Hardware

Buying your first guitar? Looking to upgrade? It’s extremely hard to exhaust the considerations, but here are some things to think about:

- Price
The first thing to think about is price. Remember that with guitars, as with most other things in life, you get what you pay for. Also, take it from a guy who has had MANY guitars, the less you go through to find the one you love, the more money you save in the end. All that aside, decide how much you can afford, save for your investment, DO NOT go into debt for a guitar, and make an informed purchase.

- Style
There are several styles to choose from, and the style of guitar stems from the style of music you’re trying to play. This matters so much, and requires a lot of research to figure out what you like. What do your favorite guitar players play? Do you know the difference between different pickups? Brands? If your favorite band is RED, then you might like an Ibanez, possibly some EMG pickups (both known for hard rock). If your favorite band is the Chris Tomlin band, then you’ll be pretty safe with a Gibson Les Paul (or similar).

- Quality
As someone who has bought (and sold) many guitars, I know that quality is another HUGE issue. Quality not only affects the sound, but how well it plays and stays in tune, three factors that are extremely important. WHERE the guitar is made makes a difference. Mexican-made guitars are close to the bottom of the quality list, American-made is considered the best, but Japanese and Korean-made guitars are considered by many to be close to American standards (Chinese-made is close to Mexican-made). This doesn’t mean you can’t get a fantastic Mexican-made guitar, it just means the consistency is bad, where Mexican guitars may be 1 good guitar out of 10, American would be 9 out of 10 (for example). Fender guitars under $1000 (including Squires) are by-in-large made in Mexico, while the rest are generally made in America. Gibson guitars are generally made in America, while their cheap counterpart Epiphone is made in China. [It’s hard to keep up with every guitar and where it’s being made, so you may need to do your own research for your specific guitar to find out] You can try to buy a cheap guitar and try to swap out some components to make it sound better, but most of the issue lies in the wood itself. This is where you find out that you get what you pay for.

Keep up with the blog, and I’ll continue to dive deeper into the mess that is guitar-buying!

Sidenotes
- Some guys get a kick out of using low-quality guitars and trying to make them sound good. You can probably tell that I am not one of them…

Attenuators

First question: What is an attenuator?
Wikipedia defines an attenuator as “an electronic device that reduces the amplitude or power of a signal without appreciably distorting its waveform.”  In practical terms, an attenuator makes what comes out of your amp’s speaker not so loud.

Second question: Why can’t I just turn down my amp’s volume knob?
First of all, good question (if I don’t say so myself).  Attenuators are really only necessary with tube amplifiers.  In tube amplification, tubes are a main component in actually amplifying your guitar before it hits the speaker(s), and tubes react differently depending on how much amplification you are pushing on them (meaning, how high you have the volume set).  Tubes are known for their warmth and overall great tone, but in using a tube amplifier, the volume typically needs to be set high enough to really get the tubes working for you.  This means great tone, but also possible ear bleeding (what’s more rock ‘n roll than that?) and early hearing loss.

So, an attenuator is placed after the signal has been amplified, but before it reaches the speakers, in effect giving you the tone you seek without the previously discussed problems.  If you have a head and separate cabinet, you will run a speaker cable from the amplifier head’s “speaker output” to the “input” of the attenuator, then from the “speaker output” of the attenuator to the speaker jack.  If you have a combo, it works the exact same way; a combo is simply an amplifier and speaker all bunched into one cabinet (or head and cabinet in one if it’s easier to think of it that way).

