For all you guitarists currently playing in a live band, Fender Musical just posted up this excellent demo video of the Fender Cyber-Twin SE Amplifier. I use and love the Fender Cyber-Twin SE and I highly recommend this amplifier for any gigging musician out there. Greg Koch is absolutely right about the Cyber-Twin SE saving you from having to haul tons of equipment to your gigs. That’s the main reason I began using the Cyber-Twin SE, so I wouldn’t have to haul so many different pieces of equipment to the gig.
The video features guitarists Greg Koch and Gary Hoey along with Fender amplifier marketing manager Shane Nicholas. Needless to say, you’re in for some excellent guitar playing in this video! This is by far the best demo video I’ve seen of the Fender Cyber-Twin SE amplifier and it’s worth watching simply for the incredible guitar playing by Gary Hoey in part 3 of the video. (more…)
I get asked all the time for guitar amplifier recommendations from guitarists that want to have a good amp to use in their live band. The amp I use and love is the Fender Cyber-Twin SE and I highly recommend that guitar amplifier. The Cyber-Twin SE is a professional quality amp which is also fairly expensive but I believe it’s worth every penny. That being said, many guitarists who are just starting out in their first live band are looking for quality guitar amplification and they don’t have a lot of cash to spend on an amplifier. That’s why today I’m going to talk about the extremely affordable Fender Frontman 212R guitar amplifier. (more…)
Playing in a live band can be very challenging rhythmically because the thing that really makes a live band sound great is keeping the rhythm and groove happening. It’s so important to practice to some sort of rhythm when you work on your instrument whether it be keyboards, guitar, bass or drums. I’ve written about practicing to a beat and not a metronome and I still feel that practicing to a beat is the best way to get good at playing rhythmically. Practicing to different types of beats will teach you to play in a musical groove. With that being said, there are times when you want to practice with a plain old metronome.
Today on Live Musician Central I’m posting another one of my custom programmed sound preset patches for the Fender Cyber-Twin SE guitar amplifier. This one is called “LMC Stack Hot” and it is a more powerful version of my “LMC Stack Chorus” preset that I posted last week. I actually use “LMC Stack Chorus” and “LMC Stack Hot” together on a lot of songs. The basic sound is that of a classic Marshall amplifier which I wanted to thicken up with stereo chorus and create the illusion of having a 2nd guitar. On “LMC Stack Hot” I used the same basic tone as “LMC Stack Chorus” but I switched to Sine Chorus insted of Triangle Chorus for a smoother, more focused chorus sound. I also switched to HMB Tube 2 drive circuitry, added compressor and cranked the gain up a bit to increase the sustain. I use “LMC Stack Hot” as a boost for solo’s or to add more sustain in songs that I’m using “LMC Stack Chorus” as the main sound. I switch between both sounds in the same song a lot of the time but they do get used on their own in different songs as well. (more…)
I get a lot of traffic on Live Musician Central for both the Fender Cyber-Twin SE Amplifier and the Fender Stratocaster. I talk about both those pieces of Fender equipment a lot because that’s what I use myself. The Cyber-Twin SE and my Fender American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster comprise the core of my current live guitar rig. I also have a home studio where I record my own original music as well as my bands Shufflin’ Noah and In Stereo’s original music. Needless to say, my Cyber-Twin SE and Stratocasters are on a lot of my recordings. I also get a lot of traffic on my Fender Cyber-Twin SE custom patch-preset download page from Cyber-Twin SE users looking for quality sound patches for their amplifiers. I have short sound clips of my custom Cyber-Twin SE sound patches on the download page but I haven’t posted up a lot of complete songs that highlight the way these preset patches sound within the confines of a band. Today I’m going to point you to an album I recorded with my band Shufflin’ Noah that features the Fender Cyber-Twin SE amplifer and my ’98 Fender Jeff Beck Signature Stratocaster using my custom programmed preset patches exclusively for every guitar sound on the album.
The album by Shufflin’ Noah is called “Fudgie The Dog” and it’s a concept album detailing the life and misadventures of a German Shorthair dog named Fudgie. The entire album came out of a 2-hour jam session where we simply recorded everything we played. The only discussion or planning that went into creating the album were short 5 to 10 minute discussions about what Fudgie would do next. Then we’d create the next song complete with music, melody and lyrics right there on the spot. Sometimes the playing is loose and sometimes the songs are just okay, but there are times when we catch that special musical magic that comes from four musicians being completely in synch with one another. If you haven’t downloaded the album yet, you can go to the main download page to download it. Just follow this link ->Fudgie The Dog Download Page.
