Mono Cases ::: Papa's Got a Brand New Bag

Today's post may not seem like the most exciting facet of the musician's experience, but anyone who travels by plane, train or automobile with any type of music equipment will tell you tales of the grave importance of high quality protection to withstand the dangers of travel. While safety might not appear to be the first thing on a musician's mind, when it comes to expensive and irreplaceable tools of the trade -- it's all too important.

Which brings me to the incredible cases built by Mono Creators. All Mono cases are "soft shell" hybrid designed cases that actually offer more support and protection than many hard shell traditional cases. I have traveled in and out of town with two different models from Mono for years and couldn't be happier and more assured that my sensitive instruments will travel, arrive and be stored in total safety. Mono uses some very cool lightweight yet extremely durable materials in their cases, offering an ergonomic "back-pack" type harness making it wearable on your back.

I use both the M80 Vertigo for my electric guitars and the M80 Classical/OM for my acoustics. While both have some differences, they both offer the same key components. The most important being neck support. There are countless fright-night stories of someone traveling with a Gibson guitar and finding out that the headstock has been broken in the same spot all Gibson guitars get broken (due to the design and tension of the strings on the headstock)... it's a nightmare situation. Mono keeps the neck and the headstock safe during travel with it's proprietary "Headlock" systems. Basically, it creates a sandwich of support between the top and bottom of the case itself. While nothing is truly indestructible, this type of neck protection is spot on.

The M80 Vertigo is a slimmer case designed for electric guitars mostly. It will fit most guitars, and even fits a slightly oblong custom Montuoro hollowbody guitar I have, just fine. The M80 Classical/OM is slightly more robust and fitting for an acoustic guitar. There's a little more room to breath and also includes a bit more storage space. Both cases offer ample storage for any accessories you might need. Mono also offers additional cases that can clip on to the Vertigo itself: The Guitar Tick, which allows for even more storage.

I literally cannot recommend Mono Cases enough for your valuable pieces of music equipment. Mono is of course not limited to keeping guitars safe, they've got you covered for most anything you might need to travel and protect. Pedalboards, DJ's, Drummers, Producers.... they've got something for everyone. Lightweight and durable is the name of the game here and I couldn't agree more, or be any happier with these cases. I'm truly happy to support a company that cares so much about supporting musician's in their craft and the often overlooked aspect of not just performing or creating, but getting there.

In the end, it's always about the journey anyhow right!? Thanks for reading and catch you on the road!

Berkos FX Third Stone II ::: My Favorite Prize For Every Fuzz Fight

Hello Gearheads! Today we talk FUZZ! Ok, now many of you actually know me, and of my personal journeys into the descent of the deep and dark abyss of Fuzz pedals. It's been an interesting and wild road that's led me through (and to) some of my favorite circuits derived from one of the oldest --- the Fuzz Face, Dallas Arbiter to be exact. It's completely a classic, used by so many great tone-meisters including of course, Mr. James Marshall Hendrix. Jimi was indeed the spark to the flame in many a young guitarist's hearts including mine; He practically founded the tonal landscape any modern guitarist might navigate. One piece of Jimi's circle was the Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face - An enormously versatile and incredible sounding effect. The Fuzz Face could be used to make clean tones all the way to monstrous distorted fuzzed out bliss. It's a very interesting and simple circuit that's unique to every moment in the way that life is really --- this is why I think I'm personally drawn to them. So much control and many shades of color much like a great painter's palette, the Fuzz Face is simply put... inspiring, which leads us to the fuzz of the hour.

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The Berkos FX Third Stone II is a fantastic fuzz pedal. It's a very good sounding and feeling Silicon Fuzz with some very cool and helpful tweaks. The Third Stone has landed it's completely permanent spot on my pedalboard since it first came out. It allows me to recall the feeling and tone of a great vintage fuzz but with the ability to really dial it in each rig or mix.

Most typical fuzzes have two controls: one for volume and one for fuzz. Usually you must 'dime' each and just use your volume knob on the guitar to get the tonal shifts you might need. The Third Stone II offers that same elemental control but with some very useful additions. Take a look at the description below for each control's functions.

