Music + Technology = Pete Lacis

A while back I wrote this post concerning the differences between alder and swamp ash when used in a strat-style guitar and what tones/genres of music those combinations suited best. I originally wrote that post to satisfy my own curiosity, but also to share with others and participate in discussion. Three years later it is still the most searched topic on this site and continues to bring in a steady stream of traffic. Apparently I’m not the only one curious about these things….

Since I wrote the original post, I realized that I was missing a big chunk of the puzzle: how the wood the neck and fingerboard were made from influence the tone of the instrument. I realized the only way to truly see this was by comparing the two most popular neck wood combinations for a strat-style guitar (maple neck with rosewood fingerboard and one piece maple neck & fingerboard) on the same guitar.

To conduct this comparison I used two Suhr Classic guitars with identical electronics (V60LP pickups and the Silent Single Coil system). One was alder with a one piece maple neck and the other, swamp ash with a maple neck and Brazilian rosewood fingerboard. I recorded both clean and dirty passages utilizing every pickup combination on each guitar, then swapped the necks and repeated the process.

note: swapping necks on a Suhr guitar will void your warranty if the factory doesn’t perform the work.

What follows below are the audio clips organized by pickup position so that you can  compare the sounds of the different wood combinations within the same context.

NECK POSITION – CLEAN TONES

Alder Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Alder Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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Swamp Ash Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Swam Ash Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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NECK POSITION – DIRTY TONES

Alder Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Alder Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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Swamp Ash Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Swam Ash Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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NECK + MIDDLE POSITION – CLEAN TONES

Alder Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Alder Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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Swamp Ash Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Swam Ash Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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NECK + MIDDLE POSITION – DIRTY TONES

Alder Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Alder Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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Swamp Ash Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Swam Ash Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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MIDDLE POSITION – CLEAN TONES

Alder Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Alder Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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Swamp Ash Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Swam Ash Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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MIDDLE POSITION – DIRTY TONES

Alder Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Alder Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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Swamp Ash Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Swam Ash Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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MIDDLE + BRIDGE POSITION – CLEAN TONES

Alder Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Alder Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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Swamp Ash Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Swam Ash Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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MIDDLE + BRIDGE POSITION – DIRTY TONES

Alder Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Alder Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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Swamp Ash Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Swam Ash Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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BRIDGE POSITION – CLEAN TONES

Alder Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Alder Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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Swamp Ash Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Swam Ash Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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BRIDGE POSITION – DIRTY TONES

Alder Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Alder Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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Swamp Ash Body – Once Piece Maple Neck

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Swam Ash Body – Maple Neck with Brazilian Rosewood Fingerboard

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audio clips, guitar, musical instruments alder, comparison, maple, neck swap, rosewood, strat, stratocaster, suhr, swamp ash, v60lp

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

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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

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CAA OD100 Classic Plus Ch 2 Boosted

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

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

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

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

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

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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

Whenever I have the opportunity to play a new guitar, I opt to bring one of my own along to serve as a point of reference.  This held true earlier this week as I had the opportunity to play the new EVH Wolfgang and compare it to a few other guitars that, based on their specs, should  handle the “same chores.”

Ernie Ball Muisc Man EVH
- from the 1st run of the originals
- Has a brass block on the floyd

Suhr Standard
- basswood body, maple top, one piece maple neck
- DSH – V60lp – DSV pickups, VG300 bridge

Suhr Modern
- basswood body, maple top, maple neck & fingerboard
- Suhr Aldrich pickups, Gotoh Floyd

FYI – the Suhr Standard is my guitar, while the other Suhr Modern and the 1st run Ernie Ball Music Man EVH model belonged to a friend. Everything was played through a 5150 III head & cab.

According to my ears….

The new EVH sounds bigger (more lows and highs) whereas the original EBMM EVH sounds thicker in the mids. The EVH Wolfgang is also punchier sounding and has more overall low-end. If you’ve caught any of the clips or heard any bootlegs of Eddie from the most recent tour, the new EVH Wolfgang (especially through ch 3 on the 5150 III) IS that sound.

