Coffeeholics Studios

Analog, Digital...Does It Matter?

2012-02-21T01:11:00.000-08:00

I've been playing worship sessions at a nice cosy church every last Friday of the month for a couple of months now. Hosted by Shalom Baptist Chapel, JAR @ the Well (acronym for Jam and Refresh) intends to deliberately bring worshippers from out of the hustle and bustle of city life and simply enjoy God through worship and music, and it achieves this aim very well because of its location: it's near Tengah Airbase!

The acoustics are amazing; there's a high, tapered ceiling, and the floor's nicely carpeted, which produce nice reflections with not too much pre-delay (carpets absorb sound). Whenever I step into this church, I feel inclined to be silent, to be meditative, and to be wary of my speech because of how small I feel.

My rig for the night was an experimental one: full pedalboard (the one I have mounted on a PT-3) into a Line 6 Spider III. It's a 30W amp with a 12" speaker, which is my preferred wattage and speaker size. I ran it pristine clean with no EQ and no drive to experiment with the concept of relying purely on the pedalboard for tone.

So the night went on, with powerful worship, amazing moments of pure adoration through the music, and all the while, just genuinely having a good time with the rest of the band.

The worship leader came up to me after and asked how much my amp was, expecting it to belong to the "expensive" category. "I love your amp" were her specific words. I guess she wasn't expecting that I paid $150 for it, and that it was a solid state amp.

So, which component was responsible for good tone? The amp? The pedalboard? The fact that I used analog pedals? The more I contemplate about it, the more I think that from a listener's perspective, it doesn't really matter if I used digital or analog. Both types of gear are thus a means to an end: undistractedness in playing. Perhaps the mark of good gear is not just that it sounds good, but it doesn't distract you while you're using it; it becomes an extension of your creativity, and you don't need to fight it to get good tone out of it.

What mattered lay in the generic rather than the specific: did I keep good time with the band? Did I play wrong chords? Did I use the right scale over the right progression?

If you insist on getting a particular piece of gear, by all means, save up, buy it, use it, and don't be distracted by it. Let the gear do its job by helping you express what you want to play.

Photo credits go to the amazing Chang Ning.

Due thanks to the amazing Yi Xin, whose heart for God and worship inspires the rest of us in the band to give and play our best.

My Hotmail Makes Comments

2012-02-09T21:02:00.000-08:00

I discovered that I still can use my old hotmail account, which I cleared out really quickly (considering it's been defunct for three years). Mark all as read, and archive to a folder just in case someone comes up to me with the "oh, didn't you get my mail two years ago?" scenario.

Then lo and behold, my inbox humorously comments:

Sarcasm? An honest admission of surprise? I shall leave it for your interpretation.

Looking Up

2012-02-06T18:38:00.000-08:00

Sometimes
The turns, the forks, the crossroads, the junctions
They discourage me
They wind around until I realize I'm back to where I started

Sometimes
The dead-ends I come across frustrate me
The lost resources, the wasted time in getting there
But then I see Your sky
Your beautiful sky

The sky, its vastness
It forces me to look up
To lift my eyes from the ground
From this beaten path that so beckons me on

Maybe it's not You who intends that I wander or stray
But it's You who lets me fall
Just so that I will come to my senses
And realize

That while I have to focus my eyes on the path before me
My eyes occasionally have to focus on the home above me

Where You are
Watching over me
Cheering me on
Guiding me
Waiting for me

This is NOT in the Score

2012-02-01T19:27:00.001-08:00

Facebook picture flying around that I couldn't pass up on...

The musician’s corollary to Murphy’s Law: the probability of a mobile phone ringing during a concert is directly proportional to the tenderness of the moment.

Why You Should Save Up for Expensive Guitars

2012-01-25T22:00:00.000-08:00

Some of you know me as the advocate for cheaper alternatives to the big guitar brands (Fender, Gibson, etc). I own two Yamaha's that I've designated for outdoor use, or for places where I know that the crowd might be rowdy and there's a possibility of spilt drinks.

I recently went on a project to test my new SansAmp GT2. I've found a setting that's really good for live use (as heard in the Performing Arts rehearsal rooms, and in the halls of AMKMC), using the GT2 in a clean setting and relying primarily on my overdrives and boosters for dirt. I had wanted to use the same settings for the recording environment, which turned out to be a little more tricky.

I set the GT2 on zero drive and a mild high cut on the British amp on clean with the mic off axis. All overdrive settings were the same throughout. I recorded three snippets with three different guitars, in increasing order of value. Here are the results of the recording project:

First up, the Yamaha RGX-820, the cheapest of the three.

Single note lines towards the end of the video were clear and defined, but chord work in front was muddy and too edgy. I suppose this would work for Japanese pop rock songs (don't you wish they turned the treble/presence down for some of the guitar parts?), or for the situation where I drastically need to cut through a muddy mix.

I then tried the Yamaha AES-820, slightly more expensive than my RGX.

I set this guitar up with the pickups on high-cut mode. Several things were improved over the RGX: there was more definition, and the tone was more full-bodied. With both Yamahas, I had to post-process to get the tone to sit right in the mix, with massive EQ-ing, parallel compression, a tube-warmth plugin, and a stereo enhancer.

Now, without changing any dials on the GT2, the tone of my Les Paul sounded like this with the bridge pickup volume on 6, tone at 8:

Definition, articulation, warmth, clarity...the Les Paul surpassed the Yamahas by a mile. I didn't have to do any drastic post-processing to get the tone to sound nice, apart from some stereo enhancement. The guitar tone seems to wrap itself around the notes, something I've realized is a quality that is present in my Strat and Tele.

Seriously. If you can save up and get a guitar of good build, it is worth every dollar.

Musician Jokes

2012-01-22T06:15:00.000-08:00

You know who are the musicians among your circle of friends when something like this crops up on Facebook.

The Rig

2012-01-21T07:23:00.000-08:00

An electric guitarist uses pedals to achieve his tone in the same way an artist uses a palette of colours to paint; every pedal's tone has a unique nuance, and when blended with other pedals in the right proportion, gives a guitarist his signature sound, in tandem with his choice of guitar, amp, and most importantly, his playing style.

I've built this pedalboard with two objectives in mind: to be able to recreate similar tones live and in the studio, and to be as diverse as possible to cover the spectrum of British and American guitar tone.

It starts with a tuner, and I've swapped out my old-timer Korg DT-10 for a Korg Pitchblack. I decided to put this at the front of the chain rather than on the tuner-out of my volume pedal due to the increased accuracy in tracking, and the fact that it's true bypass. The DT-10 wasn't, so when I switched to this, it was as though somebody had tweaked the EQ of high mids in the right direction.

The wah comes next, and I've chosen the Budda Bud-wah. While it doesn't have the widest of available sweep range, it compensates by being very vocal-like in its expression. Its highs aren't shrill, and its lows aren't honky, which to my ears makes it very warm and wraps around the notes rather than cause them to stick out too much. I didn't know this until recently, but it's also the wah Andy Timmons uses.

Compression is actually meant to keep your guitar in a specific dynamic range so that you won't "disappear" into the mix. I especially like compressors with some EQ tweakability to adjust how bright or how dark you want the compression to be. This is the Visual Sound Comp 66, which is the Compressor side of the famous Route 66 pedal. I use the Tone knob as the Master EQ of my rig, controlling the amount of high-end required between a Les Paul, a Strat and Tele.

