It’s time for another contest! I hereby announce the first Tonefiend Mutant Beauty Pageant. I know many deadbeats with too much time on their hands musicians, and most of them have a thing for weird gear. I’m talking real freak-show stuff, the items that make anyone who walks into your music room shriek, “What the […] 
Good, cheap tone doesn't grow on…oh, never mind. We all love tube amps. Yayy, tubes. Some of us love amp models. Yayy, models. And how about those cheap little solid-state amps? […crickets…] Oh, come on! Am I really the only person who digs the barking attack and corrosive crunch of the subcompact tubeless […] 
Don't fear the mic! (Illustration: Elise Malmberg) Recording be be brutal. Tracking vocals is tough. Capturing pianos or acoustic guitars is painstaking work. But recording electric guitars is easy, easy, easy—once you learn a few basics. The post focuses on the simplest way to record a guitar amp: sticking a single mic in […] 
Chicarrelli on Jack White: "He has an attack unlike anyone else. The concussion of his playing is just unbelievable." Joe Chiccarelli is one of music’s most respected producers and engineers—and one of the most versatile. After making his mark as Frank Zappa’s studio right-hand, he went on to work with such artists as […] 
WARNING! This post contains the answers to the quiz! If you still want to take the test, stop reading now and challenge your ear here. Don't worry, it's only Photoshop. We would never inflict anything this hideous on one of our winners. It was only two weeks, but it feels so […] 
UPDATE, Friday Sept. 23: The contest is now closed! Read the results here. Yet another thing you could be doing instead of practicing. I knew it would be hard, but I didn’t think it would be that hard! The Amps vs. Models Contest is still very much in progress. Yes, yes, yes—you […] 
Magical modulation: The brownface Tremolux You see a lot of chatter online about the differences between the tremolo circuit Fender used in its early-’60s “brownface” amps and the trem circuit that replaced it in the mid-decade “blackface” models. (Just Google “brownface blackface tremolo” to see what I mean.) The prevailing sentiment seems to […] 
UPDATE, Friday Sept. 23: The contest is now closed! Read the results here. But although the prizes have been claimed, but you can still challenge you ear for fun here! Listen and win — if you dare! Ready for some fun, kids? [Evil clown laugh.] Join the Amps vs. Models Contest! The winner […] |
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