1. hobbies and interests
2. guitar

Mountainview Publishing, LLC
INSIDE
The Phil Brown
Interview…
Discover Apaches
from Paris & the
magic of a B-tuned
guitar rendered
through a heavy
metal pulverizer
called the Ampeg
VL1002
9
Cruel Inventions…
A track-by-track
guide to all
the gear
the
The Player’s Guide to Ultimate Tone
$10.00 US, May 2004/VOL.5 NO.7
Report
TM
Phil Brown
Unless you have been working as a producer, recording engineer, songwriter or session player in
Los Angeles for the past 20 years, you may be wondering, “Who is Phil Brown and why does he
rate the cover of ToneQuest?” On the other hand, if you have heard Phil Brown play the guitar,
you understand. Completely.
A reader recently asked when we were going to venture beyond the “blues/roots/rock” genré in
TQR. Today, you got your wish, brother, but be careful what you ask for… Phil Brown’s Cruel
Inventions incites intense scrutiny from guitarists and countless questions about his rig and play-
12
Lee Jackson on
the design of the
Ampeg VL Series
15
The Sexy Beast…
Demeter TGA-3
16
Time has come
today… The
ToneQuest
Hardtail
18
Ice Cream Cakes!
Jason Lollar’s
‘Special’ Pickups
photo courtesy of Patricia de Gorostarzu
ing style that will be answered soon enough. But as Brown’s haunting melodic hooks subtly bind
to your synapses, surrender any desire to conveniently categorize this artist. In his own words,
“No one goes home humming a guitar solo.” Indeed, a well-crafted song is still the rare stuff that
inspires guitar playing that eclipses the ordinary, and Phil Brown has devoted most of his life to
www.tonequest.com
cover story
learning this lesson well. Brown showcases his talent with
straightforward recording gear that is easily available to
most of us today, and guitars and amplifiers that will never
ascend to ‘Hall of Fame’ status among self-appointed
‘experts’ that deign to tell the rest of us what a truly exceptional instrument or amplifier is, and what they can never be.
In choosing his tools, Phil Brown has taken the less-traveled
path once described by Neil Young as the ditch that borders
the middle of the road. Along the way, he quenched his quest
for signature tone with a strange brew partially comprised of
an early ‘70s Les Paul hacked out for a Floyd Rose tremolo,
and an obscure, high-gain son-of-Metaltronix Ampeg VL1002
pummeling a vintage Marshall 8x10 cab. If that’s what it
takes to create your own cool inventions, then let it be. You
can’t dress like me…
Cruel Inventions was originally released in Europe in 2003
by Philippe Langlois’ Dixie Frog records. Monsieur Langlois
brought Rolling Stone magazine to France nearly 30 years
ago, and while Phil Brown went unnoticed by record labels in
America, the Euro’s warmly embraced the Apaches from
Paris in spite of their L.A. zip code. And be forewarned —
aside from re-orienting your molecules a bit, there is a palpable and seductive scent of sex in much of Brown’s music. For
this, you should be properly prepared. Invite your significant
other to a listening party and who knows what might happen? If the blues is all about good people feelin’ bad, Phil
Brown and Apaches from Paris are about good people feeling
good enough to be bad. Very bad. Now dim the lights, log on
to tonequest.com, turn those speakers up, and Enjoy…
TQR:
Where did you grow up and when did you first
answer the call to play guitar?
I grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico. I heard Bob Wills
and his Texas Playboys when I was about 5 years old and I
can remember wanting
to play that
music on the
guitar really
bad. The
next year I
started
studying violin and I kept that up until I was about 14. Los
Alamos is a real unusual community… There was a guitar
teacher and scientist there named Joe Mariner who was very
good friends with Chet Atkins, so some of the first music I
heard that really killed me was Chet Atkins and Andrés
Segovia. Around this time, I had a neighbor whose dad had a
guitar that he had gotten prior to World War II, and I bought
it for fifty cents. I think I mowed two lawns for it. I could
only play two strings, but I always had good rhythm, and I
used those little plastic tabs that you get on a loaf of bread
for guitar picks. But the guitar thing really started happening
for me like this… I always loved guitars, and there was a
music teacher I had named Adele Bradbury. Her husband was
Eugene Bradbury, the president of Los Alamos, and he was
Oppenheimer’s assistant during the Manhattan Project. She
found me one day at a store and she said, “Phil Brown, come
over here. Let me see your fingers. You have calluses. You’d
better slow down and catch your dream or it’s going to kill
you.” I had no idea what she was talking about (laughing) but
I absolutely adored this woman, and she took me to her house
and gave me a Gibson guitar and told me she wanted me to
join the Glee Club. The next morning I was there at 6 a.m.
with the guitar and I just kept playing and learning. At this
same time, my cousin came to see me and he taught me barre
chords and the importance of economy of movement. For
example, do you make a D chord with your first finger on the
G string or your second finger? If you use your second finger,
the third finger stays put and you just change the position of
your first and middle finger to play a C or G. I eventually
quit playing the violin and started playing saxophone. I also
got into surf music and Duane Eddy, and I can remember seeing a band for the first time with Fender amplifiers at
Disneyland, of all places.
Two of the amps had red
pilot lights and two were
blue, and with that silver
sparkle grill cloth shining in
the lights, I just wanted one
so badly. I bought a bass
guitar when I was about 14,
and I discovered two of my
favorite bands — Moby
Grape and The Yardbirds. I
loved anything that had the
sustain of that violin-type
distorted guitar sound. Jeff
Beck was one of my
favorites… he reminded me
of one of those guys that
could skip a rock across a
lake 17 times before it sank.
His sound just spoke to me.
Then I heard Jimi Hendrix
when I was 15 years old… There were two guys in town —
the Johnson twins — and they were huge Bob Dylan fans.
Their father had brought home Are You Experienced and they
asked me if I would trade them for one of my Bob Dylan
records. I raced over to their house on my bike, they gave me
the Hendrix record, and we put it on my parent’s stereo,
which we weren’t allowed to turn up past ‘2.’ We put Jimi on
and my brother said, “Boy, are we gonna get in trouble!” And
my dad actually did walk in one day and ask, “What’s this on
the stereo?” The Who were really big for me, too, especially
“My Generation.”
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TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
cover story
TQR:
Were you able to see any of these bands?
Well, that wasn’t happening in Los Alamos, but I did see
Rudy and the Hard Times… they had a song called “Fortune
Teller” that was later redone on the Who’s Live at Leeds
record, and I saw the band on Where the Action Is. Living in
Los Alamos, shows like
Hullabaloo and Shindig
were really important,
and the British Invasion
was really important to
me. When I was 17
years old, I got a scholarship to go to Kansas
University in Lawrence,
Kansas. There was a
half a million watt radio
station out of Oklahoma
City called KOMA that
played every cool song
you could imagine, so
I’m buried under the
covers with my cheap
little Japanese transistor
radio, right? “Appearing live at the Red Dog Inn… The
Flippers, The Apsotles, If, The Frantics, The Blue Things…”
All of these incredible bands duplicated the sounds of the
records you heard on the radio to the ‘T.’ I cut my first
recording in a four-piece band in Kansas, playing bass. I really didn’t know how to play lead guitar at the time, and I just
loved the bass. I have always loved low end. I studied guitar,
but it wasn’t a passion for me. Bass just killed me — players
like James Jamerson, Ron Carter and Jack Bruce… any of the
symphonies of Beethoven, Mozart, Handel… music with
sweeping bass lines really moved me. And I guess it gave me
a great appreciation for how you go about composing music.
That was the next step for me, because then I left school and
ended up grabbing a guitar and a suitcase and a dream, and I
hitchhiked around the country for close to five years. I’d go
to a town, find the best band, ask to sit in, and kind of like a
gunslinger, smoke the band’s guitarist and a couple of days
later I’d have his gig. I can’t tell you how many times that
happened (laughing).
TQR:
During what period of time?
1969-1974. Denver, Louisiana, Kansas City, Cleveland,
Pittsburgh… I was in Los Angeles in 1970 and I got a job at
S.I.R. driving a truck. I delivered equipment to places like the
Capitol Records studios. The first day at work, Three Dog
Night is in one room rehearsing and Alice Cooper is in the
next room. Four hours later Joe Cocker is there and Humble
Pie is in the next room. And at night I worked at The
Whiskey. There was just something about the entire entertain-
ment scene — it’s a lifestyle, kind of like carnies… You ever
been to a carnival?
TQR:
Sure, the Midway at the Indiana State Fair, every
year for a decade, Phil. Carnie Town. The Bearded
Lady, Flipper Boy, the ring toss… The Gypsies ran
the games and them hard-lookin’ Harlan County
boys in the wife beaters ran the rides. So, you must
have just had a burning desire to be in a band…
Actually, no. I never was good about being in anything.
Sometimes, when you have a real innovative personality… It
takes you years to discover this, because by the time you’re
seven you’ve heard the word ‘no’ a lot… I just have this
highly developed intuitive gift. I can turn around and know
when someone is really in key. I can sense the depth of a person, and when something is really good, I go ballistic,
because you don’t see that very often. It fires your soul up.
There’s a saying… “Nobody really knows when we fall in
love, but we all know when it’s over.” Music is like that, too.
When you love something, nobody can take that away from
you. Maybe on some level I wanted to be in a band, but I
really wanted to be a band. I went back to New Mexico after
driving that truck for S.I.R. in L.A. and I read an article in
Rolling Stone about Bob Mosely of Moby Grape, which was
my favorite band of all time. That fuckin’ guitar player Jerry
Miller… I never heard anyone play like that. He was doing
stuff years ahead of anybody, and he was the only American
guitar player that knew what he was doing at that time.