I tend to set my Third Stone II with moderate to full fuzz. Usually I will bring the fuzz control all the way up, then bring back that control while playing to get the amount of fuzz dialed in just right. Often I'll find I like and settle on less fuzz than I'd originally thought. That's the magic of fitting in a mix whether it be live or on recording -- it's detrimentally important to get that dialed in right if you'd like to be heard. I prefer the 'BASS' and 'EXP' modes as they offer the fullest and warmest range on the pedal. Earth, which is a low cut control, I typically set to taste (most often around 3:00).

In the clip below I've used the Third Stone II on all the guitars. The clean tones are the volume knob on the guitar rolled back. The signal path is: Danocaster S Style > Drybell Vibe Machine 2 > Berkos Third Stone II > Strymon Timeline > Tortenmann TT3 Tremolo > Subdecay Super Spring Theory > Blankenship Twinplex & Kerry Wright Cab with Celestion Vintage 30's.

Tonefreak Effects Azalea

Hello Gearheads! Today's offering is from Tone Freak Effects, who make wonderful boutique guitar effects. Derek Tabata builds some great overdrive, boost and tremolo pedals, one of which I'm reviewing today -- Derek's newest offering, the Azalea Overdrive. The Azalea Overdrive is based on the venerable Nobels ODR-1 circuit, made famous (and also famously used) in the Nashville, TN studio scene. For those of you not inclined to the idea that there are 'studio scenes,' it comes down to two simple ideas: you're either in Los Angeles or Nashville. Now of course there are many cities, states, provinces, countries.... worlds (ok maybe we're not quite there yet... but ahem, we did just find 7 new planets... maybe at least one such planet would offer up some new orbital guitar tones!?) That said, it is a common reference with studio gear, ideology, and tones to be divided into those two geographic zones: LA or Nashville.

Getting back on track... see what I did there? The Nobels ODR-1 is a natural overdrive in that it retains the guitar's original voice rather than changing the feel or tactile element. That is simply one of the reasons it's quite revered. The ODR-1 does however have some limitations, which have spurned many DIY modifications and new iterations of this circuit to be made.

Which brings us to the Azalea! The Azalea keeps a lot of the feel and tone of the ODR-1 circuit but adds some very valuable alterations. Firstly, there is a tone control and a bass contour control. The ODR-1 can suffer from a bass heavy EQ in many rigs and depending upon your guitar, amp, and pedals following the circuit, it can be at times woofy or too cluttered in the low end spectrum. The Azalea's two handed punch of standard Tone and Bass contour allows you to fine tune the amount of thump and low end girth you need. This allows you to match the tone of the ODR-1, make it fit better in your rig or the situation you're working in. Having this control of course allows you to get a ton of other tones out of the Azalea than just an ODR-1 tone. Derek has also included a toggle to allow the pedal to be used in either Silicon Diode or L.E.D. gain stages. Basically, the Silicon is the original ODR-1 tone and the L.E.D. allows for louder, less compressed drive tones, which could work really well as a clean to full range boost.

I'm a big fan of this circuit for a few reasons. One of those reasons is how the pedal sounds recorded in a track. It has the 'right' amount of presence and push, mostly due to the fat low end that never gets mushy or clogged sounding. It literally is THE sound of any Country, Pop-Country, Alt-Country etc... rhythm and solo guitar tones. It's big and full yet still sounds like the guitar and amplifier you're using. Incredibly important and valuable as a recording tool. The second reason I love this circuit is how it interacts with other pedals after it. Using the Azalea as a boost for other overdrive and distortions yields some really wonderful results --- mainly just glorious added girth and gain but without any tonal shift. It's a mysterious adventure to enter into the world of stacking gain pedals, many times the result is a diminishing return, where you end up with more gain but 'cutting' less in the mix or sounding fizzy or less defined. Not with the Azalea! It works wonders on my live pedalboard with the Maxon SD-9 (one of my all time favorite live pedals) to get fatter sustaining liquid-esque lead tones. The Azalea truly works well as a 'stacker' - I recommend trying it before all your gain boxes to hear that sustain just leap out of your speakers!

