Greg Howe talks about Xotic BB Preamp

[crisDAwog]

he was using suhr wow

[fpranchas]

i just bought that wah pedal :D (the silver shinny one in the background)

[SirDa5id]

Greg shoulda stuck with Suhr, or at least his ESP japan deal.

[lighteenblind]

not hear, just feel when play, thats the différence.

[ultraroadmap]

@lighteenblind Exactly.....you can feel the difference in pick attack as well as legato phrasing....gain is a wonderful thing.

[ashatan69]

The demo could be a bit better but this is the best pedal i own, it gives a great sound and feel to your playing.

[mojoefly]

didnt know he played a suhr.

[ZeppelinRules]

@mojoefly

He was endorsing Laguna until recently it seems.

[bgtocak]

you got to have Hows ears to hear the difference lol

[GTA4race]

he heared like steve vai OMG

[PashZaburuev]

I currently own this exact guitar. It's Suhr standard made specially for Greg while they were discussing the endorsement with Suhr.

Seems that I will have to sell it, don't even know the price to put on...

[stoofbuis]

better tone without the pedal!

[Guitarbque]

Greg Howe....Great guitarist & Xotic BB amazing!!!

A lot of retard comments from wanna be guitarists on this page.

[Whyrendog]

Greg could play through all Behringer products into a garage sale tape recorder and still come out awesome.

[surfco]

SHIT video.

[surfco]

Greg who?

[grebbington]

jesus keep the camera straight for at least 5 seconds! its like the camera man had ADD

[sahinsonmez]

So what is this video for?

[thenoodler]

So the pedal does "Nothing" then? It's just a wire and a switch?

[vheadfacelegs]

greg playing a suhr, COOL

[naturaltoby]

The bb preamp is more of a feel that is within your fingers and provides more of a pronounced feeling when you play that wouldn't be obvious on a computer speaker....kind of like an MXR dyna comp.

[thegreatguitarfreak]

0)if you can't hear the difference (i cant either). Just listen to Andy Timmons he uses it as a boost on the clean channel and as overdrive on the dirty channel. It sound amazing.

[petiethepitt]

@thegreatguitarfreak ,Dont forget Petrucci uses the heck out of his also.

I can hear it but this wasn't mic'd very well,like you said the Timmons demo really showed the difference.And the BB Plus is another great pedal with more O/D voicing options.I love mine,cant think of any preamp pedal I'd want to replace it with.

[vheadfacelegs]

greg playing a suhr! that is so sweet

[vinzv84]

Guys, I know the difference is hard to hear on that video ( to be honest I don't hear it ) until I tried the BB ... My Thd bivalve is sounding great, but the powertubes I use makes it at max only have a crunch ... I plugged the bb in front to get the exta amount of gain I needed and then what says greg on the video makes total sense ... this is just great ... you can even use it on the clean channel and it makes a great smooth overdrive ... xotic does an amazing job ... cheers !

[jjruizsoriano]

I couldn't understand this demo until I got my own bb preamp, I use it as a little overdrive/booster, gain at 8:00, volume at 12:00, so you get a the extra sustain you need without changing your tone, that's the cool thing about this pedal, it keeps your tone and that's the reason it's hard to notice the difference when switched on/off, I recomend you the Andy Timmons demo, there you can see the difference clearly.

[honorguitar25]

LIKED THE TONE BETTER BEFORE

[evilryu10]

i agree

[blfrd]

call me crazy, but I don't hear a difference! Better demos of this pedal exist....

[cosmogang]

@blfrd This is a terrible demo

[mattacuk]

@blfrd ageed, the sound isnt at all good here.

[binky69]

@blfrd he says at the begining of the video it doesnt drasticlly change the tone and it doesn't.. there is a slight "bite" "thickness" increase

[jay2xtremefy]

@blfrd u can spot the difference if your in the music science for a long years.. Train your ears on various sound frequency.. Sound engineers can spot the difference..

[ImAggro]

@blfrd Really? I thought it brought out a little more emphasis in the lower mids and made the high end a bit more round.

bad speakers, maybe?

[fretfirestarter]

warm it up chris i'm about to.

[slingkey]

Very subtle difference on this guys rig. It's much more pronounced on some other vids here.

[surfco]

Greg Howe.

I don't like his playing.

[neronosman]

no, you have to like.

[surfco]

LOL

[fhdjskal]

cause its better than yours?

