Sounds

I have gotten quite a few emails regarding the sounds I use, regarding changing sounds in songs or live in general.

Well, even though I use and endorse the G9.2tt, which offers quite a lot of variety, I have always been someone who likes to stick to a certain sound with slight variations, when it comes to my main-sound.
For a long time, I used nothing but a tube amp, an overdrive pedal (as a booster for certain things) and a wah live. I went by the old VH-agend, maybe switching to a clean sound but mainly using the volume-knob and that booster a lot.

However, I also DO like some variety, and of course I need to have some different sounds available sometimes. So it´s a mixup between “one main-sound” and “some variety”.

The main-sound is a warm, saturated and pretty distorted lead-sound with a very slight echo. Mids and trebles are at about 12 o clock, but that depends on the guitar I use and the acoustics of the room or venue, too. Bass is a bit higher, maybe even at 3 or 4 o´clock. Add maybe a bit compression and a tad of ambience delay, done. I use the volume-knob to cut back on the gain for certain parts or the rhythm guitar (as I don´t want the rhythm guitar to sound mushy or lack punch)

That´s what I use for both ballads like “Canyon Of Spirits” and faster songs like “Make A Noize”.

Now, my main-bank on the G9.2tt has 5 sounds that I use a lot. I might share those presets in this blog at a later time, but for now, let´s leave it at a description.

1: A clean sound. Glassy, works for both soloing and soft chords, with a certain acoustic vibe to it. Some slight delay, which I can turn up (volume-wise) with one of the sweller-pedals, while the other sweller controls the general volume of the preset. No chorus or reverb or anything, until i really want that

2: Crunch: An overdriven, punchy sound which works great for rhythm guitar. I don´t want TOO much gain on the rhythm guitar, I like when the sound really moves some air. When I use the volume-knob on the guitar, it cleans up even more for a bluesy, semi-clean sound with some dirt to it

3: Hell. That´s a modern, really heavy rhythm sound, which is right in your face. Think Dimebag Darrell or someone like that. Not as warm or smooth as the actual lead-sound, but really moves air for heavy rhythm.

4. Lead 1: Heavy distortion, bit different EQing than the previous one. Good amount of treble and presence, cutting back on mids. Cuts through in the mix, and brings out fast picking very well. When cutting back on the volume-knob, you get a certain Gilbert-ish crunchy sound (I call that “crusty”). Slight echo if desired

5. Lead 2: Smoother, warmer than the previous one, with a slight echo (Mix about 25 percent) and some more compression. Best for ballads or high gain-solos, while Lead 1 offers a bit more clarity there. With the special function-switches of the G9.2tt I can add a flanger (for that Van Halen-ish sound) or a Wah, which then is controlled by one of the fader-pedals.

When not using the G9.2, I even try to get that variety with other setups as well, using maybe a delay- and an overdrive-pedal. Most important is a nice clean-sound and a good lead-sound, I can work with that and alter those to get the “sounds in between”.

Sure, sometimes I might feel like using only one sound for the majority of time, and some of you might play music where that is all you need. But there´s nothing wrong in being able to add some variety and give a really different sound to certain parts of a song.

EVH & his Frankenstrat

Got the new issue of GW magazine a while ago, the one with Eddie on the cover. I had seen the NAMM presentation of the Frankenstrat-replica, and that got me quite excited. Hey, Eddie was the reason for me to pick up a guitar, and to see a perfect replica of that old red Frankenstrat, seeing Eddie play it, really was awesome.

I am amazed by how cool it looks (always loved the looks of Eddie´s home-built guitars), and how much effort they put into that replica. Don´t think I´ll get a chance to own one, but it´s just awesome to see it.

Also, there will be a new EVH-amp coming out this year, which is exciting, too. I have always loved the stuff that came out under Eddie´s name. Not because his name on it, but because the stuff sounded great. The 5150 (which I used for years), the Peavey Wolfgang (great concept, awesome craftmanship, killer pickups), the Music Man / Ernie Ball signature model, the Flanger and Phaser… so I am really looking forward to checking out that upcoming amp. Who knows, maybe I´ll even get a chance to review it for the mag.

Eddie has amazing ears, and hey, aint it amazing how people STILL are crazy about his “brown sound”, that sound on the first few records. And I love his later sounds as well, like that huge, fat, saturated sound on “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge”.

I recently played some songs from the first VH-album for a student of mine. That student mainly is into more modern bands, like Godsmack, SOAD, Disturbed, Meshuggah. So I wasn´t sure what he´d think about those old VH-tunes. When I put on “You Really Got Me”, he had that confused look on his face. I thought “Oh gee, I guess that one´s a bit old-fashioned for him, or maybe he doesn´t really like the original”. And he went “Dude, why does that guitar sound so very awesome there?!?!”

