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Category Archives: Tips and Tricks
Your Bass Tonal Palette IV – Taking It Live
In the past three articles, we’ve talked about getting in touch with your volume/blend knob, and the tonal options you had with the EQ. And while you’ve been finding your own sound, one thing has been bugging you; how do … Continue reading
Posted in Tips and Tricks
Tagged bass, live setting, onboard eq, shaping, subtractive tone, tone
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Wiring A Hollow Body Guitar the Easy Way
Have you ever looked at a hollow or semi-hollow guitar on the wall at your local music store and wondered how the heck they get the electronics in there? The short answer: it’s do-able, but not easy. In fact, it’s widely considered to be one of the most difficult jobs in the wide world of guitar maintenance. My tech charges extra for doing electronics work in a hollow-body, and he’s definitely not the only one. Continue reading
Posted in Tips and Tricks
Tagged electric guitar, hollow-body, pickups, pot, potentiometer, semi-hollow, tone pot, wiring
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Your Bass Tonal Palette III – The Active Pre
Possibly the easiest drop-in for those that are upgrading to an active preamp is the two-band. Many options are available (either separate or stacked knobs) to ensure that no extra drilling is needed on your bass. Continue reading
Posted in The Tone Garage, Tips and Tricks
Tagged active preamp, advice, bass, shaping, slap contour, stc-2a, STC-3a, STC-3A circuitry, subtractive tone
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The STC-3 Active Tone Circuit
Much like a gallon of paint brightens up a room, installing an active preamp into a bass will open up the onboard capabilities that are available to the user. At the top end of tonal options sits the Seymour Duncan STC-3 Active Tone Circuit. A combination of tonal controls and customization options make this active tone circuit an ideal replacement for your existing setup, or for a new build. Continue reading
Posted in Product News, The Tone Garage, Tips and Tricks
Tagged bass, preamp, slap contour, STC-3a, STC-3A circuitry, tone
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Goin’ Round in Circles: Using Looping Devices in Unexpected Ways
I’ve been using one device or another to loop sound for the last 25 years. Recently, a wealth of fairly inexpensive looping pedals have been released, and this article will focus on some unexpected – and unintended – uses for … Continue reading
Posted in Tips and Tricks
Tagged antiquities, Boomerang III, looper, Looperlative LP1, looping, Pigtronix Infinity, seth lover, SH-55
2 Comments
How to Behave in Public: Etiquette on Multi-Band Gigs
Every band (especially original ones) has had to play shows with other bands. After all, we don’t all start our live debut with four hours of music for the whole night. Usually we bundle the band with friends’ bands, or … Continue reading
Posted in Tips and Tricks
Tagged band, Etiquette, festival, led zeppelin, neck pickup, ramones
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Obey Your Master: The Art Of Amp Slaving
Back in the days before we had direct recording outs and stereo effects loops, if a guitarist wanted to take his favorite amp’s tone and make it LOUDER, it was done by something called amp slaving. This is accomplished by … Continue reading
Posted in Tips and Tricks
Tagged Palmer Speaker Simulator, power amp, preamp, Radial JDX, Slaving, THD Hotplate
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Why Are There 12 Frets To The Octave?
The guitar is a problem-haunted instrument. Because of its construction it can never be 100% in tune. As I wrote in my previous blog, the frets are positioned in a compromised way as to make it as good as possible … Continue reading
Simple Guitar-Related Solutions You Could Be Missing Out On
A few years ago, I was browsing the Seymour Duncan Forum and came across a member who had encountered a problem which had him near his wit’s end. HIS KNOB WAS STUCK! Heh. No, seriously though. He was trying to … Continue reading
Posted in Tips and Tricks
Tagged advice, bass, bigsby, capo, common sense, Facebook, food, forum, guitar, help, helping, how to, instagram, knob, pete townsend, pot, sharing, simple, Social Media, solutions, tuners, tuning, tuning machines, video
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What Makes The Hybrid Tick?
I’m a member of the Seymour Duncan User Group Forums; many great ideas originated from the user forum such as the Custom 5, the idea of swapping magnets and the popularization of making ‘hybrids.’ The 59/Custom Hybrid humbucker is even a ‘forum … Continue reading
Posted in Tips and Tricks
Tagged hum, humbucker, hybrid humbucker, resonant frequency, Seymour Duncan User Group Forum
4 Comments
