Without pickups, electric guitars won’t make a sound, but do most of us guitar enthusiasts know the origins of this iconic invention?
By: Ringo Bones
The electric guitar pickup has been around for quite some time now that – believe it or not – it even was invented before the electric guitar! And unlike that fraudulent Wikipedia entry – reminiscent of that David Beckham being an 18th Century Chinese goalkeeper – single coil electric guitar pickups were not invented by Slash of Guns N’ Roses. The patent application for a single coil electric guitar pickup appeared as early as 1926. Although no particular person was credited in the single coil pickup’s invention; it was probably John Dopyera – a Slovak émigré to America and inventor of the dobro – probably invented the single coil electric guitar pickup. After a growing demand by Jazz guitarist at that time to find a six-string that can be played as loud as a grand piano, or loud enough not to be drowned out by a typical Big Band’s brass horn section. Which is kind of strange given that Richard Wagner would have been the most likely one to demand such an instrument to be played in his gigs at Bayreuth – or is it Gustav Mahler?
It wasn’t until the 1930s when single coil pickups began to be used in the musical instrument we now know today as the electric guitar. Rickenbacker International Corporation of Santa Ana, California – founded by Adolph Rickenbacher and George Beauchamp – were credited to be the first ones to make a production run of the electric guitar in 1932 utilizing those single coil pickups that were first patented in 1926. Although Les Paul was more famously known as the electric guitar’s inventor because he holds the most number of patents that enable us to play and appreciate more of the electric guitar. Like the multi track recording technique.
Single coil electric guitar pickups are renowned for their tonal sparkle and clarity, but are notorious for picking up noise signals - Particularly those from power transformers or motors operating from the 60-Hz alternating current. Worse still, single coil pickups propensity for stray EMF noise pickup gets worse when comes near to electrical devices reliant on “mangling” the 60-Hz sinusoidal waveform in order to supply them with a high-voltage DC - Like those Budweiser neon signs populating most club stage venues being lit up by solid-state multiplier circuits. Not to mention the 15.75-KHz horizontal sweep frequency generated by the fly-back transformer of CRT-based computer monitors - which makes single coil pickups buzz like a 10,000-strong hive of angry yellowjackets. More bad news to those recording their guitar tracks with a desktop PC-based hard disk recording system. All spell bad news to those who fell in love to the ping and shimmer of a vintage Fender Stratocaster.
Back in 1954, Seth E. Lover – a design engineer for both Fender and Gibson – designed what is now commonly known as the humbucking pick up. Humbucking pickups are composed of two single coil pickups connected in series and out-of-phase with each other. Or the end of winding terminal of one single coil pickup is connected to the end of winding terminal of another single coil pickup (or the start of winding terminal – whichever produces the loudest sound, better tonality, hum cancellation etc.). This pickup is simply a double-coil pickup interconnected so that the signals introduced by extraneous noise such as hum are cancelled out while retaining the signals introduced by vibrating strings. Although not perfect in canceling hum – though it is perfect for canceling that pesky 15.75-KHz horizontal sweep fly-back transformer noise of TV monitors – the performance in terms of signal-to-noise ratio improved significantly.
As a rule, single coil pickups are much louder than their humbucker counterparts. And although most – if not all – Fender Strats made from the late 1950s onwards has a dual-pickup setting where the reverse-wound / reverse-polarity middle pickup becomes a de facto humbucker pickup – with the requisite hum cancellation – by setting the switch to positions 2 and 4. It still can’t match the open tonality of the accompanying single coil pickups. Humbucking pickups produce a sound which most veteran guitarists describe as “phasoid” and has a midrange hump that can manifest itself as a honk when used with the requisite vintage tube-based amplification – not that there’s anything wrong with it though. Just ask those legions of Gibson Les Paul and Marshall Amplifier owners.
Fortunately, there had been advances in single coil pickup design since Seth E. Lover invented the humbucking pickup in 1954. Although most of it is primarily “tone-driven” not noise cancellation. Like those Lace Sensor pickups by Actodyne General Incorporated - which the company also holds patents for the US Patent # 4,809,578 with their Lace Micro-Matrix Comb technology. Made famous by the guitar legend Jeff Beck in his custom Fender Strat, Lace Sensors are revered by guitarists around the world as the Holy Grail of electric guitar single coil pickup technology - Although there are others who swear by Full-Frequency single coil pickups by Evans – which were made famous by Queensrÿche during the late 1980s and early 1990s. But for those who prefer “scientifically verifiable improvements”, they gravitate towards EMG pickups with their active electronics that prevents all of the harmful effects of external noise signals -although they are seen as anathema by those who grew up on vintage pickups sporting post-WW2 era Alnico magnets.
At present, electric guitar pickup designs that capitalize on hum and noise cancellation while retaining the vintage sound of Rock N’ Roll are touted as the most advanced pickups in the market today. Like the latest models of DiMarzio’s Virtual Vintage passive replacement pickups that uses transformer winding technology – probably from Nikola Tesla’s old notes – that damps noise signals while retaining that traditional Fender Stratocaster-style spank. But others still clung on to their real vintage pickups like those original Alnico magnet equipped Fender-style single coil pickups and P-90 pickups. Although none of today’s major electric guitar pickup manufacturers had offered solutions to minimize and eliminate noise coming from cellular phone / mobile phones and their transmitting towers (and Internet Modem noise?).
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Should We Be Using Op-Amps for Our Guitar Effects Fuzz Boxes
Although 99.9% of guitar effects / fuzz stomp boxes now use op-amp chips, if great tone is the goal, is it a question of should we be using op-amps instead of can?
