The ToneQuest Report

INSIDE
Mountainview Publishing, LLC
the
Jump Sturdy…
Our long and sometimes
tortured history with the
Stratocaster comes
to a happy ending
in Ensenada
4
Why the new
Roadworn
Stratocaster
is the best
we have ever owned
Pickups!
6
We revisit
the Custom Shop
‘69s and ‘‘54s
Slider’s
Classic ‘57s
&
a few simple
improvements
to the Roadworn
make a big difference
9
Nolatone Ampworks
We review
three variations on the
venerable Road Hogg,
plus
the Road Hogg Lite
combo –
the best 1x12 rocker yet!
14
How many ways can
a distorted guitar signal
be created with a pedal?
Brian Wampler
on what’s really
happening with overdrive, distortion
and boost pedals
17
The best echo/delay
pedal ever…
The Wampler Faux
Tape Echo
18
The amazing
Collings J35
The Player’s Guide to Ultimate Tone
$15.00 US, May 2014/Vol.15 NO.7
Report
TM
Jump Sturdy
Jump what? Oh, man, where you been? Jump Sturdy was a swamp witch roots hustler on Dr. John the Night Tripper’s 1967 debut Gris-Gris album on Atlantic records.
The patois of the street in New Orleans often swings between the language of the
cool and a more literal interpretation, which is what we’re workin’ here – a fonky
dance move to be conjured in your personal Quest for tone, and you’re gonna need
it by the time we’re finished with this edition of the Quest…
Five years have passed since a Stratocaster was featured on the cover of these
pages, and even then it wasn’t a Fender Stratocaster, but a Bill Nash Trenchtown
beater. When confronted by Fender, Nash hired a lawyer, stood his ground and
successfully reached a compromise that would allow him to continue to build
guitars inspired by the original Fender designs. Anyone building Fender
copies today owes Bill Nash a debt of gratitude for ponying up the necessary baksheesh when the rest of them were quaking in fear beneath their
workbenches. The Strat is undoubtedly the most copied guitar in history,
and the number of variations produced by Fender alone is hard to wrap
your mind around. For anyone craving a Stratocaster today there are
hundreds of options among vintoid booteek Strats, and those made by
Fender in Japan, Malaysia, China, Mexico and Corona,
California. You could spend as much as $120,000 for
a mint condition ‘56 recently sold on GBase, and as
little as $99.99 for a Torino red Squier mini Strat.
Our perception of the Stratocaster has constantly
evolved in the past 14 years with every guitar
acquired. We have easily bought a dozen Custom
Shop ‘50s and ‘60s Stratocasters, including a
desirable shoreline gold Cunetto Relic. We
optimized and reviewed several early Japanese reissues, a USA ‘07 Hot Rod ‘62, a
Dakota red USA ‘62, a 1999 Olympic
White ‘60 Relic with John Cruz neck,
a late ‘80s Eric Clapton blackie, three
Robert Cray Signature models, a 2010
‘60 Relic, a couple of Nash Strats,
and we created a limited number of
ToneQuest Stratocasters in 2006 that
were team built with the assistance of USA
Custom Guitars, Lollar Guitars and Callaham
Guitars. Peter Stroud was given the first prototype,
www.tonequest.com
cover story
and he has told us it is one of
his favorite guitars. When we
first launched TQR in 1999, we
owned a vintage ‘56 hardtail
Stratocaster refinished by New
York painter Jack Pidgeon.
Just a few serial numbers
away from Eric Clapton’s
famous Brownie, the ‘56 was
an impressive instrument with
a set of utterly captivating
original pickups that uniformly
measured around 5.4K ohms. Our very first Strat was a candy
apple red ‘66 with the big headstock, found in the Atlanta
Journal and Constitution want ads in 1980 and purchased
for $400. Despite our best intentions, we could never make
that one work for us at all. As much as we have admired and
pursued them over the years, the perfect contemporary Stratocaster has always seemed to elude us. Until now…
The Custom Shop Strats
we acquired have all been
well made, but in each case
we always felt that we had
been forced to make nagging
compromises. The Cunetto
was cool, but the maple
neck never really felt quite
right in an odd way, and
the guitar seemed stiff and
unresponsive. We bought
an Aztec gold Custom Shop
guitar with a great maple
neck stamped by John Cruz,
and while the Strat sounded
great, it was a bit of a boat anchor, deep into the 8 pound
range. We sat in with Bob Margolin one night and Bob mercilessly chastised us over “the heaviest Strat he had ever seen.”
We didn’t keep it much longer. Thanks, Bob. We bought a 1960
Custom Shop Relic in Fiesta red that was super light. We were
thinking of Ronnie Earl’s Mahalia when we bought it, but the
neck profile and frets were too small, and it just seemed to
lack power and punch. It looked cool, but the guitar had no
attitude. Truthfully, it was probably too light. Imagine that.
The gamble you take with solidbody guitars is that some of
them just don’t encourage resonant vibrations in all the right
frequencies. It’s the wood, and being wood, it can vary to the
extreme when used to make musical instruments. You’ll recall
the Relic ‘60 we bought for the July-August 2010 Jeff Beck
issue, and that was a good guitar except for the artificially
corroded saddles and tuners we had to replace. Our last
Custom Shop Strat was a beautifully aged relic in 3-tone burst
with a rosewood fingerboard, but again the tapered neck
profile was too thin and the ‘vintage’ frets just didn’t work for
us. We tried to make all these Strats work, sometimes willing
ourselves into embracing features that didn’t make them bad
guitars – they just weren’t the right guitars for us. If there is
one variation that we could call a consistent favorite it has
been the Robert Cray Signature Strat made in Mexico. The
neck profile is much bigger than Custom Shop guitars with
rosewood fingerboards or ‘62 reissues, medium jumbo frets
are standard, and the pickups sound just like Cray’s, because
they are. Like our old ‘56, hardtails also have a very unique
and soulful sound.
Have Stratocasters occasionally gone in and
out of style? It seems so,
especially during Led
Zeppelin’s zenith and after
Stevie Ray Vaughan hit his
stride. On one level there
were too many players
trying to sound like Stevie
in the ‘90s and a lot of
working pros eventually
decided that it was kind of
pointless bringing a Strat
out after he had utterly burned down the house so convincingly. Clapton wasn’t intimidated, but the boost circuit in
his Signature Stratocaster places it on a completely different level that far exceeds stereotypical Stratocaster tones.
The original Clapton Strat loaded with gold Lace Sensor
pickups is completely underrated, although the neck on ours
could no longer be fully straightened with the truss rod. The
Stratocaster remains a consummate workhorse, exceptionally
comfortable to play, and capable of cutting the gig in a very
wide range of musical styles. With the right amp and pedals,
it is also one of the most formidable hard rockin’ guitars ever
created. Of course, the champion strangler of the Stratocaster
in our time remains Jeff Beck, and this isn’t even open to debate, with a respectful nod to Mark Knopfler, David Gilmour,
Doyle Bramhall II, Anson Funderburgh, Ronnie Earl, and
your favorites, too.
In the past
decade prices
for vintage
Strats and
even those
from the late
‘60s that no
one wanted
in the ‘80s
have steadily
swelled, now
Stephen Bruton
elevated to
collectible commodities rather than musical instruments. We
-continued-
2
TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
cover story
will never forget what the late and great Stephen Bruton said
to us about the vintage guitar scene in the November ‘02 issue
of TQR:
“Well, I got in before eBay destroyed everything. You can’t
get a deal on anything anymore. I mean, everybody wants
to get as much as they can for something they’re selling, but
there are also a lot of us that don’t do that. We keep placing
instruments and amps with other players, and not for top dollar, with the hope that we might get it back at some point if
they ever have to sell it. I don’t go to guitar shows. I don’t like
that whole scene. There are a lot of people that buy rare
things and just put ‘em on the wall, and that pisses me off.
These instruments and amps are supposed to be played, and
played by people who can afford them. It’s ridiculous – people
paying six figures for a freaking guitar that’s just a bunch
of wires and wood. Frankly, I don’t think there’s a Telecaster
or Stratocaster made that’s worth more than about $500.
Greed is the number one of the Seven Deadlies, you know?
And no one is immune to it – I’m not, you’re not – but this
eBay thing has destroyed anybody gettin’ a deal.”
Bruton
planted
a seed
that
resonated
with
the
truth…
Let’s
see, you got a maple neck, fret wire, an alder or ash body –
neither of which costs much at all, three primitive single coil
pickups, some hardware and screws, lacquer, labor, and the
entire thing is held together with four screws… How much
could it cost to build that? Put another way, how much should
it cost to buy that? When you are procuring as much wood
and hardware as Fender does, their unit cost is very, very low
before you add the expense of doing anything in California,
labor and employee benefits. On the other hand, there are artists and builders like Tom Anderson, John Suhr, Scott Lentz,
Chuck Thornton, Ron Thorn, Andy Elliott and many others
building guitars inspired by the Stratocaster that are expensive because they have to be for the builder to survive. Still,
for an unadorned, straight ahead vintage-style Strat, two or
three grand seems a little steep.
