Make your Guitar sound like a Sitar

Recently, I purchased an authentic sitar (Rikhi Ram Grand Pro Tun) hand-made in India. What a difficult instrument to learn. Once I was able to get it in tune and learn some basic notes and strumming (or striking) patterns, I quickly saw the beauty of the tone.

However, the sitar is an instrument of its own and takes years and years to master. I figured, since I was already good at guitar, how could I take the tone from a sitar, but use the guitar instead?

This was definitely a task. Once I realized that a guitar would never truely sound like a sitar, was I able to find some ways to get a similar idea of a sitar sound.

So there are a few things one can do to make their guitar sound like a sitar.

Doing it with Pedals:

There are actually two pedals on the market that I know of that turn your electric guitar into a sitar. Those would be the Ravish Sitar by ElectroHarmonix and Danelectro Sitar Swami. I’ve heard both of these pedals and found that neither really captured a sitar sound, rather they make their own sound altogether. Cool for experimenting none the less.

Doing it with Guitars:

This is the best way, as there are actually electric sitar guitars. Most notably the Jerry Jones Electric Sitar of the ’70s. These are rather expensive today, but Rogue and a few other companies made replicas for fairly cheap. If set up properly, these can sound very close to a sitar, but with a guitar twist.

Buzzing Bridge:

You can actually buy a buzz bridge to install on your guitar, and if set up properly, you can get a pretty decent sound.

So to sum things up, I would say the Electric Sitar Guitar is the best way to go if you are looking for that sitar sound on the guitar.

Make your Strat more Useable

I was getting kind of bored of my strat (its  a Fender MIJ 1968 reissue) as I found that the tone and volume knobs weren’t really providing me with many options. The volume didn’t get very quiet until about 3 on the knob, and the when the tone was lower than 6, it became quite muddy. What was I to do?

I read a bunch of articles about how MIJ strats are great instruments, though the electronics can be a bit shotty in quality. So I decided to pick up a Vintage Strat Electronics Upgrade Kit from RS Guitarworks for around $50. This included 2 vintage style pots for the volume and tone, and a paper and oil guitar cap by Jensen.

Even though this is an easy install, I decided to have my guitar tech do the work for me to ensure it was done the best possible. When I got the guitar back and plugged into my amp, boy was I surprised by the difference! The volume became way more useable, and the tone allowed for so many different “sweet spots”. Just a tiny turn on the tone knob provided new arrays of sound. Best part is that when I adjusted the volume knob, it kept the tone in tact from the tone knob! Never have I had this luxury before. This made my guitar more vintage-sounding as well.

Now when I play live, I feel like I have more tone palettes to work with, and am inspired to play much longer than before.

If you are feeling like your strat needs more usability, try upgrading the pots and cap, and you’ll definitely be surprised by the difference.

Playing your Guitar in Stereo

Feeling like your tone needs more dimension, more dynamic, and just more oomph? What you can do if you have more than one amp is to play them in stereo and you’ll get closer to that fullness you so desire. Continue reading Playing your Guitar in Stereo

Vintage Tone at a Decent Price?

Two of my favorite amps of all time would most likely be a a late 60s Marshall Superlead, and a late 50s Fender Tweed Bassman Combo, both incredible amps at the pinnacle of amazing tone. However if one were looking to acquire either of these vintage amps today, a lot of money would need to be at disposal.  I’m talking upwards to 10 grand. Do you have 10 grand lying around to purchase maybe even 1 of these amps? If so, I say do it and you won’t be sorry. But if these prices are too high for you, there is another option to retain vintage tone at prices that won’t break the bank.

So that brings me to talk about Traynor Amplification. They are a Canadian amp maker that has been around since the early days with Fender and Marshall, and were  creating similar amps at the time, using similar components that would be period correct. Is a vintage Traynor better than a vintage Fender or Marshall? No, but they do have great tone that retains that vintage vibe.

Traynor in the ’60s created the YBA-1 Bassmaster, which would be similar to a plexi or bassman. When I’ve played this amp before with some good vintage celestions, the tone was actually quite amazing. And the best part, these vintage amps are selling for around $500 today!

So I would suggest to you that if you want vintage tone at an affordable cost, check out some old Traynor amps.

Earthquaker Devices Organizer Review

The moment I saw the PGS demo for the Earthquaker Devices Organizer, I was immediately intrigued. The fact that you can make your guitar sound like an organ got me thinking that I could play some Doors songs without a real Vox Continental. So without further redo, here’s my review..

Okay so this pedal has a lotta knobs. Lets do a quick run down:

Up – Controls the upper octave
Down – Controls the lower octave
Choir – Multi-Octave blend, aka more churchy
Lag – Delay time between dry and affected signal
Tone – dark or bright
Direct – Controls guitar signal volume

So, is this a great pedal? Well, I only own analog pedals and this is my first pedal with digital circuitry. Yes, thats right, this pedal is that good that I bought it even though its not all analog! That should say alot.

