Introduction
Note: this entry was originaly posted during January 2010, in my Spanish version of my blog. I am revisiting it here with added comments.
My playing style gravitates around classic Hard Rock and Blues tones so, I am usually feeling at home with classical guitars, like the Stratocaster or the Les Paul, by example and, I am not in the need of excesive Dive Bombing or Ultra High Gain sounds. But, you know, from time to time, I have a lot of fun playing a Floyd-Rose loaded guitar and, going wilder.
I was looking for a guitar with an Original Floyd Rose tremolo but with a reasonable price. The guitar I really wanted was the Ibanez Herman Lee's signature one, since it had all I wanted on papers but, its price tag was so high for what I planned to spend in a guitar of this kind.
Presentation
The guitar comes with a padded soft case, inside a carton box. While this kind of presentation is usual in Asian imported axes, lately, it seems that is beginning to happen also with well known American brands.
The soft case is of quality and its well padded so, it perfectly protects the axe but, I was expecting a hard case for a guitar that costs 1000 Eur. So, I had to buy a generic hard case for about 30 Eur, since I prefer to store guitars inside hard cases.
Anyway, once you open the case, the guitar catches all your atention. It's so sexy...
The body is an Stratocaster one, with a naked Mapple neck (without clear lack or paint) and an Original Floyd Rose tremolo. Maybe, not the one Made in Germany but, Original Floyd Rose, since Fender bought both companies: Charvel and Floyd Rose.
The fretwork is really awesome. Frets are very well filed and leveled. The overall look of the neck is as appealing as any Fender Deluxe or Ibanez Prestige, by example.
Finishing
Not my most preferred color (metallized purple) but, it was the only one available. Once on hands, I think it looks like very sexy.
Painting work is also perfect. The guitar accidentally fall and there is no chip or scratch so, I guess this guitar will retain its good lock for a long while.
The most important part of any Charvel is its neck. Shape is of the tyep wide-C and not very deep. Not the shape I like more but, I have no issues. You need need a nice clearance between your pinky and thumb fingers to get the mastil and, it's difficult to me to use my thumb for chords a la Hendrix.
I find the fretboard slightly narrow, with few clearance between strings. The strings' stress is high and, it's difficult to do extreme bendings.
First string, from time to time, gets trapped in the border of the fretboard, during extreme dive bombings. It seems that the rounded border facilitates this issue.
Frets seem medium-jumbo, not so high but wide, what allows a very low action. The low profile of frets makes difficulter extreme bendings.
The dots of the fretboard, instead of being some kind of inlay, are just painted over the fretboard, as the logotype on the peghead.
Frets are perfectly inserted in the fretboard and awesomely well filed and sanded. Excelent work.
One more interesting thing of this fretboard is its composite radius and its steped profile. In first frets, the neck is more deeper and wider, with a greater radius. As you walk down the fretboard, it's loosing some deep and the radius dismishes. You start with quite well plain frets to end with way more curved ones.
This neck would be just perfect for me, if it had the shape of a Light V, intead of Wide C, but, that's just my taste.
Neck seems hard as a rock and, was perfectly build and sanded.
The body is the typical of any Stratocaster so, no surprises, as comfortable as any Strato. The rear cavity, where the springs lay, is totally closed, without any kind of window. The pickguard is metallic, instead of the typical plastic pickguard that Stratos wear.
Controls are the minimal expresion. Just one volume potentiometer and a 3-ways toggle switch as pickups selector. I don't like the look of the knob and neither the look of the toggle but, they work perfect and seem of high quality. The Jack is the typical you will find in any Strato.
The electronics work is the neatest I ever seen in a guitar. Electronics components are of quality, as wel as wires used for the work.
Lastly, the guitar mounts an Original Floyd Rose tremolo but, the rear side of the body isn't carved so, you cannot do extreme pull ups, because the tremolo can go down few milimeters.
This Original Floyd Rose ins't a Schaller's Made In Germany one but, it's Original, since Fender owns Floyd Rose. Where was it made?. No clue but, fortunatelly works perfectly well.
Overall, the instrument has a quality look, at the level of a Fender Deluxe or Ibanez Prestige but, with a more affordable price. 1000 Eur for an axe with Original Floyd Rose and this level of finishing seems to me an authentic bargain, nowadays.
Playing it
The guitar was perfectly tuned (but not in the reference tone) as it came from factory.
Factory action is really low and, probably, the lowest of all my guitars.
I would prefer an slightly higher action, maybe.
As I've mentioned, the special shape of this neck, makes me difficult to use my thumb for chords a la Hendrix, because I've got small fingers and, a relative short hand.
The fretboard is made of mapple so, it's fast and with a good attack. Frets are wide and not tall, and this, together with the high stress of the strings, makes a bit difficult to make extreme bendings.
The first string goes stuck on the border of the fretboard after some extreme dive bombings, from time to time.
The wood resonates really nice unplugged, round and with a nice sustain, even loading a floating tremolo.
Stock comes with a couple of Dimarzio pickups. Evo model for neck position and a Tone Zone for bridge position. Not the pickups I like more but, of the very best from Dimarzio.
I already knew both, since my ex-JEM7V was loading a set of Evos (which I liked a lot) and, I also mounted a TZ in one of my Stratos (I liked it cutting under distortion but, hated how it sounded for clean work).
Don't go fooled, those are very good pickups but, usually, all Dimarzio pickups sound a bit "processed" to my taste, as coloring the natural tone of the guitar. I've swapped them later, with a couple of Bareknuckle's Nailbombs but, after trying my friend's Japanese charvel, I am thinking on use just the typical '59 / JB pair from Seymour Duncan, because I loved how it sounded in the Charvels.
When I first tried this guitar, it was harder to play than the PRS 513 with 0.10" strings, because the strings' stress made it even tighter than the PRS. But, after I went for 0.10" in all my guitars (except the Charvel), I find it as easy to play as any other. Both, the PRS 513 and the Charvel SoCal have the speedest fretboards of my collection.
BTW, extreme bendings are not an issue anymore and, that tremolo allows you to do any kind of crazy things. It plays awesome. Very nice guitar, indeed!.
I would say that this one has one of the best fretboards I've ever tried (maybe, just the JEM7V is one step over).
Under slight distortion, overdrive or crunch, I don't dig so much the sound but, it works well in clean and under high distortion (this, with stock Dimarzios!).
Conclusion
A very well made guitar, with Original Floyd Rose, made in USA and for about 1000 Euros?. A winner, without any doubt!.
I find it very interesting for anyone looking for a superstrato and which, after valuating the prices of Fender USA (Deluxes with Floyd Rose) or Ibanez Prestige, wanted that quality at a lower price.
Respect of Ibanez offer, the main difference is the quality of the body wood. Ibanez usually uses basswood (a wood that I don't like, because sounds dumb and boxy to my taste). You can find Alder body in very few models, by example the JEM7 series (way more expensive) or Mahogany in S series (also more expensive).
To have a better idea, in this range of prices, the only interesting alternative was the Dean Vendetta 4F but, we are comparing an Asian importation guitar against a true Made in USA and, a brand with no so good press related to finishing against one of the Brands with best press related to their works. So, the election of the Charvel was a natural choose.
Maybe, this is not a pure metal guitar, in the way as an ESP Eclipse or Jackson Soloist are. It hast 22 frets, instead of 24 and mounts passive pickups (what I prefer), instead of actives but, of course, you can shred with this.
But, anyway, due to the special shape of the neck, I recommend you to test it before buying it.
I am missing a carved cavity under the bridge, to make it possible the pull-ups, as in the JEM7V.
The Video
During my first week playing this guitar, I've prepared this demo video.
First part, very short, shows the clean sounds of the guitar.
For second part, I am improvising over a free downloadable backing track based on "For the Love of God" by Steve Vai.
I am not an shredder in any single sense and, this is my first guitar with FR so, don't expect great things.
This is also not a cover, note by note. Just following the overall line of the song and improvising freely.
I appologize for image effects. This was one of my very first video editions and, I tried everything together.
Sorry for any headache.
Everything about electric guitars world
16 January 2013
12 January 2013
Home Studio: Sony Oxford Elite Native Pack test
Introduction
Note: this is a revisited entry that was originally posted in my Spanish version of this blog, with added comments after using more often this pack of plug ins.
If, like in my case, you are trying to build your own home studio and, you are thinking on recording, mixing and masterizing in your PC, with acceptable results then, you should be looking for those plugins that can help you in each phase and, I am quite sure that you have already heard about Sonnox plugins, as well as the highly spread Waves' ones.
Lot of Masterizing or Mixing Engineers give credit to some Sonnox plugin. By example, Bob Katz considers them as top quality ones, as well as Friedmann Tischmeyer do it.
Of curse, I've tried every plug in that was included in Pro Tools 8.0 LE and, even that all them are over most of available plugins (with the exception of the big names), I find my mixes as lacking something.
I've noticed a high improvement in sound, when I went from Cakewalk Sonar 9 PE to Pro Tools 8.0 LE and, the quality of included plug ins was what made the difference.
I can easily imagine that the use of top-notch outboard units can improve everything even more but, tag prices go way higher when we talk about hardware.
I've tested demo versions of Waves, Wave Labs, Brainworks, Snolksis, PSP, Voxengo, Izotope as, well as practically every free VST or RTAS plugin. I am still pending on trying some renamed brands, as URS, McDSP or Metric Halo.
About those plugins I've tested, some are better than others but, usually, free plugins doesn't work better (or with a better quality in sound) than those plugins already delivered with Pro Tools 8.0 LE. I even was a bit disappointed with Waves plugins.
The only exception, to me, was the suite of mixing and masterizing provided by IK Multimedia and, very specially those plugins that modelate vintage outboard (Fairchild 670, Pulteq EQP-1A, LA-2A, 1179); those are top-notch plugins, that deliver exciting and very musical results and, that are cleary over PT's takes of same equipment.
ARC system of IK Multimedia was also very useful to remove most room's problems.
RNDigital's Inspector XL is very useful to understand what is going on in the mix, from a forensic point of view and, helps to better "visualize" issues in your mix.
112dB's Red Monitor is helping me to mix during the night, in a silent environment, balancing the stereo's phantom center to hear the mix in headphones very close to what you hear thru your monitors.
TT Dynamic Meter helps me to better monitorize and control the dynamic range of the mix and, the compression level that I am giving to the whole program.
Massey's plugins are awesome. The Limiter 2007 is one of my preferred ones and, Tape Head helps to give some warm to programmed drums tracks. TCH4 is a very easy to use compressor that delivers good results.
But, one of my main issues was to have a good equalization, without coloring the track or mix. Some new compressor is always welcome, since not every compressor it's the best for every work. I was also interested on the Transient Modeler (specially for those high transients that can even ruin the work of your compressor or limiter) and, about that cryptic Inflator plugin, that seems to be highly used by those mixing and mastering wizards.
Even having the amazing Wizoo Wizooverb W2 for reverberations, I find that isn't working fine in every situation. Sonnox has a very good reverb plugin also so, I wanted to compare those two.
Related to Delay, even that PT's delays work ok, the quality of Soundtoys Echo Boy's bundle is over anything else I've heard. EchoBoy can be purchased just as a part of their Native Bundle so, I have more freaky filters than I need but... how knows!.
I was after Sonnox plugins during loooong time but, the price was my stopper. The Elite pack, taking into account that you get the higher discount respect of the sum of their individual prices, was priced over 1000 Eur. Finally, I found a sale in an Spanish online store for 799 Eur and, I couldn't miss the opportunity to have such a quality plugins pack for the best price I've ever seen.
Presentation
Plugins come in a single carton box, in a single CD with some little information. I had to go to Sonnox official page to download the last updated versions of each plugin, together with their manuals.
Playing with Sonnox Plugins
Well, mate, every Sonnox plugin is a Little World in itself. Maybe, the simpler one is the Inflator but, for everyone, I highly recommend you to read the manual first. I wish there was a real-time button where you can browse the manual while working with the plugin.
First impresion is clear: they aren't friendly or easy to use as, by example, Massey's plugins. If you are already done in mixing and, you have a clear idea of what do you want to do with each plugin, don't worry, everything is there, plugins are really versatile and complete.
Sonnox Dynamics
Here we have the monster of Dynamics control. This plugin is some kind of high level channel strip, with several sections that you can activate or deactivate: a Gate, a Expander, a Compressor, a Side Chain, a Warm section and a Limiter.
If memory doesn't fail, it's based on the Sony's Oxford gear.
So, any kind of dynamics work you can imagine, can be cover with this plugin and, results are always of high quality. Controls really "make something", in fact, they are so sensible that, you better go for light adjusts and check results.
The Gate section allows you to filter the sound and reject the part that doesn't reaches a certain loudness level, what helps to filter the floor noise but, as every Gate, to get the right settings is a very tricky thing but, once done, the gate works awesomely. Gates have other creative uses, as gated reverbs or gated snares or, you know...
The Expander section can help to increase the dynamic range of a previously highly compressed source material. By example, I've found it very interesting to open the dynamics of highly compressed Drums Clips, as well as some old takes I did with overdone compression.
The Compressor can be used anywhere, in a track or in the master track and, works awesomely to sculpt the exact dynamics you wanted. Has even a Hold control, for a complete control of the Dynamics Envelope. This one is always in my master track, while I usually prefer other plugins at track level.
It works in three different modes: Normal works like the Oxford console; Classic emulates a Drawner DBX-160 compressor and; Linear is some kind of Linear Compressor (for very specializated use).
The Side Chain section allows you to better determine the range of frequencies that should be compressed.