Here’s what happened… I wrote Bob Mosely a letter, and he
wrote me back in about six weeks and I hitchhiked back to
California. He says, “I’ll meet you on Avenue Pico in San
Clemente tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.” So I’m there with a
guitar case and a shit eatin’ grin and this guy shows up in a
truck and drives me over to The Record Plant. Crosby, Stills,
Nash & Young are there recording. Remember that band,
Rudy and the Hard Times? There’s a harmonica player and
background singer in the band named Lee Keifer who was
Tommy Bolin’s producer, and he was the one who basically
told me that I had a
dream that was worthwhile, and they wound
up recording me there.
He said, “You gotta do
a record with us,”
because at that time I
was a huge fan of Peter
Green. I couldn’t
believe how good he
was. He was different.
There were maybe a
handful of guitar players for me at that time
in no particular order…
-continued-
TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
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cover story
Jeff Beck, Peter Greene, Jimmy Page, Hendrix, Townshend,
Clapton, Chet Atkins… Billy Gibbons hadn’t come on the
scene yet, although that was about to happen. And I loved
Lowell George and Ry Cooder. It’s almost like yesterday…
you get caught up in your memory — why you are doing
what you’re doing. Your influences… So I signed a recording
contract, and it was so funny, because I was only 20 years old
and my
dad
wouldn’t cosign it.
He
thought
he was
going
to be
responPhil Brown & Little Feat
sible
for the recording budget or something, which was paid
(laughing). I still kid him about that today. I was signed for a
production deal with Lee Kiefer and I made a record with
him at Westlake Audio in L.A. and it took over a year to do.
Meanwhile, I was hanging out with Little Feat, Dallas Taylor,
Buzz Feiten, Les Dudek, Cher, Rickie Lee Jones and the
actress, Sonny Johnson. Getting another kind of education.
TQR:
Let’s jump to your rig. Over the years, have you
acquired a taste for specific combinations of guitars, amps and effects?
I’m basically effect-free. I like to plug straight into the amp,
although there was a time when I had a huge rack of effects.
TQR:
Probably in the ‘80s…
In the ‘80s I was signed as a writer for A&M and Warner
Brothers music, and I wrote a lot of songs for a lot of people.
And yes, at that time it was de rigeur that you have processing equipment. I’ll tell you a true story… I played a session
with Cher, and Michael Landau and Steve Lukather were
there. A lot of guys were there, and Mick Koszowski was the
engineer, who did the Thriller record with Quincy Jones, and
he says, “Phil, did you bring anything?” I had an old
Marshall bottom from the ‘60s painted turquoise with the
tolex stripped off of it and an old Marshall head, and I did
my session in twenty minutes and that was that. I remember
one of the songwriters there, John Lynd, said, “Well, another
day with you, Phil. Just look at everybody else’s stuff.” The
other players there had their guitar techs with them and all of
this gear, you know? Steve Lukather looked at my rig and he
said, “You just piss me off” (laughing). Steve’s a great player
and a wonderful human being, but I never played with a lot
of stuff — just give me a cable andVince
letCunetto
me plug in.
There are some amps that I really love. One of the first amps
I ever bought was a 100W HIWATT. I used that with a 200W
Marshall bass top that I had modified because it had all that
low end that you can’t get out of a regular amp. The
HIWATT had two channels and I’d plug into both with a ‘Y’
cord. The thing I loved about HIWATT amps is when Pete
Townshend hit a rhythm chord, you knew it was a chord. It
was a
particular
sound–
almost
like a
viola
meets
a violin sound. That Vox/Marshall hybrid sound. It had a particular voice. Not because it was loud… because it had a
tone. I don’t actually have one guitar that I use more than
another. I had one made for me by Sam Sanchez, who used to
work at a store in downtown L.A. called Nadine’s Music.
Sam was an incredible luthier and he had found a few
Stratocaster bodies from the ‘50s and he put a guitar together
for me with one of them. We found a Schecter neck, and the
Seymour Duncan JB (Jeff Beck) pickups had just come out
and we used those. At the time, the Kahler tremolos were the
rage, but I never liked those locking nuts. The sound is
warmer when the strings aren’t hitting metal, and the Kahler
is locked behind the nut. I’ve also got a gold 1957
Stratocaster, and I don’t know what year this Sea Foam green
Jeff Beck signature Strat is, but it has a big rosewood neck
and it sounds just fucking amazing. It’s been
a real dependable guitar and it’s been around
the world with me. I do
find that the Fender
tremolo arms break off
in the block a lot,
though. There is a guitar player from Europe
named Üle Roth who
is really into Jimi, and
I saw him playing with
this trem arm that
looked like the shift
lever on a car. That
gave me the idea to
have a trem arm made for me by an aircraft shop, and those
have never broken. I have a couple of Les Pauls — one is a
1970-75 that I use a lot and it’s tuned down to ‘B.’ I have a
couple of 7-strings, and I play a baritone… one of those
Danelectro copies they made. Seems to me that the cheaper a
baritone is, the better they sound.
-continued-
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TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
cover story
TQR:
How about amps?
I have some custom-made stuff. I’m still real close to this guy
named Lee Jackson, who really defined the sound of metal —
everyone from George Dokken to Zack Wylde. I met him
through an ad and I brought in a Marshall that I had and he
modded it. I didn’t need more ‘oomph’ — I just realized that
it was dying because this new sound was coming out of it. I
didn’t need something over the top — I just wanted to find a
guy that had done a little research with tone, and not just
about volume. I think he also developed the master volume
circuit in Fender amps. I also have an Ampeg that he modded
for me when he worked for them. If you ever get a chance to
buy an Ampeg VL1002, buy it. It’s the most dependable
amplifier, and I’ve made more records with that amp, at any
volume. It just has this beautiful saturation… They are very
rare and hard to find, but Oh, my god… I really don’t play
that loud. You don’t have to play loud to get a big sound, and
I don’t use a lot of high end. I like that deep viola, cello
sound.
TQR:
And the custom amps that Lee Jackson built for
you… how powerful are they?
One is a 50W, but I think it’s really 80W. It has three kinds of
overdrive, a pedal for channel switching and an effects loop.
The other amp is probably 120W, and it’s for playing really
big places. I’ve also got some vintage Marshall bottoms, and
I love the old Marshall 8x10 cabinets. I bought one of Robin
Trower’s old 8x10 cabinets at Guitar Center in L.A. a few
years ago and it’s huge. Must weigh almost 200 pounds.
Then I found a three-quarter size Marshall 8x10 in Flagstaff,
Arizona that’s lighter, and I found a 1959 Marshall bottom in
St. Louis a couple of years ago. Nothing is inanimate.
Everything has a soul. By the way, I’m on the new Cool &
the Gang recording — I’ve known
George Brown for
15 years and they
had me come over
and play on it. He
said, “Bring that
old Strat of yours,
and are you going
to bring that old
Airline amp?” I have this
little Airline with an 8" speaker. Put a mic in
front of that and it’s over
(laughing). I also just
bought a little 15W
Fender Frontman. I’ve
made so many records
with little amps, but occasionally I’ll bring a big
cabinet. I might bring a
50W top… I have a
VS880 Roland with the
pre-sets that I’ve used
before. I’m not pushing
any air, but I can simulate
it. I’ve also tried some of
the Line 6 amps. All the
equipment is good, it just
depends on your needs.
My favorite, though? I’ll just say, “Thank you Mr. Jim
Marshall (laughing). You gave me a reason to live a little
deeper.” That new Marshall Mode 4 is an amazing amplifier
— really extraordinary.
TQR:
But your main Marshall is what — a 50 watt head?
It’s a 100 watt, built the first year they switched from the 4input models to the master volume heads. I’ve had at least
20-30 Marshall heads over the years. But the main amplifier
is the Ampeg. Sometimes, with old equipment you inherit the
problems
that
come
with
it.
You
have to fix it, and as an artist, I can’t deal with that when I’m
out playing. On the other hand, the tonality of the vintage
amps is time-tested. You can hear it, and the new amps don’t
have that.
TQR:
Many of the ‘modern’ amps just don’t seem to have
much soul, which is OK if you can live without it…
(Laughing) I’m not willing to do that.
TQR:
You’ve played a lot of sessions and written for a lot
of different artists…
A lot of girls have cut my songs, but I’ve worked with a lot
of players, too — Kenny Loggins, Carmine Appice, Little
Feat… lots of records and lots of television shows…
Showtime movies, ESPN1, Silver Spoons, Three’s Company.
Some of the songs… Bonnie Tyler had a huge record with
“Matter of the Heart.” Cher… Pat Benatar… Dora Pesch,
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TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
5
cover story
who I guess was or is a big star in Europe. The biggest selling solo record of the Kiss band’s was “Trouble Walkin’”
which I wrote with Bill Wray. There was band called Kix —
an AC/DC clone band that had a big hit with a song I wrote
called “Get It While It’s Hot” on their Blow My Fuse album.
Tony Newton is a great jazz bass player and an understudy of
James Jamerson’s who took me under his wing and showed
me how to a do a lot of stuff. I’m not really a jazz player… I
can play it, but it’s not what I do.
TQR:
TQR:
But the influences and the voicings are there.
