Ask Zac

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com Being a huge Bass 6 fan, there are 2 major types, the Danelectro and the Fender. And of course, being fully immersed into the "sickness" I had to finally have one of each. In today's episode, I look at the strengths and weaknesses of both designs. Not really a...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com One of the biggest questions you should ask yourself when setting up in a room is "How should I position my amp for the best tone?" This is the struggle of every guitarist, as they strive to get a good tone to inspire themselv...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com Duane Allman wasn't always a Gibson/Marshall guy. In today's episode, we cover the era while he was with the Allman Joys, The Hourglass, and his much-celebrated session career in Muscle Shoals. During this era, he mainly playe...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com I did another run of shows with the Paul Bogart Band, including a New Year's Eve show in Wichita, Kansas. This run had me playing with Paul's regular guitarist, Nick Palmer, instead of filling in for him, which necessitated me taking a different approach to the set....

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com As I was contemplating my last AZ episode of 2021, I realized that 4 out of 5 of my top videos of the year were all focused on amps. So this episode both looks at the importance of amps and lends some additional insight into those amp videos. I take a look at my videos featur...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com You don't change until you have to..... I have always been an amp guy, and have always had a preference for tube amps. With a recent fly date I did with Paul Bogart, I ran into a situation that caused me to finally make the jump to...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com Robbie Robertson and The Band turned the music world on its collective ear with the release of Music From Big Pink. Extended guitar solos, fuzz, psychedelic references, and screaming vocals were nowhere to be found. Instead, the listene...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com Ever wondered why the amp world shifted from 100-watt amps to 25-watts or less? The short answer is the advancement of P.A. systems. In the not-so-distant past, the typical P.A.  was only capable of handling 2-3 vocal mics. Because of t...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com I couldn't help myself, I had to mess with the amp that really did not to be messed with. In this video, I tell how using different tubes and speakers in the Chris Stapleton Princeton changed the sound. Just to be clear, I thought it was great out of the box, I just want...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com Owning and loving both a 1965 Deluxe Reverb and a 1959 Harvard has caused me to become more and more curious about revisiting the brownface amps of 1960-1963. The last time I owned a brown amp, I was in High School. I looked around and...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com NRBQ was one of the most talented, versatile, and wacky groups to ever play together. From 1971-1994, Big Al Anderson held the guitar seat, usually with a Telecaster in hand. Al's singing, writing, and playing helped define the group during his 23-year stay, yet he was t...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com The Fender tweeds from1947 thru 1960 are some of the finest guitar amps ever made. They are simple and raw sounding, and their job was mainly to make the guitar louder, not to do much tone sculpting. My favorites are the narrow panel 1955-1960 models, and today we are going t...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com Here is the tale of my trip to Tulsa, to play some shows with my good friend, Paul Bogart. Besides the road story, I also talk about the gear I took with me, and how I used my 1964 Vox AC10 and the new Fender Tone Master Blonde Deluxe amp in a stereo setup. To do this, and to...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com Shots of Jerry Jones early builds, including the original Tuff Dog Tele for Merle Haggard. https://www.askzac.com/post/the-histo... In 2010, Jerry Jones auctioned the entire contents of his Nashville factory. Drill presses, unused custom fabricated parts, prototype instrument...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com How you prepare for a gig dictates whether you will be asked to work with that client/artist again in the future. In this episode, I show how I prepare musically, what questions I ask the client, how I choose what gear to take, and the importance of having backups for everyth...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com When Leo Fender released the Broadcaster, he was laughed at by his competitors. His detractors claimed that no serious guitarist would be seen playing Fender's "boat paddle" with strings. But old Leo knew just the guitari...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com I started my channel in January of 2020 with 70 subscribers, and a year and a half later have over 20,000 subs. I have gotten many questions about how I create my show, including people wanting to know the specifics of how I capture my guitar sounds. Well here it is, and even...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com Today I take a long-overdue look at questions that have arisen over the last couple of months. I cover the common questions I get about Princeton Reverb amps, the Tele body thickness question that was repeatedly asked concerning my 57 vs 67 Tele video, and I cover how Guthrie...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com Fender tweeds are some of the most desirable vintage amps, especially the late 50s designs, which are considered by many as the pinnacle of Leo Fender's work. Today, I look at 2 of the most revered of the smaller tweeds, the 1959 Harvard, and the 1960 Deluxe. The 2 amps...

Check out the opening Squier Bass VI lick played with Fuzz!   To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store at  - www.askzac.com Did you know that the fuzz pedal was born because a Danelectro Bass 6 was recorded using a faulty channel on a studio mixing console? The part, played by the great Grady Martin, was a hit for Marty Robbins in 1961, and th...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com Fender has made the Telecaster for longer than many of us have been alive. The elegant, yet simple instrument has evolved and had many variations over the past 70 years. Today, I take a 1957 and 1967 Telecaster and show how the instrume...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo - AskZac Or check out my store at  - www.askzac.com Learning to play guitar in the 80s, my only reference to fuzz was articles about Jimi Hendrix, SRV, and Eric Johnson in either Guitar World or Guitar Player magazines. When I finally got to play the fuzz pedals that became available in the 90s, like those made by Fulltone, they were...

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo - AskZac Or check out my store at  - www.askzac.com John Leventhal is a favorite, and his work in the early 90s acted as a musical roadmap for a young Texas Honky Tonk guitarist trying to stay afloat in the world of pop/folk/singer-songwriter music. In this episode, I look at 7 concepts that I have stolen from Leventhal, that are ver...

To Support the Channel: Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/AskZac Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac  Or check out my store for merch  - www.askzac.com An old friend texted me on a Saturday morning to see if I was available to play at one of the big clubs in downtown Nashville from 2-6 pm that day. I absolutely said "yes," as I had not played in the downtown area since 2003....

To Support the Channel: Tip jar:  https://paypal.me/AskZac Or check out my store at  - www.askzac.com My son told me, "Dad, you ought to do a video on your favorite Telecaster licks." So here are my 10 favorite Telecaster licks of all time. 1. Cornell Dupree "Rainy Night in Georgia." 2. Reggie Young "Memphis Soul Stew." 3. James Burton "Suzy Q." 4. Jesse Ed...