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Getting the RD Artist ready for battle

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The other day I had to do a few errands like pick up some grocery’s and earth worms for our turtles. Oh BTW, we use to have lots of reptiles like, Chinese Water Dragons, and a HUGE Iguana named Napoleon that we called our son who I miss every day, and some turtles.

Before starting off I decided to go to the 12th Fret to finally start paying more attention to my electric guitar ambitions. I haven’t restrung my RD in years. Whenever I broke a string, I just put another one on from the pack that I bought ages ago.

Yes, I really do feel bad about not paying proper homage to this beauty but, I did not have any use for it for a long time.

While visiting the store, I ran into my favorite guitar technician Tim. This guitar master is very knowledgeable in his field. He’s the type of guy you can sit down with and ask for honest opinions about what direction you should take in any situation. Tim has the uncanny personal trait of making you feel relaxed and at home. He has that trustful older brother demeanor. He is also the proud papa of a 16 day old boy, whom I’m sure is a guitar prodigy to be.

So I told him what I was looking for and he started to ask me about what setting/intonation I was using. I felt a bit like a rookie when I told him I had no idea. So as not to directly acknowledge my stupidity, he started explaining my options to me. Ahhhh, finally dodging a big bullet. I was saying to myself, “thanx for not dwelling on that too long Tim!”

He asked what type of feel the guitar strings had in regards to malleability or flexibility and he directed my attention to the D’Addario XL EXL110’s. These electric strings are nickel wound and have a regular light gauge to them.

How you restring your guitar is the most important thing that you will ever do to your axe.

You have to make sure that the way you wind them around the tuning pegs are perfect in every way.

How you thread the string through the eyelet – or the little whole on the tuning head- is very important. The length at which you start winding it, the tension that you have on it, using your other hand, and how close they are placed together on the shaft of the tuning peg is paramount.

Imagine when you are measuring an angle. If you start a little bit off, as little as one degree, it will only get worst at the end of your project. Does that make sense to you?

The strings are on, and the windings look good. Now it’s time to start working them in! For further results, tune in next week!

Keep on Jammin’




My second amp – a Silvertone Sears modell 26122

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I can’t believe what you can find out there online.

I was writing a post today and as usual, drifted into la la land. Or should I say down memory lane.

I came across this guys site and he had the same amp that I had when I was in grade 7, I think. It was called a Sears-Simpson 12-watt head .

This amp was purely for looks. It had a huge cabinet that was very impressive to look at for the uninitiated guitar player wanna be. I do believe it only had a 12 inch speaker but the big black box made it look like many more were hiding in there.

sears-simpson26122.jpg

I just kept this thing around and used it to play through until I was given my HIWATT. After a while I had a great idea on what to do with this under utilized big black box. I just to put it underneath my HIWATT to make it look even bigger. Boy was I the cat’s meow back in the day.

The speaker box was very light but durable. I never tried to hook it to the HIWATT because I thought that the speaker cones (the little round things in the middle of speakers) would end up being shot out it to the other side of a room.

This is the amp that I had to use my BOSS Distortion DS-1 with because it had no distortion on it at all. Now I know why it didn’t, because it was a bass guitar amp! This was a true case of size over substance.

Keep on Jammin’

My Medal Pedal – Boss Distortion DS-1

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I honestly did not use this pedal much after obtaining my 50 watt, HIWATT 1/2 stack, but it was invaluable until I did. This was the first pedal that I got when I was like the kid that Jerry Doucette sang about in his greatest song ever, “Mamma let that boy, play some Rock & Roll”.

It was overpowering at first, for a young kid. That was in the pre-metal/experimental years.

Eventually I learned to tame it, or was it the other way around, interesting? I had dropped that thing so many times I can’t remember but as they say, “takes a beating”!

Some of my friends used the Over Drive pedal. I just thought that it was not what I wanted my music to sound like. It was too rough and not well defined, honest – that is what I said when I was a kid!

Which one do you like?

Keep on Jammin’

APEX 420 Home or Studio Mic

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The APEX 420 microphone is just fabulous for anyone who uses it for home, professional settings, or even live settings. The greatest upside in my eyes is it’s durable construction. Remember, when some closet superstar singer comes over to your house/studio to see this thing, you won’t have to worry about them damaging it when the get their curious fingers all over it. It’s nice to have a scratch resistant finish as well.

I was first introduced to it by Rick Jones, of the Toronto renowned G-Force Media Productions Team. It’s a great product that they use with stunning results. Rick has used this item to capture the voice qualities of soft, hushed tones of his customers to the aggressive Rock/Hip Hop extremes, effortlessly. He has even used it for some of my cuts using my Larrivee L-03 acoustic. The G-Force Media Production page is in the redesign stage now, but when the redesigned site is up you’ll be able to listen to music and audio samples and hear for yourself how nice the Apex 420 microphone’s sound really is.

It is used for various jobs. It is basically a pressure condensed mic. If you have the time, research this type of mic, it’s impressive. You will be able to make it switch from a directional or omni-directional mic. In live gigs it offers excellent feedback rejection and better isolation of the sound that you want, not the sounds that just show up for the hell of it.

So if you get the chance to use this mic then do it, it’s worth the drive. If anyone is in the Toronto Area, give Rick a call and listen for yourself.

Keep on Jammin’

My old trusty Roland BOSS Flanger BF-1

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This unit is a vintage pedal to be used with guitar and keyboards. The effects with this pedal is just awesome! It works like a dream when I play Spirit of Radio, Lime Light or Red Barchetta. It phases in and out with mind blowing effects.

If you are a keyboard player, you might want to take a very close looks at this pedal. It can give you a sound similar Leslie Amplifier. The closest to it that is out there. Many other accomplished keyboardist have similar views.