By: Ringo Bones
If you are old – or rich - enough to experience the hi-fi wonders of the 1990s when 500 US dollar CD players began to sound as good as entry-level vinyl LP replay. Then it is more than likely that you heard the hype of the “tone enhancing” effects of premium-grade op-amp chips. After choosing to emulate my past experiments of using op-amp integrated circuit chips with audiophile credentials in guitar stomp boxes for ultimate tone. You could probably end up asking yourself should we – rather than can – be using op-amp based guitar stomp boxes? Before proceeding to the long-winded narration of my experiences with “boutique” op-amps, here’s a primer on what happens when an electric guitar is played.
Whenever you pluck the strings of your electric guitar or strum a chord, the guitar’s signal varies from a few millivolts to as high as 1 volt peak-to-peak depending upon how hard the strings are plucked or strummed or the kind of pick-up used. The electric guitar’s output signal when viewed on an oscilloscope is characterized by a sharp rise to a maximum value and then diminishes rapidly. This makes a tube-based electric guitar amplifier with a good vacuum tube pre-amp section or a fuzz box – i.e. distortion effects stomp box – a necessity if you want a pleasingly sustained tone from your electric guitar.
During the 1960s – when Jimi Hendrix and countless other guitarists – began experimenting with electric guitar effects boxes, most of these fuzz boxes were made with discrete small-signal transistors and germanium signal diodes. This provided those effect’s signature smooth tone and a long sustain compared to more recent op-amp chip based fuzz boxes. When the venerable 741 op-amp (LM741 op-amp and related variants) became available in 1966 after being made by most IC manufacturers, it was tried as an active amplifying device in guitar fuzz boxes to see how it compares to discrete small-signal transistors.
Sadly, many found out that the rate of decay is much faster than a conventional guitar fuzz box that uses discrete transistors. Op-amp based guitar fuzz boxes only became popular in the 1980s during the rise of high-decibel Heavy Metal music when the harsh sound of the op-amp based electric guitar effect fuzz box became de rigueur. Not to mention the silicon signal diodes that replaced the almost extinct germanium signal diodes only made the op-amp based fuzz boxes sound even harsher and Death Metal ready. Thus making the tonal versatility of a Marshall amp bristling with EL34 tubes really worth the very steep price premium.
By this time you could be asking yourself, if the “hi-fi world” can get away with using those gorgeously toned Electro-Harmonix reissued tubes, why can the “guitar world” benefit from using op-amps with audiophile credentials to improve the tone of their fuzz boxes? The short answer is music performance recordings, either from vinyl or CD (the two leading “state of the art” domestic mediums) has a vastly more complicated signal waveform in comparison to what a typical electric guitar produces no matter how beautifully played. Audiophile-grade JFET input op-amps like the AD845, LF356, or high slew rate types like the LM318 might be the cheapest way to make Iron Maiden or Veruca Salt sound as if they were playing right in your bedroom. But these premium grade op-amps don’t do squat – tone wise - when used in guitar fuzz boxes.
Audiophile-grade op-amps only shine when supplied with a well-regulated plus / minus 15 volts split power supply. You can’t tell the difference if you use them in place of your bog-standard LM741 found in your Hyper-Metal fuzz box being supplied by a 9-volt PP3 battery. And if you ever try to shoehorn a switching-mode power supply to power these audiophile-grade op-amps from a 9-volt PP3 in the hopes of a 12AX7 based preamplifier on the cheap. I tried it and it doesn’t work. Or it does play, but tone-wise you’re better off taking the all-tube route. An overwhelming number of fuzz boxes today are even using op-amps with much lower specs than the venerable LM741 op-amp. Good luck trying to find guitar stomp / fuzz boxes using high slew rate types like the LM318.
As it was in the 1960s as it is today, tube amps are still the best way to get the ultimate fuzz tone effects. If the contrary is true, how come I still see thirty-something housewives wearing a Lunachicks T-shirt hunched over their 1965 Fender Twin with soldering iron in one hand and a 6L6 tube in another? In truth, fuzz circuits do mirror the “quality hierarchy” found in the hi-fi world namely tubes are the best, followed by discrete transistors, and op-amps being the budget sector. Even though a skillful designer can still create great sounding gear using the right op-amp in the proper application.
By: Ringo Bones
If you are old – or rich - enough to experience the hi-fi wonders of the 1990s when 500 US dollar CD players began to sound as good as entry-level vinyl LP replay. Then it is more than likely that you heard the hype of the “tone enhancing” effects of premium-grade op-amp chips. After choosing to emulate my past experiments of using op-amp integrated circuit chips with audiophile credentials in guitar stomp boxes for ultimate tone. You could probably end up asking yourself should we – rather than can – be using op-amp based guitar stomp boxes? Before proceeding to the long-winded narration of my experiences with “boutique” op-amps, here’s a primer on what happens when an electric guitar is played.
Whenever you pluck the strings of your electric guitar or strum a chord, the guitar’s signal varies from a few millivolts to as high as 1 volt peak-to-peak depending upon how hard the strings are plucked or strummed or the kind of pick-up used. The electric guitar’s output signal when viewed on an oscilloscope is characterized by a sharp rise to a maximum value and then diminishes rapidly. This makes a tube-based electric guitar amplifier with a good vacuum tube pre-amp section or a fuzz box – i.e. distortion effects stomp box – a necessity if you want a pleasingly sustained tone from your electric guitar.
During the 1960s – when Jimi Hendrix and countless other guitarists – began experimenting with electric guitar effects boxes, most of these fuzz boxes were made with discrete small-signal transistors and germanium signal diodes. This provided those effect’s signature smooth tone and a long sustain compared to more recent op-amp chip based fuzz boxes. When the venerable 741 op-amp (LM741 op-amp and related variants) became available in 1966 after being made by most IC manufacturers, it was tried as an active amplifying device in guitar fuzz boxes to see how it compares to discrete small-signal transistors.
