Several months ago, Maury bought a bunch of PA equipment for our band to use for shows. It’s good stuff – Crown power amps, JBL speakers and subs, etc. Anyway, our drummer at the time left before we could play a show, so all this stuff just sat unused for months. FYI: our band is once again fully staffed (welcome Doug!), so we should be getting back into the swing of things very soon.
Anyway, our church band was asked to play for an event this evening, so we’re going to use Maury’s PA setup rather than disassemble the church stuff and then have to reassemble it before Sunday. We’re also going to bring our personal amps (Maury’s Triple Rectifier and my Sig:X) rather than bring the church stuff.
It’s going to be a lot of work, but it should be fun. I’m excited to hear how the PA sounds, and I’m really looking forward to using our amps on stage in a big room. I’m afraid that it might be really loud in there, but hopefully it’ll sound good. I also hope that it doesn’t rain on us while we’re loading/unloading stuff.
My new speaker cab showed up yesterday via FedEx, and they didn’t even wait until 9:30 pm to deliver it this time. Anyway, the box was huge and it took me about 30 minutes to unpack it. It was very carefully packed, and I didn’t want to get styrofoam peanuts everywhere. I really hate those little things.
I got a used VHT Deliverance 412 from a guy on The Gear Page. I initially wanted a 2×12, but they never show up on the used market and a new 2×12 costs more than a used 4×12. This one is loaded with the stock Fryette-designed Eminence P50E speakers, and they are intended to be played with VHT/Fryette amps.
Anyway, I got the cab set up and played through it for about 5 minutes. That’s not really enough time to make much of a first impression, but I can at least say that it doesn’t seem to be louder than my old 2×12, which is a good thing. It definitely has more oomph, though.
This cab is built like a tank, and it is completely sealed. A lot of closed-back cabs are rear loaded with a removable back panel. This amp is front-loaded, and there is no back panel, which means that no air can accidentally escape through the cracks. The result of this is a very tight low end response.
I will certainly have more to say about the cab over the next few weeks as I have more opportunities to use it. For now, I’ll just share this pic of the new happy family.
First of all, I have not lost my job. As far as I know, I am in no danger of losing my position. I didn’t want anyone to get wrong ideas about my occupational situation based upon the title of this post. No, I received my new, smaller, lighter pedalboard this week and it is now fully assembled and ready to go. It is pretty much a perfect fit for my M13 and 2 FV-500H pedals. I’m not using the MXR EQ anymore – I’m only using the EQs in the M13.
Over the last few months, I have made some major changes to my guitar setup, and there are more changes coming. I think that it will be simpler to operate when I’m done, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it will be simple to look at.
For one, I have gone through quite a few amps. I started out with a Stulce – a relatively simple ~8 watt tube amp. It was designed to get maximum tube saturation without getting unbearably loud. It was nice, but it didn’t have enough clean headroom. I traded that for a Genz-Benz Black Pearl, which is a 30 watt amp similar in nature to a VOX AC30. It was really jangly and chimey, and it got pretty rude when you cranked the gains, but it never really got seriously crunchy. I also acquired a 1970 Fender Bassman. It had great cleans and it was really loud, but it needed some work (new filter caps, pots, etc) and I didn’t really want to drop any more cash into it. I decided to sell both of them and buy a VHT Sig:X. The Sig:X is a monstrous 100 watt 3-channel amp that can do pretty much everything. I have talked about this amp ad nauseum here, so I won’t continue to do so.
My pedalboard used to be 36″ wide with a wah, a volume pedal, a bunch of analog overdrive/distortion/boost pedals, and a giant green delay pedal with a huge midi controller. It is now 24″ wide with one of these and two of these. I’m still figuring out some of the intricacies of the M13, but I’m really liking it so far.
The next change is going to be my speaker cabinet. I had an Avatar Vintage 2×12, but it was kinda cheaply made, and it didn’t have a very tight sound. I sold it, and I will soon be the proud owner of a Fryette Deliverance 4×12 that will match my Sig:X. A 4×12 is a really big speaker cab, and it’s going to be awesome. I have never had a half stack before, but I have a feeling that it’s gonna be pretty rock and roll. I was initially planning to buy the 2×12 version, but I happened to find a really good deal on the bigger one. The used 4×12 ended up being significantly less expensive than a new 2×12 so I decided to go for it.