The Warm section introduces some tube-like distortion and harmonics, giving the warm that a tube-based compressor would do to the mix, with silky results.
The Limiter section, help to completely control the peaks and avoid overs when converting the material to lower resultion formats. It's one of the best Limiter around and, I have it always at the end of my master chain.
I haven't checked the real CPU consumption, because I didn't had the necessity. Those huge and quality plugins seem to work without overloading the CPU too much.
Sonnox EQ
This is probably the highest rated by experts Sonnox plugin, because of its transparency and accuracy. It works really awesome but, you SHOULD read the manual before working with it.
EQ filters can be of 4 different types, some have the Q and notch level in a narrow relation, in a way that a parameter dramatically affects the other.
The EQ has 5 bands, each can of of a different type. Includes also a low-pass and a high-pass filter, to work on lower and higher frequencies but, those can work as shelving or parametric so, in fact, you can have up to 7 parametric band filters.
Parametric filters can work 24 dB per Octave down or up, while the pass-filters work with up to 36 dB down per Octave.
Some of the filters are good for overall work, some for the master channel (to slightly correct the overall EQ) and, some other to work on notch frequencies.
Sonnox EQ highly substituted the EQ III plugin of PT in my mixes, because the EQ III often gives some color the track or mix and, sometimes, very noticeable digital artefacts, when used over a 6 dB correction.
As colored EQ, I like more the IK Multimedia's Pultec EQP-1A.
Sonnox De-Esser
If you are done to friendly de-esser, you will be surprised with Sonnox one. Can be so deep and huge as the Dynamics plugins but, fortunately, it can work in two modes and, one of them is for people like me: dummies. In this mode, the plugin automatically detects the band were "s" happens and, sets up a band and a reduction level that works dynamically and fully automated. You can always increase or reduce the band with your mouse and, the threshold and level of reduction.
You can hear separately what is Inside the de-esser (what would be reduced) and, what is Outside (original signal), as well as the resulting mix.
The de-essing levels are automatically reset during the time, using a smart look-ahead algorithm, depending on the dynamic range of the source material.
The Expert mode allows you accurate control over every parameter hidden in this plugin and, was highly cryptic to me in my first experiences.
The Easy mode works really good, very transparent, smooth and without distinguisable artifacts.
De-Essers can be always used to get rid of certain frequencies that are a mess for the track or the mix. I've used this one, by example, to filter some fret noises in the Bass guitar track and, worked awesomely.
Sonnox Inflator
This plugin, very cryptic, is some kind of Harmonics Exciter, in a similar way as a BBE unit works but, is
able to add some warm to the the mix, as well.
It's very easy to use (maybe the easier of Sonnox plugins) so, test it and see what can it do for you.
Sony is describing it as "this kind of plugin that apparently increased the perceived volume of any track, adding warm and, making the material sounding better, overall". Go figure!.
Well, a really cryptic description but, whatever this plugin is technically doing, what is true is that it gives some kind of "sonic glue" to the track or mix and, well used, can enhanced a boring track.
It recalls me the Warm section of Dynamics plugin so, I use just one of them in the same track.
It worked specially well with Drums and Vocals, in my mixes.
Sonnox Limiter
Another highly acclaimed plugin from Sonnox and, in my opinion, is the best Limiter plugin I've ever tried.
Not so easy to set up as the Massey L2007 (that is second to none) so, once more, I had to read the manual to test this plugin.
It took me some time to fully understand the plugin but, now, it's always the last plugin in my master chain and, I had no overs anymore when translating the mix to lower resolution formats (MP3, 16 bits, etc.).
Usually, all limiters are darkening the sound but, this one works very transparently (if you want!) but, has controls to enhance the mix (to add some harmonics and warm).
Limiting can be of any kind, including a highly accurate breakwall limiter that uses smart look ahead algorithm to do the right thing depending on the dynamics range of the source material, just in time.
You can run it in safe mode (to ensure no overs) and, even push the input level higher than desirable, without affecting so much the quality of the output processed signal.
I love to work on 24-bits dithering but, before I start bouncing the mix to a lower resolution format, I like to change it to 16-bits and do the last adjust. Sometimes, to change the limiter from 24 bits to 16 bits, reveals that your mix will sound with issues when transformed to 16-bits (usually darker and boomier) so, a final check with the 16-bits mode saves me a lot of time later.
Sonnox Reverb
Well, that's a digital reverb, not convolutive but, of very high quality. Parameters everywhere. Has lots of slide controls to accurately sculpt the kind of reverberation you are after, for each particular situation.
Comes with lots of Factory settings, some really useful and pretty sounding, so you can start your tests choosing some of them and, modifying them to your needs.
You have complete control over any parameter and, I like specially the Blend control, that helps you to get the exact mix of Early and Late reflexions (even just one type of both).
I've tried it with everything and like everywhere so, this is my Reverb plugin for every work.
The Reverb includes an EQ section that helps to give the exact color to your reflexions or, even use the low and high pass filters to limit the band of frequencies were reverb should take place.
I totally forgot the Wizoo plugin after trying the Sonnox one and, I prefer it to all convolution reverb I've tried up to now.
Sonnox Transient Modeler
This plugin allows you a nice control over transients (peaks of small duration, usually at the beginning of the attack phase of the sound), sweetening them or giving more punch.
It's very usefull for very dynamic material. I used it with Bass Tracks that have high peaks and low valleys, to better balance the material, with very good results.
Overall Conclusions
The overall impression I had when I tried them first time is that every plugin was way huger than I was expecting. There is a lot of development work behind the complex and efficient algorithms that implement these plugins.
Every plugin is delivering a sound of the highest quality and, it's really difficult to make them to clip and, when they do it, they do it in a very musical way.
But all that complexity behind is being pop up to the surface so, overall, they aren't friendly-user plugins, you need several hours of tests to understand how they work and what can they do for you.
I highly encourage you to read the user's manual of each plugin before using it. Differently from other manuals, this Sonnox manual are really well written and of big help. To understand how each parameter affects to the sound, together with the suggestions and guides included in that manual, will lead you easily to get nice results.
The user's manual of the Dynamics plugin, worths the time, even if you aren't a user of the Sonnox Dynamics. Its explanation about sound dynamics and the tools to sculpt dynamics to your needs is highly recommendable for everyone!.
Those plugins are really workhorses, very capable to process any kind of material. The learning curve is high, sure, but I am quite sure you will end using at least one by track (sometimes, even 5 of them in the same track!).
I would specially thanks to Sonnox the excellent work made with their manuals. Usually, we have user's manuals with lot of marketing and very few useful tips or information. Sonnox manuals are of real help. Read them, they are not a waste of time, they are your best inversion of time.
If you are learning to mix (as myself) there is a lot of interesting and useful information inside those manuals what will help you to choose what to do for each particular case.
These plugins, together with IK Multimedia T-Racks 3, RNDigital IK Inspector XL, 112dB RedMonitor and TT Dynamic Range plugins is all I usually need to have the job done.
Be sure to check Youtube often. Sonnox have an user with very useful videos showing how to achieve some interesting studio tricks, where you will learn a lot about the potential of your Sonnox plugins.
Note: this is a revisited entry that was originally posted in my Spanish version of this blog, with added comments after using more often this pack of plug ins.
If, like in my case, you are trying to build your own home studio and, you are thinking on recording, mixing and masterizing in your PC, with acceptable results then, you should be looking for those plugins that can help you in each phase and, I am quite sure that you have already heard about Sonnox plugins, as well as the highly spread Waves' ones.
Lot of Masterizing or Mixing Engineers give credit to some Sonnox plugin. By example, Bob Katz considers them as top quality ones, as well as Friedmann Tischmeyer do it.
Of curse, I've tried every plug in that was included in Pro Tools 8.0 LE and, even that all them are over most of available plugins (with the exception of the big names), I find my mixes as lacking something.
I've noticed a high improvement in sound, when I went from Cakewalk Sonar 9 PE to Pro Tools 8.0 LE and, the quality of included plug ins was what made the difference.
I can easily imagine that the use of top-notch outboard units can improve everything even more but, tag prices go way higher when we talk about hardware.
I've tested demo versions of Waves, Wave Labs, Brainworks, Snolksis, PSP, Voxengo, Izotope as, well as practically every free VST or RTAS plugin. I am still pending on trying some renamed brands, as URS, McDSP or Metric Halo.
About those plugins I've tested, some are better than others but, usually, free plugins doesn't work better (or with a better quality in sound) than those plugins already delivered with Pro Tools 8.0 LE. I even was a bit disappointed with Waves plugins.
The only exception, to me, was the suite of mixing and masterizing provided by IK Multimedia and, very specially those plugins that modelate vintage outboard (Fairchild 670, Pulteq EQP-1A, LA-2A, 1179); those are top-notch plugins, that deliver exciting and very musical results and, that are cleary over PT's takes of same equipment.
ARC system of IK Multimedia was also very useful to remove most room's problems.
RNDigital's Inspector XL is very useful to understand what is going on in the mix, from a forensic point of view and, helps to better "visualize" issues in your mix.
112dB's Red Monitor is helping me to mix during the night, in a silent environment, balancing the stereo's phantom center to hear the mix in headphones very close to what you hear thru your monitors.
TT Dynamic Meter helps me to better monitorize and control the dynamic range of the mix and, the compression level that I am giving to the whole program.
Massey's plugins are awesome. The Limiter 2007 is one of my preferred ones and, Tape Head helps to give some warm to programmed drums tracks. TCH4 is a very easy to use compressor that delivers good results.
But, one of my main issues was to have a good equalization, without coloring the track or mix. Some new compressor is always welcome, since not every compressor it's the best for every work. I was also interested on the Transient Modeler (specially for those high transients that can even ruin the work of your compressor or limiter) and, about that cryptic Inflator plugin, that seems to be highly used by those mixing and mastering wizards.
Even having the amazing Wizoo Wizooverb W2 for reverberations, I find that isn't working fine in every situation. Sonnox has a very good reverb plugin also so, I wanted to compare those two.
Related to Delay, even that PT's delays work ok, the quality of Soundtoys Echo Boy's bundle is over anything else I've heard. EchoBoy can be purchased just as a part of their Native Bundle so, I have more freaky filters than I need but... how knows!.
I was after Sonnox plugins during loooong time but, the price was my stopper. The Elite pack, taking into account that you get the higher discount respect of the sum of their individual prices, was priced over 1000 Eur. Finally, I found a sale in an Spanish online store for 799 Eur and, I couldn't miss the opportunity to have such a quality plugins pack for the best price I've ever seen.
Presentation
Plugins come in a single carton box, in a single CD with some little information. I had to go to Sonnox official page to download the last updated versions of each plugin, together with their manuals.
Playing with Sonnox Plugins
Well, mate, every Sonnox plugin is a Little World in itself. Maybe, the simpler one is the Inflator but, for everyone, I highly recommend you to read the manual first. I wish there was a real-time button where you can browse the manual while working with the plugin.
First impresion is clear: they aren't friendly or easy to use as, by example, Massey's plugins. If you are already done in mixing and, you have a clear idea of what do you want to do with each plugin, don't worry, everything is there, plugins are really versatile and complete.
Sonnox Dynamics
Here we have the monster of Dynamics control. This plugin is some kind of high level channel strip, with several sections that you can activate or deactivate: a Gate, a Expander, a Compressor, a Side Chain, a Warm section and a Limiter.
If memory doesn't fail, it's based on the Sony's Oxford gear.
So, any kind of dynamics work you can imagine, can be cover with this plugin and, results are always of high quality. Controls really "make something", in fact, they are so sensible that, you better go for light adjusts and check results.
The Gate section allows you to filter the sound and reject the part that doesn't reaches a certain loudness level, what helps to filter the floor noise but, as every Gate, to get the right settings is a very tricky thing but, once done, the gate works awesomely. Gates have other creative uses, as gated reverbs or gated snares or, you know...
The Expander section can help to increase the dynamic range of a previously highly compressed source material. By example, I've found it very interesting to open the dynamics of highly compressed Drums Clips, as well as some old takes I did with overdone compression.
The Compressor can be used anywhere, in a track or in the master track and, works awesomely to sculpt the exact dynamics you wanted. Has even a Hold control, for a complete control of the Dynamics Envelope. This one is always in my master track, while I usually prefer other plugins at track level.
It works in three different modes: Normal works like the Oxford console; Classic emulates a Drawner DBX-160 compressor and; Linear is some kind of Linear Compressor (for very specializated use).
The Side Chain section allows you to better determine the range of frequencies that should be compressed.
The Warm section introduces some tube-like distortion and harmonics, giving the warm that a tube-based compressor would do to the mix, with silky results.
The Limiter section, help to completely control the peaks and avoid overs when converting the material to lower resultion formats. It's one of the best Limiter around and, I have it always at the end of my master chain.
I haven't checked the real CPU consumption, because I didn't had the necessity. Those huge and quality plugins seem to work without overloading the CPU too much.
Sonnox EQ
This is probably the highest rated by experts Sonnox plugin, because of its transparency and accuracy. It works really awesome but, you SHOULD read the manual before working with it.
EQ filters can be of 4 different types, some have the Q and notch level in a narrow relation, in a way that a parameter dramatically affects the other.
The EQ has 5 bands, each can of of a different type. Includes also a low-pass and a high-pass filter, to work on lower and higher frequencies but, those can work as shelving or parametric so, in fact, you can have up to 7 parametric band filters.
Parametric filters can work 24 dB per Octave down or up, while the pass-filters work with up to 36 dB down per Octave.
