I have an original Vox Wah-Wah pedal, and I think it’s probably time to put a new pot in it. My dad bought the pedal in 1968, and it’s starting to sound pretty noisy. I want to keep the tone and range if the wah the same. Do I need a particular type of pot? Also, I pick up radio stations loud and clear through the Vox and other pedals sometimes. Is there any way I can eliminate or reduce this problem?

Craig
xxxx@gmail.com

You’ll be happy to know that part number ECB24B, otherwise known as the Dunlop Hot Pot, is a direct replacement for the original pot in your wah pedal. I’m told that it retails for about 20 bucks and is guaranteed for one million operations! Check the music stores in your area or contact Dunlop at (800) 722-3434 or www.jimdunlop.com. If you’re not qualified to change it yourself, I’m sure any local amp repair shop would be able to do it for you for a few bucks.

As far as the radio stations you’re receiving, the solution may not be that simple. If radio signals are coming through loud and clear, I’d bet you live in a very close proximity to one or more radio transmitting towers. Since a guitar puts out a high impedance signal which you combine with all the active circuits that the signal travels through (all your pedals, your amp, etc.) before it actually comes out of a speaker, what you get is basically a guitar rig that acts like an antenna. There’s not a whole lot you can do to avoid this, with the exception of playing inside a cage of chicken wire (I’m not joking). One thing you might want to try is what’s known as an RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) filter. This gizmo is available at electronic supply stores and possibly Radio Shack. Plug your power cables into it and then plug the RFI filter into the wall socket. This can help eliminate interference that’s coming from the power lines in your house or rehearsal room. Give it a try—or get some chicken wire.

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Jackson guitars are celebrating its 25th anniversary of producing custom guitars for consumers, by doing the only thing it knows best, sorting through its 25 years of work to bring back two of their proudest accomplishments. Jackson’s two unique custom guitars reproduced in limited edition format to emulate their predecessor’s best antique traits. The two guitars include the original King Kelly guitar built with its unique cutouts and the King V in its shining majestic silver glory.

Both are exactly the same custom with the same equipment and signed by Mike Shannon (Jackson Sr. Master Builder) and Tim Wilson (Jackson Production Manager). The King Kelly features a high gloss finish of black with white highlights and a maple neck and ebony fingerboard. It is built with popular wood for the body and maple along the 22-inch neck. With Seymour Duncan pickups and a Schaller bridge and tailpiece it is a beauty to both see and play. Similarly, its silver counterpart, the King V is built with a popular body and ebony fingerboard featuring sharkfin inlays and a more 80’s V-style shape. With the sound producing from the combination of Seymour Duncan TB-4 and SH2 pickups, both guitars celebrate and represent the best of vintage Jackson while being stunning, great-sounding and incredibly playable in their own right. What better way to celebrate 25 years?

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Cold is reuniting according to lead singer, Scooter Ward, on Cold’s MySpace page. Cold is expecting to release a new album in the fall 2009. After producing their emotional Different Kind of Pain album the band went in different directions. Cold’s front man, Ward, created The Killer and the Star featuring Limp Bizkit’s drummer John Otto, together they have created songs Symphony for a Mind, Living with Musicians, and Angels Fall. Cold has a new record label called Sonicstar. The boys are sure to please the fans with the much surprising album. The MySpace page told fans to stay tuned for updates.

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The SoupyGato show is truly one a kind, is main purpose is share the best new artists with the world. Partners, Daniel Harris and Kimmi Rudolph do a remarkable job at providing the newest artists to the airwaves.

With Harris’s love for music he started to communicate with independent musicians, which unfolded the creation of the SoupyGato show. The SoupyGato was born in 2005 with its first item premiering in 2006.

The SoupyGato just started as a weekly show but then Harris started to receive music from every genre. Harris played every song that was submitted and attempted to mix the selections as best he could. Harris played everything and had quite the unique sound to the show. Even the best of the best have submitted songs to the SoupyGato including children of the Willie Nelson, Bill Joel, and The Grateful Dead just to name a few.

Harris found his assistant, Rudolph, through his sense of humor with the show and his open-mindedness to beginning musicians and seasoned players.

