I also decided to sell the Bad Cat 2×12 cab. It was just so big and loud. And next to the 1×12 AC15, there was just no need for 2×12. My amps are always backstage or faced backwards and mic’ed so it didn’t matter how big or loud the cab was. Therefore, the smaller and lighter way is the better way to go. Having a head on stage was cool, but never necessary as I never adjusted anything. Pushing a combo in a case around is a lot easier than carrying a cab and a head. So I sold the cab and bought a Bad Cat combo shell.  And now I have two combos again.

There you have it. My old AC15 back with me and the same old Cub 2 with a new look…the amp switch-a-roo.

Check out the updated Gear Talk for Daniel Carson.

Passion 2011 Live Link.

March 8.

8:30-10:30PM EST.

Your Computer.

Be There.

I can remember growing up in church. I went to the same church for the first eighteen years of my life. When I left, my family found a church quickly and I liked it there, but felt like I was supposed to be at another church. I began going from my parents’ church’s service to the church service where I thought I needed to be.

Shortly after, I started college and began a season of “church-hopping.” I would still attend that church that I considered mine, but dropped going to my parents. I also began going to other local churches, trying to find which I “liked best”. Of all that I attended, I still liked the church I was already at most. However, then I started playing at churches, started an internship at a church, and began a job at another church.

After I quit that church job, I was left without a church. I started playing music again, so I was in church, but didn’t have a “church home.” This was now harder because Hannah and I were now together and knew our relationship was heading towards marriage. It was (and is) hard for her to get to travel with me to churches on Sundays and we knew she needed a place to be weekly and growing, as well as somewhere that I could be growing in as well. We didn’t feel like the church I had worked at was where we needed to remain I had no idea where to go or what to do. We started praying about it. A few months later, Passion City Church opened its doors for the first time. Neither of us had really thought about it before, but after the service, we talked the entire way home about how we knew where God was calling us. It was so unexpected, but yet so clear. We were on board with the mission of the church more than we had ever been with any other church we’d been a part of in our lives. We decided to be a part of the church, rather than just attenders.

Since then, we started volunteering and giving back our time and finances. I learned while working at churches, how crucial it is that the church “members” are to be the church by serving and giving. We were on board with the mission and wanted to back up our calling by our actions. I don’t say that to boast or anything, but to share as a challange, as it’s been an important lesson for us.

Since then, I’ve noticed how many people are in that same position that I found myself in three years ago: church-hopping. And while there is nothing wrong with going to different churches’ services, I’ve realized some important truths about church from my experiences with them and from classes on the Early Church. One of the primary parts of the church is that God designed it for community. Community is a big relevant and hip church word right now, but it’s Biblical.  When we aren’t in a church body on a regular basis, then we are missing out on this community!

Yeah, the worship may be amazing at that church and the pastor or speaker at that church may be really deep or communicates really well and all your friends may go to this church. But that’s not what it’s about. It’s about connecting into a body of believers with the same purpose and mission. Even going to a church because of the worship or pastor isn’t even right. If you aren’t worshiping or being encouraged/challenged at a church, that’s a problem, but you shouldn’t just go to a church because of those reasons. You should go to a church to connect with the mission of the church and the body of believers…the worship and talks are just a small part under that.

I’m not saying it’s bad to visit other churches, but rather that it’s incredibly important to connect regularly in a body of believers that you feel called to be a part of.

So there’s my soap box. I hope it connects with at least one person.

This is on the backside of my board. I plug in an IEC power cable here and it sends power under my board.

From the board, it goes into powering the PedalGear.net JuiceBox. I use it to power a handful of 9v pedals and my DD-20 and DL4. I’ve used it to power the Whammy when I had it on the board as well. (The white patch is just some velcro holding the cable down.

From the outlet on the back of the JuiceBox, I power the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2+. It’s used to power a few other 9v pedals, as well as the Micro POG (that requires more mA than other 9v pedals) and the Modfactor. I use the same settings on the PP2+ to power the big Line 6 pedals to power the Modfactor. You’re not supposed to do it this way, but it works most of the time. There will be times that it will go off while we’re playing (this has only happened 2 or 3 times) or just not turn on at all if power is sketchy in a place we’re playing. Because the signal goes through it anyways, it doesn’t matter if it turns off and it’s a pedal I can get by without playing for a set if it doesn’t work. I’m working on figuring out a better way to power it, but that’s all I’ve got right now and it works 90% of the time.

I also have a Line 6 power adaptor going out of the PP2+ outlet on the back. I use this to power the Timefactor. It’s ultimately the same power supply as Eventide’s, but the wall wart doesn’t fit under my board and the Line 6 does…so that’s what I use. (Again, the white strips are velcro to hold down cables.)

