Soren Reiff and his amps, rigs and pedals.

December 16, 2013October 17, 2018

Radial Tonebone Trimode tube distortion

Here’s another “review”. Today I’ll write about the Radial Tonebone Trimode tube distortion. Again this is more about my personal experiences – why and how I use it – than a test with a lot of technically data and information.

Thru the years I’ve tried tons of overdrive pedals – some of them have done a good job – at least in combination with certain amps. But for me it’s essential that they work well with every amp. When I wrote about my move back in the days, from amp and pedalboard to a rack-setup I explained about the benefits I got from that. Thru the years I’ve dreamt about a setup that was easier to travel with than my rack, and at the same time a setup that is able to give me my overdriven tube sounds I can get from my rack setup.

Soren Reiff's Radial Tonebone Trimode — Soren Reiff’s Radial Tonebone Trimode

How did I meet the Radial Tonebone Trimode tube distortion ?

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December 6, 2013October 17, 2018

Volume and wah problems

Dear guitar friends – I want to hear your opinion about an issue I’ve just become aware of … an issue that really started to drive me crazy. I’m thinking about volume and wah problems … It is perhaps a bit nerdy but let’s geek out and enjoy it.

Here’s my volume and wah problems

The angle and the action on my wah pedal has always seemed very natural and as it should be. Maybe I needed a bit of time getting used to the new feel, when it was mounted on my board that’s angled, but it felt natural pretty fast.
But the angle and the action on my volume pedal has always seemed a little to big for me. After it was mounted to my board, I think the problem has increased. Many years ago I decided to drop my high-heeled boots and wear something more neutral, but now I miss the high heels when I want to turn the volume all the way down (which the guitarists usually don’t do very often), but it happens every now and then (yes, when somebody place difficult sheets in front of you … or when we need a break).

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April 8, 2013October 17, 2018

Best advice – buying a guitar amp

I’ve written about how you optimize your practicing, and what you should consider if either you or someone you know should invest in a guitar. Today I’ll write my best advice if you or someone around you is considering buying a guitar amp.

Once again I’ll start to mention that this is written to advice beginners, or to inspire you if you are a serious guitar player with years of experience, and therefore a person people would turn to, to get your help in buying guitar related stuff 🙂

My best advice on buying a guitar amp

This one is probably an advice many parent will love because it’s very short and clear: don’t!!

What? … Yes, if you are about to start playing electric guitar, don’t buy an amp.

“Why not? … I got an electric guitar and want to practice?! … You just wrote that I should buy an electric guitar instead of an acoustic, why shouldn’t I have an amp too??”

Soren Reiff's Mesa Boogie Mark IV — My Mesa Boogie Mark IV – a super amps with tons of possibilities … but do you need that?

Ok, let me explain. If you just bought an electric guitar, I’ll asume you’re not very sure about the following things: Continue reading “Best advice – buying a guitar amp”

March 4, 2013October 17, 2018

TC Electronic Flashback delay

I’ve been using TC Electronics products for more than 25 years I guess. The first TC Electronic pedal I bought was the phaser, and after that I’ve had several of their products. For years especially the 2290 has been an important part of my setup, so when I heard about the TC Electronic Flashback delay, I thought it would be a natural part of my board.

Facts about the TC Electronic Flashback delay

The TC Electronic Flashback delay offers you 11 different delay types. In addition to the “normal” different delay types, you get the TonePrint function. TonePrint gives you your favorite guitar players custom presets, in one of the delay modes. This is downloaded to the pedal either by your computer and an usb-cable or by and app for your smartphone. All in all a lot of possibilities in a regular stomp box – super.

The loop function is cool and sounds great – and I have loop time enough for my need (40 seconds).

The tc electronic Flashback delay in Soren Reiff's pedalboard — The tc electronic Flashback delay in my pedalboard

Does it cover all my needs delay wise?

Overall the pedal sounds great. The different presets sound cool, and it covers about everything you can expect from a delay pedal, at least from a small stomp box.

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February 11, 2013October 17, 2018

Pedalboards versus rack-setups part 3

This blogpost is the third in a series of three about pedalboards versus rack-setups

In the first post in this series I wrote about the equipment I started out with and in the second post I told you about all the advantages I had from my rack-setup – today I’ll write about what I’m using at the moment and why I chosen as I’ve done.

