Fletcher–Munson curve and the amp simulators

I wish this would be the title of my band's new record but I suppose my bandmates wouldn't be very happy...

Alright... WTF???

This is the Fletcher-Munson chart created by...er...Harvey Fletcher and W. A. Munson in 1933. They probably weren't guitar players but they sure did us all a big favor in 1933, when they came up with this.

They noticed that the way we perceive the sound is different depending on how loud is the sound. Imagine you have a CD player and you slowly turn up the volume. Same CD, same song, same stereo, same everything but the volume. Notice how the bass and treble frequencies start to bloom out and the mid-range frequencies kinds stay the same. This is basically it!

And what does this have to do with POD's and such? Because they can mislead us into a VERY dangerous trap. Ok, not very dangerous but a trap that can make your audience think they are listening to a bee hive, a plane turbine, a dog fart and not a guitar.

People who have amp sim's usually set up their patches before the concert, at home, at a very low volume, so the neighbours don't call the cops and the family doesn't go nuts. When they get to the rehearsal or the show, the once gorgeous, full of life, mid-scooped, heavy and awesome guitar tone sounds like... poop.

Yesterday was my first successful attempt to plug the POD HD500 directly into the desk. I asked my bad mates for 5 minutes to set it up and was ready to go! When I got home and listened to my patch on my headphones, it sounded like crap! Middy, muddy, lifeless and boring. It was supposed to sound like that and I was even expecting it to sound like crap.

Since it's a digital unit, you get the same sound no matter how loud you turn up the volume but the way you perceive it is very different. The low end was really tight, the mids were there, but more focused and the highs were sparkly enough to rival with the drum cymbals.

I used to bring my own amp to rehearsal because i never had the patience to set the tone at the studio and every time I came up with something that sounded good through headphones, ended up sounding terrible at the practice. This made my life a lot easier because now I only have to bring the POD and the guitar to the studio to have a decent sound!


And why th f*** this doesn't happen to tube amps? Simple! The louder you turn the volume on the amp, the more the power tubes saturate and the more speaker breakup you have.
Power tubes saturation = more low mids.
Speaker breakup = more highs.

Here is the link to the patch I made to play yesterday. It's a good Idea to set the choruses, reverbs and delays prior to the gig to save time and leave the amp/cap settings to be made with the band, with the PA you will use and at the volume you will play. If you know you are not going to have time to do this, set it up at home and remember you have to come up with a dull, lifeless and overmiddy sound.

Here's the patch I used last night. Hope this helps many guitarists who rely only on the POD's to get their tones and always end up buried in the mix!

Cry-Baby: The pedal that rocks the world

Not much of a wah guy but it's definetly worth checking!









Who doesn't love documentaries??

KORITNI – GAME OF FOOLS (2009)

An Australian hard-rock band that is successful in France. That’s our beloved global village!

I first heard of Koritni when a friend of mine who lived in France, came back to Belo Horizonte and showed me this awesome band he saw at Hellfest 2010 and told me they were better than some of the bigger boys out there.
The obvious has to be mentioned. Of course they sound like AC/DC. After all it’s an Australian hard-rock band (have I mentioned that before?). They are something like AC/DC meets G’n’R from the Appetite era and Axl’s gang of friends influence is more prominent in this album than it is in the first album Lady Luck (2007). Add some steroids and drama and you have Koritni!
The band is captained by the frontman-lead-singer Lex Koritni and the guitarist Eddie Santacreu who is responsible for some of the awesome solos on the album. Let’s do a track by track analysis.

155 – (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLtwFugudZE&feature=fvwrel click here first!) As you know, Australia uses the metric system so 155 is 155 km/h which is something like 96,3miles/h. Not very good for a song title. Heavy, fast, full of energy. When I first heard this tune I was aghast! Everything you would expect from a good rock band. Cool guitars, solid kitchen and a singer with a very distinct and powerful voice! Very good track to start a record.

Stab in the back – ZZ Top like riff with a smokey feeling towards the verse. You start to notice a trademark in the band: usually they add a dramatic bridge before or after the solos. This one is no different. This puts come heavy character in the compositions and gives a sense of surprise towards the record.

Roll the dice – Good track, exciting chorus and the solo is a TOTAL Slash rip-off in a good way. Honking Les Paul neck pickup through Marshall tone laying melodic and tasty hooks! One of my favourites!

V8 Fantasy – Not much to say. Uptempo, about cars. Not much to dislike about it!

You vs Me – It fooled me the first time. Kind of a hipster neo modern riff at the start but evolves to a melodic heavy semi ballad. Same dramatic encore that we all learn to love!

By my Side – Another uptempo one. Sounds like a Poison riff tuned down and develops to an exciting modern love song in a good way. Don’t be fooled by the words love song: this ain’t no ballad!

