The guitar PRS wants you to forget, the SE EG
This is what PRS was making in the early 2000s.
The answer to the question "What would happen if PRS made a Strat?" is, of course, the Silver Sky model. But PRS made another Strat type guitar back in the day, and it was the SE EG model.
So what is it? It's South Korean build, 25.0" scale, 22 fret, glued in mahogany neck (no bolt plate on the rear), mahogany body, rosewood fingerboard.
Amazingly, no bird inlays on the fingerboard. I'm not a fan of bird inlays, so I like this. It also appears the inlays are abalone dots, which is a nice touch.
Also, this is a top loader, which I also like a lot as it makes for easier string bends. Yes, this does mean the guitar is a hardtail as there is no vibrato system present.
Something I both like and not like is the bridge. It appears to be one of those wraparound things. I don't have a problem with that part. But where intonation is concerned, that could be an issue because I assume it's a bridge type where only the sides can be moved since the saddles can't be moved. However, given how PRS designs guitars, intonation is probably just fine.
On the lower horn, yes, the deep cutaway (cut-in?) does exist for easier access to the higher frets.
From what I can gather, this guitar existed for just 3 model years in this particular SSS flavor, that being 2003, 2004 and 2005. There were other flavors (like the HSS from 2005-2007), but I prefer the SSS.
Although the guitar totally sounds like a Strat, the body shape is like a cross between a Strat, Les Paul and SG. In other words, those who know PRS guitars should find this familiar.
If you ever wanted PRS's take on a Strat style guitar but didn't want a Silver Sky, seek out the SE EG. It had a short run but looks decent.
Don't want to deal with an old guitar? See the Silver Sky instead.
3 solid reasons to use digital delay instead of analog
Switch to digital and you'll enjoy using the delay effect for guitar a whole lot more.
Delay is one of this electric guitar effects that I consider must-have for any player regardless of skill level. Whether you've been playing 3 months or 30+ years, you need it. Yes, I said need. In fact, if I were forced to use just two effects and nothing else, it would be compression and delay, in that order.
Regular analog delay is cheap unless you go for something like the BOSS DM-2w Waza Craft, considered by some to be the "ultimate" analog delay pedal...
...but I don't bother with those because there are 3 things about upper tier digital delay pedals that really make them worth owning.
These are the 3 upper-end digital delays worth checking out, and then I'll tell you 3 good reasons to own one no matter which you get: NUX Duotime (good), BOSS DD-200 (better), BOSS DD-500 (best). Most would get along with Duotime or DD-200 best. The DD-500 is absolutely nuts in what it can do, but is also complex; the two others are easier to get along with.
Reason #1: Works better with more live rigs and home recording
Digital delay does not make noise and is whisper quiet when on. Analog delay, regardless of how much you spend on one, will have noise you can hear, and that's just the nature of how analog works.
Reason #2: The emulation of the old analog delays is far better than you realize
The upper-end delay effects mentioned a moment ago all have the ability to emulate old analog sounds very, very well. The tape-style echo is there that a lot of players want, but that only scratches the surface of what you can get.
Reason #3: You can set a precise repeat rate
This doesn't sound like a very fancy feature, and it's not, but once you have it, you'll never want to go without it again.
Setting the repeat rate on an analog delay pedal either ends up in being too fast or too slow. Or, if you somehow magically get it just right, don't you dare turn that knob or you'll never get it again (this is especially true with the DM-2w, which has really sensitive controls).
On the digital, you have not one but two ways to set a repeat rate. Manually, by entering in the millisecond rate, or by tapping the tempo. You will notice that each of the 3 pedals I mentioned have TAP as the right side footswitch.
In a live band situation, you can tap the repeat rate for whatever your drummer is playing. Very convenient.
With home recording, you can match the delay repeat to your recording software metronome by millisecond or by tapping the tempo out. Easy.
It costs more but it's worth it
The upper tier delay effects are not cheap, but at the same time not terribly expensive. The only one where you feel the sting of the price is with the DD-500, but you do get what you pay for as it is a seriously advanced delay effect. Again, the NUX or the DD-200 would suit most players.