Now comes my overdrive section, which I admit has quite a few pedals (half of my board is occupied by drive). I wanted to be as diverse as possible when it came to overdrive, so I opted for pedals which are voiced more like "amps-in-a-box". I like the chime of a Vox AC-30, the sponginess and warmth of a Fender Deluxe Reverb, and the bluesy roar of a Marshall JTM-45. I couldn't decide on just one...so I got three distinct pedals dialled to emulate those tones.

I have two EP boosters, which I've explained here how I've set them up, and the first helps to push my main overdrive pedals harder to get more gain and compression out of them. This is run at 18V and is in the Vintage setting (bright switch off, bass boost off).

The Carl Martin AC Tone is the closest you'll get to a Vox AC-style sound. I've owned an AC15 before, and can attest to its authenticity, with the best function being the Cut, which works just like the real deal! This pedal's Gain One is nearly always on because I switch between a clean tone and a slight crunch tone with my guitar volume. Gain Two, independently voiced, is cranked all the way for my dirty crunch (naturally). This pedal also has a nice pure clean boost which thickens up the rest of the overdrives in the chain.

If you're running this pedal by itself, you're able to get a boxy Vox roar by cranking the boost about midway, leaving it on, and adjusting the gain to taste with the Gain channels.

The next two pedals are my favorites: the BB Preamp and the Paul Cochrane Timmy. One way to judge how much a pedal is worth is to see how frequently it appears on the buy/sell forums--and these pedals pop up very rarely. The BB is the most versatile of the Xotic range (which includes the RC and AC Boosters) with a very musical EQ section. I've set it up with the gain cranked all the way and a slight treble boost, which sounds great for those thick and cutting riffs, and fluid, singing leads.

The Timmy is the best transparent overdrive you'll ever get. It takes what you give it and just puts out more--so a Strat still sounds like a Strat, but beefier and fatter, and a Les Paul still sounds like a Les Paul, but with greater edge and articulation. It also has atypical reverse taper knobs, so I've actually set it up for a treble cut (contrary to what the picture suggests). It's also set in the 3rd switch position, which is the most compressed and to my ears emulates the nuances of 6V6 power tubes.

The 2nd EP Booster is the Version 2, set to unity gain and helps clean up the overdriven tones in the right direction--like an EQ pedal with all the right settings tweaked in. Pictured next to it is a simple TYMC tap tempo switch for my Boss DD-20, and I hooked it up using a spare karaoke cable I found lying around the house.

Alright, I'll admit, I'm still pretty much a digital junkie at heart. These things never die on you, unlike an amp which can change its character drastically on a bad day. The SansAmp GT2 works best as an amp simulator straight to the PA, so don't run this like you would a stompbox into an amp. Having the EP Boosters really helps to warm up the signal to recreate the organic character of an amp. I've found that the best setting so far is the British amp on Clean with a Center or Off Axis mic (Off Axis sounds better for recording). The first time I used this for a show, the sound guy was sure I was hiding an amp somewhere off-stage.

This is an OLD pedal, with the serial number dating it to the early 80's. The previous owner modded it to run on 18V and added a Filter Matrix on/off switch so that he doesn't need to bend down to toggle the Filter Matrix switch. I use this in lieu of a chorus pedal, and when tweaked right, it gives me a subtle chorus to a nice Police-style flange, to a faux Leslie.

Last but not least, I use a Boss Giga Delay, or more commonly known as the DD-20. I can't afford an analog delay, and I probably will never own an Echoplex, but I can live with something that provides warm delays, tap tempo control, an awesome-sounding true stereo out delay (the Pan function is my favorite), and being able to save 5 presets.

In summary, my board provides essentially 3 kinds of sounds: drive, chorus/flange and delay, which is more than enough to cover the basic, core tone of the electric guitar.

Hello Jodie

2012-01-12T19:40:00.000-08:00

Low action, a fast neck, high output Burstbucker pickups, trapezoidal inlays, a curved maple top over a chambered mahogany body...meet Jodie, my Joe Bonamassa Les Paul Studio. She's my first made-in-America guitar, and the heaviest of my collection, both in weight and in tone.

Joe Bonamassa is a recent discovery for me. He belongs to the generation of American virtuosic guitarists born in the '70s and grew up on English Blues, hence possessing a unique tone that is a curious concoction of modern and traditional. While his tone is nearly impossible to replicate (he makes no apologies for using no less than four different amplifiers in various combinations), his guitar possesses some features I couldn't pass up on.

The neck is a cross between a '57 and a '59, not too chunky yet not too slim, giving a meaty feel when gripped. While it takes a little getting used to, it quickly becomes a comfortable platform to pull off long, extended passages. It's awakening the long-dormant shredder in me from his slumber.

The pickups are a stock configuration of Burstbucker 2 in the bridge and Burstbucker 3 in the neck, which on first glance appear to be completely normal and unassuming. Closer inspection reveals that the pickups are actually closer to the strings than on a stock Les Paul, giving the guitar a hotter output with less dynamic sensitivity. While this may cause the clean tone to suffer (unless '80s-style-overly-compressed clean tones are your thing), crunch and solo tones have an incredible depth to their character.

To add to the quirkiness of this guitar, the volume and tone knobs are different for each pickup. This was done because Joe has admitted to forgetting what each of the knobs did, and which pickup they referred to. In this case, the silver-faced knobs are labelled and refer to the bridge pickup, while the traditional translucent knobs refer to the neck pickup.

My only qualm with this guitar so far is its weight. I'm used to carrying around guitars and practicing for hours on end, especially on my Off weekends where I typically clock a good 6 hours on the guitar at least. This guitar has got me putting it down at least once every hour. I'd imagine that if I were to hold it longer, there'll be a groove in my shoulder from the strap pressure!

Everyone needs a solid rock guitar. This is mine.

For further viewing:

Deja Vu (Project Serve Welcome Tea)

2011-12-26T20:30:00.001-08:00

It wasn't so long ago that a fresh-from-Sydney graduate was introduced to a parachurch organization, and auditioned for a place in the performing arts ministry's Project Serve.

I was mostly charismatic with little knowledge of the bible. I head-banged, jumped at least a foot off the ground, and believed that distortion and worship could co-exist. It was a very heart-driven Christianity for me.

Project Serve changed my life. The heart was reigned in by the mind. The mindlessness was replaced by a constant awareness of God's truth in every act I did, whether in public or in private. The gospel became something to be treasured, to fight for, to defend and not merely something private.

Music was seen for what it truly was; something God graciously gives, an aspect of His creation, and like all good gifts we can either use it well or abuse it selfishly. I began scrutiny of lyrics, and saw that what was said was equally important to what was played. Bands I previously followed couldn't be followed anymore, simply for what they stood for and what they encouraged through their lifestyle and in their songs.

I pray that these young ones will discover for themselves how to live a life pleasing unto God, that all aspects of their giftings, be it in music, sports, media, are all for God's glory. We are to be good stewards of what He gives.

Pedalboard Revisions (aka The Never-ending Story Part 20-something)

2011-12-24T01:44:00.000-08:00

A moment of tonal dissatisfaction, a touch of OCD, and realizing that a compressor after the EP booster actually cuts out too much of the nice frequencies gave me the impetus to rearrange my pedalboard. And behold, I finally did it; I squeezed my entire overdrive section onto the first row. While having better visual appeal, the process flow is a lot more obvious to people who may want to use my pedalboard. You now know that I have a pre-overdrive booster to squeeze more gain and compression out of the AC Tone, BB Preamp and Timmy, and a post-overdrive booster to give more clarity and punch if the need arises (such as playing through a solid state amp).

