If it's just one, you probably need a level and polish on the 10th/11th frets.

6/16/2009 3:00:44 AM

thxu

6/16/2009 3:03:42 AM

I had a cheap ibanez guitar a couple years back and I paid about 25 bucks for a custom made bone saddle from this established ebay seller (Colosi?). I recorded some stuff before/after and could definitely tell a difference.

Now I have an Alvarez PF90SC and I was curious if you guys think it's just a snobbish thing to fret (lol) over or if the difference in sound is actually worth the extra bit of cash? I'm not 100% sure what the current composition of the saddle I have is, but it has a yellowish tint to it (could it be tusq?). My bridge pins are definitely .10c/dozen generic el-plastique. Does it not make since to change out the saddle without also changing the pegs and nut?

Everyone who plays the guitar thinks it sounds amazing, but I've always wanted a full size dreadnought (seagull s6 or entry level martin). I just got a killer deal on this folk guitar a couple of years ago I ran with it.

6/16/2009 1:05:12 PM

boo

6/18/2009 5:29:10 PM

OK, So I just finished my first full stmpbox build and it works!

http://www.freestompboxes.org/

I've done mods and stuff to existing pedals, but this one was from scratch.
A clone of this:



/gloat

6/19/2009 9:08:50 AM

not that anyone cares, but we are in the studio atm. I am not there right now since its all pre production and drum tracking and drum mixing until this weekend and didnt want to spend my vacation on that But guitars and bass will be all next week. Normally we are running an S and RG through Mesa Dual and Triple rectifiers respectively, but we're mixing it up some on the album to try and vary our sound a little bit.

Guitars we will be using:
PRS Custom 22 with SG Pickups
G&L ASAT
Ibanez S Prestige
Ibanez RG Prestige
Possibly a 7 string Ibanez, not sure yet tho.

Amps we will be using:
Orange AD30
old Marshall Plexi
Roland Jazz Chorus
Mesa Dual
Mesa Triple

We are also going to be mixing it up with the effects a lot more this time. (Last time we pretty much only used delay and reverb). We will be using a Big Muff for some of the distortion instead of the amps. We also have a pretty sweet sounding phaser, a bass synthesizer pedal, tremolo pedal, octave pedal etc. We really specifically wrote some parts around different pedals, which we've never done in the past.

Also, we are mixing some Reason loops into our album as well...I honestly wished we had done more of that but we kinda ran out of time.

Anyways, I'm super pumped to get in there this next week and put all this equipment to use.

[Edited on July 15, 2009 at 9:32 AM. Reason : ]

7/15/2009 9:31:33 AM

I care. My band is starting recording friday.

My Laney VH100R is "OUT FOR DELIVERY"




What phaser are you using? i've been looking to get one. I like that really slow phasing sound from the van halen era.

[Edited on July 15, 2009 at 9:51 AM. Reason : ]

7/15/2009 9:50:27 AM

^^ i care too. congrats...like to hear it when it's finished

7/15/2009 9:54:32 AM

^^ sweet, good luck man. And the phaser we are using is I guess sortof a boutique pedal we are borrowing from a friend. Its a 4ms phaseur fleur classic. Its got a lot of control over the sound:

http://4mspedals.com/phaseur.php

It's awesome, but cost him a lot more than I would want to spend on a phaser pedal

^
and definitely. don't worry, you'll know when we have listenable material from the studio.

[Edited on July 15, 2009 at 10:07 AM. Reason : ]

7/15/2009 10:05:49 AM

whoa these are some cool ass pedals.

good luck with recording.

7/15/2009 10:10:55 AM

Thanks, you too.

7/15/2009 10:13:06 AM

sarijoul and a friend did a noise piece using only a toy keyboard and a triwave picogenerator (the original junction box 3ms version, not the fancier 4ms) during a talent show in talley when i was a freshman

it was pretty awesomely noisy

7/15/2009 4:34:03 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JAsYGgaEeU

dude i love this guy.

Laney VH100R Kicks ass, but i can tell that i need to swap out two of my V30s i'm thinking about G12k-100s or 65s or something. Its a little bit too midranged. I'm also probably going to need to get an EQ so i can cut out some of the mud. Coolest thing is the insert inbetween the pre/power amp stages with a insert level knob so i can crank this thing in my apartment without breaking any windows.

7/17/2009 6:53:48 PM

I recently changed my picking style to the more traditional thumb plus index finger

i was using three fingers and i could not play quickly on any string

i'm trying to play fast palm muting on the E string

I asked my guitar teacher if the way I used to hold it was OK and he said yea but I don't think I ever could have gotten it down with the way I was holding it

now I can play quickly with ease especially if I pick at a 45 degree angle

7/18/2009 2:46:02 PM

I finally switched from thumb/middle finger to thumb/index a few months ago. helped a ton with sweep picking.