I started as an acoustic player and didn’t have to worry about overdrive. When I switched over to electric, I borrowed a friend’s stuff for the first 6 months or so until graduation when I could afford to buy my own stuff. I had his American Fat Strat, a small Orange solid state amp, a Line 6 DM4 (that’s the distortion modeler that you rarely see used) and a DL4 (that was the only thing that was mine…same one I have now still). The Orange could get decent tone for a small solid state amp (of course, I’m saying that not knowing if what I thought was “tone” was really tone). I used that DM4 and had no idea what I was doing. I remember sitting down and trying to figure out what were 4 good sounds I could program in. I found a few but who knows if they sounded good.

Since then, I’ve only progressed in finding a good drive sound. I’ll share what I’ve learned and how to get a good drive sound.

1. Your amp – Good tone starts first in your amp. A crappy guitar can sound pretty good through a great amp (why do you think Keith Urban still sounded so ridiculous on that song he gave away that cheap guitar on?). Tube amps are where it’s at. They allow for clear, transparent overdrive. Quite honestly, all drive pedals attempt to make overdrive sound the way that it sounds coming from an amp that’s pushed. Different people approach amps differently. Some run their amps super clean, some a little dirt and some a lot. I like to clean mine so that I can get a great clean sound out, and a driven sound when I dig into the strings. If the amp has a master volume, I try to run it pretty loud and just adjust the gain to my taste. A lot of times, you can’t turn it up really loud though (especially in the type of settings a lot of us play in) and that’s where it’s important to have a good drive pedal. If the amp is run TOO low though it starts to sound really saturated, and ultimately sounds thinner (I’ll come back to this in #3). Regardless of how you run your amp, it’s the start of your good drive tone.
2. The pedal(s) – I’ve learned that good drive isn’t always up to your amp, guitar playing and how you set up the pedal. Sometimes it’s not up to you at all. Sometimes the pedal isn’t a good pedal and therefore causes the drive to sound not as appealing. It’s hard for me to take a Boss Double Death Metal Zone and get a good sound out of it (I think I made that pedal up, but if I didn’t, I have no idea how it really sounds so I don’t mean to offend you!). I’ve never really been through a lot of overdrives, but have played with some and know what sounds good. The great thing about drive pedals is that you can get good ones for cheap, and also spend a lot on them and both sound good. Ultimately all pedals try to sound like a driven amp or like the classic Tube Screamer. Although there are other good pedals, here’s a few that I like a lot and sound great: Boss Blues Driver, Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive, Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Xotic RC Booster (heard good things about the AC Booster too, but never tried it), Divided by 13 Joyride and, my personal favorite, Paul Cochrane Timmy.
3. Settings – Having the right pedals and a good amp sound is a big part, but not all of it. You have to dial in good settings on the amp and pedals. I’ve already talked some about the amp drive settings and now I’m going to talk about EQ tone for amps and pedals. There’s not a certain right way to EQ your guitar tone, but it’s important for it to be balanced…not too bright or too dark. The same is true for your pedals. If you dial in more high’s, your guitar will cut through the mix more, which is nice when you’re using a pedal just for leads. But other than that, a balanced sound is pretty good. I’ll typically dial in just a bit more high’s so that it cuts, but without losing the presence from the bass.

   Some drive pedals have a volume and drive/gain knob. It’s important that you don’t set that volume too low or it’ll sound saturated. I used to set my volume based on where I could turn it off and on without being able to tell a big difference in volume between the pedal bypassed and on. I now try to set it around 1 o’clock to stay away from the saturated sound. I hear anywhere between 1-3 o’clock keeps that saturated sound away. Then you use the gain knob to dial in the drive to your taste (depending on how driven the amp is run). The more you turn the gain knob you’ll hear the difference between clean and the pedal sound. Find a balance and tasteful drive (depending on what you need). Some pedals sound great for heavier stuff and some sound better lighter drive. Don’t make the mistake of turning down your amp, only to turn up the gain on your drive pedal to compensate. That’s bad news! Put the volume up to around 1-3 o’clock on the pedal and use the gain/drive as almost like a volume knob to finding the good drive sound.

   It’s good to run a drive pedal with not a huge difference between the bypassed and on volume (especially for the sound guy), but it’s important that it doesn’t start to sound saturated. When dialing in the sounds on the pedals, keep that in mind. I like my drive to make it a little louder, but not so much louder that I can’t hear well once it’s turned off.

I hope this helps some. Drive is big part of tone. If you have any questions, comment away.

He’s working on the first prototypes still, but follow the journey by following him on Twitter (@dashboards here). Be sure to stay tuned to see what he comes out with!

Wake up.

10:54 am.

What happens next?

I never know.

1:41 am.

Go to bed.

Where is my life going right now?