djByron [Dan Byron]husband, father, christian, musician & technophile ( but not a dj )

I’ve posted some pedalboard pics on Flickr and Facebook but never on my own blog (go figure).  Anyways, here’s what I’ve got going on as of now.  Only thing I have yet to do is re-arrange the setup.  I’m planning on moving the volume and wah to the center of the board again and moving my return pedals (delays, tremolo and reverb) back to the right side of the board.  Being right handed it’s too difficult to “tap” on those pedals on the left.

- Keeley Compressor
- Keeley Katana (Clean Boost)
- Xotic RC Booster
- Zvex Box of Rock
- Diamond Memory Lane Delay w/dotted eighth mod and remote
- Diamond Boost EQ
- Empress Tremolo
- Empress Superdelay
- Elecro Harmonix Holy Grail Reverb
- Dunlop Crybaby 535Q Wah
- Ernie Ball VP JR. Volume Pedal
- Planet Waves Tuner
- Loop-Master A/B loop switch (routes clean vs. dirty pedals)
- George L’s patch cables
- SKB PS-45

What do you have on your board?

The Empress Superdelay which was just released last week has arrived on my door step!  I’m really stoked about this pedal being a delay-addict.  Once I have a few hours to spare I’m planning on posting a full review here.

Initially what drew me to this unit was two things…

1. I currently own their Tremolo pedal which is a great sounding versatile Tremolo pedal.  I’m really impressed by this pedal and figured if the Superdelay is anything like it I can’t go wrong.
2. The features and versatility of the Superdelay based on the pre-release teaser videos and audio clips won me over. They really did a great job of hyping the delay pedal up, enough to get me to pre-order it…

Here’s my current scenario.  I own a modded Diamond Memory-Lane analog delay pedal which is amazing, but it’s analog,  and being analog it has a few native limitations.  One major one being the delay time limitations of analog circuitry.  Being that it’s analog you also loose some of the other goodies found in digital units (presets/user-presets, multiple delay types and modeling).  Now seeing that I never plan on getting rid of the Diamond, I began a quest to find a secondary digital delay pedal that would fill the voids left by the Diamond, would fit in the remaining space on my pedalboard, have true-bypass and still sound great (go figure).

Today I think I found that pedal in the Empress Superdelay.  More to come!

This is funny… Guy hacks a baby monitor to function as a wireless guitar amp. I wonder if a mom would ever think of doing such a thing?  Leave it to us dads.

My quest for my first guitar amp finally came to an end a couple weeks ago when I finally found and bought a Mesa Boogie Lonestar Special!  Man this thing is awesome…  Now granted I haven’t been playing for years and don’t have a ton of amps to compare it to but this thing sounds amazing.  I’ve been playing it for a few weeks now and I’m blown away by the tone.  As of now I’m using my Vox Tonelab SE with the fx loop (all modeling turned off) for delay, chorus, reverb, wah, volume & tuner.  It remains to be seen if I end up selling the Tonelab and move to individual stomp boxes (we’ll see).  The selectable output wattage is an awesome feature of the amp allowing me to choose from 5,15 or 30 output watts.  So now I’m able to get great tone using my Sennheiser E609 mic in a small to medium size venu with out deafining those around me (and keeping the sound techs happy).

I had the chance to play the 1×12″ version of the Mesa Boogie Lone Star Special today at a local music store.  Very nice amp with killer tone.  Not sure it’s worth the money in the scheme of things but we’ll see after I have some other amps to compare it to.  Great tone and two channel design.  One of the things that drew me to the amp was the output wattage switch that allows you to choose between 5,15 or 30 watt configurations.  However, as I had previously read in a couple of other posts, this really doesn’t do much other than give you options when it comes to head room.  The 5 watt setting is very close in volume to the 30 watt setting.  I’m begginning to think that I won’t find exactly what I’m looking for with out going to something like the Maven Peal (and I don’t think that’s even an option due to price).

