Meet Derek Ferwerda

[kec]

Derek,

Has anyone else you know of recorded (albums) with Trainwrecks? There doesn't seem to be much info on this.

Thanks again for these wonderful stories that you've been so kind to share with us.

[Ron Worley]

Brad Paisley's new record "Play, the Guitar Album" has Hattie Mae (Liverpool) all over it... as Brad recounts in last month's Vintage Guitar.....

[camden_guitarist]

Hi, just to let you guys know, I just picked up a real copy of the Novella CD on our Priceminister site in france, I downloaded the tracks from here but I kinda like collecting actual Trainwreck recordings. If any of you can point out any other bands that actually use these amps on their recordings, I'd appreciate it. (sorry, didn't see that last post, Ron )

As I posted in the other thread, great tunes that bring back as well that 80's feel which I treasure since I grew up in this period...weird how years later you begin to appreciate your childhood huh

Cheers,

Paul

[mclmk8d]

Thanks rj and Derek..incredible story that brings the specialness of these amps to light.

[M Fowler]

Pretty hard to swallow that you don't think the you tube videos that Glen kuykendall puts out are not good examples of a Trainwreck Express?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2_12Ler9B8

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... zUkeHBwcWM


Mark

[rooster]

Love the tune Don't You Run. The tone is killer, (although I don't dig the cut and paste thing - but hey, I'll survive. I realize this was not your call, Derek.)

And thank you very much for the very thoughtful delivery of Ken's words and thoughts, Derek. It is a great thing that you have taken a moment to share this with the world. You Rock!!!

[HeeBGB]

Hey Guys,

I posted the entire Novella album on this site back in 2008. I think the links still work. I really like this CD BTW. pretty cool stuff.

http://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... ht=novella

[geetarpicker]

Only my very most recent Youtube video (the one with both my '85 & '89 Express) was done without the bright switch. All my others and instrumental CD are with the full (500pf) bright switch on. Still it seems the majority of folks that build and play a clone stay away from the bright switch, so for comparison sake I thought it was time to do a video without the bright switch and just one cable going instead of the longer cables I've used alot in the past. It's a bit looser that way when the amp is pushed, but the smoother tone is a very nice change of pace especially for slide playing on a Strat. That said on my "Can You Hear It Ring?" CD (Itunes only these days) you will probably notice the low end is quite tight and on some tracks the distortion is quite tame IMHO.

Derek's playing AND tone are truly great in the Novella recordings. Derek surely knew good tone way back then, was/is a truly gifted player, and was lucky enough to have their music recorded and produced very professionally. Still the recordings were obviously approached by quite a bit of the production styles of the times, alot of the rhythms sound doubled to me, there isn't much if any on the fly guitar tone changes from the guitar controls, not much controlled feedback (obviosly not required but still typical of these amps when played in the same room!), and much of the solo work is mixed quite a bit back with a fair amount of reverb and perhaps even more post amp processing going on. It's great stuff, but the guitar was still playing 2nd fiddle so to speak to the vocals and overall production so you really have to seek out the spotlighted guitar sections to appreciate it.

There is a big difference between hearing these amps in a full produced vocal fronted rock band, a more stripped down instrumental project, or even just the guitar by itself in a Youtube video. I guess my demos and CD are a bit more raw and cranked up for some, but are probably more typical of what it's like to hear these amps live in person without much production.

After years of owning an Airbrake it eventually became my least favorite attenuator with my amps. To me even a Hotplate is the better sounding unit with a Trainwreck if used minimally, though these days my Faustine Phantom is my favorite IF and when I must use one. Still personally I think bringing a Trainwreck down considerably with an attenuator and putting a compressor pedal in front is setting yourself up for some flack by the very brutal Youtube crowd. I'd truly suggest going to a nice studio, cranking the amps up straight into the cabs, and micing them with nice studio mics and pres. I guess if the "younger players" gain comment is also being directed at me I'll turn that around to be a compliment as I'm a young 52!

GK

[geetarpicker]

My Hotplates also get pretty shrill when backed way down and/or with the bright switch on that of which I stayed away from mostly. Still I don't mind the THD unit's tone used only 1 or 2 clicks back, being -4 or -8 db. Those are still more like gigging levels and are still pretty loud around the house. At those two settings mine actually make the amp sound darker than bypassed which isn't a bad thing, I'd rather have it darken the amp than brighten it. On the other hand my Airbrake just thinned out the tone of any of the amps I tried it with even in the first few clicks. Part of it is probably that the Airbrake actually has a treble bleed cap that lets a little extra highs through in the reostat setting, though I tried pulling that and that helped somewhat to smooth it out though it only helped the reostat settings. That said I like my Faustine Phantom attenuator the best, though I've only used an attenuator in one of my videos and I typically never use an attenuator in the studio at all. It's a sad story about the demise of the Faustine products, but that is another story.

Keep us posted when you get your amps recorded again, looking forward to it!

[redshark]

Interesting that Glen says that the airbreak thins out the tone of the amps. My own airbreak build actually cuts part of the high end and the more I attenuate my amps, the less highs I get, to the point of going to using the bright switch of my express in the brightest setting.

[geetarpicker]

Pretty odd I'd say. My Airbrake is one of the grey Dr. Z built units that had the Trainwreck logo. I sold it a year or so back.

[redshark]

What type of wire inside your Dr. Z airbrake Glen? solid core or stranded?

[geetarpicker]

I sold it a couple years back, but I'm pretty sure it had stranded wire but I'm not sure. It had a fairly low serial number, so I think it was made early in the Dr. Z production era. The one thing I did like about it was you could trim the taps on the main resistor by moving the clamps.

[redshark]

Interesting!! I built my airbrake using the same wire I used for my amps, solid core cause I saw the guts of a Ken Fischer built airbrake and it has solid core wire as well. Not sure that could make a diference but it maybe does.

[rooster]

I hate to see anybody praise the virtue of the Airbrake, whatever the build date or manufacturer. The Phantom and the Ararcom are plainly better products sonically. They are also a better design and better built. I appreciate that Ken needed to offer something to those in need, but the Airbrake is nothing that Ken will be remembered for. Which is how it should be, IMO.