As players and consumers, things are also so much more
complicated now. We have dozens of pickup winders all claiming to have tapped into the holy grail… How many different
ways can you wind a Stratocaster coil, and in 2014, how many
different sources exist in the world for pickup wire, bobbins
and magnets? Not many. Sure, a winder can tug on the wire
to alter the tension
and stretch the wire
as it goes on the
bobbin, guide the
wire by hand in a
random or uniform
pattern, and vary
the type of magnets
used between
Alnico II,III, IV and
V. They can vary
the number of turns on the coils, choose wire with different
insulating coatings and gauges, and in the end it is the sum
of all these variables that determines the sound of a pickup
and whether we like it or not. Pickup winders are mechanized
chefs, and every one of them is selling a secret sauce for what
has remained a very rudimentary device, yet one with the
potential of delivering gloriously magical tones.
So what is the state of the Stratocaster today? It remains an
immensely popular guitar, and rightfully so. The basic design
is brilliant, nothing less. As potential buyers, we are all affected by different motivating factors… Some people feel that
they must spend big to get the best. Collectors don’t evaluate
guitars by their worth as instruments or by their tone. They
are in the business of buying
trophy guitars.
Look what I
have. Even if
their friends
don’t have a
clue why one
guitar should be
more important
than another,
collectors develop their own hierarchy that is inextricably
tied to exclusivity and the price paid. More expensive must
be better. A limited edition must be better still… Fender has
been wisely milking this marketing strategy for years with
Masterbuilt guitars, limited editions and escalating prices for
ordinary Custom Shop instruments that sell for many times
what it costs to build them. And who can blame Fender for
doing that? We don’t. But we’ve had our fling with spending
$2600 on a used Fender Custom Shop guitar, and the fling
is over. We no longer feel that we need to spend that much to
get the best. Ironically, as Fender has steadily increased the
prices of their Custom Shop instruments, they have also dramatically increased the quality of lower priced guitars, and
that is the story we are about to share. How can you navigate
the mind-numbing number of Stratocasters in existence and
find the guitar of your dreams? First and foremost, you got to
have enough faith and nerve to Jump Sturdy. Now grab a cold
drink, put yer feet up, open your mind and Enjoy…
-continued-
TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
3
guitars
2013
Roadworn Stratocaster
Last month we shared our past
aversion to the Roadworn series of guitars. It’s one thing to
mangle a guitar in an effort to
create the impression of heavy
use – Bill Nash has done very
well with that concept even
though we have never seen
an old Strat that has suffered
quite the level of abuse equal
to a Nash beater… But the
sanding and aging on the
Roadworn Strats and Teles
Nash beater
were wholly unbelievable
– amateurish and crude, as if to suggest “I couldn’t afford a
relic, so I settled for this.” It’s kinda hard to strut your stuff
with a really bad parody of an old guitar hanging on your
neck, eh? Fender’s Mike Eldred wouldn’t be caught dead
playing one of the early Roadworns sitting in at the Doll Hut
in Anaheim. Hell, no he wouldn’t. As originally conceived,
they weren’t serious guitars. They are now.
The Roadworn Tele featured
last month inspired us to look
for a 2013 Roadworn Stratocaster. Our search in early
March failed to turn up what
we wanted as new stock, so
we trolled eBay and found
a 2013 Roadworn ‘50s Strat
described by the seller as
having been bought a month
earlier at Sweetwater, and his
son had decided he wanted
a Les Paul. Three bids were
placed and we sniped it for
$590 – $300 less than the actual $899 street price. The Strat
arrived the following week and like our 2013 Roadworn
Telecaster, the craftsmanship, fine details, finish, aging and
overall appearance were equal to any Custom Shop guitar we
have owned. Well, except for one thing… the seller, who was
located in Vermont, had kept the guitar in a hot and arid room
causing the neck to shrink and sharp fret ends to pop out on
all 21 frets. Razor sharp, the guitar was unplayable, and the
seller hadn’t bothered to mention it. Welcome to eBay. We hit
Duane The Vermont Ass Clown with an e-mail – send a $100
refund for our trouble or take it back, your call. He agreed to a
refund, but then decided not to pay it after we ended our claim
with eBay, so we left him some well-deserved stinky feedback
and moved on. There are no mistakes. Aside from the fret
ends, the Strat was an utterly amazing departure from the
Roadworn guitars we had seen before.
You can read about all kinds of home remedies for sharp fret
ends online. We recall one cold winter when Dave Tiller at
Midtown Music had to bring in three humidifiers after all the
necks had shrunk on dozens of new Fender guitars, but we
decided to go to the source and call Joe Glaser in Nashville.
Joe suggested we buy a long, fine file and try to find one that
was a little bowed and not dead straight, have at it, running
the file along the fret ends, up and down the neck. He also
said that using a humidifier would work, but we’d be facing
the same problem next winter… Whipping out a big steel
file on yer precious baby sounds scary, but it isn’t if you’re
careful and not too jacked up on a triple vente latte. We
bought a 9-inch bastard file for $9 at Home Depot and had
the fret tangs filed back down in less than an hour. The neck
otherwise looked untouched, and since the file was indeed
just a little bowed, we found it easy to file the tangs without
scraping wood. The
actual fret ends still felt
a little rough, so we
broke out a package of
Stew-Mac Fret Erasers
provided by Erick
Coleman, TQR advisory board member and
tech at Stew-Mac. The
Fret Erasers come in
five grits ranging from
coarse #180 to extra fine #1000 and being soft, they conform
to the fret profile as you use them with the stainless steel fingerboard guards Erick included. The pack of five Fret Erasers
sells for $30.95. Using the coarse grit and then repeating with
#400, we were able to nicely smooth and polish the fret ends
with excellent results. Recommended. www.stewmac.com
Now we could finally get down to business, beginning with a
proper setup and an evaluation of the stock Tex-Mex Fender
pickups, which we had never heard. If you aren’t experienced
at setting up Strats with a tremolo bridge, it can be frustrating,
and it is always a little more time consuming. We began by
changing the strings to a set of .010-.048 Pyramid roundcore
Nickel Classics. Tuned to pitch, the bridge was now canted
too far out of the body, so we detuned and adjusted the
-continued-
4
TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
guitars
screws for the trem
claw, adding enough
tension to the three
springs to leave the
bridge almost but not
quite flat on the body
at pitch. Next we
sighted the neck, and
as we anticipated, it
was bowed now because of the extra tension exerted from our
adjustment to the trem claw. We removed the strings from the
tuner posts and pulled the neck, noting a September 2013 date
stamp on the heel. We gave the truss rod a couple of full turns,
bolted the neck back on and tuned up. Whoah! Way too much
back bow now, so off with the neck again, back the truss rod
off a full turn (yes, it’s guess work) and try again. Perfect!
The neck now revealed just a hint of slight relief on the treble
side, so we began to adjust the height of each saddle. Tedious?
Yes, but you got to keep yer eye on the prize… Like anything
in life, repetition has its rewards, and we have become very
adept at adjusting saddle height to follow the radius of the
fingerboard and achieve the desired string height, feel and
action with minor final adjustments. It didn’t take long to nail
the setup and set intonation. Finally, we were ready to actually
play the Strat.
But first,
we should
describe the
guitar…
Weighing
7.15 lbs.,
the body is
finished in
nitro and
the neck in
urethane. The 2-tone vintage sunburst finish really does do
justice to an original ‘50s Strat, with the subtle alder grain
highlighted within the burst. Whatever you may have heard
about ‘butcher block’ bodies from Mexico assembled from
glued up pieces of wood covered in a thin veneer, the body
of the Roadworn is definitely solid. We have seen original
‘50s 2-tone bursts at guitar shows that didn’t look nearly as
good. The 2-piece alder body reveals a perfectly matched and
barely visible single center seam – no 3-piece or off-center
seams that you may have seen on other ‘affordable’ sunburst
Strats. The slight aging is extremely well done, and far more
subtle and realistic than many of the Custom Shop relics we
have owned from the past decade. The hardware is also aged
very realistically with none of the chemically induced heavy
corrosion that we have bitched about with relics in the past. It
appears, at least, that the hardware is being aged by tumbling
instead of being chemically treated. Like our Roadworn Tele,
the finish on the back of the neck has been lightly sanded to
a matte finish without scraping
the finish down to bare wood.
The neck shape is a perfectly
executed ‘50s V consistently
measuring 13/16” thick with
no taper, with a vintage 7.5”
fingerboard radius and ample
tall fret wire similar to 6105.
You’ll note no heavy aging on
the fingerboard – like the back
of the neck, it has been lightly
sanded just enough to take off
the gloss, leaving a smooth
surface that doesn’t feel tacky
like a gloss finish.