Sadly, many found out that the rate of decay is much faster than a conventional guitar fuzz box that uses discrete transistors. Op-amp based guitar fuzz boxes only became popular in the 1980s during the rise of high-decibel Heavy Metal music when the harsh sound of the op-amp based electric guitar effect fuzz box became de rigueur. Not to mention the silicon signal diodes that replaced the almost extinct germanium signal diodes only made the op-amp based fuzz boxes sound even harsher and Death Metal ready. Thus making the tonal versatility of a Marshall amp bristling with EL34 tubes really worth the very steep price premium.
By this time you could be asking yourself, if the “hi-fi world” can get away with using those gorgeously toned Electro-Harmonix reissued tubes, why can the “guitar world” benefit from using op-amps with audiophile credentials to improve the tone of their fuzz boxes? The short answer is music performance recordings, either from vinyl or CD (the two leading “state of the art” domestic mediums) has a vastly more complicated signal waveform in comparison to what a typical electric guitar produces no matter how beautifully played. Audiophile-grade JFET input op-amps like the AD845, LF356, or high slew rate types like the LM318 might be the cheapest way to make Iron Maiden or Veruca Salt sound as if they were playing right in your bedroom. But these premium grade op-amps don’t do squat – tone wise - when used in guitar fuzz boxes.
Audiophile-grade op-amps only shine when supplied with a well-regulated plus / minus 15 volts split power supply. You can’t tell the difference if you use them in place of your bog-standard LM741 found in your Hyper-Metal fuzz box being supplied by a 9-volt PP3 battery. And if you ever try to shoehorn a switching-mode power supply to power these audiophile-grade op-amps from a 9-volt PP3 in the hopes of a 12AX7 based preamplifier on the cheap. I tried it and it doesn’t work. Or it does play, but tone-wise you’re better off taking the all-tube route. An overwhelming number of fuzz boxes today are even using op-amps with much lower specs than the venerable LM741 op-amp. Good luck trying to find guitar stomp / fuzz boxes using high slew rate types like the LM318.
As it was in the 1960s as it is today, tube amps are still the best way to get the ultimate fuzz tone effects. If the contrary is true, how come I still see thirty-something housewives wearing a Lunachicks T-shirt hunched over their 1965 Fender Twin with soldering iron in one hand and a 6L6 tube in another? In truth, fuzz circuits do mirror the “quality hierarchy” found in the hi-fi world namely tubes are the best, followed by discrete transistors, and op-amps being the budget sector. Even though a skillful designer can still create great sounding gear using the right op-amp in the proper application.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Remembering Les Paul
Responsible for inventing half of the electric guitars used in contemporary rock and pop music for starters, try imagining the music industry without Les Paul?
By: Ringo Bones
2009 could be remembered as a very sad year for the music world’s icons. First, it was the untimely passing of the King of Pop back in June 26, then Les Paul – the inventor of the now iconic Gibson Les Paul – passed away last August 13 a week after his 94th birthday after succumbing to medical complications due to pneumonia. It would be very hard to imagine our contemporary music world without Les Paul because he invented the two very important things that made rock / pop music possible – i.e. solid-bodied electric guitar and multi-track recording.
Les Paul’s journey to fame and fortune is by no means easy. After inventing his now famed “The Log” which became the prototype of his now iconic solid-bodied Gibson Les Paul, it was first rejected after he offered his invention to the Gibson Guitar and Mandolin Company for mass production. But Gibson did succumb in the end to purchasing the manufacturing rights to Les Paul’s invention due to the increasing necessity of electric guitars that can be played loud without breaking into acoustic feedback.
Another of Les Paul’s invention that made our contemporary popular music possible is the multi-track recording without which laying down tracks would be a more expensive and time-consuming affair. Les Paul used to great effect the merits of multi-track recording when he and his wife – Mary Ford – began recording hits in the late 1940s that became million-selling records. Like the songs “How High the Moon”, “Vaya con Dios”, and “The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise”.
Les Paul also pioneered the two-handed playing technique, long before it was being popularized by Eddie Van Halen during the late 1970s. Which the now Fender-Stratocaster-with-Lace-Sensor-pick-ups-using Jeff Beck describes Les Paul’s guitar playing as not only lightning quick, but also musical as well. When I saw a then very rare early 1950s black and white footage of Les Paul doing a blisteringly fast two-handed playing as a somewhat pricey VHS recording back in the 1990s, it made me speechless as well. His archival footage really did show electric guitar playing techniques that in this day and age is still more advanced than the norm.
And let’s not forget the now iconic solid-bodied electric guitar named after the great inventor without which heavy metal rock music would hardly be viable. Imagine former Guns N’ Roses axeman Slash, Jimmi Page of Led Zeppelin, Brijitte West of NY Loose, and Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt without their trusty Gibson Les Pauls played through Marshall amplifiers? Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler “might have” invented the musical theory and the decibels behind Heavy Metal Music but Les Paul made the genre a technical possibility.
By: Ringo Bones
2009 could be remembered as a very sad year for the music world’s icons. First, it was the untimely passing of the King of Pop back in June 26, then Les Paul – the inventor of the now iconic Gibson Les Paul – passed away last August 13 a week after his 94th birthday after succumbing to medical complications due to pneumonia. It would be very hard to imagine our contemporary music world without Les Paul because he invented the two very important things that made rock / pop music possible – i.e. solid-bodied electric guitar and multi-track recording.
