Today, I want to write about powering up your pedals and how I go about it.

Here’s the deal.

I love to power my pedals with a 9V battery. I’m not sure if it’s a superstitious thing or what, but the pedals sound nice and warm, tone wise, when I do that. It’s probably due to the fact when a battery de-charges a bit and run at less than 9V, you probably get a little warmer tone. Honestly, nothing to get crazy about. Just a little observation here.

When I run a couple of pedals for lessons or small workshops, I run them on a 9V. The batteries I like best are called Duracell ProCell and these batteries are for pro use. Don’t you love that that the consumer world gets marketed a completely different set of products than what the pros use? These ProCells are an industry standard for music, entertainment, broadcasting, medical use. This battery line last a long time and will not rapidly deplete on you. If you must have them, go on E-bay and you’ll find some sellers. They are equivalent of what Duracell sells as Coppertop to the public I heard.

The best bang for the buck on batteries are from Walgreens store brand. The store often has sales and their batteries are good. I sometimes wonder if there are just a couple battery manufacturers in the US and they just slap different labels on them. This happens with car oil and strings, believe it or not. Not D’addario as they have their own plant. Some other string manufacturers might as well but they are far and few in between.

In my real pedalboard where I run now a tuner, Maxon OD-9 Overdive, MXR Flanger, MXR Delay and Dunlop Q95 Wah I use a power supply brick. Several good ones on the market such as the one I have in the pic called Supa-Charger from BBE. I use that one in my studio to power up pedals. In my pedalboard I use a similar one, but from VooDoo Labs. You plug it into a regular outlet and you use several little cables to power up your pedals. No batteries needed and you always run on full power.

Playing live, I usually have a battery in the pedal anyways in case the power cable gets disconnected. That’s just a back-up move.

One smaller and very good way to power up the pedals is a Power-All system from Godlyke. It is a small unit and it comes with a ton of different plugs for your pedals including ones that are perfect for powering old-school pedals that only run on a 9V battery. It is very good and I often use this myself when I do not have enough batteries in stock.

Last but not least, I use a Multimeter tool to see how strong (well charged) my batteries are. This is good if you dig up a battery you don’t know how long it’s been sitting in your drawer, etc. This is a professional way to test the batteries before a show as well. Don’t use the tongue test – although we all do on occasion, lol. You can get one of these cool tools at Harbor Freight store for literally a few dollars. Good thing to have if you are a guitar player.

Last thought – I never run my Wah Wah pedal on a power supply – even if all of my other pedals use one. I always found that running a power supply to a Wah produces noise in the amp. I always run it on a battery. Good luck.

I meet many guitar players (and musicians in general) who have been practicing for many years, but have yet to venture into recording themselves.

Through time I found that recording yourself is one of the greatest tools you can use to improve your playing. As the saying goes – The Recorder Never Lies. The recorder doesn’t bend the truth. It plays back exactly what you played.

Listening back to your performances and being able to hear yourself “on tape” is extremely important. It is important because you can hear the things that you like or dislike about your playing. As a matter of fact, you can’t come as close as you can to mastering your instrument unless you master the art of recording.

Hearing yourself back can be a tough exercise. Your flaws come back at you and stare you in the face. But, what a great chance to know exactly what you need to work on! Think of this as if you are looking into a mirror before you go out. Why do we do this? Simply, so we can some clues of what works or doesn’t.

Side note: Ladies, metal guys have it easy. Pretty much any black T-shirt matches black jeans. Thank you very much. 🙂

Are you getting my point?

My playing took another turn all together when I started to record myself. I started with cheap 4-track, moved onto a better 4-track like the one pictured, then an 8-track, a better 8-track and eventually into a studio quality computer based Pro-Tools system. I wore these things out. Working with an outside ear such as a producer also elevated your game. Objective opinions can be great.

Lastly, recording yourself will help you know how much you’ve improved on the guitar since it is hard to judge your progress from day to day. You can even use the tool of recording to tape your band rehearsals. Then, bypass the need to argue as everyone will hear the part they are not together on. Good luck!

Many guitar students have a very valid question as to when is the right time to change their strings. The answer depends on a personal as well as a technical aspect – so let’s check it out.

A new set of strings provides a nice bright tone, improved intonation, less string breakage and the ability to stay in tune better.

Many players, including myself, prefer a slightly worn in sound of the string. This does not mean that the strings on my guitar are a year old, but I like the way they feel after a couple days of playing. The strings then feel less tense and the tone rounds off a bit meaning it is less bright. This is a personal preference and not true to all guitar players. Some touring guitarists prefer to change strings every night. I like to play 2 shows on a new set of strings before changing to a fresh set. On the guitars that I use for daily practice it is not uncommon that I don’t change strings for a very long time and I mean months. This is what I refer to as a personal preference.

Now, let’s take a look at a few other things.

If your guitar no longer stays in tune, the strings sound dead or break easily – these are another dead giveaways it is time to change strings. It is hard to tell how many playing hours a new set lasts for. It depends on the amount you sweat while playing and if you take care to extend the life of your strings while they were on your guitar.

Another great way to tell if it might be time to change strings is to run your right hand index finger under the string up and down the fretboard. If you can feel the fret markings (ie: very faint indentations) under the string, this should tell you that you might be ready for a new set.

If you are curious as to how to extend the life of your strings – simply wipe them down after each time your play. You can use simple guitar polish on a flannel, cotton or microfiber cloth. Remember to wipe underneath the string as well as this is where a lot of the dirt hides.