By Fletch Whipp

I recently saw an ad for Washington Music in a national magazine that had the following in part . It reads as follows…..

In the 1960’s we heard single coil pickups, curly cables, fuzz pedals and the British Invasion

In the 1970’s we saw bell bottoms, platform shoes, humbuckers and full stacks

In the 1980’s we experienced locking tremolo’s, pointy headstocks, spandex and hairspray

In the 1990’s brought us flannel, Rap-Rock, refigerator sized racks and MIDI switching

In the new millenium

it’s all about boutique tube amps, true bypass, drop tuning and figured maple

The ad resonated with me, because I could identify with the 80’s the 90’s and the current decade of music and music related fads or innovations. I have passionately been researching, developing, listening and further redeveloping my guitar rig in order to dial in what I believe is a truly world class tone. Here are a couple of pedals I cannot live without.

RETRO-SONIC CHORUS   The Roland CE-1 made in 1976 is THE chorus pedal, to chorus, what the Grey Ross is to compressor pedals. The downside is that they cost a fortune, take up a lot of pedal board real estate and now that it is pushing past 30 years, reliability can be a darn thing…… Along comes the Retro-Sonic Chors/Vibe pedal, and not only does it NAIL the CE-1 tone perfectly, but the Vibe is simply stunning. Almost vintage tube driven organ in quality. This pedal is a no brainer. Everything it touches turns to gold. End of story and discussion. You simply cannot say anything negative about this pedal. The last A/B I did was against the Option 5 Destination Rotation, a wonderful pedal that is different in some respects, but dialing these pedals in that same fast shimmering vibe pulse sound… well, the Option 5 is for sale, the Retro-Sonic stays for yet another day.

This pedal is true bypass, meaning that when not engaged in your signal path, do not color your tone, they become like a phantom in your signal chain. Yes these pedals all cost more than the typical Boss effects pedal, but deservedly so. They flat out sound better in my opinion. In my quest for tone, price was not an issue, just the tone. The Keeley comp goes for approximately double the price of the cmatmods version, yet my ears don’t lie, the cmatmods is just better (yes a shootout side by side was performed)

By Fletch Whipp

Sebatron is a brand name unfamiliar to most in the consumer/prosumer Pro-audio community. Hailing from my former homeland of Australia, Sebatron do however, find themselves highly regarded in the professional/boutique community.

MIC PRE EDUCATION

Sebatron specialize in high quality mic preamps. To the uninitiated, a mic preamp is simply a preamplifier for the weak signals that come from microphones.  The preamplifier boosts the signal to a standard line level, which all recorders can capture.

Comparing a recording from the 1950′s to recordings produced today yields a giant difference in audio quality and listening pleasure. While  recording techniques, mastering and production have all aided the improvement of recorded music, a mic preamp plays a pivotal role in this area. If the recording runs through a poor quality/low level preamplifier, the end result is that the instruments/voices recorded will sound sterile, one dimensional and lifeless. Having the microphone run through a high quality preamplifier is the first step in capturing a great recording.

All of my recordings run through my Presonus StudioLive FireWire mixer. The StudioLive console offer the very acceptable Xmax pres which are certainly capable. Being a guitarist, and having spent tens of thousands of hours over the last 21 years listening critically to audio, especially in relation to the role of vacuum tubes in guitar amplifiers, caused me to immediately note that the Xmax pre’s are very clean, yet lacking in character. I also detect a metallic quality in the very high frequency range around 12Khz and above, which is unappealing.

Sebatron VMP-2000e-VU

PERSONAL APPLICATION

I have tried many stand alone mic pre’s and I believe I have found a nice balance in between the high quality-yet budget friendly price range with Sebatron. I currently use their VMP-1000e-VU single channel all tube preamp to run my guitar and vocal tracks through. For guitar I run through a Diamond Compressor into the Sebatron as a D.I to my Fractal Audio Axe-Fx preamp, which runs direct to the StudioLive line inputs fed FireWire to the computer. Vocals are captured on my sE Electronics Gemini II LDC tube microphone running direct to the Sebatron into the Presonus.