Les Paul’s journey to fame and fortune is by no means easy. After inventing his now famed “The Log” which became the prototype of his now iconic solid-bodied Gibson Les Paul, it was first rejected after he offered his invention to the Gibson Guitar and Mandolin Company for mass production. But Gibson did succumb in the end to purchasing the manufacturing rights to Les Paul’s invention due to the increasing necessity of electric guitars that can be played loud without breaking into acoustic feedback.
Another of Les Paul’s invention that made our contemporary popular music possible is the multi-track recording without which laying down tracks would be a more expensive and time-consuming affair. Les Paul used to great effect the merits of multi-track recording when he and his wife – Mary Ford – began recording hits in the late 1940s that became million-selling records. Like the songs “How High the Moon”, “Vaya con Dios”, and “The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise”.
Les Paul also pioneered the two-handed playing technique, long before it was being popularized by Eddie Van Halen during the late 1970s. Which the now Fender-Stratocaster-with-Lace-Sensor-pick-ups-using Jeff Beck describes Les Paul’s guitar playing as not only lightning quick, but also musical as well. When I saw a then very rare early 1950s black and white footage of Les Paul doing a blisteringly fast two-handed playing as a somewhat pricey VHS recording back in the 1990s, it made me speechless as well. His archival footage really did show electric guitar playing techniques that in this day and age is still more advanced than the norm.
And let’s not forget the now iconic solid-bodied electric guitar named after the great inventor without which heavy metal rock music would hardly be viable. Imagine former Guns N’ Roses axeman Slash, Jimmi Page of Led Zeppelin, Brijitte West of NY Loose, and Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt without their trusty Gibson Les Pauls played through Marshall amplifiers? Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler “might have” invented the musical theory and the decibels behind Heavy Metal Music but Les Paul made the genre a technical possibility.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Rusty Shaffer’s FretLight / SmartLight Guitars: Underdeveloped Technology?
Given Guitar Hero’s toy like guitar interface, should Rusty Shaffer make his own version of a Guitar Hero-like video game based on his FretLight / SmartLight technology?
By: Ringo Bones
After a friend referred to me a Guitar Hero related article that could arouse my interest being featured on a March 2009 edition Business Week magazine, I now begin to wonder the “what ifs” being implied by this feature story. The particular article is titled “Can Optek Turn Guitar Hero Fans Into Real Musicians?” by Peter Burrows. Though where the author of the article and I began to diverge in opinion is when the author suggested that the Optek Music Systems serve as a “gateway” for Guitar Hero video game enthusiasts into real musicians.
While my personal opinion suggests that it would be better if Optek Music Systems merge with the makers of Guitar Hero to “improve” the video game’s “cheesy” and “unrealistic” toy guitar interface. By using the one Optek Music Systems already sells called the FretLight / SmartLight series of guitars to make the video game more realistic to those people who actually play the guitar. Sadly, this won’t be a reality any time soon. But first let us review the origin of Optek Music Systems first since they are unfavorably eclipsed in popularity in comparison to the Guitar Hero video game.
Optek Music Systems was started by Rusty Shaffer in 1989, at about the same time I began to seriously hone my guitar playing skills in the hopes that I could be – in a year’s time – to have a proficiency comparable that of the greatest guitarists of the time. Like Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, etc. Even though I have scores of subscriptions to “tutorial” guitar magazines at the time – even those trendy Heavy Metal photo-mag publications – but I never ever saw an ad of Rusty Shaffer’s Optek Music Systems. Which is kind of unbelievable given that MIDI interface technology for electric guitars was beginning to be touted by the NAMM bigwigs as the “next best thing”.
The earliest Optek Music Systems ad that I ever saw was a June 1996 edition of Guitar Techniques magazine about a South Korea-manufactured FretLight pro priced around a thousand quid. It wasn’t until September 1997 that SmartLight adverts became a regular site in guitar magazines. And by then, despite of endorsement by established industry musicians like Neal Schon of Journey and scores of others, FretLight / SmartLight guitars are still an “esoteric” toy despite of the overwhelming popularity of electric guitar based musical genres during the 1990s – especially a form of Alternative Rock called Seattle Grunge.
Optek Music Systems’ SmartLight and the “older” FretLight guitars work via the use of a computer-controlled series of light-emitting diodes or LEDs strategically placed on the guitar’s frets. These LEDs light up on a particular / specific fret(s) and string(s) position(s) as dictated by the “programmed music / song” to show where one has to press his or her finger. These guitars usually come with a CD-ROM containing the programs of specific musical / works or songs that the “novice” guitarist can learn from. The greatest advantage of SmartLight / FretLight guitars is that they can be used as an ordinary electric guitar and can be played through any conventional electric guitar amplifier. Unlike that of the “toy guitar” interface / joystick used in guitar hero which can only be used as a pricey flyswatter when not connected to a video games console.
Should Rusty Shaffer team up with the makers of Guitar Hero to create a “premium” version for aspiring musicians, or should he create his own alternate version – i.e. a way better version – of the Guitar Hero video game? Well, given that Mr. Shaffer is already well-connected in the music biz, it could be much better if he set off on his own in creating his own video game-based guitar tutorial using his SmartLight and FretLight guitar technology. By going on it alone, Shaffer could exercise more “creative control”, and given his connections in the music industry, he would have very little trouble using copyrighted music works for use in his PC / video game-based guitar tutorial. If this succeeds, Rusty Shaffer could start making a Classical Music variant of his PC / video game-based tutorial via the use of violin and cello variants of his SmartLight and FretLight guitars. With titles like “How to Play Violin Like Itzhak Perlman” or tutorials that examine Yo Yo Ma’s technique on his rendition of J.S. Bach’s cello suites. The possibilities are endless.
