***Trashed's Gear*** Splawn Promod KT88 METAL RIG

Thar she be. The freaking beast. Splawn Promod KT-88. The same as a Quickrod, just with KT-88 as opposed to EL34's. It is on top of my general go to metal cab (despite owning mesa, orange and a half dozen others). It is a Randall cab, Celestion T75's on top and a 15" Eminence Legend at the bottom. Massive bass, mids and balanced treble. For the record, my Splawns (this and a Nitro KT88) do not get along with V30's.

Scott Splawn has it going on. He is a brilliant SOB, has all of the features you need nothing more. You have a foot-switchable second master, a foot-switchable extra gain stage (OD1/OD2) and of course a foot-switchable channel switcher. Perfection. There are a couple of qualms about this amp though. It sucks at quiet. PERIOD. loud or louder. I have 23 tube amps at the moment, and this is just loud. I swear this is the loudest 100 watts I have EVER heard, and it cuts like a damn knife. No cutting through the mix issues here.

JJ 12AX7's in V1-V4, JJ KT88's in the power section.

The effects are stupid simple. The fuzz is my newest prototype so that is hush hush for naooo. Then a Korg Pithcblack, Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Mosfet, a Malekko Unity Fuzz, all out front, a Visual Sound H20 Chorus and delay, BBD loaded. The delay is pretty much always on. The chorus is occasionally used on cleans.

My main tone is with the OD2 selected and I use the FD-2 mostly for leads. Cannot comment on the prototype, the Malekko Unity is for the clean channel. Chorus if engaged, is only on the clean channel. Delay is always on. I have master volume 1 on as quiet as I can and the second master for the volume I play at during the day, which is definitely louder than I can play in the middle of the night.

The gain is beastly. The tone is beastly. Splawn has no disappointments.

***Trashed Gear*** JSeXy, Pedals, and THE CHANCE to get a fuzz pedal for $10

Alright guys, here are some more pics of my gear.

This is a backup for my backup rig's backup. haha. I would use this if I was actively gigging, which has been a while.

It sits beautifully in the shop in its cozy with a pair of sexy silver guitars (pickups are not stock) which will be the next topic.

If you are the first to guess what the 'sexy silver guitars' are correctly, i will send you one of my new FUZZ prototype pedals for half off. $10 to your door (which pretty much covers shipping and boxing on my end). Again $10 total to you door. Email it to me and i will get one out to you ASAP. It is a prototype, it like most of the others has no switch and is encased in my signature blue boxes. Those two things knock off $12 a pop but its lots of fun and pretty damn cheap. The circuit is very simple, but i have been toying with different values a little bit to see what goes over best.

FOR THE SILVER GUITARS, SEND ANSWER TO TRASHEDENGINEERING@GMAIL.COM. PUT THE NAME IN THE SUBJECT. FIRST THERE WINS.

Soooo... Here is a Peavey JSX. I paid $350 mint for it, including the footswitch. It is a three channel 120 watt all tube head. It is going into my Randall cabinet which is unique because it has a pair of Celestion G12-T75's AND a 15" Eminence Legend. The speaker combination sounds great to me; The T75's get along with the Eminence Legend better than Celestion Vintage 30's do which is what I had in the cabinet first. The bass is certainly controllable and not too 'boomy' or anything like that. For preamp tubes, I am running all JJECC83's (12AX7's) with the exception of the PI which is a JJECC81(12AT7).

PRO TIP: the PI (phase inverter) is not actually a preamp tube, it is technically is in the poweramp, I highly recommend trying a 12AT7 or 5751 in that spot as you will typically notice a positive change.

Power tubes are all JJE34L's. NOTE the spelling, E34L, NOT EL34. E34L's are the perfect rounder and thicker sounding bottom end with the bite of an EL34 in the upper mids still remaining, that we all know and love.

Great cleans for an amp marketed for heavier music, not too bright, not too chimey, Peavey nailed it  on this one. The Crunch channel is freaking awesome, Gain for days; more than you could conceivably need. Tight with the boost. The Ultra channel is just flat out liquid gain. This amp as a ton of gain, keep it pretty low if boosting with an overdrive. There is so much gain though that you could easily wreck the tone with too much gain. The EQ is a little different on the crunch and ultra channels. Past noon the EQ turns into an active EQ. This means that the amp adds more in, not takes less out. There is a built in noise gate, which knocks back the hiss a little bit, but isn't very powerful.

