guitars - The ToneQuest Report
Transcription
guitars - The ToneQuest Report
INSIDE Kingsize Jones… a brief history of amplification & the guitarist’s enduring Quest for tone The vintage Big Dickerson & Magnatone 280 revisited Introducing the new Magnatone! Our indepth interview with founder Ted Kornblum, plus commentary from the entire Magnatone development team. 12 Reviews! The Magnatone Single V Twilighter Stereo Super 59 Varsity Mountainview Publishing, LLC the The Player’s Guide to Ultimate Tone $15.00 US, Jan-Feb 2014/Vol.15 NO.3-4 Report TM Kingsize Jones “Innovation has nothing to do with how many R & D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R & D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.” – Steve Jobs In many respects it would be fair to assume that just about everything that can be done with a guitar amplifier design has been done by now. Tremolo was the first real innovation to be developed for guitar amps, and while smaller and cheaper ‘student’ combos retained the low power, no-headroom character of early guitar and lapsteel amps, bigger professional models steadily gained more power and cleaner tones at higher volume levels. Tape echo was never offered as an onboard effect in an amplifier, but the Echoplex made a huge splash with guitarists, and the outboard reverb developed by Hammond and licensed by Leo Fender was also tremendously successful. By the time Fender blackface amps with reverb and vibrato appeared, guitar amplification had evolved to deliver power, volume and brilliant clean tones that were unimaginable just 10 years earlier. 15 The New Orleans Guitar Company Our interview with luthier Vincent Guidroz plus our review of the Voodoo Custom 21 Driving South… Riverhorse returns with a reverent rant on the classic B.K. Butler Tube Driver 22 I Wanna Be Your Dog… more fuel for your Tube Driver quest… 24 Meet the Visual Sound True Tone Clean Boost! Our review with commentary from designers Bob Weil and R.G. Keen 26 Yoga for Guitarists… a new DVD to ease your aches and pains! Meanwhile, Gibson was also very busy developing far more new and sometimes bizarre amplifier models than Fender ever produced, yet they never managed to escape Leo’s slipstream. Ampeg concentrated on gaining a jazzier following on the east coast, Silvertone, Alamo, Supro and Danelectro successfully targeted the budget market, and among what could be considered the boutique builders of the day, outfits like Magnatone and Standel were producing high-quality, professional amplifiers on a much smaller scale. The British Invasion completely changed the landscape of popular music to an extent that had never been experienced in the past, but the catchy hits by the Beatles and the Stones offered few clues as to what was to come… Sgt. Pepper lit the fuse, and seemingly overnight rock & roll was redefined by Jimi Hendrix, Cream and Led Zeppelin. Marshall amplifiers became essential to the sound of rock music, but for many young guitarists in America, owning a plexi and pinstripe Marshall stack was little more than a dream, nor did classic Vox and Hiwatt amps ever reach America in significant numbers. CREAM As the guitar and amplifier industry continued to evolve, Fender lost its considerable mojo following the CBS acquisition, Gibson nearly disappeared as a subsidiary of the Norlin Corporation, www.tonequest.com cover story Ampeg enjoyed a brief period of renewed popularity thanks to the Stones, disco and cocaine gave the entire industry erectile dysfunction in the ‘80s, and then live blues experienced a strong resurgence, prompting blues bars to open in major cities throughout America and Europe. Suddenly guitarists wanted Fender tweed amps again… Andy Marshall at THD scratched that itch with the first replica ‘boutique’ Bassman amps, and in 1989 Rick Perrotta started Matchless in Hollywood, California along with partners Mark Sampson, Steve Goodale and Chris Perrotta. In our opinion, Matchless can be credited for creating the demand for modern boutique amplifiers, and you can credit Mojotone for making small batch building viable for aspiring amp designers who could never afford to buy parts in the quantities that big suppliers demand. Today there are literally hundreds of different guitar amplifiers being built at every conceivable price point, and like guitars, ‘cheap’ is no longer an automatic guarantee of bad tone. Jeff Beck’s 2010 tour and his choice of a Fender Pro Junior mic’d and fed to the house couldn’t have been more revealing or instructive, yet aside from our detailed July 2010 interview with Beck’s tech, Steve Prior, the significance of Beck’s amp du tour seemed to have gone largely unnoticed. Maybe there were too many guys with too much cash invested in their vintage tube amp stash who really didn’t want to hear about Jeff Beck using a cheap little Fender amp. Na,na,na,na,na,na,na,na! How do you reconcile Beck’s Pro Junior with the notion that a boutique amp is somehow going to elevate and transform your tone and chops while the most creative guitarist of our time can pull off a global arena tour with a $600 1x10 combo amp? You don’t. The amp doesn’t make the music… you do. The truth is, many of us are perpetually packing a Kingsize Jones for whatever seems to be the latest and greatest in the world of gear. Whether it’s Dragon’s Breath Magic Coils, Hunchback speakers, the Stumble & Drool Snatch Box Limited Royal Assasin or the Blow Job Overdrive with the Honey Dripper mod, a lot of guitarists enjoy chasing tone on a closed oval track like a pack of hounds chasing a mechanical bunny. The players may change, but the game remains the same, and it isn’t about who wins or loses – the game can only exist by churning money. If these sound like the words of a dour pessimist, think again… Deep down in your gut you know this to be true, although we’ll admit that we too usually choose to adopt a more romantic and altruistic view of capitalism. One can only take so much reality. It’s why we play the guitar… When it comes right down to it, there are more copiers than innovators working in the amp business, and when something truly toneful and uniquely desirable comes along, it truly is a big f’ing deal. In the true spirit of the Quest, we are poised to introduce you to the new Magnatone amplifier company created by Ted Kornblum and his merry band of men. Ted’s father and grandfather owned St. Louis Music, and having been steeped in the music business, Ted stealthily assembled a collection of vintage Magnatone products while acquiring the rights to a name long forgotten. Thus equipped, he put together a new Magnatone company based in St. Louis. Granted, new companies are launched every day, but Kornblum accomplished something that is very, very difficult to do… With help from some very sophisticated ears and talented engineers, his group has designed and built amplifiers that capture the very best features of the original Magnatones, while making them so much better than any of the originals could ever be. By any measure, the new Magnatone amps have been meticulously, artfully designed and built for today’s players and tastes. Most importantly, they sound and look uniquely fine, firmly entrenched in an entirely new boutique niche that the Magnatone company completely owns. Not since the appearance of the original Matchless DC-30 has the bar for amp builders been raised and reset quite so convincingly, so settle in and relax as we relate the fascinating story of the old and new Magnatone company, followed by our reviews. Enjoy… For many guitarists Magnatone amplifiers remain cloaked in mystery. Thousands of Magnatone amps were built by various owners of the name over two decades, and many classic Magnatone amplifiers have survived to be experienced and -continued- 2 TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 cover story appreciated today. The Magnatone story begins in the late 1930’s with Delbert Dickerson, a machinist living in Southern California who first built a lapsteel and amplifier for his daughter Belva. Dickerson launched the Dickerson Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company in 1939, and Dickerson lapsteels and amps remain fairly plentiful, easily identified by their faux mother of pearl (mother of toilet seat) coverings in vivid colors like emerald green and ruby red. You may recall our May 2006 article titled The Big Dickerson in which we reviewed a small but immensely toneful emerald green Dickerson sent to us from Montana by Larry Pogreba. The comments we offered then are every bit as timely today… Barely bigger than an old GE toaster, the Big Dickerson features an 8” speaker, a chunky power transformer crammed onto a cheap steel chassis, and an unusual tube quartet consisting of a 5Y3 rectifier, dual 6K6’s and a single 6C5. Larry also sent us an ancient GE 6L6 that can be used in place of both 6K6’s to create a slightly bigger Big Dickerson when needed. To be fair and accurate, Larry’s Dickerson has been entirely recapped and the original speaker replaced with a modern ceramic job of undetermined origin (we suspect Japan). The Dickerson originally didn’t even come equipped with a volume knob – pure “plug and play!” Larry sent the amp to Bruce Collins at Mission Amps in Arvada, Colorado to have the original 6C5 preamp tube changed to a gutsier 6SL7, which required a few minor circuit mods, and he also added an extension speaker jack (great idea) that enabled us to make the Big Dickerson even bigger on demand. Now, some of you might be thinking that you’ve heard all these cheap little crappy amps before and there’s nuthin’ there for you. Please, think again. James Pennebaker coincidentally mentioned a little Silvertone amp of his with an 8” speaker just the other day… “Put a mic on it and it sounds as big as anything I own…” There ya go. The first time we lit up the Dickerson, 30 minutes flew by before the first break in the instantaneous connection we made with that amp. It filled the room with a bright, pure, beauti- fully compressed sound that made every one of our guitars shine with a new, old voice. By its very nature, the Dickerson inspires musical ideas and a dynamic feel that are completely dictated by the amp, yet you’ll find yourself venturing to fresh new places rather than struggling to revisit any worn out ruts in your repertoire. Another misconception held about these little amps is that they are only useful for pure distortion. While they technically don’t produce clean sounds, there is much to be mined at half volume and a dimed guitar. The little 8” speaker produces amazing chunky rhythms with a delicious inside/out compression that is completely missing in a big speaker, and at a volume that encourages you to play unconsciously at your most expressive best. Our secret weapon with any of these small amps is reverb. Add it via an old or reissue Fender reverb tank and all bets are off – you’ll be amazed by the sounds you create. Now, you don’t necessarily have to snag a Dickerson… there are lots of similar options, like a vintage Gibson BR9, an old 2-tone Valco, a Magnatone Troubadour, Bronson, Oahu, Alamo, Danelectro, Silvertone, Montgomery Ward… the point is all about expanding your horizons tonally and creatively while diminishing the size of your speaker and the number of tubes, components and watts in your baby amp. Less is more when you’re chasing the Big Dickerson, and modifications are sanctioned and encouraged. Delbert Dickerson eventually sold his business in 1944 and it was sold again in 1946 to Art Duhamell, who changed the name of the guitars and amps to Magnatone, manufactured Magnatone 190 by the Magna Electronics Company in Los Angeles. Many different models were built by Magna Electronics – far too many to be described here, but a comprehensive history of Magnatone has been created online by Douglas Ahern, complete with an oral history and thorough documentation of all Magnatone models that includes specifications and pictures. See www.magnatoneamps.com/history.html. Still more detailed information can also be found at www.vibroworld.com/magnatone. Our hands-on experience with classic Magnatones has been limited to a vintage Magnatone 280 and a rare 190 model -continued- TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 3 cover story documented in our November 2009 cover story. The 280 was in dead mint condition acquired from ‘Vern,’ the second owner who had bought it from the first. We zeroed in on the 280 specifically because we had seen one in Neil Young’s rig, and the 280 is widely considered to be the crown jewel of the entire Magnatone line from 1957 to the early ‘60s. We paid $950 for the mint 280 and here are the impressions it left… We can’t tell you how many times we’ve taken a leap of faith on a 40 year-old amp hundreds or thousands of miles away only to find that it needs nothing more than perhaps a few tubes or a different speaker. Yes, the accepted parts tolerances of plus or minus 10%-20% were a big swing, especially when you add ‘drift’ over decades, but after literally hundreds of such purchases on your behalf, we can confidently say that these classic amps remain not only fascinating pieces of America’s industrial history, but also a living testament to a standard of enduring longevity that will never be seen again. And so it goes with the Magnatone 280. No, it isn’t a gain monster you can hide behind, although fully dimed it gives up the goods with a little more punch from the Normal channel – but the real deal with the 280 was and is all about old school fidelity... rich, timbral viscosity that allows every guitar you play through it to sound woody, deep, sonorous and steeped in the potent romance of wood, nickel and steel. And yes, the pitch-shifting vibrato channel is creepy-good, both in the less intense ‘mono’ mode, and in stereo, where the speakers move out of phase to create a bizarre but very usable jitterbug warble and bleat. If you’ve a mind to, you can potently speak to folks through the Magnatone. Close