By: Ringo Bones
After a friend referred to me a Guitar Hero related article that could arouse my interest being featured on a March 2009 edition Business Week magazine, I now begin to wonder the “what ifs” being implied by this feature story. The particular article is titled “Can Optek Turn Guitar Hero Fans Into Real Musicians?” by Peter Burrows. Though where the author of the article and I began to diverge in opinion is when the author suggested that the Optek Music Systems serve as a “gateway” for Guitar Hero video game enthusiasts into real musicians.
While my personal opinion suggests that it would be better if Optek Music Systems merge with the makers of Guitar Hero to “improve” the video game’s “cheesy” and “unrealistic” toy guitar interface. By using the one Optek Music Systems already sells called the FretLight / SmartLight series of guitars to make the video game more realistic to those people who actually play the guitar. Sadly, this won’t be a reality any time soon. But first let us review the origin of Optek Music Systems first since they are unfavorably eclipsed in popularity in comparison to the Guitar Hero video game.
Optek Music Systems was started by Rusty Shaffer in 1989, at about the same time I began to seriously hone my guitar playing skills in the hopes that I could be – in a year’s time – to have a proficiency comparable that of the greatest guitarists of the time. Like Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, etc. Even though I have scores of subscriptions to “tutorial” guitar magazines at the time – even those trendy Heavy Metal photo-mag publications – but I never ever saw an ad of Rusty Shaffer’s Optek Music Systems. Which is kind of unbelievable given that MIDI interface technology for electric guitars was beginning to be touted by the NAMM bigwigs as the “next best thing”.
The earliest Optek Music Systems ad that I ever saw was a June 1996 edition of Guitar Techniques magazine about a South Korea-manufactured FretLight pro priced around a thousand quid. It wasn’t until September 1997 that SmartLight adverts became a regular site in guitar magazines. And by then, despite of endorsement by established industry musicians like Neal Schon of Journey and scores of others, FretLight / SmartLight guitars are still an “esoteric” toy despite of the overwhelming popularity of electric guitar based musical genres during the 1990s – especially a form of Alternative Rock called Seattle Grunge.
Optek Music Systems’ SmartLight and the “older” FretLight guitars work via the use of a computer-controlled series of light-emitting diodes or LEDs strategically placed on the guitar’s frets. These LEDs light up on a particular / specific fret(s) and string(s) position(s) as dictated by the “programmed music / song” to show where one has to press his or her finger. These guitars usually come with a CD-ROM containing the programs of specific musical / works or songs that the “novice” guitarist can learn from. The greatest advantage of SmartLight / FretLight guitars is that they can be used as an ordinary electric guitar and can be played through any conventional electric guitar amplifier. Unlike that of the “toy guitar” interface / joystick used in guitar hero which can only be used as a pricey flyswatter when not connected to a video games console.
Should Rusty Shaffer team up with the makers of Guitar Hero to create a “premium” version for aspiring musicians, or should he create his own alternate version – i.e. a way better version – of the Guitar Hero video game? Well, given that Mr. Shaffer is already well-connected in the music biz, it could be much better if he set off on his own in creating his own video game-based guitar tutorial using his SmartLight and FretLight guitar technology. By going on it alone, Shaffer could exercise more “creative control”, and given his connections in the music industry, he would have very little trouble using copyrighted music works for use in his PC / video game-based guitar tutorial. If this succeeds, Rusty Shaffer could start making a Classical Music variant of his PC / video game-based tutorial via the use of violin and cello variants of his SmartLight and FretLight guitars. With titles like “How to Play Violin Like Itzhak Perlman” or tutorials that examine Yo Yo Ma’s technique on his rendition of J.S. Bach’s cello suites. The possibilities are endless.
Ways to Improve the Sound of Your Vacuum Tube-Based Electric Guitar Amplifier
Given that these amps use active components that pre-date the invention of solid-state electronics, is it still feasible to tweak our tube-based electric guitar workhorses for better sound?
By: Ringo Bones
Like it or not, tube-based electric guitar amplifiers are here to stay because high-speed and wide-bandwidth power transistors touted to have better power efficiency and “sound” than their vacuum tube / valve counterparts often have an average production life-span of two weeks. Especially when declared obsolete less than a month after being featured in “trendy” electronics periodicals – if you believe their press coverage story. Maybe those non-ferric bodied power transistors are relegated to stealth aircraft seeing RADAR use for the military?
If the corporate world of solid –state technology doesn’t give a damn to us electric guitar enthusiasts, then maybe these tips of upgrading your trusty-but-rusty tube-based electric guitar amplifier will at least add another 50 years of enjoyment. If you possess the requisite knowledge of the science (and art) of thermionic circuitry, then the following suggested tweaks could prove very valuable.
Going Triode – No ifs or buts, this tweak easily transforms the tone of any push-pull type electric guitar amplifier into something that sounds closer to a single-ended Black Face-era Fender Champ. 6L6 Beam tetrode-type tubes and EL34 pentode-type tubes that constitute the majority of push-pull output electric guitar amps can easily be converted into triode mode by strapping the screen grid of every output tube to their corresponding plate – if your amp uses multiple pairs of output tubes. This method also works with pentode-type tubes. Electric guitar amplifiers manufactured during the late 1980s to mid 1990s often feature a triode / pentode (beam tetrode) selector switch that allows you to switch between operating modes. But you should take precautions on both types in avoiding parasitic oscillation – i.e. using grid stoppers. The advantage of going triode includes lowering of the output impedance resulting in the amplifier sounding more dynamic and musical – i.e. gorgeous harmonics and tone. The disadvantages are the output power is usually divided in half, and the “spongy” tone will not be the liking to those “Heavy Metal Guitarists” weaned on full pentode / tetrode volume.