Sebatron literature will offer the following regarding the VMP series of mic pre’s

Each VMP channel consists of

• a transformer balanced microphone input for reliability, ease of use and sound quality
• individual phantom power with LED indication
• DI for direct instrument or line input
• passive switchable EQ for the extreme high and low registers – very practical when tracking
• a 12AT7 vacuum tube run at a proper high tension providing all of the active gain
• switchable PAD control which varies negative feedback around the valve, controlling colour
• solid state, discrete Class A output stage, powered by a high voltage rail for superior headroom and transient response
• switchable output phase
• XLR and TRS balanced outputs

Front View Sebatron VMP-2000e-VU

If you were to ask a non musician to name a musical instrument brand they could recall, Fender would arguably be the first name off their lips. For over 60 years, the Californian based manufacturer has dominated the landscape for both guitarists and bassists alike.

As I have sculpted my guitar tone I’ve used amplifiers made by Fender, Marshall, Mesa Boogie, Divided by 13, Diezel, and  Bogner to name a handful. I’ve used all manner of configurations ranging from small combo’s to massive full stacks.

Prior to using the Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue (BDRI), reviewed here today, I had been using a combination of two amps made by another Californian amp manufacturer, Divided by 13, with their FTR-37  and RSA-23 models. As my needs required buying a line array P.A system, I needed to free up cash flow, and thus the reason for selling these amps. The void created by these sales, needed to be addressed with an amplifier that could closely capture the delicious tones from my D13′s, yet do so, at a much reduced cost of the D13′s $7,000 investment. This is important to provide this background information in my review, as this better qualifies how and why I came to choose the Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue.

While the Fender has a street price 1/10th of my D13 setup, and boasting the famous 6L6 tube design also featured in my FTR-37 configuration, I still needed to address the fact that I loved the overdriven tones I coaxed out of my RSA-23 (with pedals in front) which is designed around KT88 tubes. The spongy, bubbly sound of 6L6′s is wonderful for clean tones, however beyond all but the most basic clipping tones the sound becomes too confused and undefined for real work with overdrive and ‘dirt’ pedals. Again, the Fender BDRI addressed my needs by way of their more focused ‘drive’ channel on the amp, which captures a more urgent growl than the warm rounded overtones of the 1st channel.

On its own the Fender BDRI produces a great workingman’s guitar sound, however coupling the 1×12″ enclosure Fender offers as a compliment to the BDRI creates a more complex, layered sound, that sings with a greater authority. In particular my typical ‘Nashville’ sound (broken thru driven dirt sounds) started to drive through while still retaining that Fender amp spank.

My main guitar is a custom shop Suhr Classic series ‘strat style’ guitar designed reminiscent of the Fender ’62 reissue Strat vein. With my drive pedals running front end I am able to achieve excellent results ranging from Eric Clapton smooth cleans , Eric Johnson singing sustains, Brent Mason spank with just the change of a pedal.

The amp features a shared 3 band eq (B, M, T) and it is very versatile, I have mine set as follows (B=8.2, M=6.8, T=7.2) I run my Suhr with the tone dials set around 7.5 to smooth out some of the bright bite inherent of the amps design. The amp also features a presence knob which I have set around 7.6 to allow the amp to remain focused-though historically, I am not a fan of amps that utilize a presence feature. The master volume knob is running right around 6.2 while I back off the clean and drive channels to just around 1.

To detail the weak spots of the amp, I would limit this to two aspects. The amplifier is extremely sensitive to volume increase with a massive jump from 1-2 on the either the volume or drive dials. My second issue relates to the built-in Accutronics Spring reverb. Beyond the 2 setting the amp washes out. Thankfully the amp does offer an effects loop which is where I patch in my reverb externally via way of the Fractal Audio Axe-Fx. The quality of effects in the Axe-Fx are easily on par with Eventide and Lexicon. I personally favor varieties of hall reverbs rather than ‘Spring’ reverbs. I simply bypass the amp and cab aspects of the Axe-Fx on a carbon copy of my 20 direct to desk studio patches, and interface it with the Fender BDRI for some truly incredible results.