your eyes and the guitar sounds as if it is being channeled through a diamond stylus on old vinyl, introducing a smoky and wizened legitimacy to your tone and voice – a sound to be remembered and revered for the way it floats in the mind long after the last note has faded. As good as the vintage 280 sounded, we would still describe it as an acquired taste for those who can appreciate subtle nuances and a cleaner tone that doesn’t even pretend to rock. The Magnatone behaved as if a governor had been installed that limited any hint of overdriven tones or the full power and bluster of a 25 watt tweed Fender. The 280 is a great amp on many different levels, but by today’s standards there is a lot left to be desired. Designing and building guitar amplifiers that possesses a truly unique and desirable sound is a significant accomplishment today. To make a difference there must first be a difference, and even the most rabid tone hounds will admit that a lot of ground has already been covered when it comes to guitar amplification. Too often it seems as if hot new amplifiers are described as offering new and essential sounds that can’t be had by any other means – as if none of the amplifiers built in the past 50 years, the past decade or last year can compare to the latest boutique amplifier to emerge from the pack. Really? We humans buy into the buzz and the hype because we really do want to believe that someone has created a fresh, new sound that is fundamentally better, but in truth, that’s often not what’s happening. Viewed within the prism of history, creating a unique sound – one entirely new to the electric guitar is virtually impossible at this stage in the game. What we really want is the best possible range of inspiring tones and sounds we can get, and Magnatone has built amps that meet those criteria on every level – visually, technically and sonically. How? That is a story best told by the person responsible for creating Magnatone, Ted Kornblum, with additional insights from his team… TQR: How did the initial idea of reproducing a new line of Magnatone amps originally occur to you? My grandfather founded St. Louis Music Supply Co. in 1922, and he was the distributor for Magnatone dating back to the early days. From the moment I learned that my family made musical equipment I wanted to be involved. But before I officially joined St. Louis Music, my folks wanted me to gain outside work experience. So I held a number of music industry jobs to gain experience and not just be the “owners son” that was born into the business. “Be careful what you wish for”, because when I finally did join St. Louis Music, I longed for my independence not to mention it’s not easy working in a family business for a number of reasons. One day I was flipping through the massive catalogs SLM used to sell Magnatone, and saw the vast amount of Magnatone products they made ranging from record players, coin operated radios, and of course guitar amplifiers. I was curious to see if this company was still in business, and much to my delight, the company had been out of business since 1969 and the trademark had been abandoned! It was almost too good to be true. So with the aid of my attorney, I secured ownership of the brand. -continued- 4 TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 cover story Just because I owned the brand, it did not guarantee me success. I knew that it would require a significant amount of capital as well as talented people to help me bring it back to life. And who better to help me with this then the great talent pool of engineers that helped my father bring Ampeg back from the dead? The founding members of the Magnatone Engineering team consists of Obeid Khan, Greg Geerling, Ken Matthews, Dan Ryterski, Gregg Hopkins, Chris Villani, George McKale, Larry Cragg and me. Over the years, I’d seen many of the legendary USA made brands get outsourced, and in almost every case these brands lost their soul in the process. Funny enough, while these famous brands were focused on outsourcing their livelihood, the boutique guitar amplifier industry was sprouting in America. Over the years this market has grown to be quite a category. I view Magnatone to be part of the high-end American craft market. So instead of “outsourcing” my brand, I set out to “in-source” it to America including both people and parts. I assembled a team of engineers and builders that is really a “dream team” and for the past four to five years we have created a full line of all tube, USA made guitar amplifiers. It took me longer than normal to bring the brand to market because I wanted to re-enter the market with a full line of products. Ken Daniels, owner of True Tone Music in Santa Monica, California has been an invaluable advisor to help me understand the high-end retail market. His store is clearly one of the best I’ve ever been in and he and his staff definitely know the high-end market. Ken once told me that he likes to offer his customers “retail foreplay”. I asked him to clarify, as I’d never heard that term used before. He explained that he likes to keep his customers returning to his store to check out new gear as it is released throughout the year. I took his advice and over the past seven months we have released to the market five of the eight models in the total product line and this December marks the release of the next three models called the Master Collection. I also learned that guitar players require a variety of sounds from their equipment and in many cases require two different amps to achieve their tone. I don’t adopt the view that one amp with two channels can sound as good as two separate amps that each have their own personality. So we designed the models in the Traditional Collection to not have a master volume control and the models in the Master Collection for the player that wants a master volume with more gain. I needed to establish a benchmark for the Traditional models that would rival even the best vintage 50’s tweed amps, and also have reverb, tremolo and of course, our famous pitchshifting vibrato. So I enlisted Larry Cragg to help us nail this tone. These models use either 6L6 or 6V6 power tubes for that American tone. I praise Larry for helping us achieve what he refers to as an amp with “touch sensitivity and dynamic range”. I’ve been a close friend with Billy Gibbons for years and when I told him I was going to resurrect the Magnatone brand, he was blown away, not to mention that we’d known each other for years and I never even told him I owned the brand name. If I could pick one player to work with to design amplifiers that address British guitar amp tones, it would be Mr. Gibbons! Over the past three years, Billy has toured with new Magnatone prototypes in various stages of completion to help us define as well as refine both the look and sound of these models. With the help of Billy’s guitar tech, Elwood Francis, and studio engineer, Gary Moon, the Master Collection of models was born. One of Billy’s priorities was to have a master volume control as well as use EL-84 or EL-34 power tubes for a British tone. TQR: To what extent were original examples acquired and examined, and over what period of time? Since there has never been a book published on the history of Magnatone and the brand had been forgotten by most people, the only way that I could really understand the strength of the brand was to collect as many examples of vintage Magnatone products. Over the last ten years or so, I’ve been collecting Magnatones as a way to validate the brand in tangible form. I feel like I’ve been on a continuous treasure hunt and to this day I believe I own over 300 vintage Magnatone products dating back to the company’s early days. My collection consists of coin operated AM radios, portable record players, public address systems, lap steels, solid body guitars and basses, and of course guitar amps galore. I intend to publish a coffee table book at some point to share these gems. I have also collected an extensive library of the product literature as well as advertisements. In fact, if you check out the recent ad campaign we have been running, you’ll see a -continued- TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 5 cover story series of ads that were originally created in 1957 and we have reissued them. The art direction they did back then was so stylish and fashionable, it remains timeless. We did update the product in each ad as well as the description, yet kept the models and headlines used in the original ads. TQR: How did you approach cabinet construction? The original Magnatones looked cool, but they were a little quirky in terms of construction. Gregg Hopkins is one of the best cabinet restoration builders around, and he has prototyped every new Magnatone cabinet, probably at least twice considering the design changes made over the years. Gregg can explain more about this process, but I will say that he has not only helped in cabinet construction but also in the testing of the various cosmetic materials that we use to outfit the cabinets. Cosmetics and Attention To Detail My personal interest was in the designing of the cosmetics as well as securing the various custom-made parts for all the models. I feel that if our customer is going to covet their new Magnatone and use it for years, it needs to look at good as it sounds! The covering material we used for the cabinets is 100% cotton (it gets better looking as it ages), the brown grill cloth needed to match the vintage look so we had it reproduced, and the classic chevron logos needed to be remade and also suitable as replacement parts for vintage amps as well. My original thinking was to use as many stock parts as readily available for obvious reasons. However, as I got into the selection of materials for cosmetics, it seemed like everything I wanted had to be custom made to suit my taste. I figured that if I were a customer for a Magnatone, I’d want these unique parts on my amp! And since the amps are made in the USA and this automatically makes them expensive, we might as well go the extra mile and treat our customers to the best. TQR: How difficult was it to faithfully reproduce the stereo and pitch-shifting vibrato features? Everyone I spoke to during the developmental period was honest with me in saying that the vintage amps really were too fragile, difficult to service and needed to be more powerful. However they loved the true pitch-shifting vibrato circuit, especially in stereo. So we kept the exact vibrato circuit that Magnatone patented in 1957, and had to source the silicon carbide varistors needed to retain the famous vibrato design. I knew from the very beginning of the engineering process that we needed to use varistors in the vibrato circuit. No substitutions would be allowed. Magnatone fans and critics of the brand would be really disappointed if we choose to use a more modern and or less expensive way to achieve the vibrato sound without varistors. Serviceability & Road Worthiness Tube amplifiers require a fair amount of TLC as they are fragile and we all know at times they need to be serviced. I brought in from Los Angles Bob Dixon, who owns an amp repair shop called The Amp Hole. Having Bob inspect all the proto’s we made before they went into production enabled us to learn from his repairman perspective what service concerns he had and change them before they become a problem. New Models & the Future For Magnatone I know that Magnatone has a history of making electric guitars that are quite collectable in today’s vintage market. In 1957 Magnatone hired Paul Bigsby to design a line of guitars and also Paul Barth was hired shortly after the Bigsby years. I have a few of these examples and envision upgrading these -continued- 6 TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 cover story models with the aid of the famed guitar builder named John Bolin, of Bolin Guitars in Boise, Idaho. John built six Magnatone prototype guitars and we had them on display at the 2013 NAMM show to get market feedback on them before pricing them for sale. We will follow up on the guitar business in due time, but for now I think it’s very important for us to remain focused on the guitars amp business and get the brand positioned successfully before branching out into the electric guitar business. Obeid Khan, Engineer The original Magnatones we listened to all had a decent clean sound, but not really a good overdriven sound. Obeid Khan They were all also weak on power and the delivery of the notes in a modern context. Great sounding amps with a “vintage” vibe, but limited in their usage because of that. The cabinets were fragile, the chassis were very packed and tight physically and prone to bending, the speakers were of ‘50s and ‘60s vintage which did not always reproduce the best tone…We wanted to improve on all of these things in the new designs but keep the original Varistor Vibrato circuit. That was the most important thing for us to replicate with these new amps. High End Crash Power supplies were beefed up with more current capabilities, transformers and speakers upgraded to similar sounding but better power handling units. The output transformers were developed in conjunction with Larry Cragg to achieve a balance of tone that did not have the “high end crash” Larry Cragg as Larry called it. A smooth overdriven top end was the tonal requirement we had for our transformers, much like the tone from many other classic amplifiers from the era. We use a mix of transformers by Heyboer and Magnetic Components in our amplifiers and all are made in the USA. The loudspeakers from that time were typically barely large enough to handle the 20-25 watts of a 280. There has been a huge amount of development in that arena since Maggie built the 280/480 amps. We set out to find speakers that reproduced that kind of American sound, papery, immediate mid and top end, with a more powerful bass response. We had to be careful to stay away from “over efficient” drivers that gave