Use High-Mu Output Tubes – If you have grown fond of the “conventional” 12AX7 or ECC83 double-triode preamplifier tube phase-splitter stage of your electric guitar amplifier, then using high-mu output tubes has the advantage of retaining your stock preamplifier stage since high-mu tubes are so easy to drive. The high frequencies would improve and you now have the advantage of lowering the negative feedback without your preamplifier stage going dull (high-frequency roll-off). And even if the output impedance increases a little, your guitar amp’s musicality also increases. The problem is high-mu tubes require a higher power supply voltage or H.T. than your standard 440volts DC, so power supply circuits and the output transformer needs to be redesigned to handle the higher power supply voltage of high-mu tubes – usually 1,500volts DC - or the speakers will go ballistic. Those don’t come cheap you know. The benefit of having a good tone via this route usually outweighs the hardship of an almost complete guitar amp overhaul.
Using Beefier Tube Preamplifier Stages – Those 12AX7 and ECC83 tubes used in “conventional” double-triode phase-splitters are not exactly designed to drive banks of pentode or beam tetrode power output tubes. Not to mention that conventional double-triode phase-splitter has an inherent problem of high input capacitance caused by the Miller Effect. This causes high-frequency loading on the input tube and reduces bandwidth. Making it very difficult to use appreciable amounts of negative feedback without instability due to the phase shifts incurred, and negative feedback is “somewhat” of a necessity with “modern” pentode and beam tetrode output power tubes. Beefier preamplifier tubes like the 4-watt anode dissipation 5687 preamp tube, which can be used as an "improved” input tube. So does a 6AU6 low-noise R.F. pentode because it can maintain stability when used in a “modern” tube amp design with appreciable amounts of negative feedback. Or a dedicated phase-splitter tube, like the ECF80 triode-pentode tube. The problem with these types of tubes is that preamplifier circuits using these designs that are already relegated into the “public domain” are few and far between. For example, your friend from college will not be willing to take it likely that you are making millions of dollars from your friend’s vacuum tube preamplifier designs that he formulated during the 1990s - Especially when your friend from college is currently one of the millions of victims of the on-going subprime mortgage crisis. Lastly, using beefy preamplifier tubes might sound great for domestic hi-fi tube-based amplifiers, but in electric guitar amplifier applications, they tend to make the guitar amp sound “dry”. Like those hard-sounding Carlsbro transistor-based guitar amplifiers that became widely available during the early 1990s.
So there you have it - A few ways that you can tweak the sound of your electric guitar amplifier. If you have other ideas that I haven’t discussed here, please feel free to drop me a line.
By: Ringo Bones
Like it or not, tube-based electric guitar amplifiers are here to stay because high-speed and wide-bandwidth power transistors touted to have better power efficiency and “sound” than their vacuum tube / valve counterparts often have an average production life-span of two weeks. Especially when declared obsolete less than a month after being featured in “trendy” electronics periodicals – if you believe their press coverage story. Maybe those non-ferric bodied power transistors are relegated to stealth aircraft seeing RADAR use for the military?
If the corporate world of solid –state technology doesn’t give a damn to us electric guitar enthusiasts, then maybe these tips of upgrading your trusty-but-rusty tube-based electric guitar amplifier will at least add another 50 years of enjoyment. If you possess the requisite knowledge of the science (and art) of thermionic circuitry, then the following suggested tweaks could prove very valuable.
Going Triode – No ifs or buts, this tweak easily transforms the tone of any push-pull type electric guitar amplifier into something that sounds closer to a single-ended Black Face-era Fender Champ. 6L6 Beam tetrode-type tubes and EL34 pentode-type tubes that constitute the majority of push-pull output electric guitar amps can easily be converted into triode mode by strapping the screen grid of every output tube to their corresponding plate – if your amp uses multiple pairs of output tubes. This method also works with pentode-type tubes. Electric guitar amplifiers manufactured during the late 1980s to mid 1990s often feature a triode / pentode (beam tetrode) selector switch that allows you to switch between operating modes. But you should take precautions on both types in avoiding parasitic oscillation – i.e. using grid stoppers. The advantage of going triode includes lowering of the output impedance resulting in the amplifier sounding more dynamic and musical – i.e. gorgeous harmonics and tone. The disadvantages are the output power is usually divided in half, and the “spongy” tone will not be the liking to those “Heavy Metal Guitarists” weaned on full pentode / tetrode volume.
Use High-Mu Output Tubes – If you have grown fond of the “conventional” 12AX7 or ECC83 double-triode preamplifier tube phase-splitter stage of your electric guitar amplifier, then using high-mu output tubes has the advantage of retaining your stock preamplifier stage since high-mu tubes are so easy to drive. The high frequencies would improve and you now have the advantage of lowering the negative feedback without your preamplifier stage going dull (high-frequency roll-off). And even if the output impedance increases a little, your guitar amp’s musicality also increases. The problem is high-mu tubes require a higher power supply voltage or H.T. than your standard 440volts DC, so power supply circuits and the output transformer needs to be redesigned to handle the higher power supply voltage of high-mu tubes – usually 1,500volts DC - or the speakers will go ballistic. Those don’t come cheap you know. The benefit of having a good tone via this route usually outweighs the hardship of an almost complete guitar amp overhaul.