Doing a simple cost benefit ratio with my former Divided by 13 rig heavily sides with the Fender. While the D13′s tone is more appealing, as would be expected, the simple fact is that investing 1/10th of the funds into this amp creates a sound that is within 15% of the territory of my previous D13′s. If Fender were to address the amps overall volume sensitivity, and made the reverb more useable, the amp would be an incredible amplifier in the $700 price range. As it stands, I would give the Fender an 8.5/10 in my opinion.

I am in the process of swapping out the stock speakers and replacing them with a Celestion Alnico Blues 15w speaker, and a Celestion 70th anniversary G12H30 30w speaker in the combo and enclosure respectively. With a further $400 investment, the amplifier will more than likely yield results narrowing that gap from it to the D13′s to within single digit percentages. -Fletch

Click here to see more of Fletch’s pedalboards and rigs galleries

By Fletch Whipp

Happy New Year! Recently, Mouse, my wife found a piece of paper folded up inside one of her books. It was a goal setting list I compiled from 2007. As we looked, there were some tick marks, but at least a dozen remained unchecked. Interestingly, every goal had actually been achieved in 2007. While it was a surprise to Mouse, it wasn’t a surprise to me, as I’ve set goals weekly, monthly & yearly goals for at least 15 years now. Oh yes, various life curve balls have been thrown at me, and taken me down unexpected paths during that time, as I’m sure you have experienced too, though the goal posts shift from time to time, keeping our eyes on the goal does not have to shift.

I’m fortunate to work with many serious music career minded students, who seek my guidance in developing their raw talents towards rewarding careers in the Music Industry. Though I’ve helped numerous students successfully navigate their way to studying music at College, one student, Dexter actually successfully landed a placement at the exclusive Berklee College of Music in Boston. Dexter informed me that, of the 3,000 auditions held in various countries, 80 places were available. Dexter’s goal was realized after a long process of successful measured results.

This is a prime motivating picture for me weekly.

1. Well formed Goal Statements

The Goal Statement forms the basis for the entire process so careful attention should be placed on formulating a clear and accurate goal statement. A good way to remember how a goal statement should be defined is the old S.M.A.R.T. acronym used by many experts in goal setting. SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic & Time and Resource Constrained

The Goal should be specific enough so that we know exactly what we are striving for, measurable so we can tell exactly when the goal has been reached, action-oriented to indicate an activity that will produce results, realistic in that it is practical and can be achieved, and time and resources constrained meaning that it has a definite deadline for completion and realizes limited availability of resources. The goal statement “Increase sales 25% by the end of the fiscal year without increasing advertising spending” is an example that follows these rules.

2. Breaking down Goals into manageable Steps

If you were to watch a Captain go about his duties on a cruise ship you would note he breaks down the overall cruise into manageable steps. He cannot simply point in the direction of The Bahamas and say this looks about right, see you there in 5 days. He takes measurements, and charts the entire course to ensure that should situations arise that require a new course of action, that he has the time, energy and resources available to re-chart the course that still allows success. 

3. Motivation and Commitment

Paul Christenbury writes: Motivation and commitment are what make us strive to achievement. They give us the push, desire, and resolve to complete all of the other steps in the Goal process. This motivation can be obtained by developing a statement that creates a high level of emotion and energy that guarantees achievement. Commitment is what sets us on direct course to reach our goals and creates costly negative consequences for failure.

4. Reminders and Keeping on Track

Reaching our goals requires persistence and regular attention. We need some sort of system to keep us reminded and accountable. MyGoalManager.com uses a combination reminder emails, calendars, and reports to keep users organized and on track. If some accountability system is not used then we are likely to lose sight and fail.

5. Frequent Review and Re-assessment

Goal Setting is definitely an ongoing process that is accomplished over time. When we first sit down and start to define goals it can seem like a difficult and daunting task but over time it begins to get much easier. Patience is required. All goals due in the next year should be reviewed at least once a week and daily if possible. The great thing about frequent review is that this forces us to make big decisions and determine priorities in our life. We should keep watch for goals that aren’t being achieved on time or for goals on which we keep extending the deadline.

