One question I am often asked is: “What kind of amp should I buy?” When it comes to amps there are lots of variables, but the most important thing to consider is whether you will buy a tube-amp or a solid-state amp. Before we get into this, let’s break down how your amp works. There are three basic stages involved in amplifying the sound that comes from your guitar.

Roland JC-120, Andy Summer's Uber-Clean Machine!

First, there is the input stage, which is called the preamp. The preamp takes your signal from your guitar, via your instrument cable, and “colors” it with various controls: eq (equalization), gain, reverb, etc. This signal is then passed on to your power amp, which amplifies the signal and sends it to your speaker, which then turns the electrical signal back into a physical sound, which is what you hear coming out of the amp.

Preamps and power amps can either be solid-state or tube powered. The main thing to consider in your selection of an amp is what kind of tone you are after. Sounds simple, but you really need to spend some time thinking about this before you go out and buy an amp. In a nutshell, tube-amps create a rounded tone, which will appear as a sine wave if you analyze it. Solid-state amps create a square wave, which is an edgier, crisper sound.

Two Marshall Full-Stacks

A good example of a tube-amp sound would be Carlos Santana’s flowing sustain, or Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “fat” tone. For solid-state tone, imagine Andy Summer’s tone from his Police days, or the edge and nastiness of Dimebag Darrell’s riffs (Pantera).

Think about the guitarists you like, then decide if you want to try to emulate their tone. A quick search online will usually pull up detailed descriptions of what gear your favorite guitarists use to create their signature tones. Amplifiers are usually configured in one of four ways:

• Solid-state pre- and power amp
• Tube pre- and power amp
• Hybrid: tube preamp, solid-state power amp; solid-state preamp, tube power amp.

Some examples:

• Line6 Spider III (great practice amp!): all solid-state
• Marshall JCM2000: all tube
• Marshall AVT series: tube pre-, solid-state power amp
• Line6 Pod XT Live/Mesa Simul-Class 2:Ninety: solid-state pre-, tube power

Mesa and TC Electronics; nice rack!

The Line6/Mesa rig is what would be called a modular or rack setup. Each unit is designed to be screwed into rails inside a rack. The other two configurations of amps are called combo amps and stacks.

A combo amp contains the preamp, power amp and speaker(s) all in one enclosure; generally these amps are smaller than stacks. Stacks separate the amp and the speakers, so your preamp and power amp are in one unit (called a head) while your speakers are in heir own enclosure (called a cabinet).

Rack units are the most versatile setups, allowing you to use any number (and brand) of preamps, power amps and speakers in all sorts of combinations; of course, more options usually also equals more money. Using an amp head gives you the option of using different cabinet setups: a two speaker cabinet for a small club, four speaker cab for a bigger gig, etc.

A small combo amp is great for practice, but many performers also use them live because they can’t find a particular tone anywhere else; for example, a Fender Twin. There are way too many combinations to cover in detail in this little blog, but hopefully this will help you start narrowing your search.

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Picking The Right Pick
Your Guitar Rig – The Quest for Perfect Tone

As I’ve mentioned before: every item in your signal path, from your guitar, to your strings, to your pickups, to your amp… All this affects your overall tone. Your pick is part of this equation. Many beginning students ask me what kind of pick they should use when they first start studying guitar. My advice is always the same: buy an assortment and see what feels best for you.

There are three things to consider when choosing the right pick.

Most important is the thickness of the pick; this will affect your tone more than anything else. Next in importance is the material that the pick is made of. Least important is what the pick looks like.

Pick Thickness

The thickness of your pick affects your overall volume, and the sharpness of your attack. A soft pick creates a softer volume, and allows the pick to push through the strings more easily. Soft picks are good for someone like a singer/songwriter who wants to feature their voice more than their guitar. The soft pick will allow easy strumming with a low volume output; note: this applies to acoustic guitars; obviously, you can set your volume anywhere you want with an electric instrument.

The tightness of your grip on the pick also affects your volume: if you squeeze hard you will play with a louder volume than if you hold the pick softly. The softer the pick, the less volume control you will have. Medium picks give you a little more volume control while still being flexible enough to maintain some control over flexing the pick. Heavy and extra-heavy picks basically have no give.

There are endless gradations in pick thickness. Less expensive picks (Fender, Gibson…) usually come in just four gradients: soft, medium, heavy and extra-heavy. Fancier picks (Dunlop, D’Andrea…) come in many sizes, measured in the hundredth of millimeters. This means there are many different pick widths which fall between medium and heavy.