I decided to offer up a short demonstration in song-form of the Azalea's tones. I really enjoy recording with the Azalea, it's intuitive and quick to dial in which I find makes it a great choice for the studio or stage. I highly recommend you check one out!

I'm using a Danocaster S Style with Rocketfire Total 60's pickups and a custom Montuoro koa hollowbody with Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II humbuckers. The amplifier is a Blankenship Twinplex 120w head with 6550's and a Kerry Wright diagonal 2x12 cabinet with UK made Celestion Vintage 30's.

Hidden Gems /// Ibanez EM5 Echomachine Delay

Today friends, I offer up a somewhat hidden gem in the pedal world: the Ibanez EM5 Echomachine for your perusal. It's a part of the 'Soundtank' or 5 series in Ibanez's line, built from around 1990 until 1999. The Soundtank series was different in that it used a plastic housing instead of metal or aluminum for the pedal enclosures and they were of course shaped like a TANK! Here's some ad-copy from Ibanez regarding the 5 series:

They're called Soundtanks because their high-tech housing and construction is strong enough to survive the worst abuse-whether it's a battlefield or a mosh pit. But more important than Soundtank's indestructibility are the great Soundtank tones-everything from the beautiful Ibanez analog chorusing of the SC5 to the in-your-face industrial carnage of the new Black Noise distortion. Best of all, Soundtanks are affordable, which means you get more tones to your sonic arsenal for lots less bucks.

Check out this adorable advertisement for the Soundtank Series!

Of course, any musician who uses pedals will tell you that the above statement is a bit far reaching as anything built of plastic isn't going to survive WWWIII or even a drunken heavy footed stomp. That said, the quirks of the pedals design aren't an issue when looking at the sound of this delay. The Echomachine is an incredibly easy-to-use delay pedal that I find, works in many musical situations.

The EM5 is at it's core, a digital delay pedal that sounds incredibly warm and very much akin to the tones of a great sounding Echoplex or Tape Delay unit. It's repeats are clear, yet warm --- they never "get in the way" of your playing. For this reason, it finds itself on a lot of pedalboards including mine. I was hipped to this beautiful hidden gem via my friend and tone guru David Phillips of LA Sound Design. LA Sound Design recommends these units quite often and can be seen on a lot of the pedalboard systems they make. I'd fraction to say that the seminal aspect the EM5 has could be due to David's love of the pedal, which of course flows right into his clients. One of the most recent converts to the EM5 would be Doyle Bramhall II, who's using it on his recently completed LASD pedalboard.

Doyle Bramhall II pedalboard built by LA Sound Design --- thanks to Nils Bryant for the picture

In our current 'Golden Age' of available choices in the guitar effect world, it's refreshing to find something so simple like the EM5. It only has 3 controls: Echo, Repeat & Speed. It's tone lives mostly in the organic tape like world, and only if you max out all controls will it self oscillate --- beautifully and in a controllable way. The circuit is NOT True Bypass! Oh no! I'm aghast! You're probably asking me why would you go through all of this and recommend me a pedal that's not true bypass!!!??? Well, simply it sounds good. The debate of true bypass, buffered bypass, non-buffered pedals...(that's another rodeo friends) but what I can tell you is that the EM5 does NOT suffer from any of the issues that most non true bypass pedals often do. It will not suck your tone or take your beautifully crafted signal chain and flop a blanket over the whole enchilada. Honestly, I do hear a slight bump in the upper mid range content, which is very pleasing. It's even more pleasing if you have a longer signal chain or a darker rig. On my larger LASD pedalboard, I use it on all the time whether I'm using the delay mix or not. I notice that whole rig sounds better with it on --- a very subtle yet noticeable effect. It helps the notes 'pop out' a little more. I have heard that the EM5 might introduce a tiny bit of clock noise (a sort of ticking sound that is persistent while the effect is on, mostly common with analog delay circuits) in high gain amplifier rigs --- the solution being that it could be in a true bypass loop.

All said and done, the EM5 Echomachine is a proper not-so-hidden gem anymore. Completely worth checking out if you are in the market for a simple, incredibly musical delay pedal without a ton of bells and whistles. They do pop up for sale quite frequently on Ebay & Reverb. I think I'll go and try to find another backup right now!