Ok, so here’s my dillema….
I want to get a tube guitar amp to take my tone to the next level as any guitar player does.  However, the majority of where I’ll be playing will require a low to medium volume level.  As any quitar player can attest you’ll get your best tube tone when the tubes are breaking up at high levels which is where the dillema comes in.

FIND AN AMPIFIER THAT HAS GREAT 100% TUBE TONE WITHOUT MODELING OR SIMULATION.

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far…

1. A friend of mine turned me on to a botique company in VT called Maven Peal (http://www.mavenpeal.com) that created circutry to not only control output wattage but also a “sag control” that…  Well you’ll just have to read about it to fully grasp the concept.  I think if money were’nt an option this is what I’d do based on the reviews I’ve read alone.  Great tone at as little as one watt but a lot of money..
2.  Fender just released a new “recording” amp called the Princeton Recording Amp.  This amp is also 100% tube and uses their patented circut to cut output volme…“The trans-impedance power attenuator lets you crank up the amp for full output tube overdrive and set the speaker volume as low as you want (even silent for headphone use)!” - Fender WebsiteThis may be an option but I have some initial doubts before even hearing it…  1) It’s a 10″ speaker so I’m not sure if you’d be sacrificing tone as compared to a 12″ setup.  2) The combo is $999 so we’re not talking chump change here. 3) And finally, they toss around the dreaded term “speaker emulated” in the description so I’m wary.  Not sure if this is just for the recording aspect of things or what.
3. One of Mesa Boogie’s newest additions is the Lone Star Special.  Other than the fact that output wattage can be toggled between 5,15 and 30 watts this is your typical amp.  Concerns here are… 1) That at it’s lowest output of 5 watts we may still be looking at a pretty loud amp.  2) It’s a boogie so is it going to have a very signature sound? 3) Price?I guess I’ll just have to track one of these puppys down and play it to find out.
4. Zvex Nano Head…  Uhhh Yeeeaaaa  You’ll just have to see this to believe it.  There’s a demo video but the long and short of it is that it’s a half watt amp that will fit in the palm of your hand AND power a 4×12 cabinet.  From what I’ve read this is a great little amp for getting a screaming marshall sound at low levels but isn’t that great at a clean sound.  Not to mention the fact that it’s over $400.  Once again I’d have to play one to see if it’s even an option

So this is my current quest…  Find an amp that will produce the tone I desire at tollerable volume levels on small stages and at home.  Add a comment if you have any suggestions otherwise I’ll keep you all posted.

I picked up a Vox Tonelab SE pedalboard for my electric rig back in the fall of 2004 and I love the thing. From time to time I debate if I should get rid of it and replace with some individual pedals but I just can’t get myself to do it. What makes it so great? First of all the thing is built like a tank. All metal. No cheap components here… Secondly, the tone is unbelieveable considering it’s a pedalboard. Given that nothing can replace the real thing (a microphone on a vintage amp cranked to 11) but I play mostly in small venues where that is not an option. This is where the Tonelab comes in…

ToneLabSE features the acclaimed VOX Valve Reactor found on Valvetronix series amps and the ToneLab amp/effects modeler. The VOX Valve Reactor circuit uses a 12AX7 triode vacuum tube together with an actual low-wattage tube power amp circuit, a virtual output transformer, and a dummy speaker circuit that simulates the impedance changes of a real speaker. It also reconfigures itself so that its characteristics are the same as the amps it’s modeling (class A, class AB, negative feedback circuit, etc.) This means that all of the nuances of the original amp model including sound, feel, distortion and presence are reproduced. -voxamps.co.uk

96 user programmable locations allow you to save more settings than you’ll ever use on stage. Each location has an A/B switch allowing you to save two “tones” per setting so really 96 becomes 192 settings if you look at it that way. The manual knobs are great and allow you to easily dial in exactly what you’re looking for!