Jazz and session legend Marcus Miller talks about recording with Miles Davis, his treasured 1977 Jazz bass, and the stripped-down approach he took on his new solo album, "Renaissance."
Photo by Michael Sauvage
Marcus Miller is one of the cornerstones of modern electric bassāa veritable 4-string titan who has played alongside jazz giants (Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Mike Stern, Wayne Shorter, and Stanley Clarke), recorded with rock outfits (Scritti Politti, Doves, Bryan Ferry), and been sampled liberally by hip-hop artists (including Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg). Considering that heās got signature Fender basses, his own line of DR bass strings, and a massive and dizzyingly diverse discographyāas a solo artist, player, and producerāsurely he has nothing to prove.
Or does he? Chatting from his home in Los Angeles, the New York City native sounds anything but complacent as he discusses the process behind his new album, Renaissanceāhis fifth solo effort. āThis time I just wanted to make it about the performances,ā says Miller, who eschewed the slick R&B production of previous solo albums like 2008ās Marcus and 2001ās M2 for a stripped-down live sound augmented by ace young guns like guitarist Adam Rogers, drummer Louis Cato, and saxophonist Alex Han.
āThatās where the renaissance idea comes in for me,ā says Miller, 51. āItās a return to five or six guys playing in the studio, doing things that, frankly, not everybody can do.ā Supported by sultry horns and smart, sassy original compositions like āDetroitā and āMr. Clean,ā Miller lets his funk flag fly high, turning in dangerous grooves and chord changes, as well as stellar solos. Throughout, his cherished 1977 Fender Jazz bass pumps out a fat but intensely detailed tone that perfectly complements his unrivaled thumb technique.
But even after 35 years on the sceneāand with his place in music history long since securedāMiller remains creatively restless and determined to push himself even further.
Marcus Miller plucks one of his Jazz basses outfitted with a faux tortoiseshell pickguard. Photo by Michael Sauvage
Is the new album title, Renaissance, intended
to suggest a musical rebirth of sorts?
About five years ago, right after my last
studio album, I said, āOkay, Iām going to
really try to find a new sound.ā I intentionally
put myself into musical situations
where I could find some fresh, creative
inspiration. I did a live album with an
orchestra in France [2011ās A Night in
Monte Carlo], I did a live project with
Stanley Clarke and Victor Wooten [2008ās
Thunder], and I did the album TutuĀ Revisitedāan homage to an album I did
with Miles Davisāand many other things.
During the Tutu Revisited tour, I started working with some younger musicians. I hoped that would bring a new energy to some of that Tutu material, which at that time was already 25 years old. I really enjoyed playing with them, and we developed a very interesting sound. I thought it would be nice to write music specifically for this group and do an album that focused on great performances and compositions, not focusing so much on the production, like I had on my last few records.
Electronic music production seemed to
define the last decade, but thereās a huge
return to more organic recording lately.
Yeah, I mean it used to be that if you were
working with samplers, you really had to
know your way around a studio to make
music. But now all youāve got to do is know
your way to the Apple store, and you can
figure out how to do that stuff. For me,
what makes what we as musicians do special
is our ability to perform it right there in
real time. So I figured Iād try to display that
instead. I mean, the sampling thing is
coolāwhenever new creative approaches
present themselves, itās up to us to see
what we can do with it, and I love what
we were doing with the samplersābut at
this point, it feels like whatās really fresh
is just to strip it down.
Miller on His Go-To Jazz Basses
āMan, there are advantages to playing the same instrument for 35 years!ā laughs Marcus Miller, whose workhorse 1977 Fender Jazz Bassāoutfitted with a Bartolini preamp and a Badass bridgeāis the very same instrument he played on Miles Davisā Man with the Horn album in 1981 and on late-ā70s sessions with artists like Luther Vandross and Joan Armatrading. āWhen youāve played an instrument that long, you really know all the sounds itās got to offer.ā Millerās Fender signature model Jazz bass pays tribute to the original and features a natural finish, a 2-band active EQ, a Badass II bridge, and, of course, the distinctive chrome pickup cover.
