Just got back from California and more importantly the NAMM 2012 show in Anaheim and have a report for you. These shows are very big and take 4 days to complete. Even then, it is hard to achieve everything you want to at the show. I got in late to this year’s show and had only 2 full days to do what I normally do in 4. Nonetheless I went hard and planned my show focusing on amps, pedals and electric guitars.
One of this year’s products that really floored me was the Kemper-amps profiling and effects processor. This German design unit on the outside looks like one of the many amp modeling devices but a closer look reveals some really cool ingenuity and technologies.

What this unit does is “profile” amps and speaker combinations. What this means is that it will replicate any existing amp and speaker combination you may have. Let’s say you are in a studio and you have this killer tone that you think, “Dang that would be awesome if I could use this exact amp setup at a later session. With the Kemper you can now do this.

This is done by plugging into the unit then out to the amp you want to profile. The amp “combo or head” is then milked up with let’s say an SM57. That mic is then plugged into the back of the of the mic input of the Kemper. At this time the unit undergoes sound test by injecting white noise and sound pulses into the amp and measures the signal coming from the SM57. When it’s all done (took about 2 min) you have just profiled the amp. That simple.
Upon profiling a Mesa Boogie Dual Rec I was able to play the profiled amp I just created and was pretty blown away on how it felt and sounded like the real amp. I was able to quickly switch between the real amp and the profiled amp.

This is one of those products that makes you think “Wow that is really kewl” I will keep a close eye on the device and hopefully we will have them in the store for you to check out. Until then, you can check it out here ..

Keep the Tone Alive
Lou Roppoli

I want to talk about overdrive and distortion today. Like many of you I have many different overdrive and distortion pedals, not to mention varying boost pedals. Its great having the ability to run your amp clean then switching a distortion or overdrive pedal on to give you the dirt you need. With a couple of pedals at your feet you can accomplish 2,3 or even 4 different tones or varying degrees of dirt.

One thing we forget to do is to just turn up your Tube amp and let the amp rock you into that awesome gain stage and compression we love and can only get from tube amps turned up. I was at a Jam last week in Hamilton playing at a club and just had one of my Roppoli heads and Cabs. I set up my pedals and started to dial in tones. The room was a loud room so I had to run the amp pretty loud and at that point I was like “I don’t need to run any pedals” in fact I actually had to turn my guitar down a bit for awesome crunch rhythm tones.

Remember to run your tube amp louder (When possible) and let your Tubes lead you!!!

Keep rocking

Lou Roppoli

Hey guys .. just wanted to give you the heads up on a new G&L Legacy that just came in the store. I had an opportunity to do a video review on this guitar so I decided to also do a blog on it. Here are the specs, she is an awesome Sonic Blue in colour, rosewood fingerboard and cream pick guard and cream pickup covers. The guitar is handmade in Fullerton California in the G&L Shop. This shop was one of the original shops that Leo Fender made his famous pre CBS Fender guitars, so there is lots of heritage in that shop.

When you play this guitar it really has some awesome vibe and wicked playability. The pickups are Leo’s hand wound pickups and they have that vintage early 60’s surf vibe which is a total compliment to the awesome Sonic Blue colour.

If you have been looking for a new strat type guitar that has tons of vibe and tone, you have to come and check out this beauty. Click here to watch my video review.

We as guitar players are constantly looking for the ultimate tone and we find ourselves trying out different pedals weather it be an overdrive, distortion or boost. Changing our preamp and output tubes, trying out new types of strings, amps and the like. One thing we forget about is where the final sound is coming from. I’m talking about the speakers themselves. I have often been asked if I could tweak someone’s amp and I constantly hear, “can you take out some of the high end, can you take out some of the bass, can you add some mids but not the bad mids?” One thing I keep telling people is to try a different speaker or speaker cab. This is the final destination of the tone we are hearing and it is most often overlooked.

I remember Ryan Jenkins (Teacher and Sales Associate at Kaos) had a Fender Blues Junior amp that had a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker in it opposed the standard fender speaker. It was a special limited edition version of the amp in green tolex and that Celestion Vintage 30 speaker. He had brought the amp in the store as he had a gig that night and were comparing it to a standard Blues Junior. Immediately we were both shocked on how amazing his amp sounded.

This was a perfect example how just by changing your speaker or speakers can dramatically change the sound in your amp. One speaker company that I have used in the past is Eminence Speakers Company. These guys have a great website and tons of vids online that you can check out. HYPERLINK "http://www.eminence.com/guitar-bass/" http://www.eminence.com/guitar-bass/

Keep the tone passion alive!!!!
Lou Roppoli