Recently in Effects Category

As i was saying in my last post, i used the combination of my Ladner G1 Hellion and Bogner Uberschall for trackng "The Color Line". My goal for the CD release show was to achieve that exact same tone live; this required me to run both heads simultaneously. First thing i did was to look around and see what kind of products were available in the form of an A/B/Y type switching unit. Needless to say i wasn't impressed at all. I didn't like the configurations on most switchers and the general size of the units. Having size 15 feet makes for difficult "tap dancing" on stage for sure. 

We've recently finished up our new CD entitled "The Color Line". This will include 8 tracks that Matt and I believe will show just how diversified BxN really is. With exception to "Hold On" which was produced by Dave Ivory, all songs were recorded and produced in-house. This was a very valuable learning experience for us.  I stumbled upon a formula for recording my guitar tracks that really captured the tone i've always wanted on wax. I used 3 different amplifiers for the recording of The Color Line: 1) Bogner Uberschall 2) Ladner G1 and 3) Rivera K-Tre. The Bogner was used mostly for rythm-based tracks and for some leads and overdubs. My Ladner G1 was the shining star of these recording sessions as it brought such tonality not only to my rhythm tracks, but amazing lead tones as well. I exclusively used my Ladner 1x12 cube cabinet for recording all of my guitar tracks, the results were awesome. The EV speaker in that little cab sounds amazing, and it's easy to isolate. DC and Andrew Ladner are great guys to work with and make an outstanding amp. I've posted a link to their website below so you can check them out. As always i managed to throw in several acoustic tracks using my Dad's 65 Gibson and my Ibanez acoustic electric running direct. A great song featuring the Gibson will be included on the "Legacy" tracks which will be avaialble via dropcard download. http://ladnerengineering.com/

What's up guys. It's been a while since i had a chance to BS about my current rig set-up. So this morning i took a few pics and figured i'd talk about what i'm up to. Back in the summer i ordered a custom rack case from the guys at  KENT CASE in upstate NY. It's got a shock mounted section for my Uberschall, and plenty of space for my rackmounted stuff too. It's built like a tank and makes setting up and breaking down at shows SOOOOO much easier. My other acquisition was the Shiva you see on top of the Uberkab. My idea behind getting the Shiva was more for recording and better cleans. It's an earlier 6L6 version that i'm still getting to know, but like all Bogner stuff, it's got amazing tone. In the future i can see that head being infused into my live rig and setting up my switcher to toggle back and forth between the Shiva and Uberschall. Both heads in my rig work great with the GForce effects unit too. As for guitars, both Matt and i are anxiously awaiting the delivery of our custom Spector ARC6s; they should be sweet; i'll keep you posted. 

Ok guys. I'm making a major leap forward in the updating of my equipment. With some help and guidance from my mentor Tony Marinari from Stage 3, i will be attempting to assemble and utilize a midi-type rig set up. Basically i will be utilizing a Voodoo Lab/Digital Music audio switcher with a ground control unit to steer my channel and effects changing. Yep. The Good Ol' stomp boxes may be put on the shelf after this moster is up and running. I'll be using a TC Electronic G-Force effects processor...that is if i can learn to figure it out. As of right now i'm doing alot of research and reading to prepare myself for this fiasco. By all means, stay tuned on this one; it might prove to be entertaining!! LOL; JD

After doing some research, i decided to purchase one of these wah pedals. I've never been big on buying artist signature products because of the obvious price increase; but a) this pedal got great reviews b) I've used Morley stuff before c) in my opinion an optical wah is the way to go d) if i'm going to support an artist by buying his gear, Mark Tremonti seems like a good guy and i like what he stands for and writes about; so with all that, i bought one. The Morley wahs are optical; no clicking it into action. Right away i took mine apart and went into the circuit board and adjusted the pot that changes the wah on/off delay time to the minimum. Then i plugged it in first on my effects chain and jammed for a while. It's a great wah; i'm not big into the "classic" sounding wahs, so this was right up my alley. Nice agressive sweep to it and an adjustable boost dial as well. Mine seems to sound good with the boost dialed in at 1/2 way. The neat thing i found out about this pedal is that you can stomp it all the way down to get the full effect of the wah, or you can just put a little pressure on it and get a different attack. Nice. It is a little treble-y when fully depressed, but not bad enough to make a fuss over it. Couple the wah with a heavy chorus on your dirty channel and it sounds bad ass : )  The diamond  plate pattern on the pedal is a nice visual aspect of it to. If you dig on wahs, you might want to try this guy out.