GtrWrks: Guitar Effects Workshop

Ty England & George Jones

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:56:47 +0000

Every time I walk onstage with Ty it’s a blast – what a fun cat to work with, not to mention his being a most excellent guitarist and vocalist (who sings true to pitch!) – www.tyengland.com. Last week’s show found us on stage supporting country music legend George Jones (www.georgejones.com) – this just a couple of days after his induction into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. The sold out show was a lot of fun and ably produced/powered by David Qualls Sound.

Terry Quiett Band

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 22:09:48 +0000

Dig this:

A buddy of mine sold a bass rig to “some cat in some blues band” (www.terryquiettband.com) and told me he’d flipped ‘em his ’63 for them to check out. Today I get an email from Terry the guitarist/vocalist:

“Hey! I wanted to write and tell you what a killer pedal you’re making (as if you didn’t know)!

My band was recently playing a show in Tulsa – where my bass player was buying an amp from a guy off Craigslist. His name was Ronnie Galloway. We started talking gear…as gearheads do…and we showed him our ever-expanding pedalboards (my bass player and I are both addicts). Anyway, Ronnie was talking about his friend Todd who makes pedals. We said we’d have to check them out and he leaves. Two minutes later he walks back in and says he has a 19 Sixty 3 pedal of yours in his truck – and having just met a few moments before – loaned me the pedal to try out. I call it fate.

I’ve been throwing in my chain at the last several shows and just LOVE it! Everyone in the bands thinks it just kills my (boutique pedal). I have to agree. Fabulous man!”

Subsequently I listened to some of Terry’s material @ www.myspace.com/terryquiett - and they are flat-out kicking it. I thought their blues oriented thing was cool, offering a glimpse into several diverse influences… or maybe it’s just their DNA. These guys are laying straight out there. Amazon and CD Baby are stocking their records – check it out.

See Ronnie Galloway @ www.reclinersband.com.

Ain’t No Cure…

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:24:31 +0000

…for the Summer Stage Blues. When you book an outdoor summer festival, you never know what kind of stage & sound system you’re going to get. This past week’s was… suspect; and not the hippest thing I’d ever seen. It was very hot that day and we were in a steel-cage-death-match of a metal can stage – it was a lot like being in a oven. At least the music was good: www.ricktoops.com. Al Garcia on drums was laying it down – holy crap, what a sweet groove. (and dig his somewhat unique set up)

At Last…

admin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 19:30:26 +0000

After assorted delays, stops & starts and an insanely busy spring gig schedule, the bV has arrived! I’m happy to present to you the (new) bV Overdrive:

This OD shares the same circuit as the previous Flat Five (clean boost > throaty, singing solo tones); the only difference being that these will be regularly available for purchase (as opposed to special order/wait) and a new paint job. A hip thing about the clean boost ability is it’s voice – the sound appears to be flat in general, yet the mids/low-mids are enhanced just enough to round out thinner sounding/twangy guitars – or perfect to use for a solo tone, even if the volume is @ unity. Good stuff.

Custom Work

admin — Fri, 28 May 2010 15:59:21 +0000

Custom built ’63 Pre with a (sweet) sweepable, low pass filter:

Two of these were built for very special customers: through one’s hands pass many cool things, through the other’s hands pass many cool notes.

Abilene, TX with Terry Allen

admin — Tue, 11 May 2010 11:27:34 +0000

The Terry Allen Band (www.myspace.com/terryallenband07) is a Country/Western act stemming from the north Texas area – they have a huge fan base and play across Texas as well as into the surrounding states – they enjoy mucho radio play and generally tear it up on stage. This past week I worked with these cats in Abilene (www.abilenetx.com – ~150 miles west of Dallas) at Southern Nights Saloon/Dancehall – huge crowd!

Chicken Pickin’!

Rick Toops’ CD Release Party

admin — Thu, 06 May 2010 00:23:45 +0000

Last night was Rick Toops’ CD release party (www.ricktoops.com) – I was happy to be part of it – the drummer, bassist, sax man and 2nd vocalist I’d not met before (always a tricky situation on stage) – everyone was extremely cool and all were great musicians – it was very cool to meet some new cats as well as being a joy to play this set. Rick’s new platter, 2PS, is available at CD Baby (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/RickToops) – groove-based soul/pop at its finest.

Here’s Rick laying down:

Music from Motown Gig

admin — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:13:11 +0000

“Funny thing happened on the way to the sheet music…”

Wonder what ’Applause’ means in Italian?

May 2010 Gig Schedule

admin — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:04:23 +0000

I feel extremely fortunate to be able to work in a wide variety of musical situations – each of these disparate jobs allow me to flex very different musical muscles:

01 May – Motown Spectacular: The Coasters, The Platters & The Marvelettes – Lucky Star Casino – Show time 8pm – www.luckystarcasino.org – This date features versatile powerhouse drummer Mike McCraw: www.mikemccraw.com – tickets: www.zooamp.com

04 May – Rick Toops (soulful pop/rock) – CD Release Party – Belle Isle Brewery – 9pm – www.ricktoops.com - www.belleislerestaurant.com

07 May – Ty England (Country/Western) – TBA – www.tyengland.com

xx May – The Recliners – NOTICE – Recliners gig has been postponed/rescheduled – stay tuned. Instead:

08 May – Terry Allen Band (Country/Western) – Southern Nights Dancehall & Saloon – Abilene, Texas – 10pm – www.terryallenband.com, www.myspace.com/terryallenband07, www.myspace.com/southernnightsdancehall

15 May – Banana Seat (Disco/R&B) – Point After Club – OKC – 9pm – www.bananaseat.com

22 May - Ty England - (Country/Western) – Aubrey, TX - TBA – www.tyengland.com

?? - DATE MOVED - TBA - Logan Walker and the Jazz Guys – Lawton, OK – 2pm (Logan is a fantastic Tenor cat – extremely rich music history, an extremely gracious cat and general beautiful person) – this is a straight ahead, Real Book quartet date – I’m very much looking forward to working with him again.

29 May – The Recliners (Rock) – Dan McGuiness Pub – Moore, OK – 9.30pm – www.reclinersband.com – www.danmcguinnesspub.com/moore

Arts Festival Gig

admin — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:59:37 +0000

www.ricktoops.com – Rick is a very talented singer and keyboard player – his new CD 2PS is available here: http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RickToops - great stuff all ’round.

This past week I got the opportunity to perform a set with him – dig the bass/drums duo on the clip!

For this gig I was using my 1983 Fuji Gen Gakki ’62 RI Fender Strat > ’76 RI Dyna Comp (with various circuit modifications!) > the new GtrWrks bV Overdrive > Malekko E600B analog delay > 1966 Fender Bassman which is loaded into a custom JD Newell solid pine 2×12 combo cab (open back) loaded with Reverend All-Tones (love these speakers!).

The Strat features a Callaham bridge w/steel block; Seymour Duncan pickups (B: Hot Rails; M: Classic Stack Plus; N: Lil 59); DiMarzio custom pots; Raw Vintage trem springs; Late ’70s vintage NOS solid/hand turned brass knobs, switch and trem arm tips from Kahler. Of course, as you well know, there’s a significant amount of tone to be added via knob material… uh… or something like that.

This is a very short live clip of one of the tunes from Rick’s new record:

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/7375208/19286955?v=7375208