Happy tone hunting friends... until next time...next time... next time... (get it!? yup a delay joke)

Source Audio TOUR BOX /// Experiences with the Nemesis, L.A. Lady & the Kingmaker

Hello Gearheads! Today's post is fueled by the fine folks at Source Audio and their recent 'Tour Box', a traveling set of pedals that I had the chance to check out and share with you! 

Included are the L.A. Lady Overdrive, Kingmaker Fuzz and the mighty Nemesis Delay.

Without any further ado, let's dive right in.... I tested these pedals on my studio pedalboard, which is always in flux and to be quite honest, in need of a major re-haul... clean up on aisle 4 anyone? All the pedals sounded great and integrated quite nicely on the board. I do run a specific interface (PI-01) from LA Sound Design (who has done all of my boards) that has a very good sounding buffer system, and I didn't experience any issues in tonal coloration or changes at all with the Source Audio pedals in line. You might ask, why is that a big deal? Because a lot of pedals when inserted into an existing system (largely due to their own propriety buffer bypasses) really can alter the existing tone and the tone of other pedals after them.

Important to note, all three Source Audio pedals contain a magnificent amount of secondary control via a iOs or Andriod APP. You can alter the pedal in many ways not limited to deeper settings, new drive, or delay engines ultimately creating your own personal effect pedal. Tweakers and deep sea tone divers rejoice!

The L.A. Lady is a formidable overdrive and boost pedal. It immediately hearkens back the favored pushed tube amplifier tone that we all love, all the way to hot-roded Marshall-Esq distortion. The EQ section on the pedal only includes a two band treble and bass, which makes it so easy and useful - IMPORTANT! While I love to get into the minutia of EQ'ing a pedal, it's nice to just have simple tools to get the tone you're after.

I preferred the 'Classic' mode on the L.A. Lady which offered the richest tone to my ears in my rig. I'm running a clean 'pedal platform' rig with a 120 watt Blankenship Twinplex and a 2x12 Kerry Wright diagonal Marshall style cabinet loaded with UK made Celestion Vintage 30's. I could see however, that if you were using a lower wattage amp for example or a Marshall set to stun, you might be drawn to the other less wide tonal choices.

Check out the demo below of the L.A. Lady with the Nemesis Delay mixed in to taste...

The Kingmaker Fuzz boasts 3 different Fuzz tones - a Big Muff, Fuzz Face and Octavio engines. They are all quite musical and could work well with a variety of genres. Ask any guitar player and they will most likely agree that fuzz pedals are a mysterious (often difficult, yet rewarding) experience. They are very suspect to tonal changes based on temperature, grounding, and noise, and can even transmit radio waves.... AM radio anyone? The Kingmaker being digital doesn't have any of those issues and is quite easy to dial in and most importantly sounds great. I enjoyed checking out the 3 different engines and thought the Fuzz Face setting or 'Normal' setting was warm and could cut in a band mix very well. My favorite however was the Octave engine, simulating the Tycobrahe Octavio. Rich, and full of the crazy on-the-verge-of-blowing-up tone that can create some very cool soundscapes as well as conjure up your best James Marshall Hendrix impression.  

Check out the demo below of the Octave engine with the Nemesis Delay mixed in for taste...

Lastly the beastly Nemesis Delay was a joy to play. In similar fashion to many digital delays on the market currently, there are a bevy of available engines and options including: presets, vintage to modern delay tones, tap temp, and flexible controls. That last bit was my favorite aspect to the Nemesis Delay... the ability to easily get a sound you like with minimal control and knob twisting! While the Neuro Mobile APP allows you to get into much detail and damn near infinite control, I'm happy to say the controls on the box itself are easy to dial in, useful and toneful. Another nice thing I noticed about the controls are that when you cycle from each engine, the controls (including delay time, feedback, rate, etc) stay the same as your last adventure. It's helpful when trying to dial in a sound that you're maybe unsure of, without having to start over each time you switch --- this is NOT standard on many other delays, and something I found extremely useful. It is handy to have everything at your fingertips, but (especially when in the studio environment) dialing up sounds quickly is incredibly important.

