TS808 Tubescreamer Owned By Stevie Ray Vaughan On eBay!

This eBay listing had me reading it twice and then a third time to make sure that it wasn't just a clever item description to draw attention. 

Folks, it's Holy Grail time again at eBay!

Up for your perusal is what the seller claims to be a genuine Ibanez TS808 Tubescreamer formerly owned by Stevie Ray Vaughan!

Tubescreamer connoisseurs will notice that this pedal is from 1980 with the 'registered trademark' above the Ibanez logo and the sought after JRC4558 chip in the circuit, coveted for its warm, 'brown sound'.

Interestingly, pedal mod guru Analogman's Tubescreamer history page also lists this pedal with serial number 111179 as belonging to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Cesar Diaz, Stevie's tech at the time.

Vintage TS808's go for a pretty penny these days but given its pedigree, I anticipate that the price of this particular pedal is going to go through the roof.  But as always, do the necessary research before committing!

(EBay Item #: 270592330548)

StageTrix Pedal Fasteners -- Why Didn't I Think Of That? #4

A high quality hook-and-loop fastener, StageTrix' Pedal Fasteners are designed to precisely fit the ubiquitous Boss pedals, as well as pedals in the Ibanez and Maxon range with a similar footprint.

A nice feature is that the rectangular center of the Pedal Fastener can be easily detached to preserve the specification sticker should you choose to affix it to a valuable pedal, like a vintage TS808 Tubescreamer. From my experience, this is more than enough hook-and-loop to solidly attach a pedal to a pedalboard.

And if you have to leave your pedalboard in the trunk of your car all day, the industrial-strength adhesive backing is guaranteed not to turn into a gooey mess up to temperatures of 200 F.

I covered another innovative StageTrix product -- Pedal Risers -- in an earlier article here: http://www.theguitarcolumn.com/2009/09/why-didnt-i-think-of-that-2-modular.html

Now I wonder if StageTrix has any pedalboards in the works..

(Pic from www.stagetrixproducts.com)

Mike Landau's Session Work On YouTube

Here are a couple of clips of session maestro Mike Landau in the studio. That tone, that vibrato, those Tylers!



In the first clip he plays a beautiful wah-inflected solo. I love the way he just nails those changes starting at 0:16!



In the second clip we see Landau using some of his 'mystery' voicings -- he seems to favor rootless chords, sus4's, add9's and the occasional superimposed triad -- processed through a rackmounted Dyno-My-Piano Tri-Stereo Chorus. Or a cheap Arion SCH-1 Chorus pedal, depending on the era in question. Based on Mike's hair my bet is on the Tri-Stereo here. Check out the spicy volume swells.



In the third clip Mike places an Ibanez TS808 Tubescreamer at the front of his signal chain for a touch of extra gain, but decides to turn it off before he starts tracking. His sound through the Bogner amp (?) is positively huge, with a tad of harmonizer to fatten up the sound. He fluffs the descending line at 2:47 -- twice -- but what the hey, they'll fix it in ProTools.

James Taylor's live-in-the-studio Squibnocket DVD features Mike's playing extensively.


Check Out Mike Landau CDs Here!

Flash Review -- Pedaltrain Jr. Pedalboard

Went gear-shopping today and got my hands on a Pedaltrain pedalboard. My old canvas and cardboard Westfield pedal case is just plain worn out. The little zip tag snapped off a few months ago and I was almost breaking a nail everytime I packed my gear up.

I needed a 'board with enough real-estate to accomodate a couple of stompboxes, a wah pedal and a volume pedal and the Pedal Train Jr (PT-JR-SC) fit the bill nicely.

The Pedaltrain Jr. is also available with an ATA-approved aluminum flightcase. I went for the soft-shell variety -- it's a lot lighter and I figured I wanted to be able to feel my fingers when I arrive at a gig. The nylon shoulder-sling strap provided for the soft-case also features a solid, chunky, spring-loaded clasp.

The Pedaltrain comes with two rolls of velcro (one hook, one loop) of about a meter in length each. The 'board itself is very sturdy aluminum with industrial-welding at the joints and corners.

The sturdy construction is a nice reassurance since this thing is going to be on the floor and get kicked around -- most likely by the bassplayer, drummer, singer or a drunk audience member who insists on coming onstage to yell his request in your ear.