Yeah, but there’s a
way to play it with a
little bit of R&B, a little bit of Rock… some
where in the middle
and then just tell a
great story. There are
songs that do that… I
worked for Warners
for three years, my
contract was not
renewed, and a few
weeks later I was
under contract with
A&M. That’s literally
unheard of. Usually
photo courtesy of Patricia de Gorostarzu
they will let a few
years go by — Todd (Sharp) will tell you that (laughs). What
had happened to me was that I became really hip to rhythm. I
love Keith Richards because he plays such great rhythm guitars. Billy Gibbons is another one who just plays great
fuckin’ rhythm guitar. You know who else is in that group?
Brad Whitford of Aerosmith. He’s so melodic. Another cat
that I thought was great was Phil Keaggy from Glass Harp,
and we can’t forget Jimi, George Harrison and John Lennon.
TQR:
that I play with now that are spread all over the world. You
dig deep enough and they’ll find you — you don’t have to
find them. I always wanted to do something like the Truth
record — great bass, great drums, and a very unique vocal
and melody. Remember — no one walks away singing a guitar solo — they sing the melody, and the guitar should
enhance that.
So you’ve paid your dues doing studio work, writing and production.
Yeah, because I have done so many records with so many
people that I could observe things. “I wonder why he did
that? Why is he offsetting the guitar mic like that?” Get rid of
all the crap and just plug it in! I never heard Jeff Beck do a
shitty record. I’m sure he has, but everything I have ever
heard has this integrity about being fun. I never bought an
Eric Clapton record until Pilgrim. It was the most real I had
ever heard him play. I mean, “Lay Down Sally” was good —
it just wasn’t very strong. Music is supposed to do something
inside of you. It is a natural habitat for people and a universal
communicator, because I have been all over the world and
when you’re good, you’re good. There is no denying that. I
have always wanted music to be an event. I’ve got some guys
Let’s talk about Cruel Inventions, because Jeff is in
there, Jimi is in the house, Curtis Mayfield, Billy,
along with Bowie, Jack Bruce and a little Joe
Walsh… After your CD arrived, I listened to it
driving home and wound up sitting in the driveway,
mesmerized until it was over.
Oh, man, you got that Curtis
Mayfield thing! That is so cool!
There is this thing called contrapuntal movement… It’s a classical term that describes all the
other music that surrounds the
main musical theme of the piece.
It’s a way of telling the story
about the soul. Do you remember
when you heard the first Blue
Cheer record? They weren’t the
best musicians, but they didn’t
have to be. They were the first
punk rock band… and they were
memorable. Same thing with The 13th Floor Elevators…
TQR:
One of Billy Gibbon’s favorites. Back to your
record…
Believe it or not, when this CD came out I was working a
construction job. I couldn’t find any work — maybe a couple
of sessions a month would come in. I can work in Europe,
but I couldn’t work here. There was a period of time here
when if you weren’t Brittany Spears or Justin Timberlake,
you were having a problem. One day a friend of mine who is
a recreational heroin user came up to me at Starbucks and
said, “Hey, Phil, I know this guy you need to contact.”
“OK… what do you want me to do?” He asked me to give
him a couple of songs. Now, I basically have three bands.
Some of the songs on Cruel Inventions came from a band I
call Phil
Brown’s
Adventure.
That was sort
of my
‘Hahavishnumeets-Jeff
Beck with
David
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TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
cover story
Bowie-esque type songwriting. It was just something that I
do. And then I have this blues thing called Apaches from
Paris, which I’ll get to in a minute, and I took a year off and
put this Hendrix trio together… I have 11 hip hop house
mixes of Jimi songs, because I always wanted to fall in love
the way Jimi explained it on “You Got Me Floatin.’” These
incredible visions of, “You got me floatin’ across and
through. You make me float right up next to you. There’s only
one thing I need to get me there — is to hear you laugh without a care.” Now, please let me meet somebody like that! You
see, I’m just a big kid. Music makes you immortal. It just
immortalizes your soul, especially if you’re a player. When
you can communicate that, you’re doing something. So I sent
these songs to Philippe Langlois in Paris. He is a journalist
and the man who brought Rolling Stone to France nearly 30
years ago, and he has a record company called Dixie Frog. A
girlfriend I had at the time, Brigitte Handler, mentioned to me
that her cousin was very involved in the entertainment scene
in Europe and managed some of the biggest pop stars over
there, including Johnny Hallyday, who is probably the
biggest star ever. He brought everybody to Europe in the
‘60s… The Beatles,
Hendrix… if you
were anybody, you
went over there and
played with Johnny
Hallyday. He once
sold out a 70,000
capacity soccer stadium ten days in a
row. Astounding...
Anyway, I sent these
songs to Philippe.
Brigitte calls me and
says, “Phil, I’m pregnant.” I’m thinking, “Holy Christ, now
what am I gonna do? I’m working a construction job making
$80 a day — how am I going to support a child?” And she
says, “No, I’m pregnant with news! I want you to know that
Philippe Langlois called me and he wants to sign you to a
record deal.” I couldn’t believe it, because the only thing they
ever wanted to do here in the States, David, was take my
songs. I just couldn’t get a connection with anyone here, but
in Europe, they absolutely venerate artists. I’m not saying
that I’m better than anyone, but when you have a huge intuitive skill — and it is a skill — a tool — you just know
things. Most of the guys that were in the music business (the
record business) when I was there, they couldn’t hear a car
crash. And they aren’t in the business any more. So Philippe
basically culled these songs for the record, and he has a vice
president of the company named Guy Lafay, whose grandfather was in the French Underground, and guess what they
were called? Apaches of Paris. Now, I got the title “Apaches
from Paris” from some graffiti I saw when I was with Little
Feat… So I flew over to France to meet Philippe and his
staff. I
went
back over
there in
March of
2003 to
promote
the
record,
and while
I was
there I
met Nono
Krief,
who is
photo courtesy of Patricia de Gorostarzu
one of the
most famous guitar players in Europe, and playing with him
was another very famous drummer in Europe, Farid Medjane
(picture Keith Moon with Tony Williams and the biggest hip
hop collection you can imagine). Brigitte and I go into this
club and Farid is playing with his girlfriend, Isabella, who
looks like Jane Fonda and sings like Tina Turner, and she
plays bass with her left hand and keyboard with her right.
They were playing a lot of songs that I had demoed, because
I had worked with the writers — that’s what I did for a living. So from about 10 at night to 4 in the morning I’m playing these songs with Farid doing this incredible drum shit.
Nono was there, too, and before I knew it the entire crowd
was yelling, “Phil, Phil, Phil!” It was unbelievable (laughing).
You know when you’re going to grab a chord and all of a
sudden something happens to you? You become immersed in
this story of your artistry and you are no longer a musician. It
becomes magic…
TQR:
And at that point you’re channeling…
That is something that can be achieved. I think you are born
with this and you spend the rest of your life trying to get it to
come out of you. It’s always drawing at you, pulling you forward. Most of the artists that I know have given up on their
dreams by the time they are in their twenties. It’s the dream I
have, and the dream I saw that you have when I found your
ToneQuest web site… I thought, “Holy shit. This guy cares.”
So, that record got put together from all these different performances, and it just seems like it was meant to be. And at
the time, I was literally homeless. I’ve had probably 13 top
ten records and 20 gold and platinum records from around
the world as a writer, and I have never been paid one dime.
TQR:
How does that happen?
I wasn’t a very good businessman, to begin with, and I had a
lot of managers that just robbed me blind. I trusted people.
Even some of the publishing companies… I guess they just
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TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
7
cover story
thought I’d go
away and die. I
should also add
that I’ve been
clean and sober
now for 19
years. I had a
huge drug problem for a lot of
years, and when
I was 35 I realized that I was
either going to get fixed or die.
TQR:
Did you not have your own publishing?
I did. I had what was called a ‘three quarter deal,’ which
means that I got half the publishing money. But you have to
understand something… when you sign a recording or publishing contract, you’re basically renting your own room in
the Warner Brothers or Sony building, or whatever. They’ll
put money into you, but you are certainly not getting what
you justly deserve. Most people who sign recording contracts
get 13 points, which is like $1.30 for every copy sold, but
after they deduct the packaging charge and returns… Cruel
Inventions is in 13 countries and it has sold pretty well, but
we got an e-mail from a DJ in Buenos Aires who said they
couldn’t play enough of this record, but there is no product
down there. It’s tough. You really need to have a bunch of
guys that are ready to go to war for you, because it is a very
tough business and it’s hard to collect your money. I mean,
I’m looking at a record right now that went platinum in
Europe — a song I co-wrote called “Get It While It’s Hot” —
and get this — there is a third writer credited for this song
who I have never even heard of. And this is a major publishing and recording company…
TQR:
Someone quoted Billy Gibbons as saying, “If it
ain’t on paper, it’s vapor...” Who got Muddy’s
money? Let’s talk about what you used on the
Cruel Inventions tracks…
Allan Holdsworth is a great guitar player and he did this
record with Tony William’s Lifetime with Tony Newton.
Allan has a really unique sound — a really unique tone. And
the Jeff Beck thing… it’s all about having fun, and I basically
learned everything playing old records slowed down to
16RPM. That’s how many of us learned. That’s what I miss
so much about records today that I wanted to capture again
on Cruel Inventions. The guy that mastered it is an Irishman,
and he had done a lot of rap stuff — L.L. Cool J and Easy E
— and I went to him with this record and I asked, “Can you
put the low end in this?” It needs to be not like a Rap record,
but I have never known a girl to walk away from low end
(laughs). A lot of girls come to the shows. They aren’t music
heads, but they want to be entertained. I wanted the guitar to
be voiced like a vocal. I wanted to tell a story with the songs,
and when it was over, feel like, “Oh, my God, does that
sound right!”
