GIGGING & RECORDING > TONE TIPS FROM THE ROAD
GEAR PARAMEDIC BY PAUL “TFO” ALLEN
You’re just starting to get into the music scene and
you’ve landed your first good
gig. Chances are you’re not
going to have a guitar tech having just started out, so on the
road, you need to be able to
take care of gear emergencies
on your own. When your gear
fails in the middle of a song,
you don’t even have the luxury
of bad tone. In order to make
sure your equipment is in top
shape and can be fixed quickly
if something takes a dive, I’m
going to share a few tricks I’ve
come up with on the fly—often
in the middle of a show.
In my experience, a blown
fuse is the most common culprit
when my rig stops producing
sound. Along with packing an
essentials kit, I always make
sure I have spare fuses. Because
reviving your sound quickly is
the most important task, taping
spare fuses to the back of your
amp will eliminate having to
dig around in your bag of spare
parts to find a replacement.
Simply place a couple of fuses on
the sticky side of a piece of gaffer
tape and adhere the tape to the
back panel of your amp. On the
subject of fuses, I’ve heard some
borderline-elitist-tone-smiths
bicker back and forth about
the direction a fuse should be
installed. But after consulting
several amp makers and my own
ears, I’ve concluded that the
direction the fuse is facing does
not affect an amp’s tone.
When I’m about to go
on tour, I also pack a Line 6
Pocket Pod. If a tube or fuse
change doesn’t bring an amp
back to life, plugging a Pocket
Pod or similar product into a
DI is a good way to finish out
a set and troubleshoot your
amp after the gig. And before
hitting the road, I make sure
the Pocket Pod is loaded with a
batch of usable, core sounds by
using the free Vyzex software.
For tips on programming great
sounds with any guitar-mod-eling software, check out my
column called “The Beauty of
DI” [November 2011].
Many of the shows I do
require a high level of stage
energy, and with that, another
problem I’ve encountered is
strap buttons coming loose or
completely out of the guitar. I
remember the first time my top
strap button ripped out and I
had to finish the song by holding the guitar with my forearm
and hip! Thankfully, the singer’s
solo-acoustic songs were next
in the set, which gave me a
little time to fix the problem.
I quickly scanned the stage for
something I could stuff into
the screw cavity so the screw
would have something to grab
for threading. I ended up using
a guitar pick to scoop out some
drumstick shavings from the
space between the hoop and
bearing edge of the drummer’s
snare drum. After cramming
the shavings into the cavity and
screwing the button back in,
I had enough hold to get me
through the rest of the show.
Nowadays, I always pack toothpicks with my gear, should the
situation arise again.
A friend of mine recently
shared a story with a similar
theme. He’s a world-class guitar
tech and while changing strings
on an acoustic guitar during a
show, a black bridge pin slipped
out of his hand and was swallowed by an unlit stage that
was covered in black carpet. In
a moment of fast thinking, he
used his wire cutters to trim a
long, thin section of wood from
the actual stage, which was built
out of plywood. His bridge-pin-like contraption saved the day
by holding the string in place
well enough to get the guitarist
through the rest of the show.
Slides are another item that
can be easily lost or broken.
My first aid kit: Extra SIT strings, Dunlop 218 slide, Dunlop Victor capo,
toothpicks, 1/4" adaptor, Dunlop Picker’s Pouch, Planet Waves Pro-Winder, spare fuses, and earplugs.
Your ears are the devices that allow you to
interpret timbral quality, so the biggest tone
tip I could ever offer guitarists is reminding
them to protect their hearing.
While I prefer Dunlop’s 218
glass slides, I also carry a
Dunlop 222 steel slide—just in
case something happens to my
218. In a pinch, I’ve used everything from beer and nail polish
bottles, to shot glasses and glasshoused candles to play slide
in situations where my actual
slides had been compromised.
It’s a good idea to pack a
“first aid kit” of all of your
essential, guitar-playing tools
before you head out to a show. I
prefer to keep everything in clear
makeup bags because I can see
what’s inside without having to
open it. The most valuable item
in my kit? Earplugs. Wearing
earplugs will help preserve your
hearing so you can continue to
accurately dial in great tones
in your later years. Your ears
are the devices that allow you
to interpret timbral quality, so
the biggest tone tip I could ever
offer guitarists is reminding
them to protect their hearing.
PAUL “TFO” ALLEN
is a multi-instrumentalist
who has worked with Big
& Rich, Adele, Sebastian
Bach, 112, Jake Owen,
Larry the Cable Guy, and
many others. He also
has his own project called Ten Finger
Orchestra, and can be reached at
tenfingerorchestra@yahoo.com.
36 PREMIER GUITAR FEBRUARY 2012
premierguitar.com