Deranged – One of the two bluesier songs. Excellent chorus and hooks!

Nobody’s Home – A fast song in A with a G-D-A progression! What’s not to like? Another killer solo!

Game of Fools – The album title track is there to start the end of the album. This is my favorite half the record and the one with the best songs! This one starts with a total AC/DC vibe and turns into a midtempo monster! Love it!

Keep me breathing – Completely innovative harmony for a hard rock band. Complex chords and a levely bluesy feel all over it perfect overture for the album’s epic song…

Tornado of Dreaming I and II – Divided in two parts this epic is one of my favorite track (actually it’s two tracks) and it starts as a HEAVY mid tempo depression song with a slapback solo that suits the vibe very well. It becomes as monster fast tempo frantic song with doubled vocals, insane solos and all you can ask from an epic song! Not Hammerfall or Avantasia epic but a Guns and Roses epic!

Devil’s daughter – Acoustic intro that turns into a dropped D beast! Love the lyrics, the guitars but no solo! Sad… But an excellent song to finish!

The production of the album is terrific. Anton Hagop did a very good job and Mike Fraser’s mixing (this guy has worked with a couple of big boys before) really makes the band shine. The guitars on this are very well recorded and the parts are very well written. Try listening to it with a nice set of headphones and you’ll be able to hear all the nuances, questions and answers and arrangements of the guitars. The vibe you get is PAF through high gain Marshalls and very tasty licks, fills and solos divided by Eddie Santacreu and Luke Cuerden.

DEFINETLY worth checking out.

Lex Koritni - vocals
Eddy Santacreu - guitars
Luke Cuerden - guitars
D. Matt Hunter - bass
Chris Brown – drums
http://www.koritni.com or http://www.myspace.com/koritni

BBE Two-Timer Delay

As a real real first post, I want to review some of my own gear and I will start with a delay pedal.
I give you the BBE Two-Timer delay!

With killer graphics and friendly controls, this pedal aims to be a replica of the well sought-after Boss DM-2 analog delay. The D-2 is supposed to sound very natural and warm and this is the main reason it is so valuable. In the late 70’s and early 80’s tape delays were already very untrusty on the road, had to be serviced, biased, maintained… I was just not worth the hassle. Enter the analog delays, to give the spatial sound without all the downers of the old tape delays.

Comparing to the original, this one has two extra features to attract modern customers. First it sports true bypass, so it doesn’t mess with your unprocessed signal. Second is the ability to have footswichable delay times, hence the name Two Timer.
Tone wise, it failed the warm analog sound. That doesn’t mean it sounds bad, but I don’t think it managed to reach its goal. The repeats sound a little bit metallic and more “reverbish”. With faster tempo speeds it does a nice spring reverb emulation. Better suited for reggae and dub than for classic rock sounds. It is also very good for a slapback rockabilly thing, especially if you have a loud band, like I do, because it makes the repeats stand out in the mix. Another drawback is the maximum time. Only 300ms which is not long at all. But if you dig the self oscillation noises this thing is awesome! I remember showing this pedal to a friend under influence in New Orleans and boy-oh-boy… Trippy! I sometimes use it on my analog set, particularly when I play 'Love in an Elevator' by Aerosmith and some Beatles stuff when the rhythm player hits the keyboard instead of the guitar.

All in all it is priced right and will suit people looking for a short delay with bright snappy repeats that will cut well in a band situation and need either a slapback sound or a short delay to fill the rhythm parts if you are the only player. The three things I would change would be the voicing, the ability to also control, not only the two time settings but, the delay repeats and level, and would improve the buffers a little bit. It colors your signal a tad when it’s on.

Also, a nice video-reveiw of the pedal


BBE Two-Timer analog Delay
Rate: 7/10
Price: 93,50USD @Amazon

First post!
Tha name says all. It’s a blog ‘bout guitar in general: effects, amps, pickups, new bands, my band, wood, tubes, speakers… you name it!

My objective here is to share gather some of the trillions of tons of information on the web and put it all under… well… my perspective.

A lil’ bit about me: My name is Raphael and I’m a Brazilian guitar aficionado. I wish I could do that for a living but musicians here don’t have many opportunities to play what they like and make ends meet. I prefer to keep music as a pleasure and should I be palying axé, Brazilian country music (believe me, it’s not as cool as real country music) or crappy Brazilian pop/rock cover, I wouldn’t be very happy. I prefer to have a day job, like everybody, and rock the crap outta my suit for fun.

I like basically classic rock. Everything that is guitar or blues based (or blues, for that matter) have a shot with me. As I write more posts it will be possible to get the idea of what sort of music I like.

I’ll let you know what is like to live in Belo Horizonte and love everything about guitars!