General Notes:
- Some will say that like many other foreign objects (like pedals, cables, etc.) in a signal path, an attenuator will suck tone away from the amplifier.  This may be true, but in my experience it has been very limited if you buy a quality attenuator.
- There are generally two kinds of distortion you normally hear from an amp: the overdriven amplifier circuit, and speaker distortion (which is when the speaker isn’t able to perfectly reproduce the signal sent to it by the amplifier).  The attenuator is meant to preserve the main distortion that comes from the amplifier, but if the volume is drastically reduced before hitting the speaker, it will change how the speaker reacts to the signal (ever so slightly, but it does happen).
- This is why you see the use of a “Master Volume” in many amplifiers; to reduce the volume after your signal has already gone through the tubes.  However a “Master Volume” has its drawbacks including a loss of clean headroom (which is the ability to achieve a clean sound at higher volumes).
- The reason why attenuators generally only apply to tube amplifiers is because solid-state amplifiers don’t react as radically different to volume as tube amplifiers do.  With a solid-state amplifier, you should be able to just turn the volume down without losing much of your tone (this is a general assumption rather than a rule).

Delay pedals – Updated to include the entire article!

The second type of pedal I want to focus on is the delay pedal. In my opinion, the two most important types of pedals to have in worship is an overdrive and a delay, so if you’re just starting out, a delay is a good place to start. Delay pedals simply take the original signal from the guitar and delay it so that it sounds like an echo. Sounds simple enough, but like most types of pedals, the choices of delay pedals are almost limitless, and there are several categories of delays as well. We’ll talk about two:

Analog

This includes pedals like the Electro-Harmonix Memory Man, a classic analog delay (one of my favorites) that is probably known best for its prominence in the sound of The Edge from U2, especially the early days. In the simplest terms, an analog delay pedal is a “lo-fi” echo, and are known for their warmth and fullness of sound. This means that they don’t replicate the sound exactly, but distort and trail off like you would expect a natural echo to. Most analog delays don’t incorporate functions like tap tempos or presets, which can make them problematic for players that only want to use one delay pedal and need versatility. They can be relatively expensive (about $315 for a new Memory Man), which represents a problem for the player on a budget. That being said, these pedals can be some of the best sounding pedals you will ever own, as long as you are willing to deal with a little lack of versatility.

Digital

A popular digital delay is the now-discontinued Boss DD-5, or its new counterpart the DD-7. These delays can exactly replicate your signal, which can be a good or bad thing depending on what you’re looking for. One of the biggest complaints about digital delays is the lack of warmth, but can provide much more functionality with tap tempos, presets, and modelers (“modeling” after several types of delays).

When I refer to a “tap tempo”, I am speaking of the ability to “tap” in your tempo to the pedal and therefore change the tempo of the echo.

Some delays to consider (Analog and Digital):
- Electro-Harmonix Memory Man – As stated before, this is one of my favorites in terms of sound, but the lack of a tap tempo is a big minus for me. The modulation on this pedal almost makes the price tag worth it by itself. ($319)
- Boss DD-20 and Line 6 DL4 – These two pedals are very similar and very popular. Both are digital delay modelers, which means they have the ability to model different types of delays, as well as having presets (3 on the DL4, 4 on the DD-20) which makes both of these pedals very versatile. The DL4 comes with an onboard tap tempo, while the DD-20 has the ability for wiring an external tap tempo switch in (The DD-20 has the ability for an onboard tap tempo, but the preset switch has to double as the tap, which lacks in practicality for on-the-fly tapping). (DL4 – $250, DD-20 – $220, Boss FS-5U – $30)
- Boss DD-5 and DD-7 – These are considered an almost necessity amongst many guitar players I know. They have very limited modeling capabilities, don’t have any presets, but they are more compact than the DD-20, also have plug-ins for external tap tempos, and are great for just getting the job done. (The DD-5 has been discontinued but you can still see them on eBay sometimes, DD-7 – $170)
- TC-Electronic Nova Delay – This pedal is the only delay I use right now, because it does everything I need it to do, including acting like two different delays at once! It’s an all-digital delay with up to 9 presets plus a manual mode that can be changed on-the-fly via footswitch, 3 types of modulation, and the ability to stack delays within itself (adding delays together = subdivision). For example, instead of having to choose whether I’m going to run a quarter-note delay or dotted eighth-note delay, I can actually run both at the same time. Worth the price tag to me at exactly the same amount for the DL4 or DD-20 with the footswitch, takes up less room on the board, and has more functionality. ($250)

There’s a ton of delays out there, but as always, take advice from guitar players who have done the homework and spent (wasted) the money already. BUT, that doesn’t mean you have to be like everyone else!

