Gear Talk: James Duke

Posted on by
1

James Duke plays with John Mark McMillan, ALL THE BRIGHT LIGHTS and does a lot of studio stuff for a lot of people. I really do not need to write this blog, because James has his own blog and talks about his gear on there…and he probably knows a lot more about his stuff than I do. So read James’ blog…it’s full of all kinds of treats.

This is what James is playing through around February-March 2012. Here’s the pedals (not certain on the signal chain):

  • This1sMyne Mini Buffer (under the board) – he has used the JHS buffer before too
  • JHS modded MXR Dyna Comp
  • Walrus Audio Voyager – I’ve heard a lot of great things about this company and this overdrive
  • Ibanez Handwired TS808 – heard he doesn’t like this as much as his TS-9, but it’s currently broken
  • Paul Cochrane Timmy
  • JHS Morning Glory – another lighter gain overdrive, as he’ll stack them to reach a higher gain stage
  • Cusack Tap-A-Whirl – he does some killer trem stuff
  • Goodrich Volume – made better and sounds better than the Ernie Ball
  • Analogman Mini Chorus – a new addition for him…be interesting to hear how he uses it
  • EHX Deluxe Memory Man with tap tempo (w/ mini expression pedal) – I love this delay so much
  • Boss DD20 (with tap)
  • Boss Tuner
  • Boss RV5

He also uses a Micro POG, Walrus Audio Deep Six Compressor or Kent Pedals TRANNY boost sometimes. James’ board is a Pedaltrain PT-3 put together by Motley Customs and made with Voodoo Lab supplies and Lava cables.

James plays a Revelator S (Strat), an American Strat, a ’52 reissue Tele, a ’66 Mustang and a Gretsch Anniversary Hollowbody. He mainly plays through Matchless Chieftain and a Trainwreck Rocket Clone.

For more on James’ gear, check out this post on his blog. Here’s a demo video Travis from Motley Customs made of James playing:

Pursuit Custom Audio – IC-1 Isolation Cabinet

Posted on by
Reply

My friend, Austin at Pursuit Custom Audio, sent me a message a few weeks ago to tell me about something he’s been working on. It’s called the IC-1 and it’s an isolation cabinet.

We’ve all experienced a time when we’ve been told to turn down our amp. It happened to me last weekend at a church we were leading at. Sound guy tells me I’m not in the house much because it’s too loud on stage, but he doesn’t understand that I don’t have a master volume switch and I’m compromising my tone. Neither of us can win.

We’ve all been there. You can try to put the amp backstage, in a closet or a cool soundproofed box with insulation all over, but if it’s not there or available…it’s a tough place to be. That’s why I love the idea behind this IC-1.

It’s an isolation box…and a cab. Simply run your speaker cable to it, plug in, mount the mic inside, shut it and go. It’s got a mic clip and mount, jacks for you to plug in your speaker cable, and XLR, pyramid foam for insulation, and even a speaker included (Eminence Private Jack…I’ve had one before and liked it, especially for the price!).  You don’t even have to have a head to use this cab, you can run it from your combo out of the speaker jack! And the best part is that it’s portable. You don’t have to be at church, but anywhere you go, you can have this with you and not compromise that tone you need and desire.

This seems like a no-brainer and easy winner for anyone who is tired of having this volume problem and having to compromise tone. Check out Pursuit Custom Audio’s IC-1 Isolation Cab!

Left Behind

Posted on by
Reply

So I read these books over the weekend about the rapture called Left Beh…

just kidding…had to do that with a title like that one!

Seriously though, I played with Chris Orr outside of Birmingham this weekend and it was a great weekend. Ty was back playing keys with us (first time out on the road since we’ve started working together) and my brother, Avery, played drums too. It was a great weekend. It rained most of Saturday and Sunday, and we were ready to get home after the Sunday morning services. We tore down quickly and got everything by the door to wait for the trailer to be pulled up. Then it happened…

We were going for a record time of packing the trailer. I think we got it all out of the church and into the trailer in three minutes. I was the one packing in the trailer nicely and a few others were bringing the gear out. I got the Duesenberg, but someone must have overlooked my Tele in my Incase case.

We got the phone call when we were probably 45 minutes or so down the road and had just finished lunch. We could’ve gone back but Chris had to go back in the next few weeks anyways and I could make due with the Duesenberg. I tweeted asking if anyone was able to bring it from Birmingham to Atlanta and I had quite a few responses. So hopefully my friend Michael will bring it back to me tonight.

It’s not that I didn’t have it and thought I wouldn’t get it back…it was the fact that it was left that made me feel so bad. Almost like leaving a kid somewhere. You may get them back perfectly fine, but YOU still left them.

Am I the only one who has left a guitar or piece of gear behind?

Powering Your Pedals

Posted on by
Reply

I remember when I got my first pedal. It was the same Boss TU-2 tuner that I have today. I really only played acoustic guitar then (see this post for more about that). I used a battery for it. Then I got a Line 6 DL4 (again…the same one I have today) and needed to power it so I got the power supply. When I finally started playing electric, I bought a Fulldrive 2 off eBay to go with my tuner and DL4. I suddenly needed a little more to power my pedals and wasn’t really sure what to do.