TQR:
And it’s
easy to
do that,
because
I’m also
an engineer, and
I’m pretty good
at it.
There are
guys that are a lot better than me, but I know how to do
something engineering-wise that fits the song, because I’m a
songwriter. So much music today sounds the same… same
reverb, same engineers, same remix guys. And many of them
are not songwriters, while I was trained by some of the best
songwriters in the world, like Larry Weiss, John Lind, Steve
Perry, Richard Feldman and Van Stephenson.
TQR:
Typically, the mix of the amplifiers I talked about and a mix
of guitars… “La-Lah Land” was cut with an old Dobro and a
Strat through my old ‘59 Marshall bottom and the Ampeg
top. I usually try to mix things up. I have an old 1965 ‘pistol’
Shure 58 mic that I use for guitar on every recording I make,
and I use a C1000 AKG vocal mic. I don’t use a screen —
just a cheap little DBX machine. I recorded everything on a
digital recorder — a VS880, and then download it to Pro
Tools or Digital Performer. I use .010-.046 DR strings, and I
don’t play with a guitar pick. I used to, but I’ve got a big fat
callus on my thumb now and I use my other fingers, too.
There was a great record that really influenced me a lot…
You wanted the huge, high-bass B-tuned rhythm
guitar and those crunchy-cool chord voicings to be
preserved and remain up front in the mix.
The feel and the mood of the recordings on Cruel
Inventions is as remarkable as the playing and
songwriting. Who were the other players?
Rich Neville played bass on some of the songs. I’ve known
Rich for 30 years and he was with Poco for a long time. He’s
a wonderful player, period, and a great singer. Joel Bennett is
a session player here from L.A. He’s playing bass on “If 6
Were 9” and “Rollin’ and Tumblin.’” The sax player, Tim
Anderson is an amazing guy. He’s a horn player and a born
again Christian who works in a bank. I heard him play one
night at a club and he’s just got an amazing sound. Paul
Cotton is a very good friend of mine who was in a band years
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8
TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
cover story
ago called Illinois Speed Press. Paul is one of the best guitarists I have ever heard and he said, “You’ve made the record
I wanted to make 25 years ago. Guys like you should be
dead, because when I go to the record store, I go to the dead
guy section.” Paul doesn’t play with a pick, either.
TQR:
You created a very intense mood on Cruel
Inventions. For the benefit of our readers, I like to
think of it as a whimsical performance with Jeff
Beck, David Bowie, Jack Bruce, Jimi and Curtis
Mayfield, with Thomas Dolby (Astronauts &
Heretics era) mischeviously working his magic in
the wings. On some tracks you show restraint and a
keen understanding of what to play for the song,
and on other tracks you take huge leaps, playing
utterly original guitar parts that form a rich, heavy
tapestry in stereo.
The song on this
last record that has
really messed with
people is the last
one called,
“Heaven.” It’s got
that guitar riff and a
rhythm… All of the
great players we’ve
been talking about
— Jimi, Jeff — all
of them had this
photo courtesy of Patricia de Gorostarzu
incredible vernacular of rhythm guitar, and the rhythm today all over the world
is now rooted in hip hop. There is a label here that signs
older artists, and they sound older… I’m stunned that you
heard the Curtis Mayfield influence in those songs, because
he was so ahead of his time. Often times when you’re writing
something, you’ll go to a different key for the solo. Billy
Gibbons does this a lot. But at blues jams, usually you’ll stay
in the same key, not because it’s safe, but because it’s comfortable. I want to challenge that. Give me a mood, brother!
We’re gonna take it home now, and I’m gonna break your
heart a little bit. TQ
guitar had a Kahler
tremolo installed. I kept
the nut locking piece and
then replaced the Kahler
with a Floyd Rose, so
the body has additional
wood removed to
accommodate the Floyd.
I’ve heard other Les
Paul’s and mine definitely sounds different… the
body density is changed.
Also, how one holds the
guitar against the body
contributes to the sound. After years of playing, I’ve learned
that my right hip contributes greatly to the sound. I have
always been aware that sitting down and playing created a
different mood and sound. It’s all about the movement of
mood. Volume is on about 7 to 8… the tone is wide open on
the neck pickup and set back a bit on the treble pickup.
Lead guitar: Same Les Paul… The volume on the treble pickup is never on 10 — ever! I never play ‘live’ or record with
the guitar volume wide open. Speaker cabinet is an 8x10
Marshall from Robin Trower with original Celestion speakers.
Amp: Marshall 100W (made in England) with a silly mod
that Lee Jackson tore out and stocked back to ‘normal.’ It was
also the first year they made Marshalls with a master volume.
It has that great viola tone — musty, busty and fucking beautiful tone! I run light, 1 to 2 o’clock treble, bass is jacked up,
middle is about 3 o’clock. Master volume has grease, but not
all the way to the top — just enough to get the grease… It
records more ‘alive’ that way.
On this track I used a Roland VS-880 manufactured in their
first year of production — ’95 0r ‘96, I think. Here’s how I
ran the Roland:
Go to Mic Simulator.
Go to MS Link
MicConv
Input=small Dynamic mic
Out=small Dynamic mic
APACHES FROM PARIS — THE TONES
CHARMED LIFE
Guitar: First rhythm guitar B
tuned with a 7-string set (just
lose the high E string). 1970-75
black Les Paul Standard with
JBDuncan’s from the first run of
his famously-cool Jeff Beckstyle front and rear pickups. The
Phase=normal
Bass cut=off
Distance=on
(339 cm offset)
(Important! This
‘switch’ controls the whole
deal as far as
I’m concerned.
Please pay
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TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
9
cover story
attention. This gives me my sound, recording wise. It is a digital device, and used carelessly, it can be brittle or harsh . My
amp has always been set on mo’ bass and less high end. One
can vary these ‘pre-sets’ according to your taste…the sky’s
the limit!)
Proximity Fx=3
Time=339cm (how far the mic is from the ‘speaker’ and the
‘angle’)
Limiter=ON
Freq=Thru
Level=0db
Thresh=112db
Attack=50
Release=50
The DBX163x — (single mono unit) set to -10.
Microphones: 1965 Sure SM58-pistol
type C-1000 AKG
B3 Hammond Organ circa 1967 with
150 Watt Leslie with JBL and modified drivers
Bass is a 5 string Ibanez with custom
1985 Bartollini pickups
Amp was the mod for P Bass 1 and
Mic’ed Bass in Roland through the
DBX163x
Drums courtesy of a loop from me playing a kick and snare
and reinforced with an Alesis SR16 — can you believe it?
GRIND ME
Guitar is a 1950’s alder body from the Fender storehouse, 24fret Shecter maple neck. Floyd Rose tremolo with Kahler
locking nut. Built by Sam Sanchez at Nadine’s Music for me
in 1981 after the Little Feat tour. It has first-run JB pickups.
.010 to .046 gauge DR strings.
Amps: Ampeg V1002, Lee Jackson customized. He built and
designed the darn thing! That amp sounds f’ing amazing
through any speaker combination — trust me…
Guitar Effect: The ‘wiggly sound’ is from a Boss chorus unit
that I’ve had since 1978 that I bought at Manny’s in New
York while doing a record date for Robert Flieschman’s solo
album. Echo unit courtesy of a Korg 3000.
HOUR TO KILL
Lead Guitars: 1954 Strat maple Fender neck I put on an early
60’s ash body with one ‘54 treble pickup and two ‘64 pickups. The original body was cracked and carved out for a
Kahler, and then I got ‘smart’ and did the Floyd thing and
kept the Kahler nut. They are almost impossible to find once
the strings groove them out. DR strings, of course. By the
way, I never cut the strings off at the tuning posts. It may
look sloppy, but I love the overtones… Go ahead — try it!
Amps: My Ampeg V1002 at very low volume, mic’ed with
AKG C-1000 thru an old, for-real English 4x12 cab that Jimi
used. I bought it from some old geezer here in LA in 1977
for $250. I replaced the speakers (they were blown out and
fading fast tone-wise. They don’t make the same paper or
glue any more when they recone ‘em!) in 1980 with vintage
60 watt Celestions. It weighs a ton and I stripped the tolex
off… I think it adds a dimension to the sound when the wood
vibrates freely.
ROLLIN’ & TUMBLIN’
Cut ‘live’ in a living room in Simi Valley, California and the
owners didn’t know what they were getting into! Used my
VS880 with no mic-simulators and a Fostex 488 8 track as a
mixer and we had a loop courtesy of Acid Software — thanks
JJ!
Guitar: Same guitar as described in “Grind Me”
Speaker: Marshall 1959 cabinet
with 4x12’s that I found in St.
Louis three or four years ago
with original 25 watt Greenback Celestion speakers, mic’ed
with 1965 Shure SM58.
FX: A green Line 6 set to some
fabulous delay time.
Vocal Mic: AKG C-1000
Bass: 1965 Fender P Bass
(thank you Joel Bennett) thru
SWR direct to hard disc.
Percussion I added later. Sax is courtesy Tim Anderson from
the kitchen — it ‘leaked’ but so what? It worked.
Drums are ‘live’ (4 drums and 2 cymbals and a hat including
snare) courtesy Erik Eldinius. Two room mics and a kick and
snare/hi-hat combo
If 6 WAS 9
Bass: Ibanez 5-string
Lead Guitar: 1957 Gold Fender Strat with no mods, replaced
tremolo with heavy duty bar and the strings are cut off for
some reason. Through the VS880, DBX163x and no mic simulator, OK?
