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SMG Review: AweSome Musical Instruments’ Telecaster Hyper-Mod™ Control Plate

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FROM GOOD TO AWESOME

Innovative products are often conceived when seeking to improve upon an existing design. In the case of Thomas Wnorowski, he recognized that the tonal possibilities residing within his Strat copy fell far short of their potential, so he set out to do something about it. By replacing the standard pickup selector with a series of individual switches, he more than doubled his palette of sounds. Today Thomas boasts a number of mods for getting the most out of one’s axe, a patented Pickup Tone Multiplier™ (PTM) switching system, and a company that lives up to its name: AweSome Musical Instruments. We shared with Thomas a sad tale of a stock Telecaster that only offers three tones. Shaking his head with understanding, he sent over his Telecaster 2-pickup Hyper-Mod™ control plate to break us free from our tonal restrictions.

PRESTO CHANGE-O! IT’S A SUPER TELE!

The entire mod is contained in a single unit. A black acrylic control plate serves as the base for a stacked master volume and tone pot, and three toggle switches. The genius behind the mod, the PTM switching system, is mounted to the bottom of the plate and sits within the control cavity. This unit installs as easily as one can imagine with a solderless connector block replacing the time and trouble of traditional methods requiring soldering tools, a steady hand, and a good dose of patience. I literally had the mod installed within ten minutes and that’s because I took extra time to desolder the leads from the stock plate rather than just clipping them.

DOUBLE YOUR TONES – DOUBLE YOUR FUN

A standard Tele offers three tonal pickup options: bridge, neck, and bridge/neck in normal phase wired in parallel. With the Hyper-Mod™, three more possibilities are opened up allowing for the maximum number of configurations from this two-pickup setup: bridge/neck in reverse phase wired in parallel, bridge/neck in normal phase wired in series, and bridge/neck in reverse phase wired in series. With the newly modded Tele running through a Blackheart Little Giant Half Stack and a touch of reverb, I recorded some short passages to give you an idea of the expanded spectrum of sounds.

1. Bridge (stock)

2. Neck (stock)

3. Bridge/Neck Normal Phase Wired in Parallel (stock)

4. Bridge/Neck Reverse Phase Wired in Parallel (mod)

5. Bridge/Neck Normal Phase Wired in Series (mod)

6. Bridge/Neck Reverse Phase Wired in Series (mod)

THE FINAL WRAP

Be All That You Can Be is a slogan proudly promoted by the US Army. Were it not under their legal jurisdiction, AweSome Musical Instruments would have every right adopting it for their core business which turns the equivalent of guitar caterpillars into fully matured tonal butterflies (work with me here – I’m waxing poetic). I would really like to see the control plate offered in chrome, rather than the singular choice of black acrylic, as it’s more common to stock and I imagine there are others, such as myself, who simply prefer that look, but for the greatest tonal options from your Tele with the least amount of hassle, this is the way to go.

It should be noted that for those of you with 3-pickup Tex-Mex or Nashville Teles, AweSome offers a mod that septuples (7 times!!!) your choices for a total of 35 possible tones.

DIRECT PRICE – $127.97 + shipping


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SMG Review: EMG’s ST12 Prewired Drop-In Pickguard for Strats

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A LITTLE HISTORY

EMG, Inc. is well known throughout the guitar community as a leader in active pickup systems. What you may not know is that the company, which recently celebrated its 35th anniversary, originated as Dirtywork Studios, then Overlend, before settling on its current name, which is short for ‘electro-magnetic generator’. What you may also not realize is despite a strong reputation for active pickups, EMG also offers a variety of passive pickups. Included in these offerings is the ST12, a complete system designed to drop in to your Strat with minimal fuss.

MINIMAL FUSS…

The ST12 comprises two humbucking OC1 (open coil) pickups: bridge and neck. These are pre-wired and built into a choice of white or black pickguard. Controls include a 3-way pickup selector, master volume, and master tone. Installation is easily managed thanks to EMG’s Quick-Connect system.

With no soldering required and the only wiring requiring replacing the stock input jack with the included replacement jack, installation was a breeze. It literally took me longer to unscrew and pull out the old pickguard than to install the ST12.

MAXIMUM IMPACT…

Giving the ST12 a test run, I ran the axe through a Blackheart Little Giant Half Stack. The bridge pickup performed with clarity and leanness without ever sounding too bright or thin. True to the signature Strat sound, aggressive picking came through with punch and there was a quality to it that begged to be shifted into overdrive. Flipping to the neck pickup, the tone filled out with a round and heavy bottom end (for those of you who like that kinda thing…). The character came across more mellow but there was still a bit of that punch. Depending on your perspective, blending the two pickups could be thought of as rolling off the lower frequencies of the neck setting for a more balanced tone or inflating the bridge setting with fullness and a more dynamic frequency range. All in all, the ST12 offers three voices different enough from each other to provide versatility while maintaining familiar qualities that provide a cohesive palette of tones within a single unit. A standout quality at all settings is the clarity and quietness. Hum-free is a beautiful thing.

