The Making of Get Killer Tone: Effects DVD

[DougDoppler]

Tuesday is Cornish Day. With special thanks to a pal, I'll be getting my hands on a trio of PC pedals for the next 24 hours...

The kind folks at Royer mics have two 121s arriving today to complement my SM57s. This will be the mic set used on all the pedal demos. For those less familiar with mic stuff, the Shure SM57 has been the industry standard guitar mic for decades. The Royer 121 has become many producer's choice over the 57, hence why we've included it. The blend of these two mics gives us both what many players like myself are used to AND what guys who can afford more expensive mics than I can are used to as well...

To that end, this DVD is going to be in many ways a sound design disc for effects. On my crazy one day there and back drives to/from L.A. I've been listening to lots of CDs, making a library in my head of a bunch of sounds I'm going to re/create and document for your consumption. It's quite like what I did with the Guitar Hero sessions - find out what I can about what people were/are using and in turn capture and document that sound as best I can with the gear on hand for your personal consumption. Fun stuff!!!

[DougDoppler]

Special of the Day: Pete Cornish SS-2

Well, so I FINALLY got a chance to play through a Cornish pedal. Of the four pedals that are here, the SS-2 has the least gain, so I decided to start there. To test out this pedal I've been going back and forth between an Ibanez S470, and two Fender Eric Johnson Strats - one with a maple fingerboard, one rosewood. On the amp end I started with a Fuchs Clean Machine - 150 watts of headroom out into a Bogner 4x12 cabinet, loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s if I'm not mistaken. Then I went to a Fender '59 Bassman reissue. The pedal sounds great through everything, and I was able to get a pretty amazing brown sound into the Bassman. The pedal seems to get brighter the higher I turn up the Sustain control, so for some of the bridge position stuff I actually backed the Tone control on the pedal all the way off, which sounds great. This pedal could survive a nuclear war - it's built like a tank! I've done some rock, blues, country, and a little VH style boogie and I'm really digging it. GREAT pedal!!!

[DougDoppler]

Special of the Day: Pete Cornish SS-2

Well I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I can tell you they are GREAT pedals. Much bigger in size than I'd realized. Built like rocks, and sonically outstanding. At the end of the day the SS-2 is my favorite. They were all incredibly musical, but this one really allowed me to get a massive range of musical tones. I think a lot of players think with a drive pedal that all the way up is the best starting place - not everyone by any means, but the more is better philosophy is alive and not well. With a box like this I'm as interested in what happens with low Sustain settings (the PC word for fuzz/distortion on this box). This pedal just did so many musical things. The pedal got brighter the higher the Sustain settings, so I was working the Tone control more than other pedals, but with great success. They're expensive, but in the quest for tone if I had the extra cash laying around, I'd buy this pedal. Full stop. The others were great too, btw. I'll probably write about them too when a bit more dust settles. Have a great day!

[DougDoppler]

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT...

Hello friends. It's with great pleasure that I announce our decision to step into active production on all four of the Get Killer Tone DVDs - Get Killer Tone: Guitars; Effects; Amps/Speakers/Cabinets; Killer Rigs. We were going to shoot them successively, but in the act of the making the Effects DVD I realized that for many players it's much more about finding the right effects for their set up, as opposed to having a pedalboard where they can plug it into whatever amp is "there". Both approaches are totally legit and will be covered. My trip to the Amp Show was pivotal in my realization of the fact that getting a massive collection of the best amps (and some entry and mid level ones as well), making great guitar pairings, and then plugging the right effects in would serve more people than using a smaller range of amps. The shipment that arrived from Fender - '59 Bassman reissue, '65 Twin reissue, Hot Rod Deluxe, Eric Johnson Strat (rosewood board model), and the '52 Tele reissue really took us to the point where we had enough to do everything now - thanks Bill! So to that end, we've launched a temp version of http://www.GetKillerTone.com that features individual blogs for each DVD. The Effects DVD blog spells out how we've set up the DVD and what you can expect. At the end of that blog there's a link that points back here. Because this forum has played such a key role (thanks!) in the making of this DVD, I wanted to keep all blogging on that disc here - just the right thing to do...

Again, SO many thanks to each of you here on the forum and to those in the industry who have done so much to support the Get Killer Tone series. I'll be updating the first page on this thread to list the manufacturers by product type (effects/amps) so you'll have a better idea of the stable were using for this DVD. Thank YOU!!!

[Cusack Effects]

Doug, did we send you what you need?

[DougDoppler]

Hey Moco!

I'm still waiting for the Rolls Royce, but they might deliver that on Monday along with the other package that needs a signature!

Thanks,

Doug

[DougDoppler]

From the first page of this thread, here's an updated list of the gear we'll be using on Get Killer Tone series...

Effects: A/DA, Analog Man, Barber, Boss, Butler, Budda, Blackstar, Bodenhamer, Catalinbread, Cochrane, Cornish, Cusack, Custom Tones, Dallas Arbiter, Diamond, Jim Dunlop, EbTech, Empress, EHX, Eventide, FoxRox, Fuchs, Guyatone, Hermida, Ibanez, Keeley, Lehle, Line 6, Roger Linn Design, Carl Martin, Majikbox, Marshall, Maxon, Roger Mayer, Morley, Neunaber, Prescription Electronics, Pigtronix, ProCo, Radial, Roland, Rocktron, RMC, T-Rex, TC Electronic, Toadworks, Tortuga, Visual Sound, Voodoo Lab, Vox, Wampler, Xotic, Z.Vex, and more!