āI bring one of my [signature Fender] 5-strings on the road with me,ā Miller adds, ābut a lot of times Iāll just tune my 4-stringās E down rather than take the time to switch bassesābecause I got so used to doing that from my session days. A lot of those old Luther Vandross R&B records were drop C, and even with Miles I was often down to an A on the bottom. I had octaves going, A to A, on the bottom, and man, it was pretty tubby sounding. But back in the ā70s, before they had extended-range basses, thatās how you did itāand you knew your fingerings in D and C just as well as you knew them in E.ā āJames Rotondi
āRedemption,ā āMr. Clean,ā and
other songs on this album have some
great solos. How is approaching a
bass solo different than approaching
a guitar soloādoes it come down to
harmonic support?
For a bass player, thereās an inherent
requirement to maintain a sense of
rhythm and to really present the harmony
very clearlyābecause usually
thereās no one else holding that down for
you. I have a couple of different ways to
approach it: A lot of my solos are basically
glorified, involved bass lines. So,
in a sense, itās as if there were someone
still playing the bassāit just happens to
be me while Iām soloing. I like to play
āquestion-and-answer,ā where Iāll play
the question up high, and the answer
down low, so thereās always a kind of
rhythmic and harmonic motion going
on. So thatās one challenge, that thereās
no bass player behind you.
But also, a lot of the time, thereās no harmony behind you, either. If the piano and guitar player are playing too busy, obviously it can cover up what youāre doing. But if you ask them to be more sparse, then youāre going to have to be more clear about the harmony. Unfortunately, a lot of bass players arenāt that familiar with harmony, and thatās where they can get into trouble. You donāt have those kinds of concerns with guitar. If you play an Ab major triad on guitar over a D bass note, itās clear what youāre doing. If you do it on bass, itās just an Ab triad, unless youāve figured out how to make people hear that D as well.
Personally, I donāt really enjoy hearing a bass playing melodically by itself with no underpinning. To me, it sounds like a lot of the information is going on in the bass playerās head. Sure, heās hearing the harmony and the rhythm, but no oneās actually playing it, so what is the listener really getting? Another solution, of course, is to just have somebody play bass under youāwhich Iāve done from time to timeāand there youāre a little more free to leave space and to phrase in a more vocal-like manner.
Millerās primary bass for the last 35 years is a 1977 Fender Jazz model outfitted with a Badass bridge and a Bartolini preamp. Photo by Michael Sauvage
Has your plucking-hand technique
changed much over the years?
I attack the string with my thumb pretty
much the same way I always haveājust
beyond the end of the neckābecause
thatās a really sweet spot on my particular
instrument. Some guys do it more on the
neck, which creates more false harmonics.
Iāve always hit just in front of the end
of the fretboard, because I need a sound
thatās strong on the fundamentals. But itās
changed with my plucking fingers, and
itās pretty fluidāeven when Iām doing the
thumb-style playing. When slapping, I used
to only pluck with my index finger, but
I started incorporating my middle finger,
as well. And when Iām using the thumb
more like a pick, moving up and down the
strings, I have to move my thumb away
from that sweet spot to make sure I can get
even strokes going up and down.
When I was doing sessions all the time, Iād pluck in the standard spot for a Jazz bass, which is just between the two pickupsāwhere that meaty sound is. When I started making solo records, though, I began to address the fact that I never liked the transition from fingerstyle to slap and plucking style. So I started doing my fingerstyle strokes really close to the neck, using a really heavy attack, so that it almost sounded like a full pluck even though it was a finger stroke. That way, when I switched over to a thumb and a pluck, the sound was more consistent. On my own albums, youāll almost always hear me using that style.
Over the last few years, Iāve started to move my right hand back and forth a lot more, all over the bass, and itās helped me realize that I donāt need to fool around with my tone [settings] as much if I just choose a different placement of my fingersāand that allows me to play in very different ways.
What sorts of ways?
You can play way back by the bridge, and
another great spot is just about an inch and
a half to the left of the back pickup. It still
really sings, but you also get a little more of
the meat that you donāt when youāre all the
way to the back pickup.
Miller onstage with a sunburst Fender J and an EBS
TD660 head driving twin EBS 4x10s. Note the Bionic
Man ... er action figure sitting atop the EBS rack.
Photo by Andrea Scognamillo
What do you practice these daysāis it
still mostly scales and arpeggios?
I start by just warming
up, which is really important.