So lets talk about sound. You can easily get a hammond organ kind of sound, or complete church bells. Then you can get some completely weird sounds when you really implement the lag knob. I personally prefer it as a B3 Hammond sound as I love the blues. I was playing some green onions in no time. Very cool sounding pedal. Even though its new, it feels remnant of the past. You can get some very eerie, horror-movie-esqe sounds as well.

So I really really recommend this pedal, as it is definitely staying on my board. View the EQD Organizer on Amazon.

EarthQuaker Devices Organizer Sound Clips:

Blues Organ with a Strat

Awesome Settings on the EarthQuakerDevices Organizer:

Hammond B3 Organ:

Up:  Full
Down: Full
Choir: Off
Lag: Off
Tone: to taste
Direct: Anywhere between half and full

Church Organ:

Up: Full
Down: Full
Choir: Full
Lag: None or a little
Tone: to taste
Direct: Anywhere between half and full

Crazy, insane futuristic past:

Up: Full
Down: Full
Choir: Full
Lag: Full
Tone: to taste
Direct: Full

How to Get Singing Sustain

Getting singing sustain on an electric guitar is no easy task, but if you follow these tips, it’ll help you get closer there.

The first thing I want to talk about before getting into the gear, is technique. This is vital in achieving those singing tones. So knowledge of soloing is necessary. Now if you can solo, the important thing is being able to do vibrato well. For those of you who don’t know what vibrato is, think of it as slightly bending a note up and down very quickly. Once you have your vibrato down, then achieving that singing sustain becomes much easier.

Now lets talk about the gear. The purest form of singing sustain comes from the right amp. This amp would ideally be a lead amp, such as a Marshall Plexi. Don’t worry if you don’t have a lead amp, as I’ll talk about pedals that can help as well. The great thing about a good tube lead amp, is the singing sustain will be more pure. On a Marshall Plexi, the louder you go, the more sustain you will get. So volume is also a key in the puzzle. Attenuators can be used if you don’t want to bother the neighbours. Also with a Marshall Plexi, you can get almost unlimited sustain without the use of any pedals.

Speaking of pedals, putting a good overdrive or fuzz pedal in front of the Marshall Plexi will make the sustain have more of a singing tone. Now this is where vibrato comes in. Once you have the sustain going well with the amp/pedals, using a lot of vibrato will make those extended notes have a singing quality, and the longer you hold it, more overtones and harmonics will start to overlay, which is another key to the puzzle. And if you keep holding the note, you can even get some nice controlled feedback.

Now if you don’t have a lead amp, you can still achieve it with pedals, though the tone won’t be as pure. But you can get it stacking a pre-amp or overdrive pedal with your favourite fuzz box or distortion pedal.

Another good technique to facilitate the singing aspect is to do a lot of bends. Bending is more reminiscent of a voice than just single notes.

So basically to sum it up, combining vibrato and bending in your solos with a good lead amp cranked running a fuzz or overdrive pedal will definitely get you closer to singing sustain.

How to use your Computer as a Guitar Amp

When it comes to getting incredible tone, I personally use a combo of analog pedals and tube amps. But this can be pretty costly, and for most people, it takes time to really build the sound they are looking for. For something easy and cheap, software rigs can give you relatively good tone. This digital platform is pretty ideal for practice and gets you a wide range of sounds. There are plenty of software out there, but of the ones I’ve tried, I like Amplitube the best, as it really tries to emulate tube tone.

How it works?
What you need is the Stealth Plug (price is around 100 bucks), which will help you be able to plug your guitar into your computer via the USB port. When Amplitube is running, you can now use your computer speakers to output the sound of the guitar.

Amplitube gives you many different amp models, cabinets, pedals and rack effects to choose from to get your desired sound. It even has a built in tuner. Basically its your one-stop-shop for an entire guitar rig.

Why its Easy
Turning on a pedal is as simple as a click of the mouse. Go from crazy distortion to sparkling cleans in seconds. Once you create a rig you like, you can save it as a preset and come back to it whenever you want.

Lets Talk Tone
I must say, it actually sounds quite good. Definitely not for a performance, but low volume jams at home are where it really shines. It kinda does have a tube-like quality to it. You can get many different tone textures to really get the sound in your head that you’re looking for.

All I can say is that for 100 bucks, its definitely worth having, plus it makes recording really easy. If you’re not happy with your tone, I say give it a shot. For the price, you won’t be disappointed.

Update: Check out Amplitube 3 Software and  iRig (connecting your guitar to iPad/iPhone).

Coily Cables and Guitar Tone

Today’s post is a short one. I wanna quickly talk about using coily cords. Many will say that it is really just cosmetic for that vintage look, but truth be told, there is an effect on tone. With coiled cables, the capacitance is raised, thus rolling off some of the high end. This is great especially if you like to crank your amps without the treble being too ear piercing.