Some of the filters are good for overall work, some for the master channel (to slightly correct the overall EQ) and, some other to work on notch frequencies.
Sonnox EQ highly substituted the EQ III plugin of PT in my mixes, because the EQ III often gives some color the track or mix and, sometimes, very noticeable digital artefacts, when used over a 6 dB correction.
As colored EQ, I like more the IK Multimedia's Pultec EQP-1A.
Sonnox De-Esser
If you are done to friendly de-esser, you will be surprised with Sonnox one. Can be so deep and huge as the Dynamics plugins but, fortunately, it can work in two modes and, one of them is for people like me: dummies. In this mode, the plugin automatically detects the band were "s" happens and, sets up a band and a reduction level that works dynamically and fully automated. You can always increase or reduce the band with your mouse and, the threshold and level of reduction.
You can hear separately what is Inside the de-esser (what would be reduced) and, what is Outside (original signal), as well as the resulting mix.
The de-essing levels are automatically reset during the time, using a smart look-ahead algorithm, depending on the dynamic range of the source material.
The Expert mode allows you accurate control over every parameter hidden in this plugin and, was highly cryptic to me in my first experiences.
The Easy mode works really good, very transparent, smooth and without distinguisable artifacts.
De-Essers can be always used to get rid of certain frequencies that are a mess for the track or the mix. I've used this one, by example, to filter some fret noises in the Bass guitar track and, worked awesomely.
Sonnox Inflator
This plugin, very cryptic, is some kind of Harmonics Exciter, in a similar way as a BBE unit works but, is
able to add some warm to the the mix, as well.
It's very easy to use (maybe the easier of Sonnox plugins) so, test it and see what can it do for you.
Sony is describing it as "this kind of plugin that apparently increased the perceived volume of any track, adding warm and, making the material sounding better, overall". Go figure!.
Well, a really cryptic description but, whatever this plugin is technically doing, what is true is that it gives some kind of "sonic glue" to the track or mix and, well used, can enhanced a boring track.
It recalls me the Warm section of Dynamics plugin so, I use just one of them in the same track.
It worked specially well with Drums and Vocals, in my mixes.
Sonnox Limiter
Another highly acclaimed plugin from Sonnox and, in my opinion, is the best Limiter plugin I've ever tried.
Not so easy to set up as the Massey L2007 (that is second to none) so, once more, I had to read the manual to test this plugin.
It took me some time to fully understand the plugin but, now, it's always the last plugin in my master chain and, I had no overs anymore when translating the mix to lower resolution formats (MP3, 16 bits, etc.).
Usually, all limiters are darkening the sound but, this one works very transparently (if you want!) but, has controls to enhance the mix (to add some harmonics and warm).
Limiting can be of any kind, including a highly accurate breakwall limiter that uses smart look ahead algorithm to do the right thing depending on the dynamics range of the source material, just in time.
You can run it in safe mode (to ensure no overs) and, even push the input level higher than desirable, without affecting so much the quality of the output processed signal.
I love to work on 24-bits dithering but, before I start bouncing the mix to a lower resolution format, I like to change it to 16-bits and do the last adjust. Sometimes, to change the limiter from 24 bits to 16 bits, reveals that your mix will sound with issues when transformed to 16-bits (usually darker and boomier) so, a final check with the 16-bits mode saves me a lot of time later.
Sonnox Reverb
Well, that's a digital reverb, not convolutive but, of very high quality. Parameters everywhere. Has lots of slide controls to accurately sculpt the kind of reverberation you are after, for each particular situation.
Comes with lots of Factory settings, some really useful and pretty sounding, so you can start your tests choosing some of them and, modifying them to your needs.
You have complete control over any parameter and, I like specially the Blend control, that helps you to get the exact mix of Early and Late reflexions (even just one type of both).
I've tried it with everything and like everywhere so, this is my Reverb plugin for every work.
The Reverb includes an EQ section that helps to give the exact color to your reflexions or, even use the low and high pass filters to limit the band of frequencies were reverb should take place.
I totally forgot the Wizoo plugin after trying the Sonnox one and, I prefer it to all convolution reverb I've tried up to now.
Sonnox Transient Modeler
This plugin allows you a nice control over transients (peaks of small duration, usually at the beginning of the attack phase of the sound), sweetening them or giving more punch.
It's very usefull for very dynamic material. I used it with Bass Tracks that have high peaks and low valleys, to better balance the material, with very good results.
Overall Conclusions
The overall impression I had when I tried them first time is that every plugin was way huger than I was expecting. There is a lot of development work behind the complex and efficient algorithms that implement these plugins.
Every plugin is delivering a sound of the highest quality and, it's really difficult to make them to clip and, when they do it, they do it in a very musical way.
But all that complexity behind is being pop up to the surface so, overall, they aren't friendly-user plugins, you need several hours of tests to understand how they work and what can they do for you.
I highly encourage you to read the user's manual of each plugin before using it. Differently from other manuals, this Sonnox manual are really well written and of big help. To understand how each parameter affects to the sound, together with the suggestions and guides included in that manual, will lead you easily to get nice results.
The user's manual of the Dynamics plugin, worths the time, even if you aren't a user of the Sonnox Dynamics. Its explanation about sound dynamics and the tools to sculpt dynamics to your needs is highly recommendable for everyone!.
Those plugins are really workhorses, very capable to process any kind of material. The learning curve is high, sure, but I am quite sure you will end using at least one by track (sometimes, even 5 of them in the same track!).
I would specially thanks to Sonnox the excellent work made with their manuals. Usually, we have user's manuals with lot of marketing and very few useful tips or information. Sonnox manuals are of real help. Read them, they are not a waste of time, they are your best inversion of time.
If you are learning to mix (as myself) there is a lot of interesting and useful information inside those manuals what will help you to choose what to do for each particular case.
These plugins, together with IK Multimedia T-Racks 3, RNDigital IK Inspector XL, 112dB RedMonitor and TT Dynamic Range plugins is all I usually need to have the job done.
Be sure to check Youtube often. Sonnox have an user with very useful videos showing how to achieve some interesting studio tricks, where you will learn a lot about the potential of your Sonnox plugins.
07 December 2012
Amps: Vox Night Train + NT112 cab
Introduction
Before I've got any real tube amp and, while I was trying amp models in multi-effects pedal boards (as the Line6 Pod X3 Live) or in plugins (as IK Multimedia Amplitube 2), there were some models of amps that I really liked, specially in clean and, Vox AC30 was one of them.
I had the opportunity to play an AC30 in a friend' studio and, yes, its a great amp but, LOUD has a hell and, weighty as an elephant. I couldn't imagine transporting such a best from home to any other place and, either not inside my home, any way.
Other issue was the price tag. UK Made ones go really high and, I didn't wanted to have a big sounding elephant at home so, I've decided to go for some little brother in Vox catalogue.
I was really happy when I've saw the announcement of the new Night Train and, liked everything about it, the size, the weight, the price, the sound and, even that odd look. So, I've decided to give it a try.
Presentation
Well, this people of Vox knows how to present their products. The take care about each single product. Cables come in an useful fabric bag, Wah comes in a plastic bag with a handle (nice and easy to transport), and this amp comes in a nice padded soft case that you can hang on your shoulder like if it was a video camera.
The cab comes inside that padded case, protected with a plastic film and, includes a cheap speaker cable and the mains cable, as well. The handle of the amp's head is over the top of the case so, you can choose to carry it on your hand or in your shoulder.
The Head is weightier that it seems. The little size of the head makes you to think that will weight not so much but, the big transformers used for this baby weight a lot, they are really good dimensioned.
The look was stunning. This little amp, together with Orange's Tiny Terror were the ones starting that trend of lunchboxes-like heads. But, the look of the Night Train was really closer to a lunchbox than the Tiny Terror, that looked way moderner. Nowadays, we are very used to this look but, that was really special when I bought it.
The amp loads a pair of Sovtek 12AX7-WA tubes in the preamp and a pair of Sovtek EL84 in the power amp. The cover is easily removed unscrewing the 10 screws that stand it. Once removed, the access to tubes is clear and a child's game to swap tubes.
Probably, the weakest part of this amp are the holes for those screws, that tend to wide after some screws and unscrews, leaving the corresponding screw loose but, after 3 years (with intensive tube swapping tests), the cover still remains in place and just one screw came loose.
Rest of parts are of quality, beginning with the input and output transformers and, following with jacks and knobs. All work flawless and are solid. Switches aren't that kind of cheap Chinese ones but, sturdy ones.
The surprise was to look to the label and see that the amp was MADE IN VIETNAM!.
Well, I have to say that it's really good made and, I have no complains 3 years after.
The cab is surprisingly small and weights less than the head so, you can easily carry on your hand. All together makes really easy to transport head, cab and your rest of rig in a single trip and, without compromise your integrity.
Controls
This is a very simple amp and, that's something that I love since any little change in their tubes is immediately noticeable. It has just a single channel, but with tricky modes that provide this amp with a high versatility. It has no FX loop but, it takes practically good all the pedals I've throw in front (some very few exceptions).
In the front panel, we will find:
The combination between thick / bright modes and pentode / triode modes gives four very different amp sounds to this head, that can be rounded with the help of a very responsive tone stack.
Using it
The amp delivers about 15 W RMS in Pentode mode and, about the half (7.5 W RMS in Triode mode).
The amp is cathode-biased and therefore, needs not to be re-biased when swapping the tubes.
EL84 tubes are really affordable and there are good new production ones to test so, it's an amp easy and cheap to tweak and maintain.
The Pentode mode uses the full power of both power tubes and delivers an strong and bright sound. The Triode mode doesn't includes the two additional control grids of a pentode tube and, lows the power to half but, also changes the nature of the sound, giving a warmer and silkier (think on Class A) sound, absolutely tasty.
The Thick mode bypasses the tone stack (so, your treble, mid and bass controls make nothing) and, delivers a pure tube-like sound that resembles the sound of the good old vintage amps. Also, the gain is way higher there and it's quite easy to achieve overdrived sounds, with lot of sustain but, always very natural and harmonically rich sounding.
Every combination worth a try and have its use.
Behind this amp is the hand of Tony Bruno (a great boutique amps maker). The history seems to be that Tony designed the amp, point to point and, it's design was then translated to cheaper components and a PCB board, to reduce the cost of production and then the final cost for the buyer.
But, the soul of its design is there and, the four different modes make this little amp a very versatile one, specially for home or studio applications or, where the amp will be miked and routed thru a mixing board.
Triode mode can be very quiet for gigging, IMHO but, it's so sweet sounding that gives excellent Blues / Hard Rock tones.
Bright / Pentode mode gives you the classic bright and chimmey tones of Vox, with beautiful and crystalline cleans and, with a nice crunchy break up, when drived hard. The amp is LOUD enough, don't be fooled about their 15W. A 50W amp is just -3dB quieter than a 100W amp and, a 25W amp just -6dB quieter than a 100W amp so, the NT is about -9dB quieter than a 100W amp and, -6dB quieter than a 50W amp.
The NT112 cab mounts a Celestion G12M, specially designed for this amp that is very efficient and, projects the sound open and loud. I'm still impressed how good and high can this little cab project the sound, being so small. With good tubes, this little cab shines in a way that you will never expect for its price and size.
I've tested it with a band, 2 guitars, 1 bass guitar, 1 drum kit, 1 singer and, they said that it was sounding really loud. I've tested it in a little venue, little local, little people, without miking it and reproducing the backing tracks thru a 300W PA and, everything sounded really good.
So, despite of its size, it can do a great work.
I have tested it also with a 2x12" Cab (the powerful Orange PPC212) and a 4x12" with Celestions V30 and, of course the loudness increases significatively so, there is always a way to make it useful for each situation.
Tube Swapping
Even that with stock tubes the amp sounds good, you will never know how good can really sound until you swap, at least, the two pre-amp tubes for something better.
Sovtek 12AX7-WA tubes are the worst tubes, from a sonic-point of view, that you can load in an amp but, they have very low noise, very low microphonic issues and are cheap and consistently produced, what makes them a natural choose for amp makers (together with JJ's).
Any NOS tubes there will do an excellent job but, also lots of new production ones will work awesome and will give a great amplitude, definition and character to the sound than the stock ones.
Even the cheap JJ ECC83S will be one step over those.
You will start to notice a nice improvement with a couple of EH 12AX7 and, to my taste, the best you can throw there (new production) are the Mullard 12AX7 reissue.
Or you can choose the 12AX7 of your like (a Tung Sol or EH or JJ) for the first tube and some NOS Philips 5751 for the second tube, or a new production EH 12AT7 (long plate), or a NOS 12AT7 or a Mullard 12AX7 reissue.
With that change of preamp tubes, the Sovtek EL84 in the power amp will sound nice, since they are very well balanced and break up with a nice distortion grain. But, the Sovtek are a bit monodimensional and project the sound in a very centered beam.
Just swap those with cheap JJ EL84 and the amp will rowl like a tiger. I like those while clean but, I don't like how they break up but, without any doubt, are the powerfullest of new production EL84s.
The TAD EL84-STR is quite similar to the JJ but, less powerful and with a different EQ. I liked it more in this amp, since the way as it breaks sounds more natural to my ears but, both are in a very similar ball park.
The Mullard EL84 reissue is my personal election for this amp, since they are the ones with a greater 3D projection of the sound (with a wide beam), are very linear, very plain EQ'd and they go better and better the more you push them, with an incredible definition note-by-note even hardly driven.