A lot of younger players donāt realize
that. Iāll just play scales really slowly, usually
when Iām talking with somebody and going
over the set before soundcheckājust to get
everything moving. And then Iāll find scales
that involve all the fingersāfor instance,
whole-tone scales in different permutationsājust to get all my fingers moving.
For example, I might play the notes Bb,
Db, A, and G using a 4ā2ā3ā1 finger pattern
on the E and A strings, and then move
that patternāand variations on itāup
and down the neck. Iāll use both scales and
arpeggios for that.
Then Iāll move into some bebop-based stuff, because Iām always trying to keep that connection between my imagination and my technique. Iāll improvise and try to play exactly what Iām hearing in my head. And if I get stuck, and I canāt play what Iām hearing, Iāll make a little exercise out of it and work on that until itās happening. That type of practicing takes me all over the place, and thatās necessary, because I do a lot of improvisation, and I really need to be sure I can get to where I need when I want.
Sometimes, Iām running standard jazz-tune changes. Other times, I may be superimposing harmony over a single chord, like I was talking about earlier, to really get a sense of working the melody, harmony, and rhythm all at the same time. Iāll usually end up playing with different rhythmsākeeping the beat, but flipping it around and turning it upside down, while making sure itās steady and feels good. Because, in the end, if you donāt bring together all the stuff that Iām talking about in a rhythm that feelsĀ good, itās kind of meaningless.
Marcus Miller's Gear
Basses
Various 1977 Fender Jazz basses, Fender
Marcus Miller Jazz signature 4-strings,
Fender Marcus Miller Jazz V 5-strings
Amps
SWR Marcus Miller bass preamp and
SWR Power 750 power amps driving SWR
Marcus Miller Golight 800-watt 4x10 cabs
(live), EBS Fafner II head driving EBS
NeoLine Pro 4x10 cabs (live)
Effects
MXR Blow Torch, MXR Bass Octave
Deluxe, MXR Bass Compressor, MXR
Phase 90 (āfor whenever I want to
play āMoney, Money, Moneyā by the
O-Jaysā), MXR Micro Flanger, Dunlop
Cry Baby 105Q wah, Fulltone OCD
(used on the ballistic third chorus
to the new albumās āDetroitā), a
Rodenberg GAS-808, Electro-Harmonix POG, Ernie Ball volume
pedal, Sanford & Sonny Bluebeard
Fuzz, dbx 166 compressor (studio)
Strings and Picks
DR Strings Fat Beams Marcus
Miller 4- (.045ā.105) and 5-string
(.045ā.125) sets, DR Hi-Beams
In the ā80s and ā90s, you
played and recorded with
everyone from Peabo Bryson to
Luther Vandross, Mariah Carey,
David Sanborn, and Paul Simon.
You even played on Donald
Fagenās 1982 masterpiece, The Nightfly.
What were those early days as a session
cat like?
As a studio musician in New York, there
are two types of players. Thereās the musicianāmore of a chameleonāwhoās good
at finding the sound thatās necessary for
a particular record, and then thereās the
guy who you donāt call unless you want
his unique sound. I was somewhere in the
middle. Iād get to the session and see what
was required, and if it seemed like they
were looking for the kind of sound everybody
knew me for, Iād break that out. But
other times, it was clear that my regular
style wasnāt going to be appropriate.
Donald Fagen, for instance, wanted a straight, clear fingerstyle Jazz bass sound. That was my first time working with Donald and his producer Gary Katz. All the studio musicians in New York were warning me about Fagen. āMan, heās going to have you playing that thing over and over until you get it right!ā He was famous for that. So I came in ready to spend lots of time there, and I did four or five songs, two takes each, and he said, āThatās great!ā and sent me on my way. I was like, āHey, that didnāt hurt at all!ā Now, I did hit him with a little thumb [playing]ābut he took it off. I hit āI.G.Y.ā like a gospel shuffleālike a Luther Vandross āBad Boy/Having a Partyā funk styleāand he was, like, āNo! Way, way too excitingāthank you very much!ā
YouTube It
Need video proof of how badass Marcus Miller is? Click to the worldās TV and find out.
Snapping and popping rule the day
in this clip from Millerās 2008 stint at
the annual Lugano Festival Jazz in
Switzerland.