Recorded thru the same set up described earlier, courtesy
Roland.
Keyboards are by Korg
Rhythm Guitar: The Seafoam green first-year Fender Jeff
Beck model with original Lace Sensor pickups. I replaced the
tailpiece with a heavy duty bar that they made for me at an
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10
TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
cover story
airplane manufacturing plant. BIG rosewood neck.
Tailpiece is offset
from the body about
an inch and a half so
I can bend notes up.
Recorded with the
Line 6 timed digital
echo and the mic
simulator really
exaggerated for a
chorusy sound without the chorus effect.
Several delays are
operating at once,
over-lapping, creating this sensation. Reverse sound is courtesy of Line 6 and I played with it a bit. Tremolo is from
Boss TR2 pedal, AC powered.
Amp: Lee Jackson customized black face 50 watt (really and
85 watt deal manufactured by Harmony when he designed for
them some years back). It uses four 6L6 tubes instead of
EL34’s.
Speaker: ‘60s 1959 Marshall bottom 4x12.
Mic’d by AKG C1000 thru Roland VS880, DBX163x and no
mic simulators on the Roland.
GOODBYE PORKPIE HAT
Guitar: Same used in “Grind Me” and “Rolling and
Tumbling” — The Yellow #17
Amp: Ampeg V-1002
Speaker: 8x10 Marshall cab
Recorded through the Roland VS880 with ‘mic simulation’
and DBX163x, Korg 3000 stereo delay, mic’d up with AKG
C1000.
Bass: P Bass1 and P Bass2 FX on the Roland VS880
Keyboards: Hammond C-3 patch thru Marshall
100 as mentioned above with Leslie speaker simulator. Korg
multi timbral piano… something ‘2000’ and assorted string
patches and drum loop samples
LA-LAH LAND
Guitars: JB Sea Foam green Strat, National dobro, Roland
guitar synth
Amp: Ampeg VL1002
Speaker: 8x10 Marshall
FX: Dunlop volume pedal, Korg 3000 stereo delays and
echo/reverbs
Bass: Rich Neville’s 1965 Precision Bass
Drums: Programming on an Alesis SR16, drum loops, ‘live’
percussion
Recorded on Fostex 488 8-track cassette player! 8 tracks
mixed down onto a Sony DAT player and then dumped back
onto the 488 for overdubs. (Yes, you can…)
DIVA
Guitar: The Yellow #17 for lead work, 2000 Fender
Telecaster for rhythm guitar
Amps: Ampeg VL1002, 100 watt Marshall as described.
Speaker: 8x10 Marshall
FX: Korg 3000, Boss chorus, Ratt fuzztone, Lexicon reverb
processor
Bass: Korg B-3 patch
Additional Instruments: Korean traditional Korg samples &
instrument patches, Roland guitar Synth
AHH, BABY IT’S YOU
Guitar: JB Fender Strat
Amp: Ampeg VL1002
Speaker: 8x10 Marshall
Recorded thru Roland VS880, mic simulator, Korg 3000,
DBX163x, Mic’ed with AKG C1000
Bass: Rich Neville’s hand-built 5-string Telecaster swamp ash
bass with Seymour Duncan Musicman ‘tweaked’ pickups
plugged direct into Roland VS880.
CRUEL INVENTIONS
Guitars: Fender Custom Pine Broadcaster with 4-way toggle
tone switch, JB seafoam green Strat
Amps: Marshall G15R CD
FX: Alesis Quadraverb
Keyboards: Korg Triton workstation sampler.
Drums and bass performed on the Triton
ALL OVER NOW
Guitar: B-tuned ‘70s Les Paul with Floyd Rose tremolo
Amp: Ampeg VL1002
Speaker: 8x10 Marshall
Recorded on to a Roland VS 880 with a ‘mic simulator’ as
mentioned above in other songs… I record as it comes to me
and tweak some sounds to fit the song style and mood.
DBX163x, of course. Mic’d with the AKG C1000.
Bass: Ibanez 5-string with Boss Octave 2 direct into VS 880
FX: P Bass1 and Mic Bass on Roland, DBX163x.
Drums and Wurlitzer Piano courtesy of Korg work station.
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TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
11
amps
HEAVEN
Guitar: JB Strat as mentioned above
Amps: Solo guitar — Marshall G15R CD, Rhythm guitar
through Marshall 100watt
Speaker: Marshall 1959 4x12 cabinet
Bass: Bass samples of B-3 on Roland Dr. Groove 202
Drums: Roland Dr. Groove 202 and “live” loop samples and
cymbals and percussion
FX: Line 6, Boss Tremolo TR2, Quadraverb, Roland reverb
patches.
OK, this is the real deal. I really do this… I place all of my
speaker cabinets on the floor supported by 2x4’s to keep the
speaker jack from being damaged. The speakers are now facing the ceiling. The stress on the magnet is now evenly
spaced and placed throughout the structure of the speaker
and the cabinet. The floor, with the elevated speaker cabinet
two inches or so above it, creates amazing tri-tones of middle
and low end. These tones cannot be dialed in electronically.
It’s the nature of 10" speakers to have a ‘tonality’ that gives a
track or live performance ambience — something we all
admire in great performances.
I do not play loudly, as volume cannot be recorded accurately
when it takes up so much “space.” In the mixing process
every sound has a frequency. Radio frequencies are the same
as they have been for 100 years or so. After the diaphragm is
collapsed from the intensity of too much volume overload,
recordings become myopic and uneventful. No amount of
reverb or mastering can repair a damaged tonality. In my
opinion, 10" speakers properly mic’d at a reasonable volume
level are the key to a great guitar sound. Also, never turning a
guitar up to full volume on the volume pot will give the ‘Q’
of the guitar more range and depth, making tonal qualities
appear seductive.
Live, I just plug in. I have a
wah-wah, an ancient Ratt
fuzz, Line 6 green box and a
Boss tuner and my wiggly
box — an old decrepit
stereo Boss chorus that I use
in mono, plugged into the
amp loop in the back of my
amps. Darn thing still
works, too.
I use two heads, sometimes
three, for tone. The Ampeg
VL1002 for one 8x10
Marshall cab, the Lee
Jackson 50 watt Harmony
head for the 3/4 8x10 cab,
and the 100W Marshall for
two 4x12 cabs — the ‘59
slant and the Jimi cab. Cables are fed into one switch box
that I can turn off and on at will for more tone changes.
There are also two amp channel switching pedals and all of
this sits on an Indian carpet. I somehow find myself having
such a blast that I forget that immortality is a heart-over-mind
kinda thing. I’ll look for ‘ya on the road, ‘cause that’s where
the real action is. Take care and remember if anybody tells
you that it can’t be done — they’re lyin’! TQ
–Phil Brown & Apaches From Paris
Please visit www.tonequest.com to hear "It's All Over Now" from
Phil Brown's Cruel Inventions. The original European edition of
Cruel Inventions can be purchased only at Amazon.co.UK, and quantities are limited. However, a special edition CD sampler consisting
of 8 tracks from the original European CD has been created exclusively for ToneQuest subscribers. To order, please click on
'ToneQuest Records' at tonequest.com and select the Phil Brown
page. Each CD ordered will be signed by Phil and shipped from the
Temple of Tone, Atlanta, Georgia USA.
Lee Jackson began his career at BC Rich guitars in 1976,
where he developed the double-neck ‘Bitch’ guitar and bass.
Then Lee joined Paul Rivera, modifying amplifiers and building pedalboards, and both Paul and Lee eventually went to
work for Fender, where Lee helped design the late ‘80s Fender
Concert,
Twin II,
Deluxe
Reverb II
and London
Reverb. In
1983, Lee
formed the
Metaltronix
company,
and his custom
Marshall modifications led to the development of the Blues ‘59
amp at the request of Billy Gibbons. In 1991, Lee briefly
joined Ampeg, where he designed the VL Series amps prior to
creating Lee Jackson Amplifiers in 1993. The Lee Jackson
HLA1000 Series represented an exact copy of the amplifiers
that Lee had hand-built for Steve Vai, George Lynch and Zak
Wylde, among others. Lee now resides in Austin, Texas, and he
is developing a new line of Lee Jackson amplifiers, a new guitar-tuner-watch, and he has completed his long-awaited book
titled, The Ultimate Bench Warrior (Cherry Lane). We asked
Lee to tell us about Phil Brown’s favorite amps, and he delivered.
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12
TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
amps
So you’ve been caught in Phil’s magic…
TQR:
Indeed, we have.
I’ve worked with him on so many different projects… We
once did a live remote recording of this Jimi Hendrix project
he was doing, and it will blow your mind. All he is doing is
playing through one of my amplifiers and a few simple pedals, and when you listen to this, it’s live. I didn’t do anything
to it except master it and clean it up a little for the CD, and
when you hear it you’re thinking, “This guy is doing this
live?” Plus, he’s singing it! The thing you must know is that
there was no re-tracking. I was there. It’s just Phil live, and
it’s incredible.
TQR:
Tell us about Phil’s favorite amp, the Ampeg
VL1002 you designed and built while you were
working for Ampeg.