up tonal balance for sound pressure levels. The speakers are made in the USA by WGS (Warehouse Guitar Speakers) for us custom and we have been very happy with the sound and consistency from them. We also offer Celestion Alnico Gold speakers as an optional upgrade. The process with Larry began with the “Mule”…a prototype we built based on a ‘56 Tweed Pro that had been one of Larry’s favorite amps of all time. We spent months getting the varistor circuit worked into the signal path without a “sonic penalty”. Many different iterations and locations were tested and finally we had gotten really close. At that point Larry came out to listen and we did the A/B comparisons and he said, “It’s 95% there, but there is that 5% left.” So we went back and worked the 5% down some more. Finally, we ended up with an amp (Single V) that exceeded Larry’s tonal expectations for the project. The Twilighter was a similar approach where Larry was in the thick of the development. Amps were sent back and forth with slight circuit changes here and there to get the balance just right and to get the amp to play well with all types of guitars. Larry did extensive sound listening tests on his own with his friends and contacts and sent us back to the drawing board a couple of times. But once we had cracked the code of the integration of the Vibrato circuit, it did become a little easier for us to do new designs. The Stereo Twilighter was relatively quick in its development. Based on the two 6V6 Twilighter, it personifies the Magnatone Stereo Vibrato effect. We added the 5 way selector switch to operate mono and also in different stereo modes to give some flexibility to the end user. ADDITIONAL NOTES The chassis was upgraded to a boxed welded steel enclosure along with a single PCB that mounted all the preamp tubes and compo-continued- TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 7 amps nents. With the original Magnatone design being somewhat of a rat’s nest (ask any tech), the design lent itself to a PCB approach, at least for the preamp. In this application a PCB gave a consistency in layout and repeatability that was never found in the vintage Maggies. The cabinet was also upgraded with finger jointed corners and better construction techniques. The biggest thing we wanted to keep was the original Varistor Vibrato that Magnatone was famous for. LFO Design – Low Frequency Oscillator. The LFO drives the Vibrato audio modulator stages, and it is the generator of the pulsing wobble. We started out with a vacuum tube LFO, but soon realized that the limitations imposed were too great for what we were trying to do. A solid state LFO was developed which also allowed the remote speed control feature. The advantages of a solid state LFO design are many, the range of speed is far greater than a tube LFO and the stability is much greater as well… No caps to dry out and now your tremolo doesn’t work. We now have the ability to go extremely slow and even stopped on the LFO speed, all of which can be remote controlled with a simple 20K ohm expression pedal. The audio modulators remain all tube signal path for the preservation of the authentic vibrato sound. The original circuit has been updated with far greater range, control and stability and usefulness than the original, while retaining the classic sound. EARLY VARISTOR DEVELOPMENT – The most difficult part of the process… A lot of brain power went into this, Ken Mathews and Greg Geerling were instrumental in sourcing the new Silicon Carbide Varistors. The originals were tested and quantified and then Ken located a few different manufacturers. Many different samples were tested and evaluated on their own and in test circuits until a proper match was found. The new varistors also have to be graded and paired for use in the circuit. Ken built the test and grading jig that we use to match them up into pairs. This was not an easy task – in fact, it was probably the most difficult part of the process. Understanding how the center frequency points change with voltage bias and varistor grade is essential in reproducing a consistent sound from one amplifier to the next. The other large daunting task was getting the circuit to integrate into an otherwise good sounding amplifier without sucking all the tone out of it. Larry helped immensely in this process, giving us his objective set of ears for critical listening. We have learned a great deal about how to integrate this Vibrato circuit into many different types of circuit topologies. Take the Super Fifty-Nine and Super Fifteen amps – those amps have the vibrato within the gain circuit where it becomes part of the texture of overdrive rather than an effect sitting on top of the sound. This was another challenge to integrate within a master volume gain structure type of amplifier. The noise and headroom shortcomings of the vibrato circuit had to be placed just right in the signal path to allow gain to pass with quality tone and a healthy overdrive sound to be achieved. Being a Marshall guy myself, I enjoyed the challenge of making a British style master volume amp with the inclusion of Maggie Varistor vibrato. This was not an easy task because of all the tradeoff’s involved with the gain structuring and noise levels and overload characteristics. You had to juggle them all to where it all came out OK. Plus, integrating the varistor vibrato into a distorted master volume amp arrangement had never been done before. Of course it also had to live up to the standards of Billy and Elwood, so it was a long process to finally get it where everyone was happy. Ken Matthews, Engineer “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” – Mark Twain Ted Kornblum put out this challenge of going back, and picking the Magnatone line of amps up at their high point, and using the original technology of vacuum tube signal paths and varistor vibrato, but being able to include the heritage created by all of the most prolific and successful tube guitar amps, and including some of the new things that resulted inside the team during the process as well. We didn’t and couldn’t build exact replicas, as some exact varistors and speakers and vacuum tubes have become obsolete. In the case of those obsolete parts, we always obtained better performing parts, -continued- 8 TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 cover story even having them custom made for our purposes when necessary. So history does not repeat itself, as Mr. Twain said, but we did and do rhyme with the best of legacy Magnatone and all of the art applied to vacuum tube amplification in that era, and in the decades since. We had fun, have some great results, and we are just getting started. Greg Geerling, Engineer I was looking back through some of my notes last weekend, and the amount of Vibrato research and experimentation we did over the past few years was just insane. Many of the experiments were insane as well. We knew from the start that vibrato was the cornerstone of the Magnatone amps, but I don’t think that we understood at the start just how complicated the whole thing was. There were so many variations just among the various Magnatone amps, and endless varieties and personalities even between different units of the same model. I think I had 5 or 6 of the 280s at one time, but no two were alike (all were pretty good, but some had more magic than others). That’s what sparked it for me – what was it that made the “real” Magnatone vibrato, how could we reproduce it and make it reproducible? Who would have thought that you could sit for hours listening to these crazy vibratos, coming up with ways to “see” the vibratos on the scope, measure their parameters, etc.? We started at the beginning, looking at the progression of Magnatone vibratos (not to mention other vintage things – the DeArmond Trem, the old Gibson trem, new vibratos, old vibratos, Fender tremolos, analog, digital, varistors, optical, new stuff, old stuff, computer simulations, on and on – and still continuing, I guess) Anyway, we went all the way back to the old Bonham Vibrato patents. Ken and I sat for hours scribbling circuits on the white board, prototyping things, experimenting with different materials, different components, grinding down “new” varistors to try to make them act like the old ones, blowing things up – all fun stuff. For me the most important “piece of magic” was the “stereo” vibrato – how did the 8-varistor multi-stage tube vibrato work? My goal was to make sure that if we did nothing else, we at least had to capture and faithfully reproduce the multi-stage “Magnatone” stereo vibrato. When Obeid got involved he got the amps going, doing his magic there, which of course was really the more important piece. Vibrato is just an effect (but certainly an important and necessary one for Magnatone). Obeid (and I believe George was involved as well) really did a good job on getting the initial single stage (and dual stage) vibratos going in the earlier prototypes – very true to the original amps and really, really faithful to the original vibrato circuits and their signature sounds. But I think we finally made a true believer of Obeid when he did the first “stereo” vibrato in the early stereo Twilighter proto. It’s that special circuit, with the “real” varistors, carefully selected, with the ability to have the vibrato stages in phase, out of phase – all that makes it “The Vibrato.” And from there, we took it to places that Mr. Bonham wished he could have gone, covering all of the classic circuits tone and range, but extending the low end response, improving the oscillator drive circuitry to allow even slower vibrato speeds, and the “remote” speed control. Obeid (and the team) really did things right and we’ve not only built the foundation for the Magnatone vibrato, but we have also brought it right up to date while keeping it “right.” We have a very special collection of mad scientists who have created some things that we are really proud of. Dave Hinson, Sales Manager Most important was that the Vibrato circuit be reproduced in exacting precision, the sourcing and acquisition of a reliable, high quality Varistor being the key ingredient. These were daunting but absolutely necessary tasks and were accomplished with painstaking effort. The cosmetic design while adhering to the original look came together in what you might call respective retro. While keeping with the original and making subtle improvements to make it a valid, user-friendly amp with modern concept and accessibility. The power amp and -continued- TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 9 cover story pre-amp sections were the weak spot of the Magnatones of yesteryear. This is the area that needed basically a complete re-vamp and was accomplished with respect to the tonal quality, a less fragile circuitry and certainly an emphasis on reliability. The reverb circuit is also certainly more pleasant than the 480 or the M series amps. This improvement was something that gives the new Magnatones a voicing of their own while also respecting the brand and it’s integrity. There will certainly be more stereo model options and I would suspect some Artist and tribute reissues of the famous models associated with Musical Legends. The Master Collection of models such as the Super Fifty-Nine, Super Fifteen and Super Thirty are a slight departure with a very positive and modern approach. While not exacting remakes, these in a way are what Magnatone was respected and known for in the ‘50s and ‘60s – innovative and extremely versatile amps combining a very modern power/Pre-amp with the Varistor Vibrato and the master volume circuit that in no way hinders the performance or tone of the amp. The Master Volume is extremely subtle and nearly undetectable when not engaged. The Varsity is the sleeper in the arsenal. While not brandishing the Varistor Vibrato, this amp is hands down one of the most amazing sounding amps on the market by anyone. Roughly 15 watts with a very simple control layout, the Varsity sounds much bigger, and the tone of this amp is un-rivaled by anything past or present. Gregg Hopkins, Vintage Amp Restoration The R & D on the new Magnatone cabinets was about a three year process and we tried a little bit of everything. There is a rack of prototypes at the Magnatone factory that are all different. We wanted to play on style points of some of the vintage Magnatones from different eras, but also update and improve them here and there. We experimented with dozens of combinations of different grill cloths and covering materials. I’ve restored lots of brown-era Magnatone cabinets using covering material from the original American manufacturer, so we went to them for the various colors and patterns for the three series of amps and had them custom made. They’re unique to the new Magnatones. One of the three grill fabrics is custom manufactured and all are made in the USA. We also found a small company here in the USA that hand makes leather goods and they’re making the two different leather handles for the Studio Collection and Traditional Collection. The brown cabinets of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s were notoriously weak, so we gave them proper joints, beefed up the chassis mounting and upgraded the hardware on all the cabinets. Back panels that need to be removed for service are held with big heavy-duty stainless steel machine screws and threaded inserts instead of wood screws. The look of the Master Collection is a departure from anything Magnatone has done in the past, and we had some fun with it. From first glance they have some style points we’ve seen on classic British amps, and that relates to their sound as well, but we gave the combos a wrap-around baffle and illuminated logo inspired by the M Series “suitcase” amps Magnatone made in the ‘60s. When the new Magnatones debuted at NAMM last January, people were knocked out by how great all the amps look. When they played them, they were doubly impressed. To look at them makes