>
Miller displays his impeccable fingerstyle
work in this 1982 clip with Miles
Davis and guitarist Mike Stern at the
Hammersmith Odeon in London.
On this rendition of the Jaco
Pastorius/Weather Report classic
āTeen Town,ā Miller gets in a major
hammer-on workout before taking the
funk factor to the nth degree.
In a career defined by evolution, Joe Bonamassa is ready to turn the page once again. The blues-rock virtuoso has just announced Breakthrough, his most adventurous and genre-blending studio album to date, out July 18th via his own J&R Adventures.
At the heart of the announcement is the release of the albumās powerful title trackāāBreakthrough' āa soulful, hard-hitting anthem about letting go, moving forward, and finding your fire again, available today on all streaming platforms.
Crafted across multiple continents and infused with a worldās worth of inspiration, Breakthrough marks a bold new chapter for Bonamassaāone that leans on fiery solos, emotionally rich storytelling, groove-driven arrangements, and stylistic exploration. Produced by longtime creative partner Kevin Shirley (Iron Maiden, The Black Crowes, Journey), the album was shaped by sessions in Greece, Egypt, Nashville, and Los Angeles, resulting in a vibrant sonic tapestry that shifts effortlessly from funky blues and Texas swing to acoustic ballads and swaggering hard rock.
Joe Bonamassa āBreakthroughā - Official Lyric Video
Watch the official lyric video for "Breakthrough" by Joe Bonamassa
āI think this album, Breakthrough, marks a shift in the styling of Joe Bonamassaās recording output,ā says Shirley. āWhile there are plenty of guitar solos on this record, his emphasis has been on songs primarily. Each time Joe undertakes a new recording project, he seems to access a different part of his vast library of music genre from the jukebox-in-his-head! This album is a round-the-world musical tripāfrom Little Feat funkiness to Texas swing, from hard rock power to acoustic singer/songwriter-style songs.ā
The newly released single āBreakthrough,ā co-written with longtime collaborator Tom Hambridge (Buddy Guy, ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd), captures the emotional core of the recordāan uplifting anthem about transformation, persistence, and letting go of the weight that holds us back. With gritty vocals, melodic guitar lines, and lush instrumentation, the track embodies Bonamassaās signature blend of power and finesse while ushering in a bold new direction.
āBreakthroughā follows the success of Bonamassaās recent singles āStill Walking With Meā and āShake This Ground,ā both of which hinted at the adventurous spirit behind the full album. āShake This Groundā delivered a moody, introspective edge, while āStill Walking With Meā leaned into warmth, gratitude, and classic soul. Each track reflects a different facet of Bonamassaās evolving songwriting approach, rooted in emotional honesty and anchored by his unmistakable guitar work.
The album announcement caps a stretch of extraordinary momentum for Bonamassa. Next up, Bonamassa recently began his extensive *European Spring Tour, followed by a June run with his powerhouse supergroup Black Country Communion* (featuring Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham, and Derek Sherinian). After another round of summer dates across Europeāincluding sold-out shows in Irelandāheāll return stateside for his just-announced* 2025 U.S. Summer Tour*, a limited amphitheater run featuring stops at The Greek Theatre, Red Rocks, and more iconic venues.
With over 50 albums, 28 #1 Billboard Blues albums, and a lifelong commitment to evolving the genre, Bonamassa shows no signs of slowing down. Whether headlining iconic venues, mentoring rising artists through Journeyman Records, or supporting music education via his Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation, Bonamassa continues to shape the future of blues-rock with every note.
For more information on Breakthrough, tour dates, and VIP packages, visit jbonamassa.com.
Patterns can be viewed as boring or trite, but a little bit of creativity can turn them into bits of inspiration.
Chops: Intermediate Theory: Intermediater Lesson Overview: ⢠Learn different ways to arrange scales. ⢠Combine various sequences to create more intersting lines. ⢠Solidify your technique by practicing unusual groupings of notes. Click here to download a printable PDF of this lesson's notation. |
I want to offer some food for thought on making sequences musical. Using sequences in our playing helps develop our musicianship in various ways. It can help us tune into the fretboard, develop melodic ideas all around the neck, and further our improvisation and compositional skills. So, spending time with sequences is certainly not time wasted. Please note that I sometimes use the word ārule" in this column, this is only a pointer to keeping on track of our exploration of these concepts. The intellect is very useful, but intuition is where the creativity comes from. When in balance lots of great things can be done. Let's get stuck in!