THE FINAL WRAP

If you’re looking to experiment with different sounds for your Strat and would rather spend more time playing and less time hunched over your work bench with your soldering iron – or worse, paying someone to do it for you – the EMG ST12 is worth a look. Not only can you maintain your stock pickguard as is, it will take you less time and hassle to install the entire unit than replacing a single pickup the old fashioned way.

The sounds are a bit on the generic side, but maintain some classic Fender Strat characteristics. For clean, clear, noise-free output, you can’t do much better than EMG.

Street Price – $189

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SMG Review: gig-fx’s Peter Frampton Mega-Wah

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Check out the Peter Frampton Signature Series Mega-Wah by gig-fx!

A LITTLE INTRO

gig-fx was founded by CEO, Jeff Purchon. Jeff’s relationship with guitar started at age 11 and just two years later he was playing small venues all over northern England. He regularly played with school friend Mick Ronson (who went on to play with Bowie) and neighbor Robert Palmer. At 17 he was opening for bands including Black Sabbath, Free, Deep Purple, and Genesis and continues to play with some of the biggest names in music today.

Along the way, Jeff had a desire for pedal designs that were not readily available. Teaming up with an experienced core of analog electronic design engineers, he started his own pedal company in 2004: gig-fx. His initial product, the Chopper, became an instant classic, finding its way at the feet of guitarists including Mark Tremonti, Adam Jones, and Adrian Belew. In designing his initial wah pedal, Jeff sought to combine an auto-wah, envelope filter, and volume pedal into a single unit – such was the birth of the Mega-Wah. Peter Frampton called one day raving about the pedal and requesting specific design tweaks. This led to the signature Peter Frampton Mega-Wah.

WAH-T’S UP

The first thing catching my attention was the dogbone shaped foot pedal. This design allows for easily accessed controls on either side of the base. Intentional or not, it also serves as a carrying handle and sheds weight from what would otherwise make it bulkier and chunkier. That being said, the aircraft aluminum construction provides ruggedness in a lightweight package. The foot pedal offers plenty of surface area which is topped with soft, yet durable and grippy rubber tread. Controls include Mode (Cry, Mega, Trig, and Auto), Rate, Gain, Resonance, and Sensitivity. A blue LED indicates when the pedal is active and a red LED blinks in time to where Rate is set in Auto mode. Instrument IN and OUT jacks are found on either side in addition to a standard 9V DC input jack. A battery compartment, held in place by four Philips screws, houses a 9V battery underneath. No signature pedal would be complete without an actual signature and Peter Frampton’s appropriately graces the side of the medium navy blue chassis.

FOUR WAHS IN ONE

CRY: This is the classic wah mode. Gain controls the overall level of the effect, providing a thinner more subtle wah at minimum setting and a fatter more intense wah at max. Resonance adjusts frequency boost. This translates to more quacky wahs as sounds open up to a broader range. For you mixing fanatics, this can be thought of as adjusting the ‘Q’ – the width of a particular frequency.

MEGA: This mode is similar to CRY, but by boosting the low end it makes for a fatter, fuller sound. The high end is mostly unaffected and Gain and Resonance controls behave similarly.

TRIG: Pick dynamics replace the foot pedal in this mode. Softer attacks are similar to having the pedal down in the lower registers, while sharper, more aggressive picking brings out high end wah. This is a really fun mode as the feeling is very interactive and you can get downright punchy and FUNKY! Gain and Resonance perform similarly as the previous two modes, but Sensitivity adds an additional control. With this turned down, lower frequencies are prominent and it takes massive attacks (no reference to the band) to get the pedal to open up to the higher end, which is very brief. At the opposite end, higher frequencies are promoted as it takes the softest of touches to coax the low end.

AUTO: Lazy foot? No problem. Click over to this mode and the pedal will take over, rocking back and forth through the sweep as if you were tapping in time yourself [Author’s request: Can you actually get the pedal to physically rock back and forth? That would be wicked cool! Anyway…]. Again, Gain and Resonance works the same, with the added Rate control which sets the speed of the effect. Think of a vibrato or tremolo effect, though it’s not quite the same. My only complaint is I would have liked a way to set the width of the wah as it’s hard-wired to maximum sweep. Perhaps a future version could allow the position of the pedal to determine this.