The fanciest picks will have special surfaces to enhance your grip, be made of materials other than plastic (such as metal, stone, etc.), be manufactured with ergonomic twists and angles, have custom tips… The bottom line is this: until you achieve some proficiency on your instrument, you probably won’t be able to tell a whole lot of difference between the myriad pick options.

Pick Material

Thickness aside, most plastic picks basically sound the same; other materials, such as metal or stone will change your instrument’s tone. For now, let’s dwell on plastic picks, since this is what the majority of us are going to use. There are a number of different kinds of plastics used in picks.

The most common material is celluloid, which is soft and flexible. This material feels great, but if you are an aggressive player (you employ chugging metal rhythms, do pick-slides…) these won’t last very long. Delrin can be made to feel similar to celluloid, but is more durable. It can also be made in a flat finish that is extremely tough; Jim Dunlop Tortex picks use this material.  One draw-back that I have noticed with the Tortex picks is that over time they mold to your finger.

Some people might like having their pick curve with their finger; I don’t like it.  The toughest picks I have found (and my personal favorites) are Dunlop Ultex picks. The plastic used in these is extremely tough, allowing more rigidity in a thinner pick, and providing the best resilience to pick abuse that I have found. One drawback of Ultex picks is that they cannot be dyed, so they are only available in a rubber-like bronze color.

Pick Appearance

Which brings us to the final consideration: appearance. Picks are an accessory, and like any accessory they have an effect on our overall appearance. Some people like to have their guitar, strap, pick, outfit… Everything coordinated to look nice. Also, you may want to print your band name on your pick, or your personal slogan. If this is the case, you will need a pick that can be dyed.

As mentioned at the top of this article: go to your music store and see what they have in the way of picks. For five bucks you can get a large assortment of picks and see what fits you best. You can also call the pick companies and ask them for an assortment (tell them you want to order a large number of picks to print, but you’re not sure what type yet). Often, they will send you their entire line of picks for free.

Here is a list of some guitar players, and the picks they are famous for using:

• Stevie Ray Vaughan: Mexican One-Peso coin
• Eddie Van Halen: Fender Medium
• Jerry Garcia: extra-heavy pick
• Gordon Kahan: Jim Dunlop Ultex .73mm

Good luck picking your pick; remember: be picky!

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Your Guitar Rig – The Quest for Perfect Tone

No doubt, delay is my favorite effect, unless you consider distortion an effect. Delay adds a depth and richness to my tone that I can’t live without. There are many ways to apply delay (which is also called echo). Before getting into the applications, though, let’s go over the basic parameters of a delay effect:

• Feedback: controls the number of repeats of the delay.
  

  The Original Echoplex, tape-based echo machine

• Delay-time: controls the length of the repeat, usually in milliseconds (ms).
• Effect level: controls the volume of the repeat relative to the volume of the original signal. (This is often called Effects Mix, depending on the unit; a higher mix = a higher delay level)

Any delay pedal should have at least these parameters for controlling it. Many amps also have delays built into them these days; in this case, there is usually only control over the delay time and level. There are three types of delay: tape-based, analog and digital.

The first delays were tape-based, such as the Echoplex or Roland Space Echo. These units create delays by actually recording the guitar signal on a tape. The speed of the tape moving through the machine controls the length of the delay. Analog delays use circuit-boards to do this. Digital delays use chips to process delays, and thus offer substantially longer delay times than either tape-based or analog delays; however, the old school delays are often more sought after , because of their warmer tones.

Boss DD-20

Higher end pedals, dedicated rack-mount delay units, and guitar multi-effects units often offer more parameters for controlling delay beyond the basic three mentioned above. More advanced settings for delay include:

• Tempo delay: this allows you to set the delay to the tempo of a song and then pick a synchopation for the delays; e.g., a quarter-note, dotted eighth-note, etc. Tempo delay is often controlled by tapping the tempo, either with a finger- or foot-switch. You can also use math to figure out tempo delays, but it sure is easier having a chip do it for you!
• Ping-pong delay: delay that pans from speaker to speaker; this is a stereo effect.
• Multi-tap delay: stereo delays with two different delay times. This often causes some crazy sounding effects!
• Reverse delay: the delay of your guitar is reversed, creating a backwards guitar effect.
• lbp/hbp: low-band pass/high-band pass. This allows you to eq your echoes, making them brighter or darker.
• Modulated delay: the delays are modulated creating a chorus type sound (think: The Edge)

I’m sure there are more parameters, but this should give you an idea of some of the things you can do with a delay. I would suggest spending some time with your manual, or even better, just push buttons and twist knobs until you figure out what they do. This often leads to the best discoveries!