When I was jamming with Tony F., the best keyboardist I’ve ever had the honour to play with live, he wanted to give my pedal a try. To our amazement, it was the best sound that we had ever heard. Tony had the foresight and ear to know that a Leslie Amp. is the best thing going for the serious keyboardist. So he actively was searching for a pedal to give him that desired effect. Little did he know, he had the answer that he was looking for all the time, literally right in front of him!

If you are not aware, Leslie Speakers/Cabinets are speakers inside the cabinet that rotate, yes rotate to give you that natural whirling sound. They are those big wooden boxes that you see in church choir lofts. This will make you think twice when looking up at the band upstairs thinking that there are no undiscovered secrets in a church!

When the old band got together for a re-union show a couple of years ago, Tony told me that he still had that old pedal and that it still had the box and manual with it. It’s really nice to know that there are still very decent people roaming around the planet like him, a real throw back to gentler days.

On this Boss Flanger site you can hear the sound that you get from it. Check it out you vintage sound seekers. It also has a great picture at the bottom of the page.

The Morley Fuss & Wah wah pedal

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This is the pedal that I lost some time ago to an old boss and friend at a company called Mr Case in Toronto. He used it many years ago when he was gigging and I wasn’t. The band always practiced in their warehouse and one night it was broken into and yep you guessed it, off it went.

I loved this thing for one reason and one reason only, the sound that I got when I used it for La Villa Strangiato, from Hemispheres, 1978.

This is the part when they start playing. He uses the Morley Wah pedal to get that great Gothic church organ effect.

I used to sit and try this effect for hours on end at home. With my old Boss Chorus, Boss Flanger and Morley pedal, running through the HIWATT it sounded just like a church organ.

For a pedal that I used for only one thing, it worked flawlessly! The way that the sound slowly just crept out of the amp. … It still gives me goose bumps just thinking of it.

The Fuss effect part of the pedal I never really explored, too bad ’cause it may have had some use at some point when I was playing a lot.

It was big, scary and cumbersome looking but I still miss it! RIP, Mr. Morley, wherever you’re playing.

Keep on Jammin’

My DigiTech – Multi Chorus

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I bought this item from Tim at the Twelve Fret in Toronto in July, 2006. My DigiTech Multi Chorus was bought with my acoustic guitar in mind.

I just love a big full sounding guitar when I’m playing live. I first try to achieve this while playing unplugged so when I play live, it sounds perfect. As you may or may not know, I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I have to have something always ringing on my axe when performing. I just hate a nano-second of dead air. I am just a sucker for a true full sound. This is where the sound of my new pedal comes in handy live. The owners manual is a big help as well!

I always plug in stereo whenever I can. I’m a huge Alex Lifeson nut so … that should say it all! He has sound that just hangs in the air while, other parts drift in and out. When playing live I strive for the sound that he gets when playing Lime Light, Red Barchetta, or my all time favorite, Spirit of Radio. This type of sound is sacred to me. This pedal allows me to take this direction without the high cost of multiple rack mount units to lug around.

The ” Voice ” button is my best friend on this unit. It goes up to 16 voices like a joke and the level control is a close 2nd. The fading/panning aspect that you get out of your P.A. using this is a real pleasant and relaxing sound to listen to when you are playing intricate pieces. I hope to one day play on a true QUAD P.A. but, I may have to wait awhile for that one.

The casing of this unit looks strong enough to drive over it with your car a couple of times but, I truly don’t recommend it. If I was a betting man, I’d try it or, if I had more dollars then cents (get it?) why not.

I honestly don’t use it a lot because I do not play live too often so, I can’t tell you how long the battery life is. You’ll have to try it for yourself and get back to us on that one.

Keep on Jammin’

My old HiWatt, 50 watt 1/2 Stack

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Boy was this HIWATT thing freaking HEAVY!!! It was such a bitch to lug around. But I loved my HIWATT 50 watt, !!!

I vividly remember being in the band for “GOD SPELL” at St. John’s College in Brantford. The music director for this production, who admitted to only be able to play the stereo, use to help us load the BEAST onto a dolly and moving it back and forth from the music room to the gym for rehearsals. He always said ” This big thing sure sounds great but, HIWATTS SHOULD HAVE WHEELS!!!” The cabinet and the head where the same weight I think.

I sadly do not have this beautiful piece of my history with me but ahhh, the memories! My parents bought this for me from the now defunked Brantford icon, “Music and Sound” run by Bruce P. He fled the country to the US because of some tax stuff, or so the story goes.

I had went and checked out amps and decided on this one. The sound was just HUGE! It also had a warm and soothing sound as well. Great from RUSH to Renaissance. With just a acoustic, it was wonderful. I used “Groove Tubes” in this with great results and changed them yearly, they were a bit pricey but you get what you pay for.

Check out this demo that I found on YOU TUBE

The morning after my 16th birthday was fuzzy and quite warm to say the least, the days before air conditioning in my house. I woke up and saw the sun coming into my basement bedroom. This was nothing new but this time I could barely make out a big fuzzie rectangular object sitting in the door way. When my eyes started to focus on this off thing, I realized that it was a FREAK’N 50 WATT, HIWATT, 1/2 STACK!!!!!! I ran over to this thing and plugged it all in, in a nano-second! I then plugged in my RD and let it rip REALLY LOUD! I think it was set to 11 on the volume control.

At this point my parents must have known that I was up and went on downstairs. They told me that God called over from next door (we lived around 100 ft. away from St. Pius X Church) and said he can’t think or something like that. Then came a knock on the door and the sound of a heard of guys flying down the stairs. Yes, it’s the boys from Gemini! They just stood their with their jaws on the ground, right along with me. I think that my parents did the same thing, not realizing how loud this new toy was.

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