Photo by Giulia Giannini McGauran
The gender-fluid multi-instrumentalist, producer, singer-songwriter, engineer and entrepreneur has carved out every step in their musical journey over the last 15 years. This has taken them from performing open mics night all over Australia, busking the streets of Melbourne to releasing platinum records, accumulating billions of streams and selling hundreds of thousands of concert tickets worldwide. Tash has continued to win awards across the globe including the Rolling Stone (AU) 2023 Global Artist of the Year.
Following the news that they will be touring Europe this year, Tash Sultana has just announced they will be headlining another series of North American shows from August to October 2023. Visiting some cities they have never performed in before as well some huge festivals, Tash Sultana is back.
Tash recently released the first single “James Dean,” from their upcoming EP due out later this year. This will be the first time North American fans will have to see new music performed live. “James Dean” is a powerful and soulful song about self-reflection and transformation. It's a heartfelt ode to learning who your true friends are and having the courage to cut ties with those who don't add value to your life. The song is driven by a strong guitar riff and a steady beat, while Tash’s passionate vocals entice you to reflect on the relationships you have and how you can make the necessary changes to move forward in life.
Tour Dates
AUG 22 -- The Rady Shell At Jacobs Park -- San Diego, CA
AUG 23 -- Avila Beach Resort -- Avila Beach, CA
AUG 25 -- Frost Amphitheater -- Stanford, CA
AUG 26 -- Britt Pavilion -- Jacksonville, OR
AUG 27 -- Thing -- Port Townsend, WA
AUG 29 -- Orpheum Theatre -- Vancouver, BC
AUG 30 -- Cuthbert Amphitheater -- Eugene, OR
SEP 1 -- Sandy Amphitheater -- Sandy, UT
SEP 2 -- Dillon Amphitheater -- Dillon, CO
SEP 3 -- Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater -- Vail, CO
SEP 5 -- Harrah's Kansas City - Voodoo Lounge -- Kansas City, MO
SEP 6 -- The Sylvee -- Madison, WI
SEP 8 -- The Salt Shed -- Chicago, IL
SEP 9 -- Megacorp Pavilion -- Newport, KY
SEP 10 -- Agora Theatre -- Cleveland, OH
SEP 12 -- Rebel -- Toronto, ON
SEP 13 -- Mtelus -- Montreal, QC
SEP 15 -- Roadrunner -- Boston, MA
SEP 16 -- Sea.Hear.Now -- Asbury Park, NJ
SEP 17 -- Kings Theatre -- Brooklyn, NY
SEP 19 -- Harrisburg University At The Forum -- Harrisburg, PA
SEP 20 -- Ting Pavilion -- Charlottesville, VA
SEP 22 -- The Tabernacle -- Atlanta, GA
SEP 23 -- The Pageant -- St. Louis, MO
SEP 24 -- Format Festival -- Bentonville, AR
SEP 27 -- The Fillmore -- New Orleans, LA
SEP 29 -- 713 Music Hall -- Houston, TX
SEP 30 -- The Pavilion At Toyota Music Factory -- Irving, TX
OCT 1 -- Mempho Music Festival -- Memphis, TN
Tickets are available at www.TASH sultana.com.
- Tash Sultana's Gear ›
- Fender Introduces the Tash Sultana Signature Stratocaster ›
- "I’ll Probably Literally F#cking Explode!" ›
Maxon OD-9 Overdrive Pedal
The Maxon OD-9 Overdrive Effects Pedal may look like your old favorite but that's where the similarity ends. Improved circuitry with a new chip yields the ultra-smooth dynamic overdrive guitarists crave. Drive and Level controls tweak the intensity and volume while the Hi-Boost/Hi-Cut tone controls adjust brightness. Features true bypass switching, a die-cast zinc case, and 3-year warranty. From subtle cries to shattering screams, the Maxon OD-9 delivers a huge range of tones.
Features
Improved circuitry with a new chip yields ultra-smooth dynamic overdrive
Drive and Level controls tweak the intensity and volume
Hi Boost/Hi Cut tone controls adjust brightness
True bypass switching
Die-cast zinc case
AC/DC operation (order optional Maxon AC210N adapter)
Product Specs
Input: 1/4" mono jack
Output: 1/4" mono jack
Power: 9V DC, 6 mA, center pin minus (not included)
Dimensions: (WxDxH) 74 mm x 124 mm x 54 mm
Weight: 580g
Fender’s Greasebucket system is part of Cory Wong’s sonic strategy.
Tone pot with Fender Greasebucket tone system:
This 250k tone pot is a standard CTS pot with a 90/10 audio taper found in all U.S.-built Fender guitars. The Cory Wong guitar uses the Fender Greasebucket system, which is added to the pot as a ready-to-solder PCB. The Greasebucket PCB is also available individually from Fender (part #7713546000), though you can use conventional electronic parts for this.
Fender introduced this feature in 2005 on some of the Highway One models and some assorted Custom Shop Strats. The Greasebucket name (which is a registered Fender trademark, by the way) is my favorite of Fender’s marketing names, but don’t let it fool you: Your tone will get cleaner with this modification, not greasy and dirty.
According to Fender, the Greasebucket tone circuit reduces high frequencies without adding bass as the tone knob is turned down. Don’t let that description confuse you. A standard Strat tone control does not add any bass frequencies! As you already know, with a passive system you can’t add anything that isn’t already there. You can reshape the tone by deemphasizing certain frequencies and making others more prominent. Removing highs makes lows more apparent and vice versa. In addition, the use of inductors (which is how a passive pickup behaves in a guitar circuit) and capacitors can create resonant peaks and valleys (band-passes and notches), further coloring the overall tone.