OMG So I got a new toob amp. What should I do now, Trashed?

Hey Trashed! I just bought my first proper tube amp! Whadda I do now?

There are a few things I would look into for most amps and just universally in GENERAL. I can't talk about every amp in all of hell and creation.

The first thing to do is to buy some tubes. I cannot advise on power tubes because that is too broad, simply due to different biasing methods for different amps. I don't want to delve in too deep. 

However, I will say that right now my personal go-to power amp tube is the JJ E34L. Read the last sentence again. E34L, not referring to EL34. E34L's have the British bite with a rounder and fuller bottom end. To illustrate how much I like them, I probably have TEN amps loaded with them. To take that further, I am POSITIVE I have over a dozen brand new ones in my shop.

I LOVE KT88's, but they are expensive as hell. I have them in my Splawn Nitro, Splawn Pro-Mod and Fryette SIG:X. They are quite ballsy. They are not as easily interchangeable as the others, or example with Splawn, it involves removing or adding a resistor (which requires draining filter caps and soldering). 

IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING INSIDE AN AMP, LEAVE IT ALONE, PAY SOMEBODY IF YOU HAVE TO, MUCH BETTER THAN BEING DEAD.

For EL84, go JJ. They are cheap and sound great. Again, I swear by these suckers. I probably have them in every EL84 amp I own. HOWEVER,  I don't have many amps that take EL84's. IMO no competition for JJ here.

Preamp tubes are a bit easier. get how many of 12AX7 you want after some research plus three more, a combination of 12AT7, 5751, AND get a different variety.

"OK Trashed, I done got me some backup tubes. What now?

Clean out the tube sockets, jacks and tube sockets with DeOxit or another quality contact cleaner.

"Got it Trashed, what now?"

Now turn it on.

There is a common misbelief that you need to put the amp on standby and wait. That is not important. Flip the switches however you feel inspired.

Looking for a heavy or metal tone? Nine times out of ten you want an overdrive pedal (Tubescreamer, etc). Lotsa' options.

EQ's are always good to fine tune the tone in the effects loop.

Then just fire it up and raise some hell!

One more thing that is misbelief is that you can't touch tubes with fingers out or the earth explode. Don't worry about it.

Here are another few random thoughts.

Tubes are more sensitive to damage if you move/bump/jostle a hot amp.

NOS tubes can be great, but make sure you get them from a reputable place that tests them.

If you have spring reverb, be careful moving it and if you take it off, they can cause some issues. IF you are getting too much jangle, wrap it carefully in a towel.

Trashed OUT! Cheers to all!

2017-04-13 RUN AWAY from COMPUTERS!!! TCE? RANT ALERT!!!

 This one will get some of you going for sure.

So today exists these wonderful pedals, that interface with computers. TC Electronics I am looking straight at you.

YEAH that is right, TC Electronics I am watching YOU.

But Trashed, "The Toneprint gives me so much versatility!"

To that I respond, "I certainly agree, BUT... (yeah big but),"

But Trashed "What is the but? I like mine a lot?"

In 10 years, all of my Malekko, Cmatmods, Fulltone, MI, Pigtronix, ZVEX,etc. pedals will be alive and the same, just as there are today.

In 10 years, do you THINK that your TC pedals will have current drivers to use then??? Will they have current firmware updates??? I don't. Technology is still growing very fast. In the last few years, Apple changed from Lightening to Thunderbolt (or the other way, I can't remember which, I am not an Apple guy), USB2.0 is being replaced by USB-3. Hell, even HDMI may be getting replaced by something else, who knows, but I heard rumor of it somewhere (I usually don't put much faith in rumors, so I don't completely stand behind that and made sure to clear that up with you guys).

The MFX world has been rocked a few times too, each time becoming obsolete. AXE-FX shook the world. Then AXEFX 2 really shook things up again a short while later. Then the Kemper Profiler changed the world with amp cloning, Then Line 6 was running behind with the HD500 series, and put out Then Line 6 put out the HELIX. Then a short time AX-8 came out. Then the Atomic Amplifire came out for $600 with a hell of an impact at a friendly price and extreme power. They released a new one too recently with more switches. These timelines may be off a little bit, but you get the point. Thangs are a chaingin'.

