Archive for March, 2010
My Bickering
Posted by William in Uncategorized on March 27, 2010
It is so dang easy to criticize someone else’s idea. We can sit online all day, pick-apart someone’s idea as to why it’s wrong. Heck people have been doing that since last Sunday with the recently signed but soon to be repealed health-care bill. I’ll even admit I’ve done it. But what is anyone doing to put forth another idea? What is a group of people doing to put forth a bill that is right, that does the most amount of good and doesn’t raise taxes? Bueller?
I learned this lesson early on in marriage. It is extremely easy to sit back and watch someone doing something you think is wrong, and then get mad as they are doing it wrong. But what is wrong? What is the right way? Is there a right way?
The other thing is this ever-widening divide that is going on in America. People who are red and people who are blue can’t even talk to one another. Families are being separated because of what someone put on a ballot. Politics should be something that brings people together regardless of race, income level and spiritual choice. Politics should be someplace where no matter who or what you are, you should be able to come to the table and feel as though you are getting a fair shake without the agendas.(Thanks Toby Zeigler).
I’m sad to say it, but the ones who are becoming the most vocal, the most bigoted and the most hateful are Christians, or people who call themselves Christians. I watched 2 or 3 hate filled rants on Sunday that were initiated by Christians. It saddens me to know that the most unbalanced are Christians. See before Christ, we could indulge ourselves in whatever we wanted. We could have too much wine and it not make a difference. Eat 6 large pizzas? Sure why not. However, since Christ, we are called to moderation. We must eat, play and give in moderation. Our lives and love should be in moderation. Yes, even our political views should be in moderation. Which brings me to the final point.
Let’s face it, we are going to be in heaven a heck of a lot longer than we will be on this earth. When we truly start living for Heaven, we start having the hope that is supposed to be the light of the world. C.S. Lewis talks about hope being the thing that drives Christians not only to spread the word to all that can hear, but to try and bring heaven to earth. We need to be living our lives, our views and our loves in such a way that we cannot help but be listened to. Too many times Christians negate themselves before we can even enter the conversation starts…
My Rig…
Posted by William in Uncategorized on March 23, 2010
I know I tend to post things that have some substance(and if I don’t, then humor me), this one on the other hand has none. Us guitarists are a funny breed. We are the worst of the “something is new? I got to have it! What does it do new? Dunno but got to have it” crowd. Whenever new gear comes out, some guitarist will grab it, decide it doesn’t fit the tone he’s going for and then ebay it. Happens all the time and heck, I’m even guilty of this. Less so since I’ve been married, but still, pretty guilty none the less. I thought it would be pretty fun for me to take a trip down memory lane and try to patch together the major rig installments since I’ve been playing guitar. So here we go;
Year: 1999
Guitar: Hamer Slammer(strat copy with a humbucker in the bridge)
Amp: Dean Markley
Effects: none
This is/was about as bare-bones as it got. This was my first electric guitar and amp. I thought pedals were for “cheaters, and therefore didn’t want to consider them. I was listening to Journey, the Paladins and The Who at the time and since none of them used a ton of effects, that really influenced my thinking. Looking at the guitars I’ve owned and kept, they all have humbuckers in the bridge position, as this guitar had.
Year: 2000
Guitar: Peavey Wolfgang
Amp: Fender Princeton 65
Effects: MXR Phase 90, MXR Distortion +, Crybaby Wah, Danelectro Delay and Boss DD-3 Delay pedal
I had gotten into Van Halen about this point and the phase 90 and Wolfgang were a direct result of that. I had gotten the Fender amp with some christmas cash and was really enjoying my first real amp and guitar duo. I really dug this amp but had no idea as to how to set the EQ so everything was on 10 outside of the reverb and the volume thanks to our pesky church soundguy! Also, about this time I was starting to play more at church and was jamming with some guys. I developed a desire to have the magical half stack!
Year: 2001
Guitar: Peavey Wolfgang
Amp: Peavey 5150II head and Marshal Cabinet
Effects: SKB Pedalbaord – Crybaby Wah, MXR Phase 90, MXR Micro Amp, Line 6 DL-4, Tube Screamer, Boss EQ, RV-3 Reverb Pedal and I think by the end of the year I had the Line 6 MM4 pedal
So in a year my rig got a whole lot more complicated, messy and bigger. The signal chain all went through the front of the amp which created a ton of hiss, none of this was true bypass and if I remember correctly, all I was really using was the Phaser, Delay and Wah.
