Music Stuff - Cool Stuff

Cascade Blues Association's Journey to Memphis Each year the Cascade Blues Association (CBA) in Portland Oregon holds its annual Journey to Memphis Blues Challenge.  Because CBA is an affiliate of the Blues Foundation (blues.org), the winners of the CBA blues challenge qualify to compete in the annual International Blues Challenge (IBC) in Memphis TN.  IBC has affiliates around the world, and the annual IBC is the largest gathering of blues musicians in the world each year. It Was May 11 2019 The Jimmy Haggard band decided to enter the Journey to Memphis and see how well our band from Eugene Oregon would fare competing against the heavy hitters from Portland.  The Portland metro area is TEN (10) times the size of the Eugene metro area, so Portland has a much bigger talent pool to draw from.  Well, we found out there is definitely some major talent in Portland Oregon. And The Judges Said Last week, the Jimmy Haggard Band received the judge's score...

12AX7/ECC83 Heater Cathode Voltage with a Cathode Follower SAY WHAT? In my Marshall DSL15c, I love the tone and responsiveness of the Tung-Sol 12AX7 pre-amp tubes, coupled with the singing quality of the JJ 6V6s power tubes. Recently, after replacing the pre-amp tubes, a pre-amp tube burned out after a couple of months, and it was in the middle of a gig.  OUCH!  The high pitch squealing was horrible.   So, I did some research.  Good old fashioned research, read, read, read, read, and read some more.  Eventually, I figured out that the tube was probably the V3 pre-amp tube.  You see, the V3 tube in the pre-amp section of the DSL15C has a cathode follower in the circuit.  As a test, I pulled the V3 tube out and dropped in a JJ ECC83 that I had laying around. I rehearsed with my band for over an hour and there was no squealing or other weird noises.  Conclusion: it was definitely the V3 tube that died. OKAY, But What Does a ...

NO POLITICS HERE. Sorry to burst your bubble, this isn't a political post.   This article is about Fender Telecaster style right handed and left handed bridge plates.  It can apply to Fender Stratocaster style guitars too, but this article focuses on Telecaster style guitars. (Fender, Telecaster and Stratocaster are trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation) What Is The Difference? Have you ever looked closely at a Tele style bridge plate?   Have you ever wondered why the bridge pickup is at an angle?  Here are pictures of right handed and left handed Tele style bridge plates.  Take a look at the angles of the slot for the pickup. LEFT HANDED BRIDGE PLATE RIGHT HANDED BRIDGE PLATE           (The bridge plates pictures are Gotoh hardware sold by Warmoth Guitar Products) Why Angled? I have always thought the story behind the pickup angle is interesting, at least the version I've re...

In the previous blog post, I talked about going all in with Tungsol Tubes, 12ax7 (pre-amp and phase inverter) and 6V6 power tubes in my little Marshall DSL15C combo. For me, while the Tungsol tubes in the preamp section are perfect, the Tungsol 6V6 power tubes didn't work out for me.  They sounded pretty good, but just didn't do it for me. As advertised the Tungsol 6V6 tubes broke up earlier, and they were kind of creamy.  At first, I enjoyed the sound.  After a few hours and some recording sessions, I noticed something about the creamy sound.  It was creamy like creamy grits with something gritty in the grits.  The next thing I realized is that the Tungsol 6V6 power tubes did not sustain notes very long. Notes faded away too fast for my playing style. So, I put JJ 6V6s tubes back in.  Ahhh... No more gritty grits.  The JJ 6V6s tubes are cleaner sounding than Tungsol 6V6 tubes, mainly because they don't break up as early or as much. Perhaps the...

Tubes Tubes Tubes For many years I used TungSol 12ax7 tubes for pre-amp and phase inverter tubes.  I loved the sound of my amps.  Somewhere along the line i started using JJ 12ax7, JJ ECC823 in pre-amp slot V1, and JJ 5751 for the phase inverter slot.  The reason for switching to JJ tubes was the reputation as being super tough and very road worthy.  I even had myself convinced I liked the tone.   After a few years I noticed a few things about the JJ pre-amp tubes that I had been ignoring.   First, my guitar sound had a strong midrange tone that overpowered some areas of tonal harmonics and sustain.  No matter what I did I could not dial out that tone.  There was also a high edge that almost screeched sometimes.  I had to be very careful.  It got to the point that it irritated me.  Next, I noticed that I was replacing the phase inverter tube more often than before, and the 12au7 half of the ECC823 (use...

Chicago Blues is Dead?   I almost laugh when someone claims to be an expert on Chicago Blues, and insists that Chicago Blues music is almost dead.  And then they go on about how they are going to resurrect Chicago Blues.  And then they try to tell you exactly what Chicago Blues is, as if Chicago Blues music is one specific style.   GIVE ME A BREAK. Chicago Blues has so many different forms and styles that is impossible to say Chicago Blues is any one thing.  Say What? You heard me, or, you read that right, there are many different styles of Chicago Blues, not one distinct thing. Think about some of the great Chicago Blues artists and think about the significant differences in many of their Blues music styles.   Listen to their music. Here is a quick list off the top of my head. Big Bill Broonzy Sonny Boy Williamson (not Rice Miller) Junior Wells Magic Sam Little Walter Bo Diddly Willie Dixon Muddy Waters Hubert Sumlin Howlin Wo...

This well be short and sweet.  FrankenTele first came to life back in 1980, and it has seen some major changes over the years.  The only original parts are the control plate and the jack plate, that were from an old Aims Tele. After countless lives and new parts and pieces, FrankenTele has survived another major operation.  This time, a Lindy Fralin Hot Vintage Stratocaster neck pickup was added, and the Lindy Fralin Blues Special Stratocaster pickup was moved to the middle slot, bumping the Lindy Fralin Pure PAF humbucker out of the middle slot.  The Lindy Fralin Pure PAF was removed and will be looking for a new home in a future project.  Why was the Pure PAF pulled?  Well, it just didn't work out.   The Lindy Fralin hum-cancelling P90 is still driving the bridge pickup slot. Now the FrankenTele is more like a Strat, with a funky, quacky P90 in the bridge.   But... overall the rosewood fret board on the maple neck, coupled wi...