Pedaltrain leaves you to attach the velcro yourself. I opted for the full-velcro treatment.

Also supplied are a couple of screw-on metal brackets to attach a regulated power-supply such as the VoodooLab PedalPower to the underside of the pedalboard frame, saving you space on top for your pedals. A really nice touch.

Pedaltrain also provides a bunch of nylon cable-ties so that power or signal cables can be tied neatly together. This is good if you're bullet-proofing your 'board for that regional tour, but it would also make on the spot patch-cable swaps impossible. Remember 'ol Murphy?

I opted for Planet Waves 0.5 ft Classic patch-cables for this board. New pedalboard, new cables right?

My usual pedals for my weekly blues/rock gig are an RMC 3 Teese wah (the older one with the home-brewed milled aluminum housing), an early 80's Tubescreamer (when I need a hair more gain), an Xotic BB preamp (which is always on, with a slight bass boost), a VoodooLab MicroVibe (for a little Hendrix/Trower swirl), a Korg DT7 tuner (with Buzz Feiten tempered tuning setting) and a Boss FV50L volume pedal.

The volume pedal is the last in the chain, which allows me to tune silently as well as regulate my overall volume. I like to keep a little volume in reserve on the pedal for when the bassplayer and drummer ramp it up -- those guys have so much more dynamic range than us guitar players. I also use it as a manual noise-gate should things get out of hand.

And there we go.

I'm careful not to store the board vertically for at least a couple of days so that the adhesive on the velcro can set permanently on the aluminum frame. Storing it upright now will inevitably lead to a surprisingly sticky mess of adhesive, velcro, pedals and cables as it all peels off (been there, done that, unfortunately), so the 'board with pedals is sitting flat until I take it to my gig on Monday.

Rock and roll!

See The Pedaltrain Pedalboard Range Here

See More Xotic and VoodooLab Pedals Here

Stevie Ray Vaughan's Studio Tone Secrets

Stevie Ray virtually redefined the sound of blues guitar. His fanatical attention to tone and the measures he took to get it are legendary.

The pic at right was taken during the In Step recording sessions by SRV's amp tech, the late, great Cesar Diaz -- the 'Amp Doctor'.


Stevie's amp setup from left to right were:

• A Marshall JCM800 driving a Marshall 4x12 slant cab
• A blonde '62 Fender Twin Reverb
• A 150-watt Dumble Steel String Singer head on a Dumble 4x12 cabinet
• Two '64 blackface Fender Vibroverbs (that happened to have consecutive serial numbers), each equipped with a 15" speaker
• Two KT88-equipped Marshall Major 200-watt heads driving Marshall 4x15 and 8x10 cabinets

The speaker tally for this setup is interesting -- an 8x10 cab, two 4x12 cabs, a single 12" in the Twin, a 4x15 cab and two 15" speakers in the Vibroverbs. With eight 10", nine 12" and six 15" speakers, Stevie Ray could cover the entire sonic spectrum. His fondness for 15" speakers no doubt contributed greatly to his full-bodied, beefy tone.

For the In Step sessions, Stevie also relied on his ever-present Ibanez TS808 Tubescreamer, a Vox wah, a FuzzFace and an Octavia which he used in tandem with the Tubescreamer.

The Tubescreamer took a toll on his amplifiers which were already turned up to the point of breakup -- he would set it up so that it hit his amps hard with a hot, clean boost. According to Stevie, coupled with his heavy technique, and .013-.058 strings tuned to Eb, "I give my amps between two weeks to a month, and then they sound horrible."

Gear aside, the real secret to SRV's tone was in his hands. He could have plugged into a Fender Champ and still revolutionized the blues.

Visual Sound 1 Spot Pedal Power Supply

I'm a big fan of Bob Weil and his company, Visual Sound.

I own a couple of his pedals -- an original issue Route 66 overdrive (with the coveted new-old-stock JRC4558D chip) and the ultra-lush H2O analog chorus/echo. This guy makes a good product.

And Visual Sound's 1 Spot is hands down my favorite pedal power supply.

Doing away with conventional notions of bulky power supplies with toroidal transformers, the aptly-named 1 Spot handles up to 1700 mA (milliamps) -- compare this to the once ubiquitous Boss PSA adapters rated at 200mA.