And yes, I forgot to mention the new additions to my pedalboard. I recently acquired a BB Preamp, better known affectionately as the Andy Timmons pedal. This has the most gain out of the usual 3 Xotic pedals (RC/AC/BB), and to my ears, the most versatile of the lot. You can use this as a clean boost with a good, broad EQ tweak with the gain at zero (like how Lee Ritenour uses it), or set it to mild gain to push an already-overdriven amp to make it sound, well, for lack of a better term, better (like how Greg Howe uses it).

In my case, I cranked the gain all the way up. This is meant to be my Marshall sound; big, loud, chunky and punchy. Even at full tilt, the pedal isn't fuzzy or overly screechy in my rig, and retains the natural tone of my guitars. A Les Paul will sound thick and fluid. A Strat will sound spanky and throaty with a Blues growl. A Tele will still have the sparkle and twang.

I replaced my old-timer Korg DT-10 with a Pitchblack, more for real estate reasons than for tonal reasons. It's 2/3 the size of the DT-10, and true bypass. I didn't hear its effect on the tone until I made the switch, and immediately heard higher definition and more articulation out of my pedals, as if someone had tweaked the EQ in the upper-mids/lower-highs in the right direction.

I also realized that with the new arrangement of having the compressor before the EP makes the tone control useable again. Previously, when I turn the tone past 60%, the overall sound was too brittle and nasal. By cranking the EP to run at 18V, and having the bright switch off, the tone control became tamer and less fatiguing on the ear; setting it at zero gives a dark but warm wrap-around of the notes, and cranking it to full gives a nice treble bite that helps my Strat and Tele sound authentically vintage.

Sigh. Tone, the Never-ending Story, continues.

-JC

The Good, Bad, and Ugly

2011-12-22T17:27:00.001-08:00

I had a rehearsal with the incredible Jordan Wei and Richard Tan, and took the opportunity to try out various combinations of my guitars/pedals/amp.

I thought running the acoustic into my pedalboard, and running the compressor will help keep the acoustic in the mix. I also thought of running my Variax through the analog pedalboard to A/B against my Tele.

After many swaps in the midst of our crazy rehearsal, here's the summary results:

1. The acoustic sounds best straight to the DI. Putting any pedals in the mix makes it sound more electric-like.

2. The Variax is better paired with my PODX3 than my analog pedalboard. Maybe there's a sweet spot with my pedals, but it's so much harder to get that right than with actual guitars.

3. Nothing can beat the sound of a real, no-modeling, non-silicon electric guitar into a pedalboard into a real amp.

Shredding on a Tele

2011-12-20T09:20:00.000-08:00

God is gracious and good. Even in the midst of the wrist injury in my picking hand, He continually provides ways for me to continue playing the guitar, and even improve on my technique to be a player who can play more cleanly. I've only recently realized that my left hand is far stronger than I had previously taken notice of.

Its legato passages are fluid but defined. When I mute the strings with my wrist, I get a very distinct "chunk" sound out of the muted notes as I make my way across the fretboard. I've also managed to learn how to effectively mute unwanted strings during those long lead lines with my left hand, something I was very bad at doing for the longest time.

Not exactly shred, but it's approaching speeds I could play before in my John Petrucci days.

God is so good. Much thanksgiving is due.

While God works in helping me shape my technique, He's also helping me improve upon my existing setup. After playing with a well-setup low-action guitar, I was really inspired to get a similar feel. I starting watching those who play Teles and can play really fast on it (Andy Timmons, Ritchie Kotzen, even Keith Urban). It just seemed that they had the strength of gorillas to be able to have such volume and articulation.

The thought hit me; what if their guitar action was low? I used to adjust the string height on my Yamahas like crazy just to get that sweet John Petrucci spot, and only avoided it on my Strat and Tele because I figured it would degrade the tone. Besides, wasn't it tonal blasphemy to have a Tele with low action and strung with 9's?

I threw convention out the window. Half an hour's worth of tweaking and retuning yielded some very satisfying results.

As you can tell, there's a fair bit of string posts exposed. They used to be flush with the saddle, meaning that the action was a lot higher. Here are some observations:

The exposed string posts can cut your hand. Yes, now I know why some of my shredder friends don't like Teles. I palm-mute quite a lot, and my hand has to rest where the string posts are. Thankfully, I'm a light picker now with a light touch, so the pressure exerted by the string posts isn't strong enough for me to spill blood.
The strings are closer to the pickups. My bridge pickup immediately sounded a lot hotter, allowing me to play faster passages and retain definition and articulation. The effect isn't as pronounced on the neck pickup.
I can get away with legato passages far more cleanly. Oh yes. Bring on the long passages. I used to be so afraid of them playing on a Tele, but I think I've regained some confidence back.

I shall quote a website about lowering the action on your guitar:

"It'll feel so good you'll play it instead of eating/bathing/sleeping. There won't be anything left of you but bad posture and enough hair to comb over your face."

Further reading:
Hotrod Your Guitar
Setting string action on a Telecaster (eHow)

Snippets

2011-12-18T16:58:00.001-08:00

Every weekend is a great time of serving, gigging, fellowshipping, and just living in general. Oh to treasure these days.

Friday: Christmas Under The Stars, Poly Ministry

Saturday: Shema live at Olive Vine

Sunday: Playing at service feels like "Don't Forget The Solo"

"You can either keep Jesus and lose the sin, or keep the sin and lose Jesus."

Dialling PODX3 Tones

2011-12-17T09:27:00.000-08:00

The little black corner of the room

I was a devout multi-fx user for a great bulk of my life as a guitarist. I figured that it was possible to get by with emulation

While the stock tones were usable in only certain situations, they were nowhere near as organic as what the PODX3 clips were suggesting through my guitars (I suppose that's the beauty of having access to expensive guitars and paying sound engineers to post-process your clips).

Alas, we must work-around the problem at hand. Here are three of my biggest tips for PODX3 users:

Patches for live should be different from patches used to record

You have 128 patch locations at your disposal. Surely you can spare some for various situations. For playing live, I'd get rid of the reverb, tweak the EQ in the midrange to get the guitar to cut through, and generally don't use too much high gain tones because it just gets muddy when mixed together with the rest of the band.

Different guitars need different patches
The problem with digital is that all the nuances accompanying your guitar get lost; every guitar starts to sound the same, just with differing levels of drive, spank and twang (I'm grossly generalizing the differences between a Les Paul, a Strat and a Tele, by the way). I've had to specifically dial in tones that accentuate the nuances, quite unlike my analog rig where most of my pedals are transparent, allowing the character of the guitars to shine through even on the same settings.

A 4x12" cab sim sounds great recorded, but it's going to be boomy and muddy live

The sound guys will be immensely happy if you helped them focus your sound to the mids where the guitar's voice predominantly is, instead of having the big, large and full-range tone that the 4x12" cab sims try to emulate.

And for those who asked:
My top 4 most used tones to date which work best for live situations straight into a PA using a humbucking guitar that has a coil split.

For further reading:
Benvesco's Blog (The person who taught me a lot about tweaking the POD)
089Ray's Blog (This person has spent many hours tweaking, and he's got a great ear. Check it out!)