Harris decided to put a twist on the show and started with doing a showcase starting with Israel. From that point he scheduled many different showcases and started to interview many famous musicians including Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad, Sebastian Bach of Skid Row, and Trey Gunn of King Crimson.

The SoupyGato is truly unique and can be found at www.soupygato.com. Harris has a very open-minded persona about him. He has created a work of art with the SoupyGato.

The Future of Independent Musc - Check ‘em out!

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Can you give me some information on earplugs? How well do they work, and do most rock musicians use them?

Rockin’ Billy Bong
xxxx@rocketmail.com

While they’re relatively new to the world of rock music, earplugs have become a popular item with many musicians, and with good reason. I’ve worked for a lot of particularly loud rock bands, and the groups who didn’t wear earplugs usually have something in common with each other—it’s called “tinnitus,” a constant ringing of the ears that result from prolonged exposure to high volume levels. Tinnitus produces varying degrees of discomfort, depending on the amount of abuts that has been inflicted upon a person’s ear.

Among the musicians I’ve known, drummers typically have the worst case of tinnitus. Unlike guitarists, who can stand some distance from their amplifiers, drummers are seated and can’t move away from their instrument. The crashing of cymbals, in particular, has a harmful effect on drummers, since high frequencies do more damage to hearing than low frequencies do.

If you perform on a regular basis, I highly recommend that you wear earplugs or, if they are within your budget, and in-ear monitor system. In-ear monitors are highly accurate, state-of-the-art devices that are individually created for the wearer. Working from molds of the musician’s ears, a hearing specialist or audiologist constructs earplugs that fit the wearer precisely. Small speakers, like those found in headphones, are installed in the plugs and connected to a wireless receiver that picks up the transmitted audio mix from the sound engineer. This allows the musician to hear an audio mix at a comfortable volume while protecting his ears from onstage volume levels.

Unfortunately, these systems tend to be rather expensive. For this reason, many nonprofessionals opt for custom earplugs. Like in-ear systems, custom earplugs are tailored to the wearer’s ears. But rather than employing small speakers, the plugs are designed to block specific audio frequencies that could damage the wearer’s ears. For about $125, an audiologist can create the molds from which plugs can be made to your specification.

Unlike common foam earplugs, custom-fitted plugs sound great and are comfortable to wear. Most importantly, they are one of the best forms of protection you can by for your ears.

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I have a Crate GX15X, which has a gain channel and a lead channel with a built-in graphics EQ. I wasn’t pleased with the amp’s distortion, so I bought a Danelectro Fab Tone fuzz pedal. Now I can get decent distortion when practicing on my own, but I can’t get a suitable tone when I crank up with my band. Any answeres?

Mitch
xxxx@aol.com

Gain, or distortion—whichever you prefer to call it—can be tricky. Over the years I’ve learned that increasing the level of distortion in a signal reduces the definition and punch of the source tone. This is especially true with amps that have a rather limited power rating, like your Crate GX15, which pumps out a meager 12-watts RMS. And although distortion usually sounds quite pleasing on its own, a highly overdriven tone can get lost within a full band.

To understand how large amounts of distortion can obliterate your signal’s carrying power, consider how distortion changes the shape of your guitar’s clean signal. Viewed through an oscilloscope, a clean tone appears as a well-defined wave moving up and down, smoothly and evenly. As distortion is introduced in the signal, the wave becomes jagged and shredded, losing its definition along with its steady oscillation. That’s the tradeoff you make when using a fuzz box or other distortion device.

However, you like distortion, so how can you have your gain and hear it too? For starters, if you aren’t willing to settle for less distortion, you should get a more powerful amplifier; or if your current amp has an extension speaker jack, you could try adding an external cabinet to increase the dispersion of sound from your amp. On the other hand, you might simply back down your gain to a level that suits your taste while allowing you to be heard in your band. Take your pick.

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ANNOUNCED: There is a free BOSS-DS 1 Distortion pedal giveaway competition on the forum of Gear-Monkey, which will continue from July 17, 2008 through August 31, 2008. This is really a considerable amount of time to get you all ready and geared up for this jamming contest. The contest consists of points system which members earn 1 point for each post. Pretty simple huh? Now members can receive 100 points for getting friends to join the site. The only requirement is that the new member makes at least 20 posts. Whoever reaches the most points within the time frame stated gets to take home the FREE BOSS DS-1 Distortion Guitar pedal.