7/18/2009 3:37:42 PM

who the fuck would use their middle finger?

7/18/2009 3:40:40 PM

who the fuck would use their middle finger?

7/18/2009 3:40:40 PM

people who started by occasionally finger picking while still holding a pick, like myself. Now I can do both separately, but when I first started without a pick at all, my middle finger was dominant.

edit:

unless you're talking about the way you hold the pick, in which case: wtf.

[Edited on July 18, 2009 at 3:51 PM. Reason : .]

7/18/2009 3:50:17 PM

it was more natural originally to use my thumb and middle fingers to hold a pick so that's what i did . my middle finger is long as shit and curves inward.. if i just shut my hands my middle finger and thumb meet naturally..so, that's what was most comfortable.

obviously not a good technique but it worked fine for years.

7/18/2009 4:25:10 PM

hey i don't find it that weird, i used my middle finger with my thumb and sometimes my middle AND index finger with my thumb for prob about 8 years. I only switched relatively recently to my index and thumb

7/18/2009 5:29:17 PM

do you guys ever bite your calluses off?

i've got to stop doing that i've got a huge chunk of skin missing on my left index finger

7/18/2009 5:55:08 PM

i'm bad about cutting mine off when i'm cutting my fingernails

or when i get out of the shower and they're all wrinkly and white or whatever i'll sometimes bite on them. pretty nasty i guess after i think about it haha

so yea, you aren't alone

7/18/2009 6:09:48 PM

recording has been an absolute blast so far.

we are just finishing up rhythm guitars today. So far we have used:

really nice old school Gibson Les Paul
PRS SE Custom 22 with Gibson Pickups
G&L ASAT Classic
Ibanez RG Prestige
Ibanez S Prestige

Our main metal tone is a simultaneous mix of an old school Mesa rack mounted Dual Rectifier with an Orange AD30. its about 60/40 mesa for the metal parts and 60/40 orange for the rock parts. We are also mixing in a maxon tube screamer which sounds incredible as well as the big muff on several parts. Messed with tons of pedals too. clean parts will be a roland jazz chorus and the orange.

overall the guitar tones we are getting are absolutely phenomenal.

7/22/2009 11:44:15 PM

I'd love to hear some of it.

7/23/2009 11:05:03 AM

thanks man, but don't worry, ill be shamelessly whoring it out when we get material ready for people to hear

we'll prob have a few new songs up online in aug/sept...dono when the album will be released yet

[Edited on July 23, 2009 at 2:16 PM. Reason : ]

7/23/2009 2:01:51 PM

yeah when my band finishes our album i'll be leaking that shit. I mean, we don't have any fans so its not like anyone would buy it outside of a show.

7/23/2009 2:11:36 PM

If anyone is interested, my '63 Silvertone 1457 with the amp case is for sale at Guru Guitars on Hillsborough.

8/1/2009 9:51:22 PM

to tie back into an oldddd discussion in this thread, we used an ebow on 3 different songs on this new album

8/6/2009 2:59:59 PM

i am in the mixing stages of a cover i did of Hear you Me by jimmyeatworld. i am debating adding percussion. if it ends up being worth sharing i will. haha

8/6/2009 3:06:43 PM

^^ when i get my next guitar i'm putting a fernandes sustainer in my ibanez. I kind of want an ebow, but they're completely impractical live, though opeth was using them when i saw them. Mike pulled out the pocket reach in like a split second for the ebow.

[Edited on August 6, 2009 at 9:30 PM. Reason : ]

8/6/2009 9:29:27 PM

Nice. id love to have a fernandes sustainer in one of mine.

8/11/2009 7:48:54 AM

those ebow's look pretty neat. i'll listen to some clips later since i'm at work now.

8/11/2009 8:10:32 AM

So i need a boost. I can't merit spending $150 on the boost that i want, any cheap alternatives? I've heard decent things about the Microamp. I'm mainly looking for a solo/lead boost whatever you want to call it

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

8/18/2009 2:38:46 AM

Find an old DOD Bi-FET Preamp pedal. I got mine for $20 and that was ten years ago. Quite a bit of boost and it has an EQ knob.

8/18/2009 3:13:13 AM

^^ whats the boost you want? My guess is a Maxon (or Ibanez) Tube Screamer?

8/18/2009 7:38:42 AM

I've heard the screaming monkey is really good for the price.

8/18/2009 10:46:18 AM

Xotic RC

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

8/18/2009 11:13:24 AM

^ ah word great pedal, but in the studio we actually opted to use the Maxon tube screamers over that which are slightly cheaper. They each (RC vs TS) have their own definitive tone if you are using either of them for the majority of your distortion, but if you are using either of them simply as nothing but a booster, the result was pretty identical. Then again, I guess a good TS isn't really that much cheaper than the RC But you should be able to find them used for less since they start out about $30 less /shrug.