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Your Guitar Rig: Using Delay, Part II
Your Guitar Rig – The Quest for Perfect Tone

In the first installment on delay we explored what a delay can do. Now let’s explore some players who use delay, so you can get an idea of what you might be looking for.

Ibanez AD-9, a very popular analog delay; good for slap-back

“Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” (Van Halen) is an example of a “slap-back” type delay. This is a quick delay (ranging from about 75-150 ms); in this song it is closer to the 150 ms area. “Rooster Rock” (Brian Setzer) is an example of a shorter slap-back echo; at this speed it sounds more like reverb. “Walk of Life” (Dire Straights) is another classic example of the slap-back sound.

TC Electronic 2290, the Edge's delay

The Edge (U2) is synonymous with delay. “Pride (In the Name of Love)” is a great example of how he uses delay to achieve his signature tone. The Edge uses two amps so that he can split the delay into a stereo signal. This is what creates the “ping-ponging” in his sound: one amp plays the original sound, the other plays the delayed sound. The delayed signal is set to a specific synchopation, (in this case a dotted eighth-note; 417ms@108bpm) which creates the effect of having another guitar part added.  The Edge uses modulated-delays (T.C. Electronics 2290), which add a lush, chorused sound to his delays. (http://www.amnesta.net/edge_delay/ is where I got this info and is an incredible site for those of you who want to get freaky-technical about the Edge’s gear secrets!)

Roland SDE-1000; made famous by Steve Vai

Many shredders use delay to “fatten” their sound. These delays are usually set anywhere from 250-750ms, with at least three or four repeats. The trick to using delay this way is to keep your delay/effect level  (effects mix) low (no more than maybe 30%).  When set like this, you will hear the delay when the guitar player stops but won’t hear the actual repeats while they play. A good example of this is “Blue Powder”, by Steve Vai. In the beginning you hear his delay but once the band comes in you don’t really notice it.

Similar to the syncopated delays of the Edge, some players go even farther, using a delay to create a second part to their original melody lines. Good examples of this are: “Cathedral” (Van Halen), and “Hina” (David Lee Roth Band; Vai). In “Cathedral” the echoes create the illusion of rapid arpeggios being played when in fact the riff is fairly easy (except for mastering the volume knob technique) , the delay adding most of the notes.

Wes Borland

Another great source of delay ideas come via Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit). “Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water” is a great album for anyone who wants to check out what a guy can do with delay and other effects . I know, you probably are saying “Eww, Limp Bizkit!”, but Borland is the real deal, you should check him out; notice that Limp Bizkit lasted about three minutes after he left the band.

Boss DD-3, a great value!

If you want to start playing with delay, and not invest too much to start, you can pick up a Boss DD-3 for around $50 bucks used, and it’s a great pedal!

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Your Guitar Rig – The Quest for Perfect Tone

“I can name that guitarist in three notes”. Think of any great guitarist and you immediately think of their tone, their “sound”. The first time I became aware of this was when I was eleven, three years before I even began playing guitar.  Van Halen I: the sci-fi synth-drone, a pulsing bass and then, bam! Guitar chords so big I wanted to jump up and shout, “Hallelujah!”  From that instant on I knew I had to play the electric guitar.

(If you  don’t know what I’m talking about, take a listen to “Running With The Devil”)  Think of Van Halen and you think of his sound. Sure, two-handed tapping will come to mind, but above all you hear his mammoth tone.

The Edge's Guitar Rig

This is no accident. From the gauge of his strings to the thickness of his pick, to his pickups, stomp-boxes, amp head, cabinet, speakers, recording mic placement, stereo separation in the mix…

You get the picture: this is a science!  Every item in your signal chain effects the way you will sound to your listeners.

Can you imagine Tom Morello without his Whammy pedal?  Steve Vai without a whammy bar?  Jimi Page without a bow? (well, maybe)

The point is, if you are going to be a successful guitarist you have to have a recognizable sound.

Obviously, much of this will be based on your musicianship but equally important will be your attention to detail: what guitar you choose, your amp, etc.

In this series I will offer up a number of articles concerning your signal chain that will hopefully help guide you in your quest for the ultimate tone. Be warned: this is a life-long journey!

Author’s note:

Eddie Van Halen sounds like himself on a Wal-Mart ukulele, too. More than anything, your tone is in your fingers. Practice!