Year: 2002-2004
Guitar: PRS Singlecut
Amp: Marshall JCM 800 head and Marshall Cabinet/Line 6 Flextone II combo
Effects: Boss TU-2, Crybaby wah, MXR Phase 90, MXR Flanger, Boss DS-1 Distorition, Line 6 DL-4, Boss Ch-1 Chorus
This was my rig for the majority of the next two years. I had gotten rid of a few pedals and was really trying to cut down on the use of pedals and such. The chorus pedal also represents a significant part of the tone chase. In EVH’s latter recordings, he used the Eventide Harmonizer rack unit for “detune”. To the untrained ear, this is similar to a shimmer, or chorus effect. I had some recordings of this era that showed I was trying to get that effect with a chorus pedal..not pretty. The DS-1 was used for some solo boost because I was trying to cut down the amount of overdrive I was using on rhythm stuff and as Lincoln Brewster correctly points out, Line 6 stuff really reacts like tube amps when you put OD/Distortion pedals in front of the amp.
Year: 2004-2005
Guitars: Peavey Wolfgang(tobacco burst), Peavey Wolfgang(Amber flame)
Amp: Peavey 5150II and Marshall JCM 800 Heads and Marshall Cabinet
Effects: Homemade pedalboard, Tuner, Vox Wah, Phase 90, Flanger, DL-4 Delay and MM-4 Mod
Seeing VH in the summer of 04 reignited the VH tone flame hence the reemergence of the Wolfgang guitars and 5150 head. The Amber flame guitar, while feeling better, always felt like the neck pickup sounded like a single-coil, even after a pickup swap. I had ditched my SKB board to a friend and cut my own piece of plywood to velcro my pedals onto. I liked the board because it screamed simplicity and I loved having some people laugh at my board only to back off when I played.
Year: 2005-2008
Guitars: Peavey Wolfgang(Tobacco Burst), Custom Strat(Sustainer), Custom Strat(Amber)
Amp: Splawn Quickrod and various Splawn 2×12 cabs
Effects: Tuner, Fulltone Clyde Wah, EVH 90, EVH Flanger, DL-4 Delay, MM-4 Mod, OCD, MXR Micro Amp
At the end of 2005 I sold the Marshall head and cab, and the Peavey to buy a Splawn head and cab, which ended up being my main setup for the next 4 years. Also, around this time, I really grew tired of doing modifications to my guitars to get them where I wanted to so I had two custom guitars build to spec and still use them. I got one of those carpeted pedal boards as my plywood plank had begun to show signs of wear and was cracking down the center after a snow-camp accident. To say I was extremely satisfied with this rig is an understatement. For a long time, this was the happiest I was with my rig ever.
Year: 2009-2010
Guitars: Peavey Wolfgangs(tobacco burst, red and purple flames), EVH Wolfgang(Olympic White)
Amp: EVH 5150III head and Splawn 2×12
Effects: Tuner, EVH Wah, EVH 90, EVH Flanger, MXR microAmp, Eventide Time Factor, Eventide Pitchfactor, MXR 10-band EQ
Overhaul. I’ve got a recording from 12/08 and then one from 1/09 and it is a complete different side. Remember that effect I loved from EVH’s later recordings? Well they finally made it available to me in a stompbox format and I hoped all over it. They also came out with a delay pedal that knocked the socks off of the DL-4. The other major change was putting an EQ pedal in the loop. I had tried something similar to this back at Bethany with a Boss Eq in the loop of my Line6 Flextone II amp. The reasoning behind the loop is that the EQ would act as a secondary/master eq for the amp and not the guitar. I had liked the effect back then and seeing as how I felt like I was getting “lost” in the mix, I put it in the loop.
Year: 2010 and beyond
Guitars: Same
Amp: Same
Effects: Same with the addition of an Eventide Mod Factor. Also all the effects are going to be rackmounted and controlled via Midi. I’ve always wanted to do this option and I even had a down payment on one of the earliest Ground Control Units back in the early 2000’s but pulled the plug because I didn’t think I would be able to program the dang thing. We’ll see how long this lasts…