Well, this all originally started when Phil called me during
the time we had the Metaltronix company in L.A. and we
were strictly doing custom modifications to Marshall amplifiers. He brought me a couple of amps — an old HIWATT
and a Marshall head. We had a sound room at Metaltronix
and we always insisted that our customers play the amps we
had worked on
before they left,
to be sure they
were happy with
the sound. That’s
the first time I
heard Phil play,
and I was completely blown
away. He was
ecstatic and I
was ecstatic,
because my
thing is to really
work with the
artist to enhance
what they’re doing. That’s the kick I get of of doing this, and
that was the whole thing about Metaltronix in the ‘80s. We
created signature sounds for a lot of different groups that you
heard on the radio. So we customized Phil’s amps at first, and
then he used our first production amps out of Metaltronix —
the M1000. The thing was, the Metaltronix amps were single
channel, and Phil really needed a two channel amp to go
from really clean to rockin.’ Later, when I was designing at
Ampeg, the VL1002 fit his sound perfectly because it was a
clean and distorted amp. I sent one off to him and he said it
was absolutely ‘it’ as far as what he was looking for. The
thing I did with the VL1002 was fashion the clean channel
around the sound of a blackface Twin. I thought, “What does
everybody that I’ve been working
with want?” For a clean sound,
it’s hard to beat that warm, sparkly overall tone that is not to dark
and not too thin. It’s just really
got a lot of body. Phil wanted
something that really sang, and
on top of that, he plays
Stratocasters, so you have to have
a lot of gain, but not squealy gain
— you need a lot of depth gain,
where it can take the Strat pickups and let them come alive. And
he was also playing an older
black Les Paul with a Floyd, and
it’s the best sounding Les Paul I
have ever heard. He also plays a
lot in the middle position with
both pickups on. Now, usually
that doesn’t sound so great — it’s
kind of hollow sounding — and when I first saw him do that
I thought to myself, “Oh, that’s not going to sound very good
through this amp…” Well, he kicked it in and started playing
and that changed my mind (laughing). So he started using the
Ampeg VL amp, and he’s had other amps of mine, but that
one really seems to have nailed the sound for him.
TQR:
Did you also design the distortion channel around
something specific, similar to the clean channel?
More than anything, the VL Series was fashioned around the
earlier Metaltronix M1000. I was working on a high gain
amplifier with the least amount of hiss possible, because with
gain, you
get hiss
and
unwanted
noise. I
don’t really try to
copy anybody else when I design amps. Because I am a player, too, I start a design working first with a scope, and then I
sit down at the bench with my guitar and just keep tweaking
and playing it until I hear a certain type of singing sound.
Luckily, what I hear in my ears is what most players like, too,
and amp builders invariably design amps based on what they
like to hear. But there have been players that have come in
and I will set their amp a certain way that I think sounds really good, and they will immediately change all the settings to
a sound that I think is really bad, yet they think it’s the best
sound they have ever heard! So the bottom line is, as long as
it does what the artist wants, I’m happy. That’s why there are
guitars players with so many unique sounds. Otherwise, we’d
all sound the same.
TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
13
amps
TQR:
Phil often refers to the sound of a violin and cello.
What’s wild is that my GP1000 rack pre-amp is used by a
first violinist in an orchestra. I absolutely understand that,
because you want the guitar to sing. You don’t want a buzz
on the note and you don’t want distortion. You want a singing
sound, and when it clips you don’t want a hard clip, you want
it to be a nice soft clip, but with gain, so that it actually holds
the note and sustains. Many times after I work on a design,
I’ll spend several weeks with just a guitar, a soldering iron
and parts, and I keep tweaking it out, because I won’t be
happy until it has a certain sound that I’m looking for.
TQR:
That’s what you were doing when you specialized
strictly in modifications…
Absolutely. Every amp has it’s own personality. Even in production amplifiers, you do your best to get the consistency as
tight as possible, but you always have a situation where two
of the exact same models will sound different, especially with
two different guitar players. Neither is bad — just different.
TQR:
Do you have any idea how many of the Ampeg
VL1002 amps were built?
On the HIWATT we just added a little bit more gain to it so
that it would break up a little more. On the Marshall, we did
a lot. We added two channels so that he could switch back
and forth, because he plays really clean sometimes and he
needed that. I gave him two sets of pre-amps and two sets of
master volumes so that he could pre-set and toggle back and
forth. That amp is really magical sounding, but it also went to
the right player…
TQR:
You know, it’s all in layout. A circuit board works just fine
when you lay it out right. It’s only when you cram things in
too tight that you get radiation from part to part and they talk
to each other, and that’s a problem. That is also why the
point-to-point stuff has always been so popular, because it’s
spaced out so wide. So if you space all the components out
wide on a circuit board, you can get very close to the same
sound. It’s all about capacitance. Some people think that
more capacitance is better, but that’s just not true. It’s the
opposite.
TQR:
Yes. In less than a two year period we were building about
400 a month, so I would say about 6,000 worldwide. That’s
not a lot when you consider the entire world. And the
VL1001’s are really rare. They were a single channel version
of the VL1002, and after two months of production Ampeg
did some market research and concluded that no one was
buying single channel amps, so production on the VL1001
was discontinued. There are probably no more than 400 of
them in existence.
TQR:
What was the original tube compliment in the
VL1002?
Seven 12AX7’s and they came in two versions with either
four 6550’s or EL34’s. Phil likes the 6550’s because they
play cleaner. There was also a time when we were able to get
some of the old Sylvania 6CA7’s, but they are impossible to
find now.
TQR:
He initially
brought you a
vintage
HIWATT
100W
head and a
master volume
Marshall to
modify.
So much for the perception that printed circuit
board amps are somehow inferior to hand-wired,
point-to-point amplifiers.
Phil also has two of your Lee Jackson XLS
amps, and he said that the 50W head was more like
80W and the 100W was “only for really big places.”
He bought the 50W from one of my old employees when we
were in St. Louis doing an album. That is an XLS 50, and
yes, it’s true — they do put out more like 75 watts. That amp
represents
everything I
learned
from the
VL’s at
the next
level. In the VL amps, the effects loop has a solid state Send,
because Ampeg was trying to cut some costs and I could only
scream so much at the time. I didn’t like it, so when I
designed the XLS Lee Jackson amplifier I took out anything
that was remotely solid state and put in a complete tube
effects Send in. I cringe when I see solid state. It’s a pretty
simple equation… Not to get too out there, but on a solid
state circuit, the most headroom you can do on any kind of
chip is + or - 15 volts, so that means the maximum you can
do on that chip is a 30 volt swing. On any day, a tube will do
a 60 volt to 80 volt swing in a yawn. So you can tell the difference in impact. With anything solid state, you’re limiting
the swing of your signal. That’s why I at least got Ampeg to
allow me to put in a tube effects Return, so that I could get
the signal back up again. I had to pad the signal down in the
Send so that it wouldn’t distort the chip, and then on the way
-continued-
14
TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
amps
back, I needed to kick it back up to get that 60 volt to 80 volt
swing. Otherwise it would be dead and lifeless. Generally,
what I do in my amps is run really high plate voltages, and
what that does is give you a lot more snap and impact.
TQR:
And more dynamics…
They are more dynamic, absolutely. And thank goodness they
are building really good tubes now, because we went through
a period when the tubes were just firecrackers. They were
horrible, and they would pop on you within hours of putting
them in an amplifier.
TQR:
Especially running them they way you do…
(Laughs) Well, not just me. HIWATTS ran really hot, and
some old Plexi Marshall amps, too. In the old days, people
didn’t keep really tight tolerances, and the plate voltages on
these old Marshalls could run anywhere from 375V to 525V.
We modified thousands of old Marshalls and you just never
knew when
you got an
amp in
whether it
was going
to be dead
or really
exciting. If you have really low plate voltages, there isn’t
much you can do but have this rather soggy-sounding amp. TQ
www.leejackson.com
Yes, we looked far and wide for an Ampeg VL 1002 or 1001
head, as well as Lee Jackson amps from the XLS days and
one of the earlier Metaltronix-modded amps, but we were
able to turn up nothing. Nothing! We suspect, however, that
some of these amps will begin appearing for sale now, perhaps accompanied by a reference to this issue.
Fortunately, we are flush with options… Meet the Demeter
TGA-3 (one of the early ones), graciously provided from
Delta Moon guitarist Mark Johnson’s personal stash.
The TGA3 is the
amplifier
that was
predominately featured on
three consecutive Sonny Landreth recordings, ending with
South of I10. That alone constitutes a ringing endorsement,
and if you have only recently subscribed to TQR, we urge
you to grab all the ‘Sonny’ you can find and visit sonnylandreth.com for tour schedules and album info. Sonny appears
to have been selected by Eric Clapton to be included in the
lineup for the Crossroads Festival in Dallas (see
ericclapton.com), and it’s about damn time… Now cut a
record with him, Eric.
The
Demeter
TGA-3 is
an early
channelswitching
amp with
not two,
but three
channels, and color-coded control knobs to help you keep
your mind right. Channel One (the yellow row on the bottom)
is yer clean channel. Oh, we like that one a lot, especially
with single coils. You can put some hair on the clean tones by
experimenting with the gain and master volume settings, or
just go for all-clean with the Gain set below 10 o’clock and
the Volume beyond 12 o’clock as you wallow in gloriously
fat, spanky goodness with plenty of headroom. Add outboard
reverb through the effects loop to taste and serve. We’re still
lickin’ our fingers, folks. James Demeter gets clean tone,
especially when you run the TGA-3 with 6550’s (EL34’s
optional with a bias switch on the back for each).