8/18/2009 11:24:17 AM

The main thing i like about the Xotic pedals is that they're true bypass, which is great considering i don't really intend to ever use more than 2 maybe 3 pedals in any given setup.

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

8/18/2009 12:24:52 PM

I really need to get a decent amp and some real pedals. this digital shit isn't cutting it.

also, any ideas what an original SG Junior is worth? i found my dads from back when he played in bands a while back.. he got it brand new. i doubt i have anything proving that and it's not exactly a beautifully kept guitar or anything but hell, figured i'd ask


[Edited on August 18, 2009 at 12:33 PM. Reason : also]

8/18/2009 12:26:30 PM

The year and whether or not it's all-original is way more important than than the condition...if it's an early '60s model that's all original it's probably worth a few grand even if it's beat up.

The important thing is that it has the greatest electric guitar setup ever: 24.75" scale, wraparound bridge/tailpiece, single P-90.

8/18/2009 3:45:40 PM

the only thing that might not be original is the bridge. i remember not being able to find a bridge when i first found it and he ended up getting one from somewhere.. no idea if he ever found the original

i'll figure out the year though.

[Edited on August 18, 2009 at 3:55 PM. Reason : a ]

8/18/2009 3:55:29 PM

Hey all.

I'm thinking of buying an external speaker cab for my little blues jr.
Sound wise what are the gains or losses of going with a 1X12 or a 2X10?
The jr. is a 15 watt tube amp.

8/22/2009 1:33:06 PM

1x12 will have more bass, 2x10 will be punchier and more immediate since there's a lot less cone to move.

There's an argument to be made for going with the 10s since you already have the 12 in the combo, but that's a boxy-sounding little combo and you might wanna open it up some. Is your Junior the standard speaker model, or the tweed with the Jensen?

How much are you looking to spend? I don't know what's out there in a 2x10 format since I gave up on 10s a few years ago, but if you're looking at 12s the Valve Junior cab is actually a decent little cab for $100. The speaker's not great, but it's just as good as the Blues Junior's stock speaker and it's pretty neutral-sounding. If you're looking at a nicer cab with a 12, I might consider stepping up a little more to a 2x12 to cover the boxiness of the little combo.

8/22/2009 1:57:40 PM

The jr. is the black model but I've done a ton of mods to it (I like to tinker)

JJ tubes
weber vintage speaker
tone stack mods
upgraded output xformer
ruby verb tank and bag
tone stack mods
bias mods
and added an extra filter cap

It sounds a whole lot better than stock, and I was thinking about a 2x10 just to have something different.
Hermida audio has a nice 2x10 that's ported. a little pricey, but I'm addicted so it's OK

8/22/2009 2:42:23 PM

If you want a decent cheap amp go with the Blackstar HT-5, it needs a boost but other than that its a pretty great amp. Up from that i'd look into Laney AOR you can probably get a used one for like $300.

^Definitely get a 2x12 if you can afford it.
I'm looking into getting a Gflex at some point and ditching a 4x12 all together. It really is impractical now that we can build speakers that can take more than 25 watts.


I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

[Edited on August 22, 2009 at 2:47 PM. Reason : ]

8/22/2009 2:44:34 PM

The 10" speaker sound is certainly different. In open-back combos I like 10s a lot more than 12s because you're losing a ton of bass with the open back anyway, so why not go for speakers that compliment the sound of the box? When I was touring regularly I used Peavey Classic 50s, and the sound of the 4x10 was much more harmonious IMO than the 2x12.

8/22/2009 3:10:00 PM

Anyone want to buy my Peavey Triumph? It's the 60w combo model, and it needs a set of tubes.

8/24/2009 11:54:06 PM

any of you guys taught yourself from scratch?

I started a week ago for real this time and so far know the CAGED system, how it works up and down the fret board (though I cannot barre effectively yet) but can play them well in standard position. I know a few scales, going more for minor pentatonic for blues playing, so far I know the Em scale well in position 1 and I know how to build scales albeit slowly

Any recommendations from self taught players on websites you recommend? There's a ton out there with all sorts of info and it's a bit overwhelming or anyone feel like giving lessons to a blues/classic rock inspired newbie for a reasonable price

8/31/2009 2:18:23 AM

^ I stated a couple things at the top of page 18. I've played for quite awhile now. Taught myself in HS and college. I did take lessons for 2 years once I moved after college, but outside of that, I've been all "self taught." There are Pluses and minuses to teaching yourself as well.

8/31/2009 7:59:16 AM