Powering your pedals is a big deal. The way you power them can determine how you sound and your tone…and if your pedals will fry or not.  You spend money on your pedals to sound good, but if you’re not powering them right, you run the risk of them not sounding good. I’m by no means a pro when it comes to electricity or powering pedals, but I’ll share what I’ve learned.

First of all, there are a few things that matter a lot when powering pedals. First of all, is AC or DC power. Most pedals will use DC, but some require an AC adaptor (Whammy and the M9 are the only ones I’ve had to use this on I believe).

The next big thing is voltage. Different pedals require different voltages to power the pedal. The most common you’ll see is 9V or 12V, but you’ll occasionally run into some other stuff. If you don’t give a pedal the right amount of voltage or too much, it will either not turn on or fry the pedal. Check the box/manual/sticker on the pedal or online to make sure you’re giving it the right voltage.

The second big thing is milliamps. Some pedals require more milliamps than others and if you don’t fulfill this it can really bite you. For example, when I first got a Micro POG pedal, I supplied it with 9V but only at 100mA when it requires 200mA. It worked fine almost always, but occasionally something to pop and it would start squealing through my amp uncontrollably (of course, right in the middle of an intense, worshipful moment too)! When I realized what the problem was, I was able to fix it but it was a big deal.

Another thing is the tip connector for the pedal. I believe most pedals require a standard polarity tip negative/barrel positive jacks, but some require a tip positive/barrel negative jack on the pedal.

Honestly, if you use the power supply that comes with each pedal, these aren’t issues you need to think about. But if you the power supply that comes with each pedal, then you’ll have a huge power strip on your board taking up a ton of space!

There are a few options for powering pedals. Here they are:

  • Standard Power Supply – You can use each pedal’s own power supply it comes with and plug them all into a power strip. This will work and sound alright, but it’s not really neat and will be hard to travel with.
  • Daisy Chain – When I first made my board, I used a daisy chain. You power your tuner or another pedal that has an input power jack and an output jack. You can plug in a daisy chain cable in the output to power other pedals off the power your first pedal is getting. This is a cheap and easy option, but can create a lot of noise in your chain and you can also run into problems powering pedals with different power requirements.
  • Multiple Pedal Power Supply – With one of these, you send power to the base unit and use multiple outputs to send to the pedals using connector power cables. This has kind of become the standard of good tone. There are multiple kinds of units you can use for this. I use Voodoo Labs power supplies, but I’ve used a PedalGear.net Juicebox. There are plenty of other kinds that are great. The tricky thing with these is making sure that you’re getting AC or DC power, the right voltage and the right milliamps.

My advice is to get one of these multiple pedal power supplies, but take certain measures to make sure you’re giving the right voltage and milliamps for each pedal. With some of these newer pedals like the Eventide and Strymon stuff, powering them is more difficult, but most power supplies are coming out with stuff that can handle these. I know this is the more expensive option for powering pedals, but it’s worth spending the money to make sure your pedals sound right.

Elevation Worship Tutorials

Posted on by
Reply

I found this and wanted to pass this on to you guys. The good folks up at Elevation Church have a great Worship Team Blog. They released some great full band tutorial videos for some of their songs. These are done very well and are very informative for whole band to learn a song.

Check these tutorial videos out here.

What I’ve Been Doing

Posted on by
Reply

The past month or so has been crazy busy.

We had Passion 2012. It was just huge. Not just the number of people there, but the presence of God was just huge. So good.

My granny passed away suddenly without any warning. I know most of the time you don’t get a warning, but I really didn’t see it coming. I was honored to honor her by speaking at her funeral and it was great to celebrate her life with my family. Overall, it was great.

We had homecoming and spirit week at NCCS. I don’t know about where you went to school, but homecoming is a big deal at our school. We don’t have a dance, but the presentation of the homecoming court is done well with a theme and a big set after the basketball games. It’s a lot of work, but our student government kills it every year! We also added a homecoming concert (featuring The Museum as our headliner) with our alumni performing at it.  Needless to say this week keeps us all busy!

Winter sports at the school also keeps us busy. There are 13 teams with different games that I’ll hit up as much as I can. I love my job. It keeps me busy, but it makes me feel complete and satisfied.

I’ve been playing a lot in Passion Kids at church. I’ve been playing some guitar and some bass actually. It’s great. I love being a part there. I love God’s Church…the universal Church. And I really love our expression of His Church and the little part we have in the universal Church.

Chris Orr has a few dates over the next few months. It’s been over a year since I’ve been on the road and I’m been having some major withdrawals. I miss fast food and long trips sleeping in a van. I miss the people I travel with and the speakers we get to work with. We’re doing some events with Ed Newton again and I can’t wait for that. Mostly, I miss meeting people and seeing God do incredible things over such a short time.

I got a PS3 over Christmas break. I’ve never been a big gamer, but I figured it was something to do over the break that was different. It was nice to upgrade to the Blu-Ray player and have connectivity to Netflix on the TV…I guess that’s how I was able to get Hannah to let me get it. I’ve been playing just a few games, but it’s a lot of fun. We’ve also been watching a lot of Parks and Recreation on Netflix.

Lastly, I’ve been spending a lot of time with my wife. I’ve been trying to make a more intentional effort to not work while I’m at home. It’s been nice…really nice. She is amazing.