T-Rex Engineering is a Danish company built initially on the success of their MIDI gear for guitar. Venturing into the world of stomp boxes over a decade ago, T-Rex adopted a philosophy of simple design with focused, high quality performance. With their ToneBug series, T-Rex simplifies design further in order to offer the same high quality at a more affordable price.

The T-Rex Tonebug Overdrive Guitar Effects Pedal!

FRESH OUTTA THE BOX

My initial impression pulling the spartan aquamarine pedal out of the box was that of a vintage 50’s home appliance. This may sound like I’m poking fun but I’m not – the pedal looks cool! The casing is all metal and the base is heavy duty plastic with a little bit of a rubbery feel. The pedal has weight and I feel like I could drive over it with a tank and then have to change the treads on the tank. Three shiny chrome knobs on top serve as the controls and sit atop a brushed aluminum base labeled with the knobs’ functions. They’re thick and turn smoothly with the perfect amount of drag to dial them into place where they’ll stay put. A wide rectangular ON light rests atop the pedal face just above the knobs. The footswitch is equally heavy duty with good action on the spring inside and it’s well clear of the knobs so there’s little risk of tap-dancing your controls out of whack. Metal input and output jacks on either side of a 9V power adapter plug are reinforced with hard plastic washers. The battery compartment is accessible underneath the pedal via a door that swings open. Thank you T-Rex for not making me have to break out a screwdriver to get to the battery! An extra nice touch is the battery door is hinged to the pedal which greatly minimizes the chance of losing it.

SHIFTING INTO OVERDRIVE!

Being in a vintage mood I chose to test this pedal with my Goldtop Epiphone ES-295 which is a hollowbody sporting a pair of P90’s. I used the blend of neck and bridge pickups and took this signal through the overdrive into a Blackheart Little Giant Half Stack. No other effects were used. Here’s the clean unaffected sound.

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With the tone knob set “flat” at 5, I turned the gain knob halfway as well and “kicked into overdrive”. The bright red LED gave me clear indication I was good to go but I was surprised by the lack of feedback from the footswitch. I’m used to a nice ‘ka-chunk’. This footswitch doesn’t ‘ka-chunk’, rather it smoothly presses down and springs back up. At first I was put off by this, but the more I used it, the more I liked it – something I could get used to. More importantly, switching the pedal on and off is totally silent! No pops of any kind. Sweet! Overdriving away, my tone got crunchy with real grit. My biggest problem with a lot of overdrive pedals is how they suck away the lower frequencies while pushing the mids making for a harsh sound. This pedal pushes that mid level crunch but maintains the bottom end so it is more of a full signal. The quality of the crunch is a bit clippy which affects warmth and clarity but the fullness of the tone helps make up for it.

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With gain turned up to 10, I rocked to full overdrive. My tone was dirty, aggressive, and wanted to punch you in the face. The pedal came into its own and I really enjoyed dishing out raw overdrive. Comparing the previous setting to this one, the gain knob feels almost like a blend control in that it’s controlling a mix of dry signal and overdrive rather than the dry signal itself going into overdrive. Still a bit clippy for my taste, but this pedal definitely dishes out the dirt.

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Though not advertised as a clean boost, I tried this pedal with no gain to see how clean a signal I could get. I achieved equality in volume with the pedal both on and off between 3 and 4 on the level knob. This left plenty of room to boost volume to taste. But this pedal is not a clean boost – there’s a little bit of grunge no matter how the pedal is dialed in. This grunge doesn’t change throughout the range of the level control, however, which is helpful in dialing in your sound. The following example starts with a few bars of the dry signal and then you’ll hear the boost kick in. My level setting for this example was halfway at 5 so you can imagine how much more this pedal can be cranked.

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Finally, I tested the range of the tone control. With gain set between 7 and 8, I dialed tone all the way up. This emphasized, as you would expect, the higher end. Happily the lower end was preserved and T-Rex found the right spot to push resulting in brighter, sharper sound without going overboard into piercing harshness – in other words, the tone control is useful all the way to its max setting. The first few bars of the audio example are dry followed by overdrive.

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T-Rex scored again with tone turned all the way down. I was prepared for mud. I was met with a boost in the low to mid frequencies that worked in conjunction with my original sound, preserving the quality of the signal while giving it a round bottom boost.