The neck on the EVH Wolfgang is much slimmer and flatter than the EBMM. I would consider it more a Charvel type of neck as opposed to any Ibanez comparisons that some have mentioned (I just don’t see that). To that point, my favorite neck shape is an even C medium with a compound radius (10-14) and I was much more comfortable on the new EVH Wolfgang than on the old EBMM EVH.

As far a quality is concerned, the EVH Wolfgang felt like a really nice guitar. It felt like a very solid construction and played effortlessly. The action was insanely low and the stainless steel frets really add to the ease of playability. A real plus in my book.

As these guitars were not available for sale yet (at the time of this demo), we didn’t break into the case candy for the trem arm, so the Floyd wasn’t put to a full out test. We were also not able to verify if these guitar were sporting brass blocks or not. I would tend to think not.

Compared to the basswood Suhrs, I honestly say that the EVH Wolfgang is right up their in tone. The pickups are clearly high output, but retain a great amount of clarity….especially compared to the old EBMM. They are almost hi-fi by comparison. While the EBMM would certainly nail the Van Halen sound, the Wolfgang felt much more versatile…..it did the Van Halen thing for sure, but also did a lot more.

This all said, I was immediately more comfortable on the Suhrs than on either of the EVH guitars, but that’s because the Suhrs sported necks much more similar to what I normally favor (even C medium types).

In the end, I’d say the EVH Wolfgang is a great guitar for Van Halen music and more. Is it worth the money? Based on quality of construction, playability and tonality, yes it feels like a $3,000 guitar should. But as I mentioned earlier in this thread my tastes are suited to different neck styles and I’m not huge on putting down that kind of coin if I can’t pick out all the specs.

But don’t take my word for it, check one out for yourself.

guitar, musical instruments ebmm evh, ernie ball music man evh, evh wolfgang, suhr

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

During the mid 90′s when it wasn’t cool to be good at guitar, I eschewed the grundge movement and threw myself into the world of jazz. Being a big fan of “Birth of the Cool” music up through the heavy, funky grooves of Medeski Martin & Wood, I decided to focus my efforts on playing bass with my organ trio (sometimes quartet and quintet), Thique. It wasn’t long before I discovered the power of the bass in music, and the bassist among musicians. Truly, the bassist has the power to subvertly (or overtly for that matter) influence the entire rest of the band through changes in groove, rhythm or harmonic structure. I was truly in awe of this awesome responsibility.

Fast forward more than 10 years later, I found myself looking to influence the music and the musicians I play with in a new way. I wanted a way to extend the range of what I was doing without playing a completely different instrument. I like the way guitar can influence harmony and rhythm. But I wanted a little of that subversion back. Enter the seven string guitar.

Steve Vai can be thanked for bringing the seven string solidbody (seven string guitars archtop hollowbodies have been popular with jazz guitarists for many years) to the masses in the early nineties via his solo album “Passion & Warfare” along with Whitesnake’s “Slip of the Tongue” (the latter gig which he took to fund and promote the prior). The seven string solidbody then experienced a renaissance in the late 90′s/early 2000′s when nu-metal bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit. However, because of its extended range and ability to be significantly down-tuned plus the addition of more modern amplification options with solid state rectifiers, most seven strings found their way into metal, nu-metal, nu-nu-meteal, etc.

Since the music I enjoy and play is more of an extension of jam bands (fusion of rock, funk, jazz, electronica, etc), I thought it would be really cool to bring the new sonic capabilities of the seven string to that sound…..to the best of my knowledge it hasn’t been done before. Only problem was most seven strings were designed for extreme metal. That certainly wasn’t going to do.

