Isn’t it a wonderful word… Mojo? A good name for an effect pedal, if somebody hasn’t already done it. Over the last while I’ve been reading various posts about the reality of the elusive Mojo. Does it exist?
I think the answer is both a ‘yes’ and ‘no’. It is all about the definition. If we are talking about Mojo adding a certain vibe, well yes. It’s most definitely true. If we are talking about Mojo adding sonic quality the answer is probably ‘no’. Expand…
And so we reach the crux of it. Is sonic quality (fidelity) really what the rock guitarist wants or needs? I would venture to say no. What the rock guitarist demands is character… and that is where the Mojo factor comes in.
If you want sonic fidelity, just hook up to a top of the range studio effects processor with a sampling rate of 96k and play through a top end hifi amp. What do you get? Noooo! It is too awful to behold. Now, take the same axe, chuck it through a germanium fuzz face into a Marshall tube amp and into a nice and nasty 4*12″ cab and what have you got? Nirvana. No…not the bloody band (although you probably wouldn’t be far off).
So, it is almost the very ‘naffness’ that makes for a great sound… and then we spend thousands (and thousands) of pounds on microphones, mixers, Pro-Tools interfaces and monitors to capture that naffness. Wow.
Back in the day, the recording chain was also part of the naffness, and added its own Mojo to the equation. Ah, the sound of tape hiss and the imperfection of mis-aligned recording and playback heads… the non-linearity of the EQ and the god awful monitoring all helped shape that classic rock sound and subsequent production.
Now, with our ultra clean recording pre-amps going into our ultra clean digital recorders, being mixed by our ultra efficient monitors it is even more important to bolster your naffness at the guitar end.
Viva la tone, Viva la naffness, Viva la Mojo.
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