Blog Postings
Sometimes I write short articles or guides to go along with my YouTube videos.
Eastman archtops have notoriously thin tops - so between that, the solid wood construction, the large body in a violin varnish, and the top not having the normal weight of a pickup mounted to it, the AR810 that I own needs some dampening in order to play it plugged in. It's basically an acoustic instrument with a magnetic pickup. I write all of this to say that while it is an incredible guitar with a brilliant acoustic tone, it is a nightmare for feedback. I've tried many different ways of dealing with that issue over the years and this blog post is dedicated to sharing those techniques for others. I've also uploaded a YouTube video that goes more in depth on each topic.
The Line 6 HX Stomp, HX Stomp XL, and POD Go are powerful tools for modern guitarists (and other instrumentalists!), however there are a few accessories that I feel greatly expand the capabilities of the device. It is entirely possible to use these smaller modeling units as your entire rig and in this guide, I'll go over a few of my favorite pieces that make it possible. I've written each section to provide a few different options at different price points so no matter your budget, you can find exactly what you need to accomplish your goals.
One of the goals I've been working towards the last few years has been to assemble all of the pieces for what will hopefully be a permanent rig for me for the next few years. Learning the ins and outs of pedal placement, power requirements, and MIDI programming has been a long process. Keeping in mind that I tend to play a lot of improvisational, effect-heavy music, I've tried to come up with a setup that is both practical and easy to reprogram on the fly.
I owe a BIG thank you to zZounds.com for sponsoring this video series and providing some of the products that made it possible!
I recently put together a video meant to introduce the Slate ML-1 and virtual microphone system to new users. In it, I chose to focus on a situation that I often find myself in: recording acoustic guitars. I recorded a few samples on nylon-string classical guitar, a classic steel string Martin D-28 dreadnaught, and an Eastman solid carved archtop with flatwounds strings - three very different instruments.
I took each playing sample and painstakingly exported them with ALL of the different mic models available in the bundle that comes with the ML-1 (there are still more out there via expansion packs). Then I lined them up, imported Slate's icon for each mic, and stated the actual name of the microphone that was being modeled.