in part 3 we look at FUZZ, and how following a few simple guidelines can help you get the most out of them
Tuesday 15 November 2011
Tuesday 20 September 2011
DISTORTION Pedals - TheGigRig Effects Pedal Survival Guide Part 2
In Part 2 of the series we check out how to get the most out of your DISTORTION pedals with a sneak preview of some of my fav's. Check it out!!!
Thursday 28 July 2011
TheGigRig Effects Pedal Survival Guide
The first in our series helping you get the most out of your effects pedals is done. Check it out...
don't forget to 'like' our Facebook page here
don't forget to 'like' our Facebook page here
Tuesday 21 June 2011
The Ultimate delay shootout - is HERE!!!
here you go guys and gals - enjoy!
Remember, for an in depth analysis of the delays sign up to TheGigRig Tone Review.
Remember, for an in depth analysis of the delays sign up to TheGigRig Tone Review.
Wednesday 8 June 2011
the ULTIMATE delay shootout is on the way!!!
A friend of mine who is another confirmed pedal junkie and I started discussing and comparing notes on what we thought were some of the greatest delays of all time. well, there's only one way to sort this.... FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so we have organized to have some of the best delay units, old and new, in the studio for a quick head to head.
included in the line-up are
TC Electronics - 2290
Cornish TES
Skrydstrup DDL
Hiwatt Custom Tape Echo
Strymon ElCapsitan
Providence Chrono Delay
MXR Rack Delay
We are recording the shootout on Thursday the 9th of June, so we'll get it edited an online as soon as possible.
This is going to be a fun day!!!!!
so we have organized to have some of the best delay units, old and new, in the studio for a quick head to head.
included in the line-up are
Cornish TES
Skrydstrup DDL
Hiwatt Custom Tape Echo
Strymon ElCapsitan
Providence Chrono Delay
MXR Rack Delay
We are recording the shootout on Thursday the 9th of June, so we'll get it edited an online as soon as possible.
This is going to be a fun day!!!!!
Thursday 19 May 2011
USA - AOK!
My business partner and our head tech senior Dave Mapleston is off to North Carolina this week to start the process of setting up our USA hub. It will be our American build, assembly, test and distribution centre.Why are we doing this? We have so many fantastic American customers and we want to look after them as best as we can. We ship so much product to the USA and our postal and courier services are fantastic, but we know we can do even better, so the idea of the USA hub was born. From about the end of June, we will be shipping all TheGigRig USA orders straight from our USA hub. Till then of course its business as usual and we'll be shipping as per normal from the UK.
This is a big step for us. TheGigRig is branching out, we're coming of age.
Thursday 10 March 2011
TheGigRig 'Z' cable on the way!
Its nearly here people. The 'Z' cable, the last piece of the puzzle.
In all our endless hours of testing pedals and signal chains, a certain few things have come to our attention. Things that we've found to make a huge impact on your tone and the way your guitar interacts with your amp.
It may come as no surprise that the output from your guitar is very different than the output that comes from an FX pedal or any piece of gear that has a standard buffered output. Your guitar pickup has so many cool things going on and seems to connect in such a musical way when you plug straight into a nice amp. I'm sure you know yourself its when we put buffers, pedals, racks in the way of that signal it can have a less than wonderful affect on that magic guitar to amp connection.
So how does the 'Z' cable help?
The 'Z' cable gets placed at the very end of your guitar chain, the last thing on your pedal board. It receives all the signals from your pedals, buffers, anything that's put into it, then sends your amplifier and signal that is almost identical to the signal that comes from your guitar.
It tricks the amp into thinking it's receiving a signal direct from your guitar.
You can fine tune this process as well so if your normal guitar tone is warm and round or bright and sharp you can dial it in with the 'REACTANCE' control. You can even decide the length of cable that you want the 'Z' cable to sound like. Long, medium, short, even an active output if you want the cable to disappear altogether.
The 'Z' cable can also be incredibly long with NO AUDIO LOSS. What appears at the start of the cable is EXACTLY what appears at the end of the cable. We have 2 standard sizes.
Stage - 4 metres, and Stadium, which is 8 metres.
Thursday 13 January 2011
Lets get real in 2011 people
Hi guys and gals. Pondering tone over countless hours as I have I believe I've had an epiphany when it comes to searching for and finding great tone. Let me give you a quick preface as to what led me to this moment. I spent a week in LA recently with my family, it was the longest I have been away from a guitar or an amp in a decade. On the last day we stopped into Guitar Center on Sunset just to check it out as you do. And if you haven't you really should, its amazing. Anyway, there I am, in holiday mode, completely relaxed, no stress, happy days. Now i begin to recognize the guitar tones flying around me, some good, some ok, some buzzy like bees in a bottle, but I realize i haven't even looked at what gear they're using or what they're playing through. I'm just at peace, barely listening but still taking it all in.
When I eventually looked at the stuff they were using, I was genuinely surprised.
Why did you need to know this? because tone is my life, and that life has a pressure, stress and deadlines built into it. The knowledge this life has given me has also led to a certain amount of presumption and its so clear to me now that when you're searching for that tone and you add this all together, it's the wrong head space to be in when searching for tone or trying out potential tone toys.
Anyone who's ever bought stuff because of people's rave reviews, then persevered and struggled with it, purely because if everyone is raving about it believing that it must be great if everyone is raving about it so it must be me who is using it wrong. Does this sound familiar? It certainly does for me, so why do we persist?