Tone
Let’s
see…
when it
comes
to Stratocaster
pickups
we
have installed and evaluated a lot – original ‘50s vintage
Fender, Fender ‘Original’ ‘57/’62 (standard in Fender Relics), Custom Shop Fat ‘50s, ‘54s and ‘69s, Fender Vintage
Noiseless, Texas Specials, Fender Robert Cray, Amalfitano,
Kinman, Don Mare, Harmonic Design, Kent Armstrong, Van
Zandt, Alan Hamel, Barden, Rio Grande, Will Boggs, Lindy
Fralin, Lollar, Slider and Rolph, among others. We had not
heard the stock Fender Tex-Mex pickups initially designed
for the Jimmie Vaughan Signature Strat, and the pickups
measured 6.25K/neck, 6.31K middle and 7.07K bridge. That
seems overwound by anyone’s standards, yet the Alnico 5
Tex-Mex pickups capture classic Fender tones played clean,
with brilliant treble and mind-altering low end. The crisp and
shimmering out-of phase 2 and 4 positions were among the
best we have ever heard, the neck pickup is stunning, and the
middle is brighter and more complex than most Strat middle
pickups – often a weakness. The bridge is bright for sure,
but not screechy or brash. This may not be your first choice
for heavily overdriven rock where you want a thicker tone,
but for cleaner
tones and blues
they are damn
good and absolutely worthy
of your attention. We were
really quite
impressed.
-continued-
TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
5
guitars
For this project we initially decided to revisit very affordable
Fender pickups, and we bought a set of Custom Shop ‘69s and
‘54s online for $135 and $115 respectively. We have reviewed
them in the past but it’s been ten years or more, and we were
interested in hearing them in the
Roadworn Strat.
With all the hype
surrounding the next
boutique, musthave set of custom
pickups that are
destined to appear on the merry-go-round of tone, should we really ignore pickups designed and wound by Fender? We suppose
some people might assume that being as big as they are, Fender
no longer maintains rigid quality control standards or sources
the highest quality materials equal to pickups made by small,
custom winders. In other words, they have no pride whatsoever,
and among all the deeply experienced guitar nuts that happen to
work there, nobody gives a rat’s ass about tone… Sounds pretty
stupid, doesn’t it? Well, we are about to find out…
Fender Custom Shop ‘69s
The last and only
time we have previously reviewed these
pickups was in a
Japanese reissue
Stratocaster featured
in our January 2000
issue. We sent the
neck to Stevie Ray
Vaughan’s former tech in Dallas, Rene Martinez for a refret
(no bass frets for us, thank you), and for $400 that was a nice
guitar, although the pickups, pots and wiring had to be replaced, and the urethane finish on the Japanese reissues is extremely thick. Things have only gotten better, and if you had
asked us in 2000 we would have never seen it coming. The
Custom Shop ‘69s were originally wound by Abagail Ybarra,
Fender’s longtime pickup winder since 1958 who retired last
year. Of course, her signed ‘69 sets now sell for $250-$500.
We didn’t feel inclined to pony up the Abby tax, so we bought
a new set online for about half of what someone’s custom set
would cost.
The ‘69s are wound on bobbins with ‘60s-era grey fibre bottoms using staggered Alnico 5 magnets and enamel coated
wire with a stated resistance measurement of 5.8K for all three
pickups. The concept of purposefully staggering the output of
Stratocaster pickups was not something done at Fender during
the ‘50s and ‘60s. The pickups randomly varied, but in the
late ‘60s they were more consistent than they had been in the
past. The first thing we noted as we unpacked the new set of
Custom Shop ‘69s
was their actual
resistance readings, which were
considerably lower
than the 5.8K
stated by Fender,
at 5.15K/Neck,
5.13K/Middle, and
5.17K/Bridge. Whether this can fairly be viewed as a negative is debatable, although if you are going to cite a precise
specification, it would be more reassuring to get closer than
the pickups we bought. Since the actual size of the wire on a
spool can also vary from the specified gauge, discrepancies
can occur in resistance readings among pickups wound with
the exact same number of turns. The ambient temperature
at the time you take measurements can also affect readings.
Resistance measurements aside, the Custom Shop ‘69s sound
really good – bright, clear and extremely percussive, with
scooped mids, and a very unique, piano-like timbre. The
wound strings are rich, vocal and clear, and treble tones are
classic Fender with a shimmering, pristine quality. The ‘69
neck pickup is truly one of the best you will ever experience,
and the middle pickup is equally clear, vocal and toneful. Our
memories of this set quickly returned as we played, and in our
opinion this is the most distinctive and easily recognizable
pickup set wound by the Custom Shop. As we recalled, the
keenly bright character of the ‘69 bridge pickup is the sole
potential weakness for some players, and especially those
who use overdrive effects or play through high gain amplifiers. The ‘69 bridge is so bright that it can sound too thin and
sharp with pedals or a cranked amp. One possible remedy
would be to substitute a warmer bridge pickup like that found
in the Custom Shop ‘54 set. Nevertheless, the Custom Shop
‘69 pickups produce an utterly classic Fender tone that is both
unmistakable and unforgettable. We can’t possibly know if
they will be your favorites, but if we had two Stratocasters, it
seems that at least one loaded with Custom Shop ‘69s would
be desirable.
Fender Custom Shop ‘54s
We should note that the
installation of our new
Fender pickups was fairly
straightforward, with a
few caveats…
We happened to have a
new, high quality USA
CRL Centralab 5-way
spring-loaded switch on
hand so we swapped it for the cheaper, stock 5-way in the
Roadworn. The stock plastic covered wiring is substantial
enough, but unfortunately they tightly wrap the wire around
-continued-
6
TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
guitars
the lugs on the 5-way prior to soldering and the lead-free,
environmentally PC RoHS solder is a bitch to melt where the
three pickup ground wires are soldered to the volume pot.
Junking the 5-way switch makes pickup replacement much
easier than trying to get the
wrapped wires
and solder off the
lugs. The stock
250K +/- 10%
pots are CTS and
worth keeping,
and you can
avoid burning up
the volume pot
by melting solder on top of the existing solder when removing
the pickup ground wires. Not recommended with a low-wattage hardware store soldering iron, however. We also modified the wiring to add a tone control to the bridge pickup (see
diagram). If any of the pickups in a Stratocaster need a tone
control, it’s the bridge, yet adhering to ‘vintage’ dogma, few
Fender production Strats are wired with a tone control for the
bridge pickup. It’s an easy fix, and in our opinion, essential.
The Custom Shop ‘54s were one of our favorite Fender pickup
sets when we first reviewed them over ten years ago, and nothing has changed. They lack the crystalline shimmer and clarity
of the ‘69s, yet
they offer another
equally desirable
flavor among
classic Fender
Stratocaster
tones. The treble
tones are slightly
warmer and less
piercing, and you do lose the glassy shimmer of the ‘69s. The
‘54s feature staggered output measuring 5.88K/Neck, 6.12K/
Middle and 6.24K/Bridge with staggered and beveled Alnico
5 polepieces. Overall, the ‘54 set is just a little warmer and
rounder sounding in all five positions than both the Tex-Mex
and ‘69 pickups. You will lose some of the pop, quack and
presence in the out-of-phase 2 and 4 positions, but the ‘54s
are very agreeable and likely to please both blues and rock
players. It really comes down to your individual level of treble
sensitivity and the character of the amps and other gear you
use. The ‘54s offer the perfect middle ground for Strat players,
not too bright and chiseled, yet still delivering quintessential
Stratocaster tones.
Just to confirm our fallibility, as we were screwing the pickguard on after installing the ‘54s we got a little sloppy with
our electric drill and torqued a screw too hard, cracking the
pickguard. We had a couple of Fender USA spares that feel
less brittle and probably
wouldn’t have cracked.
While we were replacing
the pickguard we added an
aluminum shield/ground
plate to the wiring harness. The stock Roadworn
pickguard comes with an
adhesive foil ground – the
aluminum plate is much
better, and like the CRL
5-way switch, a worthwhile and easy upgrade.
Slider’s Classic ‘57s
The review articles we present
here often seem
to write themselves. A certain
degree of planning is required,
finding and
acquiring a guitar
and pickups in
this case, but as we begin the process of comparative evaluation, the objects themselves seem to tell a story that we could
not anticipate in advance. You kinda have an idea how things
might stack up, but until you put in the time and effort to intently dig in and listen over several days in multiple sessions,
you really don’t know. The impressions left by Fender’s
Custom Shop ‘69s and ‘54s more than a decade ago returned
quickly, as if we were re-reading our original reviews (which
we didn’t do.) In fact, the last time we read those reviews was
in the final edit before the original print run.
Having completed our return to the Custom Shop pickups, we
sorted through a few other sets with the idea of including a
custom pickup winder’s work in contrast to the Fender coils.
