He’s
far too modest to tell you himself, but Todd Sharp has racked up an
impressive list of credits in his +20 year pro career, having played and
recorded with Hall &Oates, Bob Welch, Randy Meisner, Mick Fleetwood,
Christine McVie, Carlene Carter, Richard Marx, and Rod Stewart.
Todd currently tours with Delbert McClinton, and he operates Nashville
Amplifier Service, which has attracted an equally
impressive client list for amp service, restoration and modifications.
Todd will be regularly contributing articles on Tone and amps in
particular in future issues of The ToneQuest Report.
Welcome,
my fellow guitarist brothers and sisters to my first column for The
ToneQuest Report. I’m very pleased to have been asked by the publisher
to contribute a regular article. First let me tell you a little about
myself.
I am a self-confessed, dual-addicted guitarist and amp-tech. I started
playing with electronics at age 7 (via ham radio), started playing
guitar at age 11, and I haven’t stopped playing with either since. I
have had a reasonably successful career playing the guitar for a living,
and I also operate Nashville Amplifier Service, Nashville, TN.
I’ve
played in some big time rock n’ roll bands, some not so big time rock
n’ roll bands, written a few successful tunes, earned a few awards
& gold records, and I’ve traveled all over the world playing &
recording. I released my own album, (a moment please, sniffle,
deep sigh, sniffle) done Mega Tours, little tiny tours, and played in
wonderful sounding theaters, concert halls, arenas, upholstered sewers,
casinos, bar-mitzvahs, and other various and assorted dream-concerts and
forgettable nightmares.
And
then there are the Amps, Guitars, Gadgets, Footbuttons, and The Great
Ones That Got Away. The ones I still have, the blown speakers, (they
always sound the best just before they blow), smoking amp chassis,
hundreds of nights I’ll never forget, and the nights I wish I could
remember!
Cut
to 1970:
“At
this point I’m struggling with switching from a Reverb-o-Rocket (my
first real amp) with the Maestro fuzz for my Teisco Del Ray (my
first ever guitar), to a Standel with Echoplex & reverb,
without getting shocked or tangled up in a bale of cable & buttonry!”
Cut
to 1996:
Well,
now I’m running a Robert Bradshaw midi switching system and Lexicon
& Eventide $3000.00 digital FX processors (finally replaced that
Echoplex, well, not quite-read on) along side a $28 compressor pedal I
built, plus a Urei 1176 limiter all driving a couple of Marshall Super
Lead 100’s via custom FX loops. But some things sound better in
front of the amps input than they do through the FX loop…
It’s
not gonna be easy to write about this ever important, and at times,
incredibly silly Quest for Tone that plagues us all. As an aid to
get me started, Dave (the publisher) has given me a list of things: amps
to review, ideas and topics on which I might comment etc. They range
from the practical – “Simple Amp Mods to Improve Tone &
Dynamics” to the generally neurotic – “Check List to Fix Sudden
Amp Problems” or, hey, “how about a Dumble review?” I plan to get
around to it all in issues to come. The challenge will be finding
something new and interesting to say on the already much discussed topic
of Amps, Guitars & Gear. So here goes:
I’ll
start with the first one on Dave’s list:
“Simple Amp Mods to Improve Tone
& Dynamics”
1)
Select the right trousers for the Gig. This is of ultimate importance
and can not be stressed too much. Pay particular attention to “fit”
if you know what I mean. A good “Rock Shirt” will fill out the
“Look,” as will the appropriate footwear.
2)
Footwear. Here’s another subject you just can’t ignore. I’ve been
through it all – women’s knee-high boots with three-inch heels (that
was a long time ago), cowboy boots, half boots, creepers… whatever
works for you and makes you feel …Tight, Right and Looking Good.
Personally, these days I go for style and comfort.
TIP:
Hush Puppy makes a lot of nice stuff and it’s not too expensive.
3)
Hair. Well, let’s just be thankful that the 80’s are over. Me, I
never could get a handle in this area. There are times when I
think things may have played out differently for me if I could have. Oh
well, where was I? Ah, hair...these days everything & anything goes
so don’t sweat it. You young guys coming up have it so much easier...
TIP:
Transferring hair gel, wax, or pomade from your head to your fret board
can be a real “toughie” and requires various solvents, liniments,
etc., to be available at a moment’s notice. Keep these behind your amp
out of audience view. By the way, since I recently dyed my coif blonde,
I have had two calls (out of the blue) from other guitarists who saw me
playing with Delbert McClinton. These guys tracked me down and both
wanted to know what amp I was using. Need I say more?
4)
I’ve had the good fortune to work with many a good Roadie (these days
we call them Guitar Techs). One such Englishman by the name of Boiler
with Rod Stewart’s crew was a master gaffer taper and a no-nonsense
wielder of the 9V battery. He also tuned well. Occasionally when I would
sneer at Boiler and ask, “What’s with the crackly-crackly?” he
would calmly re-direct my attention to a woman in the third row, center
section, 6th seat from the left who was showing us her…uh, breasts.
But most importantly, when he “donned” me with guitar, he would pull
my collar over the strap, straighten my lapel, give me the thumbs up and
say (in a north London accent) “Looking good though.” Hence, a
good Roadie is of paramount importance in the Quest for Real Tone.
5)
Whoa! I’m out of column and I haven’t even gotten to the Amp stuff
yet. Well, stay tuned. We’ll get to all what’s important in the
coming issues, rest assured of that. Oh, what the hell, here’s a quick
tip:
Remember-
whatever you sound like tonight, it’s likely to be completely
different tomorrow. So don’t panic, and try to resist buying the
equivalent of a $200.00 guitar cord. I used to own a $200.00 guitar cord
for long runs from control room to studio. It had arrows indicating
which way the sound was supposed to go. I’m not sure if it made any
difference except that it was expensive, and at the time that made me
feel good. I guess that means it made a difference. If you really
are a guitar player, I know you’ll understand that last sentence. Any
way, somebody stole the damn thing. Hey, that gives me an idea for a
future column....”All My Cool Gear Gets Stolen.”
Click
here for Schematics
Till
next month---
Todd
(put two locks on that thing) Sharp.
Todd
Sharp
Nashville Amplifier Service
TSharp3040@mindspring.com
615-591-7556
By the way, since
I lost my “gold necklace” cord, I went back to my trusty old
Echoplex which has an additional tube stage line driver yielding a lower
impedance output with adjustable gain. Every time I plug this thing in
(echo on or off) my guitar sounds better, and it will push the signal
around the block if I need it to.
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