It's simple to play a scale from bottom to top, or top to bottom, but we can develop a sequence by shuffling these notes around. In Ex. 1 we have a C Major scale (CāDāEāFāGāAāB) played in thirds followed by a sequence highlighting the diatonic triads of the major scale. By following a ārule" we can develop many different sequences. The options are endless and a little overwhelming.
Click here for Ex. 1
Lets start by simply combining an interval sequence with an arpeggio sequence. In Ex. 2, the first two beats of the first measure feature ascending thirds. This is then followed by a triad arpeggio starting from the third note on the string. The next set of thirds then starts on the āand" of beat 4. The entire sequence is a seven-note pattern that is created by combining two thirds and a triad. It gives us a nice bit of rhythmic displacement as the phrase is now starting in a different place in the measure.
Click here for Ex. 2
Ex. 3 is a descending idea in A minor that basically flips the sequence we looked at in Ex. 2. Here, we are starting with two descending thirds before the triad. I'm using pull-offs and economy picking to articulate the triads. This one works well over D minor as well if you want a D Dorian (DāEāFāGāAāBāC) flavor.
Click here for Ex. 3
You can see the effectiveness of combining different sequences and groupings of notes to create interesting runs. It's also really effective for making phrases. In Ex. 4 we take a small fragment from Ex. 3 and change the rhythm. In the sound example I repeat this a few times over some implied chords in my bass line: Am, F, and Dm. It's great to get more from one line by seeing the different chord types you can play it over.
Click here for Ex. 4
In Ex. 5 we're going to start using fourths and fifths. It starts with an ascending A minor triad (AāCāE) before leaping to the 9 (B) and then hitting a G major triad (GāBāD). A similar pattern leads into the C major triad (CāEāG). Throwing in these wider intervals alongside triads is very effective for creating a dramatic sounding runs.
Click here for Ex. 5
For our next example (Ex. 6), we will take fragments from Ex. 5 and space them out a bit. I wanted once again to show how these sequence ideas can also be helpful for developing melodic phrases. Once we have a cool sequence or fragment, all we need to do is be creative with how we play it. We can change the rhythm, harmonic context, dynamic, and much more.
Click here for Ex. 6
Before we move on, it's important to remember that we can add colorful notes to our triads. Let's begin with some seventh-chord arpeggios. Ex 7 features are diatonic seventh arpeggios in G minor (functioning as a IIm chord) to get a Dorian sound.
Click here for Ex. 7
Ex. 8 is a little gratuitous of me. It begins with an idea made of several different concepts. First, we start with an Am7 arpeggio (AāCāEāG), then descend down an A5 arpeggio. I follow that up with diatonic thirds and end with a pedal-point sequence. If that's not enough, we then take this bigger idea and fit it around a chord progression. I move it to G7, Dm7 and then I break my ārule" slightly and outline notes of a C6 arpeggio (CāEāGāA). However, it does keep the same melodic contour of the initial idea. I used my ear and fretboard to guide me. It's always healthy to have a fine balance between intellect and intuition.
Click here for Ex. 8
We dig into C harmonic minor (CāDāEbāGāAbāB-C) for Ex. 9's monster two-measure lick. It sounds evil! In composing this phrase, I kept to the basic concept of finding seventh-chord arpeggios within C harmonic minor in the 8th position. I followed my ear as well as my slowly developing intellect. However, if you look closely you can see I was following a mini chord progression through this line. We start out with a CmMaj9 arpeggio (CāEbāGāBāD) in the first beat, followed by a G7b9 arpeggio (GĀāBāDāFāAb). Here we have a very strong Im-V7 movement in C minor. I then move back to our CmMaj9 arpeggio and in the second measure we start descending down an Eb augmented triad (EbāGāB). This is then followed by more CmMaj9 goodness.
Click here for Ex. 9
Ex. 10 is now taking Ex. 9 and extending it into a cool flamenco-inspired melody. The rhythms in this were inspired by the incredible Paco De Lucia. I follow the sequence from the previous example almost exactly, but I use a bit of artistic license to repeat certain fragments to fit into a ātop line" or āhead"-style melody.