you want to plug in your guitar. There are some new designs in the pipeline that we’ll see in production one of these days. Magnatone Single V Review The Single V is a big 30 watt dual 6L6 amp and our review model was loaded with two robust Celestion Alnico gold speakers. The Single V is also described as “loosely based on a ‘56 Fender tweed Pro.” The Single V features Normal and Bright channels with two inputs with high and low sensitivity, separate volume controls for both channels, treble, bass, presence and reverb controls. The True Pitch Shifting Varistor Vibrato is controlled by an -continued- 10 TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 cover story AM/FM slider that allows switching to traditional vibrato, and Intensity and Speed Controls. An expression pedal can also be used to control speed. The cabinets for the Single V and Twilighter reviewed here honor the original Magnatone designs in appearance, but like the new amp circuits, the cabinets have also been enhanced and improved as described by Gregg Hopkins. Tone home players and gigging musicians with 30 watts of manageable headroom. The #2 inputs on both channels deliver lower volume and gain, and we tended to prefer the #1 inputs. The Normal channel is rich, full and round, while the Bright Channel adds more sparkle and presence. The first thing we noticed was the beautiful fidelity and lush detail that the Single V produces. Our old Magnatones never sounded this crisp, defined, clear and transparent. The bass and treble controls display a broad and effective sweep, and increasing bass also seemed to fill in midrange frequencies. The Single V stays clean and clear up to 12 o’clock on the volume control with rich harmonic overtones, smooth, musical treble and deep, solid bass. Beyond 12 o’clock thick output tube distortion gradually increases, producing a perfect mix of edgy sustain and clarity. Above 3 o’clock the Single V gracefully achieves the overdriven char- Larry Cragg, musician, collector, tone freak and longtime tech for Neil Young is quite proud of the Magnatone Single V. We asked him to explain… My idea was… pitch shifting vibrato is really nice, but I want to have a really good amplifier – it’s not about the vibrato, it’s about how good does the amp sound? When you get tired of the vibrato and turn it off how good does it sound? So they came to me and asked, “If you were king, what would you do?” They said the sky was the limit and I knew immediately what I wanted. It took a long time before the amp sounded the way I wanted it to, but we finally nailed it. It’s loud, but it sounds as good as anything I have ever heard. TQR: The first thing we noticed were the great clean tones, but it also overdrives beautifully… more so than most. That’s where I was coming from. I was all about the sound when you turn it up, and I hope you did – all the way up. In terms of power and volume, the Single V will please both acter of a late ‘60s metal panel Marshall with intense sustain, yet retaining the pure fidelity and definition present at lower volume levels. If you can handle the full 30 watts, you won’t need an overdrive pedal to reach the promised land with the Single V. As good as it sounds at clean volumes, it is equally toneful and adept at delivering a solid overdriven sound with single coil and humbucking pickups. True Pitch Shifting Varistor Vibrato Of course the most salient feature of the vintage Magnatone 280 was its true pitch shifting vibrato, and the Single V resurrects this unique effect in stunning detail along with a more traditional vibrato, and both are excellent. The optional use of an expression pedal adds flexibility and control on the fly for live performances, and the technical team at Magnatone have absolutely nailed the captivating vibe of pitch shifting vibrato. The quality of the long pan reverb in the Single V is equally good, with a variable range of intensity from the single reverb control that makes it very usable, from barely wet to a full splash. Overall, the Single V is a heady achievement on a technical level, meticulously designed and richly endowed with truly exceptional tones. Our only quibble pertains to weight. Loaded with Celestion -continued- TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 11 cover story Alnico gold speakers, our review amp was heavier than the stated 58 lb. curb weight, but the handcrafted leather handles at least make lifting these amps as painless as possible. Magnatone Twilighter Stereo Review In terms of tone, the Single V and 22 watt Twilighter Stereo definitely share the same sonic DNA. They are similar enough to be identifiable as sharing the same badge, yet varied enough to appeal to different tastes and power/volume requirements. The Twilighter is a 2-input, 22 watt dual 6V6 combo loaded with Magnatone Signature speakers made by Warehouse Speakers in the image of vintage Oxfords. As we immediately noted in our review notes, the Twilighter produces a more percussive, glassier tone with a power range similar to a Deluxe Reverb, but with two speakers you get a louder, more imposing sound. Once again, Larry Cragg described the development of the Twilighter: The Twilighter came about a few years back when I was in St. Louis. We were having a big meeting with everyone and the perception was that among Magnatone collectors they liked the original 1x12 Twilighter. But the original Magnatone amps without the vibrato just don’t do it for me. They made a new version of the Twilighter using the old circuit and it sounded OK until they turned it up, and then it didn’t sound good at all. I said, why don’t we make the world’s biggest, juiciest sounding blackface Deluxe Reverb? The mono version is very cool, too. With a single 12 it still sounds bigger than a Deluxe. They both sound great. Like the Single V, the Twilighter produces an outstanding clean tone, and while the overdriven sustain at high volume levels is less intense than that of the Single V, it remains nicely focused, rich in complex harmonic overtones. The addition of a Midrange tone control along with Treble and Bass also helps the Twilighter achieve a more focused tone that will really hold its own on stage. Like the Single V, the long pan reverb is really good, and fans of Vibrato will be knocked out by the Mono/Stereo/Wet-Dry/DryWet settings for the pitch shifting vibrato. For us the stereo setting is the money tone, but all of the varied vibrato tones offer a unique twist on vibrato that is entirely unique to the Twilighter. An expression pedal can also be used to precisely control vibrato speed. The Tremolo setting is more subtle, and we found ourselves leaning much more on the pitch shifting settings. Before we had spoken to Larry Cragg, we wrote in our review notes “sounds like a big Deluxe Reverb,” and the Twilighter really does challenge the best vintage examples of this classic Fender amp with a more robust and versatile voice. Magnatone Super 59 With none other than Billy F Gibbons involved in the handson development and prototyping of the Super 59, you might think this is the beast in the Magnatone lineup designed for a full face melt. You’d be wrong. Of course, Señor Gibbons is righteously known for some rather smoldering guitar tones, but we have come to know him and his music well enough to point out that his tonal repertoire and tastes extend way beyond the sound of an amp fully floored… May we suggest “A Fool for Your Stockings” as proof of the Rev’s uhm… sensitive side? A more delicate and touching ode to irresistible southern snatch has yet to be written, and the guitar tones are Gibbons at his clean Fendery best. True, most of ZZ Top’s big hits feature Gibbons ripping it up pretty good, but the Super 59 should not be narrowly viewed as just another afterburner amp by any means… It’s got all the tones. Unlike a lot of vintage and new amplifiers that have been deliberately designed to rock hard, the Super 59 actually boasts a beautiful clean tone with volume and power. It’s all in the way you manage the master volume and volume controls, and while that juggling act is nothing new, 45 watt amps that can really boogie rarely display such gorgeous clean tones at stage -continued- 12 TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 cover story volume levels as the Super 59. It’s just another diamond pin in the pork pie hats of the design team at Magnatone. Controls are consistent with the other models reviewed here, effective and straightforward. Left to right you have the Pitch Shifting Vibrator (no typo) with the same FM/ AM switch for Vibrato/Tremolo, Presence, Bass, Mid and Treble controls, Master Volume, Vibrato Channel Volume and Normal Channel Volume. The Vibrato and Normal channels both feature dual inputs with slightly lower gain from the #2 inputs. For the loudest, cleanest tones in either channel you simply turn up the Master Volume and keep the individual Volume for either channel set lower. For maximum burn use the individual channel Volume as the heat control and adjust the Master to taste. It’s that simple, and among all the things we like about the Super 59, we also like what isn’t there, like more knobs and switches. If you can’t get yer tone with what’s here, more knobs and switches won’t help you. However, we do like the groovy backlit Magnatone front panel and illuminated control knobs… Another touch that shows how much thought went into designing these amps. We deliberately reached for our most excellent ‘07 Robert Cray Signature hardtail when we first hit the switch on the Super 59. We knew the amp was gonna rock, but we wanted to know if adequate attention had been given to the full spectrum of the guitar rather than just the distortion elements. You can rest easy in the knowledge that the Super 59 deftly handles both clean and dirty jobs with equal aplomb, whether you are playing a guitar equipped with Fendery single coils, humbuckers, P90s, Filtertrons or something reminiscent of classic DeArmonds. We played them all with the Cray Strat, our Thinline Cabronita, the Squier Tele, an Andy Elliott custom Honey Pine Tele with gold foil neck pickup, our ‘55 ES135 loaded with double P90s, a new and OMG awesome Echopark Arroyo loaded with a Filtertron and DeArmond gold foil, and our infamous 2010 ‘57 Historic Goldtop pushing early ‘60s vintage Gibson patent number humbuckers. We can confidently say this about all of the new Magnatones reviewed here including the Super 59 – the lush fidelity and tone stacks work beautifully with all of our guitars and pickups. You know how some amplifiers seem to sound best with single coils but perhaps not so great with humbuckers? That’s not happening here, and like the Single V and Twilighter Stereo, the Super 59 could easily be prized by play- ers who don’t even use or need distortion. The clean tones are that good, yet cranked, this amp purrs and growls with the same extraordinary fidelity and clarity. The tone controls are precise and effective in subtilely goosing specific frequencies, and as we mentioned in our review of the Twilighter, the WGS speakers are typical of the Warehouse brand – full, round and rich with a sweet top end and perfectly balanced from top to bottom. COMMENTS ON THE SUPER FIFTY-NINE BILLY F GIBBONS Ted, it’s such a pleasure to have accepted your invitation to participate in the Magnatone revival under your direction. Everyone is truly impressed with the sound and performance, not to mention the beauty of the appearance of the entire line. Splendid…! GARY MOON, ZZ TOP STUDIO ENGINEER When Ted sent the first Super Fifty-Nine prototype to ZZ’s “Foam Box Recordings” in Houston, we immediately “threw it into the fire” and set it up to replace Billy’s go-to studio amp. It has the best characteristics of a classic British EL34 amp, and once we adjusted the gain and master to get the volume and feel right, we were able to dial-in “BFG-approved” sonics with the EQ section easily. We started recording tracks with it the same day, and never went back to its predecessor. It sounds bigger, it’s more dynamic, and the noise floor is much, much lower. Long story short, there’s a Super 59 set up and mic’d at Foam Box right now. Kudos to Ted and Obeid. ELWOOD FRANCIS, BILLY GIBBONS GUITAR TECH We did a gig last night and the word is that Billy’s guitar was a monster of tone. I have never had so many compliments and I’ll be honest when I say, Billy pretty much always sounds great and always has gotten compli-continued- TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 13 cover story ments, but never like these! It starts at sound check when a couple of local guitar heroes usually show up, and continues all day and night. I must admit – the Super Fifty-Nine sounds like a fucking guitar factory. That amp slams a home run just by turning it on! All of the Magnatones we reviewed feature true high fidelity that will be immediately apparent on the first few chords, and their exceptionally musical character is maintained throughout the entire sweep of the volume controls. The WGS “hotdog” basket speakers are outstanding. The Varsity The Varsity name was used by Magnatone as early as 1948 and appeared on the model 108, one of the smaller combo amps equipped with a 10” speaker. The new Varsity is a 15 watt dual EL84 amp that will appeal to those whose power and volume requirements are more modest, and of course, dual EL84 booteek combos have become immensely popular during the past 15 years. Few of them sound quite like this. Available as a 1x12 combo or head in black or a very cool burgundy croc tolex, the Varsity embodies all the features that have made smaller combos so popular today – portability, comparatively low decibel levels, and the harmonically rich character of EL84s that can be overdriven to produce smooth sustain and excellent dynamic touch sensitivity. Minimal features include Hi and Lo sensitivity inputs, Volume, Treble and Bass controls, a top-mounted extension speaker jack and line out. A NFB (negative feedback) 8dB boost toggle