I loved the sound of the Genelec Gold Lion EL84 a bit more but, those tubes are really weak and stand just few hours and, they are even expensiver than NOS tubes so, it makes no sense to buy those.
After tube swapping, I never had the need to change or upgrade the cab. I think the NT112 works really good paired with this amp and, just a tube swapping puts everything sounding as it should. And, that cab is cheap enough so, you can get head and cab for a funny price (taking into account that we are talking about a tube amp).
Videos
Well, that little lunchbox is appearing in many of my own videos but, there are some that are specially dedicated to this amp. The following one it's a travel along the several sample setting that Vox has in his site and, it's useful to check the different voices that this amp can deliver. Sorry, the guitar was so close to the recorder that there is a lot of feedback about the "acoustic" unplugged sound of the guitar.
But, this is one of my preferred demo (not mine):
And, if you are interesting on how different tubes sound in this amp, here you are the series of videos that I did while testing the different tubes for each position.
Before I've got any real tube amp and, while I was trying amp models in multi-effects pedal boards (as the Line6 Pod X3 Live) or in plugins (as IK Multimedia Amplitube 2), there were some models of amps that I really liked, specially in clean and, Vox AC30 was one of them.
I had the opportunity to play an AC30 in a friend' studio and, yes, its a great amp but, LOUD has a hell and, weighty as an elephant. I couldn't imagine transporting such a best from home to any other place and, either not inside my home, any way.
Other issue was the price tag. UK Made ones go really high and, I didn't wanted to have a big sounding elephant at home so, I've decided to go for some little brother in Vox catalogue.
I was really happy when I've saw the announcement of the new Night Train and, liked everything about it, the size, the weight, the price, the sound and, even that odd look. So, I've decided to give it a try.
Presentation
Well, this people of Vox knows how to present their products. The take care about each single product. Cables come in an useful fabric bag, Wah comes in a plastic bag with a handle (nice and easy to transport), and this amp comes in a nice padded soft case that you can hang on your shoulder like if it was a video camera.
The cab comes inside that padded case, protected with a plastic film and, includes a cheap speaker cable and the mains cable, as well. The handle of the amp's head is over the top of the case so, you can choose to carry it on your hand or in your shoulder.
The Head is weightier that it seems. The little size of the head makes you to think that will weight not so much but, the big transformers used for this baby weight a lot, they are really good dimensioned.
The look was stunning. This little amp, together with Orange's Tiny Terror were the ones starting that trend of lunchboxes-like heads. But, the look of the Night Train was really closer to a lunchbox than the Tiny Terror, that looked way moderner. Nowadays, we are very used to this look but, that was really special when I bought it.
The amp loads a pair of Sovtek 12AX7-WA tubes in the preamp and a pair of Sovtek EL84 in the power amp. The cover is easily removed unscrewing the 10 screws that stand it. Once removed, the access to tubes is clear and a child's game to swap tubes.
Probably, the weakest part of this amp are the holes for those screws, that tend to wide after some screws and unscrews, leaving the corresponding screw loose but, after 3 years (with intensive tube swapping tests), the cover still remains in place and just one screw came loose.
Rest of parts are of quality, beginning with the input and output transformers and, following with jacks and knobs. All work flawless and are solid. Switches aren't that kind of cheap Chinese ones but, sturdy ones.
The surprise was to look to the label and see that the amp was MADE IN VIETNAM!.
Well, I have to say that it's really good made and, I have no complains 3 years after.
The cab is surprisingly small and weights less than the head so, you can easily carry on your hand. All together makes really easy to transport head, cab and your rest of rig in a single trip and, without compromise your integrity.
Controls
This is a very simple amp and, that's something that I love since any little change in their tubes is immediately noticeable. It has just a single channel, but with tricky modes that provide this amp with a high versatility. It has no FX loop but, it takes practically good all the pedals I've throw in front (some very few exceptions).
In the front panel, we will find:
- The input jack
- Mode switch: thick or bright
- Gain knob, to select the gain of the preamp section
- Volume knob, to select the loudness of the power amp
- Tone stack: treble, mid, bass
- Bypass switch: triode / bypass / pentode
- On/off switch
The combination between thick / bright modes and pentode / triode modes gives four very different amp sounds to this head, that can be rounded with the help of a very responsive tone stack.
Using it
The amp delivers about 15 W RMS in Pentode mode and, about the half (7.5 W RMS in Triode mode).
The amp is cathode-biased and therefore, needs not to be re-biased when swapping the tubes.
EL84 tubes are really affordable and there are good new production ones to test so, it's an amp easy and cheap to tweak and maintain.
The Pentode mode uses the full power of both power tubes and delivers an strong and bright sound. The Triode mode doesn't includes the two additional control grids of a pentode tube and, lows the power to half but, also changes the nature of the sound, giving a warmer and silkier (think on Class A) sound, absolutely tasty.
The Thick mode bypasses the tone stack (so, your treble, mid and bass controls make nothing) and, delivers a pure tube-like sound that resembles the sound of the good old vintage amps. Also, the gain is way higher there and it's quite easy to achieve overdrived sounds, with lot of sustain but, always very natural and harmonically rich sounding.
Every combination worth a try and have its use.
Behind this amp is the hand of Tony Bruno (a great boutique amps maker). The history seems to be that Tony designed the amp, point to point and, it's design was then translated to cheaper components and a PCB board, to reduce the cost of production and then the final cost for the buyer.
But, the soul of its design is there and, the four different modes make this little amp a very versatile one, specially for home or studio applications or, where the amp will be miked and routed thru a mixing board.
Triode mode can be very quiet for gigging, IMHO but, it's so sweet sounding that gives excellent Blues / Hard Rock tones.
Bright / Pentode mode gives you the classic bright and chimmey tones of Vox, with beautiful and crystalline cleans and, with a nice crunchy break up, when drived hard. The amp is LOUD enough, don't be fooled about their 15W. A 50W amp is just -3dB quieter than a 100W amp and, a 25W amp just -6dB quieter than a 100W amp so, the NT is about -9dB quieter than a 100W amp and, -6dB quieter than a 50W amp.
The NT112 cab mounts a Celestion G12M, specially designed for this amp that is very efficient and, projects the sound open and loud. I'm still impressed how good and high can this little cab project the sound, being so small. With good tubes, this little cab shines in a way that you will never expect for its price and size.
I've tested it with a band, 2 guitars, 1 bass guitar, 1 drum kit, 1 singer and, they said that it was sounding really loud. I've tested it in a little venue, little local, little people, without miking it and reproducing the backing tracks thru a 300W PA and, everything sounded really good.
So, despite of its size, it can do a great work.
I have tested it also with a 2x12" Cab (the powerful Orange PPC212) and a 4x12" with Celestions V30 and, of course the loudness increases significatively so, there is always a way to make it useful for each situation.
Tube Swapping
Even that with stock tubes the amp sounds good, you will never know how good can really sound until you swap, at least, the two pre-amp tubes for something better.
Sovtek 12AX7-WA tubes are the worst tubes, from a sonic-point of view, that you can load in an amp but, they have very low noise, very low microphonic issues and are cheap and consistently produced, what makes them a natural choose for amp makers (together with JJ's).
Any NOS tubes there will do an excellent job but, also lots of new production ones will work awesome and will give a great amplitude, definition and character to the sound than the stock ones.
Even the cheap JJ ECC83S will be one step over those.
You will start to notice a nice improvement with a couple of EH 12AX7 and, to my taste, the best you can throw there (new production) are the Mullard 12AX7 reissue.
Or you can choose the 12AX7 of your like (a Tung Sol or EH or JJ) for the first tube and some NOS Philips 5751 for the second tube, or a new production EH 12AT7 (long plate), or a NOS 12AT7 or a Mullard 12AX7 reissue.
With that change of preamp tubes, the Sovtek EL84 in the power amp will sound nice, since they are very well balanced and break up with a nice distortion grain. But, the Sovtek are a bit monodimensional and project the sound in a very centered beam.
Just swap those with cheap JJ EL84 and the amp will rowl like a tiger. I like those while clean but, I don't like how they break up but, without any doubt, are the powerfullest of new production EL84s.
The TAD EL84-STR is quite similar to the JJ but, less powerful and with a different EQ. I liked it more in this amp, since the way as it breaks sounds more natural to my ears but, both are in a very similar ball park.
The Mullard EL84 reissue is my personal election for this amp, since they are the ones with a greater 3D projection of the sound (with a wide beam), are very linear, very plain EQ'd and they go better and better the more you push them, with an incredible definition note-by-note even hardly driven.
I loved the sound of the Genelec Gold Lion EL84 a bit more but, those tubes are really weak and stand just few hours and, they are even expensiver than NOS tubes so, it makes no sense to buy those.
After tube swapping, I never had the need to change or upgrade the cab. I think the NT112 works really good paired with this amp and, just a tube swapping puts everything sounding as it should. And, that cab is cheap enough so, you can get head and cab for a funny price (taking into account that we are talking about a tube amp).
Videos
Well, that little lunchbox is appearing in many of my own videos but, there are some that are specially dedicated to this amp. The following one it's a travel along the several sample setting that Vox has in his site and, it's useful to check the different voices that this amp can deliver. Sorry, the guitar was so close to the recorder that there is a lot of feedback about the "acoustic" unplugged sound of the guitar.
But, this is one of my preferred demo (not mine):
And, if you are interesting on how different tubes sound in this amp, here you are the series of videos that I did while testing the different tubes for each position.
04 December 2012
Wiring Diagram: Hermetico's LP Exchanger mod 2
Classification
Guitar Modded
Gibson Les Paul
Description
Difficulty Level
Hard
Features
Click on the diagram for a full sized view.
Guitar Modded
Gibson Les Paul
Description
- HH Pickup layout (4 conductors)
- 1 Swiftcraft 3-way toggle switch
- 2 volume pots with pull/push
- 2 tone pots with pull/push
Difficulty Level
Hard
Features
- Provides standard LP combos, plus a high variety of other combinations.
- Independent volume and tone for each pickup.
- Enhanced version of Jimmy Page's wiring design
Click on the diagram for a full sized view.
Comments
Jimmy Page's wiring mod achieves a lot of different combinations but, in my honest opinion, it does it in a way that isn't easy to recall and, some of the combinations produce just silence (the guitar shuts up).
The Exchanger 2 mod is my own take around the Jimmy Page's mod but, making controls easier to map in your mind so, you will be able to easily achieve exactly the combo you were looking for.
Each Tone pot splits its corresponding pickup.
Neck Volume puts Neck pickup out-of-phase (changes polarity).
Bridge Volume puts both pickups in series, overwriting the 3 positions of the 3-way (instant booster).
But there are some tricks hidden under this design.
Default, NT splits the neck pickup to outer coil but, if you have also BT up, selected coil is inner, instead.
Default, BT splits the bridge pickup to inner coil but, if you have also NT up, selected coil is outer, instead.
Also, the NV (neck volume), when changing the polarity of neck pickup (OOP) is reverting which coil is split by the NT pull/push.
In this way, we are achieving one more unique combo than in JP's wiring mod and, the best of all: there is no combo that can accidentally shut up the guitar!.
Click on this picture to see a full size of the list of combos:
In red, unique combos (that appear at least once in that list).
Notice that when the serial switch is up (BV = Bridge Volume), the three positions of the 3-way toggle switch have exactly the same combination. Once you push down BV, whatever the combo that was before in the current position comes back.
By example, imagine we had BV = down, NV = up, NT = up and BT = down and we had selected Rhythm position, we should have selected Neck Inner Coil but, once BV is up, we are having Bridge humbucker in series with Neck Inner Coil Out-of-Phase.
Imagine that, while in series, we change to Treble position. There is no change in the sound, since we are getting the same combo but, once we push down BV, we are getting Bridge Humbucker, instead.
As in the case of JP's wiring, volume controls are independent and allow you to mix both humbuckers at your taste but, when both pickups are in series (BV = up), both controls are also in series so, rolling off a bit one will also reduce the overall volume and, totally rolling off one we will shut up the guitar. In this case, the neck volume acts as some kind of master volume.
In the middle position (and in parallel, BV = down), you will achieve different nuances by mixing each pickup at different levels, since some frequencies will be reinforced while others will be dimmed.
Also, when in middle position and out-of-phase (NV = up), the different volume levels for each pickup, will give you different textures of the out-of-phase sound (Peter Green's mod), some are edgier, some are more subtle.
Just experiment with all this.
22 November 2012
Pedal Effects: Lovepedal Pickle Vibe
Introduction
The Vibe sound can be heard in so many classic rock sounds that is a effect well stablished in our mind.
Anyway, not easy to get a good Vibe pedal. Not easy to find a vintage-correct vibe pedal that can handle some of the impedance and buffering issues that happen when combining it with other moderner pedals.
And, definitivelly, not an easy effect. It can sound lush and awesome when played properly or totally weird.
Vibe is one of the signature sounds of Robin Trower and, you can hear it in several of his songs. Vibe was the ammo that used Hendrix in his "Machine Gun" song and, vibe is what you hear in "Us and Them" by Pink Floyd, just to mention a few examples.
This is not my first Vibe pedal. My first one was the Voodoo Lab Vibe. This was ok but lacked I-dunno-what.
My second one was Roger Mayer's Voodoo Vibe+. This has any possible control you can imagine so, it wasn't a plug and play type of pedal and, any accidental touch to one of the knobs would ruin the sound. Very studio-like sounding and big has a hell for a pedalboard but, a really nice one.