Guitars: Charvel, Dean, DiMarzio, Duncan, EMG, ESP, Fender, G&L, Gibson, Ibanez, Jackson, PRS, and Wayne

Amps/Speakers/Cabinets: Blackstar, Bogner, Bray, Carvin, Celestion, Cornford, Dr. Z, Eminence, Fargen, Fender, Fuchs, Line 6, Marshall, Mesa-Boogie, Metro, Orange, Peavey, Randall, Roland, Scumback, THD, Two Rock, VHT, Victoria, Vox

Mics: Royer, Shure

[Shane~]

Hey, 80s Guitar Buddy.

The "Wheel of Wah" is great - I'd almost say that I'd go toward the original model of a line like that; but then if that was true I'd be using an Apple IIe computer.

Whammy Bar Mojo is greatly appreciated - can't wait for Killer Tone decalogue (you know you want to).

Ok, back to homework (OSI and TCP/IP Model, 4-6 page paper. >UGH< ... )

TTYL

Shane~

[DougDoppler]

Hey Shane! Wassup! Great to see you this weekend - great to see you guys doing so well!!!

My buddy, chiropractor extraordinaire, and the first GKT loaner gear benefactor Dr. Eric came by today to put some speakers that the kind folks at Eminence have sent for the DVD into his KILLER 63 Virbrolux Reverb (Texas Heats) and his equally KILLER '68 Pro Reverb. The reverb circuit on the Vibrolux is on the fritz at the moment so I plugged in the trusty Wet pedal and we both agreed how wonderfully Black Face that pedal is. It was nice to get an "I second that" from someone who owns the real deal amps. Both sets of speakers really took things into classic SRV twangland, and in going back and forth between the two amps, it was pretty remarkable how well the Wet pedal does...

[Cusack Effects]

Sorry Doug, this is Jon, Moco has been talking to you about this. I just wanted to make sure he is sending you what you need. Let me know. He asks me about a lot of people want stuff. People want a free pedal if they agree to write about it on their blog with 4 followers, etc. So I make him do a lot of digging to make sure we send pedals to the right people. I remember discussing you with him, but I don't recall which pedals you wanted, or which I told him to send you. Anyway, if they are not the ones you want, let me know.

Jon

[DougDoppler]

Dear Jon:

Hey - nice to meet you official like! Michael Guy Chislett is a friend and we met up when he and The Academy Is were in town. He was singing your praises - pedals and the custom looper you built for his pedal board - nice!



Moco has been great and I VERY much appreciate your support. I'll follow up if there is anything further that did not make it out in the care package. I do a little artist relations for a pickup company and it's a fine line to encouraging people who believe in your product, want to support in by using or reviewing it, and running a business where at the end of the day there are employees to feed, suppliers to pay and so on. Let's not forget the sea of eMail everyone is struggling to make their way through. That said, I tremendously appreciate the trust you've put in us on this project - both with the investment of your time and resources. We look forward to living up to your expectations...

Warmest regards,

Doug

[DougDoppler]

Special of the Day: Dave "FoxRox" Fox Fuzz Friendly/True Bypassed modded Dunlop Cry Baby (GCB-95-910511)

First of all, Dave is pretty much the unchallenged father of the reissue pedal. He was working at Crest Audio which absorbed Dallas Musical Industries. I actually believe my Fuzz Face is one of his reissues. He is HIGHLY regarded among all the master pedal builders, and I own a Captain Coconut 2, one of the most prized pedals of all time, IMO. Look for both Octrons on the DVD as well...

With that introduction taken care of, I can get to the mod I had him do. I have two Dunlop GCB-95-910511 wahs and wanted to be able to demonstrate what true bypass does in a wah as well as the Fuzz Face friendly mod. That is the same mod that goes into the Teese pedals as well. I just got this pedal back today, but I'm very excited to have it on hand. Thanks Dave!

[courtney2018]

Doug, can't wait to see how all this comes together. It's going to be interesting! Lots of great effects you have there. Looking forward to it!

[Bobby D]

Originally Posted by DougDoppler

Special of the Day: Dave "FoxRox" Fox Fuzz Friendly/True Bypassed modded Dunlop Cry Baby (GCB-95-910511)

First of all, Dave is pretty much the unchallenged father of the reissue pedal. He was working at Crest Audio which absorbed Dallas Musical Industries. I actually believe my Fuzz Face is one of his reissues. He is HIGHLY regarded among all the master pedal builders, and I own a Captain Coconut 2, one of the most prized pedals of all time, IMO. Look for both Octrons on the DVD as well...

Dave Fox IS INDEED one of the fathers of the whole modern boutique pedal business. I bought his BIG HUGE foxrox PROVIBE back in the early 90s, it was REALLY big....but sounded really good. AND I had one of those Crest reissue fuzzfaces he did. And a Captain Coconut 1....and a CC2...and a few fuzzcards...and a Zim.....

he is one of the best!

[catalinbread]

Originally Posted by Bobby D

Dave Fox IS INDEED one of the fathers of the whole modern boutique pedal business. I bought his BIG HUGE foxrox PROVIBE back in the early 90s, it was REALLY big....but sounded really good. AND I had one of those Crest reissue fuzzfaces he did. And a Captain Coconut 1....and a CC2...and a few fuzzcards...and a Zim.....

he is one of the best!

We have a ZIM in Teh Bunker, it is a thing of beauty. Time to time Howard brings in his Coconut, which is a treat. I've told Mr Fox before and it is always worth repeating. He is obviously an engineer, unlike most of those types, he knows how to wring the music out of the circuits.