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THE FINAL WRAP

T-Rex hits the bullseye for simplicity and quality. This pedal is built as well as any I’ve ever used. It looks cool and the controls serve the intended purpose – no more, no less. I’m impressed by how quiet this pedal is even when maxing out the settings. My only two requests would be to trade in the clipping quality of the overdrive for more natural sounding crunch and the ability to completely dial out the gain for boost that is pure and clean.

PROS: Built like a tank. Quiet! Maintains dry signal integrity. Great vintage look.

CONS: No clean boost. Overdrive is a little artificial sounding.

MSRP – $129

* * * * *

Dan Coplan is senior staff writer at SMG. Dan is a Los Angeles based cinematographer and self-admitting guitar junkie. Email: dancoplan@sharemyguitar.com

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Danelectro recently phased out their Cool Cat Transparent Overdrive CTO-1 pedal for the CTO-2 which adds features to let guitarists further customize their sound. These additions come in the form of four DIP switches located inside the battery compartment. Otherwise the look and function of the pedals and external controls are identical.

Danelectro Transparent Overdrive: version 1: CTO-1 and version 2: CTO-2

A Guitar, Effects Pedal, Amp & Mic

The audio examples were played with a Westone Prestige (Les Paul style double humbucker) using the bridge pickup into a Blackheart Little Giant Half Stack with EQ (bass, mid, treble) set flat at 12 o’clock. The amp was mic’d with a large condenser mic and recorded into Apple’s Logic Pro. No processing was added anywhere along the chain aside from the pedals. Here is an example of the clean signal:

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The CTO-1 is a great pedal and “transparent” is an accurate description. I’ve tried a number of OD’s and have often been disappointed by the way they tend to drop the bottom out of the tone and emphasize the mid range. The CTO-1 maintains sonic integrity qualifying it by my definition as “transparent”. With gain set to zero and volume turned all the way up this pedal acts as a clean boost. It’s not much of a boost at these settings but there is a little bump and the sound is warm and full. As gain is turned up, output is increased and you can get more clean boost this way until the signal starts to give way to overdrive around 3 or 4 o’clock. This pedal gets loud so I had to balance the increase in gain with a decrease in volume. Here’s an audio example of the CTO-1 with gain turned up halfway:

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Pump Up the Volume

With gain cranked all the way the pedal spits out a raw and heavy crunch which is very tasty! EQ controls include treble and bass. The pedal is in its flat setting with these two set halfway. Increasing the treble predictably increases noise but it was quieter than expected. The amount of gain plays a role as an increase smooths out any harshness and offers a razor like crunch. With gain dropped to zero the pedal becomes surprisingly quiet and in this case the increased treble gives the sound presence. In cranking the bass and gain knobs I got beefy, heavy fuzz sounds that made me want to play the riff from “Smoke on the Water” over and over. Dialing gain down to zero resulted in a more muted sound but still with a little extra body.

With the CTO-2 Danelectro reworked the circuity to allow for various degrees of compression by means of three DIP switches, each one offering more compression. A fourth switch offers additional gain of 6 dB. I love options but in this case the re-engineering of the pedal resulted in tone that is more harsh and metallic sounding than its predecessor. The following audio example is the CTO-2 with identical settings as the CTO-1 above with no DIP switches engaged:

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A mid-level emphasis starts to give the sound a harsh and metallic feel that’s more like an electric-sounding boost than a warm analog crunch. For the next example I engaged DIP switch 3 which is J-Fet compression, the most restrictive of the choices. The concept is that headroom is reduced as transients are contained:

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I found that this had a thinning effect and made the sound more brittle and harsh.

With gain turned all the way up on the CTO-2, the sound was very crunchy but not warm at all and it felt like my signal was clipping. Bass frequencies from my original tone were still there but were overpowered by an electronic feeling grit. With gain turned all the way down this pedal shined as a clean boost offering more of a bump than the CTO-1 and with the boost switch engaged, an additional 6 dB of gain is made available.

