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[ Guitars ] [ Rig
] [ On Stage ]
[ In the Studio
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"Different styles of music have different
tones, and if you want to change tones, one important
step is to change guitars" - AP
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The modified speaker cabinet and
switchable amp power setting enables switchable
configurations
from four (4) speakers running 180W total to one (1) speaker
running 45W total
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"There is no substitute for an
all-valve rig if you're after tone and control at loud
volumes" - AP
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The G-Force, Triaxis, Mesa 2:90 Rack
Head is a tone producing machine, both on stage and in
the studio
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The Audio Switcher designed by AP
enables instant switching from "electric guitar through miked guitar
amp" to "accoustic guitar through PA",
while still using the TC FX unit for both circuits |
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MIDI control enables instant switching
to any combination of preamp, FX, and power amp
setting |
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Equipment Suppliers:
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Fender Telecaster (1952 Reissue)
This axe is essential for county music and is set up
perfectly for slide guitar |
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Music Man (Petrucci)
This axe can produce sizzling lead sounds and percussive
shredding rhythm, and also a sparkling clean sound with the parallel
connection of the neck and bridge hum buckers split into single
coils. |
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Gibson Les Paul Studio
This electric guitar has some serious sustain and thick rock
tones |
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Maton Jumbo Country
This is a top of the line Maton acoustic guitar which has a
rich tone and shimmering top end when plugged straight into a
recording desk |
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Cort Jazz Box
This acoustic electric guitar has recently been fitted with a
Seymore Duncan jazz pickup, and produces rich clean melodies |
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Classical Guitar
This acoustic is essential for playing classical music, with
nylon strings to produce a mellow tone. |
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Rack Head
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 | TC Electronic G-Force FX Processor
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| Mesa Boogie Triaxis Preamp
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| Mesa Boogie 2:90 Power amp |
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The rack mounted head is a tone producing machine, with all-valve
pre and power amps, and 24 bit studio FX all in the one rack
case. The rack is fully MIDI controlled enabling instant access
to any pre/power amp tone and FX combination at the push of a
button on the MIDI foot controller.
Listen to this audio
clip
for an example of the rigs performance in a live gig, with some tasteful
use of the intelligent harmoniser effect in the G-Force FX unit. |
Speakers and Power Switching
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This rig can pack some punch, with two (2) 90W
amps running in stereo through four (4) Celestian Vintage 30
12" speakers.
The setup is designed with flexibility
in mind, however, with switchable power settings on the
amp and switchable speaker connections enabling configurations
from four (4) speakers running 180W total to one (1) speaker
running 45W total, and everything in between.
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On Stage Connections
Audio Switcher
The connection arrangement above allows instant switching
from "electric guitar through miked guitar
amp" to "accoustic guitar through PA",
while still using the TC FX unit for both circuits. To
achieve this, the "Audio Switcher" developed by AP is
used for instant rerouting of signals via MIDI control. This
page gives more details on the audio
switcher, including schematic and parts list.
Control
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The rig is entirely MIDI controlled
enabling instant access to any preset valve tones and
effects via the Triaxis pre-amp and G-Force FX unit. The
expression pedal allows instant control of FX parameters. There is no mass of wires on stage as the foot
controller and rig are connected by a single 7-pin MIDI
cable carrying control signals back to the rig and AC
power to the foot controller. |
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Valve v's Digital
When it comes to recording guitar, no digitally emulated
guitar sound can ever match the tone of a classic guitar running
through a cranked all valve amplifier miked up through a set of
the highest quality speakers.
Direct In v's Miked Up
"Some producers prefer me to plug the rack directly into
the desk to avoid large speaker cabinets and to reduce volume
levels in the studio, and the rack unit is quite capable of
doing this using the built in analog speaker simulators.
But those who are more serious about guitar tone will argue that
the the extra effort of including a cranked power amp and
speaker cabinet in the audio path to thicken the tone with extra
valve distortion harmonics and natural speaker compression is
well worth it." - AP
This example clip
demonstrates the rack plugged directly into the recording desk
using both acoustic and electric guitars.
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FLIT