We were tempted to review a set of Alan Hamel pickups
given to us by Peter Stroud, but since your chances of finding a set of Hamel’s pickups are slim indeed, we passed. We
could have broken out a set of Will Boggs pickups wound
with NOS wire, but he kinda evaporated, too… We chose
instead Slider’s Classic ‘57s last reviewed in a Custom Shop
Fiesta red Relic Strat in January 2009. Slider has sourced the
only authentic ‘50s covers with those unmistakable rounded
curves that we have ever seen, and while we really liked the
Classic ‘57 pickups, the beautiful Fiesta red Strat became
suspect the longer we kept it. Oh, it was an outstanding example of a Relic in terms of its classic appearance and appeal,
but as we mentioned earlier, in hindsight it was too light,
and in combination with the slim tapered neck the ownership
experience was not unlike dating a really beautiful girl long
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TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
7
guitars
enough to realize that beneath the physical charms there was
something missing. Like a personality…
So Slider’s Classic ‘57s went
into the Roadworn Strat with no
preconceptions, although when
you see those creamy covers, you
do get the impression that a serious piece of work lurks beneath.
Measuring 6.04K/Neck, 5.96K/
Middle, and 6.12K/Bridge, Rod
McQueen’s Classic ‘57s are wound
with 42 gauge Formvar wire using
artfully aged, beveled and staggered Alnico 5 magnets, and the
middle pickup is not reverse-wound. We noted that the middle
pickup resistance was lower than the neck, and that the staggered polepieces revealed a slightly different height alignment, so we checked in with Slider, who updated us on what’s
new with Stratocaster pickups in Melbourne and answered our
questions about the Classic ‘57s …
I need to get you two
of my newer sets to
check out! The 59/SRV
scatterwound pickup
sets are re-productions
of Fender pickups
produced in the late
1950’s. Throughout this
period Strat pickups
were built from similar
materials and to the
same basic specification. Any variation was mainly due to the different batches of
AlNiCo, 42g Fmv-H wire, and very importantly, the individual
operator that actually wound a particular set.
I am also winding the slightly warmer/fatter ‘60s set in AlNiCo 2. These have about a 6% overwind compared to the 59/
SRVs so they are more in line with the 62/63 vintage sets and
I am using AlNiCo 2 for warmth and fuller mids. I originally
made these for an artist friend to help carry through his solo
gigs where his guitar and voice are all that’s up there, so we
needed a full, warm and easily overdriven pickup set that
could do everything at reasonable volumes, no icy tone or
fear of going for the bridge position!
Regarding the resistance and pole stagger in relation to positional placement on the Classic ‘57s... I vary my placement
of a specific pickup within a set dependent on the balance
between the resistance (as measured via a Ohm meter) and
the actual magnetic gauss or strength and acoustic performance of a given pickup. I generally build my Strat pickups in
small batches of 3 sets at a time. Once completed, including
my special wax potting, each pickup is extensively tested and
plugged directly into a Class A tube amp and “tap tested.” I
treat each pickup batch like a chef testing his latest creation,
tasting a spoonful and making any final adjustments by taste,
feel and experience. One of the adjustments I do is to select
each individual pickup that will go into a specific set. Small
variations in measured resistance are one of the least important of my placement parameters.
As for pole length, I use an
“adjusted” vintage stagger on
my production sets which lends
some tonal assistance to the
lighter B/E strings. I do use a
totally vintage correct pole stagger, down to the 1/100” for my
“Replique Elite” 100% accurate
reproduction sets, which have the
low E and even lower A pole you
mentioned on the Classic ‘57 set.
A true ‘54 stagger should also
have the lower G pole.
As with the Fender pickups reviewed, we began with clean
tones played through our ‘74 Princeton, ‘64 Pro with outboard
reverb and the ‘65 Super Beater Reverb, and the Roadworn
Strat painted the room with deep, soulful tones entirely unique
to Slider’s pickups. Difficult to describe in words, we can only
say that the tone of the guitar seemed more colorful and alive
with rich harmonic overtones and an even deeper voice than
what we had thought was deep with the Fender sets. The neck
pickup is astonishingly good as only a Stratocaster can be, and
for a long while we were happily stuck in a jazzy Jeff Beck
groove playing a haunting, slowed down and less busy instrumental version of Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home.”
The guitar inspired all of that, and we have no idea where it
came from. Slider can also
be credited for nailing the
most difficult trick, which is
to produce adequate treble
in the 2 and 4 positions.
Without it, you get a muffled,
indistinct and rather useless
tone, but when the treble is
there, these two settings can
be very cool indeed, as noted
in so many of Eric Clapton’s
slightly tipsy recorded live
solos from the ‘70s. The
middle pickup is bright
enough to cut, yet rich with
mid tones, and one you will
use often, clean or dirty. The
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8
TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
amps
bridge pickup is bright, clear and clean with none of the trashy
overtones that are often produced by overwound or ‘hot’ bridge
pickups. And again, adding the bridge tone control makes all
the difference in moving from a trebly ‘50s traditional, Eldon
Shamblin vibe to a heavier tone suitable for hard rockin.’
We have been playing the Roadworn Strat now for almost two
weeks, yet it feels as if we have been playing it for years – as
if it had been made for us, perfect in all the ways that so many
other Stratocasters had fallen short of what we had wished
for, and yes, we have been pondering why… Mostly, it’s the
neck, although the entire guitar seems to fit us like a custommade suit. For whatever reason, the vintage 7.5” fingerboard
radius on a Fender makes all the difference, where a 9.5”
radius feels awkward and wrong. The slight curve to the fretboard makes playing seem effortless and easy. The neck shape
on the Roadworn is equally righteous – an elegantly conceived moderate V that is neither too thick or thin at 13/16.”
Just perfect. No less important is the way the urethane lacquer
has been sanded to a smooth matte finish that allows your
hand and finger tips to glide along the
neck with no fight whatsoever. The
taller frets are essential, too. String
bends are easy with just a little added
tension from the curved fretboard,
chords seem easier to hold and sustain,
and playing this guitar really does
feel completely effortless, natural and
familiar. The tremolo is also uncannily
precise, yet forgiving. It seemed as if
we nailed the initial setup almost too
easily, setting the trem just right (with
a peek at our picture of Jeff Beck’s trem height), and we’ve
been using the tremolo as a beautiful effect now where in
the past we left the trem arm in a drawer. And the Roadworn
comes right back to pitch every time. Bizarre, almost. In every
respect, this Stratocaster simply feels and sounds right with
absolutely no ‘what ifs” or shortcomings. If not for the tiny
Made in Mexico decal on the back of the
Roadworn headstock,
you couldn’t tell the
difference between it
and a $3800 Custom
Shop relic. What? You
aren’t swallowing that? Consider this – all those classic ‘50s
Strats and Teles were largely made by Mexicans, too, like the
famous ‘TG’ neck carver Tadeo Gomez and ‘XA’, Xavier Armente… It’s about time we found a Stratocaster like this, and
our advice to you? Set your sights on a Roadworn Stratocaster
from 2013-14, and when you find it… Jump Sturdy.TQ
www.fender.com
www.sliderspickups.com
Nolatone Ampworks
We first featured Paul
Sander’s Nolatone Wicked
Garden in the November
2012 issue of TQR, and
when Paul told us about
his new line of Road
Hoggs, we were all in.
Inspired to some extent
by the classic tone of a
Marshall plexi, Sanders
has developed four new
variations of the Road
Hogg featured here. If a
new amplifier is in your future, we suggest you give Nolatone
a serious look. Like a lot of us, Paul struggled to find an amp
with adequate clean headroom that could still deliver overdriven tones without driving the patrons out of his pub. His
amps are entirely unique, supremely well-built, exceptionally
toneful and simply a blast to play. Our reviews follow Paul’s
interview. Enjoy…
TQR:
Let’s start by reminding our readers of your background in electronics, and how, why, and when
you were inspired to begin designing and building
amplifiers.
I started in electronics when I joined the US Navy Advance
Electronics Field back in 1983. That’s where I was trained in
wiring and soldering as well. I’ve owned and loved a whole
range of classic and boutique amps over the years and ultimately decided to design an amp that fit the specific needs of
the pub I owned and played music in at the time – Lefty’s Pub
in Buford, Georgia. I needed enough clean headroom to play
funk and Johnny Cash, but I also wanted to be able to push the
amp to get crunchy for more rocking tunes but without killing
the people with overwhelming volume levels. I tried literally
dozens of different amps in the 15-40 watt range trying to
find that balance and never could. They were either not clean
enough, or too loud when pushed. So, the first Nolatone was
born. I quit buying so many amps at that time as well, but I
never stopped wanting them, so when I get an idea, I have a
bad habit of creating a new design or a variation of an existing
one to fulfill that idea. So 6 years later, here I am with a whole
line of models which are the result of my perpetual GAS. I
think I spent less money on amps when I just bought them!