switch is also mounted on the control panel for extra burn. Clean headroom is more than adequate with, here we go again… outstanding full fidelity, and cranked, the Varsity is the quintessential 15 watt rocker that sounds much bigger than it looks. When we went to Atlanta’s Boutique Guitar Exchange to pick up the amps for review, they couldn’t get the players in the store to turn off the Varsity. Magnatone will sell a ton of them. The overall build quality of the cabinets and accessories is exceptional, including the supplied cables and footswitch, pine cabinets and the faux alligator reverb bag. No detail has been overlooked in designing and constructing these amps. Unlike the originals, you’ll have easy access to chassis and tubes. None of the new Magnatones are cheap, but one look at them and it is obvious that you are getting what you pay for and more. Simply put, they sound and look better than they had to… Absolutely state of the art, with everything you need and none of what you don’t. Quest forth…TQ Varsity 1x12 $1699 Single V 2x12 combo $3999 Stereo Twilighter $2999 Super 59 head $2999 See www.magnatoneusa.com for additional models, options, pricing and dealer locations. Final Notes Here are a few additional observations that apply to the amps reviewed here along with a photographic montage of historic Magnatone shots and moments captured from the new Magnatone company… The leather handles are a work of art and very comfortable, which is important given the weight of the 2x12 models. -continued- 14 TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 cover story 2013 NAMM SHOW, LEFT TO RIGHT: GREGG HOPKINS, LARRY CRAGG, DAN RYTERSKI, GREG GEERLING, THOM KIEFFER, OBEID KHAN, GEORGE MCKALE, TED KORNBLUM (CENTER) NOT PRESENT AT TIME OF PHOTO, KEN MATTHEWS, DAVE HINSON, CHIRS VILLANI New Orleans Guitar Company Voodoo Custom “The minute you land in New Orleans, something wet and dark leaps on you and starts humping you like a swamp dog in heat, and the only way to get that aspect of New Orleans off you is to eat it off. That means beignets and -continuedTONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 15 guitars crayfish bisque and jambalaya, it means shrimp remoulade, pecan pie, and red beans with rice, it means elegant pompano au papillote, funky file z’herbes, and raw oysters by the dozen, it means grillades for breakfast, a po’ boy with chowchow at bedtime, and tubs of gumbo in between. It is not unusual for a visitor to the city to gain fifteen pounds in a week –-yet the alternative is a whole lot worse. If you don’t eat day and night, if you don’t constantly funnel the indigenous flavors into your bloodstream, then the mystery beast will go right on humping you, and you will feel its sordid presence rubbing against you long after you have left town. In fact, like any sex offender, it can leave permanent psychological scars.” –Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume “America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland.” –Tennessee Williams Luthier Vincent Guidroz is building works of art in New Orleans. This isn’t hyperbole or an exaggeration to fix your attention – two minutes spent on Ray Davies his web site are all you will need to become a believer, and the shop photos of his work space in New Orleans are enough to inspire a trip to the Crescent City. What could be better than a 3-day trip to New Orleans to pick up a guitar? Not much. Well, 5 days would be better… If you have never been to New Orleans, please, please go while you are young enough to enjoy it. Sure, there was Katrina, but the city has fully recovered from that misfortune stronger for it. Yeah, Ray Davies was shot in the leg in New Orleans while he was living there, but he was running after a mugger that had grabbed his girlfriend’s purse. Better job for a Rottweiler, Ray… This is America, not Iceland. Post Katrina New Orleans was indeed portrayed as a cess pool of poverty, crime and corruption, but if you were to send 8 feet of water surging into certain areas of Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami or Atlanta, the outcome would surely be the same, or worse, so let’s jump off the bandwagon when it comes to bashing New Orleans as some kind of dying remnant of the confederacy or a pimp colony for Big Oil. That would be Houston. Louisiana is no more corrupt than New Jersey, and all of us are living on the edge of chaos – we just choose to pretend otherwise. That one thin wire that connects your home to the world is fragile indeed, and unless you are off the power grid like our friend Larry Pogreba in Montana, there are no guarantees of running water, flushing toilets, incandescent light or connectivity if that wobbly grid goes down. Whether we know it or not, most of us resort to living on faith – even those of us who profess to have none, and faith so far seems to have worked well enough. In the end, it’s all we have. So why not take a little trip to New Orleans and experience the profound miracle of the human spirit that pulses throughout this amazing city and its people, music, food, architecture and art. If there was an intensity control for life, New Orleans would be perpetually stuck on 10, and the same can be said for the guitars built by Vincent Guidroz. Laissez les bons temps rouler, and Enjoy… TQR: How did you first become interested in the guitar, and what led you to exploring guitar repair and construction? I guess growing up in New Orleans, you’re surrounded by music. Besides growing up in The Quarter, alVincent ways hearing brass and jazz, you get exposed to a lot of different genres of music and playing an instrument just becomes a part of life for a lot of folks. Living here, I think you hear all of the popular music that the rest of the country hears but you also have this definitively New Orleans soundtrack that is just a product of our history. When you take into account all of the different influences that this place has seen and our role in the entertainment world, it’s just a natural progression for people to want to be active participants. Like a lot of guys, I picked up the guitar, did the high school garage band thing, played around New Orleans and then after a while I just kinda got tired of it and didn’t pick up a guitar again for nearly ten years. I think sometimes you just need to step back from things and come back at it with a fresh perspective. As long as I can remember I’ve always been into drawing and by my late teens I started getting into sculpture. -continued- 16 TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 guitars By the time I was twenty I had a sculpture studio, executing what was mostly figurative or architectural work. I did some stone carving and bronze casting, but most of the work was in composite casting and mold making. Eventually I had the opportunity to get into some automotive prototyping and product design, and I think it was there that I started to see the connection between product design and how that affects our everyday lives. I still do some sculpture, but after fifteen years or so of doing it daily, I was starting to get a little burnt out on the chemicals around the studio, and was looking for another avenue to pursue. A friend of mine showed me a Strat that he made using hardware from Stew-Mac, and that demystified the guitar for me. I liked the idea of making something with organic materials, but there was still a lot to learn about how to pull off a professional looking product, so I started experimenting with the process. I built as a hobbyist for a few years before I felt that I might be able to make something of it. Eventually you develop that skill set that allows you to trust your hands. TQR: How did you first acquire experience as a luthier, and how did your hands-on experience evolve and expand? During the first three of four years of actively doing the guitar thing, I was still taking on sculpture commissions to pay the bills. I read all the books about guitar making that I could find but I’m just one of those people who learn best by doing, so the first hundred or so guitars really taught me how to see the entire design and the process of building guitars. When you’re first getting started with something like this, it’s a losing proposition because not so many people are willing to take a chance on something that’s unproven, so you sell your work on the cheap just to pay for the next shot at it. You do something enough and things start to become more apparent, whether that applies to the design or the process, I think the same holds true. There is a clarity that develops through repetition. I’ve been lucky enough to have a steady grass roots stream of work that’s given me the opportunity to continually tweak my designs. Over the years the relationships that I’ve developed with the professional musicians here in New Orleans has definitely influenced how I see instruments as a whole. I think I’ve always tried to operate under the premise that most im- portantly the work should cater to a player’s sensibilities. As a builder, once you get to a point with the craft, I think you try to push boundaries to get noticed. As you get better with the craft, I think you start to realize it’s just as important to know when to stop. Ornamentation has its place, but I think it’s secondary. There’s something very special about just having an instrument that you connect with. That connection quite often comes down to how that instrument feels in your hands and responds to touch. If you strive to make things that musicians connect with, I think you naturally focus on those elements that make the experience more expressive. TQR: Were there specific guitar designs from the past that have inspired or influenced your work? Describe specific design and construction features that have appealed to you and why? I’ve had some wonderful electrics from the 50’s and 60’s come through the shop over the years which have greatly influenced my neck shapes, but I’ve also been inspired by all kinds of other stringed instruments. The zero fret is probably the most immediately noticeable detail that I’ve adopted. I really loved some of Macaferri’s work because there was just an elegant simplicity in his design but so much of it made sense from a structural perspective. The zero fret just works really well and I think that’s definitely one of those details that adds to making all of my work feel the same up around the nut. Using two way truss rods became a core element because they allowed me to simulate string tension while I’m doing fretwork. Those features make for very precise playing surfaces that you can easily dial in a neck’s flexibility under a load. Regardless of how beautiful or tonally rich an instrument is, if the geometry of the playing surface is unstable, that tool will never be reliable in its intonation. I think that precise intonation is one of those make or break elements in an instrument and I found that single piece necks were too unreliable for tools that are taken out on the road. Early on I started making necks -continued- TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 17 guitars from bookmatched billets and found that as a core, laminated necks are so much more stable when you take into account changes in temperature and humidity, and the rigors of travel. Aside from the mechanics of guitar design, I think I was also drawn to the work of guys like D’Aquisto and others in that vein because they took an artful approach to the design. Musical instruments as a whole are pretty simple things really when you get down to the bare essentials, but people wind up developing relationships with these objects and so I think that deserves a thoughtful approach. It’s my job as a builder to make sure that all of my geometry lends itself to a comfortable playing experience that stays in tune with itself. As a builder, once you get past being familiar with some of the hardware components with building guitars, I think you start to notice more how the design affects the dynamics of an instrument. When you start taking into account the overall design and how the density of the materials affect tone, that’s when you really see definitive results as a builder. How an instrument is built, how hollow the design, how dense the materials used, all of those things become formulas to attain very repeatable tonal voices. I take a fairly intuitive approach to building things in general. If you spend enough time working with any material, I think you develop a sense for what it does well, as well as its limitations. Music is just another language. It’s a way for people to make abstract ideas more complete. As a builder, the best thing that I can hope for is to make something that helps that process along. I think the mark of a great instrument is one that allows the player to relax. When you have an instrument that allows the player to ease up on their touch, it changes the approach to playing. You start to see more clearly the nuances of each instrument and those voices become more defined. Those individual characteristics sway a musician to play certain things with a specific approach and each instrument winds up having its own voice. It’s all about the experience. TQR: How has working in New Orleans influenced your work in ways that are unique to the city and its culture of art and music? Definitely being here has made me very aware of how the arts affect our lives, but this place also has this long tradition of hospitality. We’re pretty warm and open people and I think for the most part, a little more laid back and a little less con- cerned with convention. Personally, I think it’s the humidity. It slows things down. I don’t know what it is about this city. When you take into account the rich history of this place and all of its strange traditions, you come to realize that this is a very eclectic place and it draws in all kinds of wonderful misfits. Aside from the stream of working musicians that pass through my door, I get a steady