Each week I invest a minimum of 80+ hours into RockStarzUSA.com, and my own musical pursuits to be the best I can be. The only priorities I place above my career is my best friend, Mouse,  & my relationship with Jesus. The picture above encapsulates my work philosophy.

The best way I sum up my own work ethic & inspire you with a parting thought is this. This article was written November 15th 2011 at 6:46am & was scheduled for publication months in advance. Though it is fresh for you, by the time you read this I will already be writing articles for April/May 2012…..

By Fletch Whipp

We came across this video of the homeless young man who caused tears to flow and smiles to burst forth on the TV show ‘Korea’s got talent’ and concede, that we too, were not able to watch without shedding a tear ourselves.

Music truly is a universal language, and those gifted with ability can speak volumes without the need of interpreters, marketing or gimmicks to capture our heart, mind & soul. He is a humble young man, possessing a huge talent, and his story has been intensely investigated by the Korean media, and found to be completely truthful.

What are you doing with the talent and abilities you have? Are you excelling at what you love to do? Are there obstacles in your way? Regardless of your trying circumstances, your passion will make a way, and one day you too could stand before kings with your gift, exactly as this young man has done.

His story is just so inspiring that we wanted to give you an opportunity to be inspired too. Enjoy!

By Fletch Whipp

For a humbucker guitar, my go to model is my Ernie Ball MusicMan John Petrucci JP6 signature model. The Ernie Ball company have a long history spanning almost  four decades to date. Sterling Ball, became a product tester for Leo Fender’s stingray bass in 1975, and by 1984 Sterling had purchased the music man rademark designs. Guitarists such as Eddie Van Halen, Steve Morse,  and Steve Lukather were/are endorsees for this superb line of guitars. Petrucci came on board in 2000, after his relationship with Ibanez soured. and introduced at NAMM 2001, the first run of the Petrucci guitars were released.

I had played many Music Man’s over the years, however they were under the radar, as I had been so heavily involved with Carvin guitars at the time. In Fall ’09 I flew out to do some guitar shopping in Hollywood, and West Hollywood, and although I played upwards of 100 instruments, nothing leapt out at me, so I came home empty handed. The following weekend I was in Denver, and called in to a local Guitar Center I’ve frequented, and saw they had a newly initiated ’boutique’ room. In there I came across the Ernie Ball JP6 (John Petrucci) Dream Theater’s guitarist, and with a slight smirk (because of the typical Dream Theater fan), decided to pull it down, and see what it was like. John, after all has been inducted in to the guitar players hall of fame, and been voted world’s greatest guitarist 5 years in a row.

Knowing he is a very disciplined player and very particular with his equipment, I thought i would at least get an idea as to what appealed to this seriously well regarded guitarist. Again, very similar to my experience with my Suhr custom shop Strat, it was electrifying, Melissa was with me, and I kept looking at her, mouth half open. Within 2 weeks I came across a ridiculously good deal, and I haven’t stopped playing it since. Just beautiful. Fast neck, with gun oil tint. The back is a beautiful highly appointed birds eye maple board. The guitar has an even tone, rich hum buckers, both bridge and neck pickup have supreme character, the weight and balance are great, and the fretboard has an appealing 15″ radius, which allows me unhindered access to more challenging finger work parts, sweeping, tapping and other techniques that can be challenging on lesser radius necks. The bridge almost has a retro feel and look to it, harking back slightly to the vintage Fender’s with their cigarette ashtray cover, allowing your hand a very comfortable resting point.

The tuners are locking with a chrome finish. The wheels are about twice the thickness of the typical Sperzel’s and I appreciate the extra grip I have with this feature. The headstock is small which I have come to really appreciate the longer I have it. Though my Suhr custom shop is my number 1 guitar for Praise & Worship, the toggle style pickup selector is my favorite way of accessing pickups. I do change my pickups very regularly for tones so the toggle receives a very frequent workout. The toggle is solid and will withstand many years of switching. My model is the same featured above with a very unusual prismatic paint finish called ‘Mystic Dream’ It changes color in the light from Purple, to bronze, emerald green and even hints of burgundy. This is a guitar that is a joy to play every time I take it out the case!