TQR:
Can you briefly describe the different models you
build and the major differences among them in
terms of design and sound?
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TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
9
amps
I have a pretty
diverse range
of models these
days, in no particular order:
added versatility. What is it about the original plexi
design that made them sound so unique in your
opinion, and to what extent are those features in
terms of design and component choices evident in
your amps?
The Chimey
Limey 15 and
30 are based on
Chimey Limey a 1960 AC15/
AC30. This is pre-top boost, which to me is the more pure and
simple Vox circuit which delivers wonderful sweetness, bloom,
and chime.
I always knew Plexis were wonderful, but I learned that lesson
in extra depth while developing
the Road Hogg. Initially the
Road Hogg was intended to
be based on the Rotten Johnny
preamp because the Rotten
Johnny has such great versatility
due to the way the tone shaping
is configured (it’s not a typical
tone stack like a Marshall or a
Fender uses). The initial goal
was for Nicky Moroch who
needed his Road Hogg 50 to be loud enough in a 1x12 combo
to be heard on stage without monitors or in-ears, and he plays
on some damned loud stages.
The Wicked Garden is our channel
switcher. The clean
channel uses the
same tone stack as
an AC30 top boost,
and the overdrive
channel is my
Wicked Garden
own design which
was tonally bench-marked to an amazing sounding vintage
Marshall Silver Jubilee Dave from SoundPure in Durham, NC
loaned me. The circuit is in no way a clone, totally different
approach to the circuitry, but the type of preamp distortion is
in the same ball park.
Rotten Johnny is a 28 lb. grab and go 15 watt amp with amazing versatility while staying very simple at the same time. It
has nice clean headroom for a smallish amp, too (and getting
cleaner in the next generation). Wicked Johnny is the same
package as Rotten Johnny, but uses the overdrive channel of
the Wicked Garden. For you guys who want rock & roll gain
from the preamp, bring out the 28 lb. Wicked Johnny, turn it
up and leave that 100 watt half stack that you can’t turn up
past 1 at home.
The Junebug 2 is a 5 watt (single ended) “Super Princeton”.
Tango Wreck is coming soon – the next generation of the
22 Tango (my first design). My current plan is to make a
Nolatone-ized Trainwreck Express type amp as a tribute to
the late Ken Fischer, but who knows, it could end up being a
Fender type amp with reverb. We’ll see where the winds take
me on that one.
Road Hogg/Road Hogg Lite are Plexi based with extra tricks.
TQR:
Reading the commentary on your web site, you do
not hesitate to point to the classic Marshall plexi
amps as having inspired some of the greatest rock
music in history as well as inspiring your work as
a designer, with a few twists and enhancements for
I was comparing the Road Hogg prototype to my 50 watt
Plexi clone which represents an example of an amp that indeed would deliver the required volume levels. I noticed that
the Road Hogg prototype just didn’t have that “smack you in
the forehead” punch the Plexi clone did. I tore what little hair
I have out for weeks trying to figure out where I was losing
that in the circuit that originated with the Rotten Johnny.
Finally I
decided to
wire up a
Plexi tone
stack in the
prototype,
and BAM,
there it was!
I started
looking at
the wave forms on my tone stack calculator tool and realized
the way the filter network used in the Plexi tone stack shapes
the frequencies, all the energy is right there where it’s needed
for that punch. Sure, the output section, power supply, etc. are
all part of it, but all things equal between the original Road
Hogg prototype and the Plexi clone, that tone stack was the
difference, so I proceeded with the design based on that at the
core, and then added my own tweaks to improve versatility.
TQR:
Focusing on the Road Hogg amps that you have
provided for review, please describe the specific
features and differences among the variations you
provided.
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10
TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
amps
The amps provided are the Road Hogg 50, 37, 32, and Road
Hogg Lite. The idea is to provide an interesting review of how
differences in bias, filtering and voltage can effect the tone.
The Road Hogg 50 uses a traditional 50 watt Plexi configuration with fixed bias el34s, traditional filtering, etc. It is very
loud, punchy, and bold.
The
Road
Hogg 37
and 32
are an
interesting comparison.
They
both use
identical output transformer and power tubes: KT66’s into a Radio
Spares JTM45 style OT, which is not quite as large as the 50
watt Plexi style OT used in the Road Hogg 50. Both of these
also use the original filtering used in the early JTM45, which
is considerably smaller filter cap values than the RH50 uses.
These are key to extra juicy harmonics and cozy sag found in
the 37 and 32.
The difference between the 37 and the 32 is, the 37 is fixed
bias with about 420vdc B+, and the 32 is cathode biased with
about 380vdc B+. Those two details alone make the 32 a completely different experience from the 37, with all other things
identical. The 32 with the lower B+ and cathode bias runs
much closer to Class A and sounds astonishingly Vox-like in
comparison to the juicy classic old-school harmonics dripping
from the 37. Both drip with harmonics, but I think of the 37 as
being more “crunchy” and the 32 as being more “chimey” if
that makes any sense.
The Road
Hogg Lite
uses a pair of
6V6’s cathode biased
for about 20
watts. I use
about 420v
B+ to give it
good clean
headroom. It’s a smaller transformer set on a smaller chassis
to save weight and cost. In the standard 1x12 combo you have
an amp that can hang with most drummers in a very portable
35lb package. GREAT for gigging small to medium sized
clubs. The preamp is identical to the other Hoggs, just the controls are set differently to fit on the smaller chassis. Note that
a new head box is coming soon for the small chassis amps – a
smaller version of the TV front head box used on the Road
Hogg amps.
TQR:
We always like to consider the true intention of
an amp’s design... What did the builder wish to
accomplish, and for what type of player and music?
Is this a performance amp built for big stages, or is
it intended to be used at home by players who typically want distortion at low volume levels? Is the
amp intended to produce usable clean headroom
at high volume levels, or is it designed for players
who rely primarily on overdriven tones and distortion? In other words, what did you want the Road
Hogg to be and how should it be perceived in practical terms?
The Road Hogg was designed with the touring musician in
mind. The idea was to offer enough clean headroom for most
needs, but that is also expressive, dynamic, and inspiring
to play. The Road Hoggs are also designed to be very pedal
friendly. It’s easy to dial in night after night, and great if you
mark your dial positions with tape. However it also allows
enough tonal flexibility to tweak for different rooms (or
moods) if needed.
All that said, any amp is capable of being a living room
amp...it just depends on the level of tolerance of family,
neighbors, and local law enforcement! You don’t have to be a
touring musician to enjoy these Hoggs at home.
TQR:
Please describe the various options that are available with the Road Hogg in regard to circuits,
tubes, head/cabinet and combo configurations.
The Road Hogg line
includes the Road Hogg
and Road Hogg Lite,
offering a range of combinations so most any
player will be able to get
something that will work
for their situation:
The Road Hogg is the
higher end of the line
built on the larger chassis
with higher end appointments. It comes in:
22 watt (fixed bias 6V6s)
32 watt (cathode biased KT66s)
37 watt (fixed bias KT66s)
50 watt (fixed bias EL34s) (6L6’s available on request)
100 watt (available on request)
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TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
11
amps
Road Hogg Lite is 20 watts with a pair of cathode biased 6V6s
on our small chassis with a smaller output transformer for
lighter weight/lower cost.
Heads: Two styles, TV front or clear glaze panel. Also coming
soon, a new TV front head for the Road Hogg Lite (and other
small chassis models)
Extension cabinets: There are two
styles of cabinets:
Solid pine TV
Front and birch ply
split panel. The
Pine cabinets tend
to offer that more
“swirly” tone due
to the resonance of the pine. The birch ply cabs are a bit more
focused sounding. They all sound great. They are available in
1x12 and 2x12. I am also evaluating 4x12 cabinets and may
be offering those as well soon.
Combos: The same combinations in extension cabinets are
also available as combos. The Road Hogg lite uses a smaller
cabinet as standard but is also available in the larger TV front
cabinet for an upcharge.
Options: Series (unbuffered) FX loop ($50), custom color
($50 per cabinetry piece), premium oversized cabinet (Road
Hogg Lite only) ($100)
TQR:
What is the wait time for delivery once and amp
has been ordered?
Wait time depends on current backlog. Generally it is 4-6
weeks, but I always quote the current lead time when the order
is placed.
TQR: What’s ahead, Paul?
What do you want to accomplish long term?
I keep Nolatone small to assure
I can keep my finger on quality
and be responsive to customers. I was at a crossroads before
when I was deciding whether
to grow or not and I realized in
order to grow I would have to
do things I didn’t want to do.
I don’t want this to become a
“job”. Nolatone is fueled by
passion. I get great pleasure
from bringing my ideas to life
and knowing people make music with instruments I created.
For long term viability, I have set up Nolatone to be immune
to economic conditions. This assures I can keep doing this
without pressure of shipping any set number of amps to survive. Ultimately I will employ my kids to the extent they are
interested in being involved, and then down the road when
I have a 20 year track record, maybe they will take it to the
next level. But in the meantime I will solder every joint, tug
on every wire to assure it’s solid, and every amp I build will
be the best one yet, and I will stand behind them all.
