Tips is a series of blogs dealing with the little things that make a big difference.

It seems like everyone I’ve talked to has eventually run into the problem of a neck heavy bass or guitar. You know what I mean. If you take your hands off the instrument, the neck dives for the floor. A minor annoyance like this can turn into a huge annoyance over time. The Gibson SG preferred by many punk, emo, and hardcore guitarists is one famous example. I can’t count on my fingers the number of times I’ve had other guitarists approach me before or after shows and say, “Wow I really like your SG! How do you deal with the neck dive issue though? I had to change guitars because of it.”

Well here is my answer. There are actually three ways to fix this once and for all! If one doesn’t work for your particular instrument, try adding the next step.

1. Get a non-slip strap.
   A suede strap (such as this Franklin strap at zZounds) or one that is rubberized on the bottom will create friction against your shoulder and hold the guitar up.
2. Add weight to the other side of the guitar.
   You can do this either on the strap, or on or in the body. One invisible and cheap way to do this is to electrical tape some fishing weights to the inside of the electronics cavity. Make sure no metal is exposed. Another way to do this is to tape your wireless unit to your strap. Be creative because there are tons of approaches you can take.
3. Relocate your strap buttons.
   One of the reasons for neck dive is the guitar’s center of gravity is in the wrong place. You can change this by moving where your strap buttons are installed. I wouldn’t recommend this except as a last resort, since you will have to drill/screw a new hole into your guitar, but it is one solution. The way you do this is to move the button nearest the neck down toward the floor. If you have to relocate the other button, move it up toward you.

And there you have it: three ways to make life a little more easier so that you can focus on playing.

Visit http://www.ampeg.com/rebates for a $100 rebate on the Ampeg Micro-VR stack.

Visit http://www.fender.com/amstdrebate/ to learn how you can get a $100 rebate on your next purchase of a qualifying Fender American series bass or guitar. The list of qualifying instruments includes most Telecasters, Stratocasters, jazz basses, and p-basses. The rebate is valid on instruments purchased through September 15, 2009.

Recently I helped a friend of mine buy his first tube amp. Not a “hybrid” amp, with just a preamp tube, mind you, but an actual tube amp. I thought a nice series of blogs on the topic was in order. We’ll tackle a few different aspects of tube amps, and my goal by the end of this series is that you would have all the info you need on tube amps to make an informed choice if you are shopping for a new amp.

What is a tube amp?
“Tube amp” is just a way to describe an amplifier that uses vacuum tubes to amplify the source signal. Sometimes they are also called “valve amplifiers.” A vacuum tube is a glass “tube” that amplifies the signal, versus a circuit which is what amplifies the sound in a “solid state” amplifier.

The typical guitarist’s amp setup in all kinds of heavier rock music (like punk, emo, and hardcore) is the “half stack,” which refers to a “head,” which is the actual amp, and a “cab,” which is the speaker cabinet, in the case of a half stack, it is generally a speaker cabinet with four 12″ speakers.

An EL34 power tube

The “head” or the actual amplifier, if a tube amp, is usually 100W, though there are many other wattages available. 100W is fairly standard among touring punk, emo, and hardcore bands. All tube amps have two stages of amplification, the “preamp” section and the “power amp” section. The preamp section uses small glass tubes called (of course) “preamp tubes” which are about 2.5″ long. The power amp section uses “power tubes” which are about 4″ long and fatter.

Generally a 100W tube amp has 4-5 power tubes and 4-6 preamp tubes, while a 50W tube amp, by comparison, will have 2 power tubes and maybe 3-4 preamp tubes. As you can see, the more power, the more tubes required.

In the next installment of “tube amps in a nutshell” we will look at historically popular tube amps and why.

In case you missed these posts, let me mention them again. I am working on making an indexed page where they can reside. Oddly enough the post on the Maxon tube screamer is the most visited of all our posts.

• Maxon OD808 = Ibanez Tube Screamer 808
  A post on how these pedals are the same, but you will save a chunk of change going with the Maxon.
• How to add a header image to your myspace
  It’s easier than it seems, though you could spend days looking for the myspace code for it.
• Downloadable tab files
• Sell your CD at your local record shop
  How to distribute an album yourself!
• The right way to grow your friends list on Myspace
  A downloadable PDF we put together that details some methods for (legally) adding tons of friends and keeping them up to date on all your shows.

From zZounds:

“Buy a new MTD Kingston Heir 5-String and get a FREE Warwick BlueCab15 combo amp! Valid from Jun. 1st to Jul. 31st, 2009. See Rebate Offer for full details.”

Here is the link: MTD Kingston free bass offer.

Bass Tab

Here are a couple of files you might find handy: guitar and bass tab text files. The next time you need to get down a new riff you wrote and email it over to a friend, grab one of these guys!

Guitar Tab (4 KB Text File)
Bass Tab (3 KB Text File)