|
Thorpe posted:I run a baritone 8 string tuned down to as low as low C# below bass E. Holy poo poo man, what sort of music are you playing? If you're in a band, what is the bassist tuned to (if you have one)? My bass cab, admittedly only a 4x12, barely handles my five string.
|
# ? Aug 8, 2014 01:40 |
|
|
# ? Jun 6, 2024 09:03 |
|
Well I got me self a new fancy thing. A Simon and Patrick Songsmith Folk, at $320 CAD it's a steal for how good it sounds. Plus the way it's voiced makes it perfect for singing on top of, and it looks so drat beautiful with that perfect sunburst and satin finish*. Only problem with it is that it doesn't fit dreadnought cases so I need to wait until my local shop gets classical cases back in stock. *Cue Sax.
|
# ? Aug 8, 2014 03:50 |
|
I'd be curious to know your impression of this once you've put it through its paces. I own a Traveler mkII and 8pre mkII — both firewire — with the 8pre's ADAT-out feeding the Traveler. 16 channels, never had any problems. Then as I was sourcing interfaces for my workplace I discovered that the 8pre went USB only, and I was like, wtf? I ended up going well out of my way to find two old firewire versions because of my irrational hate-on for USB interfaces.
|
# ? Aug 8, 2014 17:08 |
|
NonzeroCircle posted:Holy poo poo man, what sort of music are you playing? If you're in a band, what is the bassist tuned to (if you have one)? My bass cab, admittedly only a 4x12, barely handles my five string. Mostly chuggy stupid metal, but I like to use the extended lows for two handed tapping and slapping it. Sort of a guitar bass hybrid. I'm not in a band at the moment (newish job who coincidentally forgot to tell me they regularly like to work 60+ hour weeks during the interview) but I like to crank up when I can. When I have played with bassists we'd generally tune in unison, I'd cut out a lot of the lows from my tone and let the bassist bring the bass. Meshuggah does it that way and it works pretty well for them.
|
# ? Aug 8, 2014 17:14 |
|
Noise Machine posted:Depends what kinda sound you're going for. I know a local band that has a guitarist using a VI on two songs, he plugs into his musicman head and matching 2x12 and he runs that really hot. That's if you want a more mid-heavy sound. Probably a Robert Smith kind of thing, so that'd be pretty reasonable, but holy hell that is about fifty times more amp than I own right now, I've just got a scavenged 1x12" Crate combo from the mid-80s that I had to replace the speaker on. I'm probably the kind of bad player who'd try and play chords on it, since my usual gig is rhythm guitar. Thorpe posted:I run a baritone 8 string tuned down to as low as low C# below bass E. I play loud a decent amount and haven't blown out a speaker yet. Using Century Vintage speakers and just EQ out the sub lows. I had not thought of outside EQing, and an EQ box is probably not that expensive to get ahold of...
|
# ? Aug 8, 2014 17:14 |
|
is that not just everyone's go-to thing regardless of tuning? Sure, in the studio you can dick around all you want with fancy stuff to get it just so, but live, if you're not cutting bass heavily on your guitar channel in the first place, you can just about bet the audience won't hear somebody else. edit: I thought this was the guitar thread, whoops! obv. if you're still new, you don't really have standards n' practices yet, but that's one to keep in mind. I don't like hard/fast rules but a highpass at 100-125 for guitar is pretty much necessary, often higher (I like the way a very heavy guitar sound turns out when highpassed pretty aggressively at 250hz personally, but that doesn't work very well at all for non-distorted guitar). Back to extended range bass talk, I've been chewing on the idea of getting a Schecter Hellcat. Anyone have any experience with one? I have a MIK Schecter from 2007 that's the tits but I'm fairly certain that their quality control (or something) took a massive nosedive with the move to China, based on experience with the MIC Schecters from 2009 onward anyway. Or maybe it was growing pains and things are better now, a lot of poo poo can change in seven years. Agreed fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Aug 8, 2014 |
# ? Aug 8, 2014 19:30 |
|
Agreed posted:is that not just everyone's go-to thing regardless of tuning? Sure, in the studio you can dick around all you want with fancy stuff to get it just so, but live, if you're not cutting bass heavily on your guitar channel in the first place, you can just about bet the audience won't hear somebody else. I'm not cool enough or good enough to gig, and what band I had is basically a non-extant thing, so even though I'm not new (sucking for seven straight years now), I'm basically trash with bad opinions so whatever. I just get to play in my apartment.