Though some great players are playing Nolatone amps, I
would get a real kick out of having still more musicians I
admire playing Nolatone. I realize that is tough when flying
under the radar like I do and I don’t give amps away. But
I would love to work with guys like Keith Urban (Keith,
I’ll also design a custom t-shirt for ya!) Joe Walsh, Dave,
Chris, and Pat from the Foo Fighters, Dean DeLeo from
STP, just to name a few who inspire me. I will be here
when they are ready!
Road Hoggs
We received
four variations of the
Road Hogg
for review,
each slightly
different,
but with
the same
basic features and controls. The Road Hogg platform consists
of a Master Volume control, Treble, Midrange and Bass, a
toggled Plexi Boost switch, Volume with pull boost, a Bright
Blend control and a toggled Bright/Normal switch. Dual
speaker jacks are located on the back panel with convenient
bias test points and a bias pot. We have seen a lot of booteek
amps inside and out, and the quality of Paul Sander’s work is
second to none. We can also tell you that he is very hands-on,
personally building every amp, and from what we have heard
from some of you, he genuinely values his clients and is a joy
to deal with.
All of the Road Hoggs are built with big Mercury Magnetics transformers to Sander’s specs. The Road Hogg 50 runs
on dual EL34s, the 37 and 32 use two big KT66s. The Road
Hogg Lite combo uses 6V6s (or EL34s) but trust us, it sounds
bigger…
Road Hogg 50
The 50 delivers those famously thick EL34 tones and plenty
of power and volume when you need it, but the Master
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12
TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
amps
Volume also
does a nice
job of holding
the volume
down while
maintaining
the character
of the amp
opened up.
No fizzy,
weeny tones here… Paul provided a Road Hogg 2x12 open
back cabinet loaded with two excellent Warehouse 30 watt
Reaper speakers that we ran with all three heads. The Reaper
is described as a drop-in replacement for the Celestion
G12H30, and you can expect deep low end, full mids and
pleasing treble that is a bit rolled off. The Treble, Bass and
Mid Controls on the Road Hogg 50 display an even taper and
while you can use them effectively to tweak EQ with different
guitars, the essence of this amp is undeniably British. The
Plexi Boost toggle pushes mids slightly while adding smooth
sustain in the style of a cranked Plexi, but again, you don’t
have to crank your Road Hogg too loud to get those tones
unless you want to. The Volume with Pull Boost impressed us
as a Depth control,
adding low end and
a bigger overall
tone. Combined
with the Plexi Boost
you get a massive
tone with lots of
rich overdriven
sustain. The Bright
Blend is a very cool
tool that enables you to gradually increase brightness like a
bright switch, but with a knob on it, eh? The Bright/Normal
toggle acts like a normal bright switch – especially useful with
heavier humbuckers. Just consider the Road Hogg 50 to be
a solid EL34 rock amp with decent headroom and beautiful,
singing sustain with fat upper mid emphasis in the style of a
vintage Marshall – just more versatile.
Road Hogg 37
Equipped with KT66s, the Road Hogg 37 shares the same
features
and controls with
the other
amps, but
the fixed
bias KT66
configuration
provides
plenty of almost clean headroom with single coils. Compared
to the EL34 50 and cathode-biased 32, the 37 sounds and
responds dynamically more like a big 6L6 amp, with an imposing voice that is clear and singing. The clean tones aren’t
quite as pristine as a Fender, but our Strat and Telecaster
sounded really good with the amp set more or less clean,
lending just enough of a subtle edge for truly great rhythm
tones. Like the 50, this amp can growl, but none of the Road
Hoggs sound harsh and gritty. The distortion and sustain
are consistently smooth and rich. Our goldtop with vintage
Gibson humbuckers lights up all of these amps with much
more intense distortion than the single coils at comparable
settings. You probably won’t need an overdrive pedal with
humbuckers, but for gonzo Jimi tones with a Strat you might
need to add a boost or overdrive pedal to the mix. The Road
Hoggs aren’t extreme gain monsters, but neither were the
Marshall plexi amps. Among all the Road Hoggs we actually
liked the cleaner tones of the 37 with our Strat and Tele best.
Both sounded big, clean and Fendery, with the perfect hint of
loose breakup.
Road Hogg 32
Paul was correct when he
described this
amp as having
more chime
in the style of
a Vox AC30.
Compared to
the other amps
the 32 definitely displays more complex harmonic textures in
the upper mid and treble frequencies with lots of chime and
treble shimmer. It’s a great amp for any guitar with single
coil pickups, but it also sounds just as good with our Les
Paul – rich, thick and perhaps more cutting and penetrating
depending on how you set the Bright Blend and tone controls.
The Road Hogg 32 just seems to have more sparkle in it, yet
you can still shape EQ, sustain and distortion using the tone
controls, Plexi boost and Volume pull/boost. If the 32 isn’t
quite as loud as the 37 we couldn’t tell, but it does seem to be
a little more finessed in the style of an AC30, without sounding as compressed, stiff and boxy.
Road Hogg Lite
Lite? Not really.
This is the 35 lb.
20 watt combo
amp that Marshall
shoulda woulda
coulda built…
Aside from power
and volume, the
little Road Hogg
has absolutely noth-continued-
TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
13
effects
ing in common with a Deluxe Reverb or any other 20 watt
amp we can recall, because it is basically a smaller version
of the big Road Hoggs. For those of you who prefer small
combos that are easy to carry and don’t take up much space,
this is a true performance amp with a big, big voice disguised
as a small combo. How cool is that? No reverb, no tremolo,
just tone, and lots of it. Our review model came loaded with
a 25 watt Warehouse Green Beret, and of course you get the
meaning of the word play… The $69 Paducah, Kentucky
version of the vaunted
Celestion Greenback
is perfect for the little
Road Hogg, rich in
mid tones, dynamic,
loaded with character,
and it seems to enjoy
being abused. Despite
its size, you’ll find
that this version of the Road Hogg has plenty of headroom
in reserve, and if you want more power it can be ordered
with EL34s. Paul Sanders wisely chose a pine cabinet for his
combo – lighter in weight and less stiff sounding than birchply, and you can hear the difference. This is without a doubt
the best pure 1x12 rock combo we have ever heard short of a
Dumble we cranked at the Dallas Guitar Show years ago, and
all the Road Hogg standard enhancements make it even more
versatile and desirable.
We like all four Road Hoggs provided for review a lot, and
choosing a favorite really comes down to your personal needs
and taste. If you have always craved a big 50 watt Marshall
rig the EL34 Road Hogg 50 embodies all of that and more.
The 37 has more of a Marshall tone equipped with 6550
tubes – not as
middy as the
50, although
you can make
it so with the
tone controls
and Plexi boost
switch. Let’s
just say that the soundstage of the 37 is a little wider… The
Road Hogg 32 beautifully captures the enhanced harmonic
detail and chimey sustain of a Vox design without the inherent
limitations, and this is an amp that will leave the field wide
open for possible speaker combinations, perhaps mixing a
bright Alnico with a heavier ceramic magnet speaker. The
Road Hogg Lite, or little Road Hogg as we like to call it is, as
we said, the ultimate 1x12 rock combo. Short of death metal,
there isn’t much you can’t do with it. Nolatone is right here in
Atlanta, so hit the web site, check out all the available options
and Quest forth, ya’ll…TQ
www.nolatone.com, 404-290-9140
14
Distortion & Overdrive
SRV’s Fuzzface
How many ways
can you create an
overdriven or distorted guitar signal? A candid interview with Brian
Wampler, founder
of Wampler Pedals
sheds some light
on what is really
going on inside
overdrive and distortion effects.
There is no doubt that distortion and overdrive pedals are the
most popular of all guitar effects ever created. The number
of pedals produced since the ‘70s is mind numbing, and more
new distortion and overdrive effects are introduced each year
than any other
product related to
the electric guitar.
No matter how
many new pedals
may be launched
this year, you can
be sure that more
will follow, and
guitarists will continue to chase the next “best” overdrive,
distortion or clean boost pedal. In this regard, competition to
identify and acquire the latest and “best” new effect creates
a constantly moving target in which last year’s phenomenal
new pedal is quickly eclipsed by another, and the quest to
keep pace in the race to the top can become time consuming
and expensive.
