Music + Technology = Pete Lacis

A while back I had the opportunity to attend Bruce Egnater’s amp building seminar at his shop in Berkley, Michigan.  During this class we learned about the basics of amp building and were taken through the step-by-step process of assembling our own amp – a Mojo Tone JTM45 kit who’s circuit was tweaked by Bruce Egnater to mirror his own design from his modular series (according to Jeff Hilligan its the “3″ in the EG 3/4 module with more gain) .  Premier Guitar Magazine was on hand to cover the event and I was featured in this video demonstrating the capabilities of the amp we had constructed.

As much as I enjoyed the experience, once I got the amp home I had difficulty incorporating its tones into my sound and playing style.  As described by the folks at Egnater, the EG 3/4….

Here in our worldwide headquarters, we asked what would happen if we were to take the SL2 and smooth it out a bit for soloing. We darkened it up a bit, and added a touch of mid range emphasis, and created what is the perfect sound for mic’ing through a p.a. system (which is more and more common for you guys that gig regularly).

Channels A and B were taken from the acclaimed Egnater TOL amplifiers and act as great rhythm and lead channels for guys who favor a lead tone that is a little smokier.

Here’s an example of what the stock Egnater Seminar Head sounds like:

Stock Egnater Seminar Head

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Since I found this voicing to be too compressed, dark and saggy for my tastes, the amp sat for some time as the backup that never got played.  Fast forward about a year or so and I became aware that David Friedman of Racksystems was offering his services to mod these amps.  After hearing some pretty amazing clips of his “Brown Eye” and “Hairy Brown Eye” mods on a number of sites and speaking with David at length about what type of sound I was looking for (tight, focused, punchy yet warm), I knew I had to have my Egnater seminar head modded to give it new life.  After all, David is Eddie Van Halen’s rig guru so I knew the amp would be in good hands.

As my #1 amp for the last few years has been John Suhr’s OD100 Classic Plus (under the Custom Audio Amplifiers moniker), I though it would be great to compare these two amps so that folks to hear some of the differences and see what they do well.

Guitar used was a Gibson Les Paul VOS “G” ‘60 with stock Burstbucker pickups but upgraded with the RS Guitarworks vintage upgrade kit.  Cab was a CAA 1×12 loaded with an Eminence Governor.  Mic was a Shure 57.  I/O was a MOTU 896.  DAW is Ableton Live 8.  I switched between the amps using a Custom Audio Electronics Amp selector.

CAA OD100 Classic Plus Ch 2

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

CAA OD100 Classic Plus Ch 2 Boosted

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Friedman Modified Egnater Seminar Head – Brown Eye – Gain at 5

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Friedman Modified Egnater Seminar Head – Brown Eye – Gain at 10

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Friedman Modified Egnater Seminar Head – Hairy Brown Eye – Gain at 5

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Friedman Modified Egnater Seminar Head – Hairy Brown Eye – Gain at 7

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Friedman Modified Egnater Seminar Head – Hairy Brown Eye – Gain at 10

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

amplifiers, audio clips, guitar, musical instruments Brown Eye, clips, comparison, custom audio amplifiers, David Friedman, egnater, Hairy Brown Eye, od100 classic +, od100 classic plus +, suhr

This is the sort of story that we gearheads just love.  Being that I was heavily influence by the music of Phish and its guitarist Trey Anastasio in the 90’s, I became a big fan of hollow body guitars used in conjunction with a compressor pedal to achieve loud and clear sustain with a clean, undistorted tone.  Well in the last few years of Phish’s existence, Trey ditched his long-used compressor and his tone took on a darker, edgier and grungier sound which was far removed from its pristine and singing mid-90’s hey-day.

As fate would have it, I was not alone is my disdain for Trey’s tone of late.  The folks over at phantasytour.com had been discussing the demise of Trey’s tone and the discussion heated up once the band announced that it would be reforming for some shows this spring.  The conversation got to Trey via his long-time songwriter partner and lyricist Tom Marshall who had stumbled up these discussions.  The following is an excerpt from Tom Marshall’s conversation with Trey Anastasio:

I spent the last two days and last night in New York writing three cool songs with Red. In direct response to msharky’s request, I asked Trey what the deal is with this compressor stuff?.I explained the PT threads requesting that he bring back the compressor. He was very surprised that I was asking him this, because I’m not really a ‘tech’ guy…you know? I also don’t listen too much to old shows, and so the “tone change” was lost on me. I like writing new songs, and I don’t focus too much on the past. First i must explain that he found it funny that I brought it up, because he had been thinking the EXACT SAME THING: Phish is coming back, maybe the Ross should also come back. He’s thinking of the Mesa and possibly the cabinets too — but he does like that little fender.