At the top of the control panel are channels Two (green) and
Three (red). We like to think of Channel Two as vintage
Marshall Plexi-meets Vox — thick, rich and beefy, but not
completely over the top. Perfect for British blues, chimey,
almost-clean-tone with a little attitude for rhythm tones dripping with character, and your favorite Jimi riffs with the Gain
up or the Boost switch on. We were able to coax some
incredibly musical violin and cello tones in Channel Two that
work equally well for lead and slide. ‘Phil Brown’ tone.
Channel Three is classic, full-bore crunch loaded with sustain, harmonic feedback, distortion and drive. The trick to
using this channel is in idling back and finding the perfect
mix of volume and gain while dialing in your tone settings to
taste for different guitars and pickups. Both Channels Two
and Three share the top tone controls, a Dark/Normal switch
and a Boost(Gain)/Edge switch.
The Boost mode delivers classic ‘80s metal crunch and postmaster volume Marshall sustain and harmonic feedback, but
subtle changes in the Gain/Volume mix and tone controls can
produce some nice variations that are less than completely
-continued-
TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
15
guitars
gonzo. This ‘Boost’ is not an all-or-nothing circuit by any
means, and we were able to closely duplicate some of Mr.
Brown’s majestic tones in this mode — especially with our
Les Paul. Very smooth, but you have to be willing to spend
the time to dial it in. From one guitar to another, changes in
the treble, midrange, bass and Gain/Volume settings can
mean the difference between “I just found my tone of love,”
and “this thing sucks.” Oh, and a word about the FX
Send/Submaster… These controls act as two additional
Master Volumes, or perceived Gain “stacks.” Again, some
time is required to understand how the Gain, Volume and FX
Send/Submaster interact and shape distortion, sustain, attack,
and dynamic response.
The Edge mode renders a cleaner, chimier overdriven tone
rooted in late ‘60s, 4-input Marshall/HIWATT/Vox territory
that seems to compliment both single coil pickups and humbuckers. There is a trade-off between using the cleaner 6550
output tubes versus EL34’s — some of the compression and
more focused British tone typical of an EL34-powered amplifier is lost with the 6550’s, but EL34’s don’t do ‘clean’ nearly
as nice as the 6550’s…
The Dark mode is really good for thundering, subterranean
bass lines. Speaking of bass, the Demeter just oozed thick,
well-defined low-end through our 1968 Marshall 4x12. We
can’t recall hearing any other amplifier that throws as much
bass and low mids, especially with a Stratocaster.
The TGA-3 features many thoughtful appointments such as a
Bright switch for Channel One that is anything but brittle, a
Presence Control, footswitch, of course, Stereo FX Loop
Returns, an Output Balance pot, Slave Amp Output and Line
Out. The Demeter is also one of the most dynamic and
responsive amplifiers we have ever played… Varying pick (or
finger) attack produces an extremely wide range of harmonic
overtones and variations in decay and sustain that literally
add a new dimension to your playing. We had an absolute
blast playing the Demeter. It’s one versatile and utterly inspiring Sexy Beast.
Early Demeter TGA-3 amps can be found for around $1,300,
and James Demeter continues to build updated TGA-2 mod-
els, as well as the vaunted TRM-1 Tremulator tremolo pedal,
the Comp-1 Compulator studio-quality compression pedal, an
innovative onboard Fat Control midboost for guitar, the SSC1 Silent Speaker Chamber used by Sonny Landreth and Billy
F Gibbons, among others, and lots of additional cool tools for
pro audio and bass. TQ
www.demeteramps.com
the
HARDTAIL
A year before we published our first issue of The ToneQuest
Report in November 1999, a refinned and rare 1956 hardtail
Stratocaster came to us through a late night search on
GBase.com. We bought it at a fair price from a collector in
New Jersey, and that guitar taught us a ton about the magic
that can be found in a classic vintage guitar. When we took
the plunge to launch The ToneQuest Report, working capital
became a much more urgent priority than maintaining a collection of vintage guitars, and we eventually sold that won-
derful guitar, but our fond memories of it remain undiminished. The original pickups had aged like fine wine, with a
musical clarity and depth that we have seldom heard since.
The entire guitar resonated and responded to every note and
chord, and you could hear and feel the light swamp ash body
embrace the notes with an unforgettably throaty, woody
voice. The soft ‘V’ neck was a joy to play, and it required
absolutely no thought or physical compensation for uneven
action or the string run-off at the fingerboard edges that
seems to plague so many pre-slab board Fender guitars. The
truss rod worked perfectly, the neck was sound and straight,
and even the original Stackpole pots and Kluson tuners functioned flawlessly. The hardtail had been refinished by a veteran craftsman of incomparable talent, and it remains one of
the most artfully executed nitro finishes we have ever seen —
so thin that it had begun to subtly weather check. The twotone burst and the depth and definition of the wood grain was
like nothing we have ever seen since… a work of art, and
nothing less.
During the past four years we have recorded our impressions
of exceptional instruments found, played, borrowed and
bought for review. We have constantly searched for modern
equivalents to the rare and exceptional instruments we have
found the same way you would — by shopping at stores, guitar shows and online resources like GBase and eBay. As hundreds of guitars have passed through our hands, and through
our discussions with so many knowledgeable players and
-continued-
16
TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
guitars
repair and restoration experts, we have learned and observed
a lot. For instance, we’ve learned through our experience with
replacement pickups that certain ‘hot’ single coil pickups
played through overdrive devices or high gain amplifiers
often render an irritating tone that is decidedly not the sound
you associate with ‘Texas.’ Clean, clear single coils often produce a superior overdriven tone in many amplifiers (but not
all). Complicating matters even more, a very bright single
coil pickup might compliment a British-style, midrangeheavy amp perfectly, but in certain Fender amps the same
pickup will tear your head off. Marrying a particular pickup
to complimentary amplifiers is really where the truth is found
in the debate over guitar pickups (and often, amps!)
We’ve also learned that bigger necks transmit more string
vibration to the guitar body, enhancing resonance, sustain and
the ‘woody’ character of the guitar. And if you just can’t
physically handle a big neck, none of this matters, does it?
We have learned that you can’t make sweeping judgments
about the playability and feel of an instrument in the absence
of an expert setup, and there is more going on than simply
setting intonation, string height and adjusting the truss rod —
a lot more. We have finally learned that the neck-to-body
angle (or lack thereof) in bolt-on neck guitars is often a significant factor in understanding why one guitar will play hard
and stiff, while the same model set up with identical strings
and action plays effortlessly. A shim is often the magic bullet,
but it’s also a little
more complicated
than the old school
method of sliding a
thin pick or a
matchbook cover
in the neck pocket.
Shimming, and
creating neck-tobody geometry in a bolt-on guitar is an art, and every guitar
is different.
picking up guitars and putting the heavier ones right back
down and walking away. We do it. But we have also learned
that a solid body guitar can be too light, and we’ve had a few
heavier guitars that sounded remarkably, exceptionally good,
in a heavy kind of way. Back to that hardtail… Now, there
was a light one that was pure magic, and we prefer the
lighter, magical ones when they can be found.
We have learned first-hand that building a guitar from disparate parts can be disappointing for most players with a
casual understanding of guitar construction, woodworking,
and tools, particularly if said player is also a perfectionist
with a low threshold for pain. Why? Most of the time, none
of this stuff ever fits the way you think it will without some
deft modifications. And doing your own refins or new finishes on raw wood? Don’t expect to produce a result that is
remotely comparable to someone who has made all of the
mistakes and perfected their craft for decades before the
thought of finishing a guitar ever occurred to you. No, finishing is not brain surgery, but it is a skill, and it can also produce stunning works of art in the right hands.
We’ve learned that the alloys used to forge your hardware
make a difference you can hear, but that is not to say that a
cheap guitar built with cheap-o parts that sounds crude and
cheap can’t be a wonderful thing, too. It’s when we want our
best instruments to sound their best that the alloys used to
make saddles, bridges and tailpieces can all add up to superior tone, and the effect is cumulative. Pot metal don’t cut it.
We’ve also spent a lot of time observing prospective buyers
TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
And finally, we’ve
concluded that while
exceptional instruments new and old
share many features
that can be consistently reproduced, in
the real world, these
instruments still
remain exceptional,
rare, and generally
very difficult to find.
Our answer to this
frustrating game of
chance is to create
our own rigid speci-continued-
17
guitars
fications, acquire components from exceptional suppliers who
can meet or exceed them, and custom build guitars in limited
numbers expressly for ToneQuest subscribers. Our first prototype was completed in March (pictured here).
We asked USA Custom
Guitars to build a onepiece, lightweight ash,
hardtail body and a full
‘C’ maple neck with
dark rosewood fingerboard, Dunlop 6150 fret
wire and access to the
truss rod at the peghead
for easier seasonal adjustments. Finishing was
done by Roxy guitar
finishes in vintage
see-through Blonde.
The quarter-sawn
neck was finished
with tinted satin lacquer on the back and
gloss lacquer on the peghead. You can’t beat satin for a nonsticky, smooth feel, and Roxy’s work was outstanding. All of
our hardware was acquired from Bill Callaham of Callaham
Guitars — Gotoh vintage-style tuners, stainless strap buttons
and string retainer, bridge, saddles, all necessary screws, neck
plate and input jack. We mounted the tortoise shell guard
with a set of Jason Lollar’s ‘Special’ pickups wired with
Acme GuitarWorks master tone/blend pots, and the guitar
was expertly assembled and set up by Brian McDaniel in
Atlanta. As Brian remarked when he delivered the assembled
guitar, “It’s almost a shame to plug it in.” In other words, this
hardtail has got some serious soul. Working with USA
Custom, Bill Callaham and Jason Lollar, we accomplished
precisely what we intended — to verify that we could indeed
reproduce the magical sustain, resonance, tone and feel of the
best guitars we have ever played and searched for so often
without success.