I tend to prefer natural delay tones: vintage tape and Deluxe Memory Man Bucket Brigade types are usually my favorite and what I gravitate towards. They sounded fantastic and WARM on the Nemesis. The dry signal of my guitar along with the effected delay tone was very pleasing and organic, no weird artifacts or loss of tone here. I can honestly see this pedal as a big solution for anyone seeking a powerful delay system without a huge footprint, and an interface that can be as in depth as you'd like it to be. That's the thing with Source Audio... as a company they seem to want to give the player as much or little control without sacrificing on either end of the spectrum. Very, very cool indeed.  At this very moment, they're working on the finishing touches of their new Reverb pedal the Ventris Reverb which debuted at this past Winter NAMM, which ultimately has been created alongside Source Audio customers and players with their valuable input in mind. I look forward to reviewing the Ventris once it's finished.

Check out the demo below of the Nemesis Delay...

Shin-Ei Vibe Bro /// Vintage 60's Uni-Vibe

Picture this: you're a hunter and you've been searching for a mythical beast -- ever elusive and challenging. A beast so hard to find that you've had to search high and low, sifting through the mire to attempt to not only find the four-leaved clover -- but to grab onto it and hold it for dear life. Sound crazy!? Well, maybe slightly -- but this is what the new offering from Shin-Ei/Honey are bringing to the table with the Vibe Bro.

Many guitarists will attest to trying to find the elusive 'perfect' Uni-Vibe pedal. Whether you're looking to bring back the tones of Hendrix, Gilmour or Trower -- or simply to find that elusive tone you've always heard in your head and what you remember those records sounding like, it's a momentous occasion when you finally nail that beast to the wall. With all hyperbole aside, this is how I felt when I first heard the Shin-Ei Vibe Bro.

The Uni-Vibe itself is such an interesting effect. In an age when guitarist's didn't have many effects or sounds to choose from, there was the Shin-Ei Uni-Vibe. Designed to emulate a Leslie rotating speaker system, and while it never really did sound anything close to those Doppler shifting cabinets, it did however sound very, very, very cool.

Check out this link for some deep technical information http://www.geofex.com/article_folders/univibe/univtech.htm

Trusting itself into the hands of players like Jimi Hendrix who loved it's deep otherworldly underwater tones --- Phasey, warbly, spacey and straight up trippy. It's pretty safe to say that without Hendrix's prefixed obsession with the Uni-Vibe, it probably wouldn't be very much on any guitarist's radar or pedalboards today. I for one am incredibly grateful for his obsession for the Uni-Vibe and of course his never ending quest (no matter how short it was) to find NEW sounds. That's the truest irony of the Uni-Vibe as a voice in modern music on the guitar. It's essentially a 'vintage' effect --- but I'll be a monkey's uncle if I'm not inspired every single time I hear that incredible pitch and tone warble, glassy and ALIVE!

That brings me back to the offering from the folks over at Shin-Ei, who have not only resurrected the Uni-Vibe, but the Shin-Ei name itself. Here's a bit from the company:

About Us

Over fifty years ago, Shin-ei® began as a Japanese based company manufacturing electronic devices for musicians and consumer use. Over the years they produced the Uni-Vibe, Special Fuzz, Uni-Fuzz, Psychedelic Machine and many other popular pedals and effects. 

Originally, the Uni-Vibe was first produced  in 1968 by "Honey Company Limited", a small Japanese company who closed its doors in 1969. Shin-ei assumed the reins and began producing the Uni-Vibe and other former "Honey" products well into the 1970's generally branding them as Shin-ei or Shin-ei/Companion.

In the 1960's and 70's, Shin-ei also produced many of their pedals and effects under private label brands such as "Jax", Companion, Shaftsbury, and Sekova to name a few.

In recent years, Shin-ei focused on producing industrial electronics and shut its doors after being acquired by a U.S. corporation.