dose of sculptors and painters, crafts people, gear heads, ukulele troubadours, gospel playing buggy drivers, guitar collectors, and just people that are drawn to creative things. It’s just a long line of interesting people. How does that affect my work? Usually it slows down my production, but it’s just part of the process. There is simply a lot of creative energy in this city, always has been. That exposure to all of those different creative souls, cultures, music and traditions definitely affects how I see things. To some degree, I’m sure that shows up in the work. TQR: What are some of your favorite types of wood to use in guitar construction and why? Hands down, for the pure joy of working with the material is spruce. Nothing is quite like it for uniformity and liveliness of sound. Cedar is a close second. For necks and body woods, Honduran mahogany is probably the most consistent to work with, and it acts like a big treble filter, so it pairs up nicely with the harder top woods like maple and myrtle, which just happen to make for great high volume stage rigs. Myrtle is a nice top wood option for someone looking for crystalline clarity, but you can really only pair it up with something like the Honduran or limba, otherwise it gets to be a little too much. Limba is a nice option to the mahogany as a neck wood if you’re looking for something with a slightly more percussive bass side, and I think it allows you to incorporate some of the softer top woods. Same thing holds true with ash, though it’s a little tougher to carve because there’s such a difference between the summer and winter growth densities. For the species from this -continued- 18 TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 guitars region, I enjoy working with both swamp ash and cypress in certain applications. The swamp ash that I use is lighter in weight and usually not quite as consistent in color as its northern cousin, but it has that lower mid range honk that sounds great onstage, especially if you temper it with a softer top wood. Quartersawn cypress and redwood make for very nice top plates, especially with semi hollows if you’re going for a softer bass thump and less piercing highs, because they allow a player to dig in a little more. I find that the softer top woods on semi hollows work well for someone who maybe plays a little cleaner, with a more fingerstyle approach, but they also make for great slide guitars as well. I really think it comes down to what a player is hoping for in an instrument. Cypress swamp Someone who plays around the house for their own enjoyment has different criteria than someone who is playing at stage volume. That higher volume and more gain setting has a tendency to clip off some of the highs, especially when you throw the other members of a band in the mix, so that player I think requires a different approach to getting their sound, compared to someone who plays at a lower volume. Technique is also a big determining factor in a build’s specs. People that have a softer touch can get away with playing on harder woods but their mistakes show up more easily. Softer wood builds are more forgiving but you might have to work a little harder for it. I don’t think anyone can say that any particular build spec is the holy grail of tone because there are simply too many variables at play. It all depends on the application. TQR: How do you determine the types of pickups you use? I think it depends on what kind of vibe a player is going for when choosing pickups. The scale length of an instrument and the specs of the build have more of an effect on the tonal characteristics than the pickups, but certain pickups definitely work better in certain applications. If someone is going for a higher gain more volume sound, humbuckers definitely lend themselves to a creamy saturated thicker voicing but depending on the scale, and the build, and the amp, they can get a little too fat sounding at times. Soaps and smaller single coils are beautiful sounding friendly pickups but they can get a little ratty and gritty sounding when you push them, and they’re noisy, but it’s a give and take kinda thing. It all has its place. So much of the sound comes from a player’s touch. I think people focus on some of the details like pickups because it’s an easy thing to change, but Sonny Landreth you can chase your tail trying to find that perfect sound. It’s more important to have pickups that don’t overpower everything else that’s going on with an instrument. I think it’s important to let the sound of the wood show through. Otherwise the wood becomes simply decorative. TQR: You also build basses... Is the design process for bass and guitar generally the same, or does each require a different approach? Although you would think that they’re very similar, basses require a somewhat different approach to the layout. Aside from the obvious differences with the scale length and how that relates to ergonomics, bass strings apply so much force along the neck that things move drastically as you apply tension. You almost have to lay it out knowing that things are going to be pulled up into alignment. You try to design so you can at least control what part of the neck is doing the majority of the flexing, but it’s a balancing act. I find that in the bass world, you have two major camps when it comes to action and technique. Chopper You’ve got the jazz/fusion guys with the softer touch that are playing over ramps, beating out 16th notes and covering a lot of territory. They want really low action with spot on intonation because they’re doing a lot of melodic passages, but those big strings -continued- TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 19 guitars need plenty of room to oscillate without buzzing on frets, so it can be a challenge to get everything setting up perfectly, especially with the 6-string basses. Then you have the guys that fall into more of the slap/R&B/ funk end of the spectrum. Those players are still concerned with low action but only so far. They seem to be just as concerned with how much air is beneath the strings at the slap points because if it’s too much, they’re hooking more string than they want, not enough and they’ve got no control. Bass players approach music differently. Bassists are every bit as much living in the percussive world as they do the melodic. It’s more about the groove. Totally different animals. TQR: Can you briefly describe the significant defining features of each model you build? I’m presently building three guitar models and one bass model. Of the guitars, my least expensive, the Model 8, is basically a semi hollow bolt in the 25.5’’ scale. The neck is a 3 piece opposed grain with a tilted 6 in-line headstock and a 12’’ radius on a 22 fret rosewood board. The neck is pitched at the heel to allow for a tune-o-matic style bridge and tail or a Bigsby. It’s available with humbuckers, soaps, Tele or Strat pickups, in a number of different wood species combos. Average weight on the Model 8’s usually comes in right at 7.25 lbs. The Voodoo Custom is a chambered neck-through carved top solidbody in the 25’’ scale. The neck core is a bookmatched 5 piece billet construction with matched body wings, capped with a ¾’’ carved top. The rear of the body and neck are carved to a seamless comfortable form that snugs up against the player and balances naturally. The 3 on a side headstocks are bound to match the fretboards with 3-ply hardwood bindings. The ebony or cocobolo boards are 12’’ radius on a 22 or 24 fret layout. It’s available in a wide range of wood species with either humbucker or P90 pickups. Average weight on the Voodoos range from 8 to 8.5 lbs. The Jb14 is basically the same 5pc. neck-through billet construction as the Voodoo wrapped in a slightly Rubinesque semi-hollow body with a 14’’ lower bout. The scale is the 25’’, 22fret design with a 12’’ radius, available with humbuckers or P90s. The Jb is a more elegant looking guitar that’s still very stage friendly. Average weight on the Jb14’s range from 7 to 7.5 lbs. The bass model that I make is a single cut 5piece bookmatched neck through design with a ¾’’ carved top available in a 34 or 35’’ scale, 22 or 24 fret, 12’’ radius in either a 4,5 or 6 string layout. The backs are carved to lay up against the player comfortably and balance effortlessly. It’s available in a wide range of wood and electronic options. Average weights range from 8.5-9.5 lbs. TQR: You also appear to be open to creating ‘custom’ models. Please describe the kinds of features and appointments that can be customized for custom projects. With the standard models that I make, they all have some custom options like different bindings or wood pickup covers and such. It makes the pieces a little more unique if you can do some things to maybe build in some visual harmony. As for building custom models, once or twice a year, I’ll take on a custom build that’s a totally blank slate. I can’t do it often because it breaks the rhythm in the shop, but it offers me a chance to stretch out a little bit. TQR: What would you most like to accomplish in the future, Vincent? I’m guessing that if only half of those things that I can imagine make it to fruition, I can consider it a pretty good day. I hope to at least get to the point that I feel like I’ve made a real contribution to a bigger picture. For now, the fact that I get to build musical instruments for people and that brings them some enjoyment is pretty gratifying in itself. Voodoo Child It took a while for Vincent Guidroz to have a guitar available for review, but this is the bane of the small builder. You don’t build guitars to be sent away for reviewers to paw over. Builders have overhead, building guitars can’t be rushed, and if demand exceeds your capacity it’s hard to set one aside for a month. No matter – it was worth the wait. The first sentence you will read on the New Orleans Guitar Company web site goes like this: “We are a collection of artists, musicians, tool junkies and wood hounds…” Believe it. When the Voodoo Custom arrived we gratefully popped the latches on the case and muttered, “Jeezus, that’s a piece of art.” And it is. We haven’t seen such minute attention to detail and deft craftsmanship since the last time we had one of Chuck Thornton or Juha Ruokangas’ guitars here. Some people just have the ability to go over the top and hoist the bar a few notches higher when they build a guitar, and it begins with a vision of what they want their instruments to be. The ability to translate that vision into reality at such a high level is worthy of our respect and admiration, yet the effect tends to stick with you long after the guitar has come and gone. -continued- 20 TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 effects The Voodoo we received for review is a chambered neck-through design built from bookmatched black limba with two center ebony laminations, topped with bookmatched quilt maple. The grain in the top is an alligator reflecting pool of want. The cocobolo fingerboard and headstock are bound with cocobolo, the headstock inlay is pearl, and the truss rod cover, control cavity cover and control knobs are carved from solid wood. The Voodoo neck carve is a moderately full C shape and the feel of the frets and fretboard were flawless perfection. We have never seen a more beautiful fretboard, and you’ll note the presence of a zero fret in front of the elegantly carved bone nut. Hardware includes TonePros nickel stop tailpiece, tuneo-matic bridge and nickel locking 18:1 Grovers. Our Voodoo Custom weighed 8.8 lbs., but the body design and balanced feel of the guitar seem lighter in hand. Visually, this guitar reveals the random perfection of figured wood that suggests some mysterious force that is anything but random… Voodoo indeed. For all its beauty and fine attention to detail, the Voodoo Custom does not create the impression of a ‘fussy’ instrument overwrought with questionable affectations. Three P90 pickups may be a bit unusual, but Guidroz’ use of a toggle to add or subtract the middle pickup (down is on for the middle) works well, producing a wide range of very deep and useful tones. The Lollar P90s are custom-wound with a 5% underwound reverse polarity middle pickup and 5% underwound neck for enhanced clarity. The middle pickup adds midrange depth to the neck and bridge, the bridge pickup alone is bright and chimey with lots of sparkly treble tones typical of Lollar P90s. The neck pickup alone is clear and thick with good treble snap on the top and a deep bass rumble on the wound strings. As solidbody guitars go, it really doesn’t get any better than this Neil Youngs’s Frets on all counts, but the Voodoo Custom is just one example of many variations built by Vincent Guidroz. The singlecut semihollow Model-8 with cypress top and swamp ash body had us drooling on our keyboard, and the 25” scale semi-hollow JB-14 equipped with humbucking pickups takes the concept of a mahogany and maple solidbody to entirely new places. All New Orleans models are available in a range of optional pickup configurations, wood combinations and finishes, and we’ll say this one more time… Seeing is believing, and the collection of “artists, musicians, tool junkies and wood hounds” at New Orleans Guitar Company definitely deserve your consideration as one of the foremost custom electric guitar (and bass) makers in America. Quest forth, ya’ll…TQ Driving South Lightnin’ Hopkins “So vast, so limitless in capacity is man’s imagination to disperse and burn away the rubble-dross of fact and probability, leaving only truth and dream.” –William Faulkner It gets dark around here early these days. And I like it. Texas may seem like some sort of glorified all night well lit party, and thanks to the endless ozone haze from the refineries nearby, it may be. But I’m under the impression that good things happen in the gloaming, that cusp of day fading into eve, that tenebrous and wintry hour where the rote hustle and bustle of making a living finally