Of course, we also consulted with one of the senior members
of our advisory board and a brilliant guitarist with deep experience in all matters related to tone, Sheryl Crow guitarist
Peter Stroud. We turned the guitar over to Peter with a
request to play the hell out of it, and his comments follow:
“The ToneQuest prototype that David handed over to check
out is a damn near perfect guitar, and he’s liable not to get it
back! A Strat-style with all the high quality factors you
would hope for — lightweight and a real ringer. You can feel
it vibrate through the body into your bones. When it sounds
that good acoustically, then it’ll be the bomb plugged in. And
Jason’s pickups are some of the best I’ve ever heard. This
18
guitar is
incredibly powerful
sounding
— full,
even and
clear.
Pickup
winding
with an
ear for
tone has
become
an art craft, and Jason is a definite master. The neck is a perfect cross-cut piece of maple, with the grain perpendicular to
the fretboard. This usually translates to strength and less
opportunity for warping, as well as contributing to its tone
and sustain. This one is a winner. With guitars like these
coming out, my need for ‘vintage’ is fading fast.”
Our first run of five limited edition guitars will be built in
May and June and offered for private sale to our readers.
Each individually numbered and dated guitar will sell for
$2,600.00, which includes a classic brown tolex hardshell
case, a set of Pyramid strings and a ToneQuest leather strap.
Each owner will also receive a personal certificate of ownership and every guitar is backed by a limited lifetime guarantee to the original owner. A 50% non-refundable deposit will
be required to reserve each instrument, with the balance due
at the time each guitar is shipped.TQ
Specifications:
1-piece lightweight swamp ash body
Straight-grained, 21 fret maple neck with dark rosewood slab board
Dunlop 6150 jumbo fret wire
‘Fatback’ neck profile with satin finish
Truss rod access at peghead
Bone nut
7.25"- 9.50" compound radius
Hardware: Callaham
Tuners: Vintage-style Gotoh
Pickups: Lollar Blackface, Specials, or VanZandt True Vintage middle
reverse-wound
Wiring Harness: Custom by Acme Guitarworks with Blend pot
Finish: Nitrocellulose lacquer, custom-mixed for ToneQuest guitars in
Vintage Transparent Blonde.
Pickguard: Tortoise shell or mint green
Assembled weight: 6.5-7 pounds maximum
Guitar Names (penciled in body cavity): Juliette, Mercy, Stella,
Evangeline and Lily Pearl.
To place an order for one of the first series of limited edition
ToneQuest guitars, please contact David Wilson, publisher, at 1877-MAX-TONE, E-MAIL: TONEQUEST1@AOL.COM.
Additional limited runs of five guitars will be announced soon.
TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
pickups
Given Phil Brown’s huge and funky tone, we couldn’t pick a
more suitable issue in which to unveil Jason Lollar’s
‘Special’ Stratocaster pickups, and they are special indeed.
How many different recipes can there be for Stratocaster
pickups? Like recipes for gumbo, Italian red sauce, fine wine
and small batch bourbon, it seems as if the possibilities are
limited only by the creative vision of their makers.
don’t get these. This is Stratocaster Heaven we’re talkin’
‘bout, as in deep, thick and heavy. And heavy can be good.
Every tone has its season in the wind. And how does Warlock
Lollar do it? According to himself, 43 gauge wire, 20% more
turns on the bobbin, and he doesn’t charge up his AlNiCo 5
magnets too high — about 800 gauss, max. Output resistance
for the Specials ranges from about 6.8K to 7.5K ohms. The
Specials rock with an authority and presence that nearly
betrays their heritage, and the closest thing we could find to
match up with them in Peter Stroud’s music room was a vintage Junior sporting a single P90. These pickups are bold as
love, no doubt, but with all the string definition and clarity of
a Strat, just bigger by a mile.
How to describe the Lollar Specials? If you happen to be a
rocker who dearly loves the girth of a P90 or classic PAF, but
you are hopelessly hooked on hugging a Stratocaster, you
will love the Specials. If you admire the early tone found on
the Jeff Beck Group recordings with Cozy Powell, Max
Middleton and Bob Tench, you are a Special player. If Ron
Wood’s completely overlooked solo record titled Slide On
This speaks to you as it does to us, you need some Specials.
At this point it
would be cruel
and unfair not to
alert you to one
of the best finds
on the planet for
tone freaks...
Acme
GuitarWorks.
Yes! These people (George is the founder/ owner) specialize in creating prewired pickguards and wiring harnesses loaded with your
pickup de jour. Acme uses all the good stuff, too... real
Fender pickguards, vintage cloth covered wire, Orange drop
caps, CTS pots, CRL toggle switches, vintage-style metal
shielding plates, and a specially-designed blender pot for the
The Lollar Specials are different from your diddy’s original
Strat pickups in ways that can easily be described: The bottom, or low end is very prominent, but smoother and void of
the smack-thud-thwack we hear in classic Strat pickups. It’s a
bigger, yet kinder, gentler bottom without the hollow pop you
hear on the low E string with typical Strat pickups...
The mids are more prominent in the Specials, but not overbearing to the extent that they become dark, honky or smother the essential nuances found in the upper frequencies. You
can hear and feel the push of the mids, but they aren’t mushing out or muddying the overall tone.
The highs... Now, this is usually where we have a big problem with so-called ‘hot’ Stratocaster pickups, because most of
the ones we’ve heard have this brittle, spikey overtone-thing
happening in the upper frequencies that we find extremely
irritating, as if each pickup has a little creep with a sizzle
cymbal hidden inside the coil. Argggghhhhhh! That’s not
‘Texas’! That’s noise! But not the Specials... The highs are
there, but they are smooth and silky. Airy. The highs in the
Specials don’t dance on your head with lead feet — they kiss
you. And this is good, because we all need to be kissed —
today more than ever.
No, you ain’t gonna get that ultra-glassy, mondo-hollow “The
Wind Cries Mary” tone, quite, with the Specials. We’ve
already told you how to get that, and if that’s what you want,
second tone on Stratocasters that enables you to blend the
neck and bridge pickups (the first tone control serves as a
Master tone for all settings).
Acme is a godsend for guitarists that want to change pickups
without shopping for the required components and assembling and soldering their own wiring harnesses from scratch,
and they are our exclusive supplier for the new ToneQuest
guitars. TQ
www.lollarguitars.com, 206-463-9838
www.acmeguitarworks.com, 302-836-5301
TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
19
www.tonequest.com
coming in
Future Issues
INTERVIEWS: Robert Keeley
Jerry Jones
Don Warren Guitars
Bil Nash, Nash Guitars
FEATURES: TV Jones
More Tone From Jason Lollar
Hemp Update with ABrown!
AMPLIFIERS: Savage Macht 6!
Chicago Blues Box
PICKUPS: DiMarzio Bluesbuckers & Mini
Humbuckers
GUITARS: RI Firebird V Makeover
the
ToneQuest
Report
TM
Editor/Publisher David Wilson
Associate Publisher Liz Medley
Graphic Design Rick Johnson
ORDER YOUR TONEQUEST STRAP NOW!
W
e asked Nashville custom strap-makers Long Hollow Leather to
design a premium, all-leather strap for you, and they delivered! The
new ToneQuest guitar strap is constructed of the world’s finest vegetabletanned German leather, in your choice of brown or black. Each strap features the ToneQuest
logo tastefully
stamped in
relief on the
top, and the
underside is
lined with the same top-quality German leather. These buttery straps feel
completely broken-in from the first gig, and they will last a lifetime.
Limited quantities available. Price: $38.00 + $7.00 priority mail shipping
in the USA. Order two or more straps and save $5.00 on each additional
strap ordered. Please call 1-877-MAX-TONE toll-free or place your
order at www.tonequest.com today. Your satisfaction guaranteed!
TRIED PYRAMIDS YET??
ToneQuest subscribers continue to
rave about the incredible tone, feel and
extended life of Pyramid Premium
strings. We invite you to discover them
now at 20% - 30% off list To order,
and for details on guages, please visit
our web site at www.tonequest.com,
or call 1-877-MAX-TONE toll-free today.
The ToneQuest Report TM (ISSN 1525-3392) is published monthly by Mountainview Publishing LLC, 235 Mountainview Street, Suite 23, Decatur, GA. 300302027, 1-877-MAX-TONE, email: tonequest1@aol.com. Periodicals Postage Paid at Decatur, GA and At Additional Mailing Offices. Postmaster: Send address
changes to:The ToneQuest Report, PO Box 717, Decatur, GA. 30031-0717.The annual subscription fee for The ToneQuest Report TM is $69 per year for 12
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The ToneQuest Report TM is published solely for the benefit of its subscribers. Copyright © 2004 by Mountainview Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. No
part of this newsletter may be reproduced in any form or incorporated into any information retrieval system without the written permission of the copyright
holder. Please forward all subscription requests, comments, questions and other inquiries to the above address or contact the publisher at
tonequest1@aol.com. Opinions expressed in The ToneQuest Report are not necessarily those of this publication. Mention of specific products, services or
technical advice does not constitute an endorsement. Readers are advised to exercise extreme caution in handling electronic devices and musical instruments.
the
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TONEQUEST REPORT V5. N7. May 2004
20