Cory Wong bringing the funk onstage.
This type of band-pass filter only allows certain frequencies to pass through, while others are blocked. The standard tone circuit in a Strat is called a variable low-pass filter (or a treble-cut filter), which only allows the low frequencies to pass through while the high frequencies get sent to ground via the tone cap.
The Greasebucket’s band-pass filter is a combination of a high-pass and a low-pass filter. This is supposed to cut high frequencies without “adding” bass, which has mostly to do with the resistor in series with the pot. That resistor means the control will never get to zero. You can get a similar effect by simply not turning the Strat’s standard tone control all the way down. (The additional cap on the wiper of the Greasebucket circuit complicates things a bit, though; together with the pickups it forms an RLC circuit, but I really don’t want to get into that here.)
The standard Fender Greasebucket tone system is used in the Cory Wong Strat, which includes a 0.1 μF cap and a 0.022 uF cap, along with a 4.7k-ohm resistor in series. These are the values used on the PCB, and without the PCB it looks like the illustration at the top of this column.
Push-push tone pot with preset overwriting function:
The lower tone pot assigned to the bridge pickup is a 250k audio push-push pot with a DPDT switch. The switch is used to engage a preset sound by overwriting the 5-way pickup-selector switch, no matter what switching position it is in. The preset functionality has a very long tradition in the house of Fender, dating back to the early ’50s, when Leo Fender designed a preset bass sound on position 3 (where the typical neck position is on a modern guitar) of the Broadcaster (and later the Telecaster) circuit. Wong loves the middle-and-neck-in-parallel pickup combination, so that’s the preset sound his push-push tone pot is wired for.
The neck pickup has a dedicated tone control while the middle pickup doesn’t, which is also another interesting feature. This means that when you hit the push-push switch, you will engage the neck and middle pickup together in parallel, no matter what you have dialed in on the 5-way switch. Hit the push-push switch again, and the 5-way switch is back to its normal functionality. Instead of a push-push pot, you can naturally use a push-pull pot or a DPDT toggle switch in combination with a normal 250k audio pot.
Here we go for the wiring. For a much clearer visualization, I used the international symbol for ground wherever possible instead of drawing another black wire, because we already have a ton of crossing wires in this drawing. I also simplified the treble-bleed circuit to keep things clearer; you’ll find the architecture of it with the correct values in the previous column.
Cory Wong Strat wiring
Courtesy of singlecoil.com
Wow, this really is a personalized signature guitar down to the bone, and Wong used his opportunity to create a unique instrument. Often, signature instruments deliver custom colors or very small aesthetic or functional details, so the Cory Wong Stratocaster really stands out.
That’s it! In our next column, we will continue our Stratocaster journey in the 70th year of this guitar by having a look at the famous Rory Gallagher Stratocaster, so stay tuned!
Until then ... keep on modding!
Key Features of the ZOMA
● Intuitive Control Layout: Three large knobs give you full control over Reverb Level, Tremolo Rate,and Depth
● Easy Access to Alternate Controls: Adjust Reverb Decay, Reverb Tone, and Tremolo Volume withsimple alt-controls.
● Instant Effect Order Switching: Customize your signal path. Position tremolos after reverb for avintage, black-panel tone or place harmonic tremolo before reverb for a dirty, swampy sound.
● True Bypass or Buffered Trails: Choose the setting that best suits your rig.
Three Reverb and Tremolo Modes:
● SS – Spring Reverb & Sine Tremolo: Classic spring reverb paired with a sine wave tremolo for that timelessblack-panel amp tone.
● PH – Plate Reverb & Harmonic Tremolo: Smooth, bright plate reverb combined with swampy harmonictremolo.
● PV – Plate Reverb & Pitch Vibrato: Achieve a vocal-like vibrato with ethereal plate reverb.
Reverb: Sounds & Controls
● Spring Reverb: Authentic tube amp spring reverb that captures every detail of vintage sound.
● Plate Reverb: Bright and smooth, recreating the lush tones of vibrating metal plates.
● Reverb Decay: Adjust the decay time using the REVERB/ALT SWITCH while turning the Level knob.
● Reverb Tone: Modify the tone of your reverb using the REVERB/ALT SWITCH while turning the Rate knob.
Tremolo: Sounds & Controls
● Sine Wave/Volume Tremolo: Adjusts the volume of the signal up and down with smooth sine wavemodulation.
● Harmonic Tremolo: Replicates classic tube-amp harmonic tremolo, creating a phaser-like effect withphase-split filtering.
● Pitch Vibrato: Delivers pitch bending effects that let you control how far and how fast notes shift.
● Alt-Control Tremolo Boost Volume: Adjust the boost volume by holding the REVERB/ALT footswitch whileturning the Depth knob.
The ZOMA is built with artfully designed circuitry and housed in a proprietary angled aluminum enclosure, ensuring both simplicity and durability. Like all Keeley pedals, it’s proudly designed and manufactured in the USA.
ZOMA Stereo Reverb and Tremolo
The first sound effects built into amplifiers were tremolo and reverb. Keeley’s legendary reverbs are paired with their sultry, vocal-like tremolos to give you an unreal sonic experience.