Review: V-Picks – Small Price, Big Tone

Look in the popular guitar magazines these days and you’ll see ads for all kinds of exotic picks – some costing $20 or more. Even though I’ve been quite happily using a Jim Dunlop Jazz III pick for years, I decided to find out if any of these high-end picks would improve my tone.

One manufacturer that promises a lot for a reasonable price (about $5 per pick) is V-Picks, based in Modesto, CA. They claim to be “the world’s #1 guitar pick” and that their picks will help you play better and sound better. So do they live up to the hype? I ordered a Small Pointed Lite and a Ruby Red Small Pointed from the web site at http://www.v-picks.com/ to find out.

The picks arrived within 2 days, which is great customer service. Another nice surprise was the company included a free pick with my order – a Medium Rounded. All picks are considerably thicker than typical picks, even compared to the Jazz III. However, they are made from a super slick material that glides over the strings very easily. They also react to the heat from your skin and lightly stick to your fingers, which is a nice bonus as I am often dropping or reorienting my picks. The picks I ordered are more pointed at the tip which I think helps you play faster and more accurately so that’s an advantage. Another plus is that the picks wear slowly and have 3 pointed edges, all of which can be used so one pick will last quite a while.

Because of their thickness and the material used, all the picks deliver a fuller, louder and smoother sound than the Jazz III. The difference in tone is surprisingly significant – but in a good way. These picks seem to take off some harshness while still retaining the high frequencies and also boost the lower frequencies. To my ears, it’s almost like putting a compressor in your chain – but a decent compressor will cost you $100+ and these picks are only $5. Of the three I have tried, I liked the Small Pointed Lite the best as it retained more of the treble frequencies but also delivered a fuller, smoother sound. I never would have picked (no pun intended) the Medium Rounded because it is so thick, but I like this a lot as well, especially for beefing up solos.

Considering the minimal $5 price tag, which is about the price of a set of strings, it's a no brainer to check out a couple of V-Picks. You never know, they might be a decent tone upgrade for you. They were for me.

Michael Landau - Gear Inventory

Michael Landau has just revised his web site and the good news is he has provided the inside scoop to all the gear he uses. I know tone is "all in the hands" but this is still very helpful for those of us wondering "How did he get that tone?" According to the "Gear" section on his site, here's what he has in his arsenal:

Live pedal board setup (all pedals are before the amp in this order)
Maxon SD-9
Lovepedal COT 50
Real Mccoy Wizard Wah
Arion Stereo Chorus (in mono, true bypass mod)
Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe
Boss Volume Pedal FV500H
Line 6 DL4

I sometimes use a Lexicon MPX-1 in the effects loop of the amp with a Suhr Mini Mix for reverb and delay, or I take a speaker line out of the amp into a Palmer PGA-4 Speaker Simulator into the Lexicon MPX-1 into a Marshall Valvestate 8008 power amp into 2 Custom Audio 2x10 cabs with Celestion Vintage 10 speakers. These 2 cabinets have the wet sound only.

Amps I use live:
Custom Audio OD100 Classic Plus
Dumble Slide Winder head
Fender Hot Rod DeVille 2x12 with Eminence Tonespotter speakers
'64 Pro Reverb with Eminence Tonespotter speakers
'64 Super Reverb with Dumble Ultra Phonix mod
Kerry Wright 4x12 open back slant cabinet with Celestion Heritage Series G12-65's
Kerry Wright 2x12 open back cabinet with Celestion Heritage Series G12-65's

Studio setup:
I mic the cabinet with a Shure SM57 through a Chandler LTD-1 mic pre, that signal is fed to the line in on the Custom Audio Interface. The rig was designed by Bob Bradshaw @ CAE.

The effects rack has the following:

Tri Stereo Chorus 618
Eventide H3000 D/SE Harmonizer
Lexicon MPX-1
Two Line 6 Echo Pro's (1 in line, 1 in the Custom Audio mixer)
TC G-Force processor
Two Lexicon PCM 42's (left and right)
Boss SE-70
Custom Audio Super Tremolo

I use this setup only for recording because the line level processing is after the dry cabinet (in other words, I insert the rack effects between the dry cabinet and the recording console)

Amps I use for recording:
Dumble Slide Winder head
Custom Audio OD100 Classic Plus
Suhr Badger 18 watt
'64 Deluxe Reverb with Dumble Ultra Phonix mod
'67 Plexy Marshall 100 watt Super Bass head
Phil Jameson custom 30 watt head
Kerry Wright 4x12 open back slant cabinet with Celestion Heritage Series G12-65's
Kerry Wright 2x12 open back cabinet with Celestion Heritage Series G12-65's
Bogner 4x12 straight cabinet with Celestion Vintage 30's

These are the guitars I use live and in the studio:

'63 Fiesta Red Fender Stratocaster.
'68 Sunburst Fender Stratocaster with Suhr SSV in bridge.
'69 Black Fender Stratocaster with Suhr FL's neck and middle, Suhr SSV in bridge,
Suhr Silent Single Coil System.
'63 Gibson SG.
'68 Gold Top Les Paul with Seymore Duncan Antiquity Humbuckers
'52 Telecaster
Suhr Stratocaster with Suhr FL's neck and middle, Suhr SSV in bridge,
Suhr Silent Single Coil System.
'97 Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster with Suhr FL's neck and middle,
Suhr SSV in bridge, Suhr Silent Single Coil System.
Suhr Telecaster with Suhr S-90 in neck, Suhr Classic Tele in bridge.
Tyler Stratocaster with EMG pickups

D'Addario strings (10-46 or 11-49)
Dunlop Nylon 1mm picks
Belden 9778 cable

Learn more at www.mikelandau.com

Mike Stern – Regattabar, Cambridge, MA 04/09/10

Caught the Mike Stern early show on Friday night. He played a great set and seemed to be really enjoying himself and joking a lot with the band: Dennis Chambers on drums, Bob Malach on sax and Tom Kennedy on bass. Kennedy was very impressive, but Chambers was just stunning. It’s easy to see why he is so much in demand and so respected.

