping (more notable in the Shiba).

The SL has 4 internal dip switches to change the content in low, mid-low, mid-high and high frequencies.
I've tested it stock, with factory setting.

The two Shur have an input jack to switch the pedal on and off remotely, depending on the position of the 3-way micro slide switch, beside the DC input jack.


Sound

Suhr Shiba Drive Reloaded

I find the Shiba Drive in the ballpark of enhanced Tube Screamers. It goes very close to the best settings of the Wampler Paisley and, even being less versatile than the Little Green Wonder or the Rihno, it sounds plainly awesome.

Not tweakable but, the sound is really good from the beginning and really easy to achieve. There is no need to move highly dependent controls to one and the other side (as in the case of the Wampler). Just a sound, but a good one!.

Weehbo has nothing in the line of TS but, the left voice of the Shiba Drive remembers me the sound of Dumbleish pedals, as the Dumbledore, Zendrive and Euphoria (smooth voice). This position has a clear roll out of highs and a hard compression that tames your attack.

The other two positions are more dynamic and, very specially the middle one (which is the one I am using).

It was very easy to get my wanted sound, while other cryptic pedals drove me crazy during days.

The voice is a tad boxy, as if you were running your amp in a closed back cab but, not muddy.
The sound is rich in harmonics and, goes apparently undefined, because of this but, if you hear the sound carefully, you see that definition note to tone is there, even in open or disonant chords.

While I had issues trying to make the Paisley or the Dumbledore to cut the mix, this pedal cuts it with attitude, from second one.

Stacks really nice with the other two and helps them to go just a spot higher in their gain dial, liquifying solos and increasing the sustain. Pushes other drives really nice.


Suhr Riot Reloaded

To be honest, since most of the videos I see related to this pedal are made shredding or doing metal with drop-d tunings and alike, I thought that probably wouldn't work for me.
But, man, it does!.

Once again, the voice switch allows you to choose one of the three different EQs and clipping levels. To me, the middle position worked the best.

As the Shiba, the foundational voice of this pedal is boxy, as if you were running your amp in a closed back cab but, surprisingly it cuts the mix without issues.

It's very easy to dial liquid sounds and, easy to get pinch harmonics. Overall, the sound is well bodied and, solos are a pleasure.

I had no issues stacking the Shiba or the SL before. Each one gave a different nuance to Riot' sound and, both worked really good, pushing the Riot into a very controlled and musical feedback.
The SL into the Riot sounds more like a Marshall driven  hard, while with the Shiba before the sound is less classy but, incredible good also.


Xotic SL Drive

Well, does it sounds like a Super-Lead?.
Really close, yes and, even if not... who cares?.
Sounds really good, this little monster!

The closer pedal I personally know is the Weehbo JCM Drive but, while I had serious problems trying to dial a nice gain with the JCM Drive, in the Xotic was ridiculous easy.
It sounds awesome alone and with some pedal stacked before or after. No issues.

If I have to find something not so exciting in those pedals, this would be that they don't clean really good.
I needed to roll out the guitar volume practically to mute levels to be able to clean the sound and, even cleaining it, there was always some kind of extra harmonics or clipping.

The SL Drive, with the guitar volume at maximum sounds a tad compressed (over-beefed), compared to the sound that you can get just slightly rolling out the volume one or two numbers on the dial.

Comparatively, Weehbo pedals clean way better. Most of Wampler's also.

Overall, I would say that the sound is less refinated than in Weehbo or Wampler pedals but, I think results are easier to achieve and the three sound very musical and cut the mix so...


Video

Since there are a lot of videos demoing the sound of those pedals and how their controls give you this or the other sound, I've just focused on how these pedals work in my pedalboard.
I've just set up each one with the sound I liked more and, unitary volume level.

The video starts with a couple of free downloadable mp3 tracks, based in a couple of songs of Eric Clapton (Cocaine and Old Love). Specially, the second song has a lot of dynamics and, allows me to try a broader range of picking strengths.

After those couple of backing tracks. I am just testing each pedal, first separately and then one stacked into the other.