While we can’t realistically point to a single pedal with an
ironclad guarantee that it will rock your world, we do know
that none of us can ever hope to experience every distortion
or overdrive effect that has or will be built. You can never
hear them all, so how
can you possibly
know when you may
have finally acquired
“the best?” Does the
search ever end, or is
the quest for the holy
grail among overdrive
and distortion effects
an adventure in myth and fantasy driven by hype, the flavor
of the month on your favorite forum, and a catchy name? In
the interest of truth and in an effort to gently blow some fresh
-continued-
TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
effects
air into the fog, we approached Brian Wampler, founder of
Wampler Pedals with a simple question: “How many ways
are there to create an overdrive, boost or distortion effect for
guitar, and without giving away any design secrets, what’s
the trick in making a more pleasing and musical distorted or
overdriven sound that will sound as good in my rig as it does
in yours?” Enjoy…
ing with various types of circuits. I figured out what makes
some circuits have a certain ‘feel’ or reaction to them, and
I learned all the intricacies of overdrive/distortion and fuzz
circuits. I never stop growing or evolving with that though –
even 14 years later I still experiment with various circuits and
constantly challenge myself to do better. When you love this
stuff as much as I do, I think its part of the passion.
TQR:
Several years later I was getting a lot of folks asking me
how to modify various pedals to get certain tones, so I self
published a few books. While they aren’t available anymore,
I still get a lot of newer pedal company owners tell me that
those old books helped them get their start. It’s really humbling to have played a small part in growing the “boutique”
pedal industry. It’s an industry that is really different than
other industries – many of us keep in contact and help each
other when needed. It’s a brotherhood of sorts.
Thanks for agreeing to walk us through the art of
creating cool-sounding distortion and overdrive
effects, Brian. Let’s start by touching on the guitar
effects that first rocked your world and inspired
you to begin building pedals… Which pedals really
caught your intention and why?
That’s a good question…
I wouldn’t say that there
was a certain pedal that
happened to catapult my
interests. Rather, it was
the possibility of what
could be done using
analog circuitry in order
to create something
with life, something
that didn’t feel stale or
cheap. What brought me
to that realization was a period of time where I was buying
a ton of different pedals in order to achieve certain sounds.
I would routinely save up for the next “greatest” pedal that
I would hear about via magazines or gear forums and I was
quite underwhelmed. A friend of mine sold me a Boss DS-1
distortion that he had modified slightly and I was blown away
by how different the modified version sounded from the stock
version, especially just by changing some capacitors and resistors. Keep in mind that this was a period of time when I didn’t
know anything about electronics really – I just new what type
of sounds I wanted and I refused to believe that the only way
to get those tones were with expensive and vintage amps.
After picking his brain for a bit I found out there were a few
DIY websites (such as DIYstompboxes.com, Geofex.com,
and Muzique.com just to
name a few) that would
help explain some basics
of electronics. From there
I went on to absorb as
much information as I
could. I bought a breadboard (which allows one
to quickly build a circuit
temporarily without soldering) and just practiced
building and experiment-
TQR:
As the pedal world has grown and expanded,
certain terms are now used with vague and uncertain meanings… Can you describe the difference
between distortion and ‘boost’ or ‘overdrive’
effects? We are really just referring to different levels of clipping, aren’t we?
Kind of, sort of. Yes, there are definite differences in clipping between
distortion, overdrive, and just volume boosting. However, it’s possible
to create a very heavy gain distortion
and a lighter gain type of fuzz. It’s
also a bit of gray area…. What one
considers distortion another person
may consider it more of a fuzz.
However, if I had to really narrow it
down and simplify it a bit, I personally would consider these as the main
attributes: Distortion utilizes harder clipping, overdrive would
be softer clipping, fuzz would be very hard clipping. A boost
would more or less just be boosting volume. Of course, these
aren’t rules or anything, it’s more or less just my opinion.
TQR: So, how many ways can you really create distortion, overdrive and various levels of clipping with a
pedal design? There can’t be that many ways to do
it…
There are several different ways, mainly using transistors/
FETs of some sort and connected in a few various ways to
boost and/or clip a signal, op-amps set up various ways, as
well as other IC chips (which can be used to clip a signal).
You can also saturate a small transformer, even though it’s
not common. The real beauty is in the details. For example,
a tube amp uses the same basic process to clip the signal,
-continued-
TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
15
effects
but every amp sounds dramatically different… a JCM800 sounds
nothing like a Blackface twin even
though they are both tube amps.
There are a ton of variables that go
into creating a really good sounding
and feeling overdrive or distortion
– resistance, capacitance, EQ, the
number of stages, types of stages,
bias of stages… many different
ways. I look at it like cooking.
There are a million things you bake
with flour, depending on what other
ingredients you add to it and how it’s used.
TQR:
What makes some pedal effects sound rich, lush
and juicy, while others may sound less musical and
pleasing? Where is the secret sauce in shaping the
tone of effects?
TQR:
A bit, yes – however it’s
much more than that. A
gain pot is just changing
resistance, so depending on
the circuit, an ‘audio’ taper
may increase gain more
gradually than a linear pot
for example, however, it
won’t change the EQ, and
it won’t change the amount
of gain if they are the same
value. Geofex.com has an
excellent article that describes pot tapers, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to read into more about that.
TQR:
Without giving away
specifics, each circuit is
tuned to react in a certain
way. While no one is using
some magic component
in order to create a dirt
circuit, the magic is in the
details. It’s what sets us
apart. As I design things,
I’m doing it with a guitar in
my hand, while most guys
start with a computer in
front of them. I know how different clipping circuits react, and
generally I have a good understanding of what type of circuit
to use to achieve what I want just from tons of experience and
tenacity.
TQR:
Most pedals use op-amps to boost the signal, right?
We also hear about mosfet pedals… What does that
mean?
It would seem as if the sweep of the pots used for
things like gain and volume would determine how
pedals behave to a great extent. True?
Should we care about the impedance of a pedal?
Yes, to an extent – I
usually strive for high
input impedance, and low
output impedance. Most
importantly is really just
how they sound and react
though – if they inspire
a person to create or not.
However, it is definitely
true that every pedal
works together cohesively
in a way that makes
impedances matter a bit. For example, many traditional fuzz
style circuits do not like a buffered (low output impedance)
signal – noise can result as well as the circuit not sounding as
intended. Some wahs can be finicky as well, but it’s not just
limited to those two types of circuits – if in doubt, send an
email to the pedal company whose product you are contemplating purchasing and they should be able to help guide you.
Not always – both op-amps and mosfets can be used to boost
a signal. Op-amps are basically a type of circuit and mosfets
are a type of transistor. There isn’t one type that’s necessarily
“better” in every application though. Mosfet’s have a particular
sound and feel, just as NPN transistors, JFET’s, and opamps do.
All have advantages and disadvantages. For example, mosfet’s
have a good sound and feel, but they can also tend to have odd
impedance issues with other pedals. Same with NPN or PNP
type transistor boosts. If a person wants a full frequency type
boost with very little noise and distortion, then an op-amp based
booster may be best. Once again, these aren’t rules per-se, but
they are more of a general guideline. As with everything, exclusions apply, especially depending on the exact circuitry.
TQR: Is true bypass
really so important?
Pete Cornish says,
“no.”
The answer isn’t
that simple. The true
answer is yes, and no.
Sort of like asking “is
cookie dough bad?”…
Here is my preference.
All true bypass pedals
without one buffer as
-continued-
16
TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
effects
close to the guitar is bad. All buffered pedals are bad. Too
many buffered pedals can be bad, but there are no hard and
fast number as to what that is. My preference is to use as
many true bypassed pedals as you can, run a buffer up front
as close to the guitar as possible (except after a wah or fuzz),
and try to use pedals that have an analog signal path. I’m not
a fan of pedals that convert the signal to digital and then back
to analog again – I feel something gets lost in the sound and
definitely the ‘feel’.
TQR:
It might be helpful at this point to clarify what a
buffer is and what it does…
A buffer is a device that changes a high impedance signal into
a low impedance signal to drive capacitance. You generally
only need one buffer in order to drive the signal into the amp
as a low impedance. However if you use a pedal that happens
to have a high impedance output then it may be necessary to
use a second buffer after that effect. The thing you will notice
most without a buffer is that you will lose quite a bit of highs
dependent on how long of a cable or cables you are using.
Some pedals (for example some Boss or Ibanez) use buffers in
the signal path at all times. Sometimes those pedals have two,
even four buffers that are in the signal path when the pedal is
off. These buffers are generally simple transistor type of buffers which some feel are not of the highest quality and do not
always have a very good signal-to-noise ratio. So including
multiples of these types of pedals can give you a lot of extra
noise hiss as well as a little bit lower signal due to the fact that
these type of buffers are not always necessarily 1:1 (an exact
gain of 1).
TQR:
Can you recommend any specific buffers?
There are several different
buffers that are pretty good. I
always recommend an opamp
based buffer. As far as examples, our “decibel +” pedal
works as a standalone buffer,
and Emperess makes one as
well. I know there are others –
check http://proguitarshop.com/
effects/buffers.html Note that
some of the buffers on this page
are transistor based, which
personally I’m not a fan of. The
opamp based buffers tend to have a better signal to noise ratio,
as well as better signal (actual 1:1 ratio, or gain of 1). Some of
the transistor based buffers have a gain of a little less than 1.