Personally I don't use modeling, but If i were to tell you that it isn't great, I would be a dirty rotten liar. If I didn't own 21 tube amplifiers (yes I know I have a lot of amps), I would be gunning at a Kemper or AXE to be honest. Saying they sound great would be an understatement.

"OK trashed, TCE just makes pedals, none of that snazzy SNAX shenanigans"

To that I respond, "Yes it is that same shenanigans."

Technology grows, the old is replaced with the new. That is a fact of life in our modern society.

Will TCE follow through? maybe they will for a while. BUT it won't forever. There are thousands of thousands of pedals STILL out there from the 50's and 60's. Way more BOSS and EHX and MXR and Ibanez/Maxon from the 1980's-ish. They still work.

Fact of life the the Toneprint WILL EVENTUALLY be UNSUPPORTED. My pedal board will live forever, TCE will be swept to the side.

/Trashed out.

2017-02-03 Tuners, Tuners, and yes, TUNERS!

Hello dear brethren that wield the honorable ax known as a guitar,

Soooo. Tuners. Easy right? Maybe not.

There are three types of common tuners.

1. Clip-on tuners.
2. Pedal Tuners.
3.Shitty plug-in tuners.
4.AND, Don't for get your trusty smart phone!

"So Trashed, I like my tuner and its one of those tuners that are regarded as 'shitty' cheap plug in tuners. It works fine for me, Why do you call it 'shitty'?"

I respond with a simple phrase "I guess you are a little under informed or you aren't the sharpest tool in the shed." Mic drop. OHHH YEAH!

So what do YOU need? Well, you are damn lucky that I am going to take the time out of my busy day and tell you.

1. Clip on tuners. They are very handy to have. You can have it on your headstock and tune without needing to make noise, AND you don't have it in your pedal chain, so less shit you have to hook up. It is handy for every instrument, from ukuleles to cellos, which is very convenient if you play multiple instruments. The short comings? Two main ones, they can fall off and break. I have broken two of three falling onto the tile/stage/etc. The second is if you are trying to tune and there is a lot of bass noise from the bass guitar that is loud, they get all messed up. That only happened to me *once* and then I wised up a bit. The GOOD thing is that they are cheap.

2. Pedal tuners. They are, in my opinion the most flexible. Theyare what any person from a guy jamming at an open-mic to a pro touring the world. They are accurate, easy, fast AND nothing can interrupt them other than a shoddy cable [for the record I use Korg Pitchblacks]. The only downfall is that it needs to be on a pedal board. They are small, so its not a big deal, but it is adding another cable to the chain and you have to power it. That for me is not a big deal for me. I have a [Korg Pitchblack]tuner on each of my three big pedalboards. One thing you don't have to worry about the better ones is they are buffered bypass, so it WILL NOT kill your tone, and may actually help with keeping a true signal to the next pedal. One benefit is that some pedal tuners have is that SOME have a power out. That is nice because you can power a few pedals with it, but the power is different with different tuners. For example I could power my OD, chorus, and delay thorough it, so I didn't even need a second power supply. THAT is handy!

OK. Let us move on to those (to put it nicely) junk plug-in tuners.

3. Plug-in tuners. They can tune AND be accurate, BUT [you knew a but was coming], they have a HUGELY LIMITED range of use. You have to plug the damn thing in every time. If it has an output, it is junk and kills you signal. That is IF you are dumb enough to put it into a chain. MASSIVE tone-suck. They can only tune guitar/bass/acoustic-electrics, which won't help in some situations. AND they break when dropped.

4. Cell phone tuners. DON'T underestimate the convenience, but know the limitations. If I am sitting around my house playing alone, I use it all the time. They are extremely handy to have around. They have HUGE limitation though. If you have other noise, it won't be accurate, etc. I don't use them for recording either. Why? I trust the accuracy of other tuners more when it comes down to cutting a track.

"SO Trashed, what do YOU use?"