So enter January 2008. At the NAMM Tone Merchants party I had an opportunity to play a seven string Vigier through a Cornford MK50 II. Wow! What a sound! OK, now I confirmed that I wanted to explore this further. Then, after Suhr Guitars debuted their new “Modern” 24 fret model, there was talk that they might offer a seven string model. Being a fan of Suhr’s work, I was very excited about the prospects. However, that hope was short-lived as the Suhr guys soon found themselves overwhelmed with demand for their new products that had been developed, let alone any items that they might develop. So my dream of a seven string Suhr would have to wait for some time.

Based on my own tonal explorations, I knew I wanted a guitar with a mahogany body, mahogany neck, maple top and Brazilian rosewood fingerboard. The trouble was finding one. There weren’t any mass-produced models that met my needs. Ibanez is probably the most well know main stream seven string manufacturer, but there guitars always had maple necks and I can’t say enough about how much I dislike the sound of a maple neck on a mahogany body. That, and well, I’ve never cared for Ibanezes. I soon realized I would have to go boutique if I wanted anything that was of quality and with the woods that I wanted. I new Gene Baker make a few sevens years ago, but his old company was since out of business and his new pursuits were focusing on more “conservative” models. Luckily I’ve been following the muses of Matte Henderson for some time (extreme seven string enthusiast). I’ve kept in touch with him over time in case he ever wanted to sell any of his custom seven string beauties and he had one for sale…..but it was korina. I learned not too long ago (through a couple of Gene Baker BX3′s) that I greatly preferred the tonal qualities of mahogany over korina…..though they are within the same ballpark. However that interaction brought to mind another Baker seven string that I became aware of at least a year earlier.

My friend Dave Kaplowitz had acquired a fine Baker B1 7 from Joe Gamble (in of all places, about ten miles from where I live in Colorado). As fate would have it, Dave wasn’t really playing the Baker and a deal was struck to bring her back to CO.

While I would have preferred a trem and 25.5″ scale length, I’m more than happy with the quality, sound and playability of this 25″ fixed bridge Baker B1 7. I’m going to experiment with new pickups (the stock Dimarzio Airbuckers are way too dark and hot for my tastes) and some different string gauges (the low A is an .080!), but all in all, I’m very excited about the prospects of developing some new sounds with this guitar. Look out jamband scene of Colorado! This is not Jerry Garcia’s kind of guitar!

music, musical instruments, musician, pete lacis b1 7, baker, Colorado, jamband, matte henderson, music, seven string, suhr

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.

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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

Being totally obsessed with how to make certain sounds (i.e. tone and timbre), for as long as I’ve been playing guitar I’ve been curious about which woods lend themselves to which sounds and tones. A common question that comes up is which is more preferable, alder or swamp ash?

The answer to this depends on what style of music you play and what kind of feel you’re going for. When compared with the exact same electronics (Suhr V60LP single coil pickups and the Suhr Silent Single Coil system) there’s plenty of difference in the tone of the two. The alder is all mids whereas the swamp ash is all low’s and highs. Alder cuts through the mix best whereas nothing has spank and twang like swamp ash. I would say that alder is a little more common for rock and blues (especially), and that swamp ash is more common in country and funk. To that point, if you want an even, round, warm and fat sound, alder is the choice. If you want something with more characteristic bite, growl and sizzle, then swamp ash is a great way to go. I LOVE the sound of the bridge pickup on my Suhr Swamp Ash Classic when using low to medium gain sounds on my Suhr Badger to go for a Robben Ford “Chevrolet” kind of thing. Nasty!

To help further this discussion I have recorded a short clip of each guitar, playing the same riff through each pickups configuration. All things are equal (amp settings, mic placement, etc). Hopefully this will help give a better idea about some of these wood combinations and their resultant effect on tone.

SUHR ALDER CLASSIC – ONE PIECE MAPLE NECK – V60LP PICKUPS

SUHR SWAMP ASH CLASSIC – MAPLE NECK – BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD FINGERBOARD – V60LP PICKUPS

audio clips alder, strat, suhr, swamp ash