Assorted multiplug cables are available as options, allowing one to daisy-chain pedals with standard 'barrel' power sockets. It's interesting to note that this connecter was pioneered by Boss/Roland around 1977 and is now the de facto standard that has been adopted by virtually every manufacturer.

For very old pedals, cable adapters for the early US-type 1/8" (3.5mm) are available allowing one to power 70's and '80s DOD, Ibanez, MXR and Electro Harmonix devices -- I successfully powered my original 1980 TS808 Tubescreamer on my pedalboard from the 1 Spot before deciding the 808 was too valuable to take out on gigs.

Also available are adapter options for Line 6 pedals and reverse-polarity adapters for Yamaha devices. And there's even a battery clip converter to power pedals that do not have a DC socket such as the earlier Dunlop and Vox wahs, or (if you have 'em and are so inclined), vintage Fuzz Faces and Colorsound Tonebenders .

I bought two 1 Spots five years ago and the one I've been using has proven very reliable through several hundred gigs and, touch wood, shows no signs of quitting yet. And I've not had reason to break out the spare at all.

Magic Guitars and Inspiring Guitar Rigs

This post is a sequel to my earlier article, How To Choose A Guitar That's Right For You.

Memory permitting, these are the guitars or guitar/amp setups I've played on over the years that I found inspiring.

1981 Ibanez AS50 semi-solid through an orange Roland Cube 60(!)
This was the guitar I talked about in that earlier article. What an epiphany!

'70s Fender Stratocaster through a '70s silverface Fender Twin Reverb
I also talked about this guitar in that earlier article. I had only my Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer in the chain -- classic setup.

1949 D'Angelico archtop into a vintage Standel amp
This guitar was on display at the Fine Guitar Consultants booth at NAMM 2000. Not one of D'Angelico's much prized instruments, this was actually a student model with a plywood spruce top. Knowing that John D'Angelico and Jimmy D'Aquisto worked on building it is enough for me.

It was jazz guitarist Ron Eschete's primary axe for 30 something years and he sold it for some reason. This guitar 'forces' you to play sweet chord melodies and bebop lines. The guitar now belongs to a friend of mine.

Carvin Allan Holdsworth through a Carvin amp
I tried this at the Carvin shop on Sunset Boulevard. I can't remember the exact model of the amp, but it was one of the 2x10 tweed covered ones with the beige chickenhead knobs.

This particular Holdsworth signature was one of the first ever released -- if not one of the actual prototypes. Super low action on a wide, flat fingerboard, a perfectly balanced Wilkinson trem and the warm overdriven amp made Holdsworthian legato lines a breeze.

Early '80s Fender Vintage Telecaster reissue
This one has an interesting story to it. I tried out this guitar at a local used guitar shop. I didn't ask to try it -- one of the shop guys just foisted it on me. And it felt and sounded amazing. It was a well-played instrument with lots of wear in the nitrocellulose finish on the neck and fingerboard. I put it back on the shelf to go home and think about it.

The next day, I got a call from a friend of mine who said he was at the shop looking at the guitar, and asked if I had tried it. I told him it was a fine guitar and to go for it if he wanted it. I was really looking for a reason not to buy yet another guitar.

Long story short, my friend bought the guitar, found it buzzed too much in the recording studio and attempted to shield the control cavity with aluminum foil that caused the guitar to short out intermittently. He called a week later to ask me if I wanted to buy it off him.

Sure. Thanks Josh..

But this guitar really is amazing. It has all the vibe and personality you could ever want in a guitar. Other than high gain, high volume situations where the pickups squeal microphonically, the guitar is otherwise really versatile. And it sometimes 'pings' and twangs mysteriously on my guitar stand at night. Spooky.

Mid '90s Tom Anderson tele-style through a Matchless 2x12
A friend of mine had a serious collection of Tom Anderson guitars at one point. Of the lot, I really cottoned to this particular instrument, a rather plain-looking hollow T-Classic in a sunburst finish. I can't remember anything about the Matchless amp except that I think it was a 2x12. And it was brown.

Another one of those instruments that forces you to play a certain way -- and it all feels and sounds effortless while you do it. Think Brent Mason, James Burton, Albert Lee -- twang for days.

And there you have it. 30 years of playing experience, and only 6 magical guitars.

Rare gems indeed.