EVERYTHING but the shitty plug in tuners. They all have a purpose. Sitting around jamming? Smart phone. Gigging? Pedal. Acoustic instruments and emergency? A clip on tuner. Why? They are cheap and fit in a gig bag easily. I picked up five Snark clip-on tuners for $5 a POP on flash sales, they are nice to have around. I have three Pictchblacks, and they are what I use most. There are some other types of tuners that I did not talk about, rack tuners, strobe tuners, polyphonic tuners, etc. I am keeping this basic and for the common-folk.

Well, Cheers!

Trashed

Orange Dual Terror Power Tube Swap (maybe a little bit on the VLOG side ...

HERE Y'ALL GO! It's a new video. Kind of bloggy, little ranty, and just a walk through.



This is my first attempt at a more 'complex' video (that could be a little stretch).



ENJOY! a blog on this video will be up in a few days with some more ranting and info.

2017-01-11 - Sometimes Ya Gotta' Pay to Play

Dear Tone Brothers.

I have something to tell you of utmost importance. Some things in life aren't cheap. Good tone ISN'T.

I am not slandering those with a small budget, but if you stick with it, you will pay.

Those solid-state (also know as transistor amps) are not going to make you sound like your rock 'god'. I don't care how good you are if you are playing on a Marshall M10 watt combo, you won't exactly sound like a professional. WATCH THIS STATEMENT: You may PLAY like a professional, but it isn't going to SOUND professional (as in studio, or gig, etc.). Don't get me wrong, paying like a professional is definitely an achievement and something to be proud of, but so is good tone.

(Trashed kicks the dust off of his boots and continues)

Are tube amps the end-all for tone? No. 

Personally they are for me (I have 19 quality tube amps), and I love the suckers.

Do you need tubes to sound like a 'professional'? No. 

If you are on the way up, an amp is the core of your tone. $400 used gets you a great combo in the right market. I am referencing a Peavey 6505+ combo, Marshall DSL40c combo, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe combo, etc., but there are tons. That $400 will be WELL spent.

Lets talk about guitars. Your $100 Squier Strat, is a viable instrument with a little work. Your $100 Epiphone LP Special (IMO) is trash-can bound in time. It depends on what guitar to a degree, but at that price the quality is generally pretty low across the board.

So Trashed - WHY do you want to spend a little more on a guitar? 

There are a bunch of reasons. Typically mid-level instruments stay in tune better, are of higher quality regarding fit and finish, the fretwork is notably better, the hardware is a little better. They will just feel better in your hands, if you are transitioning form a cheap guitar, and you play a mid level guitar, you will feel the difference right away. It isn't something I can really describe, its just a vibe.

I am going to stick to the sub $400 used budget. Ibanez RG's (without tremolos), Epiphone Les Paul Standard, Fender Mexican Strat. They will all play well with a little set-up, and sound much better. If you are obsessive, you may want to get a new nut fit for it, maybe a fret-level and crown. However for me? I haven't done that on any cheap guitars.

Is $800 a lot to invest in a past time/hobby? To me, not a whole lot. I can probably think of a dozen more hobbies where you invest more in mid level equipment. Also for most of my readers, they are beyond the entry phase to be researching.

Pay to Play.

CHEERS BROTHERS, 

TRASHED.

*I have a bunch of disclaimers here. The guitars and amps I referenced are just really common guitars and amps that you can find anywhere. In most of those cases they can be found cheaper. I posted those for a broad audience, a basic 'metal' rig, a 'rock' rig, and more of a 'clean' amp for other things. However, they are ALL gig-worthy.

2016-10-28 Whatcha need in your gigbag to survive?

Whats up my fellow weekend warriors?

This is a simple post, what do you need with you to survive out in the world of 'Guitar Land'?

However - I am NOT going to tell what you need.

"WTF Trashed, I thought you were trying to help us?"

"Well... I don't know what you need because I am not you, but what I WILL DO is tell you what I bring".

I am assuming that you have two guitars, and a tube amp that you are taking, although a backup amp is always good to have access to.

I have a tool bag that I got from Home Depot like this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-12-in-Tool-Bag-82004N11/203224030. $10 and rugged as all hell. I own at least five of them for different things. They go cheap for Black Friday too, I think I got mine at $4 each last year.

There is one thing that separates a pro player from a new player: A beginner will bring enough in case ANYTHING were to go wrong. A pro will bring enough in case EVERYTHING goes wrong. 