And that, to me, is really quite amazing. That even today, after all those changes regarding gear, after all these really heavy bands came out, after the production quality of so many records has increased so much, someone still gets blown away by the sound of that home-built axe through a plexi Marshall and some pedals…

Modding 2: Vandy No.1

This, for quite a long time, has been my main guitar, until I started using others. This guitar is slowly but surely getting out of pasture and as of now, is semi-retired. I am sure that a good tech/luthier could fix it, but then again, I am quite superstitious about changing it too much.

Here are some things done to this guitar:

- Paint taken off. The finish was quite thick, and actually it was supposed to be refinished. However, I really like the sound of this guitar without the paint (I like thin finishes), and even though the body lacks the protection of a thick layer of finish, I keep it this way for sound-reasons.

- Pickups:

I have tried many different pickup-combinations in this guitar. My favorite for a long time has been a Tone Zone in the bridge and a Fast Track II (actually a bridge pickup) in the neck-position. However, right now I am trying out a DiMarzio T-1 (Andy Timmons model), and as far as I can tell, I´ll keep that one in the bridge-position now, even though the TZ prolly still is my favorite DiMarzio pickup.

- Wang bar

The vibrato-system is blocked. It wouldnt stay in tune anymore, and I did it temporarily, planning to get it fixed. Then I noticed how much the sound changed with the bridge being blocked with a good piece of wood (believe me, the type of wood DOES make a difference. I am using maple). So I kept it that way. Since I don´t close the locking nut anymore, I removed the fine-tuners too, as they were getting a bit into the way when I was picking (mainly the fine-tuner of the low E-String).

- Switches

We changed the positions of the switches. The 3 way-toggle now sits where the neck-volume-know used to be. This was done when I was still using the bar on this guitar, as it sometimes was a bit difficult to use the switch, with the bar getting into the way. However, I liked this setup so much that I kept it that way.
Of course, the pots are 500K, and I use a gold-contact-switch. Both the pots and the switch had to be replaced several times due to wear and tear.

In the pic below, you can see how I string the guitar, with the ballends at the tuners. I would have to cut them off anyway, as the bridge still is a locking one, but I prefer to string all guitars with locking systems that way. It´s almost like locking tuners, I can severely cut back on string windings around the tuning posts.

The frets amazingly still never needed a fret-job. There of course is some wear n’ tear, but I don´t get excessive buzz, and it still plays like a charm. The frets were like hyper-jumbo, so even if they have worn down a bit, they´re still perfect for legato and bends.

The backside of the neck is sandpapered a bit on a regular base. I like the feel of satin-finish or unfinished necks (Not a fan of higloss, thickly finished necks, even though there are exceptions), that´s why.

OK, last pic. You can see that this guitar looks a lot like it´s gone through hell a couple of times… it kinda has. It kinda breaks my heart to notice that the guitar is kinda falling apart, even though I am doing my best to fix what needs to be fixed, but I don´t think I would use it on stage a lot anymore.
It still sounds amazing though, with a very punchy, “breathing” sound, and due to the fact I have played it for such a long time makes me feel like it´s an extension of my body…

 

Of course, to quote “you can´t polish a turd”, so you need a base to get started on modding… a guitar that looks or feels alright to you. But if that guitar lacks something you desire, like a certain sound different pickups could give it, or a shave-down on the neck, a different switching-setup etc, then go ahead.

I always loved what Eddie Van Halen did to his guitars, building the perfect guitars for him, instruments that would do what he needed them to do, and would work just for him. Same goes for the old Tele-mongrel Steve Morse used to use. And this guitar is something like that for me, modded to work perfectly for me.

An update

Once again, it´s been a while since my last post in this blog. Really busy times here, and I guess people who have been reading my former blogs know that I occasionally take some breaks from it. So what´s new?

I just received the new album by the amazing Dave Martone. It´s called “When The Aliens Come”, and it´s really cool. Not only the playing (Dave´s a killer-guitarist), but also the production, especially the production of the guitar-sounds. Dave seems to put a lot of effort into that (he has written quite a few columns on that), and it shows. Also, there´s a guest spot by Terry Syrek, another awesome player.
Check it out if you haven´t yet!

Also took some time to fix the good ol´ “Vandy No.1″. I have mentioned before how it´s going out of pasture, and it still needs a lot of work, for example the old Kahler needs to be fixed a bit. Kahler´s back in business, but I doubt that I will replace the original one. It´s blocked anyway, and I am a bit superstitious about changing too much about it.
Put in a new bridge pickup too… the “T-1″ by DiMarzio, it´s the humbucker that the custom shop developed for Andy Timmons.  I really like its sound, and I believe I´ll keep it in the guitar for quite some time.

Also, I haven´t posted updates regarding the reviews I have done for GUITAR magazine. Recent stuff: the new Gibson Les Paul BFG, two Ibanez Artwood Acoustics, the Road King, Digitech JamMan etc. Fun!

Also, the “Musikmesse” is coming close. I hope to meet some of you there. If you see me, say “Hello”! =)