Click here for Ex. 10
My aim here isn't to give you one rule to follow but instead to encourage you to take the sequences you know and love and start getting more out of them. Enjoy and stay safe!
Neutrikās Timbre plug, made for toggling between capacitors.
This follow-up to May 2025ās column shows you a few basic techniques to inject some capacitance into your rig.
Hello, and welcome back to Mod Garage. This month, we will dive into the details of how to add additional guitar-cable capacitanceāthe right way. Time to get started!
Letās begin with some typical additional capacitance values that certain lengths of cable (or capacitors) can bring to your system:
⢠10ā vintage coiled cable (approx. 3 meters) -> 1 nF
⢠15ā vintage coiled cable (approx. 4.5 meters) -> 1.5 nF
⢠20ā vintage coiled cable (approx. 6 meters) -> 2.2 nF
⢠30ā vintage coiled cable (approx. 9 meters) -> 3.3 nF
⢠Ritchie Blackmore-style, ultra-long vintage coiled cable -> 4.7 nF
I listed standard values here, so you should have no problem getting caps to match them in any local electronics store or online; the type of cap doesnāt really matter and will mostly be dominated by size, but Iāll share more about this in a minute.
Letās quickly summarize the first installment of this column from last monthās issue: From a technical point of view, added capacitance shifts down the resonance frequency of the pickups, so they sound fatter, especially when using overdrive. This is exactly the reason why a lot of distortion and fuzz boxes with a vintage voicing use an additional cap at the input section; the resulting overdriven tone is fat and warm.
This monthās mod, which involves adding a capacitor to your signal, works best with vintage-flavored single-coil pickups (approximately 2.4 H inductance) or a typical old-school PAF-style pickup (approximately 3.8 H inductance). Modern high-output pickups are often sporting inductances of 6 H to 8 H, and donāt sound very good with this modāwhen adding more cable capacitance to such pickups, the result is a dull and wooly tone without any clearness and definition. If you want to make your single-coil guitar sound more Les Paul-ish, you should try a 4.7n capacitor. It will shift the resonance frequency of your single-coil pickups down to the typical PAF ballpark, making for a very cool and usable old-fashioned guitar tone. It might feel a little muffled when playing clean, but ultra fat and punchy when using overdrive! In general, values higher than 4.7n are not recommended.
We have two options for where to install our cap.
On the Guitar Cable
This is the easiest location to add additional capacitance to your system, with several mod options:
1. The lightest mod ever isnāt a mod at allāitās to simply buy a vintage guitar cable and plug it in whenever you need it! I donāt know of any company that offers modern guitar cables with intentionally high capacitance.
2. The Neutrik company offers a special angled plug, called the Timbre Plug, that you can solder to any guitar cable of your choice. The plug has a 4-way rotary knob on top to toggle between different capacitors. In addition to a bypass setting, the plug offers capacitances of 1nF, 2.2nF, and 3.3nF, letting you simulate different cable lengths on the fly.
3. You can add an additional capacitor to any guitar cable of your choice to convert it into a ālonger-soundingā cable. You simply open one of the plugs to solder the cap between the hot and groundāthatās it. Small, 2.5 mm contact spacing ceramic caps are easy to put into a standard plug and are your weapon of choice here. Itās essential to only add the additional cap to one of the two plugs, but it doesnāt matter if you plug this side into your guitar, an effect, or your amp. This method allows you to build yourself some cables that simulate their older, longer relatives.
You can add an additional capacitor to any guitar cable of your choice to convert it into a ālonger-soundingā cable.
Photo courtesy SINGLECOIL (https://singlecoil.com)
Inside the Guitar
You can also add a cap (or several) inside your guitar if you only need this mod for one instrument. If youāre looking for added capacitance with all your guitars, youād be better off choosing one of the techniques mentioned above.
1. The easiest way is to solder your additional capacitor directly to your volume pot; this way it has a fixed value that canāt be changed and is always engaged. This operation is very simple to do, and you can use regular-sized caps for this.
You can add a cap (or several) inside your guitar if you only need this mod for one instrument.