That is it right there, take that as a word of wisdom.

I am not going to list the common things (picks/strings/etc). I am going to cover some of the lesser thought items, some are obvious, some a little less so. This is a combination of general, guitar related, and amp related.

1. Towels/rags - you want to be able to wipe down your guitar strings, body, fretboard, forehead. It gets hot up there.

2. Magic marker/sharpie, pen and paper -to get the bitches numbers right? Yeah, but ya' know there are other reasons. Set lists/marking knobs on amp/pedal. etc.

3. Flashlights - one of the most important actually. It can get dark on stage, and if you bump a knob, you need to see it. If you need to plug/unplug something during the set. If you drop something. etc. good for setup too.

4. Batteries - for EVERYTHING. 9V's for pedals and if you have active pickups, flashlights, wireless systems (if applicable), and even for your clip on tuner.

5. Fuses - usually there are two fuses on each amp that are accessible from the back panel, make sure you have the SAME value, and the SAME type (standard versus slo-blow).

5. Cables - that falls on the obvious side of things, but this is something that can completely impair your gig if one goes. Cable testers are a good idea overall too.

6. Extension cords and power strips - . Everything needs to plug in, and outlets are not always plentiful or not even in close proximity. I personally use a power conditioner, but that is a luxury to some degree.

7. Tubes - Here is another obvious one, wrap them in towels, have some of every kind your amp uses.

8. Extra power supplies - a 1spot is always good to have in case your iso-brick were to die. Or if you are using a power supply, bring a second.

9. Allan wrenches, screw drivers, a telescoping magnet on a stick. Tools in general.

10. Tooth picks and chopsticks - you can safely poke around your amp with chopsticks if something were to go wrong from the 'tapping test' on tubes, to if you drop something in there. Toothpicks are handy in case a strap button were to fall out (yes it happens), insert and screw the screw back in. Temporary fix.

11. Digital multi-meter - good for everything, especially continuity (set on ohms setting) which can quickly troubleshoot a dodgy cable or connection or short.

12. Second tuner. Period. It doesn't matter what you have, get an extra. If you can't tune, to a degree you are screwed.

I am assuming that you have a backup guitar and access to a second amplification source. If you don't have a second amp to bring, sometimes other bands will let you use yours in a pinch. It is always good to have something small that could go into the PA if needed, From a POD to an Orange Micro Terror. Personally I keep a Peavey Valve King in the trunk. I haven't needed to break it out yet.

Cheers, Trashed.

2016-10-20 Speakers: Part 3

Here we go Speaker Junkies:

Scroll down about a foot, and you will see my previous two parts if you haven't been keeping up with this thriving blog.

"So Trashed, a lot to say about speakers?"

Yeah.

"You seem to favor Celestion?"

Yeah.

"So because it's a Celestion it must be good?"

HELL NO.

Not all speakers are created equally. Celestion makes some [to put it lightly] shitty speakers. The Rocket 50's are straight up trash. The only thing they are good for is removing the magnets and use it to pick the metal bits off of your floor in your shop. Seventy80's, another junk speaker. Just flat out terrible. There are some others, my Celestion M-70 in my Ampeg is pretty much shit too, but it is workable.

"Trashed, you seem to talk about Celestion a lot. Are there any other good speakers?"

Yessir! Eminence makes some excellent speakers, a lot are cheaper, and to a degree many of them are based off of- you guessed it- Celestions. Swamp Things and Governors are a good combination. I am not a fan of the Legend, but may people like it.

I don't have a lot of time on Eminence, I have owned relatively few.Why? I buy up cheap cabs on craigslist that have good speakers, typically under $200 for a 4x12". That is why I have a shit-ton of K85's and V30's and T75's. Cabs get sold or burned, sometimes kept.

"Damn Trashed, that sure is luck!"

If you look and know what you are looking for its not that hard. The only issue that is sometimes is insurmountable is fitting a 4x12" in your Mustang. What is the lesson here? Know somebody with a truck. It's not that hard.

What matters other than speakers?

Hot-Damn! I thought you would never ask.