[TruNikkaz]

no, suhrs are amazing

the suhr modern is pure sex

the attention to detail is perfect

[skleung]

i really wish i could afford a modern:(

[rapidtranq]

Me thinks its a really bad idea to attempt to plug the BB Preamp comapring it with a Cornford MK50!! The "pure amp" tone sounds divine...BB not good enuff!!

[soren650]

is mentioned before the difference isnt really big on youtube, because the sound is so compromised. I can't tell the difference anyway..

[smartti1970]

cant hear any difference on youtube.

not a good demo in my opinion since he gets the overdrive tone out of his amp..

wanna hear the overdrive of the pedal please M.Howe

[angrygoldfish]

It just tightens it up. I may not notice it unless someone mentioned it, though. It's one of those kind of things.

To be honest, I think a pedal like this should be transparent. It should just clean out any misgivings in the original tone. In this, I heard a boost in warmer highs, and as he said, a thickening of the bass and overall expression.

[philbertfwog]

It doesn't affect the tone? It sounds completely different :S

[alichoturko]

I dont hear the difference.

[ljguitar91]

that suhr is stunning

[joegoliver420]

He normally uses a Port City cab which really helps keep his tone thick. I think that is why it sounds a little different then normal.

[mozzy2410]

Cant believe someone thinks this guy is sloppy - here, he is just fucking around anyway, but - this dude is an amazingly clean player - everything is always so articulate and well-executed...

[timoconnor6]

Great pedal for sure... I use one.

But What in the hell was he talking about?

Here there every whwere.....

[guitaralbert0]

he should've stuck with the suhr and cornford combination... it sounds so good

[sixaxle]

Well.,,,,,, why not just go with the hands down KING of clean boost.... KLON!!!!!

[jhachey222]

because they are the most overpriced, over-hyped piece of guitar equipment ever..

[spameister]

OWNED

[progdude]

I own the BB Plus and I can not get a good sound out of it no matter the settings. Im much happier with the MXR Custom Shop OD. Now I gotta return the BB and find something else.....

[AndersonGuitar]

what's your amp?

[vinzv84]

I don't really care about the color of the pedal, but I'm back on this page about 3/4 times / week just for the tone ... some may dislike it, but I LOVE IT !

All the best to your quest of tones guys ! and quest of girls too ...

Cheers

v.

[goldtop57]

mate, i am by no means narrow minded. hybrid picking produces a wider dynamic response than alternate picking. greg howes got awesome technique.

[katseazzz]

this pedal is not exactly red ...it's deep orange near red..it's not how it looks at videos!!!

[gerardmanjoue]

i prefer the sound without the pedal ; )

[Dario1FIps]

this fucking videoposition changing sux

[TravuhsWree]

That's not orange! That's red!

[amarr1]

he said orange

[TravuhsWree]

Exactly... dude... you're not too observant... I know he said it's orange... that's why I said "That's not orange! That's red!"

The pedal is red.

This dude is sloppy.

[OmertaTV]

It sounds sloppy because he is using travis picking. Notice how he uses his middle finger when executing the fast stuff?

[goldtop57]

oh, and greg howe sloppy? you clearly have no idea just how good this guy is.

also, the pedal is orange, i have one.

[TravuhsWree]

Lol, don't be so narrow minded... I can hear the unclear note definition in almost all things fast. :40 - :50

That's pretty sloppy.

I've seen it before, looks pretty fucking red.

[polishcomedy]

pick up a Greg Howe album and be prepared to put your foot in your mouth. He can outplay all your sorry heroes. Just stating facts, no hate.

[TravuhsWree]

Haha, stating your opinion, no hate.

Maybe you all enjoy not hearing all the notes, is it mysterious maybe? To you at least?

Keep your own opinion, I don't give a shit, because Greg Howe, he's fucking sloppy, or at least he's muting all the notes, (hopefully not intentionally because that is one fucking detrimental technique.)

[chadewatson]

i think he was tossing in some hybrid picking in that lick.

[TravuhsWree]

We've already gone over this, it sounds bad, it fucks the attack up and dampens the strings.

[johnaiton]

You're right, this sounds ....fudgy?

really weird and compressed, spongy

half the notes aren't audable with any dynamic to them and there's so much gain it ruins any 'deliberate' articulation

he'd sound better just through a clean channel imo,

guthrie g - there's a guy who can dial good settings from gear

howe plays like a god but thank god he takes his time mixing in the studio because if his records sounded this bad...

[xjazz1]

My god!!!...jajajajajajaja (-50) is your score.