Illustration courtesy SINGLECOIL (https://singlecoil.com)
2. If you want to make the cap switchable, such that you can run it either bypassed or engaged, you can install a SPST mini toggle switch or use half of a push-pull or push-push pot, which usually sport a DPDT switch underneath.
This drawing shows how to make your additional cap switchable.
Illustration courtesy SINGLECOIL (https://singlecoil.com)
3. If you want to use more than one cap to simulate different cable lengths, your weapon of choice is a rotary switch, setting up a kind of Gibson Varitone wiring without the inductor. Because we are switching capacitances, it is essential to run an additional 10 meg resistor in parallel to each of the caps, and to use a make-before-break, not a break-before-make, rotary switch to prevent loud popping noises when using the switch while your guitar is plugged into an amp. Leave the first lug of the rotary switch open for the bypass position without an additional cap.
If you want to use more than one cap to simulate different cable lengths, use a rotary switch.
Illustration courtesy SINGLECOIL (https://singlecoil.com)
4. If you want to make this mod even more flexible, you can add an additional ācable simulator potā to your system. The pot should have the same resistance as your volume pot, and should be wired to your volume pot. This way, for example, you can add a 3.3nF or 4.7nF cap to the extra pot, and dial in as much cable capacitance as you like.
You can also add an additional ācable simulator potā to your system.
Illustration courtesy SINGLECOIL (https://singlecoil.com)
On the Pedalboard
The idea of putting a rotary switch or cable-simulator-pot solution into an external unit to create a kind of extra-capacitance stompbox to use with all of your instruments is just around the corner, and yes, itās possible! However, I donāt recommend this, because itās physically located after the volume pot in the guitar, which means less volume (no unity gain) and less high end. But donāt worry: If you are looking for a pedalboard solution to simulate different cable lengths (which, as we defined earlier, means to shift the resonance frequency of the pickups), there are some active solutions on the market offering such a feature, usually in combination with a boost or buffer functionality. To name just a few, you should look into the Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster, Stellartone Micro Pedal, or the i2e Audio AG1.0 The PURR. Along with some other brands, these pedals will do the trick, and theyāre not difficult to build if you are looking for a DIY solution.
So far, Iāve received several emails from readers asking for some more DIY guitar tools, so next month, we will look into some sustainable and environmentally friendly DIY guitar helpersāall of which you can build yourself easily by upcycling things you already have at home. Stay tuned!
Until then... keep on modding!
MayFly Le Habanero Review
Great versatility in combined EQ controls. Tasty low-gain boost voice. Muscular Fuzz Face-like fuzz voice.
Can be noisy without a lot of treble attenuation. Boost and fuzz order can only be reversed with the internal DIP switch.
$171
May Fly Le Habanero
A fuzz/boost combo thatās as hot as the name suggests, but which offers plenty of smoky, subdued gain shades, too.
Generally speaking, I avoid combo effects. If I fall out of love with one thing, I donāt want to have to ditch another thatās working fine. But recent fixations with spatial economy find me rethinking that relationship. MayFlyās Le Habanero (yes, the Franco/Spanish article/noun mash-up is deliberate) consolidates boost and fuzz in a single pedal. Thatās far from an original concept. But the characteristics of both effects make it a particularly effective one here, and the relative flexibility and utility of each gives this combination a lot more potential staying power for the fickle.
āLe Habaneroās fuzz circuit has a deep switch that adds a little extra desert-rock woof.ā
The fuzz section has a familiar Fuzz Face-like tone profileāa little bit boomy and very present in that buzzy mid-ā60s, midrangey kind of way. But Le Habaneroās fuzz circuit has a deep switch that adds a little extra desert-rock woof (especially with humbuckers) and an effective filter switch that enhances the fuzzās flexibilityāespecially when used with the boost. The boost is a fairly low-gain affair. Even at maximum settings, it really seems to excite desirable high-mid harmonics more than it churns out dirt. Thatās a good thing, particularly when you introduce hotter settings from the boostās treble and bass controls, which extend the boostās voice from thick and smoky to lacerating. Together, the boost and fuzz can be pushed to screaming extremes. But the interactivity between the tone and filter controls means you can cook up many nuanced fuzz shades spanning Jimi scorch and Sabbath chug with tons of cool overtone and feedback colors.