Enclosures. There is a whole field of science regarding cabinet design, and stupidly a lot of debate. Why was the 4x12" born? because the speakers were 25 watt, and the heads were 100 watt. So thus it came to be the standard. For the most part sealed cabs offer little difference from each other, the main thing is quality of wood. MDF for me is a no-go, and what you want is 3/4" 13 ply Baltic birch. A good seal is to a degree an important thing as well.

Regarding the open-back or ported design, it gets jumbled fast. I don't even want to get into that. Maybe another blog sometime in the future.

So what do you pay for in a cab? The largest portion is the speakers, the second? the logo on the front. That 'Mesa' logo on the front is worth a few hundred most of the time. [Saying this I own two Mesa cabs and love them]. Wood is to a degree, but not what you think it would be.

Do you need 4x12"s? No. Its actually a stupid thing if you are going to have to haul it around. That is why I have 2x12"s as well. I haul around 2x12"s and keep my 4x12"s around the house/studio.

Ugh. I am soooo sick about talking about speakers.

That wraps up your mid-week edition,

Keep on bitchin' and I will keep on postin'.

Cheers,

Trashed.

2016-10-09 Speakers: Part 1

Dear fellow Guitar-a-files:

Speakers?

Can you hear me?

Yeah that is right, speakers. Ya' need some.

Speakers are one of the most overlooked aspect to your tone. That little 8"er in your practice combo isn't going to get you anywhere (well at that rate you probably nee a new amp too). Nor is that Fender "Special Designed" speaker in your Fender Frontman going to enchant you.

There are several things to consider when you are picking out speakers. The impedance (notated as Z in Ohms), wattage, and the sensitivity (in dB 1w@1m). Size also plays a factor, but there are no laws for that.

Well maybe some of us get a little 'sensitive' on the topic, but man up guys this is for real.

What is impedance? Impedance to speak in layman's terms, is the combination of the of opposition to flow combining resistance and reactance. Now what does that definition mean to you? not much, it shouldn't.

So Trashed, what does matter? What matters is that your amp and speakers are running at the same load. Running a mismatch can cause you to blow a speaker, blow the output transformer in your amp (big bucks), and all sorts of other shit. Take my word for it and don't do it. 99% of what we see as guitarists is either 4 ohms, 8 ohms, or 16 ohms.[I am not going to cover it now, you have google for that], but the number of speakers and impedance of the speakers are what determines the load. The load is what you should match your amp and speaker(s) to. Is 4 ohms better than 16 ohms? or vice versa? Nope. Not at all. Just make sure it matches.

Wattage, hell yeah, need more! Right guys???

Maybe not. the Wattage of the speaker is basically how much power it can handle. It does not affect the volume. If you have a 20 watt amp, a 100w speaker (cceteris paribus) will not be any louder than the same amp with a 20 watt speaker. One general rule that I follow is to have the speaker wattage rating just a little higher than the amp. The reason is that some amps can put out more power than they are rated for... and... well, it makes me feel safe and warm inside.

From a technical standpoint, you don't just add the individual wattages up to get how much you have in total. What you do is [again not going into depth here, google is your friend] to take the speaker with the lowest wattage and multiply that by the number of speakers you have.

SO WATTAGE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE VOLUME OF THE SPEAKER.

Now, what does? The sensitivity. Lets get emotional guys.

Sensitivity, what could that mean? Well, it is simply the volume in dB SPL of the speaker being pushed by 1 watt 1 meter from the speaker cone. This makes a HUGE difference. A Celestion Vintage 30 is rated at 100dB, 1m away, being pushed by 1 watt, that is damn loud. A Celestion Rocket 50 is rated at a lowly 95 dB. To keep this brief, decibels are logarithmic. 10 dB is double the volume. So... you get the picture.

Size matters my fellow man...

Well we can't really find a rule for that... There are many other factors.

PART #2 COMING NEXT WEEK. We will get down and dirty with a variety of common speakers.

Fellow Axe-Men,

Cheers,

Trashed.

2016-09-18 Cables! oh-Snap.

Greetings Cork-Sniffers and Fellow Tone Hunting Extraordinaire 

Do I spend $10 or $50?!?!?! This one has gold! This one has a warranty! OMGZZZ!

The answer? None of the above.

This topic is heavily debated, and to be honest is mostly bullshit and/or marketing.