A good way to find a good coily cable is to check your local music store and actually hold it. I say this because if the cable is heavy, then it is the right kind. There are plenty of cheap knockoffs on the market, including fender-made ones that are light and have a great deal of noise. Some good boutique coily cables are Bullet Cables and Lava Cables.

Interesting fact, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan both used coiled cables. No wonder these two guitarist have some of the most sought after tone!

FoxRox Aquavibe Review

As promised, I said I would post my Aquavibe review. I finally got it, and have had a chance to play with it for about a week now, and I must say, I am very impressed. I also own a BBE Soul Vibe, and after some comparing, really there was no competition. The Aquavibe is far better. Enclosed in a cool blue casing with green LED, it sure looks as awesome as it sound. So lets get to the features, as well as some tips and tricks!

One thing to note is that the Aquavibe definitely sounds better with single coil pickups, compared to humbuckers, but thats just my opinion. Another thing I noticed is that the Aquavibe is extremely quiet! I found my soul vibe to get annoying when stacked with other pedals. Definitely not the case with the Aqua.

In terms of tone, this pedal really cops some Hendrix vibes. I was able to dial in Machine Gun settings, and Hey Baby settings in the vibrato mode. I also got some nice Pink Floyd sounds as well (Breathe). But whats great about the Aquavibe is that it does much more than the other vibe clones out there. With the Center knob, one can dial in variations of the sweep. Since the original Univibe varied from unit to unit, this Center knob helps to get a different range of vintage Univibes! Very awesome, especially if you wanna tweak it a bit so no one else has your exact vibe tone.

I like how the speed dial is big enough to control with your feet. I however still prefer to use an expression pedal, but if you don’t wanna spend the extra cash, you really don’t have to. The speed knob has an incredible range going from really slow phasey sounds to super fast underwater tones. The width knob controls how pronounced the effect is. You can go from a very subtle effect, to an exaggerated sweep.

Chorus Mode: So this is your typical univibe mode. I found the chorus on the Aquavibe to be very nice, and not too overpowering. Based on the clips, the Megavibe may have a slightly better chorus sound, but its hardly noticeable. And when you have Randy Hansen doing clips for you, of course its gonna sound good! Still, the aquavibe does some impressive vintage univibe tones.

Vibrato Mode: Probably the best I’ve heard in terms of Univibe clones. This mode is really great and can get really psychedelic! What I really love is how well it keeps your original guitar tone, especially in vibrato mode. If you put in a a subtle sweep, you can’t even really notice any tone coloration!

Awesome Aquavibe Settings:

Chorus mode

Great authentic univibe: Speed: 12:00, Width: 1:00, Center: 11:45

Great underwater tone: Speed: 3:30, Width: 3:30, Center: 12:00

Vibrato Mode

Psychedelic vibe: Speed: 2:00, Width: 1:00, Center: 11:45

Aliens have landed!: Speed: 5:00, Width: 5:00, Center: 12:00

As you can tell, I’m having a lot of fun with this pedal. Every time I play it, I find a new sound. The FoxRox Aquavibe scores a 10 in my books. I find that its a very inspiring pedal, and really helps in the creative flow of things. If you are planning on getting one, get on the waiting list now.. its about a 1 year wait, but totally worth it!

If you already have an aquavibe, post some settings you like (along with a description) in the comments section.

Fender Blues Junior Amp Review

I’ve had the pleasure of playing many Fender Blues Juniors over the years, and I must say, its a nice little amp. At 15 watts, this amp is loud! If you are playing blues, you can definitely get some nice tones from the Blues Junior. And with the onboard reverb, and fat switch, finding a likable tone is easy. Lets take a closer lookat the Fender Blues Junior, and how you can make this amp sing!

A good thing about this amp is the Master Volume. Being a vintage guy, I really like to crank an amp to get great tone. But since this amp is small enough, the MV makes it very usable in a bedroom setting. If you want some good overdriven tones at lower volume so you don’t piss off the neighbors, this function is extremely useful. As well, sometimes you want great tone, without blowing your own ears off. Very tweakable in this sense.

Now I’ve played a few different kinds of blues juniors. Some versions that had tweed and red tolex. The difference on the inside was the speaker used, and the kinds of tubes. This makes the stock blues junior a great DIY style amp, as you can choose your own speaker/tube preferences to customize the tone to you. Some of the speakers used on these versions are Eminence, Jensen, and Celestion.

Great EQ on this amp with a middle, bass, treble and fat switch. I like using the fat switch with my strat, as it really gets a great blues tone.

I found with the Blues Junior that I was able to get sounds for most genres of music, aside from say metal.

All I can say is that if you are playing small bars, or just playing in your apartment, this is a great amp. View the Blues Junior on Amazon.