gives us time to come on home and pull ourselves together, make some music, and, hopefully, use that art form to make sense of our lives. As for me, I’ve been so out of the loop lately, out of my head. -continued- TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 21 effects I need a guitar in my hands more than ever. Suffice it to say when least expected, a girl from North Dakota came onto the scene and showed me what it means to get it right, to have a true shotgun riding running buddy and partner in crime for this amusing ride of life. It’s as heady and righteously stellar as it gets, and I thank my lucky stars for that. And if there is a crash and burn I’ll take my lumps in stride, but there won’t be. This one is good to go. What she doesn’t know is what I do in the back corner of this 100 year old bungalow, down hard on the wooden tiger oak floors with a 64’ Deluxe, the 62’ Echoplex, the Big Tex blonde Strat with Lollar Specials, and, finally, sending it all into perspective, this old Tube Driver. I’ve never figured out how the heck B. K. Butler did it, but after all these years, with so many endless heaps of overdrivedistortion-screamer hogwash pedal attempts put out by countless crop dusters, the Tube Driver still embarrasses all of them. I’ve looked inside a few times and none of it makes a bit of sense to me – the circuits, the wiring, and the mystique of what’s going on behind this curtain. But I’d rather not understand it. I just want to keep cranking through it until the day comes when I can’t set some notes free to bloom in the air. If you don’t have one in your stash, with all respect, I just can’t relate, nor figure out what you’re into, where you’re trying to take yourself, but it isn’t my place. I have a couple of them. The extra one sits in the kitchen cupboard, with a vintage Stanley coffee thermos I take along for fly fishing adventures. I barely push this pedal. Like the bottle of Scorpion Mescal the editor of this mag left here, all you need is a small dose to be messed up. I’m not a fan of absurd heaps of gain, am more so fascinated with clarity, feel, and organic warmth. I’d much rather redline an old tube amp and let it fold up and deliver on its own than squeeze the front end too much. I run the Tube Driver gain on about 2-3 max, and EQ it to give a fat, girthy ass-end that doesn’t fall apart, all the while retaining top end sparkle and shimmer. I did switch the 12AX7 out for a 50’s RCA 12AU7 to give it a wide usable sweep of drive, and according to me, the RCA’s have always been the smoothest for anything. The Echoplex agrees with it, too, and the combination has always been a game changer for me. It seems to prefer bigger amps, although I have heard it through a little Kay amp that was rowdy for slide. Some say that single coils are all that should be used with Tube Drivers, but with the late 50’s neck PAF. in the 2007 burst, a pickup which measures around 7.2 and for some reason has some truly special transparency, I enjoy kicking it at the hips to land in some early Freddie King terra firma. It doesn’t surprise me that Gibbons and Eric Johnson, as well as Gilmour, have quietly sworn by these for years. Gilmour, especially, has his dialed in to give his Strats a sensuality and ether soaring beauty that stops us all in our tracks, while the Rev knows how to add just the right blend of woolly grease to his patented game. I once read that Butler doesn’t even play guitar, he is simply just another savant inventor (like Leo Fender) who wanted to make something he kept hearing in his head. Butler even might have modeled it after an organ sound he heard… Now that’s funny. A website says he’s hand-building them these days, signs them and ships them in tiny batches, and as much as I bet they are amazing, I don’t really care to compare any of them. I just want to play this guitar and pull myself back together, and wait for the silhouette of a North Dakota girl coming through the porch lit glass of the doorway again at the end of the day. TQ ~Riverhorse I Wanna Be Your Dog The title of this little riff is borrowed from the classic 1969 Stooges song that has, for us, always embodied the essence of what true rock & roll is all about – a slithering, tribal guitar rhythm, pounding beat, and a potent plea of angst and lust, or a vow to throw a party of epic intensity and duration. Really, how many times has the phrase “all night long” been used in -continued- 22 TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 effects blues and rock & roll? Confession time has arrived… Have you too noticed that popular music is rapidly deteriorating into just three horribly repetitive and worn out genres? It’s true… Our culture is careening into a parody of itself, crunching popular music down to hip-hop, ‘country rock,’ and whatever you want to call that awful shit that young teenage girls listen to while they dream about their next pair of Uggs. You can still find great new music today, but not as easily as simply turning on a ‘free’ radio station. You have to dive way down deep and dredge it up from the muck like a pearl diver. As for live music, the club scene in America has seen better days. You need to go to Europe if you wanna rock, and we know plenty of bands that do, but they ain’t rockin’ much here… What happened? Now, no one expects a mature adult to act like a twenty-something… that is unseemly at best and just plain embarrassing at its worst. But it is incumbent upon all guitar players no matter their age to hold on to some kind of attitude. Have you seen John Fogerty lately? Absolutely killin’ it, never played or sounded better. Attitude = Altitude, and Fogerty is riding an impressive high. Well done, John. Atlanta Rhythm Section In the interest of helping you keep your attitude, we’ll add a brief coda to El Riverhorse’s B.K. Butler Tube Driver rant. It was 1983 when we rambled over to Atlanta Discount Music in Doraville clueless and needy. We needed to cop some attitude of the overdriven and distorted kind, but staring at the dozens of distortion pedals in the glass case at Atlanta’s Rhythm City had provided no clues. So we asked the guitar player working behind the counter at Atlanta Discount what might be the best fix for our Kingsize Jones, and he replied, “I just saw Dickie Betts and he was using one of these. Sounded great.” Uhm, well yes, Dickie has some attitude and tone… I’ll take it. ‘It’ was a B.K. Butler Tube Driver, and yes, we too subbed in a 12AU7 for a little more headroom and found the Tube Driver to be a very cool tool. Aside from some dim memories and our precious 1952 J45, it’s the only thing we still have left from 1982. Twenty years later when we did our two-day Houston hang with Billy Gibbons he proudly pointed out his Tube Drivers in the studio, and we have spied one in Eric Johnson’s rig here at the Variety Playhouse. Riverhorse also correctly referenced the Tube Driver as a critical ingredient in David Gilmour’s classic tone… Oh, but our memories are short, our attention span even shorter, so perhaps you are chasing something more current with a bigger buzz behind it, like the elusive Dumkudo overdrive that our good friend and Delta Moon slider Mark Johnson brought over recently. Nearly impossible to find used, you can only buy one from the builder in Japan through PayPal in yen only, please, send your money and wait… We wrote to Dumkudosan to ask if he might send one for review and received a Japanese ‘no,’ which is no response at all. Adrian Legg explained that concept to us. We really didn’t need the Dumkudo anyway, so we just kept on goin,’ but stay tuned… The truth is, B.K. Butler cracked the code when he designed the Tube Driver. It was a completely bad ass tool in 1983 and it remains so today. Perhaps it’s time you stopped chasing the flavor of the month and got your own Tube Driver… Yes, yes, you -continued- TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 23 effects do that. Grab you some attitude, and why not work up your own version of “I Wanna Be Your Dog” with the band. It makes a great wedding song when dedicated to the happy couple who will no doubt be coupling post reception if the groom doesn’t get too wasted. You can play Jim McCarty’s Helldrivers’ version straight from our web site at www.tonequest.com – it’s been there for years. Just scroll down to the bottom of the front page, click and crank those speakers up! Here, we’ll make it even easier for you… Three chord verses – G F# E Break – G E D B C D E So messed up I want you here In my room I want you here Now we’re gonna be face-to-face And I’ll lay right down in my favorite place And now I wanna be your dog Now I wanna be your dog Now I wanna be your dog Well c’mon Now I’m ready to close my eyes And now I’m ready to close my mind And now I’m ready to feel your hand And lose my heart on the burning sands And now I wanna be your dog And now I wanna be your dog Now I wanna be your dog Well c’mon Quest forth, dog… VISUAL SOUND True Tone Clean Boost As pure and rippin’ as the Tube Driver is, there are times when a more subtle and suggestive busted up guitar tone is called for – blues certainly, and hard rockin’ rhythms where you really don’t want a ton of hot snot spewing from your speakers. And for those times when a glass of Pinot Grigio is preferred over a warmed shot of Bols Genever, we give R.G. Keen TQR: you the most excellent True Tone Clean Boost by Visual Sound. We asked Visual Sound founder Bob Weil and design partner R.G. Keen to explain the genesis of the TTCB: Following a long history of designing and building many different boost pedals successfully, what specifically inspired the development of the Clean Boost? Was this another R.G. Keen collaboration? Bob: Yes, definitely. RG and I have been working collaboratively for many years now, so pretty much everything you see in our line these days comes out of that creative/technical partnership. The other guys in our office are also always involved these days too, lending their ears and ideas. TQR: How does the tone control work, specifically? It doesn’t seem to simply increase treble tones... RG: It’s an active semi-Baxandall shelving tone control with an asymmetrical boost/cut characteristic. The turnover point is deliberately low to allow it to boost/cut mids and highs at the same time. This proved to be more useful than more normal tone controls when working with the voicing at other places in the circuit and also when working with a “typical” – if there is such a thing – guitar amp and speaker voicing. It’s one of those things that’s quite difficult to deduce from theory, but works great in practice. TQR: You note in the product description that the Clean Boost runs off of 27 volts internally. Please explain why this is significant in terms of the how the pedal operates and sounds, and does this effect the way the pedal works with other 9V pedals on a pedalboard?. RG: The typical 9V battery is a legacy of early transistor circuits from the early 1960s. They needed more than a few volts, but not a pack of small 1.5V batteries. The early effects makers picked this up as handy for their purposes, and the 9V battery has served well for a long time. However, it has limitations for the way we use pedals and amps today. A circuit working from a 9V source is only about a gain of 10 to 20 away from clipping. Today’s practice with pedals often involves driving the input of a tube amp with much higher -continued- 24 TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 effects voltages to get clipping from the input tube, not just from a solid state clipping circuit in a pedal. The sound is different, and today’s sophisticated pedal/ amp users make use of the difference in their playing. So getting big output voltages which are NOT distorted from a pedal involves making the pedal run on more than 9V internally. Historically, the answer was either two 9V batteries to get 18V, or an AC powered pedal to get bigger internal voltages. We have better power supply technologies today (RG once made a living designing power supplies) so the easy answer is to take the 9V supply that’s a de facto standard for pedals, and convert it up to something bigger. In the case of the TrueTone, that’s nominally 27V, which can supply nearly 20V of peak-to-peak signal at the output.. This is plenty to overdrive the input of most tube amps. But you need more than 9V to do it right. Once you’ve decided to go this way, you have to exercise74/ what I call “good design hygiene”, making the pedal work The TrueTone was designed with these issues in mind; there was a positive effort in the design to not pollute the power being fed to it, and not cause any foreseeable oddities with other pedals. There can be other issues with pedals running just on 9V simply because these pedals may not be able to take the sheer size of signal coming out of the TrueTone – it can be bigger than its power supply on both positive and negative voltage directions. Some pedals may not like having this kind of input. If the True Tone is used before another pedal instead of just before a tube amp, it’s a good idea to start with the TrueTone volume well down before increasing it to the level you want. TQR: We don’t hear a lot of hard clipping as you would experience from a true distortion pedal. Can you explain how you go about designing a clean boost that sounds more like your amp turned up versus something more intense and gritty? RG: The word “overdrive” has become a bit vague in today’s music jargon. About all you can say is that an overdrive is a not-very-intense distortion. Probably. But the True Tone really is an overdrive in the Webster’s Dictionary sense of the word. It produces an output which is minimally distorted, and intended primarily for over-driving a tube amp input grid. It can be used other ways, but that’s the main design focus. Bob: So, TrueTone doesn’t produce an overdrive sound on it’s own. It’s a clean boost that’s actually clean, but it will push a lot of amps into overdrive and