My third Vibe was Fulltone's MiniDeja Vibe 2. This one sounded really lush and very vintage-correct but, (as happens often with Fulltone pedals) had some impedance issues that made it very difficult to combine with other pedals and, the speed control cannot be fixed, since it's being controlled with the rocket pedal and, you need to push it up (oposite to a wah) to activate the effect, what means that you have to search for the wanted speed AFTER you switched on the pedal.
Any good phaser, at certain speed levels, can sound close to a vibe but, they will never sound exactly as a vibe. The vibe is some kind of mix between a phaser and a vibrato (and, sometimes, it has some kind of auto-wah sound) so, it's an effect on its own.
The Mad Professor Tiny Orange Phaser can go really close to a vibe (it's the phaser that I've found that can go closer to a vibe), in certain settings, by example but, the vibe has something else.
Well, I wasn't thinking on vibes anymore... until I saw some video around the Lovepedal Pickle Vibe and, liked a lot how it sounded. Easy pedal, straight forward, just a knob for speed, very small so, I thought "Why not?".
Presentation
It cames in a brown carton box, with just an small sticker that says "Pickle Vibe". Inside, the pedal wrapped in some protective plastic and a single sheet with very few information.
The unit is very small. Is one of those pedalboard friendly formats and, so small that it cannot really hold a battery inside so, be aware that you will need a power addaptor to run this pedal.
The instructions address you to play with the inner trim pot to get the sounds you want.
Playing it - First Impressions
Well, when I tried it first, my thought was: "excesive". I mean, the valleys and peaks of the sound are excesive so, some notes are really weak while others (mainly basses) peak really high. Also, the EQ range was excesive, the sound was a bit harsh, with piercing trebles.
So, time to unscrew the tap and go inside the guts.
The Trim Pot can be found inside, in the upper right corner (more or less) and, can be easily accessed with any plain head screwdriver. It worth the try, since you can shape the sound to your taste (between some limits) and it's a one-time operation so, I fully recommend it to you.
The Trim Pot adjustment is a bit tricky. There is a lot of change moving the pot just a hair to right of left.
To left, it seems to increase high end (or to move the sweep range closer to that frequencies) while, to right it seems to increase low end.
Take your time, move it a hair at once and check the sound (what earned, what loosed?). The trim pot is affecting both, the central sweep frequency (I guess) as the depth of the effect so, take it into consideration.
I know, this unit isn't based on photocells, as the original ones (something that Fulltone is also using) but, the sound is very convincing (once you tweaked that trim pot).
I've tried it before and after gain units and, its place is clearly before gain units, as usual with Vibe effects.
I'm still checking the pedal in a wider sense. I need to know if it's having some type of impedance issue when combined with other pedals. The pedal itself, doesn't seem to be affected depending on what do you put before but, still not sure if it is affecting to the following pedal.
Machine Gun's tones can be easily achieved with this pedal but, a depth control could be interesting to allow to tame a bit the excesive modulation for other kind of works, even that it sounds convincing with anything else. That Trim Pot remembers me the BIAS knob of the Voodoo Vibe+.
By now, I have a very small pedal that gives me the tones I wanted from bigger units, as the MDV2 or the Voodoo Vibe+ and, it's way easier to play so, not a bad thing. I still need more time for my final decision but, my first impression is that is practical, useful and nicely voiced.
The Video
The video demoes several speed settings and, how it sounds alone, with overdrive and with distortion.
No sense playing, just trying sounds. About 12 mins.
The Vibe sound can be heard in so many classic rock sounds that is a effect well stablished in our mind.
Anyway, not easy to get a good Vibe pedal. Not easy to find a vintage-correct vibe pedal that can handle some of the impedance and buffering issues that happen when combining it with other moderner pedals.
And, definitivelly, not an easy effect. It can sound lush and awesome when played properly or totally weird.
Vibe is one of the signature sounds of Robin Trower and, you can hear it in several of his songs. Vibe was the ammo that used Hendrix in his "Machine Gun" song and, vibe is what you hear in "Us and Them" by Pink Floyd, just to mention a few examples.
This is not my first Vibe pedal. My first one was the Voodoo Lab Vibe. This was ok but lacked I-dunno-what.
My second one was Roger Mayer's Voodoo Vibe+. This has any possible control you can imagine so, it wasn't a plug and play type of pedal and, any accidental touch to one of the knobs would ruin the sound. Very studio-like sounding and big has a hell for a pedalboard but, a really nice one.
My third Vibe was Fulltone's MiniDeja Vibe 2. This one sounded really lush and very vintage-correct but, (as happens often with Fulltone pedals) had some impedance issues that made it very difficult to combine with other pedals and, the speed control cannot be fixed, since it's being controlled with the rocket pedal and, you need to push it up (oposite to a wah) to activate the effect, what means that you have to search for the wanted speed AFTER you switched on the pedal.
Any good phaser, at certain speed levels, can sound close to a vibe but, they will never sound exactly as a vibe. The vibe is some kind of mix between a phaser and a vibrato (and, sometimes, it has some kind of auto-wah sound) so, it's an effect on its own.
The Mad Professor Tiny Orange Phaser can go really close to a vibe (it's the phaser that I've found that can go closer to a vibe), in certain settings, by example but, the vibe has something else.
Well, I wasn't thinking on vibes anymore... until I saw some video around the Lovepedal Pickle Vibe and, liked a lot how it sounded. Easy pedal, straight forward, just a knob for speed, very small so, I thought "Why not?".
Presentation
It cames in a brown carton box, with just an small sticker that says "Pickle Vibe". Inside, the pedal wrapped in some protective plastic and a single sheet with very few information.
The unit is very small. Is one of those pedalboard friendly formats and, so small that it cannot really hold a battery inside so, be aware that you will need a power addaptor to run this pedal.
The instructions address you to play with the inner trim pot to get the sounds you want.
Playing it - First Impressions
Well, when I tried it first, my thought was: "excesive". I mean, the valleys and peaks of the sound are excesive so, some notes are really weak while others (mainly basses) peak really high. Also, the EQ range was excesive, the sound was a bit harsh, with piercing trebles.
So, time to unscrew the tap and go inside the guts.
The Trim Pot can be found inside, in the upper right corner (more or less) and, can be easily accessed with any plain head screwdriver. It worth the try, since you can shape the sound to your taste (between some limits) and it's a one-time operation so, I fully recommend it to you.
The Trim Pot adjustment is a bit tricky. There is a lot of change moving the pot just a hair to right of left.
To left, it seems to increase high end (or to move the sweep range closer to that frequencies) while, to right it seems to increase low end.
Take your time, move it a hair at once and check the sound (what earned, what loosed?). The trim pot is affecting both, the central sweep frequency (I guess) as the depth of the effect so, take it into consideration.
I know, this unit isn't based on photocells, as the original ones (something that Fulltone is also using) but, the sound is very convincing (once you tweaked that trim pot).
I've tried it before and after gain units and, its place is clearly before gain units, as usual with Vibe effects.
I'm still checking the pedal in a wider sense. I need to know if it's having some type of impedance issue when combined with other pedals. The pedal itself, doesn't seem to be affected depending on what do you put before but, still not sure if it is affecting to the following pedal.
Machine Gun's tones can be easily achieved with this pedal but, a depth control could be interesting to allow to tame a bit the excesive modulation for other kind of works, even that it sounds convincing with anything else. That Trim Pot remembers me the BIAS knob of the Voodoo Vibe+.
By now, I have a very small pedal that gives me the tones I wanted from bigger units, as the MDV2 or the Voodoo Vibe+ and, it's way easier to play so, not a bad thing. I still need more time for my final decision but, my first impression is that is practical, useful and nicely voiced.
The Video
The video demoes several speed settings and, how it sounds alone, with overdrive and with distortion.
No sense playing, just trying sounds. About 12 mins.
20 November 2012
Pedal Effects: 3 wah comparison
Introduction
Ah, the Wah!.
Who didn't hear Hendrix' accrobacies with his wah?. Who didn't loved the wah in "Shaft in Harlem"?.
The wah is one of the simpler effects (from the complexity perspective) but one of the most difficult to master.
The wah is all about its core voice, that depends a lot on the kind of inductor being used, the sweep range and the central frequency that has the biggest bump.
But, that's not enough. Most of us developed a high sensibility in our hands but, no so much in our feet and, the wah is all about feet sensibility.
It's an awesome expression pedal but, takes a while to make it work in the way you need at a certain passage. From subtles changes in the central frequency to wide sweeps, the control of a wah is a big weapon for a guitarist but, not all the wahs work the same. Every maker offers one or more models with different characteristics and, some wahs fit better the needs of a particular player than others.
In my case, I prefer wahs based in the Italian Inductor, the early British Wahs. I am not interested on wahs using the American Inductor type, because I fill more human-voiced the Italina one.
That's why, in this comparison, I am leaving out the Morley Bad Horsie 2 wah and, just comparing three British-voiced wahs, instead.
The 3 wahs
The simpler one is the Vox 847. A reedition of the old Voxes, with true bypass modification, what is a clear benefit over vintage units, that were well known as true tone-suckers.
Remember that Jimi Hendrix started all with a Vox wah, before it was hardly modified by Roger Mayer, as the taste of Jimi was changing while recording and performing.
I hear no noises in this wah and, the rocket works well. Nice and wide sweep range, can cover from low to high frequencies and have a good central frequency. Straight forward, simple and effective.
The drawback with the 847 is that it can lead you to issues if you are planning to use it with a vintage fuzz.
The 847 isn't buffered when on so, the fight for the pedalboard chain is assured.
The Real McCoy RMC4 goes so close as possible to the awesome Vox Picture Wahs that started all this.
The Vox Picture Wah was named like this because the picture of McCoy was stamped on the back. The Wah was trying to model the Trumpet accrobatics of McCoy and, that's why that picture.
The Real McCoy RMC4 bases its design in that early wah but, adds true bypass switching and a buffer to make it fuzz-friendly.
Without any doubt, this is the rawest sounding unit in this comparison. The sound is deeply vocal, very human-like and has an awesome sweeping range and central frequency.
The drawback with this wah is that goes noisy with the time and, that the electronics can catch RF interferences and other weird noises (do you remember Machine Gun's by Hendrix, catching some Radio talking in the middle of the song?).
The versatiler of all them is the Roger Mayer Vision Wah. Since Mayer was Hendrix' tech, he knows a lot about how to achieve outstanding effects that work flawless for studio work. Roger Mayer uses state-of-art electronics components, maybe because it has an history in the Navy, what makes him to every time choose military ranged components.
From those 3, the purest or hi-fi sound is coming from Roger Mayer's wah. No noises at all and, the wah has a lot of versatiliy.
One knob controls the tone of the wah so, you can make it sounding more bassy or more trebbly but, I choosed to let the control to match the bypass sound of the guitar.
Other knob controls the output gain. I choosed to let that control to unitary level, to don't hear any difference when switching on the wah. But, the good thing is that you can always tweak gain and tone to your needs.
Four switches provide 16 combinations, where the frequential content, sweep depth and middle frequency change radically, from very vocal to very thin and, everything in between.
I recognize, this can make a new wah-user to be scared and, makes difficult for a non schooled wah-ear to choose the right switch combinations. To walk around the 16 combinations can be a hard job but, at least, you have total control over which kind of wah you are after.
The Vision Wah is also buffered when engaged so, no issues with vintage fuzzes.
The case is made of Carbon Fiber, what makes this wah way expensiver but, it has some other interesting things. By example, the typical 3PDT swith isn't a mechanical one but an electromagnetic one. That means that the clicking pops of switching it dissapear and that the component will last more time, since there is no mechanical fatigue. Same happens with the rocket pot, that works with an optical cell instead of typical mechanical pot, what removes any noise or crack when rotating the pot and, makes it to last longer time.
Tone wise, I prefer the deep vocal sound of the RMC4 but, this wah is way noiser than the other two. When moving the rocket up and down, you can hear the mechanical noise in your sound and, the floor noise is always greater than in the other two wahs.
The best filtered one is the Vision Wah but, I didn't heard any kind of disturbing noise in the 847 at all.
Playing with the switches of the Roger Mayer's you can get close to the sounds of the other two wahs but, I wasn't never able to exactly mime the sound of the RMC4.
Since I can go very close and, I prefer to better control my floor noise, that is already an issue because I am using vintage-correct single coils, I would leave the Vision Wah in my pedalboard.
The drawback is that is a huge pedal, wider than the other two and a bit longer (Roger Mayer is used to big effect boxes, BTW).
The Video
Even that isn't an in depth walking on every pedal, the first part compares the sound in bypass and switched on mode for each wah, trying to cover different sweep ranges and wah works.
I am taking more time with the Vision Wah because, I wanted to check how each switch is actually affecting the sound, to choose the better combination to my taste at the end of the video.
My choosed combination goes close to the sound of the Picture Wah but, it isn't an exact clone.
Ah, the Wah!.
Who didn't hear Hendrix' accrobacies with his wah?. Who didn't loved the wah in "Shaft in Harlem"?.
The wah is one of the simpler effects (from the complexity perspective) but one of the most difficult to master.
The wah is all about its core voice, that depends a lot on the kind of inductor being used, the sweep range and the central frequency that has the biggest bump.
But, that's not enough. Most of us developed a high sensibility in our hands but, no so much in our feet and, the wah is all about feet sensibility.
It's an awesome expression pedal but, takes a while to make it work in the way you need at a certain passage. From subtles changes in the central frequency to wide sweeps, the control of a wah is a big weapon for a guitarist but, not all the wahs work the same. Every maker offers one or more models with different characteristics and, some wahs fit better the needs of a particular player than others.