The other little gadget that I’m planning to add to my setup in the near future is the RJM Mini Amp Gizmo. This thing looks pretty awesome. It allows you to control a modern multi-channel amp (including models by VHT/Fryette, Mesa, Bogner, Egnater, etc) with a MIDI device like the Line 6 M13. Basically, I can run a MIDI cable from the M13 to the Amp Gizmo to my amp. The M13 will send information to the Amp Gizmo, allowing me to use the M13 as my amp’s footswitch. I can assign a different amp setting (channel/boost/effects loop) to each scene on the M13. Rather than using distortion patches on the M13, I can use the clean/rhythm/lead channels on the amp. Here’s a little video that demonstrates how it works.
It’s going to be kind of a pain to get it all set up, but it will be super easy to operate once it’s done. I really don’t want to have to stomp all the time – I would much rather just focus on playing.
I spent a while dialing in some tones on the M13 last night. In doing so, I discovered the importance of using EQ. There are several EQ models that are geared towards different purposes, but I spent most of my time using the graphic EQ model.
I had the most success using the EQ after overdrive/distortion. I was able to change a sloppy rhythm tone into crisp, Marshally tone just by slightly boosting the bass/treble frequencies and slightly cutting the mids. By “slightly,” I mean that my adjustments were less than 1 dB in any direction – any more made the tone really harsh and fake-sounding. I found that the key is to make small adjustments.
However, I found that the biggest challenge is in balancing the tones with each other. Tweaking the rhythm tone caused some of my other scenes to be really lackluster in comparison. As a result, I spent about an hour EQing my other favorite scenes so that they are all somewhat compatible with each other. In other words, I don’t want to go from a clean tone to an overdriven tone and sound like a completely different setup (unless it’s intentional). Anyway, my tones are much more sparkly now. It’s amazing what a little EQ can accomplish. Of course, I’ll have to make some adjustments when playing with a band, but I’ll cross that bridge later…
Unfortunately, I’m having a really hard time dialing in a good lead tone with the M13. Everything that I have come up with just ends up sounding fake. Maybe I have just grown accustomed to the amazing natural tube saturation that my Sig:X gives me. Whatever the reason, I may have to keep an analog distortion in the M13’s effects loop.
I would like to be able to run the M13 without any external pedals for simplicity’s sake, but I haven’t quite figured out how to do that yet. Fortunately, running a pedal in the FX loop doesn’t necessarily add another stomp to the effects switching thing, since you can set up the effects loop to be on or off in individual scenes. I can leave the distortion pedal on all the time, but if my “clean” scene doesn’t use the FX loop, then it will just bypass it.
I need to record another video when I get the chance. Of course, that will have to wait until I get my new speaker cab. I sold the Avatar 2×12 that I have been using, and I’ll be ordering a new Fryette cab in the next couple of days. It should be awesome. I’m probably going to get another 2×12, but I’m toying with the idea of a 4×12. I can get a used 4×12 for cheaper than a new 2×12, and I can’t find a used 2×12 anywhere. However, the 4×12 is (obviously) significantly bigger and heavier that a 2×12. It’ll have casters, but still…
I made a little video demonstrating latch mode on the M13. I haven’t really tweaked these tones yet (especially the overdrive/distortion) so it’s a little rough right now. However, you can see the possibilities that this setup affords. Let me know what you think.
Well, here’s the latest iteration of my pedalboard. [sarcasm] I know that my readers are always waiting with bated breath for the newest inconsequential pedal addition/substitution. [/sarcasm]
Anyway, Since my main amp has such amazing natural tube overdrive/distortion, I don’t have to use pedals with it. As such, I decided to experiment with taking all of my dirt pedals off the board. So, my signal is currently guitar – M13 (2 FV500H expression pedals) with the MXR EQ in the loop.
When I use this live with my Sig:X, I’m going to set up the filters, comps, and drive effects to come before the preamp stage of the amplifier. Delays, modulations, reverbs, and EQ will be in the effects loop. At church, I just run this into a clean VOX AC15.