TQR:
What uncharted territory remains for you to explore
as a designer and builder?
Tons of things in the works, look for more pedals of course
(including more delays, a tremolo, phase, more 2 in 1 type
pedals), a line of bass effects as well as some other companion products. And as always, make sure to subscribe to our
newsletter at http://www.wamplerpedals.com/subscribe to be
eligible for our free pedal drawings, and check out our youtube, facebook, instagram, and twitter pages.
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/wampcat
Instagram: http://instagram.com/wamplerpedals
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wamplerpedals
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WamplerPedals
Wampler Faux Tape Echo
Having
devoted
much
of an
entire
issue
to the
vintage
Market
Electronics
Echoplex in December 2010 and interviewed the late Mike Battle,
inventor of the original Echoplex in August 2001, you could
call us big fans of tape echo. Not just for the ‘echo’ effect,
but for the way it can be used to fatten the sound of the guitar
without resorting to heavy slapback repeats. Tape echo is
simply one of the all-time classic guitar sounds, yet we knew
when we published our in-depth articles on the Echoplex that
many of you would understandably shy away from the initial
expense involved in finding an old Echoplex and dealing with
common restoration and maintenance issues. When we discovered that Brian Wampler had developed a new faux Tape
Echo, we jumped at the chance to evaluate it on your behalf.
Compact, intuitive, yet
feature rich, we approached
our evaluation with high expectations, and we were not
disappointed. Wampler has
succeeded in creating a very
warm, pure analog tape echo
effect with the added clarity
of digital technology while
preserving the fundamental,
unaffected tone of your guitar and amplifier. In addition
Jeff Bakos uncorks an Echoplex
-continuedTONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
17
guitars
to the basic controls, he has also added Tap Tempo.
Controls
Level controls the level of the delayed signal, interactive with
the Shade and Repeat controls.
Repeats controls the level of feedback and at higher settings,
very interesting oscillation effects in combination with the
setting of the Level control. Lots of fascinating effects to be
mined here…
Shade functions as the name implies, coloring the tone of the
delayed signal from soft and warm to more fluid and defined
in the high frequencies.
Delay controls the actual delay time, from audible ‘slap’ at
around 9 o’clock to 300 ms at 12 0’clock all the way to 600
ms beyond. Extending the delay time adds soft distortion at
the end of the notes in keeping with the character of an analog
tape delay.
Tap Tempo is a soft switch set by tapping on the switch
several times to set the tempo, overriding the Delay control
setting. The tempo you set is also displayed in the red LED.
Faux Tape Reel emulates
the character, wow and
flutter of true tape delay.
A toggle switch takes you
in and out of the tape reel
modulation effect. Within
the Faux Tape Reel controls, Movement controls
the rate of modulation, and
Sway controls the depth of
the modulation effect. Neither of these controls affect
the sound of the pedal when bypassed.
The quickest way to get started is to follow the three example
settings provided in the owner’s manual. They will provide
you with a good understanding of the broad capabilities
and extended range of each control, and from there you can
begin to experiment with different settings and combinations.
You really couldn’t wish for more flexibility or varied delay
sounds within the Faux Tape Echo controls, but most significant is the smooth and real analog fidelity that Wampler has
achieved. As a result, our old standby Japanese-era Boss DD3
and its bucket brigade COMPANDER chip will be retired.
Wampler’s Faux Tape Echo is the new standard in compact
delay pedals for guitar, period. $219.97 Quest forth-forthforth-forth…TQ
www.wamplerpedals.com, 765-352-8626
Collings CJ35
The original
Gibson J45 is
one of the most
mysteriously
toneful acoustic
guitars we have
ever played, and
among all the
guitars we have
acquired in the
past +30 years,
our 1952 J45
remains the sole
survivor, even being passed over by the thief that stole our
Stephen Stills ‘50s Telecaster from our Midtown apartment in
the ‘80s. Someone stole it from Stills before we bought it, so
maybe that’s how it goes with stolen guitars.
In the summer of 1980 we made one of many spontaneous
trips to Nashville looking for guitars. Returning to Atlanta
empty handed we made an obligatory stop at Chamber’s Music and Golf on South Rossville Blvd. in Chattanooga. Charlie
Chamber’s store was near the Rossville traffic circle, housed
in a cavernous old building filled with all kinds of old guitars,
crappy amps, broken pedals and a ridiculous stash of old
golf clubs and bags. Charlie would usually hang all the old
Gretsch guitars with their pleather belly pads and funky Mosrites in the front along with anything else he thought was cool,
but that didn’t mean he would sell them to you, and beyond
the front room the place was a godawful mess. Charlie did
happen to own an original Hank Garland Signature Byrdland
he would show you, and Garland was king at Chambers Music and Golf… With his coal black hair slicked back Johnny
Cash style in the hot summer, Charlie was a pure Tennessee trip, never
really looking you straight in the
eye, as if making eye contact was a
show of weakness. It also made him
hard to read, probably by design.
Half the time when you asked him
what he wanted for something he’d
say it wasn’t for sale. Really? Or is
that your first serve in the volley we
are about to have? You never knew.
Sometimes he meant it, other times
he’d make you ask two or three
times and then he would tell you
what he would “need to git fer it.”
He could size people up pretty good
-continued-
18
TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
guitars
and we always figured there was
a special tax added for city people
from Atlanta. On that hot summer
day we were in no hurry to get
back on the road, so we patiently
waded into a pile of guitar cases
on the floor that was 5-6 deep
sprawling in every direction for
20 feet. These were not neatly
arranged stacks of cases, but a
haphazard mess. Some of the cases
were empty, others held cheap and
uncool knock-offs, but as we dug
down deep we eventually spied a
‘50s brown Gibson Lifton case.
We pried it out of the pile, opened
the latches and inside was an old
Gibson J45 that had been played real hard. Oh, if that guitar
could only talk…There were two identical cracks emerging
in the top on each side of the lower bout, and we didn’t even
bother trying to tune it up for fear that the top would go, but
we wanted it. Charlie looked kinda surprised to see it, but after we pointed out that some serious repair work was needed,
we were able to agree on a price of $400.00. Steep, yes, but
if Charlie didn’t get his price he seemed perfectly content to
throw it back in the pile and go sell some golf clubs. We had
legendary Atlanta guitar builder Jay Riness restore the J45,
and it has remained with us ever since. We wrote to Gibson in
Kalamazoo inquiring about the serial number and they sent us
a post card to inform us that “your instrument was manufactured in 1952.” Everyone who plays the J45 grows quiet out
of respect for its soulful tone, speaking in a hushed whisper as
if there is something lurking inside the guitar that is not to be
disturbed. This happens every time…
We are not the only ones to have noticed the magic in those
sloped shoulders, and we
asked the folks at Collings
to send us one of their new
CJ35s. While the CJ35
stylistically honors the long
history of the first Gibson
J35 and post-war J45, the
Collings is predictably built
to a much higher standard
than those old Gibsons,
which were actually among
the less expensive Gibson
acoustics. Like everything
they build, the Collings
is a stunning work of art,
from the pound cake Sitka
spruce top with pre-war
non-scalloped Adirondack
bracing and 3 tone
bars, the beautiful
bound mahogany
back and sides, the
elegantly shaped
mahogany neck
and 14”-26” compound radius rosewood fretboard.
Collings has also
shortened the scale
on this model to
24 7/8” making
it more percussive and responsive. Nothing else sounds like
these slope-shouldered guitars. The Collings is vocal to the
extreme, responsive lightly fingerpicked yet robust enough
to be strummed loud and proud with a pick, kinda like two
guitars in one, and the Collings nails it, capturing the very
essence of this style while adding their own signature touches
from Austin. The sunburst is stunning, the medium fretwire
flawlessly dressed, the nickel Waverlies precise, every structural and cosmetic detail utter perfection. Lots of companies
can build pretty guitars, but the Collings J35 truly sounds as
good as it looks. Options include European or Adirondack
spruce, Ivoroid fingerboard and headstock binding, varnish
finish. $4,860 list with sunburst finish. TQ
www.collingsguitars.com
ToneQuest Straps On Sale!
Our German leather ToneQuest straps crafted by Longhollow
Leather in Franklin, TN are on sale now! As many of our happy readers have confirmed over the years, these handcrafted
guitar straps are incredibly well-made of the finest imported
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TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.7 May 2014
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Artist Relations, Fender Musical Instruments,
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Double Trouble
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Nashville Amp Service
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Fender Musical Instruments Corp.
Randall C. Smith
Designer & President, Mesa/Boogie Ltd.
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American Guitar Center
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John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
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Los Angeles
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The Guitar Whiz
The ToneQuest Report™ (ISSN 1525-3392) is published monthly by Mountainview Publishing LLC, P.O. Box 717 Decatur, GA. 30031-0717, 1-877-MAX-TONE,
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