Cranking the treble is surprisingly quiet – Danelectro nailed that one. It gives a little clarity but not the more pleasant presence of the CTO-1. Adding gain with the treble cranked just adds harshness. Cranking the bass is like adding mud and as this control is increased, the pedal gets farty. Add gain and you get farty distortion. But there is a point at which it starts sounding like a synthesizer. While I’m sure this wasn’t Danelectro’s intention, it’s actually kind of cool for specific applications.

The Low Down

I have a lot of respect for Danelectro as the quality of their gear with respect to price is truly impressive and their pedals are fun! Unfortunately they’ve lost sight of the saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” because the CTO-1 is a killer pedal all around while the CTO-2 comes up short in too many ways. I hope they realize their mistake and revert back to the original version because the CTO-1 is nearly impossible to find. If you do come across one, grab it!

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Danelectro Transparent Overdrive: CTO-1

PROS: Great sounding warm, analog, transparent overdrive! Great value.

CONS: None except you can’t find them anymore.

BUILD QUALITY – 8

TONAL QUALITY – 10

DESIGN – 8

VALUE – 10

OVERALL – 9

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Danelectro Transparent Overdrive: CTO-2

PROS: Quiet treble EQ. Up to 12 dB of boost. Affordable.

CONS: Harsh and artificial sounding. Compression switches limit sound even further.

BUILD QUALITY – 8

TONAL QUALITY – 4

DESIGN – 8

VALUE – 7

OVERALL – 6

Whether you’re shopping for a guitar or just get warm fuzzies being around them, visiting the businesses making up Sunset Boulevard’s “Guitar Gulch” in Hollywood, CA is a must. Sadly, there used to be several more shops in the area, but over time these gave way to factors like competition and trading in ‘brick and mortar’ for ‘click and order’ presences online. But fear not! There is still PLENTY to keep you enraptured for hours.

Note: Many of these stores deal in more than just guitars but guitars are the focus of this article.

GUITAR CENTER (guitarcenter.com)

7425 Sunset Blvd. / 323-874-1060

Not Always The Same Old Song and Dance

Guitarists are often asked who their influences are. Depending on the style of music, they typically name a lot of the same people and bands, and for good reason. The more influential musicians are the ones who have made the most impact with their music and consequently have gotten the most recognition in the form of radio play, album sales, and touring. But what about the slew of unknowns? The vast multitude of incredibly talented musicians flying under the radar of mainstream recognition? Thanks primarily to guitar magazines and iTunes, my ears have been opened to amazing guitarists I may otherwise have never come to know.

There are numerous publications dedicated to our favorite 6-stringed wonders: Guitar World, Guitar Player, Premier Guitar, Guitar Edge, and Acoustic Guitar to name just a few. And there are more including some killer mags from overseas. You’ll see many of the same high profile musicians over and over but these magazines also do a great job highlighting new talent and old but recently discovered or even rediscovered talent. Each one has a different focus. For example, Guitar World is primarily dedicated to rock from classic to contemporary heavy metal whereas Guitar Player covers the spectrum from rock to jazz to world to funk. I find this particularly valuable because even if you’re a straight up metal head, you will be blown away by some of the artists performing in other genres. There’s a good reason these people are given recognition in major national publications.

Check Out Guitar Magazines

Every month as I pore through the stack of magazines I subscribe to, I have my laptop by my side. As I come across musicians I haven’t heard of before and those I may have heard of but never paid much attention to, I punch their name into the search box on iTunes and listen to 30-second samples of their music. As a result, my music collection has grown exponentially, my taste has broadened, and my love of music and guitar in particular has grown. And I love spreading the word to friends when I’m introduced to killer music that I’m sure is fresh to their ears as well. Influentially these discoveries have enlightened me to greater possibilities in my own playing.

Some of my recent favorites include Eric Sardinas, Monte Montgomery, Greg Koch, Indigenous, Oz Noy, Ike Turner, Pat Travers, Michael Gulezian…I could go on and on.

So get out there, treat yourself to handful of mags, download a basket of music you’ve never heard before from musicians you didn’t know existed or fell completely off your radar, and enjoy this lifelong journey of music nirvana – there’s never been a better time.