Reviving Jennifer

2011-12-04T18:24:00.001-08:00

My acoustic is getting old. As of this year, she's been in my possession for the past 10 years. I practically grew up playing this guitar; I learnt many radio pop songs from the Backstreet Boys, Savage Garden, Richard Marx and N'Sync. I learnt my first worship songs from Hillsong, Sonicflood, and Avalon. I got hooked on the alternative sound forever from learning the Goo Goo Dolls, Ash and Gin Blossoms.

I can't remember why I named her Jennifer. It was probably because I thought the dreadnought shape of the acoustic and its larger lower bout reminded me of big bums (and Jennifer Lopez came to mind).

This guitar has probably seen three gigs in her entire life, aside from her usage at cell group and church camps. The call came and there was no readily available acoustic for the gig. Alas, I needed Jennifer to be in a presentable condition. When I picked her up from her stand, things weren't looking good; the frets had accumulated a green layer of gunk, the fretboard was dried out, and the white binding turned green. There was a fair bit of work I had to do, and I decided the easiest to start was to change the strings (which were black with dirt and brown with rust).

I'll make an honest admission here; I don't know a lot about acoustic guitar strings. I probably should start reading up or experimenting. My excuse is that I'm primarily an electric guitarist 99% of the time, and whenever I gig on an acoustic, it's borrowed. I went for a simple set of D'Addario Extra Lights (10's), bought from Believer Music (thanks Wendy!).

I don't know how the string material changes the tone of the acoustic. I use a Seymour Duncan woody pickup, so I figured that any set of strings will do. Besides, I changed my technique significantly over the past half-year. I can't strum heavily anymore, and I don't dig as deeply as I used to. Now when I play an acoustic unamplified, it's reached a state where I'm barely audible. I hope that means I won't be breaking strings anymore (fingers crossed; I haven't broken one in 4 months!).

Here's my "revival kit" spread out on the floor with the tools I used:

The green cloth is actually an army cloth I used to clean my rifle with! It's now a dedicated guitar cleaning cloth. I removed the strings and set out to remove the gunk out of the frets and remoisturize the fretboard. I used the mighty Dr Ducks Axe Wax to do the job:

I was initially skeptical about using Dr Ducks. It seemed too miraculous a product to be relied upon. Seriously? It can clean everything? I knew it had good uses for giving strings a wipe-down after a gig, but for everything else, it just seemed improbable. I'd never have considered using this for remoisturizing the fretboard, but alas, my supply of lemon oil got depleted with the last string change (on one of my rosewood fingerboard guitars).

I was desperate. I give up on all inhibitions and just went with it. The first application dissolved most of the gunk that was caked. The second restored some colour to the fretboard. By the third, the fretboard was looking pretty decent. You know what? Dr Ducks actually works! I'm a happy Dr Ducks convert now.

Here's a close up of the neck and the frets that were worn out:

These frets are so worn out that the strings sit in a "valley". They don't buzz anymore because the rest of the frets have all worn down to a level where they're all even!

About an hour's work later, here's Jennifer looking presentable:

She sounded good during my gig at Olive Vine, which I truly believe was mostly due to the fantastic job of Leon and Randall on the sound team! Kudos to an excellent job.

Splendid.
-JC

Tech Noob Moments

2011-12-04T02:29:00.001-08:00

I don't know what happened. Poof! My top navigation bar just disappeared, and for an hour I just couldn't get it back. I must have mistyped something in the HTML (which, at this moment, has been modified beyond recognition from its original code), and now, no matter how much I try to use the Blogger menu to change the layout style, it just won't show.

There are days when technology just doesn't work...

I came up with a workaround. You'll now find my biography, guitarists' corner and contact in the secondary navigation bar (which links to home, my band, and great links). It took a little reading to remember how to set it up in the HTML code, but it worked. It's just two more clicks to navigate, and hopefully it doesn't put people off. I'm told by the pro bloggers to keep my layout as simple as possible so that readers won't find it a hassle to click around.

Restringing Order

2011-12-02T05:07:00.000-08:00

A quick tip for restringing guitars: the order you string them makes a difference in maintaining or derailing your setup, depending on your guitar. I have had the good fortune of owning guitars with decent necks that don't change with temperature fluctuations, and I keep them in a pretty dehumidified environment. Even my Yamahas, the cheapest of the lot, seem to require only minimal tweaking of the truss rod once every 4 to 6 months.

That being said, it does pay to take precautions. As you well know, the neck is under severe tension, and if you restring like I do by removing all the strings at once (just so I can re-oil the fretboard), the neck is going to experience a sudden change from full tension to no tension. To help the neck cope with the tension while restringing, I like to restring in this order:

3rd, 6th, 4th, 1st, 5th, 2nd

G - E - D - e - A - b

Having the G string first helps especially with Les Pauls and their equivalents, where the bridge isn't attached to the guitar body, but hangs by two threaded posts. It falls off when there's no tension, and if you try to restring with the low E first, you might dislocate the bridge.

"Grace in Surrender"

2011-11-19T19:51:00.001-08:00

Sunday Sermon 19Nov11
Pastor Anthony Lee
"Grace in Surrender" (Luke 1:26-38)

"The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to him"
-Henry Varley

A shoes salesman heard these words and eventually came to be a great preacher--this man was D.L. Moody.

Do you believe that God can use you, an ordinary person?

Lessons from Mary's life (Luke 1:26-38)

Extraordinary saints
1. ...begin as ordinary people
-God intends for the saints greatness; doing small things with great love.
-When Adam and Eve were made, they were destined to rule the earth.
-Abraham was an ordinary nomad; he became the father of nations
-Elijah was a "man just like us"; he became an extraordinary prophet
-Jeremiah was a young man who was uncertain if he could live up to God's calling; he became a mighty prophet
-Peter and John were ordinary fisherman; they became the church's forefathers.

We start ordinary, but God makes you extraordinary. God loves to use someone like you for His glory, through ordinary acts of obedience.

"Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things and I'll show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things."
-Lawrence D. Bell

2. ...surrender totally to a loving and powerful God.
-..."for nothing is impossible with God" is better translated as "all words (rhema) from God will never be powerless."
-Rhema (Gk. Seasonal living word)

Has God spoken a rhema word for you? His word is never powerless.

Analog in Disguise (Playing with Solid State Amps)

2011-10-26T18:13:00.000-07:00

I got my hands on another EP Booster. Before labeling me as an excessive tone nut, let me justify why. Xotic came up with two versions of this pedal: Version 1 has a bright switch and a bass boost, while Version 2 replaces the bright switch with a +3dB boost (which in essence is a unity gain switch, because when disengaged, there's no boost). You can run this pedal on anywhere between 9V to 18V, where 9V gets you more gain and compression, and 18V gets you more clarity and headroom.

Now, I normally don't gig with my own amp because it's a 55lb monster, and my pedalboard is set up such that 90% of the tone comes from the pedals, and I run the amp clean with no drive at all. This theoretically means that I can play through solid-states and tube amps alike with little difference in tone.

Here's the problem: solid-states don't have a nice power amp, and tend to sound flat, lifeless, harsh (insert negative terms here) without the warm, fat response I like with a tube-driven power amp (to clarify, I find that even solid-state rectified tube power amps sound great to my ears). So while my first EP Booster is acting like a preamp, I'm using the second EP Booster as a "power amp".

Enough anthromorphic babble. Let's jump right into the set up. The rule of thumb with pedals:

Pedals sound different when placed in various places. For the EP Booster, placing it before overdrive pedals tends to squeeze more gain and compression out of the overdrive.
Pedals at the last of the chain tend to influence the tone most. When the EP Booster is the last in the chain of overdrive pedals, it provides more clarity and dynamic sensitivity, allowing you to roll back the guitar volume to clean up. With my fingerpicking technique, I can also get a rounder tone using my fingers instead of a pick.