Always remember why/what/who you’re playing for,

Tyler
tyler@fqworship.com

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Overdrive/distortion pedals – Updated to include the entire article!
Effect pedals can be used to get almost any type of sound out of an electric guitar.  Anything from a clean country twang, to distorted thrash metal, to a synthesizer and orchestral strings; effects can be used to either get the most out of your creativity, or to generally make your playing sound better than it really is (you know you’ve done it).  However, when it comes to effects pedals, some electric guitar players don’t know what kind they need, what brands to buy, or why they need them, so I’ll try my best to shed some light on the subject.

First, overdrive/distortion pedals.  The term “overdrive” or “distortion” is used to describe the tone of the guitar when the original clean signal begins to break up; the signal is essentially pushing the amp or pedal over the clean amplification levels, or over their “limit”, thus causing the signal to distort.  The two terms are generally interchangeable, but overdrive is usually describing a lower gain pedal, while distortion describes higher gain pedals.  Overdrive pedals are NOT the same as overdriving an amplifier, and are used to create more energy, strength, and volume (or just to ROCK OUT).  Most of the time, these pedals are essential in getting a good guitar tone, and finding the right one can be a costly and time-consuming venture.  Luckily, there are some chumps like me that have spent enough money to hopefully have some decent advice!  Most of the time, I try to stick with the self-labeled “overdrive”, or lower-gain pedals, and chain them together if I need a very distorted signal.

1. My absolute favorite (today, that is), is the Paul Cochrane Tim, a two-stage overdrive that doesn’t change the essence of your guitar (the mark of a great pedal), but adds all the harmonics and tasty overdrive you could want.  Con – Right now the Tim is on a 4 – 7 month waiting list, or you can go to eBay to pay $50-$100 more to have it now.  ($169)
2. One of my favorites is the OCD overdrive, made by Fulltone (a great brand to stick with for pretty much anything), which has a very non-compressed, raw quality that can push a good Fender amp into Marshall-type grind without breaking a sweat.  Has a switch for lower gain British-type crunch or higher gain American crunch.  ($150)
3. My other love is a Robert Keeley-modded Ibanez TS-808.  If you’ve been around guitar players very much, you have seen the 808 (or its counterparts, the TS-9 or 10).  This pedal is famous for its classic bluesy/classic rock sound (and how could a SRV fan not have one of these?), however, the midrange on this pedal gets a little too powerful for me, so I sent it in to Robert Keeley (robertkeeley.com) to mod it for me, which was worth every penny.  Keeley did his more/less mod, giving the pedal the ability for both more gain and less gain, which made it a great volume boost alternative for me.  ($180-reg pedal; $50-Keeley non-true bypass mod; $250-new from Keeley w/True Bypass)
4. Another great pedal is the Fulltone Fulldrive 2, which has become the standard overdrive in many respects.  Another two-stage overdrive, this pedal is based off of the original TS-808s.  Many say that the older versions (black knobs instead of white) sound better, but I suppose that’s mostly preference, and the new ones come with a MOSFET boost option. ($170)

So those are some of my favorites.  Some other great brands are Lovepedal, Keeley, Diamond, and Xotic Effects, among many others.  The great thing about all of these effects pedals is that there are so many available, everyone can find something they like.  However, because there are so many available, I hope this gives you some point of reference for where to start.  In a lot of ways, you can’t replace a good guitar and a good amp, but at least these pedals can be a cheaper alternative for the time being, or an addition to the setup.

Humility first, and always for His glory,

Tyler
tyler@fqworship.com

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