In my case, I prefer wahs based in the Italian Inductor, the early British Wahs. I am not interested on wahs using the American Inductor type, because I fill more human-voiced the Italina one.
That's why, in this comparison, I am leaving out the Morley Bad Horsie 2 wah and, just comparing three British-voiced wahs, instead.
The 3 wahs
The simpler one is the Vox 847. A reedition of the old Voxes, with true bypass modification, what is a clear benefit over vintage units, that were well known as true tone-suckers.
Remember that Jimi Hendrix started all with a Vox wah, before it was hardly modified by Roger Mayer, as the taste of Jimi was changing while recording and performing.
I hear no noises in this wah and, the rocket works well. Nice and wide sweep range, can cover from low to high frequencies and have a good central frequency. Straight forward, simple and effective.
The drawback with the 847 is that it can lead you to issues if you are planning to use it with a vintage fuzz.
The 847 isn't buffered when on so, the fight for the pedalboard chain is assured.
The Real McCoy RMC4 goes so close as possible to the awesome Vox Picture Wahs that started all this.
The Vox Picture Wah was named like this because the picture of McCoy was stamped on the back. The Wah was trying to model the Trumpet accrobatics of McCoy and, that's why that picture.
The Real McCoy RMC4 bases its design in that early wah but, adds true bypass switching and a buffer to make it fuzz-friendly.
Without any doubt, this is the rawest sounding unit in this comparison. The sound is deeply vocal, very human-like and has an awesome sweeping range and central frequency.
The drawback with this wah is that goes noisy with the time and, that the electronics can catch RF interferences and other weird noises (do you remember Machine Gun's by Hendrix, catching some Radio talking in the middle of the song?).
The versatiler of all them is the Roger Mayer Vision Wah. Since Mayer was Hendrix' tech, he knows a lot about how to achieve outstanding effects that work flawless for studio work. Roger Mayer uses state-of-art electronics components, maybe because it has an history in the Navy, what makes him to every time choose military ranged components.
From those 3, the purest or hi-fi sound is coming from Roger Mayer's wah. No noises at all and, the wah has a lot of versatiliy.
One knob controls the tone of the wah so, you can make it sounding more bassy or more trebbly but, I choosed to let the control to match the bypass sound of the guitar.
Other knob controls the output gain. I choosed to let that control to unitary level, to don't hear any difference when switching on the wah. But, the good thing is that you can always tweak gain and tone to your needs.
Four switches provide 16 combinations, where the frequential content, sweep depth and middle frequency change radically, from very vocal to very thin and, everything in between.
I recognize, this can make a new wah-user to be scared and, makes difficult for a non schooled wah-ear to choose the right switch combinations. To walk around the 16 combinations can be a hard job but, at least, you have total control over which kind of wah you are after.
The Vision Wah is also buffered when engaged so, no issues with vintage fuzzes.
The case is made of Carbon Fiber, what makes this wah way expensiver but, it has some other interesting things. By example, the typical 3PDT swith isn't a mechanical one but an electromagnetic one. That means that the clicking pops of switching it dissapear and that the component will last more time, since there is no mechanical fatigue. Same happens with the rocket pot, that works with an optical cell instead of typical mechanical pot, what removes any noise or crack when rotating the pot and, makes it to last longer time.
Tone wise, I prefer the deep vocal sound of the RMC4 but, this wah is way noiser than the other two. When moving the rocket up and down, you can hear the mechanical noise in your sound and, the floor noise is always greater than in the other two wahs.
The best filtered one is the Vision Wah but, I didn't heard any kind of disturbing noise in the 847 at all.
Playing with the switches of the Roger Mayer's you can get close to the sounds of the other two wahs but, I wasn't never able to exactly mime the sound of the RMC4.
Since I can go very close and, I prefer to better control my floor noise, that is already an issue because I am using vintage-correct single coils, I would leave the Vision Wah in my pedalboard.
The drawback is that is a huge pedal, wider than the other two and a bit longer (Roger Mayer is used to big effect boxes, BTW).
The Video
Even that isn't an in depth walking on every pedal, the first part compares the sound in bypass and switched on mode for each wah, trying to cover different sweep ranges and wah works.
I am taking more time with the Vision Wah because, I wanted to check how each switch is actually affecting the sound, to choose the better combination to my taste at the end of the video.
My choosed combination goes close to the sound of the Picture Wah but, it isn't an exact clone.
Pedal effects: 3 buffer comparison
Introduction
If you are running a simple rig, with just a guitar and an amp and, eventually a couple of pedals you will probably never need some buffer in your chain (at least that one of those pedals uses it).
But, even with simple rigs, if the run of guitar cable is long enough, the lost of high end, strength and punch can start to appear. This is when a buffer can help you to restore your lost frequencies, signal strength and punch.
Buffers are very simple circuits and, one of the simplest of any pedal effect. In fact, they are some kind of unitary gain amp that works to make the next pedal to see the signal as if the cable between your guitar and the buffer didn't existed.
This sounds good enough!. But, we were already discussing in my entry "the cost of the cup of tone" that, even the simplest design with a single transistor is now the one that is creating the sound, your guitar isn't anymore. Therefore, how transparent a buffer can be will depend on the design and quality of their components.
Taking the oportunity that I will repatch my pedalboard with Mogami's cables and, that I've removed all the pedals, I wanted to check the three buffer pedals that I actually have.
The three buffers
First buffer I've ever owned was the MXR MC-401 Booster / Line Driver. This pedal has two functions. When the booster knob is on its minimum, the gain is unitary so, just the buffer (Line Driver) is working to restore the original signal's caracteristics. For this test, I was only interested on the buffer side of each pedal.
Second buffer I've bought is the Mad Professor Ruby Red Booster. This pedal has an inner micro-switch to activate or deactivate the buffer and, three knobs that work in two more additional boosters (a typical booster and a treble-booster). I've maintained the inner buffer active but, I didn't stepped over the pedal to avoid to run the booster sections of such a pedal.
Third buffer was the Wampler Clean Buffer. This is the simpler of all them, the buffer is just active when you step over the pedal switch, otherwise, true bypassed.
I don't know why but the MXR never worked fine for me. I remember having lots of troubles when I've tried it to push the rest of the chain. I've always feel it as thinning the sound and removing some of the body.
The Mad Professor one is a very good pedal, a real Swiss-Knife. The two additional boosters help to have exactly what you want to deliver to the rest to your pedalboard.
The reason to go for the Wampler's one was that, after loading the first Wampler pedal in my pedalboard, I've realized that those were the pedals that were delivering the sound I always wanted and, therefore, I didn't needed the booster function of the Ruby or the MXR and, then, a simple buffer should work in my chain.
The Test
To no compromise the results, I've feeded every pedal with the same Pedal Power unit and, plugged just to one at a time, without changing amp' setting and, with guitar controls all the way open.
Overall, I have the impression that all the buffers are bringing back lots of high end and, all them tend to make the sound a bit thinner and sharper but, the effect is more clear in the MXR, then in the Ruby and then in the Wampler.
When you strum hard power chords, I feel some hollowness in the MXR, a bit less in the Ruby and nothing in the Wampler, that retains full strenght and punch, while the punch is being tamed in the MXR.
The MXR is probably the one with more high end and, can sound a bit harsh or even piercing. This effect is less noticiable in the Wampler and a tad less in the Ruby.
What was a real surprise in the test was the tests with the pedals switched off. The Ruby one is out of this comparison, since the inner buffer was active all the time (no true bypass). When I've changed from the MXR to the Wampler I was highly surprised.
The MXR seems to be a tone sucker and, just pluging a cable in each jack makes the sound weaker, with less punch and a clear roll off in frequencies. But, the Wampler sounded strong, with less lost high end, full bodied and with punch. Why?.
Since both pedals are true bypass, I can only imagine that the components involved for both pedals are the ones making the difference. Is the Jack, is the switch, are the inner wires that link jacks to the switch, is the led?. I dunno but this unexpected results blown my mind.
The Video
Unfortunatelly the chained audio processing (24 bits to 16 bits to MP3 to Youtube) can hide the little details that are clearly audible live and, I am not very confident that you can hear them. Therefore this blog entry is a good complement to the video, resuming my feelings and experience.
If you are running a simple rig, with just a guitar and an amp and, eventually a couple of pedals you will probably never need some buffer in your chain (at least that one of those pedals uses it).
But, even with simple rigs, if the run of guitar cable is long enough, the lost of high end, strength and punch can start to appear. This is when a buffer can help you to restore your lost frequencies, signal strength and punch.
Buffers are very simple circuits and, one of the simplest of any pedal effect. In fact, they are some kind of unitary gain amp that works to make the next pedal to see the signal as if the cable between your guitar and the buffer didn't existed.
This sounds good enough!. But, we were already discussing in my entry "the cost of the cup of tone" that, even the simplest design with a single transistor is now the one that is creating the sound, your guitar isn't anymore. Therefore, how transparent a buffer can be will depend on the design and quality of their components.
Taking the oportunity that I will repatch my pedalboard with Mogami's cables and, that I've removed all the pedals, I wanted to check the three buffer pedals that I actually have.
The three buffers
First buffer I've ever owned was the MXR MC-401 Booster / Line Driver. This pedal has two functions. When the booster knob is on its minimum, the gain is unitary so, just the buffer (Line Driver) is working to restore the original signal's caracteristics. For this test, I was only interested on the buffer side of each pedal.
Second buffer I've bought is the Mad Professor Ruby Red Booster. This pedal has an inner micro-switch to activate or deactivate the buffer and, three knobs that work in two more additional boosters (a typical booster and a treble-booster). I've maintained the inner buffer active but, I didn't stepped over the pedal to avoid to run the booster sections of such a pedal.
Third buffer was the Wampler Clean Buffer. This is the simpler of all them, the buffer is just active when you step over the pedal switch, otherwise, true bypassed.
I don't know why but the MXR never worked fine for me. I remember having lots of troubles when I've tried it to push the rest of the chain. I've always feel it as thinning the sound and removing some of the body.
The Mad Professor one is a very good pedal, a real Swiss-Knife. The two additional boosters help to have exactly what you want to deliver to the rest to your pedalboard.
The reason to go for the Wampler's one was that, after loading the first Wampler pedal in my pedalboard, I've realized that those were the pedals that were delivering the sound I always wanted and, therefore, I didn't needed the booster function of the Ruby or the MXR and, then, a simple buffer should work in my chain.
The Test
To no compromise the results, I've feeded every pedal with the same Pedal Power unit and, plugged just to one at a time, without changing amp' setting and, with guitar controls all the way open.
Overall, I have the impression that all the buffers are bringing back lots of high end and, all them tend to make the sound a bit thinner and sharper but, the effect is more clear in the MXR, then in the Ruby and then in the Wampler.
When you strum hard power chords, I feel some hollowness in the MXR, a bit less in the Ruby and nothing in the Wampler, that retains full strenght and punch, while the punch is being tamed in the MXR.
The MXR is probably the one with more high end and, can sound a bit harsh or even piercing. This effect is less noticiable in the Wampler and a tad less in the Ruby.
What was a real surprise in the test was the tests with the pedals switched off. The Ruby one is out of this comparison, since the inner buffer was active all the time (no true bypass). When I've changed from the MXR to the Wampler I was highly surprised.
The MXR seems to be a tone sucker and, just pluging a cable in each jack makes the sound weaker, with less punch and a clear roll off in frequencies. But, the Wampler sounded strong, with less lost high end, full bodied and with punch. Why?.
Since both pedals are true bypass, I can only imagine that the components involved for both pedals are the ones making the difference. Is the Jack, is the switch, are the inner wires that link jacks to the switch, is the led?. I dunno but this unexpected results blown my mind.
The Video
Unfortunatelly the chained audio processing (24 bits to 16 bits to MP3 to Youtube) can hide the little details that are clearly audible live and, I am not very confident that you can hear them. Therefore this blog entry is a good complement to the video, resuming my feelings and experience.
Accesories: Mogami vs Evidence Audio Guitar Cables
Introduction
The goal of high end cables is just to transfer the original sound the most transparently possible, while preserving signal strength and frequential content.
In a previous test, it was very clear that cables make a difference. In fact, everything that is in the path of your signal and the final sound affects it in some or other way.
Thinking on my previous test, I can group cables in three categories: low, medium and high end cables and, this division isn't related to price but to the sound.
Low end cables are those that have microphonics issues, high floor noise, interferences... and sound dull, lifeless or their frequential content is so equalized that the guitar sounds different to herself.
Medium end cables haven't such a microphonics or noise issues but, deliver an EQ'd signal or lack some definition note to note. They usually work fine... until you compare them to a high end cable.
High end cables have an even representation of the frequential content, nice punch, high definition note by note and a strength signal, while preserving a good relationship between the signal to noise levels.
High end cables are often expensive. Period. But, some are astronomically expensive while others are reasonably "affordable".
Probably, the best sounding cables I've tested are Vovox and Evidence Audio ones but, both have a clear ergonomics issue. They are very thick and have poor flexibility and, are mess hanging from your guitar. So, even that I can use a Lyric II from the pedal board to the amp (because it's static), I don't find myself comfortable using it from my guitar to the pedal board.
In other side, to patch my pedalboard, I wanted to go for a cheaper high end cable and, I've already tested the George's L, Evidence Audio Monorail, Cordial among other low end cables. My last try was to patch the pedalboard making my own cables and using Sommer SC The Spirit cable and, even that they work good, I am finding the resulting sound as having a great amount of high end frequencies, that can result in a piercing sound sometimes.