You'd notice that the EP Booster only has one knob, and I'm making it sound like there are many switches to toggle. Well, there are switches; you just can't see them. They're dip switches inside the pedal, so you have to use a screwdriver to dig into the pedal. Let's take a look at the manual for where the dip switches are located:

I managed to flick the switches down with the long bit of my fingernail. Either that, or a simple flathead screwdriver will do the job. Don't worry, these are really tough switches which don't break easily. Let's see how I set this up on my pedalboard:

The Setup

EP Booster Version 1 - Run at 9V and at "Vintage" settings (both dip switches down)
Overdrive pedals
EP Booster Version 2 - Run at 18V at "Unity Gain" settings (don't engage the +3dB switch)
Volume pedal

The volume pedal is essential to getting the tone right with solid state amps. I think it's got something to do with the fact that when you're hitting the front of a solid state with several pedals, a full signal will cause the front-end of the amp to clip. In a tube amp, this sounds great, but with a solid state, it's fizzy, harsh, lifeless (insert more negative terms here). I park the volume pedal at roughly 80% the way up.

Now, after all this time (and money) setting it up, how does this setup fare in real life?

I took this pedalboard to a gig where I used a Line 6 Spider III 30W. Someone came up after the show and asked what amp I was using, expecting it to belong to the "expensive" category of amps. I believe the word "flabbergasted" adequately described the reaction. :P

I haven't tried this out on a Roland Jazz Chorus though, so don't take my word that it works for all solid state amps!

Splendid.
-JC

For further reading:
Xotic's Product Page (for the white EP Booster)

Review by Analog War Cry

Possible Band Names?

2011-10-23T02:44:00.000-07:00

YFC's Performing Arts ministry band needs a name. I know my brainstorming sessions for band names don't really have a lot of scriptural backing to them (like attaching a verse directly to them), but I do keep them biblically sound. Here are my suggestions:

Return

This name came about after checking work emails for the umpteenth time, and thinking about a name which revolved around the idea of turning.

When you read your emails, the subject header is the most important part of the message. If you don't get any of what was said in the main body of the email, at least remember the subject header. Likewise, Christians have the most important message to share: the Gospel. If nobody understood the music that was played, or if no one remembered any song that the band dished out, may the listeners remember that the Gospel was shared.

The concept of turning needs no detailed explanation. Responding to the Gospel of Jesus Christ involved a 180-degree turn (maybe the arrow should be halved instead of a full turn?) from my godless ways.

Afterthought:

This sounds like a Korean boy group. In fact, running a search on Google yielded a hit on an existing band with this name--some Norwegian power ballad rock band. I can't pronounce the band members' names.

This Way Up

I thought about this while contemplating ordering a guitar from the US, and hearing the horror stories of how guitars come chipped and knocked about because the distributor didn't package the guitar properly.

A box containing fragile items needs to be oriented in the right way, otherwise, as it moves through two points, you'll end up damaging its contents. We all try to move through life living our own way apart from God, but the truth is, Jesus really is the truth, the way, and the life. No one gets to the Father except through Jesus.

Afterthought:

There's a four-piece party cover band of the same name on Facebook. Sigh.

Some rejected ideas:

Driftwood - Named after contemplating that a piece of dead, fallen wood in a river can only be picked up by a lumber, who will use it for nobler purposes like furniture or river dam construction. I thought it was cool, but it sounds like it belongs to a metal band.
One Step Closer - Whether Christian or not, we're all taking one step closer to our eventual eternal destiny. Rejected due to a Linkin Park song of the same name.

What do you think makes a good Christian band name? Let's hear it!

Do You Hear It?

2011-10-23T01:55:00.000-07:00

The hallowed Paul Cochrane Timmy pedal. I've GAS-ed for one for many years, having read the reviews, watched the videos, and heard the audio clips. And when the right person came by with the right price, I pounced on it. I still remember peeling back the box and beholding the pedal in my hands for a while, before plugging it in and powering it up for the first time. It was audio bliss. Every chord, every single note line, every pinch harmonic, every slap harmonic--every technique I threw at the Timmy just made my playing sound so much better.

Intense, huh? All that extra expense in an attempt to achieve "boutique" tone.

The Wet Blanket in me was very quick to pull me back to earth. Let's face it, no one's really going to be able to tell the difference between a Paul Cochrane Timmy and a Boss SD-1. No one's going to come up to me and comment how the Timmy made all the difference in making my guitar tone sound good (and the opposite is true; no one's going to come up and complain that the reason my tone sucked was the SD-1).

After-thought:

No offense to SD-1 users, of course. I've played with that pedal before, and it just didn't work with my rig, and hence, the example. I know fantastic players who have great tone using that pedal.

You're likely going to hear generic comments after a session: "Your playing was nice" and "I liked that tone" for the supporters, with perhaps an equal number of "your playing sucked" and "I hated that tone" from the haters.

As a musician friend of mine commented (or perhaps lamented) before, the only person who can really tell the difference is yourself, or a fellow guitarist who has a good ear for tone. Our pursuit of tone is a pursuit of personal satisfaction, which I think isn't necessarily a bad thing. If a guitarist feels hampered, or is in constant lament over how bad his tone is, he's not going to be focused on being creative with music. He's going to be distracted by how his gear doesn't measure up to his personal expectations.

My suggestion for those who are beating themselves up all the time: save up, spend it, get it, use it. Acquire gear to the degree you have been called as a musician, be it a hobbyist or a full-time professional. Once you put a cap on how much you'll spend (and get), you'll start focusing on making your music sound good.

Strings and Things

2011-10-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

I recently stringed up my Fender Stratocaster with 11's in an attempt to test out the myth surrounding different string gauges and its effect on tone. The myths do somewhat correspond logically; higher gauges mean more string mass, and more string mass means larger vibrations, which in turn, ultimately leads to beefier, heavier tone.

I tried it out and got myself really frustrated pretty quickly. Not that the tone was disappointing--in fact, I felt a rather pleasing change in tone. Somehow, the thicker strings EQ my tone from mid-rangy to something a little more round. Rounder is better in my tone book, but that's where the advantages of thicker strings ended. My strat isn't the easiest of guitars to set up, and with heavier strings, the tension applied to the bridge is a lot higher. It pulled my bridge clean off the body, which made it interesting considering I've never played a strat with a "floating bridge". Fun to pull up and down, but throws the whole guitar out of pitch, and intonates terribly.

The next disadvantage really threw in the towel for me. Part of the vibe of heavy gauge strings is that you can really dig in without worrying about the guitar flubbing out. Now, I don't have a strong right wrist anymore, and ever since my wrist injury I've had to modify my technique to accommodate it. I've developed a rather light touch, with very mild pick strokes, and using my other fingers to help pick.

How does playing style affect your tone with heavy strings? For one thing, my volume dropped drastically, and I sounded like a kid in the garage picking up the guitar for the first time. My pick attacks disappeared, and made the finger movement noises from my left hand a lot more prominent.

I did try to salvage the situation: down-tuning the guitar from standard in E to Eb so as to decrease the string tension (it returned the bridge to its neutral position which helped keep the strat in tune), increasing the gain on my overdrive pedals to compensate for the lighter pick attack, and setting my playing height to maximum so as to help my left hand play as precisely as possible.

It worked. Well, sort of.

