I have a few interesting updates for existing blog posts:

First of all, about the demo of the BB Preamp I did way back, here is an interesting piece of info that came out following the release of the BB Preamp-comp by the Xotic custom shop: the standard BB Preamp was modified to have less compression after serial number 3643. My BB Preamp has a serial number of 526 so my demo shows the “compressed” version. Interestingly enough, the limited Andy Timmons edition of the BB Preamp featured the extra compression of the early BB Preamp. In order to please everybody, The BB Preamp-comp features a toggle switch to go from no compression at all, to a bit compressed (current BB Preamp) and to more compressed (early BB Preamp and Andy Timmons models). You can read all the details here.

Secondly, about my “Joe Satriani Tone” post, I have found this awesome interview on musicplayers.com. It answers a frequently asked question about Joe Satriani’s Boss DS-1, a distortion pedal he used for a good 20 years before collaborating with VOX to produce the Satchurator. The question is: was his boss DS-1 completely stock or altered? The answer in Satch’s own words: “Well, I would use clean channel of the JFX. I’d get a slightly altered, vintage Boss DS-1. I can’t tell you the alteration, though, that’s a secret!“. That settles it but as far as what the alteration is, the question remains.

Finally, a few months ago, I wrote a piece about the relation between pickup height and tone. This piece was missing detailed height guidelines, I have now found some for Fender Telecasters, Stratocasters and Gibson style guitars.