Riffin’ on Gretsch live at 2010 NAMM

Dan Coplan and Oscar Jordan caught up with Fred Gretsch of Gretsch guitars at the NAMM show on Saturday. He is one cool dude. They discussed guitars, rock n roll and the Gretsch Eddie Cochran tribute guitar.  The only thing that could get them to stop talking guitar was the blaring distortion, screeching from punk band Rancid, who began their set, a short distance away.

For almost 130 years Gretsch has been fine tuning what has become known as “That Great Gretsch Sound.” Gretsch was founded by Friedrich Gretsch in 1883. Only 12 years later Friedrich died, leaving the fledgling company in the hands of his teenage son Fred. Fred built Gretsch into a leader in musical instruments, and eventually handed the company over to his sons, Fred Jr. and Bill in 1927. That’s Fred Jr. in the photo and in the following video…

Photo and video © 2010 by Dan Coplan

I was recently asked for advice from someone looking to purchase their first guitar. Given the multitude of brands, differences in style, tone, and feel, and wide range of quality among instruments, this is an overwhelming proposition for the first time buyer. My response to this particular person is given below.

Check Out Your Local Guitar Mega Store

“Since you’re just starting out, a large retail store like Guitar Center or Sam Ash is your best bet because they have the largest selection for you to actually try, from cheap guitars to very expensive. They also have a knowledgeable staff though sometimes they can push an instrument on you just to make the sale so take your time and don’t feel pressured in any way.

“Go there and ask them all your questions. Try every single guitar you would consider buying and even a few that you know you won’t buy so you can get an idea of the differences. Even though you’re new to this and don’t know what to look for, pick them up anyway. See how they feel. Listen to how they sound. It’s only by comparing several different instruments that you’ll be able to learn about the various styles and how they suit you.

Spend What You Can Afford

“It’s not necessarily true that you need to spend more money to get a better guitar, but at your level you should probably pay as much as you can comfortably afford. You can get some very good guitars for not a lot of money but if you try to save money you can also get crappy guitars for cheap that you will not enjoy playing and will end up being waste of money. Remember to set aside some of your budget for extras like picks, strings, a tuner, a winding peg, maybe a strap, etc. But only get what you need.

Refine Your Choices and Read Online Reviews

“Bring a notepad with you and write down the guitars that interest you and why. Don’t be shy about this! Take your list back home and read reviews about these guitars and shop for the cheapest prices online. You will always see both good and bad reviews for any guitar, even the expensive ones, so don’t think one or two bad reviews means you shouldn’t buy a guitar. But if a guitar gets a LOT of bad reviews then you should probably stay away. Find one or two or three guitars you’re most interested in, note the cheapest price you can find, and go back to the store. Play them again. Once you feel comfortable with your choice, ask the store to match the price you found online. Most stores will do this provided the price you found is from a legitimate US retailer. I advise against buying instruments online because two guitars of similar make and model can feel, play, and sound different – probably not by much but potentially by enough that one feels right to you and the other doesn’t quite cut it. Buy the specific instrument you’ve played.

Note: This was in response to someone shopping for an acoustic guitar. With respect to electric guitars, consistency is key. This means it’s important to play the guitars you’re trying through the same amp at the same settings. Forget about effects but do play the guitar both clean and distorted.

If you have questions about buying or playing guitars, or anything related to guitars in general, let us know and we’ll feature your question in a future blog post.

Through the years I have bought and sold a number of guitars and plucked away on countless others in shops and at the homes of friends. Some of my purchases were practical and well thought out while others were impulse buys that I regretted and ended up reselling. As with many pursuits, experience breeds wisdom and as such I have found two tools I rely on when shopping for guitars: Craigslist and The Blue Book of Guitars (one for acoustic and one for electric).

eBay is generally the first online source people think of when considering used gear. It’s great for many purchases but when it comes to instruments I’ve never felt comfortable buying something I can’t hold in my hands and listen to first. Guitars are such personal items and each one is unique, even between similar makes and models from the same year.