It's the 3 reasons above that justify the cost. The better digital models do work with more amps and home recording environments, all the old-school emulation is there (and works well), and most importantly you can set a precise repeat rate.
Again, that precise repeat rate setting doesn't seem like much, but believe me, it matters; that's the reason you get the upper tier delay effect to begin with.
Will looper drums ever not suck?
It is amazing that this problem still exists.
Guitar loopers are great. Truly. A basic looper starts at around 50 bucks. Not expensive. For most people, a cheap looper works just fine.
However, you may want more from your looper, such as the ability to store separate loops, add effects, reverse the audio, have a click track...
...and have accompaniment, meaning drums. Well, that costs more. The go-to loopers for that sort of thing are the BOSS RC-5 Loop Station and DigiTech Trio+. The Trio+ by the way is a true "band in a box" with looping, drums, intelligent bass (as in the thing will actually create a bass track for you), intelligent pattern recognition and a whole bunch of other stuff. That thing is absolutely stuffed with goodies and options.
But there are two problems...
The offerings from BOSS and DigiTech are incredible. Heck, BOSS even has a gigantic floor unit with the RC-300 model. Crazy good stuff.
However, two problems still exist to this day even with the best of loopers with the best of technology that's available.
Problem #1: The drums sound awful
In all fairness, both BOSS and DigiTech have tried really, really hard to make their looper drum machine samples sound better. Over the years, improvements have been made. Unfortunately, the kits still sound obviously fake.
The fix: Both BOSS and Digitech need to offer options for purposely electronic-sounding kits in their loopers. Yes, both technically offer this, but they've not really committed to it. When I say electronic-sounding, I mean something like you'd hear come out of a Korg Volca. I'm not saying to offer the pattern programming of a Volca, just the sound of something like it. Instead of trying to go ultra-realistic, which obviously doesn't work, go the other way and put in stuff that sounds more electronic.
Problem #2: Sync drop
What I'm specifically referring to here is the drum machine "losing time" with the recorded sample, as in the loop.
You record your loop and get it just right. Sounds great. Then you add your drums. Sounds great. Then you play your loop + drums. Sounds great... at first. The longer the loop plays, the more out-of-time the loop sounds with the drums. Now it sounds terrible.
The fix(?): For most people, this is an unfixable problem.
Where the problem originates is that you have a recorded sample phrase (your loop) and rhythm software (the drum machine) both attempting to start, end and repeat at exactly the same time. Regardless of how fast the processor is or how much memory is installed, there will be instances where the recorded sample phrase and/or the rhythm software won't re-trigger where it should; this is where the out-of-time thing happens.
There is only one fix I know for this problem. Don't use a looper and instead use a multitrack recorder.
I'll explain.
With the ZOOM R8 standalone multitrack recorder - which does have a drum machine in it - I can combine tracks and the drum machine all to one track. When there is just one track, as in one phrase, that is guaranteed to always sound the same when looped and always trigger/re-trigger properly.
Is there a way to do this on-the-fly? No. I only mention it so you know that yes, a fix exists, but it has to be done manually.
On a looper pedal with drum machine - and I doubt what I'm about to say will ever happen - the only possible way to get precise phrase + drum loops is if the pedal a) took the recorded phrase and drum accompaniment, b) combined that into a single phrase temporary file, c) played that temp file back on demand, and d) removed the temp file once the looper is stopped, while at the same time keeping the original phrase and drum pattern for user adjustment, if any is needed.
A lot of background processing and file writing would need to happen to make any of that work reliably, hence why I say it will probably never happen.
If none of this makes sense to you, don't worry, it doesn't have to. All you have to know is that all looper pedals with drum machines have sync problems. The longer a loop + drum machine plays, the more likely an out-of-sync issue can (and will) happen.
Does throwing more money at a more expensive model solve the problem? No, but there are a few things you can do which can mitigate the sync problem:
- Use shorter loops.
- Use fewer loops.