|
# ? Aug 8, 2014 21:48 |
|
Handen posted:I'd be curious to know your impression of this once you've put it through its paces. I own a Traveler mkII and 8pre mkII — both firewire — with the 8pre's ADAT-out feeding the Traveler. 16 channels, never had any problems. Then as I was sourcing interfaces for my workplace I discovered that the 8pre went USB only, and I was like, wtf? I ended up going well out of my way to find two old firewire versions because of my irrational hate-on for USB interfaces. Will do
|
# ? Aug 8, 2014 23:16 |
|
Allen Wren posted:I'm not cool enough or good enough to gig I hear this so often from so many people and barring a physical or mental issue, there's absolutely no truth to it, EVER.
|
# ? Aug 8, 2014 23:16 |
|
iostream.h posted:I don't know a thing about you, your post history or your skill level, but bullshit. Since we don't emptyquote here, I'd like to note that I arrived at this same conclusion independently but just felt sad and didn't say anything, which is why iostream is cool, you see.
|
# ? Aug 8, 2014 23:17 |
|
Thorpe, that sounds pretty cool, guess anything that low is gonna be heavy, and it sounds interesting that you are approaching it with bass techniques. Although not strictly 'new' my last guitar was a very cheap Harley Benton 7 string off eBay, the neck feels nice and solid but the intonation is out by the third fret when tuned any lower than B Standard, probably due to the dreadful floating trem, which I've now blocked. My advice to anyone looking at extended range instruments is spend that bit more, and for the love of god get a hardtail! I've had numerous cheap sixes that have all played ok, and sold my first cheap 7 years ago for the exact issues I'm having with this one. Maybe this time I've learnt my lesson!
|
# ? Aug 8, 2014 23:32 |
|
NonzeroCircle posted:Thorpe, that sounds pretty cool, guess anything that low is gonna be heavy, and it sounds interesting that you are approaching it with bass techniques. Hardtail supremacy! Here's a video of a recording I did awhile ago (over a year god drat) of some of the clean stuff I play. Having an 8 string opens up a lot of interesting things, but it is really hard to not just crank up the gain and chug the lowest string with a stupid grin. Maybe thats just me though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTl5Y7RCFwI
|
# ? Aug 9, 2014 00:39 |
|
Think I'll be making this my next guitar:
|
# ? Aug 9, 2014 02:58 |
|
Mmm music men.
|
# ? Aug 9, 2014 04:56 |
|
Allen Wren posted:I'm not cool enough or good enough to gig, and what band I had is basically a non-extant thing, so even though I'm not new (sucking for seven straight years now), I'm basically trash with bad opinions so whatever. I just get to play in my apartment. Shut the gently caress up and get on a stage.
|
# ? Aug 9, 2014 05:09 |
|
For a while I was really kicking myself for never playing a show ever, even had iostream kicking my butt about it and giving me some much appreciated support. In the end I've realized right now I just don't want to, and that's cool. When I do feel like it I'll go for it. I don't know what my point is really but if you'd like to gig, go do it! If not, who cares? The thing is there will be tons of people much shittier than you out playing every night so it's not something worth worrying about. Do what you want to do with music with all the confidence you have and realize that critics only matter if you want them to. Have fun with your hobbies.
|
# ? Aug 9, 2014 07:58 |
|
I go through phases of playing live in bands, then moving exclusively to studio stuff. At the moment I'm amassing a huge collection of songs which may or may not ever be played live, but like a lot of "bedroom" players I'm doing it for my own entertainment. Making songs I want to hear, variations on music I listen to that I think could be better. I think the experience of playing live is not to be underrated though. There's nothing like getting lost in a song on stage and coming out of it at a random point to see a bunch of people either staring in rapt attention or dancing or moshing. First couple of times I got self conscious, but the band was playing shows and I wasn't going to halt that because I didn't want people staring at me. Side note for Agreed: I don't think anyone answered your Schecter quality question. From everything I've heard, their 2013-2014 models are high quality for the price. It surprises me every time I hear it, since my only Schecter experience came during their crap years. But that's what people have been saying now!