can also push other gain pedals to overdrive more. and play well with others. Modern practice on pedalboards is moving rapidly to no batteries at all. The pedals will be connected to either a daisy chained power supply like the 1 SPOT, a set of isolated power supplies, or some combinations of the two. You simply have to make each pedal work in the systems environment of the modern pedalboard. Today, we see a rising tide of what the computer business would call “systems integration” problems. Random pedals may or may not have had any thought put into how well they work with other pedals in a setup, and this can cause problems. Bob didn’t like how some pedal manufacturers forced people to buy their proprietary odd-voltage power supply in order to get higher than 9V. He insisted that the pedal run off a 9V supply to make it easy for musicians. He knew that we could use a voltage step-up circuit inside the pedal, so that’s what we did. RG: Tubes – well, all amplifiers, really – clip two ways: input clipping and output clipping. Output clipping happens when the device has a signal which may not be distorted on its input, but is amplified so much that it exceeds the signal the device can put out. Input clipping happens when the input is driven outside the range in which it can respond well, whether the output has more headroom or not. High gain devices clip on their outputs, and low gain devices clip on their inputs in most cases. For tubes, the impedance driving the input grid is important as well. Tubes do in fact clip even more softly when driven from a low impedance source. If the amp being overdriven does not have a lot of series resistance between its input jack and the first tube, it will benefit from both the higher signal voltage and the lower impedance. The True Tone is designed to take advantage of this quirk when driving a tube input. It’s not the only thing it does well, though – we all like happy side effects! Bob: Speaking of side effects, I’ve heard from some musicians who like to leave the TrueTone on all the time, set to -continued- TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 25 amps just slightly above unity gain, because it makes their guitar or bass sound better overall. Review You may recall our most recent review of the excellent Garage Tone series of pedals made by Visual Sound. Bob Weil and R.G. Keen contrived to create truly affordable professional effects pedals, and they succeeded without exception. To us, ‘clean boost’ is best described as the sound of your guitar and amp turned up by degrees when, technically, it isn’t. You step on the pedal and now your amp sounds like it’s expanding on the edge as you nudge the volume control, but still well short of hard clipping. This is a very useful effect as long as you get a smooth, musical ‘clean boost’ that mirrors the unaffected tone of your guitar and amp that you have worked so hard to achieve. The True Tone Clean Boost does a really nice job of gradually jacking up yer tone with a bigger, thicker voice via the Volume knob up to 15dB, but it also has a Tone control that is very useful for filling in different frequencies or subtilely rolling off highs to taste. While most builders’ product descriptions tend to assume that you’ll get the same consistently stellar results regardless of the guitars and amps you may be using, this isn’t always true… You have probably noticed how certain amps and effects devices seem to sound best with different types of pickups, for example. The Tone control on the True Tone Clean Boost allows you to shape EQ to optimize the sound based on whether you are playing a guitar with a bright Tele bridge pickup, Strat, P90, or a heavier bridge humbucker. It’s a simple pedal with an equally straightforward purpose, but the Tone control adds a bit of flexibility that we found very appealing. Overall, the True Tone Clean Boost is just what the name implies – toneful, versatile and at just $120.00, a great value. Highly recommended.TQ http://visualsound.net THE BEST CHEAP AMP YOU CAN STILL FIND Silvertone 1484 Otherwise known as the Silvertone Twin, the model 1484 built at Nathan Daniel’s Danelectro factory may well be one of the very best sounding (and truly usable) bargain amps left for tone freaks on a budget. But you don’t buy a 1484 because it’s cheap – you buy it because it sounds so ‘60s cool and real. The fact that you can score a head alone for $300 or a complete 2x12 rig loaded with Jensen C12Qs for a hundred more is a bonus, but we’re not talking about a curious relic here that won’t get turned on… The 1484 is a serious dual 6L6 amp with decent headroom and power, cheesy but cool spring reverb and tremolo. When you plug in, the classic ‘60s sound of the 1484 lends a heavy dose of garage tone greatness to your playing that is undeniably unique, refreshing and fun. If the tones from the 1484 don’t make you smile and laugh out loud, you should probably quit playing, guilty of taking yourself way too seriously. You can also use it to lay down some deadly guitar tracks while you’re laughing. You’ll note random mentions of Jack White and the 1484. Irrelevant. Here’s the deal… These old Danelectro/ Silvertone amps aren’t as loud as a typical Fender powered with 6L6s, which is fine. The ’65 head Greg Talley just bought for $295 and left with us for review might produce 25 watts or a little more, loaded with the original Silvertone 6L6 and 6CG7 RCAs, and Silvertone Amperex 12AX7s. Channel one and two are functionally identical with volume, bass and treble controls. Not much happens with the volume knobs until you reach 10 o’clock. Beyond that the amp sounds clear, bold and bright with just the right amount of sustain and rich overtones suspending the notes and chords. Crank the bass to 3 o’clock and it functions like a midrange control. It’s a big tone, anything but shy, and greasing the 1484 with all our favorite overdrive pedals produced a magnificent sound with extraordinary clarity and depth. Trust us, if you are looking for cheap thrills in 2014, the 1484 is a sure bet. Best of all, Nathan Daniel built thousands of ‘em. Quest forth… TQ -continued- 26 TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 painless playing Yoga for Guitarists How are your back, shoulders, hands, fingers and wrists holding up after having played the guitar for a few decades? With age and experience come aches and pains that are completely foreign to young immortals, but you don’t have to accept stiffness and painful joints as an inevitable consequence of logging too much boogie time. Decatur, Georgia guitarist and yoga instructor Joe Palese has developed a DVD program for guitarists that specifically addresses the types of chronic nagging pain, stiffness and lack of mobility that can uniquely affect guitarists. Thanks to our good friend, chiropracter Greg Talley, and running buddy Bella the Alabama hound dog, we have managed to remain fairly flexible and avoid the kinds of back and shoulder problems that can plague guitarists, but we have experienced the onset of painful arthritis in the joints of both thumbs. Hours spent at a computer keyboard and playing Bella the guitar have taken their toll. Some days are better than others, but after using the exercises in this DVD that specifically address the hands and wrists, we experienced improved flexibility and fewer days when our carpometacarpal joints at the base of the thumb were painful. None of the exercises in Yoga for Guitarists require extreme contortions and you don’t need any special equipment – just a few minutes set aside to practice the exercises as described by Joe: “Musicians are essentially athletes, what we do requires an extraordinary amount of physical discipline and concentration. Over time, due to repetitive stress and movement, a devoted musician is likely to experience tremendous discomfort or even an outright injury. Yoga can heal these injuries or completely avoid them. I have been practicing Yoga for 21 years and teaching for 16 years. After beginning my regular Yoga practice, the aches and tightness that had accompanied my guitar playing completely disappeared. Throughout my 16 years of teaching I have worked with and ultimately healed many musicians who were living with tendonitis of the wrist and elbow, Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, rotator cuff issues, low back pain, and chronic tightness of the shoulders. The techniques that you will learn in this video are not only designed to heal existing injuries, but to prevent these common issues from occurring. Divided into sections for the upper and lower body, this video is designed with the beginner in mind, although even an experienced Yoga practitioner will surely benefit. Thorough explanations of all poses and sequences are provided, as well as practical ways to implement the poses into your daily routine, whether at group rehearsals or a home practice. The human body is a fascinating and miraculous force of nature. Holistic Medicine states that ‘our biography dictates our biology.’ In other words, factors such as the foods we eat, our sleep patterns, exercise routine, posture, and job stress all play a role in how we feel and how well we perform our day-to-day tasks. Your Yoga practice will be a tremendous asset to your musical path. Enjoy! And from another resident of Decatur, GA… “I am so grateful to Joe Palese for giving us “Yoga for Guitarists.” The exercises are simple and effective and Joe explains and demonstrates them thoroughly in a manner that makes me feel relaxed, inspired and energized. As a traveling guitarist I will take this video wherever I go knowing the meditative approach and exercises help me heal and prevent future strain on my muscle and joints. Thank you Joe!” — Emily Saliers, Indigo Girls You can acquire Yoga for Guitarists online for just $19.99 with best wishes for a toneful and painless 2014! http://muse-eek.com/yoga-for-guitarists/ www.joepalesemusic.com TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 27 OVERFLOW -continuedTONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014 XX ToneQuest Report the PO Box 717 Decatur, GA. 30031-0717 PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID AT DECATUR,GA AND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES TM the ToneQuest ToneQuest Report TM Editor/Publisher David Wilson Associate Publisher Liz Medley Graphic Design Rick Johnson EDITORIAL BOARD Billy F. Gibbons Greg Martin Joe Glaser Richard McDonald Tom Guerra Joe Mloganoski Bakos AmpWorks Johnny Hiland Todd Money Dick Boak Gregg Hopkins CF Martin & Co. Vintage Amp Restoration Joe Bonamassa Mark Johnson Analogman Tom Anderson Tom Anderson GuitarWorks Mark Baier Victoria Amplifiers Jeff Bakos Phil Brown Acquire Your Personal Copy of the 1999-2013 TQR Archives NEW SALE PRICE You know you want it… you know you need it… In celebration of the holidays and our 14th year of publication you can now acquire the complete ToneQuest Archives on CD for just $219.00 shipped. You will receive every issue of TQR spanning November 1999-December 2013 in PDF format, keyword searchable for easy reference with a complete Back Issue Index in MS Word. Save these files to your PC or tablet for access to every review article and interview. Order now online at www.tonequest.com using the coupon code TQXCD at checkout or by phone at 1-877-MAX-TONE (629-8663). Offer expires April 1, 2014, so don’t delay! Dan Butler Butler Custom Sound Don Butler The Toneman Steve Carr Carr Amplifiers Erick Coleman Stewart-McacDonald Larry Cragg Neil Young Jol Dantzig Jol Dantzig Guitar Design Ronnie Earl Dan Erlewine ZZ Top Glaser Instruments Mambo Sons Delta Moon Phil Jones Gruhn Guitars Mark Karan Bob Weir & Ratdog Robert Keeley Robert Keeley Electronics Gordon Kennedy Ernest King Gibson Custom Shop Chris Kinman Kinman AVn Pickups Mike Kropotkin KCA NOS Tubes Sonny Landreth Stewart-MacDonald Albert Lee Larry Fishman Adrian Legg Fishman Transducers Bill Finnegan Klon Centaur Lindy Fralin Peter Frampton Greg Germino Germino Amplification Dave Malone The Kentucky Headhunters VP Mktg, Fender Musical Instruments Co-Founder K&M Anaslog Designs Manager Gibson Repair & Restoration Justin Norvell Sr. Mktg Mgr, Fender Guitars James Pennebaker Artist Relations, Fender Musical Instruments, Nashville Riverhorse Tommy Shannon Double Trouble Todd Sharp Nashville Amp Service Tim Shaw Fender Musical Instruments Corp. Randall C. Smith Designer & President, Mesa/Boogie Ltd. John Sprung American Guitar Center Peter Stroud Buddy Whittington John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers Greg V Los Angeles The Radiators Lou Vito Jimbo Mathus Mike Voltz Shane Nicholas R&D / Product Development, Gibson Memphis Sr. Mktg Mgr, Fender Guitar Amplifers René Martinez 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, email: [email protected]. Periodicals Postage Paid at Decatur, GA and At Additional Mailing Offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to:TheToneQuest Report™, PO Box 717, Decatur, GA. 30031-0717.The annual subscription fee for The ToneQuest Report™ is $89 per year for 10 issues. International subscribers please add US $40. Please remit payment in U.S. funds only. VISA, MasterCard and American Express accepted. The ToneQuest Report™ is published solely for the benefit of its subscribers. Copyright © 2014 by Mountainview Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced in any form or incorporated into any information retrieval system without the written permission of the copyright holder. Please forward all subscription requests, comments, questions and other inquiries to the above address or contact the publisher at [email protected]. Opinions expressed in The ToneQuest Report™ are not necessarily those of this publication.Mention of specific products, services or technical advice does not constitute an endorsement. Readers are advised to exercise extreme caution in handling electronic devices and musical instruments. 28 TONEQUEST REPORT V.15 N.3-4 Jan-Feb 2014