FAQ's

AUDIO FAQ: Some of our audio samples date back to 1997, a large group were posted on the Net in '98, and those over 2-3 minutes were posted in or after Y2K. Back in early 1998 no one else was posting a lot of guitar gear recordings. We did our best guess to demo some rare gear so it was interesting and fun, not an ego trip. In the 90s download speeds were too slow for long recordings. As of September 2012 we're still in process of reloading our old audio, and organizing the newer stuff.                     email-->  tonefrenzy@gmail.com

About our attitude: You know gear makes noise, sometimes a lot and people play wrong notes. So when you hear our familiar clicks and sliding fingers on the audio, it will sound familiar.  If an imperfect riff brought out good stuff from the gear, we used it. For a session we'd obsess to avoid noises and edit out imperfections, but among our own we let it be. If a pedal was noisy, if the On/Off switch klunks, you'll hear what we heard; honestly checking out the gear, as it actually went down.  

We realize, carefully recording this gear, adding noise reduction, limiting/compression, reverb, delay and editing details at great length, would produce a slicker outcome. For the record; :-) anyone after a recording career, be sure to study studio production too, not just vintage gear!  

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Pairs samples: 
Occasionaly, you'll hear a riff on the Stratocaster, then immediately repeated on the Les Paul. Some of these "pairs" worked out well, and are used side by side, to deepen the comparison. The "Golden Ears" among you will identify these quickly, the rest of us may improve our ability to discern. Some, clicking on different pedals will hear the same audio, it's actually the same guitar riffs through similar sounding pedals. There have to be 20 Tubescreamer clones that sound like clones, too!  

Another idea we used is representation of extremes: Twisting knobs to extreme suturation/drive/ EQ & volume. Every one of you guys got the family car to yourself one day. Every one of you will wonder, "how fast can this thing really go"? We maxed many pedals to accont for that impulse. 

Since you couldn't be here to test the extremes of the effects, we set out to do it for you. The "Twist Tests" help address a range of tastes: They are usually placed at the beginning of each effect's samples demonstrating the attack & sustain of an effect: A triad is struck in the first position and allowed to sustain, and decay four times. Three of the cord strikes are played through Strat pickup settings, number three of the four, is a Les Paul pickup mounted in the bridge position of a Strat. This guitar, (on this one test), was felt to produce a meaningful contrast between Fender and Gibson pickup sounds. It's also a very popular configuration for many Strat/Stratoid hybrid players. 

This alerts those interested, to any difference in sound from our other samples using a stock Fender, and Gibson. The volume and effect intensity were usually increased as this test progresses; from moderate early on, to more of everything, over time. Every attempt was made to make the adjustments during slience. We hope we twisted softer, and louder than most would want. 

Later; the dials, sliders, are adjusted on the fly while playing is in progress. This lets you hear some of the places "in between", we missed. Some of you may thrill to a tone we couldn't appreciate, we've tried not to saddle you with our tastes. You may hear something for three seconds, only in this sample, and that's the sound you've always wanted. Eureka you found it! All of you couldn't be there to spin the nobs at these sessions, so we tried to do it for you. From that point on; most of the samples represent a progression, from moderate volume & effect settings, often growing in intensity. We tried to match varied styles to sounds, and set the effects as soft, and loud as most would like. Again: we hope we overdid the "range" of expression occasionally. Straight up folks: One man's bad taste, is another man's hit record! 

In closing: 
This approach is thorough: you will know how the effects sound. There is a reasonable basis for comparison, represented in a familiar signal chain. The unavoidable coloration of numerous electronic devices, and environments has been minimized. You'll hear that some pieces have a larger, or smaller variety of neat sounds. You'll hear most effects, across the range of sound they produce. We hope you enjoy, and benefit from our effort. Thanks! 

Tools For Recording/Testing Purposes: 
The samples you'll hear, recorded the direct guitar signal from the Strat, and Les Paul guitars, into a SEKD, 96KHz, 24 Bit hard disk recorder. When testing an effect, this recorded direct signal is fed through the output of the effect, into a Line6 POD set for clean. The mono output of the POD is then recorded onto the same SEKD, (96 KHz, 24 Bit) hard disk recorder. Cables used: Monster Studio. Power Supply: Fulltone "Black Box". AC Only units: Straight into a power conditioner. Hundreds of hours were spent trying to create some meaningful information about amplified guitar, and effect sounds, and tone. Thanks for reading! Tonefrenzy  email-->  tonefrenzy@gmail.com