In 2015, trademarks for the original Honey, Shin-ei and Companion brands were filed by Honey Shin-ei LLC with the sole intention of "carrying the flame" and bringing back to life the great products these wonderful companies produced back in the day. We are huge fans and didn't want their work to be forgotten over time.

The Japanese history and heritage of Honey, Shin-ei, and Companion is very important to us. Great care will be taken as we move forward to faithfully reproduce the vintage historic Honey/Shin-ei products and create exciting new ones as well.  

We are committed to producing products with the same spirit, dedication and creativity shown by the original Honey and Shin-ei design teams of the 1960's and 70's.

Here's a less traditional example of how I enjoy using the Vibe Bro.

Working in some new #univibe #tones with the incredible Shin Ei Vibe Bro. #xacttonesolutions #winforddrive making an appearance #shinei #vibebro

I've personally always loved the Uni-Vibe as a guitar effect. I love it's otherworldly sounds and undulating elements that hearken to another place that I've yet to explore --- inspiring me to create new and interesting sounds. The Vibe Bro is a welcome addition and while it could be thought of as only a 'vintage effect' and seen in the video above, a sound or effect is only limited to it's perspective. In fact, it's incredible for synth, keys and drum machine sounds -- adding an element of space and grit that you just can't find with a plug-in or typical effect.

I choose to see beyond what is typical and search for that which inspires me to keep going! It's the eternal quest for new sounds, new moments, new feelings --- FEELS!

It's safe to say that living in this age of remarkable technology, being able to use the benchmarks of our musical history and apply them creatively in present time yields incredibly exciting creations. Now, I'm off to go undulate in the deep and mysterious tones of what's left of this year 2016. Happy New Year, Gearheads!

Shin-Ei Vibe Bro right at home on my LA Sound Design recording board. This picture is from a recent Brian Buckley Band tracking session at Grandmaster Recorders in Los Angeles, CA.

Ibanez Mostortion MT10

Find an original Ibanez Mostortion MT10 if your life depends on it. An incredible find in the wild as it's no longer made and sounds unreal -- unlike any other boost or drive on the guitar effects market. Partly, due in fact that Ibanez used IC Chips that are no longer made and the pedal is 20 years old. You can find them on many a Nashville touring and session board for a reason.

I tend to prefer overdrives that offer a unique feel that emphasizes what I'm doing at the guitar's end. Everything I choose whether it be on a studio pedalboard system or a live/touring system, I'm always looking for the best tool to emphasize what I'm playing and how I'm playing. The MT10 Mostortion is exactly that. I use two actually, one on my live pedalboard and one on my studio board. They're both rehoused as the originals are not true bypass and between the jacks, pots etc... they could use a bit of beefing up to live a longer life. I mainly prefer them being rehoused as one may find out that having a few non true bypass pedals can really alter your bypassed tone as well as how other pedals in your chain sound... which is an entirely different can of worms I'll discuss further in another Gearheads post! 

You might be wondering how I use these rare birds in both situations... you also might not, but I'll be happy to tell you! Shortest answer is two ways.

My studio board I use the MT10 as a medium, bold yet with pleasing compression drive tone. The Thru-Tone version does sound different from the XTS version. Another future post! I find that this particular version really cuts well in a recorded piece of music. In other words it tracks well, which is why I use it for sessions. The 'right' amount of presence mixed with mid range content and compression makes it really pop in a track.

On my live board I use the XTS version as an extension of other pedals, specifically the Maxon SD-9. I use it after the SD-9 as a sort of EQ/midrange boost. Not boosting the volume necessarily, but more along adding more mids, more presence more of what you need in a moment of solos, or crazier parts where you need to jump above the band in a live mix but not change the inherent character of the initial tone. This is something that's very important to me. In fact my live board is basically based around the Maxon SD-9. I use other pedals either boost it before or after it for more tonal options. Look forward to a post on the SD-9 as well. 

So, there you have it! Now go and scour Reverb.com & Ebay and get yourself one!

Ibanez MT10 Mostortion rehoused by XTS Xact Tone Solutions. Live LA Sound Design pedalboard

Ibanez MT10 Mostortion rehoused by Thru-Tone in Nashville, which lives on my studio LA Sound Design pedalboard