Stern has a good thing going. He gets to play with some of the best musicians around and do a lot of improvising in true jazz fashion. Once the band plays the “normal” intro there’s no telling where the song will go. And there was even improv on some intros to keep it interesting.

Stern’s tone was no surprise – he’s had it for years and it is instantly recognizable. After the show I got a close look at his gear. His amp is a beaten up solid state Yamaha G-100 combo. This was a popular amp for clean jazz tones in the 70s and 80s and it sounded great. His effects board was very simple: two Boss DS-3 Digital Delays and two Boss DS-1 Distortions. The DD-3s were set for short delay (for solos) and multiple repeats (for some solo song intros). The DS-1s were set for light and heavier distortion. Very simple, but very effective. I guess there is a lesson to be learned for all of us struggling with massive pedalboards.

News: Mod Amp Effect Kits

There are a number of effects pedal kits on the market that enable you to build your own pedals. All you need is a soldering iron, some skill and a little patience. One of the most popular is Build Your Own Clone (B.Y.O.C.). Another vendor in this market is Mod Amp Kits and this week the company announced four effects pedal kits.

• The Rattler Pedal Kit – A 60s/70s fuzz.
• The Piledriver Pedal Kit – A clean boost that provides up to 38dB of gain “that can push your preamp into overdrive or as a line driver if you are experiencing signal degradation from your effects chain.”
• The Verb Pedal Kit - A reverb based on the Belton Digi-Log module.
• The Persuader Pedal Kit – A tube pre-amp pedal built around a real 12AX7 tube

For more information, visit their web site at http://www.modampkits.com.

RIP: Herb Ellis

Guitar great Herb Ellis passed away last weekend due to complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 88.

Heavily influenced by Charlie Christian, he was a very influential player in his own right and went on to play with jazz giants Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson. In remembrance, I am going to dig out my copy of "The Oscar Peterson Trio at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival [Live]" which is a great, swinging recording.

Product Review: Boss CE-2 vs. Arion SCH-1

Welcome to this 1980s Chorus Pedal Smack Down. In the red corner we have the undisputed king of chorus, the heavyweight champion, Boss CE-2. And in the blue corner we have the challenger, the plastic prince, the Arion SCH-1. Let the battle begin.

The Boss CE-2 needs no introduction. This little sky blue box quickly became the go to chorus in the ‘80s and was used by David Gilmour, Andy Summers and literally thousands of others. Dig out any ‘80s album and that heavily chorused guitar is most likely running through a CE-2. The Arion SCH-1 on the other hand was certainly not as popular when it was launched, but over the years it has built up a good reputation and devoted following, especially for its ability to fake a rotating Leslie speaker. This unit is used by some of today’s leading players like Michael Landau and Scott Henderson.

I was looking for a classic ‘80s chorus stompbox to add to my board and after a lot of research I narrowed it down to these two units. I couldn’t decide which one to buy so I picked up one of each on eBay: a 1980 CE-2 made in Japan, black label, silver screw version and a black made in Japan SCH-1 (not the later gray version or the newer SCH-Z). Here are my impressions:

• Boss CE-2 – It’s immediately obvious why this unit is so popular even today. It delivers a wonderfully rich and smooth sound – almost like there is a compressor buried in the circuit somewhere. It does give your tone a slight volume boost when engaged and is not completely transparent – it does affect your tone, but the result is still very impressive. It always sounds very lush, warm and full, never metallic, making it very easy to dial in usable tones. And with the Rate control cranked it can get into slow Leslie-land. As you would expect from Boss, it is housed in a virtually indestructible metal casing and even after 30 years the on/off control is a thing of beauty and still functions perfectly. It has Rate and Depth controls only. It would be nice if Boss had included a volume control and my only other gripe is I wish the Rate control had more range for faster speeds.

• Arion SCH-1 – Manufactured by Prince Tsushinkogyo Limited, this unit does not have the build quality of the Boss CE-2. It has a plastic case, fragile plastic knobs that are prone of falling off and a battery compartment cover that is also liable to go missing. Despite the construction issues, the actual chorus circuit is very nice indeed, which is why you sometimes see these units rehoused and upgraded with new pots and even a true bypass switch. In addition to Rate and Depth controls, the SCH-1 includes a Tone control which is useful. However, this chorus pedal sounds much colder and more sterile than the CE-2 and perhaps sounds “more ‘80s” than the Boss unit – you can get some very obvious ‘80s chorus tones (good if you are playing in a cover band) whereas the CE-2 is much more subtle. Where the SCH-1 really excels is the rotating Leslie simulation, in part because the Rate (speed) control can be set much faster than the CE-2.

To my ears, the Boss CE-2 is clearly the better unit and is more polished and professional. It just sounds much more natural and warm. It’s so good that you almost want to have it running all the time. The Arion is a decent unit, especially for Leslie simulation, but it just doesn’t sound as rich on the other settings and it is harder to dial in respectable tones as it can get metallic quite easily. If you can pick up a Japanese CE-2 for under $150 it is money well spent considering the tone quality per dollar.