Using Beefier Tube Preamplifier Stages – Those 12AX7 and ECC83 tubes used in “conventional” double-triode phase-splitters are not exactly designed to drive banks of pentode or beam tetrode power output tubes. Not to mention that conventional double-triode phase-splitter has an inherent problem of high input capacitance caused by the Miller Effect. This causes high-frequency loading on the input tube and reduces bandwidth. Making it very difficult to use appreciable amounts of negative feedback without instability due to the phase shifts incurred, and negative feedback is “somewhat” of a necessity with “modern” pentode and beam tetrode output power tubes. Beefier preamplifier tubes like the 4-watt anode dissipation 5687 preamp tube, which can be used as an "improved” input tube. So does a 6AU6 low-noise R.F. pentode because it can maintain stability when used in a “modern” tube amp design with appreciable amounts of negative feedback. Or a dedicated phase-splitter tube, like the ECF80 triode-pentode tube. The problem with these types of tubes is that preamplifier circuits using these designs that are already relegated into the “public domain” are few and far between. For example, your friend from college will not be willing to take it likely that you are making millions of dollars from your friend’s vacuum tube preamplifier designs that he formulated during the 1990s - Especially when your friend from college is currently one of the millions of victims of the on-going subprime mortgage crisis. Lastly, using beefy preamplifier tubes might sound great for domestic hi-fi tube-based amplifiers, but in electric guitar amplifier applications, they tend to make the guitar amp sound “dry”. Like those hard-sounding Carlsbro transistor-based guitar amplifiers that became widely available during the early 1990s.
So there you have it - A few ways that you can tweak the sound of your electric guitar amplifier. If you have other ideas that I haven’t discussed here, please feel free to drop me a line.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
The Death of an Iconic Guitar Store
As the management of New York City’s Hotel Chelsea jacks-up their rent to attract more up-market clientele, will this force the smaller shops renting their place to close – i.e. guitar stores?
By: Ringo Bones
Another iconic landmark of New York City is now set to close shop due to the recession and their landlord’s decision to jack-up rent in order to woo more up-market clientele. A few years ago it was CBGB’s, the ancestral birthplace of Punk Rock. Now it is Dan’s Chelsea Guitars located at the ground floor of the Hotel Chelsea. This hotel has served as a prime destination for Bohemian artists as far back as when Mark Twain was still writing masterpieces. And Dan’s Chelsea Guitars had served clients as iconic as Bob Dylan and Sid Vicious during the store’s long history. It probably even inspired big wigs like Jon Bon Jovi to write songs about the iconic hotel.
Now forced to perform a Bernie Madoff-inspired fire sale in order to get rid of their excess inventory. Dan Courtney, owner of Dan’s Chelsea Guitars is now deciding to close down his venerable guitar shop because there is no point in running it when the rates are so high, the shops earnings will go to the landlord, ruining the economic viability of the once iconic shop. The axe merchant has now fell victim to an axe of a more lethal kind – business wise. Which is kind of sad, given that the electric guitar had since become a part of post-World War II Americana and ushered in the birth of Rock n' Roll.
New York City has been famous the world over for having esoteric-item shops being run by an eccentric shopkeeper who could care less about selling you anything if you harbor a bad attitude about their wares - Even if you have the commensurate amounts of dosh. Given the number of years it’s been around, Dan’s Chelsea Guitars have served quite a diverse clientele. From a Hassidic Rabbi trying out a Gibson Les Paul caught on Dan’s mobile phone camera to probably lesser known but equally iconic New York City based guitarists like Gina of Lunachicks. Given that the shop has probably been selling classic used and broken-in Gibson Les Pauls and Fender Stratocasters at reasonable prices, will the skillful guitarist who don’t have more money than sense be able to afford decent-sounding new ones with prices approaching 10,000 US dollars each?
By: Ringo Bones
Another iconic landmark of New York City is now set to close shop due to the recession and their landlord’s decision to jack-up rent in order to woo more up-market clientele. A few years ago it was CBGB’s, the ancestral birthplace of Punk Rock. Now it is Dan’s Chelsea Guitars located at the ground floor of the Hotel Chelsea. This hotel has served as a prime destination for Bohemian artists as far back as when Mark Twain was still writing masterpieces. And Dan’s Chelsea Guitars had served clients as iconic as Bob Dylan and Sid Vicious during the store’s long history. It probably even inspired big wigs like Jon Bon Jovi to write songs about the iconic hotel.
Now forced to perform a Bernie Madoff-inspired fire sale in order to get rid of their excess inventory. Dan Courtney, owner of Dan’s Chelsea Guitars is now deciding to close down his venerable guitar shop because there is no point in running it when the rates are so high, the shops earnings will go to the landlord, ruining the economic viability of the once iconic shop. The axe merchant has now fell victim to an axe of a more lethal kind – business wise. Which is kind of sad, given that the electric guitar had since become a part of post-World War II Americana and ushered in the birth of Rock n' Roll.
New York City has been famous the world over for having esoteric-item shops being run by an eccentric shopkeeper who could care less about selling you anything if you harbor a bad attitude about their wares - Even if you have the commensurate amounts of dosh. Given the number of years it’s been around, Dan’s Chelsea Guitars have served quite a diverse clientele. From a Hassidic Rabbi trying out a Gibson Les Paul caught on Dan’s mobile phone camera to probably lesser known but equally iconic New York City based guitarists like Gina of Lunachicks. Given that the shop has probably been selling classic used and broken-in Gibson Les Pauls and Fender Stratocasters at reasonable prices, will the skillful guitarist who don’t have more money than sense be able to afford decent-sounding new ones with prices approaching 10,000 US dollars each?
Using Aging Tubes: A Dangerous Guitar Tone Tweak?