With Craigslist you can get the same great deals, and often better deals as you’re not faced with outbidding other people and can negotiate with the owner. Sometimes you can even work a trade or partial trade. Most importantly, you get to try before you buy and judge the quality for yourself. There are times I’ve been able to knock the price down on a guitar because it had a small chip or some other minor defect and wasn’t truly “mint” as the owner claimed. There were other guitars that I was so excited to buy and had a wad of cash in my pocket, but when held and played, just didn’t sing to me as I expected. And there are guitars I bought impulsively, blind to a number of factors that should have prevented purchase. But again, Craigslist to the rescue as I turned around and resold them. It may take a while but with patience you can almost always find what you’re looking for and there’s almost always someone out there who is looking for what you’re trying to unload. Here’s another secret to finding killer deals on Craigslist (shhh….): Click on “Garage Sales” and type “guitar” in the search box. This is a more random way of finding guitars but generally people who are having garage sales just want to dump what they’ve got so the potential is high for finding real bargains.

Unless you have a long history of dealing guitars, it’s nearly impossible to know what all the different 6-string options are worth. Makes, models, years, wood types, finishes, hardware…there are so many factors that determine a guitar’s value. This is where the Blue Book of Guitars comes in handy. There is a separate volume for both acoustic and electric. The cost of each could very well save you money towards your purchase of an instrument so they’re well worth it. I’ve found guitars online thinking, “Whoa – killer deal! I wonder what it’s really worth?”, only to find the value worth exactly what was being asked and not a deal at all. Every now and then I find deals that really are well above the asking price. With respect to the former example, the Blue Books can be used as a negotiating tool in letting the seller know you’re fully aware of what the guitar is worth and they should come down in price. These books are thick and have information on a number of brands and models both popular and rare.

Nothing beats the experience of buying and selling. Researching the Blue Books and following checklists will give you an objective reference for an instrument’s value, but for us collectors (or addicts, call us what you will), it’s the dating process that ultimately determines compatibility with an instrument.

The Aria Sinsonido: I travel all over the world both for business and pleasure. In consideration of bringing a guitar in addition to my luggage, I needed to find something that was light, compact, and relatively indestructible. I also wanted the ability to play anywhere without disturbing other people which meant acoustic offerings were likely not an option. Finally, I wanted something fairly inexpensive but still good enough quality that I wouldn’t regret the purchase. I’ll save you the details of my exhaustive search, but I ultimately came across the Sinsonido by Aria.

The guitar design is licensed by SoloEtte and is nearly identical in appearance, yet less than half the cost. I’ve never played an actual SoloEtte so I can’t comment on the quality difference. The main part of the guitar consists of a single block of wood including neck and body, minus the upper and lower bouts. The headstock and tuners are built into the base rather than at the top of the neck. This ends up saving inches off of the length, while maintaining full size playability.

This single piece, similar to an Irish hurley (a field hockey-style paddle used in hurling) is all you need to play, though this would be awkward without the upper and lower bouts to rest against your body. These parts come in the form of three lightweight metal (I’m guessing aluminum) rods, covered in foam padding, that form an acoustic guitar shape. They fit easily in holes set into the body.

The bridge and saddle comprise a unique pickup system that allows amplification of the guitar through a standard 1/4” jack. This allows you to hear the guitar through the supplied headphones (any pair will do so long as you have a 1/4” adapter to fit over standard 1/8” headphone plugs) or run through an amp. Controls include volume and tone.

Here’s an example of the Sinsonido in action by lburdalo

Playability-wise I really like this guitar. I had to tweak the neck’s truss rod and lower the action by dialing down the bridge height, but these were easy adjustments. I’d actually prefer a little lower action, but the bridge bottomed out. The neck and frets feel good, however, and I otherwise have no complaints.

The tuners are plastic 3-on-a-plate and for what they are, the Sinsonido stays tuned reasonably well, but the tuners are plastic so expectations can’t be that high. I replaced these inexpensively (less than $20) with an all-metal set that fit the peg slots and mounting holes perfectly.

The volume and tone knobs are pretty cheap as is their functionality, but they work well enough. Considering this guitar is meant to keep me entertained and in practice while traveling as opposed to a performance instrument, I’m ok with it. If I really cared I would research mods to the knobs and electrical components or look into the more expensive Soloette. While we’re on the subject, the overall tone is a bit twangy for my taste but keep in mind that it’s still more than adequate for the purpose it serves.