It just didn't feel right. I couldn't solo with the confidence I had with lighter gauge strings. As you can tell, playability is a big factor for me when it comes to the guitar, and guitars that don't play well or feel well just don't sound good (to my ears, anyway). So a month went by with this ridiculously awkward setup on my strat, and before I knew it, I found myself finding an excuse to swing by Davis and get my DR 9's, a staple of mine for the past 6 years or so.

A few guitarists whom I listen to use heavier gauge strings: Phil Collen of Def Leppard (he mentioned in a rig-rundown on Premier Guitar that it's "easy" to bend 13's!), Kenny Wayne Sheppard, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jeff Beck. It's for them, and not for me.

"A Transformed Life" (Laity Sunday)

2011-10-08T20:57:00.001-07:00

Laity Sunday Sermon: "A Transformed Life", Matthew 5:14-16

Light takes away darkness. It exposes hidden deeds. It brings truth to those in sin, and brings hope to those burdened (John 3:19-21)

As Christians, we must a life that shows the light of Jesus to an unbelieving world. There is no reason to hide our identity as Christians. If we as Christians wish to place our light under a basket, and are unwilling to allow our light to shine, we have failed in our duty to be God's light.

Paul writes in Ephesians 5:8-13 that once we have the light, we must be transformed, leading a life that God approves.

The fruits of light versus fruitless deeds of darkness: what is your life marked by?
-Self-centredness
-Sexual immorality
-Gossip
-A spiteful, loose tongue

We don't need better evangelistic methods; we need believers who live like believers. Can your friends/relatives/colleagues notice the difference?

(Struggling to) Tithe

2011-10-06T12:34:00.000-07:00

It's difficult to pin-point when it started, and even harder to decide where and when it must end. Gear Acquisition Syndrome. It's a disease rife amongst musicians, and particularly electric guitarists. I seem to have a need for 3 amps, 14 pedals, 2 multi-effects units, and 8 guitars. I seem to be able to justify the need for more gear; a Palmer DI speaker simulator for the gigs and sessions I don't use an amp, an A/B box to split between my AC15 and my THD UniValve, and another Xotic EP Booster to tame the overdrives (a great tech tip used by the great Allen Hinds).

Do I really need all this gear? If I were to be outright honest, I'll have to admit that I don't. The conviction came when I had to come clean before the Lord about my tithing practices since I began work. Why is it so difficult to tithe, but so easy to spend? Why is there a struggle to hold on to the material, if everything I have is a gift from God?

Clearly, the priorities of the heart are misplaced somehow.

I must remind myself that God is more interested in the heart than He is in the amount. He's interested inmy attitude towards tithing than how much I put in the offering bag. Tithing is an outward and visible sign of my acknowledgment that it really belonged to Him all along. It teaches me that God wants to enjoy first priority in my life.

Why Did You Laugh?

2011-09-24T20:54:00.001-07:00

Genesis 18:1-15

Theological comedy: When God surprises man with His methods, where we think they are ridiculous or silly.

God's ways are not for the amusement of the idle nor is it for the fascination of the curious. He works wonders an in unexpected ways
1. For people who wonder how they will survive
2. To challenge our common assumptions we have about Him

Example:
Noah and the ark, where the world then did not know rain, much less a flood

In our text, Sarah laughed because she never thought it was possible for her to have a son at such an old age.
-Note: Her laughter was probably dark, laced with sarcasm and cynicism.

4 assumptions we make about God:

1. We assume God will work within a certain time frame, like setting an alarm clock in our hearts
-When the alarm rings and the prayer request is not met, we may grow to become bitter

God appeared to Abraham and made the promise of the provision of a son when he was 75 years old. God's second appearing to remind him of the promise happened when Abraham was 99 years old, and when Sarah was 90 years old.

Sarah's laughter came from pain and disappointment that God had not yet fulfilled His promise. However, God demonstrated that despite His apparent delay, He accomplishes the seemingly impossible.

2. We assume that God's work is limited to our own abilities
-The bible often shows us that God uses the weak, the least talented, and those with physical limitations to accomplish His great work.
-Notable examples: Moses the stutterer, David the shepherd boy, Joseph the youngest (and later with a prison record).

3. We assume God must work according to our ways and understanding.
-Isaiah 55:8-9
-We are guilty of thinking, "My way is Yahweh." We must understand that God does not think like us. We must trust in God and surrender completely to Him.

4. We assume that God's work is limited to those who never fail Him.
-Genesis 21:1 "Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised"
-God's work is always personal and it goes far beyond us. It is gracious and He includes even those who failed or disappointed Him.

All Things New

2011-09-24T18:40:00.001-07:00

I pray that in Your good time,
You may reveal Your glory to these precious ones.

Massive Unboxing!

2011-09-23T07:42:00.000-07:00

A clearance sale is bound to strike a good chord in a guitarist. I've always dreamt of owning a THD amplifier for years, having seen small blurbs of it in guitar reviews, and hearing raves amongst my guitarist friends. Reading about the features was enough to convince me that this amp was worth the boutique price tag that it carries.

I finally found a place that sold THD products, and specifically, the combo version of the UniValve! Kudos to Chao for the great tip-off! I made my way from an external course at work, traveling from Science Park to Peninsula Plaza at peak hour, with ERP and parking, just for it. Yes, it's worth that amount of trouble.

The picture doesn't really show its size. It's a whopping 53lbs and I had to leave the box at the shop!

Unboxing...

The styrofoam in the box provides more of a psychological assurance than actual protection. This baby is built like a tank.

Installing the wheels. Who would have thought it would finally be available on an amp?

And finally, when I lugged it back home and set it up...

This amp delivers serious tone. Everything I threw at it, even my cheapest pedal and guitar, sounded gold. Here's a run-down on what I love about this amp:

The tubes and the Hot Plate

The UniValve is single-ended Class A amp (don't worry, I've provided links to other sites for those of us who don't know the geek lingo), which is my personal preference when it comes to amplification. I think I won't burn the tubes out as quickly as my other friends do, considering my drive section is completely dependent on my pedals and I run the amp pristine clean.

It has two 12AX7's in the preamp and one EL34 in the power amp. Like most tube amps, there are two channels for low or high gain input--which, I recently discovered, simply meant how many tubes were used in the preamp. In the UniValve's case, it's a choice between one or two tubes, and there's a serious jump in the amount of crankable gain between the two channels. The first preamp tube governs the gain and tone of the preamp, while the second preamp tube directly drives the power tube. By varying the gain of these two tubes, you can influence the mix of preamp distortion and power amp distortion, or run a decently clean tone at higher volume by reducing the gain of both.

The power amp tube makes a profound difference on your overall tone, and the EL34 is a favorite of mine. It has a middy character to it, and has a ton of headroom and volume. A friend of mine joked that if you want to hear an EL34 break up, stand really far away.

My favorite setting so far is the volume at half and the Hot Plate at half. If you run your rig like mine, where your pedals are your main source of overdrive, playing your amp at a volume lower than its breaking point will sound over-compressed. However, if you run an attenuator, the more you attenuate the signal, the amp becomes less open and you lose some dynamic depth. It's a delicate balance that I've easily achieved with the UniValve.

The controls

With clean amps, I'm a follower of the fabled Fender Deluxe Reverb mojo settings: 6-6-3 (Bass, Middle, Treble respectively), which provide a woody body and a "blanket" warmth to the guitar tone. Instead of a middle control, the UniValve features an "Attitude" control, which I'll let the company describe: "The Attitude control determines how the driver stage responds to signal and how it drives the power tube."

