New CD – Last Part of the Trilogy – Out Now In an era when the word “artist” is thrown around for everyone from “rap artists” (oxymoron) to people who couldn’t shovel snow with a guitar let alone play it (but are famous), I’m here to tell you something we already know: Steve Vai is […]
Part 2 (Here’s Part 1) Warren DeMartini is yet another example of the fact that much of someone’s tone is in the hands. I say that because Warren played an alder/maple/maple super strat with a Floyd Rose bridge and Seymour Duncan JB humbucker through a 100w Marshall head into Marshall cabs. A typical setup for […]
Part 1 Warren DeMartini (yeah!) – one of the best, tastiest guitar-slingers from the ’80s – has a new album out, Ratt’s Infestation. Is his playing still tasty? Yep. Fluid and fleet? You bet. The album’s good, Warren’s playing is great as usual, and I wanted to talk to him about it. The folks at […]
Part 2 Here’s the second part of the EL84-focused interview with Don Mackrill of Mack Amps, which is based in Ontario, Canada. WoodyTone: What tonal properties can you get from EL84s that you can’t get from other power tubes? Don: In my opinion, EL84s and EL34s are very similar. 6L6s and 6V6s are too, but […]
Part 1 I’m not an amp builder, but to me EL84 power tubes seem like the little brother to EL34s. As Vox is to Marshall, if you will. Similar tone, but lower-powered. And while I love EL34 amps – their sheer mind-bending power – I keep running across awesome-sounding EL84 amps.
With Better Drumming… I’m sure you’re like me: When you hear about a new album coming from one of your favorite players or bands, you have this huge anticipation – but it’s mixed with a little trepidation. You can’t wait to hear it, but you’re a little worried that you’ll be disappointed. You’re thinking that […]
Heard the Tom Petty tune “You Got Lucky” on the radio the other day, and had a flashback – about the solo on that song. It was 1982, and I was all about Van Halen, Randy Rhoads and all the rest of it. When I heard the solo back then, I laughed! It was comically […]
Robbie McIntosh! If you read no other post this week, read this one. I gotta start somewhere, so I’ll start with my first thought when I saw this vid: Who the heck is Robbie McIntosh? Actually, I had that thought after I watched/listened to it for about the 6th time in a row, when I […]
The second part of my recent NYC geetar adventure was a visit to Ludlow Guitars, which amazingly enough I’d never been to (I think – can’t exactly remember). A super-cool store with lots of USED GUITAR INVENTORY! Yeah! And used and boutique amps! Yeah! That’s the stuff I want to play.
Advised Hendrix On His Rig? Pete Townshend could never be accused of understating things. In some ways he always seems like the classic artist, in the “here’s the way I see it and F you if you don’t like it” sense. In a new-ish and excellent PremierGuitar.com interview, Pete is all that and says some […]
I live in Jersey (that’s New Jersey for those of you in Europe) and don’t have to leave “The Garden State” to have new tonalicious experiences. But it’s also true that you can only have some experiences in “New Yawk Citae,” so I get in there from time to time. My most recent trip was […]
Are music lessons/instruction vastly overrated? I’m thinking they are. I’ve read over the years how people “should” read music, know all the notes on the fretboard by name and all that stuff, but really? Does that really help you become a better musician with your own style? Or does it hurt…. I got thinking about […]
Already Writing Next Record! Premier Guitar recently posted an interview with Ace Frehley in which Ace FINALLY talks with some specifics about what he used in the studio back in the early KISS days. Not a lot, but some. Here it is: “On the early KISS records, I used my tobacco-sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard […]
Part 1 of this interview was about the music Joe Bonamassa has been recording lately. In part 2 below, it’s all about tone and gear (yeah!). Joe has a great ear for tone (for woody tone), so it’s always interesting to see what he has to say. WoodyTone: There’s Black Rock, Black Country and now […]
Fair Warning Tone Ain’t All the Same
Got it in my head to figure out which Van Halen song tones – not album tones – I liked the most. Started with Fair Warning, whose balls I just can’t get enough of…which doesn’t sound so good but you get what I mean. Listen to it cranked in my car because that’s the only […]
Pondering VH’s Fair Warning Tone
LOVE the first four Van Halen albums. Always have, always will. Love the rest too, including the Van Hagar years (oops, forgot about VH III…), but those first four vinyl donuts are to me and many others just the nads. The nadliest of nads. They’re a band kicking the world’s butt in every way, and […]
Recently I was ruined yet again by a good amp. This time a bud’s Bogner Shiva, EL34 version. Let’s call him Sean – because that’s his name…. He’d been talking about how awesome it was for a while, and even though I know he has good ears, wasn’t too motivated to go try it. I’d […]
The Gene-EVH-Ace-Joe Perry Connection
Have you picked up “Guitar World Presents 40 Years of Van Halen” yet? Zactly – I didn’t even know it existed until I saw it in a bookstore (remember those? lol). Anyhow, I’m always amazed at how I think I’ve memorized every word ever written about Ed and his gear and then I read something […]
More On the YMI5150 Model-A Guitar
Few weeks ago I posted a brief “review” (outdated word) of Kevin Holbrook’s YMI5150 Model-A guitar. As a brief reminder, what got my attention were the following things: > A good wood combo: swamp ash, maple/rosewood. > An interesting and unique combo of components resulting in a Strat-shaped and -scaled guitar with an ABR bridge […]
Did You Read the Esquire EVH Piece Yet?
We’re going to have to wait yet another week for the interview with Kevin Holbrook of YMI5150 guitars because we have yet another newsworthy event. This time it’s the recent Esquire interview with Edward Van Halen. Now before you EVH fans get to getting your hopes up, let’s bear in mind the same ol’s: 1. […]
Show ‘Review’: Van Halen at the Garden
Took my 10-year-old son to see Van Halen at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 1. I think he was more excited to see them than I was – not that I wasn’t, but this was the mighty Van Halen whose tunes the both of us have copped, jammed to and listened […]