If I spend $50 on this Monster or Moogami is it going to give me better tone? In short, No. but there are a few variables. The warranty is one aspect. The durability is another. The ability to do you're own repairs (OK, it matters if you can solder).

What does a cable do? and what is it made of? 

A guitar cable, also known as instrument cable, is a two conductor (think two wire) cable that has a 'TS' plug, They are similar to what a headphone jack looks like (except a headphone jack is smaller and has an extra wire), you get the point. TS means "tip-sleeve" the tip (inner wire) is the 'hot' and the 'sleeve' is the ground (shielding). Typically the shielding is braided around the inner wire. In most every case a decent cable is oxygen free copper, and the jacket is some form of ABS or PVC plastic.

Copper is not the best conductor, so why do we use it?

That is because of cost of material, and tarnishing of silver (everybody has seen an old silver dinner platter) and becomes less conductive, and diminished performance. Copper also oxidizes more than gold. NOW! That is why we use gold plated ends. Why do we? I have not a damn clue. It is a sales gimmick, I call bullshit on the audio industry. Does it do any harm? No.

Why don't you run ten thousand feet of cable? The answer is capacitance, and the way it can interact with the resistance. I will cover that another day.

Cables have two main components that affect performance, cable (surprising, isn't it), and jacks.

The good thing about a typical garden-variety cable is that they are easily repairable, just two solder joints. That is if you can solder (it isn't hard and any self-respecting guitarist should learn). 

BUT I have this warranty so they will replace it right? 

Yeah, if you go the store and if they have one. It's a hassle. If you have a music store down the street that does, great, good for you. I don't feel like wasting an hour on the road to get one cable swapped (and gas too, I guess). 

So what do I do? A little bit of everything. I bought a TON of Monster cables a long time ago when they were half off ($25 isn't bad for ten years and the warranty). But I make a lot of cables.

There are two brands jacks worth considering, Switchraft (my preference) and Neutrik (good as well). They will set you back a couple of bucks a jack, but they will last forever. As far as cable, I use BTPA.com (hey guys, I could use a kickback here), They are very well priced and they are cheap in bulk. Their cable out-specs Monster, Moogami and [some] Canare and is priced at just over $.50/foot in bulk.

The Verdict-

Cheap shitty cables have weaker ends and are less reliable, in my book, a no-go. Mid range cables the ends will fail first. Expensive cables are expensive, but are generally extremely reliable (especially how Monster casts theirs in a resin around the plug). Cheap cables also have more 'memory' which is a huge pain in the ass, it doesn't like to lay out flat and coil up worse. I have never had a cable I made fail. if it does, I can fix it in two minutes. THAT is what I do. That is the rant!

Keep on playing and I will keep on bitching!

Cheers, Trashed. 

2016-09-12 Tubescreamers and More Tubescreamers.

Greetings Fellow Gear-Whores, and Six String Elitists,

Resentment -

OMG! Tubescreamers - There are sooooo many! WHY!?!?!?!?

As we know options lead people (like most other things) to vast stupidity and ignorance. Idiocy and ignorance puts money in two places, the hands of techs (me for example), or manufacturers. What is stupid? how about this: most of this is based on at most a half dozen or so different components that add up to be south of $1.

From the Ibanez/Maxon lineage, there are two caps and two diodes and an op-amp that separate the TS-9 from the TS808. Why in the hell does this add up to a $40ish dollars? (I said it above in case you don't remember), stupidity and ignorance.

You want a "4558" op-amp. That is the consensus.

The NJM and/or JRC models are more sought after, there are a lot of opinions on that though, I am not going to get into that. There are still some NOS ones out there, but there are very mixed opinions there too. Note that for the record NOS is not always the best way to go, depending on the component type and application.

So what are the differences in a TS9 and a TS808 audibly? If I put one of each in an amp in the room with me, (with discerning ears) you COULD tell the difference. HOWEVER, I bet you couldn't tell me blindly which is which through different guitars and amps. This is largely a psychosomatic type thing.

the Rambling  -

WHY in the HELL would you BUY a Maxon or Ibanez (lets stay with current production) tube screamer? in short- you shouldn't. There are literally over a hundred TS based pedals, some are cheaper and lower quality, some are cheaper and higher quality, some are more expensive and lower quality and some are more expensive and higher quality, more versatile and less versatile... etc.