Something I've noticed is that plated cooper strands tend to deliver a more defined sound but, with a bunch of high frequencies and, when reached some point, the sound can be honky or even harsh and piercing.
Silver plated copper strands have an outstanding definition (as the Vovox) and, sound bright but, comparatively more even than tin plated copper strands (as the Sommer).
There was a Brand that I always wanted to try, because it's an standard in lots of Recording Studios. I know most of the patch cables used with studio gear are usually made with Mogami' stuff. I didn't wanted a HI-FI like cable so, I went first to Mogami' site to explore their catalog and choose the cable that could probably suit my needs and, I found that Mogami 2524 instrument cable was what I was looking for.
I've run away of plated copper strands this time and, my election was that cable, without solid core copper (as The Lyric II) and with a thinner gauge and higher flexibility (even that the Spirit).
Well, today I was comparing the two cables that I was using till today (Evidence Audio The Lyric II and The Forte) against the Mogami 2524 and, this entry is all about my feelings with those three cables direct to amp, in a clean setting.
Comparing 3 cables
The thicker one is the The Lyric II, that has solid core wires inside and some complex geometry that makes the cable thick and very rigid. The Forte was Evidence Audio's approach to a flexible cable with the good things of The Lyric II, is less thick and more flexible than the Lyric II but, still rigid for a guitar cord. The Sommer cable is more or less equally thick than The Forte but, it's more flexible than The Forte, maybe because of the very special design of Evidence Audio cables.
The Mogami is the thinner of all them, with a gauge very similar to typical low end cables (what scared me at a first glance) and, just a tad thicker than the typical cheap Asian cables that come with cheap Asian guitars.
Tone-wise, the Lyric II stands its head over the other two. Has an outstanding definition note by note (same range as the Vovox) and a very even equalization. Every little nuance pops up in the sound. The sound is punchy (even overdiving the preamp gain, compared to the other two) and strong, while transparent clear and defined.
The Mogami 2524 has also a very even representation of frequencies, the sound is strong, well bodied and has a good punch (but a tad less than the Lyric so, it doesn't overdrives the preamp) and has an awesome definition note by note but, slightly minor than the Lyric. But, in the Mogami, notes seem to be better "glued", while in the Lyric, sensation is that they are somewhat "independently sounding". We are talking about very fine nuances and, not about big differences in the quality of sound. I have no doubt that the Lyric is just one step over the Mogami, even that this step is very short.
The Forte surprised me this time. More or less, it has the same strength and punch of the Mogami (maybe a tad less) but, the frequential reproduction isn't so even. It sounded to me as a bit hollow in the mids and with an slight bump on high end (specially) and low end frequencies. Compared to the other two, percussive chords sounded with less punch and with less body. Once again, we are talking about very fine details here but, I have no doubt that the Mogami is slightly better and, its flexibility admits no comparison with the other two.
The Video
I've prepared a very short video (about 8 mins) demoing the three cables. Take into account that the conversion process, from the original 24 bits audio to the 16 bits that allow the video editor generates a lost in subtle details of the sound (that at the end are which make the difference). The audio is then converted to MP3 format, when rendering the video and then processed by Youtube so, I am not very confident you can get the details I am mentioning above and, that's why this blog entry complements the video with the sound information that the video cannot accurately reproduce.
Anyway, you will notice that, once reached some quality level, any good cable can do the job with ease.
Final Comment
My original thought was to substitute the Spirit cable with Mogami's in the pedalboard, because I thought that they will probably not stand a comparison against the Evidence ones but, I was gratefully surprised with the results of the test so, I am thinking in substitute The Forte one with this Mogami. I don't see the urgent need to remove the Lyric, instead (because it rests on the floor).
Most Mogami cables are sell bulk so, you can make your own cables to your wanted length and, they are thin and flexible enough to patch a pedalboard and to hung from your guitar. Sonically are at same level than The Lyric or Vovox and are expensiver.
I have still to compare them against Sommer SC The Spirit ones and see how well they work on the pedalboard.
The goal of high end cables is just to transfer the original sound the most transparently possible, while preserving signal strength and frequential content.
In a previous test, it was very clear that cables make a difference. In fact, everything that is in the path of your signal and the final sound affects it in some or other way.
Thinking on my previous test, I can group cables in three categories: low, medium and high end cables and, this division isn't related to price but to the sound.
Low end cables are those that have microphonics issues, high floor noise, interferences... and sound dull, lifeless or their frequential content is so equalized that the guitar sounds different to herself.
Medium end cables haven't such a microphonics or noise issues but, deliver an EQ'd signal or lack some definition note to note. They usually work fine... until you compare them to a high end cable.
High end cables have an even representation of the frequential content, nice punch, high definition note by note and a strength signal, while preserving a good relationship between the signal to noise levels.
High end cables are often expensive. Period. But, some are astronomically expensive while others are reasonably "affordable".
Probably, the best sounding cables I've tested are Vovox and Evidence Audio ones but, both have a clear ergonomics issue. They are very thick and have poor flexibility and, are mess hanging from your guitar. So, even that I can use a Lyric II from the pedal board to the amp (because it's static), I don't find myself comfortable using it from my guitar to the pedal board.
In other side, to patch my pedalboard, I wanted to go for a cheaper high end cable and, I've already tested the George's L, Evidence Audio Monorail, Cordial among other low end cables. My last try was to patch the pedalboard making my own cables and using Sommer SC The Spirit cable and, even that they work good, I am finding the resulting sound as having a great amount of high end frequencies, that can result in a piercing sound sometimes.
Something I've noticed is that plated cooper strands tend to deliver a more defined sound but, with a bunch of high frequencies and, when reached some point, the sound can be honky or even harsh and piercing.
Silver plated copper strands have an outstanding definition (as the Vovox) and, sound bright but, comparatively more even than tin plated copper strands (as the Sommer).
There was a Brand that I always wanted to try, because it's an standard in lots of Recording Studios. I know most of the patch cables used with studio gear are usually made with Mogami' stuff. I didn't wanted a HI-FI like cable so, I went first to Mogami' site to explore their catalog and choose the cable that could probably suit my needs and, I found that Mogami 2524 instrument cable was what I was looking for.
I've run away of plated copper strands this time and, my election was that cable, without solid core copper (as The Lyric II) and with a thinner gauge and higher flexibility (even that the Spirit).
Well, today I was comparing the two cables that I was using till today (Evidence Audio The Lyric II and The Forte) against the Mogami 2524 and, this entry is all about my feelings with those three cables direct to amp, in a clean setting.
Comparing 3 cables
The thicker one is the The Lyric II, that has solid core wires inside and some complex geometry that makes the cable thick and very rigid. The Forte was Evidence Audio's approach to a flexible cable with the good things of The Lyric II, is less thick and more flexible than the Lyric II but, still rigid for a guitar cord. The Sommer cable is more or less equally thick than The Forte but, it's more flexible than The Forte, maybe because of the very special design of Evidence Audio cables.
The Mogami is the thinner of all them, with a gauge very similar to typical low end cables (what scared me at a first glance) and, just a tad thicker than the typical cheap Asian cables that come with cheap Asian guitars.
Tone-wise, the Lyric II stands its head over the other two. Has an outstanding definition note by note (same range as the Vovox) and a very even equalization. Every little nuance pops up in the sound. The sound is punchy (even overdiving the preamp gain, compared to the other two) and strong, while transparent clear and defined.
The Mogami 2524 has also a very even representation of frequencies, the sound is strong, well bodied and has a good punch (but a tad less than the Lyric so, it doesn't overdrives the preamp) and has an awesome definition note by note but, slightly minor than the Lyric. But, in the Mogami, notes seem to be better "glued", while in the Lyric, sensation is that they are somewhat "independently sounding". We are talking about very fine nuances and, not about big differences in the quality of sound. I have no doubt that the Lyric is just one step over the Mogami, even that this step is very short.
The Forte surprised me this time. More or less, it has the same strength and punch of the Mogami (maybe a tad less) but, the frequential reproduction isn't so even. It sounded to me as a bit hollow in the mids and with an slight bump on high end (specially) and low end frequencies. Compared to the other two, percussive chords sounded with less punch and with less body. Once again, we are talking about very fine details here but, I have no doubt that the Mogami is slightly better and, its flexibility admits no comparison with the other two.
The Video
I've prepared a very short video (about 8 mins) demoing the three cables. Take into account that the conversion process, from the original 24 bits audio to the 16 bits that allow the video editor generates a lost in subtle details of the sound (that at the end are which make the difference). The audio is then converted to MP3 format, when rendering the video and then processed by Youtube so, I am not very confident you can get the details I am mentioning above and, that's why this blog entry complements the video with the sound information that the video cannot accurately reproduce.
Anyway, you will notice that, once reached some quality level, any good cable can do the job with ease.
Final Comment
My original thought was to substitute the Spirit cable with Mogami's in the pedalboard, because I thought that they will probably not stand a comparison against the Evidence ones but, I was gratefully surprised with the results of the test so, I am thinking in substitute The Forte one with this Mogami. I don't see the urgent need to remove the Lyric, instead (because it rests on the floor).
Most Mogami cables are sell bulk so, you can make your own cables to your wanted length and, they are thin and flexible enough to patch a pedalboard and to hung from your guitar. Sonically are at same level than The Lyric or Vovox and are expensiver.
I have still to compare them against Sommer SC The Spirit ones and see how well they work on the pedalboard.
19 November 2012
Accesories: Neutrik Timbre Plug Test
Introduction
If your rig is limited to just one guitar and one amp (despite of one or more pedal effects), you can spend some time looking for the guitar cable that better fits your needs.
When you are using instead very different guitars and amps, the characteristics of a certain cable can be unwanted for a certain rig.
By example, imagine that we are using a Fender Stratocaster with vintage-correct single coils in an amp that's naturally trebbly (like a Vox) with a trebbly speaker (like a Celestion V30) and, using a high end cable that preserves or even pushes the high frequencies. The results can be really harsh and ear piercing.
Or, imagine that we are using a darker amp, with darker cab and/or speakers, with A2 humbuckers and, we use a cable with high capacitancy that still roll offs lots of trebles. The results can be really tud, muddy or dark, liveless.
So, it seems that the best approach wold be to preserve the most of your high frequencies possible and, being rolling off those later. But, this can lead to some other issues.
If you are using certain amount of pedals between your guitar and your amp (because you love pedals or because you cannot crank your amp and need a bit of help), you will probably end adding some buffer at the beginning of the chain, to feed the rest of pedals with a quality signal that preserves frequential content and signal strength.
Well, this last is my case. I was unable to remove the excesive high end that the Evidence Audio The Forte cable was delivering at the input of the pedalboard. So much high end makes the sound honky, a bit bonny, sharped and without body. The different gain stages (gain pedals) in the chain were increassing the loudness of such a high end, delivering a final sound that didn't liked to me.
Traditional approaches would be to roll off some high end content from your guitar, rolling off the tone control (what works the most of times) or to get a warmer cable, with higher capacitancy that can get rid of that excesive high end.
Some time ago, I saw some interesting video demoing the Neutrik Timbre plug. A plug that has 4 different positions that help to change the frequential response of your cable. I checked the price and, even that expensiver than other plugs, was affordable for just an extreme of a single cable so, I went for it and bought it. This is my short experience with that plug.
Presentation
Nothing great. Just a plastic bag with the plug dissasembled inside. No instructions.
You need to go to Neutrik's home page and search for assembling instructions to determine if the red wire inside the plug goes to ground or hot. It goes to hot (to the tip).
Assembling it
Overall, Neutrik plugs are very well designed and are easy to solder and mount. Just a child's game.
But, in the case of the TimbrePlug, things go a bit different. In first place, if you don't peal enough of the external isolant layer (the instructions say 2 cm, what ISN'T ENOUGH), the assembling screw (THAT IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WIRE PATH!) will be a mess and, to put everything together becomes a hard work. While to prepare an standard Neutrik plug can take me about 5 mins, I spent more than 20 mins traying to assemble it in the right way. So, take into account to peel more external isolant layer than specified in the assembling instructions, check the clearance between signal wire, shield and that screw.
If you take this into account, this will become easier.
The red cable of the Timbre plug should be soldered together with the signal wire to the plug's tip.
Testing it
I've prepared a Mogami 2524 Intrument cable (with cooper strands, not platted), with such a plug and one silent plug in the other extreme. I've plugged my guitar, direct to the amp to check both things: the Timbre Plug and the cable. I had another Mogami cable of same length, with an standard plug in one side and one Silent plug in the other side, for comparison.
That was weird!. I've switched on the amp and, inmediatelly was scared... The volume was weak, weak, weak and, the sound was dull, dark, distant. I've checked the 4 positions of the TimbrePlug and, just a bit of enhancement or darkness in one or the other positions but, same incredible low volume.
I played with the amp controls, increassing the gain (that basically increassed the floor noise) and the volume that seemed to do nothing.
For a moment, I've run in panic: were my amp's tubes went wrong?.
I've switched the other two amps and tested the guitar in both and, same results.
So, I decided to test the other cable (regular + silent plugs) and, the volume became normal.
At this point, I desoldered the TimbrePlug and mounted just a regular plug in this cable, tested again, and everything was as usual.
I am then very disapointed with the TimbrePlug but, I am still not sure if the issue was the plug itself or that, due to the difficult assembly and narrow space between wires and screw, maybe the screw drilled the isolant layer of the signal wire and created some kind of derivation to ground, what can explain the weak signal.
Since the second thing that I wanted to check is how that Mogami cable worked, in comparison with the Evidence Audio and the Sommer SC The Spirit ones, and liked what I've heard, I will delay a further test of that TimbrePlug for any other day in the future.
