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In this installment, I address the relationship between volume and the different kinds of distortion you can get from your amp.

In the 4th video of this series, I spend some time illustrating with sound and graphics, what happens when you vary the different volume levels in your signal chain. It’s a very simple look at a 3 part signal chain: guitar -> preamp tube -> power tube, and you should understand after watching this video how those 3 things work together to create different kinds of distortion.

The third video in this series describes the difference between preamp and power tube distortion. I give an example of the differences in sound, although every amp has it’s own voice, so this video is only one example. What you should take away from it however is that there is a very distinct difference in sound, and the characteristics of each.

Part 2 of this video series explains the basic building blocks of tube amps and how they work together.

The first video in a series of gear lessons I’ll be doing called “Understanding Tube Amps.”  In this first installment, I do my best to explain why tube amps are considered by most to be better than solid state (transistor) amps.

Somewhere along the line I picked up a Nobels ODR-1 to see how it compared to the ODR-S, and although I still prefer the ODR-S, I’ve added the ODR-1 to the comparinator. Check it out…

Stan Lassiter Website: http://www.stanlassiter.net
Jack Pearson Website: http://www.jackpearson.com

Saturday night it was time for some live music in the form of a VIP jam session (video clips below). Creation Audio Labs had brought in Stan Lassiter and Jack Pearson to kick things off.  I’ve been living in a cave for the past 30 years, so I had never heard of either of them, so I didn’t know what to expect.

It didn’t take me long to figure out that Stan was a very different guitar player than what I had ever seen before.  Within seconds of starting his first song, I already had a perplexed look on my face, as if to say “what the… wait… how do you do…wait…huh?”.  He did things on the guitar that I’m not sure are technically possible without 7 fingers, or a third hand.  And just when you thought you had seen everything, he’d do something else that was just as baffling.
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I stepped into the Creation Audio Labs room just as Brandon was showing off the Holy Fire pedal.  I kept the camera rolling as he explained the features of the pedal to those in the room.

Creation Audio Labs was the company that made this event possible.  I know that putting on this event was a financial risk, not knowing how many vendors would come, or how many people would show up, but I think the event went great.

Creation Audio Labs is primarily a Pro Audio company, who brings some of that experience to the world of guitar effects. Read the rest of this entry »

Nolatone Ampworks website: www.nolatone.com

I spent about 10 minutes playing through two of the amps in the Nolatone room (video clips below), and they offered to run the camera while I played. I first played through a 5 watt combo called the June Bug. As with many other tube amps, the volume seemed way bigger than what you’d expect from a 5 watt amp.  It’s got a clean channel, and an overdrive channel.

The overdrive channel has two different preamp gain knobs (Sweet, and Hot) allow you to mix two different voicing together in any ratio.  A single tone knob and a master volume work on either channel.  The amp was a lot of fun to play, and has a good amount of versatility.

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Sommatone Amplification: http://www.sommatone.com

At the last NY Amp Show, I first saw Sommatone amps, and I also had a chance to hear Jimmy Somma talk about what it takes to be a boutique amp builder as a part of a panel with some other builders.

So it was nice to see them again at the Nashville Amp Expo, and aside from playing through the amps myself this time, I also had a chance to hear Jimmy play some slide guitar. I’ve got a great clip of him playing through one of his amps, and it sounds even better than what you hear in the video.
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