If you liked the JP6, also check out the lower priced JP100 review we’ve also done right here!

By Fletch Whipp

I remember reading Rolling Stone while growing up, they were edgy & were on the cutting edge of popular culture. If Rolling Stone approved or disapproved of a particular subject, it carried weight. Unfortunately now, in my opinion, rolling Stone are carrying a different weight, the weight of an organization too comfortable and overweight to be on the cutting edge of anything…

Still reigning supreme, Jimi tops the 100 greatest list from Rolling Stone

Case in question, their recent ’100 greatest guitarists of all time’. While the typical faces you expect were on there, Hendrix, Clapton, Page, Beck, Richards, Van Halen, Hetfield, Cobain….. sure, these are major heavyweights and no list could possibly be considered serious or definitive without them.

I get that.

But, then I started scratching my head as I noticed the inclusion of Paul Simon, Lou Reed, Willie Nelson….. ranking above some major leaugue players….umm, Houston, we have a problem.

But as I scanned through the list, a tinge of concern spread to panic, and finally total disbelief as, once the smoke settled, several serious caliber players were ommitted from the list.

Where was Eric Johnson? Yngwie Malmsteen? John Petrucci? Steve Morse? Those four missing is one tragedy, but to do a hot 100 without Joe Satriani or Steve Vai is just downright disrespectful, what kind of list was this again? Oh that’s right GREATEST guitarsists of all time. Actually the greatest guitar tour package of all time, G3 overseen by Satriani, and always has Vai on the bill has toured with 3 of the first 4 shunned guitarsists…. (Steve Morse would probably do the tour if given the opportunity)

Yes, a greatest guitarists list without these three, and it's not a joke....

Ummmmm…

Why didn’t someone check their breath of the author before submission, as I would offer there could very well have been evidence of alcohol, which is the only logical conclusion that can be drawn, before publishing such a ‘list’.

I think the list does little other than to prove Rolling Stone has officially jumped the shark. Fonzie you are no longer alone my friend.

By Fletch Whipp

I manage a large complex of music studios called RockStarzUSA here in Colorado. From working with hundreds of guitarists monthly, I regularly get exposure to many many pickups. Additionally I have been retrofitting pickups to my guitars for 20 years now. The  Dimarzio Liquifire pickup offers the contemporary musician a pickup that shines through while being placed in a position more regarded for undefined bass, and overly muddy tones.

My first retrofit was the Dimarzio Tone Zone, and my previous installation was a set of 60′s pickups retrofitted into my Custom Shop Suhr guitar. From working in my recording studio I listen critically to tone day in day out. My ears have been honed to differentiate frequency specific material. Being a professional guitarist, and one who has serviced thousands of guitars doing all manner of luthier work also assist in being able to correctly quantify the merits, or lack thereof with certain aspects of guitar.

I’ve generally held that guitar pickups are less significant to the entire guitar tone signal (including amps effects etc) than probably 90% of players, make out they are. This is evidenced purely by the sheer amount of players on YouTube who sometimes play through rigs worth thousands of dollars but clearly, have very little understanding or grounding into real guitar tone.

My Ernie Ball Guitar featuring the Dimarzio CrunchLab & Liquifire Pickups.

The Liquifire truly is an exception. It is the best neck pickup I’ve ever installed. The bass is solid, and very defined, but not lacking clarity, or spilling over into other frequencies. The pickup behaves in a slightly compressed manner, yet rich in harmonic detail. Both clean and overdriven tones are full, and completely usable. Sometimes a pickup excels in clean, yet becomes unfocused with OD/Dirt tones. Neck pickups have always traditionally presented an aspect of appeal, yet compromise in another area, this is NOT the case with the Liquifire. From basic open triads to complex 13b9b5 chord voicings, to fast legato passages over melodic minor scales, the pickup detail is very articulate. It changes character very nicely when rolling off as little as 1dB from the volume control, or adjusting the tone control down to 8.5 for example.