- Manually stop and restart the looper to reset the sync (which most looper users do anyway when performing with them).
- Create phrases using the metronome whenever possible (easier for the drum machine to match a precise BPM).
- If the looper uses a memory card, replace it once a year so you don't run into file writing issues.
- Save phrases often. If one of them decides to stop working correctly, you always have a backup.
I still think loopers are great, but looper drums do suck
I should note that I'm not talking about table top loopers (like the BOSS RC-505) but rather the stuff specifically meant for guitar players.
For the stuff available to guitar players, it's nice drum machines exist in more expensive looper models, but they have so-so performance at best because of the sync crapola that happens.
For looper-only functions, oh yeah, that works. No question about that. For drums, not-so much and sync issues happen. That's just the way it is.
The best looking Dean Z I've ever seen
This is an example of when Dean does the Z right.
First I'll say yes, there is still the Classic Black version. Or, if you fancy one of these with a Floyd-Rose system, the Ocean Burst version also looks quite nice.
But then there's the Trans Brazilia version.
I ordinarily do not really care for the Dean Z, but I make an exception here because the colors chosen here work for every part of the guitar.
The first thing to notice - and this is easy to miss when you're not looking for it - is the body, neck and headstock all have binding. On the body and headstock you can see outer and inner binding. Looks great.
After that, the zebra pickups (and yes, they are in fact Seymour Duncan pickups) offer some nice contrast to the black hardware.
I really like that this has speed knobs on it. Very easy to see during play.
It is very nice that the headstock burst matches the body perfectly.
And those block inlays. Classy. Nice classic Gibson vibes there, and that's not a bad thing.
When I say this is the best Dean Z I've ever seen, I'm not kidding. Dean is notorious for making a lot of ugly guitars (see "dimebag dean" for examples of that), but this particular Z guitar is where things get a lot better.
This just goes to prove that Dean does make guitars that actually look good and perform well, and this Z is one of them.
The best compliment I can give this Z overall is that it's not pegged to any specific age of player. Anybody from a teenager to a senior or anywhere in between could play this. It's not a "kid's guitar" nor an "old man's guitar". This is an everyman guitar.
Good job, Dean.
My favorite Black Sabbath track from their first album
It's not what you think it is.
Many moons ago - even before I was a teenager - a friend of mine at the time played some Black Sabbath songs for me on his stereo. I got hooked pretty much immediately. After a few months, I had all the original eight Black Sabbath studio albums. On compact cassette, of course. I never got into vinyl, and this was before CDs. From Black Sabbath to Never Say Die! (which I may talk about in the future), I had them all.
Where the first album is concerned, one songs sticks out to me more than the others, and that's Behind The Wall of Sleep.
I have absolutely no idea what the lyrics are about to this day because I rarely pay attention to lyrics.
What really hooks me to this song are the drums. Yes, the guitar work is great and I'll talk about that in a minute, but Bill Ward's drums just sound so damned cool. Compared to the popular music of the time in the '80s when I first heard this song, nothing on the radio or television even sounded close to it. The drums just have this nice thumpy "warm" organic sound to them. I assume they are jazz tuned, so to speak. I can even hear the spring under the snare drum in the recording.
This is one of the "all SG" songs on the album. One or two tracks on the first album had a Stratocaster featured, but this song wasn't one of them. To my ear, yes, it's definitely an SG sound regardless of what pickups were installed in Tony's guitar at the time. An SG has a pronounced midrange to its sound which is certainly heard loud and proud on this track.
Something I'm sure of is that Tony Iommi wrote the melody for Ozzy's vocals. If you play the notes Ozzy sings on the guitar, the pentatonic comes out instantly and follows a guitar fretboard. In effect, the vocals act as a "third guitar" in the song.
Geezer's low, boomy bass brings up the rear, and when Tony solos, so does he, so you're hearing two solos at once.
And let's not forget the time signature changes. A swing 3/4 beat, then a straight 4/4, back to a swing 3/4... the song is just nuts but totally works. The song ends with nothing but Bill's drums heard. Love it. Definitely my favorite of the first album.