Because we are conditioned to believe that if its 1. Really expensive, 2. used by someone famous, 3. really pretty or 4. raved about by users on an online forum, then it must be amazing.
so I've come up with a new process for trying gear. Maybe you can add to it but so far its working really well.
1 - Ignorance is Bliss
Once you have decided to try out a new piece of gear STOP SEARCHING for info about it. All that matters is the tone, no ifs, ands or butts, this is everything. Don't ask how much it costs, (this is not always possible so go to step 2), don't ask who uses it, don't ask what's in it, just leave all that alone till you've played through the thing. You don't want any of that info influencing your decision on weather or not to buy it.
2 - I don't want your money honey, I want your love
OK, now this may sound strange but trust me, there's a reason for this. You're plugged into what ever you're going to listen to, before you start, imagine that the pedal is £20 Beringer, or the amp is a Digitech practice amp, what ever is the uncoolest thing you can imagine. It must be so uncool that you would never ever mention you own it on TheGearPage.
Take the 'cool factor' out of the picture.
3 - Relax, this won't hurt a bit
Get into a calm peaceful space, clear your head and just let the tone do its thing. Don't listen as such, just be aware, play and see what happens. How does it feel? How do you want to play with it? If you sit down and try to analyze it, rather than just experience it, it once again puts you in that strange headspace which is not conducive to making music. ' the truth is there is no spoon'
Here's the thing, rock stars who have all the money and endorsement deals in the world can basically buy and play anything they want. They don't have this 'gee my amp is cool because its so expensive' attitude because to allot of them its not. If you've ever seen a rock star audition a new piece of gear you'll know that they don't give a toss about how it looks or how much it costs, all they care about is how they connect with it and what comes out in the air. Most are not impressed by the 'boutique' signature, they just want it to sound right... period. I've seen an artist plug into what all around him would class as an amazing amp and he dismissed it as crap in 10 seconds. Same guy plugs into something off the shelf costing 1/3 the price and just wailed, didn't care who made it, or how much it cost. Just wanted the tone that worked for him.
So the next time you're trying a new piece of gear, or even the stuff you have now, get out of that pre-judging mind set. Remember we are all different, and this stuff makes NO SOUND, it only amplifies and colours what we put into it.
This approach can save you years of heartache, but even if it only saves you one disappointing gig, then my job is done.
peace
Daniel Steinhardt
http://www.thegigrig.com/
When I eventually looked at the stuff they were using, I was genuinely surprised.
Why did you need to know this? because tone is my life, and that life has a pressure, stress and deadlines built into it. The knowledge this life has given me has also led to a certain amount of presumption and its so clear to me now that when you're searching for that tone and you add this all together, it's the wrong head space to be in when searching for tone or trying out potential tone toys.
Anyone who's ever bought stuff because of people's rave reviews, then persevered and struggled with it, purely because if everyone is raving about it believing that it must be great if everyone is raving about it so it must be me who is using it wrong. Does this sound familiar? It certainly does for me, so why do we persist?
Because we are conditioned to believe that if its 1. Really expensive, 2. used by someone famous, 3. really pretty or 4. raved about by users on an online forum, then it must be amazing.
so I've come up with a new process for trying gear. Maybe you can add to it but so far its working really well.
1 - Ignorance is Bliss
Once you have decided to try out a new piece of gear STOP SEARCHING for info about it. All that matters is the tone, no ifs, ands or butts, this is everything. Don't ask how much it costs, (this is not always possible so go to step 2), don't ask who uses it, don't ask what's in it, just leave all that alone till you've played through the thing. You don't want any of that info influencing your decision on weather or not to buy it.
2 - I don't want your money honey, I want your love
OK, now this may sound strange but trust me, there's a reason for this. You're plugged into what ever you're going to listen to, before you start, imagine that the pedal is £20 Beringer, or the amp is a Digitech practice amp, what ever is the uncoolest thing you can imagine. It must be so uncool that you would never ever mention you own it on TheGearPage.
Take the 'cool factor' out of the picture.
3 - Relax, this won't hurt a bit
Get into a calm peaceful space, clear your head and just let the tone do its thing. Don't listen as such, just be aware, play and see what happens. How does it feel? How do you want to play with it? If you sit down and try to analyze it, rather than just experience it, it once again puts you in that strange headspace which is not conducive to making music. ' the truth is there is no spoon'
Here's the thing, rock stars who have all the money and endorsement deals in the world can basically buy and play anything they want. They don't have this 'gee my amp is cool because its so expensive' attitude because to allot of them its not. If you've ever seen a rock star audition a new piece of gear you'll know that they don't give a toss about how it looks or how much it costs, all they care about is how they connect with it and what comes out in the air. Most are not impressed by the 'boutique' signature, they just want it to sound right... period. I've seen an artist plug into what all around him would class as an amazing amp and he dismissed it as crap in 10 seconds. Same guy plugs into something off the shelf costing 1/3 the price and just wailed, didn't care who made it, or how much it cost. Just wanted the tone that worked for him.
So the next time you're trying a new piece of gear, or even the stuff you have now, get out of that pre-judging mind set. Remember we are all different, and this stuff makes NO SOUND, it only amplifies and colours what we put into it.
This approach can save you years of heartache, but even if it only saves you one disappointing gig, then my job is done.
peace
Daniel Steinhardt
http://www.thegigrig.com/
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