I have been experimenting the with the drives that are built into the M13 and some of them are surprisingly usable, especially the tube screamer, tube drive, and L6 drive. There’s a lot of tweaking that can be done with these sounds to make them very natural-sounding. Of course, a few of the models are just bad and should probably be tossed out. All in all, I’m still pleased with the M13 and I think that I’ll probably hang on to it for a while. Once I get some settings finalized, I’ll probably record some clips to give you an idea of what it’s capable of.
I recently got a new faceplate for my Sig:X to reflect the name change of the company that makes my amp.
Before:
After:
I’m not 100% sure about the accuracy of this story, but I read about it on the internets, so it has to be pretty much true. Anyway, in 1989 a guy named Steve Fryette started an amplifier company and called it VHT. Before long, VHT gained a reputation for manufacturing cutting edge guitar amps. Apparently, they borrowed some money fairly recently and used the VHT name as collateral. I’m not exactly sure about what happened next, but they lost the name.
Steve Fryette regrouped and started a new company and named it after himself – Fryette Amplification. He retained the rights to all of his designs and products – he just lost the VHT name. The company that now calls itself VHT bears little resemblance to Fryette.
I really, really like my Sig:X. It may not have the vintage look or boutique vibe of something like a Bad Cat or ÷13, but these amps were built for players, not collectors. The control panel of the Sig:X may look intimidating, but it’s not quite as complicated as it looks. My next major purchase is going to be a Fryette 2×12 speaker cab. Their cabs are supposed to be awesome, and they were designed specifically to mate with Fryette amps.
I’m about to start experimenting with an EQ pedal. I have an MXR 10-Band EQ on the way, and I’m trying to figure out where I want to put it in the signal chain. There are a couple of schools of thought about placement: pre- and post-distortion.
Pre-distortion EQ alters the harmonic content of the distorted tone, while post-distortion EQ shapes the overall tone. As of this moment, I think that I’m going to go with this chain:
I have had a little time to spend with the M13, so I guess it’s time to share some thoughts. First impressions are that this thing is very cool. I haven’t messed with all the sounds yet, but a lot of them sound great.
First of all, the delays are awesome. There are a bunch of different ones to choose from, and they’re all very tweakable. I’m very happy about the inclusion of the Lo-Res delay from the DL4. I owned a DL4 for a couple of weeks, and the Lo-Res delay was my favorite sound on the pedal. Unfortunately, it was accompanied by an unacceptable volume drop, so it had to go. The M13 seems to have corrected this unfortunate situation.
Anyway, I used it at church on Sunday and it was really easy to dial up a few basic delay tones that worked really well. I set up two delays in series (tube echo dotted eighth > analog echo w/mod dotted eighth) and it was perfect for the U2/modern worship thing. I initially had the mix set too high, but it was easy enough to tweak on the fly.
The M13 has an effects loop, which enables you to place external stompboxes within the effects chain. On Sunday I didn’t have this set up, so all of my distortion pedals were in front of the M13 which didn’t work out too well. Because of this, I decided to try out a couple of the M13’s overdrive pedal tones. I ended up using the tube drive model, which is supposed to be designed to sound like the Chandler Tube Driver. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to get some totally usable tones out of it. Granted, the digital models aren’t as organic as the analog counterparts, but it’ll work in a pinch. My main gripe is that the digital overdrives don’t really clean up with the guitar’s volume control or a light pick attack. Since Sunday, I have rearranged my board a little and put the od/distortions into the loop. It sounds much better this way.
I really like using expression pedals with this thing. There are obvious uses like wah, whammy, and volume control, but you can assign the expression pedal to manipulate any parameters that you want. It can be as simple as using the exp pedal to control the gain setting on your overdrive pedal. However, you can use the pedal to change every setting on any given effect. In the heel down position, you could have a dry digital delay setting with low repeats, moderate feedback, and no modulation. The toe down position could be a very warm self-oscillating delay with infinite repeats. Of course, as you sweep back and forth, you get a blend of the two delay sounds which gives you a lot of flexibility in controlling your tone. Right now, I only have one expression pedal but I will be picking up a second in the very near future.
In short, I am pretty pleased with the M13. I have decided to sell my Timeline delay pedal as well as the Rocktron MIDI controller that I was using with it. If you’re interested, let me know…
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