[TravuhsWree]

It's actually -4, I'm guessing you can't read proficiently?

[xjazz1]

JAJAJAJAJAJA

[techdeath16]

not totally relevant but is he using suhr now or is this an old video?

[Shogun777]

old

[toomanypup]

dont understand-- the sound of the guitar is a bit digital and allmost no effect on the sound..

[Shogun777]

you'd really have to be there in person to hear the difference. with the bb on with gain low and treb n bass at 12, it boosts the highs a tad.. in a need way though

[Riffermann]

which model cornford is Greg using...anyone know? The tone's incredible

[goldtop57]

he uses a cornford MK50 dude

[gkountonas]

A suhr guitar,a cornford and and the bb preamp....the perfect guitar tone!!!

[shredderman123]

Wow i never realised how much Greg seems to sound like Steve Vai when he talks

[ibanezbloke]

My god he does. Virtuosos with taste must sound the same

[318825768]

@shredderman123 not really?

[Whyrendog]

That's must be the tone your voice gets when you play awesome freaking guitar.

[roryrockssocks]

@shredderman123

I always think that when I hear him too. But they're both from very similar areas, both went to Berklee too I believe, so they'll have picked up similar mannerisms in their speech from the places they've been in their life I assume.

[beastraeatsall]

@roryrockssocks Greg Howe didn't go to Berklee

[GunnerNadav]

@shredderman123 its because vai sounds like black

[Fishies125]

@shredderman123 I know!!!

[mrbeatdoctor]

Anybody want to comment on THIS PEDAL? The BB preamp is one of the best overdrives out there and I have been using the BB and a Keeley tubescreamer for a while now and have turned several others onto this combo. It is like a transparent tubescreamer and beats my Keeley ts9 for rthythm clarity because of it transparency but with a ts9 boosting it you have a beautiful solo tone. Check some of my videos.

[CarlosCepinha]

Tks man, I just searching info about the pedal cuz I found one for sale :P I think I'm goin to get it.

[Altered6Chicken]

Keeley tubescreamers are awesome!

[TruthSurge]

This is funny. If it makes it a tad thicker, um, why not just run a touch of EQ and boost around 500Hz and add a smidge of compression instead? If you want sustain w/o extra distortion, just add some compression.

[someskater188]

It actually is able to add a ton with it running through your rig, but Greg Howe just uses it as a slight boost

[EmphaticItalic]

Very entertaining video, Greg Howe seems very charismatic

[soren650]

He is amazing, but he's got REALLY bad taste of coloring a suhr guitar! That suhr is hidious! Red and blue maple????

[fenderbender28]

a white pearloid pickguard wud've looked much better haha

[epacaba]

Well for guys like me who don't have the luxury of nice amps all the time during gigs, the BB Preamp can be a handy tool too.:)

I can't afford a valve amp like a marshall or a cornford so I TRY (NOTE:TRY) to make up for it in gigs using pedals like this one.:) Sure, it doesn't sound as good but it works for me.;)

I mean just because he thinks its nice doesn't mean he thinks it's ,by any means, nicer than his Cornford.

[Ninjaro]

If I was playing Jazz Fusion and didn't want high gain metal tone, I'd probably use this pedal. It's sound doesn't do anything for me, but to each his own.

[AdrienneO]

I don't get it. He's using a high gain all-velve amp and then gets some tiny tweak from a tranny pre-amp? He should up the gain on the amp and use the volume knob or string dynamics.

Guess he's paid to say it's good.

[Shogun777]

you're an idiot. most guitarists don't play with the same level of gain in every part of a song.. most people boost the gain for leads

[AdrienneO]

No you're an idiot being so rude.

Gain can controlled a lot by the fingers, by string dynamics.

If you don't know that, don't reply.

Sure, you can use a pedal too, there are pros and cons, but Valve tone is usually the holy grail. Why not up the amp gain and roll off on the guitar?

Thta's a rhetorical question, I don't need to hear what a rude person like you, Shogun, has to say about it.

[bloodySunday77]

Try to understand the use of pedals that boost what's already there. "Up the amp gain" doesn't always work because the tone might get dirty (in a bad way), mushy or plainly not to anyone's preference. Millions of players use them since the 60s (and hugely famous, too), so they should have something appealing, don't you think?

[AdrienneO]

But boosting the input with a pedal *will* overdrive it - it *is* an increase in gain, and unless one is staying well into the clean range of the pre-amp it will affect the tone. One might use it in a post-preamp effects loop, but it's still a gain boost before the power amp section and liable to induce overdrive.