THE FINAL WRAP

The Peter Frampton Mega-Wah is mega fun! Each mode is useful – no gratuitous effects. Performance and sound quality get high marks and physical operation is clean, making my Crybaby feel clunky in comparison. The pedal is activated optically by kicking into action when it senses the pedal is pushed forward about 1/4″ from fully back. This takes some getting used to as rocking all the way back disengages the effect after a period of time set by a control recessed in the bottom of the unit. I think it’s a slick feature that eases ON/OFF, but there’s something about that physical click you get from leaning on a switch that I missed. But who knows? Maybe after a bit more time spent with it, I wouldn’t miss it at all. Finally, gig-fx designs the wah with what they call “better-than-true-bypass” by using a circuit that optimizes the signal between the guitar and amp input. All in all, a very useful, fun wah that offers a lot of bang for the buck and has me considering replacing my beloved Crybaby, even if I have to give up the footswitch.

Street Price – $149

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HOW TO GET YOUR JAM ON WHILE TRAVELING

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HITTIN’ THE ROAD

I recently went out of town for work for a month. My first concern, before wondering about sleeping conditions and food opportunities, was how to keep up with playing, primarily with respect to the new songs I had to learn for my band. I was hauling a lot of gear for my job, so whatever I brought had to be compact, easily transportable, and rugged in order to survive any mishaps. Furthermore, I needed a way to hear my guitar and be able to play along with the songs I needed to learn.

TRAVEL GUITARS

I had two travel guitars prior to this journey. My Baby Taylor is perfect for taking to the park, the beach, or even plunking on at home on the couch. When acoustic is the flavor of choice, it’s compact enough and resides in a nicely padded gig bag that’s ideal for travel, but it didn’t meet my needs for this trip. Though durable for an acoustic, I didn’t want to subject it to being knocked around. I was going to be spending a lot of time in airports and on buses and wanted something that wouldn’t disturb others. Finally, learning the solo to ‘Flirtin’ With Disaster’ just wouldn’t have cut it on any acoustic.

My Aria Sinsonido is super compact and also comes in a nicely padded gig bag. It’s been all over the world with me, proving itself as road-worthy time after time. The headphone output meant I’d be able to play anywhere, anytime, without drawing attention. But it’s a steel string model – not so friendly to high register pitch bends and other electric-style gymnastics.

My neighbor had an electric-style guitar from Traveler Guitars that he really enjoyed so I got in touch with them and told them of my plans. They sent over the very appropriate EG-2: full-scale neck, compact and solid, yet small framed and short in length with the tuners built into the body, and both standard 1/4″ guitar and 1/8″ headphone jacks. Add to that a well padded gig bag with extra pockets and carrying handles and straps. Guitar – check.

PLAY THAT FUNKY MUSIC, WHITE BOY!

My next challenge was figuring out how to play the song list for my band and jam with it at the same time. I had all the songs on my trusty iPod Touch, but had no way of looping sections for practice. I was also figuring out how to listen to the songs while playing along at equal volume. IK Multimedia’s Amplitube app and iRig interface to the rescue! Uploading the songs to the app, I was able to loop sections and adjust playback speed. With the iRig, my guitar interfaced perfectly with the app, allowing me to set playback and guitar levels, dial in killer tones through the amp modeling, and further shape my sound through pedal effects. With the inclusion of the built-in tuner and metronome, I had the perfect all-in-one practice solution on a pocket-sized device. This setup was just what I needed and served me well, but when I was holed up in my hotel room, I wanted to break free of the headphones and extra cabling and rock out in the open (as much as rocking out in a hotel room will allow).

THIS ONE GOES TO 11! (but won’t disturb the neighbors)

I took a quick trip to Guitar Center (they’re everywhere!) and scoped out the micro amps. There was good variety and I tried every one, excitedly settling on a Danelectro HoneyTone. It had the best sound of all the amps, it was perfect in size (easily tossed into a backpack) and power (quiet enough to rock and not get kicked out of the hotel, to loud enough to rock and get kicked out of the hotel), and looked damn cool. Done!

I had my Mac laptop with me. One of my favorite practice tools is software by Roni Music called ‘Amazing Slow Downer’. Similar to Amplitube, it allows looping sections of music and adjusting playback speed, but also includes equalization, mix control, saving loop presets, and more. I initially balked at the $50 price tag, but it has become one of the best purchases I’ve made and I use it on a daily basis.

With the songs playing through my laptop’s speakers, and my EG-2 through the HoneyTone, I wailed to my heart’s content. The laptop, guitar, and micro amp were enough, but incorporating Amplitube into the mix really made for a fun time as I ran the guitar into the iRig, through the app’s amp modeling and pedal effects, and out to the HoneyTone. Now I was cookin’!

GO FORTH INTREPID TRAVELER!

With all the great, innovative, travel-friendly products on the market, there is no longer concern as to how to keep up with your six-string while on the road. With the gear mentioned above, I had everything I needed for full-on practicing and jamming: one small, compact padded gig bag for the guitar, and one laptop bag which easily held my computer, iPod Touch, HoneyTone, cables, picks, guitar magazines…

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Dan Coplan is senior staff writer at SMG. Dan is a Los Angeles based cinematographer and self-admitting guitar junkie. Email: dancoplan@sharemyguitar.com

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