Once you have a copy of the album you can hear for yourself how great the Fender Cyber-Twin SE and Jeff Beck Stratocaster sound on the recording without any overdubs or added studio effects. Below is a track-by-track breakdown of the custom preset sound patches that I programmed for the Cyber-Twin SE and used on each track. The preset patch is noted in italics for each track. If I have already posted the sound on Live Musician Central, you can click the name to go to that sound patches download page. You can hear sound clips of every track by checking out the Shufflin’ Noah Releases “Fudgie The Dog” On Live Musician Central page.
“Shufflin’ Noah – Fudgie The Dog” – Cyber-Twin SE Track-by-Track Sound Patch Breakdown
Track 1 – Fudgie The Dog (Intro) I used the “LMC Twang” patch which has not been posted.
And there you have it, a listing of all the sound preset patches used on the Fudgie The Dog album. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating the album. -Matt-
Today on Live Musician Central I’m posting one of my most popular custom programmed preset patches for the Fender Cyber-Twin SE amplifier. This is the first of two patches that I use in tandem to create a lot of my classic Marshall amplifier tones. The basis for this patch is the “Vintage Stack” amplifier model that comes with the Cyber-Twin SE. Where it differs from that one is my patche’s ability to get thick and wide in the stereo spectrum with chorus and also with more gain. One of the biggest challenges I face being the only guitar player in the band is creating the illusion of having more than one guitarist onstage. A lot of the time I’m combining two guitar parts to be played on a single guitar and it’s up to my Cyber-Twin SE to create the thickness of two guitars. That’s how this preset patch was born.
This week on Live Musician Central we’ve been celebrating the release of Jeff Beck’s super new live DVD/Blu-Ray “Jeff Beck Performing This Week: Live At Ronnie Scott’s“. We’ve also been fighting against the insane Fender price increase by posting up links to great deals on Fender equipment on eBay. Today we’re going to do both and fight the Fender price increase by featuring Jeff Beck Signature Stratocaster listings on eBay. Keep in mind, if you want to buy a new Jeff Beck Signature Stratocaster from Musician’s Friend it will cost you $2,019.00 to get one delivered to you. If you look at these eBay listings you can see that you’ll be able to pick up a Jeff Beck Signature Strat for anywhere from $1199.00 to $1500.00. That’s a big savings if you go ahead and buy on eBay. We will keep these postings going on all current auctions for the Jeff Beck Signature Stratocaster.
[phpbay]Jeff Beck Stratocaster, 10[/phpbay]
With the recent 30% price increase across the entire Fender product line many Fender products are now further out of reach of the average working musician. Many people are questioning why Fender would increase prices at a time when the economy is so down. There’s one sure way to fight the price increase and that’s to buy used gear. The biggest used gear market on the internet is eBay and today on Live Musician Central we’re going to feature Fender Bass Guitars! Just take a look at the listings below and if you see something you like, click the link and bid on it. You could score the bass guitar of your dreams and save a bundle of money by buying used.
Today on Live Musician Central I’m going to put up some eBay links to my favorite Shure Microphones. I am an avid user of both the Shure SM57 instrument microphone and the Shure Beta 58A Vocal Microphone. Both of these microphones represent the best return per dollar spent on them. They are both amazingly affordable and they perform their job extremely well. I’ve never had any trouble with my Shure microphones and I’ve been using them for years. My Shure SM57 microphones have been used at hundreds of live shows as well as studio sessions and they still sound fantastic. I’ve had my Shure SM57 mic’s for about 14 years now. (more…)
I have the Fender Cyber-Twin SE amplifier and have been using it in my live band as well as in my recording studio for about 3 years now. It has proven itself time and time again over the years and I’m very happy with the Cyber-Twin SE. I’ve recommended the amplifier often over the years to my students and fellow musicians. When I bought my Cyber-Twin SE the Cyber Foot Controller was readily available and I purchased one along with the amplifier. Since then the Cyber Foot Controller has seemingly disappeared. I haven’t seen any formal announcement from Fender that the pedal is discontinued but it sure seems to be gone. The only place I’ve seen them recently is occasionally on eBay. I have had many people ask me what MIDI controller to use with the Fender Cyber-Twin SE and I recommend the Behringer FCB1010 MIDI Foot Controller. It’s unbelievably inexpensive for how perfectly it works with the Cyber-Twin SE. (more…)