So you all you guitar gurus who want totally free guitar gear sign up and/or start posting, share this amazing news with friends.

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Sherman Custom Guitars are manufactured in the U.S., Sherman Custom Guitars features bolt-on necks, 25.5-inch fingerboard. The guitars are available in a variety of body shapes and neck styles, and all feature the Sherman Tremolo System, each piece of which is machined from high-quality tool steel and hardened. List price varies for the Sherman Custom Guitar.

Take note in Sherman’s patent Tremolo System

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“I’ve always wanted to be known as something more than a blues guy,” says Doyle Bramhall II, a guitarist still known for his teenage association with Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Double Trouble’s first post-Stevie outfit, the ARC Angels. But his heavy blues past notwithstanding, Bramhall is starting to look like he’s on the right path. Back in 1999, Bramhall handled the guitar chores for Roger Waters’ touring outfit. The Texan was playing in support of a new decidedly blues-free solo album, Jellycream. “It might have been easy to go in and cut 12 blues songs,” says Bramhall. “But it wouldn’t have been so easy to come across as if I were 100 percent into it. That’s just not where my head or my heart was.”

Jellycream makes it clear that Bramhall’s focus was on the Seventies-style classic rock dynamics. But don’t mistake a lack of blues for a lack of guitar. In fact, the bulk of Jellycream is so guitar-driven and so anthem-oriented that it seems to pick up where the ARC Angels left off back in 1993. “I thin I disappointed a lot of ARC Angels fans by staying away from guitar on that record,” Bramall says of his commercially unsuccessful Wendy & Lisa-produced solo debut. “But I think this record has a much larger guitar focus and a lot more energy. I’d say it’s closer to the ARC Angels than anything I’ve done since, but you’ve got to remember, that was the early Nineties and I’ve heard and learned a lot since then.”

Perhaps the primary post-ARC Angels lesson Bramhall has picked up on is how to play more for the song and less for the flashy solo. “ Jimmie [Vaughan] taught me how it’s possible to be a subtle guitarist and still stand out,” he says. “And I thin this album shows I can present hard-rockin’ stuff without lots of wankin’. But that doesn’t mean that everything I can do wasn’t on this record somewhere. Only now, it finally feels like it’s all come together.”

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Static-X is not a new brand of fabric softener, even though the gravity-defying hair-style of lead singer/guitarist Wayne Static looks like it could use a healthy shot of Cling Free. In fact, there is nothing the least bit soft about Static-X’s industrial-strength, hard-hitting brand metal, which combines jagged, piercing guitar crunch with electronic dissonance and throbbing beats that pound the skull like Mike Tyson on an amphetamine binge. Like a combination of Prodigy and Prong, Static-X makes aggressive yet danceable music that appeals as much to ravers as it does to moshers.

“We had a lot of fun working with dance rhythms when we were writing the songs,” says Static. “I’d bring in my drum machine, and we’d come up with these stupid disco beats, just as a joke. Then we’d try to write a song over the top of that, making it sound as heavy as we could.”

Static-X used a variety of techno toys, like computers, drum machines and the Roland Groove Box, when recording their debut Warner Bros. album, Wisconsin Death Trap, but those tools primarily served as accompaniment to a solid foundation laid down by two guitars, bass and drums. “We are not a traditional guitar band,” notes guitarist Koichi Fukudo. “There are no guitar heroes in this band. The music always comes first, which is why we do as much programming as playing.”

“Programming gives each of us our own outlet for expressing ourselves and taking the songs further,” adds Static. “And Koichi is a computer wizard. He comes up with all these crazy ideas on the computer that we’d never have if we just played guitar. Besides, our guitar parts are really simple. We used two-note chords and there are usually only two or three chord in each song. The hardest ting to figure about how we play is our tuning, and I’ll save your readers the trouble by letting them know that we just down two whole steps to C.”

These may be rough days for hard bands, but Static-X is none too concerned. “We just love doing what we do,” says Static. “I never thought we would get signed to a major label. We’re way heavier than what most labels are signing. We just wanted to rock and have fun playing.”

Check out Static-X’s Latest album Cannibal.

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