Reading one of the previous reviews here, while I don’t wish to be inflammatory, seems to highlight one of three things. 1) The pickup was installed without correct regard given to height to string ratio & wiring, 2) The guitar possessed really dreadful overbearing tonal qualities that severely impeded the overall interaction with the pickup, or 3) Another factor was interfering with the ability to judge the pickup on it’s voice alone. Whatever the hindrance that was clouding the reviewers circumstance, their findings were glaringly different from my results. I don’t say that egotistically at all, but rather from the perspective that tone doesn’t lie.

Perhaps the harmonic detail, and even bass range is the most appealing aspect of the Liquifire. To achieve the clarity I have with the Liquifire, I would easily pay $150 without hesitating, it has made that much difference. The fact it can be bought for around 50% of that lands it in the bargain territory for myself. I’ve used Dmarzio’s Duncans, Suhr, Carvin & other brands both active, passive and active electroni equipped guitars for more than two decades. The Liquifire reigns supreme. By way of further justification, I installed this pickup in an Ernie Ball JP100. The ‘cheap’ Petrucci signature model. The tone in this guitar outshines my American made JP6 (1st year model with earlier custom Dimarzio’s pre CrunchLab & Liquifire combination)

I am in the process of upgrading the Liquifire in my JP6 as a result. It really is that great. Congrats Dimarzio, you knocked it out the ballpark this time! 10/10. I am drawing a truly significant respect to John Petrucci who truly has a unique and wonderful insight into both guitar design, and tone. While I respect John’s achievements with Dream Theater, the fact that I am gravitating to his signature items is purely because the products really are unique, and special in an overdrowded environment. Having the right name, brand or logo lost it’s value or sizzle factor many years ago, as my ears took over determining relevance into my musical sound design.

By Fletch Whipp

I enjoy a wide range of music, spanning from the 60′s all the way through to current cutting edge music. From long hours and years spent in the studio it is interesting to analyse music past similar to how a Historian investigates time past.

Some musical trends cause me to smile, others to shudder or wince and remark ‘what were they thinking?’ I believe the current ‘Loudness Wars’ trend could have the potential to cause engineers 20 years from now think, with all the technological advantages they had at the start of the new millenium, how did they become dumber?

for the uninitiated the loudness wars refers to the current trend of mastering music at the maximum volume in an effort for the music to become more powerful. Trying to detail this to those unfamiliar with sound design might be like trying to detail what air is like. It negatively affects the song much more than a simple volume boost, which in itself isn’t such a bad thing. As the videos below will explain however, the end result is that the program material suffers significantly.

Metal giants Metallica’s last release Death Magentic pushed the Loudness War into the mainstream when fans-not audiophiles, complained bitterly about the unappealing sound of the CD. Metallica had released the master tracks to the Guitar Hero franchise prior to the album being finalized. This video demonstrates easily how the final product sounds gross compared to the Guitar Hero version.

Ted Jensen, Senior mastering engineer at Sterling Sound who oversaw ‘Death Magnetic’ responded to severe crticism leveled at him about the audio quality. ’I’m certainly sympathetic to your reaction, I get to slam my head against that brick wall every day. In this case the mixes were already brick walled before they arrived at my place. Suffice it to say I would never be pushed to overdrive things as far as they are here. Believe me I’m not proud to be associated with this one, and we can only hope that some good will come from this in some form of backlash against volume above all else’.

The increasing trend away from high fidelity dynamic range material towards a wash of sheer volume is effectively detailed in the following graph of remasters of Michael Jackson’s ‘Black & White’ track. This is exactly the same song, simply remastered by engineers over the years for different re-releases featuring the song. As you’ll see, the song gets louder with each subsequent release, yet the audio graph begins to more closely resemble the ‘bricj wall’ appearance that is the bain of main quality sound engineers.

The end result is that for the last 15 years music quality has degraded to the point where an entire generation is accepting bad recordings without realizing that a much better audio production standard exists, Simply put, music is becoming less musical, and an increasing number of music fans are unaware.

To discover more about the Loudness Wars, visit the following website.

www.DynamicRangeDay.com