Actually there wasn’t that many reasons for considering other solutions than my small rack-setup … but there was a few.

One was that I started to play more abroad. Often it was impossible to get the same setup I had back home – meaning that even if I brought my presets with me on a memory-card, it wouldn’t work. And in addition to that, it was very expensive to rent something like my normal rig – and really a waste of money, when I wasn’t able to use the presets I brought with me. I also got tired of trying to duplicate something from my normal setup, within the short time we had for soundcheck. Therefore I started to have smaller programmable boards with me every time I played outside Scandinavia.

Soren Reiff's setup 2013 - a Mesa Boogie Mark IV combo, and a full packed board — My setup 2013 – a Mesa Boogie Mark IV combo, and a full packed board

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February 7, 2013October 17, 2018

Pedalboards versus rack-setups part 2

This blogpost is the second in a series of three about pedalboards versus rack-setups

This blogpost details my pro’s concerning pedalboards versus rack-setups. The other day I wrote about the equipment I started out with and why I moved from amps and a pedalboard to a rack-setup.

The rack setup I ended up using for years live and on tv – and still often use in the studio, was built around a Mesa Boogie preamp, Mesa Boogie poweramp and a TC2290.

At first I used the Quad preamp, but after a year or so Boogie introduced the Triaxis preamp – a programmable tube preamp with 99 presets – it was made for my kind of work.

For years I had rack-comp’s, noise suppressors, phasers and other fun stuff in the loops of the 2290. I also had a Lexicon reverb, 2 TC M5000 reverbs and an Intellefex chorus, delay and reverb unit – all hooked up as auxillary fx’s in a programmable Akai line mixer.

Continue reading “Pedalboards versus rack-setups part 2”

February 1, 2013October 17, 2018

Pedalboards versus rack-setups

This blogpost is the first in a series of three about pedalboards versus rack-setups

At the moment I normally use a single amp and a rather fully fullpacked pedalboard, when I’m playing live. My rack stuff is mostly used in the studio. This blogpost is about my thoughts thru these changes and my pro’s and con’s concerning pedalboards versus rack-setups.

When I started playing in a band I had an electric guitar and borrowed my big brothers amp and a fuzz-face type overdrive from him – this worked fine for a long time.

My big brothers Gayatone Sustainer — When I started playing in a band a borrowed my big brothers Gayatone Sustainer

When I started to become a little more serious about my music and gear, I bought my own amp and started flirting with pedals. But still I had a very simple setup compared to the 20 unit stereo rig I later on used for years while I did tv-shows and sessions as a hired gun.

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January 7, 2013October 17, 2018

Studio Jams #47

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my first appearance on the TV-show “Studio Jams”, episode #34. Today I’ll write about my second Studio Jams experience – episode #47.

As I wrote in my first post about Studio Jams I was very happy to be invited to participate – and being invited back was an even bigger pleasure. So when Producer Tom Emmi asked me if I wanted to do a Swedish show, I agreed instantly.

Mattias Bylund, Jannik Jensen, Pontus Engborg, Tracy Silverman & Soren Reiff, outside Svenska Grammofon Studion, Gothenburg, Sweden

The musicians for Studio Jams #47

Tom told me that he would bring violin virtuoso Tracy Silverman, but wanted me to find the rest of the musicians. I hadn’t been living in Sweden for that long, so my network of Swedish musicians wasn’t that big. But I had connected to a Swedish drummer, Pontus Engborg on Myspace and Facebook. Pontus and I have a lot of friends in common from the L.A. scene.

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October 3, 2012September 13, 2018

My pedalboard

Yesterday I did a workshop/clinic on guitar effects in general and I talked about my pedalboard. I often get many questions about my setup, therefore I’ll post a couple of pictures of my current board below, and give a couple of tips concerning how to set up your pedalboard.

Since I don’t have any sponsor deals with any company/brand mentioned here – neither manufacturers or stores are allowed to use my name to promote any product, without prior written consent from me. But you are very welcome to link to this blog or to my site www.sorenreiff.com if you want other people to read about my setup.

Continue reading “My pedalboard”