VAUGHN SKOW's blog

SPEAKER WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT - Vaughn's Big Fat Speaker Giveaway is oficially over!

Hi ya all!  We had some great entries in this contest, and deciding on a winner was tough.  We had some nice builder testimonials, and we always love to hear those!  We received some awesome stories from WGS tweak-heads about their hot-rodded custom rigs, and we had a few sad stories about how life as a musician can really stink during a recession. In the end the judges (that would be me and Daniel) were unanimous in their decision.  Our winner: Chris Mahoney from the "sunshine state" of Florida.  Even in Florida, Chris’ life has been in need of a little sunshine, and we are glad to be letting in a few of the first precious rays.

Chris began his letter with a nice complement on my speaker comparison videos - hey I never said that stroking the judge’s ego was off limits, right?  But seriously, Chris has been through more than most of us will go through in a lifetime.  Some of the high points include job frustrations and fluctuations (hey what guitarist hasn’t had those??), nearly severing a couple of fingers on his fretting hand (youch ... makes me cringe just to think of it), and some very serious family tragedy.  All of this and Chris still ended his letter with "be blessed and be musical".  Both Daniel and I could tell from his letter that he was one seriously cool guy.

Chris specified a 16-ohm Retro 30 as his choice if he won, and that he would like to purchase a second one to go with it when he could come up with a little extra coin.  That won’t be necessary; we’ll be sending Chris TWO Retro 30’s.  Rock on Chris, it’s officially tomorrow, and the sun has come out again.  Be blessed and be musical!

Guitarists, Unite to GET MORE GIGS!

This week I’ll talk about how to get gigs as a guitar player, but first, I’m going to do something amazing; and I’m quite sure never before done in any blog, anywhere, anytime:  Begin with a survey!  Man, what’ll I think up next??  So, take this quick survey, and then READ ON!

My band playing at a local car show "cruise-in", just 3 miles from home, dude!

WGS Speakers: Sound Great and Resist Flooding, too!

Hi ya all.  A quick update: If you have been following the news lately, you have no doubt seen and heard about the flooding in the Paducah area.  Well ... I am glad to report that the WGS facility suffered no damage.  Sadly, not all of Paducah was so lucky; being a river town has its ups and downs.  But you can rest assured that the tone shall continue to flow ;)

Matraca Berg

First off, a reminder:  There is still a week to go on my Big Fat Speaker Giveaway!  And now, on to this weeks blog!  This week I want to turn you on to one of the greatest singers and songwriters you may just possibly have never heard of, Matraca Berg.  I first met Matraca at the Bluebird Café in Nashville when she and I were both just barely in our twenties; the difference was that she had already had her first #1 hit, and I was fresh off the Iowa turnip truck and green as it gets!  I wanta tell you a little more about Matraca, and share a cool link to her music, so read on!

Vaughn’s Big, Fat Speaker Give-Away!

***This contest is oficially over! (see winner info here).  Thanks!***

Hi all!  So, if you have been reading this blog from the start, you no doubt remember all the speaker give-away contest of the first six months or so, and you may be wondering when such fun will resume.  Well, the fun is back, baby!  Right here, right now.  It’s Vaughn’s Big, Fat Speaker Giveaway Contest (trumpet fanfare plays here).  This contest is IN ADDITION to the monthly free-speaker giveaway associated with the WGS newsletter.  Cool, Huh? Read on for all the details.

Bassman Speaker Shootouts - Short-n-Sweet

Hey gang!  Some folks have mentioned that my comparison videos get a little long ... and that I talk too much.  Why would anyone get that idea??  Anyway, I always aim to please, so this week the vids are short!  As always, my videos are pure speaker tone comparisons - in other words they are not, I repeat, are NOT guitar playing demos!  I ain’t trying to get a gig here, just show the tone of the speakers as purely as possible. As promised, you get to hear my beloved 1965 vintage blackface Fender Bassman Amp, and we will be comparing it’s awesome (and long out of production) vintage Fane speaker to several of WGS’s coolest models.  One more quick note: the Bassman’s output tranny likes to see 4-ohms, so I had Dean and Wayne at WGS make me some 4-ohm versions of these speakers for this comparison.  That’s a VERY COOL thing about WGS - they actually do custom work (as time allows).  How many other speaker manufacturers do that?  Ummm, none.  Final note, on these short videos, I am (for the most part) not giving my opinion on the results of the shoot-outs.  That’s where you come in!  Please post your comments on which you thought were winners and losers!  We’re big kids, we can take it.  Oh, and just in case you can’t get enough of me - I posted links to long-form video comparisons at the end of this blog.  Ready, set,  let’s get started, READ ON!

Secrets Revealed!

Hey ya all! This is so cool.   Last week I told you that I was eager to spill the beans on a new product I saw at WGS headquarters - well the wait it over!  Tell ya what ... just watch this video, and then read the rest of the blog.

My Favorite Beatle

Abby Road was the very first Album I ever owned.  I was about seven when it came into my life; it was the soundtrack to my summer that year.  By the end of that summer I knew every song by heart, and I’m fairly sure I sang it in my sleep.  That was also the year the Beatles officially broke up.  Talk about catching the VERY tail end of a wave, huh?  From there I went on to other "heavier" bands, like Deep Purple, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, and the like.  Then I got a job as a DJ at a local country station and went through my Urban Cowboy period and started diggin’ on country.  But through it all, Abby Road continued to play in my head.  And of course the voices of John, Paul, George, and Ringo still floated over the airwaves often enough.  All four experienced a fair amount of solo success.  So I have a question for you, do you have a favorite Beatle?  Call me nuts, but I’ve really given this one a lot of thought.  I’ve devoured every book written on the fab four, and done a lot of web-investigation ... and I have arrived at a favorite.  You’ll have toread on to know who.

Tiny Tube Amps

More speaker shoot-outs this week!   In a way, this week’s blog is an extension of the work we started with last week’s speaker shoot outs; but in another way, it’s the exact opposite!   Last week we were comparing rock tones as dished out by a fire-breathing Marshall JCM 900.  This week’s tones will be coming to you via a couple of "tiny tube amps", an Eppiphone Valve Jr., and a Vox lil’ Night Train.  These amps reflect a trend that we’ve seen in the last couple of years towards low-wattage tube amps.  These are not amps that will keep up with a slammin’ drummer on a gig, but they can dish out some pretty cool tube-amp-on-eleven tones at a bedroom volume.  Plus, recording engineers will love you for NOT bringing your 100-watt stack to a session!  This week, I’m using one of Todd Tillaman’s Gibson Robot Les Pauls.  Todd insisted I play in tune!  So, shall we let the low wattage fun begin? Read on to watch all the shoot-outs.

High-Gain Britt-Voiced Speaker Shoot out!

Hey all you faithful tone seekers!  This week I’m back to speaker shoot-outs with accompanying videos.  This week’s shoot-outs pit some of WGS’s best Britt voices speakers against their classic Celestion counterparts.  If you do check out the videos, be sure to listen through good sounding full-range reference monitors (speakers); some of the tonal differences were fairly nuance-level.  We used a matching pair of Marshall JCM 900’s, and this was all about high-gain rock tone.  Okay, so ya ready?  Let’s get to the first round in this particular smack-down, a fresh outta the box WGS Veteran 30 vs. an actual vintage made-in-England Celestion Vintage 30. I hope you have time to see all the videos and read the entire blog!