Basically, he used the compressor differently than people normally do — often people will place it early in the effects chain to smooth the sound going into the other effects. Trey did it backwards, and had the Ross last — AFTER his two tube screamers. The Ross was always on. Always. His signature Squirming Coil “playable sustain” was the result of full volume pedal and both screamers on and pumping that signal into the Ross.

Me: and so you got rid of it?

Trey: I started playing without it after Phish and found that I could get an “edgier” sound that I can’t get with it.

Me: so it’s gone? or just off?

Trey: gone

Me: forever?

Trey: no, I’ve been thinking of bringing it back for a while now…if i can find it!

Well with the news that Trey would consider returning to his old sound if he could find his old compressor, the People for a Compressed Trey banded together to procure one for him!  The future just got a lot smoother!

[Show as slideshow]

 

Sources: Relix, Rolling Stone, Phantasy Tour, Tom Marshall’s Picassa Album

amplifiers, guitar, music, musical instruments, musician compressor, phish, ross compressor, tone, trey anastasio

Through a relationship I’ve built over at the Huge Racks Inc Forum, I was asked to participate in a pilot program to help test out and launch the new Cool Cat! pedals from Danelectro.

Pedals tested: Vibe, Fuzz and Metal II Danelectro Cool Cat!

In attempt to keeps things equal, I played each pedal via a Suhr Classic (alder body, Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, Suhr V60LP single coil pickups and Suhr SSC system) through a Custom Audio Amplifiers (CAA) OD100 Classic Plus. Cabs are CAA 1×12’s with Eminence Governors and I mic’d one of the cabs with a SM57. There are two clips for each pedal: one through the clean channel of the amp and one through the overdrive channel. Each clips begins with an un-effected riff for two bars and then alternates between effected and un-effected each two bars after that. Some clips have a little extra “stuff” going on at the end to demo the pedals a little further.

Danelectro Cool Cat Vibe – Clean

Danelectro Cool Cat Vibe – Dirty

Danelectro Cool Cat Fuzz – Clean

Danelectro Cool Cat Fuzz – Dirty

Danelectro Cool Cat Metal II – Clean

Danelectro Cool Cat Metal II – Dirty

Out of the three pedals, I dug the vibe pedal the most. That said, it had a rather pronounced (or perceived) volume boost when the pedal was engaged. It was the only pedal I tested that does not have a volume control (only mix).

Being that these pedals were true-bypass and of solid construction, I’d say that they would make a solid addition to any pedalboard. I’m certainly interested in checking out more of their product line. So far, so good.

amplifiers, audio clips, musical instruments alder, audio clips, Cool Cat!, Danelectro, fuzz, Metal II, pedal, SSC, stopbox, suhr, v60lp, vibe

This past weekend I had the priveledge to attend the Egnater amp building seminar outside of Detroit, MI. It was an amazing experience to build my own JTM 45 – inspired amp, let alone to learn about all of the theory behind how and why these things work. I was amazed at seemingly how few of the amp’s components actually let to it sounding like a Marshall, Fender, Vox, etc. The amp sounds great as is, but I’m psyched to get back under the hood and start some tweaking!

In related news, Premier Guitar Magazine’s Joe Coffey was in attendance to participate and document the class. Afterward he asked be to demo my completed amp (with my Suhr Standard). I just learned that the magazine decided to put that video up as a feature on their site! Check it out:

amplifiers, audio clips, music, musical instruments, pete lacis, technology amp building class, egnater, pete lacis, premier guitar magazine, suhr

While I’m still combing through all the footage, I’ve compiled a playlist on YouTube of some of my favorite Suhr Reb Beach moments from the show (c0nvention at Tone Merchants party).

amplifiers, music, musical instruments, musician NAMM, playlist, reb beach, suhr, tone merchants, YouTube

Highlights:

• Suhr Modern – new 24 fret model with new body shape, neck joint and neck carve – will own one!
• Suhr Badger 40 watt – with EL34’s  -  different “flavor” of the original badger – less chime, more midrange snarl – has a solid state rectifier (original Badger has tube recifier)
• Custom Audio Amplifiers – OD100 Standard and OD100 SE Plus – now I understand what all the fuss is about regarding the current version of the standard.  The SE Plus is certainly an improvement over the SE, put I think that the current standard suits my tastes better.  Still love my OD100 Classic Plus
• Scott Henderson playing in the Suhr sound booth.  That was a  treat!  Scott’s a cool, wacky dude.  He brought his Suhr SL100 and played that and a Maxon overdrive to get his sound.
• Reb Beach playing in the Suhr Booth.  He actually wound up using Scott Henderson’s amp for his demo.  Wild hearing those two players through exactly the same gear!  No surprises though in that Scott sounded like Scott and Reb sounded like Reb.
• Enjoyed hanging with John, Steve, Ed, Mike, Chris, Josh and Jarod.  These guys are up to something good.
• Soloway Swan – hung with Jim Soloway and got to play one of his Swan guitars at the Fargen booth.  Really cool long-scale guitar and great sounding amps.
• Tomo Fujita playing at the Fuchs booth.  Always a treat to see Tomo.  Need to spend more time at that both on Friday.
• Tim Pierce at the Anderson Guitarworks booth. In speaking with Tim, he revealed the fact that he owns 60 guitars and really doesn’t know what woods are in which guitars.  He doesn’t even think about that.  He just grabs some guitars when he’s working on a project and sees what works.  That surprised me!
• Anderson has a new “thicker” version of the Atom.  Looked beautiful.  Hope to play it tomorrow.
• Alleva Copolla Guitars – Jimmy Copolla has a beautiful display of his fine craftsmanship.  Expect to do a video interview with him tomorrow as well.  His bass pickups are sick.
• Diamond Amplification – never tried the amps but the girls were ridiculous.
• Paul Reed Smith – saw David Grissom, the DGT and the new McCarty II.  Not quite sure that its all about (PRS booth not demo friendly).  Their product line appeared somewhat scaled back.  Did get to hear a bit of Johnny Hiland.  That guy smokes!
• Marshall Randy Rhodes limited edition amp.  Looks cool, never got to hear it.
• Ernie Ball Music Man – nice representation of existing line.  Nothing new other than nice display of Family Reserve guitars.
• Saw lots of seemingly foreign vendors.  Most looked unhappy that their booths were empty.  Saw one guy asleep in his booth – his product was a PA speaker that you could slide a pull-out car radio into.  I think that product might be about a decade too late.
• Tone Merchants showcase and jam – Jose Decastro, Robert Marcello, Guthrie Govan and Reb Beach.  Each were amazing in their own right.  Jam with all the above plus Nick Sterling was total fun!  Got to hang with all of them – good times!

I have an extensive amount of video from the day and the Tone Merchants show that I’ll edit an post once I’m back in the office.

amplifiers, music, musical instruments blog, coverage, guthrie govan, january 17, NAMM, NAMM show, pete lacis, reb beach, suhr, suhr guitars, tone merchants

After about a month in the shop, I received my newly modded Custom Audio Amplifiers OD100 Classic Plus (+). This is actually the third time this amp has been modded (was originally an OD100 Standard, then SE, now Classic Plus).

My first impressions on this amp are as follows: the character of the gain is still 100% Suhr. It lives in the same family as the SE version of the OD100, however through the conversion to the plexi transformer and the EL34’s some things have really changed.

Normally I would associate sustain with compression. The SE was pretty compressed, but only in boost mode, IMO. The CAA Classic Plus is a much easier to play amp. Notes just seem to sustain without sounding compressed. Everything just oozes out of this amp while still retaining the sound of the guitar/pickup. That’s how John’s described the amp and that’s why I went with this version. So far, I’m totally digging the change.

Special note should be mentioned about the DEPTH and FEEBACK controls. The tonal shaping that can happen as a result of these additions is really something else. If you want to have that “rounded” Dumble style tone, you can roll off the Feedback entirely.

One other thing that should be mentioned is that this is the first of the OD100 series where I feel the amp works equally well for single coils and humbuckers. That, to me, is one of the best parts of this amp. I just works!

Here’s a little sample of what the amp sounds like:

http://www.petelacis.com/clips/od100classicplus.mp3

Custom Audio Amplification OD100 Classic Plus through CAA 1×12 Eminence Governor mic’d with a SM57 just off center. Guitar is a stock Gibson Les Paul VOS 1960.

amplifiers, audio clips, musical instruments, pete lacis, technology amp mods, caa, classic rock, custom audio amplifiers, dumble, les paul, od100 classic plus +, suhr, tone