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alexkhan
Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Chino, CA
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 Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 1:22 am Post subject: The Aristocrats in Boston - A Photo Journal |
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Guthrie and I first visited Boston and the Berklee College of Music during the summer of 2009 while on a clinic tour and we have developed a special affinity for the city, the school and the people there. We have a good friend there who's a Berklee alumni and who has done so much to help Guthrie and I to develop a bond with the city and the school.
I really wanted to see the band perform at the Berklee Performance Center again and also hang out with the friend enjoying Boston, which is really a splendid city. Guthrie and I both love the city as it has that "Old World" character and a deep sense of history. So I made the quick 3-day trip to see the band clinic on 7/29, the concert at the BPC on 7/30, and also enjoy the city again during a very pleasant time of the year. As much as I dig Boston, January isn't the time I want to visit as Guthrie and I've both been there at that time of the year as well and it was brutally cold!
So here's a little photo journal of my short visit to Boston. Everything you see here is within walking distance from Berklee and also our friend's place. It's really a beautiful area.
The famous Cheers bar
The block I was staying at - around 1/4 mile from Berklee
Another view of the buildings on the block
The Boston Commons Park with the statue of George Washington
The lake within the Boston Commons Park
Another view of the lake with some cool-looking willow trees
You don't see streets like these in California!
Another picturesque scene of an old part of Boston
Guthrie and Bryan during the soundcheck at the Berklee Performance Center
Just a few feet away from Guthrie on stage during the soundcheck
A fuzzy photo of Guthrie with his new Charvel prototype (his third)
A closeup shot of the new prototype with the old Floyd without fine tuners
Another fuzzy photo of the two prototypes - the new one is on the left with the Floyd
The Aristocrats rig is ready for the show
Guthrie's compact pedalboard - simple but highly versatile and flexible - BTW, the main lead from the guitar to the board is the Evidence Audio Reveal cable
And the show begins!
The paid attendance was over 750 so it was a very successful show and the crowd was really getting into it. The amount of fervor that Guthrie causes in his fans is really something to behold.
This has been an extremely successful tour to date and it should only get better. The energy and the excitement level amongst the fan base is really incredible. Since that fateful Jan 14, 2011 impromptu jam show during NAMM, things have really come a long, long way. And it's obvious that things are only getting bigger and better. 
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Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.
Last edited by alexkhan on Sun Aug 11, 2013 4:52 am; edited 1 time in total |
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JohnnyFavorite
Joined: 01 Jul 2012
Posts: 68
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 1:23 pm Post subject: |
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Hey Ed,
What the story with the Floyd? |
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alexkhan
Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Chino, CA
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 2:36 pm Post subject: |
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| JohnnyFavorite wrote: | Hey Ed,
What the story with the Floyd? |
Very simple story: tuning stability. The bridge has as much of a part in it as the nut and locking tuners.
Guthrie's played a dozen shows with it now and he says that the tuning stability is much improved. It has a brass block and he likes the tone of the bridge as well.
Still working on the details as the tour progresses. Guthrie is leaving no stones unturned for this and a 32-date tour is perfect to fine-tune all the details.
_________________
Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.
Last edited by alexkhan on Fri Aug 02, 2013 6:17 am; edited 2 times in total |
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JohnnyFavorite
Joined: 01 Jul 2012
Posts: 68
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks for the info, Ed. |
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JohnnyFavorite
Joined: 01 Jul 2012
Posts: 68
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| Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 11:32 am Post subject: |
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| I'd never seen a Floyd like that, so I thought it was maybe modified to remove the fine tuners. After doing some reading, I've realised that it's not. |
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Kevin_F
Joined: 02 Aug 2013
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 8:54 pm Post subject: |
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Hi Ed,
I recently read (or watched) an interview with Guthrie where he was discussing his Dunlop Volume Pedal and mentioned something about getting better at using it to go back and forth between clean and dirty sounds...
I was 4th row at the Boston show and tried to really pay attention to see if he was relying only on his volume pedal for those tonal changes instead of the guitar's volume knob --- and while he was obviously was making some of those adjustments with the pedal --- I really couldn't tell if he was also making tweaks on the guitar too.
It certainly seems easier to be doing it all from one spot --- and doing it with a foot keeps that hands free --- so if you have any insider info --- please let us know.
Thanks in advance! |
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alexkhan
Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Chino, CA
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| Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 1:46 am Post subject: |
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| JohnnyFavorite wrote: | | I'd never seen a Floyd like that, so I thought it was maybe modified to remove the fine tuners. After doing some reading, I've realised that it's not. |
Yes, this is the original Floyd - even before the fine tuners concept was dreamt up. The earliest proponents were EVH himself, Brad Gillis of Night Ranger, and Vinnie Moore.
_________________
Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc. |
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alexkhan
Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Chino, CA
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| Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 2:05 am Post subject: |
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| Kevin_F wrote: | Hi Ed,
I recently read (or watched) an interview with Guthrie where he was discussing his Dunlop Volume Pedal and mentioned something about getting better at using it to go back and forth between clean and dirty sounds...
I was 4th row at the Boston show and tried to really pay attention to see if he was relying only on his volume pedal for those tonal changes instead of the guitar's volume knob --- and while he was obviously was making some of those adjustments with the pedal --- I really couldn't tell if he was also making tweaks on the guitar too.
It certainly seems easier to be doing it all from one spot --- and doing it with a foot keeps that hands free --- so if you have any insider info --- please let us know.