The general idea is that when turned fully counter-clockwise, it's more a Fender-like response, and fully clockwise is more like Marshall. THD says it's not a presence control, but the effect is in the same ballpark, in my opinion. Personally, I like it one-quarter up, to get that Fender character with a bit of Marshall bite.

At the rear, there are speaker output jacks for anything ranging from 2-ohms up to 16-ohms. There is also a fantastic isolated line out jack and control knob. You can actually use the UniValve as a preamp for other amps, or you can run it like stompbox in your signal chain. It also works great for direct recording., although you have to get a cabinet simulator, either from something like the Rock Bug by Carl Martin or the Palmer direct box. Alternatively, for the cheapskates like me, I record direct to my computer and use a free plugin. There is also a switch to toggle between instrument-level and line-level output. Its probably the best line-out feature set you'll see on a tube amp.

A few quirky noteworthy things about this amp to up the collector's value: it's signed by Andy Marshall himself, and every amp has a quote from philosophers, presidents, famous musicians, etc. My amp has George Harrison's quote, "All things must pass".

The cabinet

It's a specially tuned-port bass-reflex cabinet that in their words, "significantly reduce standing-waves inside the cabinet, giving it a very deep, even, tight and punchy sound." To my ears, this sounds amazingly like a 2x12" cab. However, what really kicked up the cool factor for me is that the cabs are modular, meaning you can swap out the UniValve head from the cab for any of the THD amp heads. If I was crazy enough to get a BiValve or a Flexi head, it's possible to remove the metal grill, stick it into the cab, plug in the speaker cable, and it will fit!

In conclusion
I'm able to pull off tones ranging from Earth Wind and Fire to Dream Theater through this amp. I couldn't ask for more.

Further reading:

Class A versus Class AB amplifiers

Differences between push-pull and single-ended operation

Pedals: The Essentials

2011-09-05T04:58:00.000-07:00

Before rushing out to buy your ten distortion boxes, I hope to provide some insight on things that you'll need (and truthfully need, mind you). A few important points to note:

Pedals require power, either from batteries or from an AC/DC adapter. Powering pedals is a huge topic in itself, so I'll be brief in this post.
Every pedal you want to include in the effects chain needs at least two patch cables for input and output.
Pedals with the option for external control (such as tap tempo, or a latched switch to change channels and presets) will need an extra patch cable. Did I mention you need to get the external controller too?

The take-home message here is that every pedal requires a condiment of accessories to function, so accommodate that in your budget for a pedalboard!

Power Supply

Batteries have an advantage of having no power cables that could end in a labyrinthine mess, but unless you're willing to dish out the money and time to replacing them, you're better off getting a dedicated power supply. If you're into playing the electric guitar for the long haul, you'll easily acquire more than 10 pedals (and that's a conservative estimate!), so get it right the first time and get a power supply.

Tuner

Please make an effort to get a tuner (really, it doesn't matter how much it costs). Regardless of how great your tone is, an out-of-tune guitar is an instant turn-off! If tone loss from using a tuner is an issue for you, put it in the Tuner Out of your volume pedal to remove it from the signal chain, or have a simple true bypass A/B box to split the signal from your effects chain.

Noise Gate

The more pedals you add to the chain, the noisier your signal will get when you stop playing. A gate does what it metaphorically describes; it will close at a certain preset level (threshold), and you can control how fast the gate will close (decay), varying from a fast shut-off to keep things real tight at the expense of sustain, to a slow decay which will let some noise in but keeps the guitar tone natural.

Volume Pedal

Rolling off the volume on your guitar will have the tonal effect of rolling off the high-end and scooping the mids, which could be undesirable as you may want your original signal intact. A volume pedal solves this problem, allowing you to retain your tone at a desired volume level. You can perform the volume swell effect with this by having a long delay set after it.

Bleed and Open-back Combo Amps

2011-09-04T22:28:00.000-07:00

I played for RBC's worship conference with Brian Felten (who is absolutely amazing as a teacher and as a musician; I was so honoured to work alongside him!), and the venue we played at was small and enclosed. The placement of the band right next to the audience meant that we were going to have big problems with bleed from the amps.

My amp was facing me, but had its back facing the audience. There were two things I needed to do: find a way to elevate the amp so that the bass frequencies won't travel, and find a baffle to block the sound coming from the open-back combo.

The solution we came up with was this:

You can't really see it, but it's a chair with a backing that fits very nicely over the open-back portion of the amp. It elevated the amp to a height (and an extra blessing was that it was cushioned) where the bass response was still favorable for me as a monitor, but it didn't affect the audience members sitting next to me. The backing was also large enough to prevent excessive bleed from the open-back.

This may seem to be ugly from an audience's point of view, but I am much more in favor of poor "aesthetics" than having the audience bear with a really loud guitar!

BECK (2010)

2011-08-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

I'm an avid fan of BECK, mostly because it's a manga that chronicles the struggles, trials and tribulations that a band goes through in their quest to "make it". Which aspiring musician hasn't thought of making it to a festival, to play for a massive crowd, playing your heart and soul out (in the rain, no less, which is a really cool idea but terrible for the instruments).

As much as I like the manga, unfortunately the movie didn't do it justice. The plot development felt squashed and rushed. Like the anime, the movie tried to squeeze too many story arcs together (the band's beginnings, Koyuki's troubles with the Hyodou Band, the band's first few gigs, the band's recording of their demo and subsequent CD distribution, the rivalry between BECK and Belle Ame, and their eventual gig at Greatful Sound). In fact, I felt that it would have been better to split the movie into two parts and develop the individual story arcs more. Maybe then we'd see their relationship with the Indie label, Koyuki's period of tutelage under Saitou, Ray's friendship with Eddie Lee and Dying Breed, just to name a few.

Harold (the manga author) did a great job of depicting how a great band sounds, which, to put it on a canvas, would mean to capture their expressions, their body movements, and their connection to the instruments. This translated well onto film, with the actors knowing how to "rock it out". It certainly resonated with me as a guitarist!

Going Fender

2011-07-30T06:20:00.000-07:00

I finally gave in to the inner muse and go Fender. It's ironic that I've decided to get Fender guitars, considering that a very long time ago, I had severe criticism for their designs; Telecasters were slabs with no contours which made them difficult to play for extended hours, and Stratocasters were just too noisy when cranked.

However, the more I played friends' Teles and Strats, the more I realized that they have personality and character that no other guitar has. It's both their greatest strength and weakness. The spin doctors may tell you that they can play any genre of music; the truth is, they can't. Yes, you can plug them into the ultra high-gain amplifiers, you can mod them with the hottest output pickups possible, but you'll have their tonal characteristics coming through: the Tele twang, and the Strat quack.

Enough talk. Let me introduce to you:

Kaede, a 1993 MIJ '57 Reissue. She belongs to the era of Japanese-made guitars for export to America, which explains the Custom Shop electronics. Everything on this guitar is stock except I changed the tuners from the vintage Kluson to Gotoh Magnum locking, and wired the 2nd tone control to the bridge pickup, which is a must-have for making the bridge usable for solos without a 50's vibe (an Eric Johnson tip).

Isabel, a 2007 MIM Classic Player Baja Telecaster (based mostly off a '52), with a four-way switch (bridge, bridge+neck in parallel, neck, bridge+neck in series) and an S1 switch that enables in or out-of-phase tones for the combined pickups, totalling 6 possibilities. The combined pickups make this Tele sound really fat, like a cleaner, lower-output humbucker.

