Amp Tone Part 5: Speakers and Cabs

Maybe……just maybe the most overlooked part of amp tone. I’ll talk to a lot of people who are into tube-swapping, are point-to-point handmade snobs, and all that jazz, but who couldn’t care less about their speakers. Maybe it’s because you can’t see the speakers, so what’s the point of getting cool ones? (That really did [...]

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Which Pedal Gets That Clean Tone? (Or A $2,000 Pedalboard and a $50 Amp)

Sorry that the title is a bit confusing. I thought I’d try the two title thing, pulled together by an ‘or.’ You know, like Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends’ album. Because it’s definitely not lame sauce to steal ideas from famous people and pretend you never noticed. My motto is, [...]

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Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should

I have a saying that was borne out of necessity……and that necessity was borne out of my own idiotness (that can’t be right). And it came from me always thinking that somewhere, deep down, I was actually the next Johann Sebastian Bach, except with an electric guitar and a Slick Shoes voice. (This is high [...]

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Music to Make You Cry

Here’s the promised ‘non-boring’ post for those of you bored with the new Amp Tone Part 4 post below. (And if you’re new here, I try to always follow up a technical tone post with a more fluffy and esoteric tone post, as I never know if I’m going to get tone junkies, music lovers, [...]

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Amp Tone Part 4: Getting Good Tone Out of Your Amp

The almost finale of the Amp Tone posts……and another boring and technical post. Remember, for every boring and technical post, I’ll have a light-hearted, tra-la-la (in the best possible way) post up above. But some people dig this stuff……tone is like candy for us. No, really. We can literally taste tone. So we’ve had both parts [...]

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Marketing Yourself as a Musician

Of course, as musicians, we all want steady jobs. (Or gigs……’Gig, son. When you’re a musician, a job is called a gig.’ Sorry, that’s from a Simpsons episode, and it’s quite funny.) Now, as worship musicians, I know that sounds incredibly un-spiritual. But if you feel that playing music for God is something He wants [...]

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Fuzz Pedal Shootout the First

Well, the BJFE Candy Apple Fuzz didn’t come in yet, and I just couldn’t wait any longer. It’s only been a few weeks, but seriously……I’ve got 8 fuzz pedals just lying around…no guitarist is that strong. Could this lack of patience possibly be a weakness of mine?……I’m going to say no.
What I’ll do is just [...]

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Blogroll

I’ve been feeling the need lately to make just a slight diversion from the usual ‘guitar for worship’ stuff and highlight those on my blogroll. I’ve just been stoked by how many honestly ‘good people’ frequent this site; so I think it’s time to give them linkage. However, I also get that if you’re new [...]

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Cleaning Out the Gear Closet–a Pictorial Journey

I keep absolutely everything pertaining to gear. I’ve learned the hard way that that pedal I said I would never sell……ya, I’ll sell it. And when I do, if I’ve already thrown away the box simply to keep a little space in my gear closet, it won’t fetch as good of a resale price. I have [...]

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Overdrive Shootout the Third

I don’t know how this happens. It’s not like I intend to have 10 overdrive pedals just lying around. They just start coming in the mail. Like magic. It’s so weird.
So I had 10 of them, and figured, let’s toss ‘em in a bag together and watch the ensuing bloodshed. I absolutely love it. For [...]

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