Though very, very rarely mentioned in interviews by superstar guitarists, is the use of aging tubes to create your very own unique guitar tone very dangerous to your very expensive gear?
By: Ringo Bones
I’ve probably lost count since 1997 on how many guitarists around my neck of the woods explored in finding ways to make their renditions of Veruca Salt’s Earthcrosser intro sound more “soulful”, especially by resorting to tone tweaks that could irreparably damage to their extremely expensive (3,000 US dollars MSRP) electric guitar amplifier. From connecting four 8-ohm speakers in series to a push-pull based tube electric guitar amp – which could result in a very high voltage build up of the output power tubes – to using aging tubes. Though by far, the use of aging tubes is the most common. Given that tubes are becoming very scarce compared to latest generation mobile phones – especially in the US – the “poor” unsigned amateur guitarist is more than likely be using output power tubes in his or her electric guitar amplifier that are past its prime.
I’ve read an article about the summer NAMM 1992 in Guitar Player magazine about a company introducing a digital electric guitar effects processor - with an effects setting - that emulates the sound of an aging tube, such tone never became popular. Even during the guitar-heavy musical genre of Seattle Grunge that went mainstream a few months after reading that feature.
Given that I’ve only began building and owning tube-based amplifiers in the mid 1990s, I’ve asked some veteran audiophiles on how an aging power tube sounds in a “hi-fi audio setting.” Most of them pointed out the “quirky acoustics” of the Tori Amos song China from the Little Earthquakes album as what music would sound like when played through a tube amp with output power tubes past its prime and will be arcing anytime soon.
Back in April 2009, I was asked to help an amateur unsigned guitarist who wants his performance to be video recorded for You Tube posting. He was using a family heirloom 1965 Fender Twin Reverb with aging 6L6 tubes. He did manage to conjure up a very unique tone until 30 minutes into the session when one of the 6L6 tubes started to arc and fused into its tube sockets, though it did manage to emit a very cool apocalyptic-sounding high-pitched squeal when the final chord was struck.
Given that equipment of this vintage still uses plastic / phenolic resin output power tube sockets for the 6L6 output tubes / valves instead of being upgraded to military-spec porcelain tube sockets with silver plated contacts when it became widely available during the mid-1990s. Fortunately, only the output section of his Fender Twin was damaged. But it resulted in a very expensive repair bill, especially when you live in a place where most people live on slightly less than a dollar a day.
It is still a mystery why guitar digital effects processors still don’t add an aging tube emulator proviso on its menu of effects, especially ones that do advanced 24-bit 96-kHz digital signal processing are now relatively cheap and widely available. An aging tube sound / tone obtained through digital domain physical modeling is a much safer way of doing things compared to using actual aging tubes on your very expensive tube-based electric guitar amp since complete catastrophic failure resulting from such practice is not that far from impossible. Maybe guitar effects manufacturers are ignoring this sector of the market at their own peril since the sound of an aging tube is very interesting and very soulful.
By: Ringo Bones
I’ve probably lost count since 1997 on how many guitarists around my neck of the woods explored in finding ways to make their renditions of Veruca Salt’s Earthcrosser intro sound more “soulful”, especially by resorting to tone tweaks that could irreparably damage to their extremely expensive (3,000 US dollars MSRP) electric guitar amplifier. From connecting four 8-ohm speakers in series to a push-pull based tube electric guitar amp – which could result in a very high voltage build up of the output power tubes – to using aging tubes. Though by far, the use of aging tubes is the most common. Given that tubes are becoming very scarce compared to latest generation mobile phones – especially in the US – the “poor” unsigned amateur guitarist is more than likely be using output power tubes in his or her electric guitar amplifier that are past its prime.
I’ve read an article about the summer NAMM 1992 in Guitar Player magazine about a company introducing a digital electric guitar effects processor - with an effects setting - that emulates the sound of an aging tube, such tone never became popular. Even during the guitar-heavy musical genre of Seattle Grunge that went mainstream a few months after reading that feature.
Given that I’ve only began building and owning tube-based amplifiers in the mid 1990s, I’ve asked some veteran audiophiles on how an aging power tube sounds in a “hi-fi audio setting.” Most of them pointed out the “quirky acoustics” of the Tori Amos song China from the Little Earthquakes album as what music would sound like when played through a tube amp with output power tubes past its prime and will be arcing anytime soon.
Back in April 2009, I was asked to help an amateur unsigned guitarist who wants his performance to be video recorded for You Tube posting. He was using a family heirloom 1965 Fender Twin Reverb with aging 6L6 tubes. He did manage to conjure up a very unique tone until 30 minutes into the session when one of the 6L6 tubes started to arc and fused into its tube sockets, though it did manage to emit a very cool apocalyptic-sounding high-pitched squeal when the final chord was struck.
Given that equipment of this vintage still uses plastic / phenolic resin output power tube sockets for the 6L6 output tubes / valves instead of being upgraded to military-spec porcelain tube sockets with silver plated contacts when it became widely available during the mid-1990s. Fortunately, only the output section of his Fender Twin was damaged. But it resulted in a very expensive repair bill, especially when you live in a place where most people live on slightly less than a dollar a day.
It is still a mystery why guitar digital effects processors still don’t add an aging tube emulator proviso on its menu of effects, especially ones that do advanced 24-bit 96-kHz digital signal processing are now relatively cheap and widely available. An aging tube sound / tone obtained through digital domain physical modeling is a much safer way of doing things compared to using actual aging tubes on your very expensive tube-based electric guitar amp since complete catastrophic failure resulting from such practice is not that far from impossible. Maybe guitar effects manufacturers are ignoring this sector of the market at their own peril since the sound of an aging tube is very interesting and very soulful.
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