Why Like That!? Episode 2

2011-07-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

Multi-storey carparks are difficult to park in; they're tight, they're congested, and they need quick hands to navigate the bends around corners to reach the next level in a bid to find an available lot.

I can understand the level of agitation one may feel at the end of the process, but that's not an excuse to be inconsiderate to other drivers:

I may not know the circumstances behind the driver deciding to make such a hasty parking, which may be legitly urgent, but I think spending 30 seconds more to park properly wouldn't make a difference to the situation, would it?

Why Like That!? Episode 1

2011-07-04T07:23:00.000-07:00

A brand new segment of this blog to commemorate the moments that make us drivers go, "Why like that!?"

For this inaugural post, I present to you a parking specimen:

I hope my tone of exasperation is warranted when I say that this guy is too far from the kerb! Private estates have narrow roads to begin with, so it is imperative to park as close to the kerb as possible, not just for other road users to pass, but also for the behemothal rubbish truck to safely pass through the estate when it makes its rounds in the morning. If the truck comes across a bottle neck (caused by, for example, the above), it will not risk scratching the car and give the houses after a miss.

In my book, that's incredibly inconsiderate.

Pedals: An Introduction to Analog

2011-07-01T07:45:00.000-07:00

I'll make an honest admission. Even though I've been playing guitar for over 12 years, I only started on analog pedals and amps this year. I've been relying on solid state for all of my tones, from my first 10W practice amp to my present Line 6 PODX3. Of course, it's not like I'm a complete newbie at it; I've gigged with all sorts of analog gear, courtesy of band mates who were kind (and rich) enough to lend me for the night.

Well, why the switch now?

In short, I got bitten by the analog bug. I must have been immune to it all those years when I wasn't earning an income and still a student on a budget. When payday comes, let me assure you, there's a great temptation to rush out and grab as many little metal boxes as your paycheck affords. In a short manner of 3 months, I acquired enough gear to completely fill up a Pedaltrain Pro (see below):

Justin's Pedalboard v2.0, 01Jul11

I've had an idea for what kind of tone I was going to commit to for a very long time, so that explains the apparent "shot-gun" style of acquiring my gear. I always liked warm, articulate and fat tones, particularly those in the style of Andy Timmons, Eric Johnson, Dave Weiner, and Ryo Owatari.

Was the switch easy? Not for me. Switching from multi-fx to analog pedals had the same feeling as switching from driving an automatic to a manual. There are so many other things to take note of which multi-fx settles for you, or completely removes for your convenience: the organization of the pedalboard, getting velcro to stick right, patching effects together, setting the volume of individual effects, choosing the right cables for the right pedal...

However, as highly convenient as digital processing offers, having total control over your signal chain is part of the allure of an analog pedalboard. If you're thinking of venturing into the realm of analog pedals, here are some tips I hope you'll find helpful:

Be specific with your tone. What's the big picture of your tone? Can you describe it in words? By spelling your tone out (it doesn't have to be on paper), you're defining what you really want in your tone and can then make relevant choices. You'll know which pedals you won't need. Trust me, every pedal manufacturer out there will try to convince you that you need their pedal.
Be realistic with your tone. This pertains to both your concept of tone and your budget for tone. You're not Eric Johnson/Joe Satriani/Steve Vai/(insert guitar hero here). No matter how close your rig is to your favorite guitar hero's, you won't sound like him because you're not him. The faster you assimilate this concept, the less you'll find yourself ogling over his ever-changing overhaul of guitars/pedals/amps. This leaves you more time and money to focus on your tone.
Be content with your tone. You must eventually learn to draw the line to stop the purchases and concentrate on making your tone sound good. You made a plan, you stuck to it, you got what you wanted. Great! Now it's time to tweak less and practice more. Gear is only a means to an end, which is to make music.

All Tied Up

2011-04-15T19:57:00.000-07:00

When your power cables are kept in this manner...

...you're only inviting disaster the next time you unravel it. The first step to a nicely, naturally-coiled power cable is getting rid of the over-coil.

Next, follow the natural coil of the power cable and use a cable tie to secure it in the middle (I use a velcro cable tie, which can be purchased really cheaply at Daiso), forming a bundle as shown:

There, what a relief it is to see an increased level of neatness!

Take Your Pick

2011-04-05T18:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks Aunt Nancy for this awesome pack of picks from Hard Rock!

It's good to have picks lying around--in your gig bags, in the accessory pockets of the band duffel bag, in your wallet--you never know when you'll have a guitar dropped in your lap and requested to play a song.

Here's an example of what happened over New Year's Eve dinner, where the performing guitar duo were making their rounds amongst the dinner tables, and Dad just had to mention that I play in a band. Thank goodness one of them was kind enough to lend me his pick:

Dinner at NUSS Suntec, New Year's Eve '10

Tools of the Trade

2011-03-01T17:37:00.000-08:00

It's really convenient to blog these days. Remember the days when Blogger didn't have the ability to do rich formatting, upload pictures and link to videos? I survived on Scribefire for my personal blog (which is still alive to this date, with almost 7 years of history!), but now the basic Blogger interface has proven to be just as convenient. Here's what I do for pictures and videos:

I take pictures with my trusty iPhone, running them through instagram for some cool effects, and my Olympus EP-L1. I don't normally have to do much editing, except cropping, resizing, or adding a simple caption, in which case I use Microsoft Powerpoint. Yes, there are tricks to make Powerpoint churn out higher resolution pictures.

Videos are shot with my Canon FS100 (I know, cheapskate, but I got this from an IT fair and it was dead cheap) and sometimes with my EP-L1, with minimal editing with Windows Movie Maker. When I'm up for it, I'll mic up with either a Shure SM-57 or an Audio Technica AT-2035 (or both, when sufficiently inspired) running into my M-Audio Fast Track Pro.

The audio is then processed through Kristal Audio, which I'll run several plugins to make the video loud enough so that you don't need to crank it (my pet peeve with unprocessed audio on videos), and clear enough so that you can hear what's going on (my other pet peeve with over-processed audio).

Powerpoint, Movie Maker and Kristal. Sure, they're limited in functionality when compared to Photoshop, Premiere and ProTools, but they're free and available for anyone to dive deep into, to satisfy the blogger in you.

Welcome

2011-01-24T01:33:00.001-08:00

Welcome to this first post. You are duly deserving of my thanks in reading this--for what have I, a mere individual in an endless ocean of bloggers, have to offer you? I can assure you that the content you find here is not in rhythm to the dance of all things in vogue. I can't offer cutting-edge commentary on the socio-cultural movements of our day and age. I won't complain against the politics and I shan't romanticize about the past.

I will be open, honest, and hopefully helpful in the things I write about.

I am a musician, an emotionally attuned artist who paints sonic landscapes with the palette of rhythm, melody and harmony. I am an engineer, ever fascinated with all things that work, and in constant obsession with making them better. I am a redeemed, a Christian, a sinner in eternal thanksgiving to God for sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to bear the judgment that was rightfully mine.

I am a mortal, fighting against the same temptations as any mortal, moral man would. I am an immortal, whose destination is determined by our Heavenly Father, in whom is in possession of the right to rule my life, and mine to joyfully obey.

Well, enough about me. This space is ultimately for you. Aspiring musicians, fellow philosophizing commentators, brothers and sisters in the faith, I welcome you to this space. Have a pleasant stay!