Jackson Black w/ Fender Twin and Verbzilla

[Chris LeDrew]

I threw this together for a laugh last night:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTfGqmKK1_o

[J D Sauser]

Does "it", what ever "it" may be (recording, guitar, verbzilla), have a strange attack sound, or is it just me... the klicking "sound" I mean?

... J-D.

[Chris LeDrew]

J.D.,

I think what you're hearing is my pick attack. I'm only using the camera mic, so it's picking up everything. There may be a bit too much treble on the amp as well. The effect doesn't have any noise, but I do have the pedal mix louder than usual, to display the reverbs. Thanks for checking it out.

[Bent Romnes]

Chris, That was a great demo! Me, being a traditionalist set-in-my-ways type of a guy, the thing I liked was the plate reverb, and there the device really shined.
What I would like to comment on is your picking though.
I was impressed. It was fascinating to watch your right hand doing switching back and forth between palm - and pick blocking seemingly at will.

Those clicks were just your picks, and that was due to the camera mic like you said. Irritating, but easily fixable with a better mic set-up. It shows one thing however: That you have a high degree of clarity in your whole signal chain!
The Jackson sounds clear and beautiful and, well, Jackson.

[Chris LeDrew]

Bent,

Thank you very much for your feedback and compliments! All I know is that I love playing steel, and watching yourself on video is a great way to observe your own technique. I mostly palm block, and I don't think I realized how much I actually pick blocked until I watched this myself. I guess it depends on the lick, chord or passage.

I am happy with the Jackson tone, and the SF Twin seems like a good match for the guitar. I like the way tubes interact with the steel tone, with slight distortion but not enough to muddy the sound. I always hear the word "complexity" used when talking about tube tone, and switching back and forth from a Nashville 112 to a Twin I can certainly understand that word now. The Twin just has character.

[Charlie Tryon]

Chris that new/old amp even makes you sound good...just kidding buddy that sounds wonderful seems like a nice little pedal. Well your playing helped make the pedal sound great as well. I can tell you have been practicing. It is getting closer to being there for some good times.

Charlie

[Greg Wisecup]

That Blackjack demo sounds MUCH better than the first posting. Sounds and looks good!

[Chris LeDrew]

Thanks, guys! Yes, Charlie, only a few months to go and we'll be pickin' and hanging on the deck drinking beer. Looking forward to it.

Greg, I'm happier about the quality this time as well. The first video had some major sound issues. I may just take it down. I plan on posting more videos soon. I want to do an amp comparison, going from the Twin to the Session to the 112 all in one video, to demonstrate the differences.

[Greg Wisecup]

Sorry I didn't mention your good pickin as well. I noticed you had the pedal mounted. Is that mount generic and where do I get one for my Boss DD 3?

[Chris LeDrew]

Greg, I got it in Dallas from forumite Brandon Orodyne (sp?). It's just a basic mount with some velcro action. Works great.

[Ricky Thibodeaux]

You sound great my friend. Sure would be nice if you could post some good old country tunes on you-tube for us. Your steel sounds awesome.....Ricky T.

[Al Marcus]

Chris-Very nice picking and good sounding guitar. That effect box is versatile too. As others have said, cut the pick noise down and the treble a bit.How does that changer work,? It looks different than the usual all pull. I would like to hear the 3 amp comparisons by you too, and more of your playing....al.:)

[Chris LeDrew]

Al, thank you so much for watching the video. I really value your experienced ear. Speaking of ears, mine are little shot from years in the bars, so I'm always boosting the high end more than necessary. I did this video on a little Canon PowerShot SD1000 digital camera:



I plan to experiment a little more to see how I can improve the sound. It just a point and shoot, so I don't expect much. Having said that, it's a lot easier to use than my Sony Digital video camera.

RE: the changer, David Jackson told me that my particular changer is a one-off prototype, designed after the old Permanent changer mechanism. David has explained the way it works to me several times, but I'm not very good with mechanics. None of the other Blackjacks have this type of changer, although I've played several more and they all sound great. All I know is that when I use my nylon hex wrench to tune the strings, I can feel particularly strong vibrations through the changer - which leads me to believe that it is doing its job very well. The lowers are tuned on the top and the raises on the bottom. Here are a few photos:

[Bent Romnes]

Hi Chris,
Interesting to see your recording gear! The 2 youtube songs I recorded with a Nikon digital camera(akin to your canon)turned out bad. Give it a listen:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0RCsk82NyYI
Crap sound with loads of distortion. So now I will chalk this bad sound up to the fact that I did it in the garage with a concrete floor and the sound bounced off of everywhere.
Hearing how you got a decent sound in a normal room gave me encouragement to try this again.

As to your Jackson: This is a 'regular' changer and not the one where the raise is in the 'normal' end and the lower is in the key head end and connected to the tuning keys where they flip up every time you lower a string.
All the while I have thought that this was the only system that Jackson used. What is their reason for switching I wonder?

Thanks for all the great info and pics, Cris.
Bent