Thanks in advance! |
Hi Kevin,
He mainly uses the volume pedal now to control the amount of gain going into the amp from the guitar. It gives him much greater fine dynamic control in that he can continue picking with his right hand (both with the pick and fingers) instead of controlling the guitar's volume pot.
As you may have noticed, he also switches back and forth a lot between the volume pedal and the boost/overdrive pedals to get the desired amount of gain hitting the front end of the amp.
It's important to understand the difference between "volume" and "gain" in this context. The amp is already in a fairly overdriven state, so backing off on the volume pedal (and/or the volume pot on the guitar) will clean up the sound. If the amp is set very clean with high headroom (like a high-powered Fender Twin Reverb, for example), backing off on the volume pedal or pot would just reduce the volume.
Guthrie prefers having the amp in a fairly well overdriven state (let's say around 7 out of 10 in the gain meter) when the volume pedal and pot are full on (at 10). He'll back off on the pedal to around 2~3 to get a nice clean sound and press down to 4~7 range to get medium dirt sounds.
The boosts are used to add sustain and a different tonal character - more mids, usually - during solos or for heavy power chording. When you have the pedal/pot at around the 4~6 range, you'll find that you can get clean sounds with a light pick attack and some overdrive with a heavy pick attack.
This is the really fun way to play the electric guitar - using dynamics (volume pot, volume pedal, and pick attack) to get various types of overdriven and distorted sounds. The boost or overdrive pedals would essentially add sustain and saturation during solos.
Guthrie has a personal preference for getting clean sounds this way rather than a super clean setting with loads of headroom - like the Fender Twin Reverb or amps that emulate that type of sound. He prefers the turned-up Tweed or Brownface sounds that are slightly overdriven for clean and then backing off on the volume pedal/pot.
I used to be one of those guys (which would be most of us) who'd always have the volume pot all the way up and switch between a super clean and overdrive/distorted sounds but have come to see that Guthrie's way of doing it is way more fun and interesting. Mike Landau is another great player who takes this approach these days.
_________________
Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc. |
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openmind1984
Joined: 17 Aug 2009
Posts: 17
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| Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 1:19 pm Post subject: |
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| alexkhan wrote: | | Kevin_F wrote: | Hi Ed,
I recently read (or watched) an interview with Guthrie where he was discussing his Dunlop Volume Pedal and mentioned something about getting better at using it to go back and forth between clean and dirty sounds...
I was 4th row at the Boston show and tried to really pay attention to see if he was relying only on his volume pedal for those tonal changes instead of the guitar's volume knob --- and while he was obviously was making some of those adjustments with the pedal --- I really couldn't tell if he was also making tweaks on the guitar too.
It certainly seems easier to be doing it all from one spot --- and doing it with a foot keeps that hands free --- so if you have any insider info --- please let us know.
Thanks in advance! |
Hi Kevin,
He mainly uses the volume pedal now to control the amount of gain going into the amp from the guitar. It gives him much greater fine dynamic control in that he can continue picking with his right hand (both with the pick and fingers) instead of controlling the guitar's volume pot.
As you may have noticed, he also switches back and forth a lot between the volume pedal and the boost/overdrive pedals to get the desired amount of gain hitting the front end of the amp.
It's important to understand the difference between "volume" and "gain" in this context. The amp is already in a fairly overdriven state, so backing off on the volume pedal (and/or the volume pot on the guitar) will clean up the sound. If the amp is set very clean with high headroom (like a high-powered Fender Twin Reverb, for example), backing off on the volume pedal or pot would just reduce the volume.
Guthrie prefers having the amp in a fairly well overdriven state (let's say around 7 out of 10 in the gain meter) when the volume pedal and pot are full on (at 10). He'll back off on the pedal to around 2~3 to get a nice clean sound and press down to 4~7 range to get medium dirt sounds.
The boosts are used to add sustain and a different tonal character - more mids, usually - during solos or for heavy power chording. When you have the pedal/pot at around the 4~6 range, you'll find that you can get clean sounds with a light pick attack and some overdrive with a heavy pick attack.
This is the really fun way to play the electric guitar - using dynamics (volume pot, volume pedal, and pick attack) to get various types of overdriven and distorted sounds. The boost or overdrive pedals would essentially add sustain and saturation during solos.
Guthrie has a personal preference for getting clean sounds this way rather than a super clean setting with loads of headroom - like the Fender Twin Reverb or amps that emulate that type of sound. He prefers the turned-up Tweed or Brownface sounds that are slightly overdriven for clean and then backing off on the volume pedal/pot.
I used to be one of those guys (which would be most of us) who'd always have the volume pot all the way up and switch between a super clean and overdrive/distorted sounds but have come to see that Guthrie's way of doing it is way more fun and interesting. Mike Landau is another great player who takes this approach these days. |
so...the volume pedal is on the loop of the amp to control the amount of gain in this case ? |
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alexkhan
Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Chino, CA
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| Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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| openmind1984 wrote: |
so...the volume pedal is on the loop of the amp to control the amount of gain in this case ? |
No, the volume pedal is in the front so he's essentially using it like the volume pot on the guitar. The volume pedal in the effects loop (post-preamp) would control the overall volume of the amp and wouldn't affect the amount of gain and overdrive.
_________________
Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc. |
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doctordragon
Joined: 09 Jun 2006
Posts: 47
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alexkhan
Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Chino, CA
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| Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 6:33 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, so there you go. Guthrie sure does a great job with the presentation. It's as distinctive as his playing. 
All I can add is that I've held it, played it, and heard it and it really looks, feels, and plays amazing. The feel and the playability of the neck is truly something to behold.
_________________
Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc. |
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