There are two things that impact this: Do I even want a traditional tube screamer? and Am I open to new ideas?

Why wouldn't I want more options if i can get them? You aren't sacrificing anything in most cases by taking the new breed of TS-a-likes-. The prices are very similar as well new and used, so why not get more for your money. Also, support the little guys, I know a handful of guys who build better stuff, and a lot cheaper.

The 'alternatives' out there have better EQ'ing. The flexibility ranges from having more than just one tone knob, to full EQ's, to switches for different levels of treble and mids. A lot of them also have different/multiple gain modes, THAT is a game changer, in my book. Also some have a second switch for a boost (which allows me to take one pedal off the board). Some even have a fuzz circuit built in (i am looking at you MI Audio)

Then, why stop at tube-screamer-a-likes, The Paul C Timmy is awesome, the Hermida Audio Zendrive is heavenly, Pigtronix has some wicked stuff (with three band active EQ's), ZVEX is just flat out insane, Xotic has some REALLY nice stuff, Fulltone has the OCD which is stupid popular (they don't gel with me though), Keeley makes some really nice stuff, etc. etc. etc.

At the moment i am loving my Fulltone Fulldrive 2: Mosfet, and its under $100 used all day, everyday.

My favorite company at the moment is CMATMODS, they are a small business that is turning out some stupid nice stuff. It is all very well built, and the Signa Drive is sweet. I own five of their pedals at the moment, and that number will only go up.

To the Brethren, may your strings sound like music to your ears,

Trashed

2016-09-05 Tube Amp Maintenance

Greetings to the Brotherhood of  the Quest for Audible Pleasure in the form of Guitar,

The Resentment:

This is one thing that boils my blood on a regular basis (unfortunately almost daily). It usually comes in the form of some uninformed, inexperienced player armed with an arsenal of bullshit online knowledge. Most of this "knowledge" is from another uninformed idiot spouting off something that they don't know either that they heard from somebody else. This is like the small snowball that rolls down the mountain getting bigger and bigger, and leveling a small town,

Now lets get on the topic... "Tube amps are expensive to maintain."


"Well I can't get a tube amp because I can't afford tubes."

 Immediately I call bullshit. yep, right then. I call it so fast that they cannot even get a word in.

My next retort is this: "Do you not play your guitar because you have to buy new strings?" "Do you not drive a car because tires wear?"  Following my statement this blank stare. EVERY time, always the same face.

So lets get down to it. How long do tubes last? There are still plenty of tubes out there from the '60's, as NOS (new old stock), some unused, some partially, and some that have been used since then.

For example i have NOS RCA tubes in a '70's Musicman amp, they are (to the best of my knowledge) the original tubes. This is not normal, but they are out there. I have pre-amp tubes from the '60's, my prized tube in my collection is a Telefunken 12AX7, I have a dozen others as well, some more RCA's, and GE, a few JAN Phillips around too. Current production tubes aren't made to that standard though anymore, but yet again you aren't paying $150 for one tube.

I use a lot of JJ ECC83's, i have probably 50 (yes, fifty) of them in various amps, and I just bought 40 (yes forty) more when they were on sale. I have been using them since 2009 and have only lost two or three, they are able to be had for about $10 brand new from some dealers. They are extremely reliable.

Regarding pre-amp tubes, you can expect a five year lifespan (minimum average) for current production 12AX7's. under moderate to heavy use.

Regarding power-amp tubes, they have a slightly shorter lifespan. If you use them a lot and are gigging, I would replace them every other year. *KEEP the spares though so you have them down the line.* They are also more expensive than pre-amp tubes, but not a whole lot more.

Bottom Line - Tubes are a wear item, just like strings, socks, and tires. I would be very surprised to hear that dumped more than $20-$40 a year (averaged) into tubes, I am sure some are out there, but few and far between, that would be HEAVY use, bordering on abuse.

Having said that, the Resentment and Rant were kind of in one this week.

As always, hatespam is welcomed, comments are fine too.

Cheers, and may you find much pleasure with your musical endeavors,

Trashed.





 **One thing that i purposely not discuss is brand, other than just a causal reference or reference gain levels. i will save that for another week**