The Sinsonido includes a pair of fold-up headphones with the proper 1/4” plug adapter, an Allen Wrench to adjust the truss rod, and soft padded carrying case. A hard case can be purchased for additional cost. I’ve literally taken this thing all over the world and played in airports, on buses, boats, trains, on hikes, and countless other places where a standard guitar would be too cumbersome. I always get interesting looks and often questions because of its unique appearance – it’s a great conversation starter. I have since noticed a few travel guitars that fold in half into an even more compact package and I find this intriguing, but aside from this, I can’t recommend the Aria Sinsonido enough.

SMG review of the Blackheart Little Giant Half Stack!

The Little Giant Half Stack guitar amp from Blackheart consists of the BH5H amp head and BH112 speaker cabinet. The name implies monster sound contained within a small half stack style package.

FEATURES: The front of the amp head features an ON/OFF switch, 3W/5W selector switch, bass, mid, and treble controls, and input jack. This hardware is heavy duty – there is nothing that feels cheap and it inspires confidence in the overall quality. My only minor complaint is the input jack. I like to feel a nice positive ‘ka-chunk’ to make me feel like I’ve got a solid lock into my gear. With this input jack the cable slides in a little too easily and I feel like the slightest tug will pull it right out. But hey, call it a safety feature. The back features 4, 8, and 16 ohm speaker outputs. Driving this Class A amp is a 12AX7 preamp tube and EL84 power tube. The closed back cabinet houses a 12” Eminence speaker and has two 16 ohm parallel speaker jacks on the back.

Construction: The materials are rugged and feel like they can take a real beating. It’s also damn good looking. The head and cabinet feature black-and-white checkerboard style fabric outlined with thick white binding that is implemented as actual material rather than a low cost paint job. Black tolex covers both pieces. The cabinet seems to have a smoother covering on it whereas the head has a stickier almost rubber-type feel. I wouldn’t call this a significant feature, but I actually appreciate this texture as it puts a little grab on my guitar when I lean it against the amp head.

The Blackheart logo adorns the front of both the head and cabinet. This is totally subjective but while I do think the logo is pretty cool, there’s something about it that takes away from the perception of the amp as a serious ass-kicking piece of gear, almost like it’s trying to be cool for cool’s sake. But like the attention to detail in construction, the parts providing the base for the logos are cut in three levels which is added attention to detail. Both pieces have heavy duty carrying handles on top.

SOUND: This amp is like three amps in one. At 3W with the volume set midway or below, it’s very clean. Beyond midway to full volume the amp begins to break up naturally providing tasty crunch. Switching over to 5W and dialing the volume back to midway maintains similar crunch but with more ‘oomph’. Finally, going whole hog with the volume cranked at 5W pushes crunch into distortion.

The 3-band EQ is very effective in dialing in a variety of tones. Given the size of this amp and the fact that it’s powered by one preamp and one power tube, I’m impressed by how warm it sounds. I found myself experimenting primarily with the bass EQ to dial in the amount of warmth and roundness. The amp sounded great until I thrashed around at full volume in the 5W setting. That’s when lower frequencies started to warble and growl. But by turning the bass EQ down and adjusting my pickup selection I was able to tame the beast.

Volume-wise you can get enough good character out of this Little Giant at lower volumes for practicing at home without terrorizing your neighbors (unless you want to) and it’s also loud enough that you can get your jam on and rehearse with it with a band so long as you’re not trying to compete with full-sized gear at full volume. The key is in understanding at what levels the amp breaks up into various degrees of distortion. If you want to distort at neighbor-friendly levels, you’ll likely have to turn to pedals for this.

THE ROUND-UP: This is a great sounding amp in an attractive conveniently sized package. I’m impressed by its versatility in consideration of its basic features. My wish list would include a gain control to get a handle on the overdrive, a standby switch if only to make it feel more “legitimate”, and a headphone jack because I want to crank this sucker in my apartment at odd hours. For right around $300 this is a great buy!

THE UPS: High quality construction. Attractive, Great organic sounds from clean to crunch and beyond. Great value.

THE DOWNS: Full volume at 5W gets growly. No gain control.

THE ALL AROUNDS: A very cool package that won’t bust your budget or your ear drums while still allowing you to rock like a star. A fun amp all around that inspires playing.