I am now recabling the pedalboard with Mogami 2524, because I am suspecting that the current Sommer SC The Spirit, that has a tin plated cooper strands core is the responsible for this excesive high end. My experience with plated cooper strands says me that this kind of cables are very bright sounding. While silver plated ones seem to deliver a more even response (but still bright), tin plated ones seem to be really harsh sounding.
After recabling the pedal board with Mogami 2524, I will compare again Mogami 2524 against the Evidence Audio cables that I am currently using from Guitar to pedal board and from pedal board to Amp.
If your rig is limited to just one guitar and one amp (despite of one or more pedal effects), you can spend some time looking for the guitar cable that better fits your needs.
When you are using instead very different guitars and amps, the characteristics of a certain cable can be unwanted for a certain rig.
By example, imagine that we are using a Fender Stratocaster with vintage-correct single coils in an amp that's naturally trebbly (like a Vox) with a trebbly speaker (like a Celestion V30) and, using a high end cable that preserves or even pushes the high frequencies. The results can be really harsh and ear piercing.
Or, imagine that we are using a darker amp, with darker cab and/or speakers, with A2 humbuckers and, we use a cable with high capacitancy that still roll offs lots of trebles. The results can be really tud, muddy or dark, liveless.
So, it seems that the best approach wold be to preserve the most of your high frequencies possible and, being rolling off those later. But, this can lead to some other issues.
If you are using certain amount of pedals between your guitar and your amp (because you love pedals or because you cannot crank your amp and need a bit of help), you will probably end adding some buffer at the beginning of the chain, to feed the rest of pedals with a quality signal that preserves frequential content and signal strength.
Well, this last is my case. I was unable to remove the excesive high end that the Evidence Audio The Forte cable was delivering at the input of the pedalboard. So much high end makes the sound honky, a bit bonny, sharped and without body. The different gain stages (gain pedals) in the chain were increassing the loudness of such a high end, delivering a final sound that didn't liked to me.
Traditional approaches would be to roll off some high end content from your guitar, rolling off the tone control (what works the most of times) or to get a warmer cable, with higher capacitancy that can get rid of that excesive high end.
Some time ago, I saw some interesting video demoing the Neutrik Timbre plug. A plug that has 4 different positions that help to change the frequential response of your cable. I checked the price and, even that expensiver than other plugs, was affordable for just an extreme of a single cable so, I went for it and bought it. This is my short experience with that plug.
Presentation
Nothing great. Just a plastic bag with the plug dissasembled inside. No instructions.
You need to go to Neutrik's home page and search for assembling instructions to determine if the red wire inside the plug goes to ground or hot. It goes to hot (to the tip).
Assembling it
Overall, Neutrik plugs are very well designed and are easy to solder and mount. Just a child's game.
But, in the case of the TimbrePlug, things go a bit different. In first place, if you don't peal enough of the external isolant layer (the instructions say 2 cm, what ISN'T ENOUGH), the assembling screw (THAT IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WIRE PATH!) will be a mess and, to put everything together becomes a hard work. While to prepare an standard Neutrik plug can take me about 5 mins, I spent more than 20 mins traying to assemble it in the right way. So, take into account to peel more external isolant layer than specified in the assembling instructions, check the clearance between signal wire, shield and that screw.
If you take this into account, this will become easier.
The red cable of the Timbre plug should be soldered together with the signal wire to the plug's tip.
Testing it
I've prepared a Mogami 2524 Intrument cable (with cooper strands, not platted), with such a plug and one silent plug in the other extreme. I've plugged my guitar, direct to the amp to check both things: the Timbre Plug and the cable. I had another Mogami cable of same length, with an standard plug in one side and one Silent plug in the other side, for comparison.
That was weird!. I've switched on the amp and, inmediatelly was scared... The volume was weak, weak, weak and, the sound was dull, dark, distant. I've checked the 4 positions of the TimbrePlug and, just a bit of enhancement or darkness in one or the other positions but, same incredible low volume.
I played with the amp controls, increassing the gain (that basically increassed the floor noise) and the volume that seemed to do nothing.
For a moment, I've run in panic: were my amp's tubes went wrong?.
I've switched the other two amps and tested the guitar in both and, same results.
So, I decided to test the other cable (regular + silent plugs) and, the volume became normal.
At this point, I desoldered the TimbrePlug and mounted just a regular plug in this cable, tested again, and everything was as usual.
I am then very disapointed with the TimbrePlug but, I am still not sure if the issue was the plug itself or that, due to the difficult assembly and narrow space between wires and screw, maybe the screw drilled the isolant layer of the signal wire and created some kind of derivation to ground, what can explain the weak signal.
Since the second thing that I wanted to check is how that Mogami cable worked, in comparison with the Evidence Audio and the Sommer SC The Spirit ones, and liked what I've heard, I will delay a further test of that TimbrePlug for any other day in the future.
I am now recabling the pedalboard with Mogami 2524, because I am suspecting that the current Sommer SC The Spirit, that has a tin plated cooper strands core is the responsible for this excesive high end. My experience with plated cooper strands says me that this kind of cables are very bright sounding. While silver plated ones seem to deliver a more even response (but still bright), tin plated ones seem to be really harsh sounding.
After recabling the pedal board with Mogami 2524, I will compare again Mogami 2524 against the Evidence Audio cables that I am currently using from Guitar to pedal board and from pedal board to Amp.
16 November 2012
Wiring Diagram: LP - 1 Prail - 4 sounds
Classification
Guitar Modded
Gibson Les Paul
Description
Difficulty Level
Hard
Features
Click on the diagram for a full sized view.
With pull/pushed down, we achieve the typical LP combos.
The requester wanted to control the P-Rail neck pickup just with the two pots assigned to neck pickup (NV = Neck Volume, NT = Neck Tone).
For more easy memory map, the Neck Volume (the upper one) selects the P90 coil (up) and the Neck Tone (the lower one) selects the Rail coil (down).
For the 4 sounds switching, I am not using the SD standard (by Frank Falbo) but, the approach of ArtieToo, that avoids the antenna effect when the outer coil is being selected.
Color codes correspond to P-Rail, therefore Seymour Duncan's ones. The white wire is being represented here in light blue.
Volumes are wired in an independent way.
Tones are wired as per '50s mod, to provide an smoother roll off of trebles, when rolling off the volume.
Guitar Modded
Gibson Les Paul
Description
- HH Pickup layout (1 4 conductors P-Rail, 1 braided single conductor humbucker)
- 1 Swiftcraft 3-way toggle switch
- 2 volume pots (1 with pull/push)
- 2 tone pots (1 with pull/push)
Difficulty Level
Hard
Features
- Provides standard LP combos, plus the 4 different sounds of a P-Rail
- Independent volume and '50s tone for each pickup.
Click on the diagram for a full sized view.
Comments
With pull/pushed down, we achieve the typical LP combos.
The requester wanted to control the P-Rail neck pickup just with the two pots assigned to neck pickup (NV = Neck Volume, NT = Neck Tone).
For more easy memory map, the Neck Volume (the upper one) selects the P90 coil (up) and the Neck Tone (the lower one) selects the Rail coil (down).
For the 4 sounds switching, I am not using the SD standard (by Frank Falbo) but, the approach of ArtieToo, that avoids the antenna effect when the outer coil is being selected.
Color codes correspond to P-Rail, therefore Seymour Duncan's ones. The white wire is being represented here in light blue.
Volumes are wired in an independent way.
Tones are wired as per '50s mod, to provide an smoother roll off of trebles, when rolling off the volume.
13 November 2012
Wiring Diagram: Jimmy Page's mod
Classification
Guitar Modded
Gibson Les Paul
Description
Difficulty Level
Hard
Features
Click on the diagram for a full sized view.
Guitar Modded
Gibson Les Paul
Description
- HH Pickup layout (4 conductors)
- 1 Swiftcraft 3-way toggle switch
- 2 volume pots with pull/push
- 2 tone pots with pull/push
Difficulty Level
Hard
Features
- Provides standard LP combos, plus a high variety of other combinations.
- Independent volume and tone for each pickup.
Click on the diagram for a full sized view.
Comments
When someone wants the highest versatility for its limited Les Paul (just 3 pickups combinations against the stock 5 combinations of a Strato), he/she immediately thinks on Jimmy Page's mod.
This mod provides 21 very interesting combinations, that can be read here: (click for full size pickup):
What I don't like about Jimmy Page's approach is the following:
- There are several combinations where all what you get is a blackout (no sound)
- It's not easy to map in your memory what controls to pull or push to achieve a given combination
This design is really tricky and needs a careful inspection and hard explanation.
I've seen many other wiring diagrams around there that are incorrect.
A nice one can be found on Seymour Duncan's forum (The Vault), drawn by ArtiToo, with the information that Robert S or Jeremy gave to him. That list above was prepared by some of those two guys (thanks!).
You can easily detect other false JP mods because you will see the two central lugs of the 3-way soldered together, what is not part of the JP mod and, one of the tricks that this mod wisely uses.
I have my enhanced version of this wiring, named Hermetico's LP Exchanger mod 3 that will introduce, once I update the design to a moderner look.
I have my enhanced version of this wiring, named Hermetico's LP Exchanger mod 3 that will introduce, once I update the design to a moderner look.
Wiring Diagram: Hermetico's Stratosphear mod 4
Classification
Guitar Modded
Fender Stratocaster SSS
Description
Medium
Features
Click on the diagram for a full sized view.
Guitar Modded
Fender Stratocaster SSS
Description
- SSS pickup layout
- 3 single coils, direct Fender replacement pickups
- 1 volume pot with S-1 switch
- 2 tone pots
- 1 Fender Super Switch
Medium
Features
- Provides standard SSS switching mode plus an alternate mode with interesting combos.
Click on the diagram for a full sized view.
Comments
For this mod, an S-1 switch or a 4PDT on/on switch is needed. Even that most of the job can be done with a DPDT switch, some position can leave some coils hunging from the hot path, what converts the pickup in a very large antenna that can catch any kind of noise. This is avoided with the help of a couple more of poles and, the reason why I am designing this with a 4 poles switch.
Given that Fender includes in several of their strato models the S-1 switch and, that this kind of switch is really discrete and easier to actuate than a pull/push, I went in that director for this mod.
Due to the complexity of the wiring, there is a dedicated tone pot for the bridge pickup but, a master tone for all positions. So, you can tweak the overall trebles roll off with the master tone (MT) and roll off a bit more for the bridge position (BT), what is always convenient, since the bridge pickup has always more high end frequencies.
When the S-1 is up (unactive), we achieve the standard strato combinations but, tone controls work as described above. When the S-1 is down, we enter in an alternate mode, with the following combinations:
1. Neck in Series with Bridge (like the 4th position of a Tele mod)
2. (Neck in series with Bridge) in parallel with Middle (very open but strong)
3. Neck in parallel with Bridge (like the middle position of a Tele)
4. (Middle in series with Bridge) in parallel with Neck (strong an open)
5. Middle in series with Bridge (some kind of Bridge virtual humbucker)
I've tried lots of combinations but, those alternate one that this mod has were the ones that I liked more.
This gives a lot of versatility to your strato, without repetitive combinations (by example, neck in series with middle is quite similar to middle in series with bridge) and, all them delivering an interesting alternate sound.
For sure, there is more room for improvements or changes. By example, we could use a master treble tone and a master bass tone, to better narrow the sound. I cannot cover every variant.
As always, not represented ground wires (as bridge's or shielding's) should be soldered together with the rest of grounds (inverted triangle).
Wiring Diagram: Mike Richardson mod 03
Classification
Guitar Modded
Fender Stratocaster SSS
Description
Medium
Features
What can be a bit hard to understand for some people.
Guitar Modded
Fender Stratocaster SSS
Description
- SSS pickup layout
- 3 single coils, direct Fender replacement pickups
- 1 volume pot with pull/push
- 2 tone pots
- 1 Fender Super Switch
Medium
Features
- Provides standard SSS switching mode plus an alternative mode with interesting combos.
This is the original sketch from Mike Richardson's:
What can be a bit hard to understand for some people.
I translated that sketch to a more friendly diagram. This is the diagram:
Comments
This is a more standard alternative to mod 02 of same author, because we are achieving the 5 regular Stratocaster combinations when the pull/push is down.
This time, in the alternate mode (pulled up), we achieve the following combos, instead:
1. Neck in series with Middle in series with Bridge
2. Neck in series with Middle
3. (Bridge in series with Middle) in parallel with Neck
4. Bridge in series with Middle
5. Neck in parallel with Middle in parallel with Bridge
I would swap postions 5 and 1, to make it going from weak to strong.
Respect of mod 02, we are loosing the Telecaster-like intermediate position (Neck and Bridge in parallel) and, we are adding a virtual bridge humbucker (bridge in series with Middle) in parallel with Neck, what gives a very interesting combination with strength an openess, at same time´
This time, in the alternate mode (pulled up), we achieve the following combos, instead:
1. Neck in series with Middle in series with Bridge
2. Neck in series with Middle
3. (Bridge in series with Middle) in parallel with Neck
4. Bridge in series with Middle
5. Neck in parallel with Middle in parallel with Bridge
I would swap postions 5 and 1, to make it going from weak to strong.
Respect of mod 02, we are loosing the Telecaster-like intermediate position (Neck and Bridge in parallel) and, we are adding a virtual bridge humbucker (bridge in series with Middle) in parallel with Neck, what gives a very interesting combination with strength an openess, at same time´
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