If one wants purely to boost volume, it needs to be done at the power stage, or through reinforcement with other amps, such as miking the amp and upping the sound at the mixer.

[bloodySunday77]

Most people *are* using it for exactly that purpose - overdriving the amp and having a fuller sound, not getting more volume.

There are lots of boosters for that purpose: clean boosts, dirty boosts, fat boosts, treble boosts, germanium treble boosts, linear boosts... who should we mention first that got its trademark sound from such a thing? Clapton? May? Iommi? Gallagher? It's not such a useless pedal as you tend to think...;-)

[bloodySunday77]

And never use it in the effects loop, besides by the time boosters became popular (probably firstly by Clapton) there were no effect loops whatsoever...

[ReductioAdAbsurdum]

"players use them since the 60s [...] Clapton? May? Iommi?"

I think the point is that this is NOT the 60s. These guys aren't trying to color the sound of ancient, master-volume amps, they are playing modern, sophisticated (and EXPENSIVE) amps. It's reasonable to suggest the amp designer overlooked something if adding a cheap transistor circuit in the front of the signal path improves the amp's sound, especially when it's used as it is here (i.e. not as volume/gain boost).

[ReductioAdAbsurdum]

To put it another way, if $100 worth of transistors can appreciably improve the sound of an amp that costs thousands of dollars, why isn't it built into the amp in the first place? Keep in mind that every pedal you put in front of the amp is degrading your signal and adding noise.

[bloodySunday77]

People, try to realise that the sound comes from the tubes rhemselves, and that players have been, are and always will be adding all sorts of things in front and in between them. Boosters, tubescreamers, fuzzes, delays, phasers, RATs, Big Muffs, everything.

[bloodySunday77]

Of course it is not the 60s. Thank God we have a million choices to find our own sound today. They didn't, then. Everything goes, as long as a good clean or overdriven tube sound is always there. "Cheap transistor circuits" are very often an integral part of everybody's sound - take a GOOD look at the pedalboards of the stars... you will ALWAYS find a "cheap tr. circuit". Don't be snobbish!

[AdrienneO]

Of course you're dead right about there being so many choices, and so many different types of taste. I guess if the transistor device remains in a purely linear part of it's range, then it will be the valves one is hearing. I tend to think modern high gain amps don't need a pre-boost. But it's true that tastes in tone have changed. I mostly dislike the fizzy trebly sound some prefer these days. My ear's more of a 70s blues ear with leanings to jazz fusion. Brown tones.

[heschentshredder]

damn that cornford sounds good!

[TruNikkaz]

i want one now lol

it makes your lead tone bigger, like, if u were playing lead but the entire band was the focus, play without it, but if ur playing a different kind of lead where the main focus would be the guitar, kick that pedal on =]

[poindexter3000]

Sounds like a good improvement to your sound ,I guess thats why i just bought one on e-bay.

[hamerac]

This a great pedal. I've tried it & intend to get one soon. And if the tones you hear from this is what you like, it will help you reach that. Very warm, brown sound kind of tone! Check out the tone master Andy Timmons bit as well. And check out my tone without it!

[masterbarber]

Nope, All Guthrie needs are a block of wood with six strings and he can make it sing, hahahaha!

Greg doesn't need this stomp box either. His best tones were using the Fender Red knob Dual Showman Heads, listen to Introspection.

These Cornford amps however still stand on their own--you don't need anything other than maybe a good delay processor.

[soldanovht]

and dont forget tony mac alpine

[PoshCollins]

T-Mac uses them?

Thanks.

[UpDownStroke]

That way to play is so gay.

[jose044]

nice distortion, the chords still can sing

[DerekSchils]

The pedal sounds cool, have to check one out for sure, but does it really matter what Mr. Howe uses? He's a beast, simply the best!

[agunner34]

can highly recommend the bb

bought mine when on holiday even playing it through a 15w practice amp pushes out some amazing tones,

[Shogun777]

flawless

[KeYan27]

at 00:30 it's so greg howe, shit i juste creamed my pants.

[PhongLopez]

i agree

[latenightfan]

Greg's the bestest player in the world along with Brett Garsed!!

[serranna]

Dont forget shawn lane. Even though hes not in this world anymore.

[balitaSR]

not too fond of shawn's material, from a musical point of view... it just doesn't sound the way I like music of this kind to sound. But technically speaking, lane was arousing o_o