Sarno Music Solutions!

[strumminsix]

Very cool, Paul! I dig it! Question - what's with the little mirror on your head stock?



Here's me and mine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E977OCp6QMM

[paulkogut]

Thanks! While you might think it's a mirror, so I can practice scales while riding a bicycle (safety first!), it's a Korg clip-on tuner.(my model appears to be discontinued, this looks similar http://www.korg.com/product.aspx?&pd=584)

The upsides are it's sensitive to vibrations and doesn't go through the signal chain, so you can tune silently by rolling off your volume knob, or tweak an e-string mid-tune.

The downside is it's sensitive to vibrations, so if you can feel the Phil-bombs dropping, your tuner can too, and no good can come of that......

PK

[HeadSpace]

Hey Paul:

Very impressive, though I do miss PIE.

[zambiland]

I've had great luck with using Brad's gear for my jazz sound (which I like to think doesn't stray too far in tone and spirit from Mr. Garcia....)

My main rig is the SMS into a Walter Woods Stereo amp and 2 1X12 Harry Kolbe cabs with Eminence neo-mags. There's a good view of the gear here, but I usually have the cabs on 2 chairs in "stereo" rather than stacked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFONMT5pOSo

For my 'carry-on' rig, I start with the SGBB, the Earth Drive is set with cranked output and low drive (always on), an old favorite OD2, volume pedal, and new favorite Strymon verb.
Brad modded the SGBB with an internal switch to run on European voltage, the blue tape reminds me what continent I'm on......
http://s1135.photobucket.com/albums/m62 ... edals2.jpg

I love your playing! Your economy of motion reminds of seeing Mick Goodrick play in my Boston days.

[JonnyBoy]

Paul's music is awesome!

Agreed!

[tcsned]

Nice playing Paul! You have great touch, very fluid. You get a good jazz sound from the SMS/Walter Woods - is designed as a bass amp?

[paulkogut]

Wow, so nice to hear from everybody!

I miss (mid '80's college jam band) PIE, too! Kathy Hussey is making some great records down in Nashville, BTW.

Mick Goodrick is a HUGE influence on my touch and how I think about the instrument. I've tried to steer some folks here to his "scales up and down one string" approach, to balance out the (equally valuable) CAGED system.

A lot of bassists use the Walter Woods. I go into the effects return and bypass the preamp/eq portion, a trick I picked up from Jim Hall's and John Abercrombie's tube pre/Walter Woods rigs of the 90's. Steve Khan's recordings of the last decade or so are straight into the Walter Woods with no extra preamp.

To bring us back to "All Things Sarno", when I started putting this rack rig together, I intended to run a half rack Boss SE50 for reverb, delay, and chorus, so the stereo-ness of the WW was really important to me. But when I spent some time with Brad's SMS, it sounded to good on it's own, I didn't want/need to add anything beyond the onboard reverb. So even though I'm running 2 cabs and both channels of the WW, there's really nothing "stereo" happening anymore. I dig the WW amp, but with no dealers, website or email, he can be complicated to deal with (get his number from a guy that knows him, leave a message, send a cashier check, etc) If I didn't need the stereo aspect, I'd probably go with an Acoustic Image or something.

PK

[wolftigerrosebud]

I've been trying to get a really nice jazz tone on my SMS, and I found it today. It's really versatile. It retains the singing highs and beautiful clarity when I roll back the tone knob and make the minor adjustments needed to jazz it up, but it adds something else. Can't really think of the word to describe it, but there's something about it that ties it all together. Combined with my Hamer Artist: talk about overtones! But not muddy at all, that's the amazing thing about it. This preamp is a great piece of gear, I like it more every time I use it.

[bdhact1]

Can an SMS be made with a "Jerry Switch" to turn the jerry mod on and off ?

[wolftigerrosebud]

Brad would be the person best suited to answer that question, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be possible, since my understanding is that the Jerry mods are hardware mods, and to switch the Jerry mode off one would have to switch pots, resistors, etc. Maybe it would, I don't really know. It certainly doesn't seem likely, though. To be honest, when the tone settings are adjusted in a non-Jerry way, it no longer has a very Jerry sound, really just sounds more like a BF Fender, imo. The jazz tone I get from it doesn't sound like Jerry.

[unnbrokenchain]

Can an SMS be made with a "Jerry Switch" to turn the jerry mod on and off ?

No, the mods aren't an effect. They are the actual components Brad builds the preamp with (Caps, resisters)


Happy 4/20 Ya'll. Wish I had my Preamp today, but I guess next week will be the week

[SarnoMusicSolutions]

Exactly.

The JG mods are based on component material types as well as a couple of value changes that tighten the bass response and shift the low mids in a way that makes things a bit fuller without being muddy. Also some small changes to the input pathway that further clears things up. The component material types contribute to the overall harmonic content and feel and focus. No way to switch it on or off as all these components actually make up the hard wired circuitry.

Hey, it's 4/20 and also my birthday. 45 trips around the sun. Please help celebrate accordingly.

Brad

[mijknahs]

Hey, it's 4/20 and also my birthday. 45 trips around the sun. Please help celebrate accordingly.

Brad

Go see the Grateful Dead Movie!

[JonnyBoy]

I can't wait, I also realized it is a great place for maybe up and coming Dead cover bands to take the chance and pass out fliers promoting your band! The whole target audience in one place?????

Happy Birthday Brad!

[tcsned]

Exactly.

The JG mods are based on component material types as well as a couple of value changes that tighten the bass response and shift the low mids in a way that makes things a bit fuller without being muddy. Also some small changes to the input pathway that further clears things up. The component material types contribute to the overall harmonic content and feel and focus. No way to switch it on or off as all these components actually make up the hard wired circuitry.

Hey, it's 4/20 and also my birthday. 45 trips around the sun. Please help celebrate accordingly.

Brad

Happy Birthday young man (I got you by 3 whole months))! Today's also my 9th anniversary of my first date with my wife. A great day for an appropriate celebration.