|
# ? Aug 9, 2014 12:35 |
|
It's not like the second run on Squiers was exactly top notch. The two that finally arrived at the local shop were both slightly hosed. Both were damaged inside SEALED AND UNDAMAGED boxes - so Squier was likely just flying them out the door to catch up. Most reported brutally cut nuts made out of the softest plastic known to man (mine as well). Mine has a finish scratch by the neck pocket on the body, but that's it. Didn't notice until a few weeks later and got a "tough poo poo" approach from the store I picked it up from. The other one had a huge ugly brown knot right behind the fret marker and kind of ruined that nice maple neck look. Clearly wood choice was low on priority when you're 8months behind schedule. From the get go, you'll need to "fix" the bridge issues for intonation, replace the nut, and order the heavier LaBella strings to reduce some rattle. The tuners could stand to be a little higher in ratio too as tuning the E and A strings edges on "pretty close" for achieving tuned playing. It gets there, but it'd probably be a lot nicer with 18:1 ratio instead of the standard VM Kluson style tuners. The three pickups switches are kind of sharp if you catch your right hand on them while playing. That aside, it's comfortable as all gently caress to play. I love the big block inlays and binding (minus that the nut is bound and will have to be cut for nut replacement). I jacked the poo poo out of the string height to reduce a lot of the "clack" when playing a little too hard in the stock strings. The stock pickups are also like 10K (in the bridge for sure). I put in a Neovin 5K Strat pickup for the bridge to see what it would be like with a thinner sound. Cool to experiment since you don't have to pull the strings like a Strat. If you have the tone rolled all the way off and you hit the "strangle switch" it becomes a "kill switch". Open chords involving the A and E strings are too muddy and useless, so bottom four only for strumming (D, F, etc). I was debating selling mine as I don't have a bass rig and rarely use it - but then I play it and I'm all "hell no, you ain't going anywhere". Edit: phone ramble Sockington fucked around with this message at 13:33 on Aug 9, 2014 |
# ? Aug 9, 2014 13:09 |
|
The Gasmask posted:I go through phases of playing live in bands, then moving exclusively to studio stuff. At the moment I'm amassing a huge collection of songs which may or may not ever be played live, but like a lot of "bedroom" players I'm doing it for my own entertainment. Making songs I want to hear, variations on music I listen to that I think could be better. I think MIK guitars in general have been getting steadily better, to the point that they're pretty much the MIJ of the day. Personally I still steer clear of Chinese stuff though.
|
# ? Aug 9, 2014 14:29 |
|
Thorpe posted:Mostly chuggy stupid metal, but I like to use the extended lows for two handed tapping and slapping it. Sort of a guitar bass hybrid. I'm not in a band at the moment (newish job who coincidentally forgot to tell me they regularly like to work 60+ hour weeks during the interview) but I like to crank up when I can. Meshuggah's bassist actually tunes up a full step.
|
# ? Aug 9, 2014 14:31 |
|
Argali posted:Meshuggah's bassist actually tunes up a full step. I assume you know this, but for people who don't: Meshuggah uses F standard tuning on their guitars (a half-step down from normal F# on an 8), leaving their bassist in an interesting situation. He could tune down an octave, but that requires huge strings or an extended scale bass. Instead he tunes his up from E. Great resource for fans: http://avhguitarrepair.com/the-meshuggah-guitar-archive/. Their tech guy Allen has a blog where he goes into great detail on pretty much every instrument the band uses.
|
# ? Aug 9, 2014 15:16 |
|
The Gasmask posted:He could tune down an octave This would be pretty loving dumb for metal band that wants to play live.
|
# ? Aug 9, 2014 17:01 |
|
Argali posted:I think MIK guitars in general have been getting steadily better, to the point that they're pretty much the MIJ of the day. Personally I still steer clear of Chinese stuff though. I've said the phrase "MIK is the new MIJ for import quality" before, back when Agiles first started getting big, PRS' QC for the SE series MIK was kicking rear end at the time (they still have really good quality control), Schecters back in like 2005-2008 (when I first started seeing Made in China pop up was 2009 iirc), but I am not /totally/ confident that it's true. Mainly because MIJ instruments tend to be so nice, and Korean manufacturing facilities are closer to Mexican ones in terms of working conditions, especially in the instrument world. Cort is the go-to example here: controlled 30%+ of the guitar market coming up to 2007, but put workers in conditions with exceptionally poor ventilation (yes, even around that fuckin' poly spray). Cort shut them down the moment they unionized looking for better wages and/or conditions (seriously, or). Then they were in a position of really needing the work so they begged that lovely company to reopen their closed facilities. Not a universal problem in Korean manufacturing, but enough that it got to be too pricy for a lot of manufacturers who were ostensibly trying to use a "good" country to make their poo poo super cheap (because nationalism, imo - people have very "gut" reactions to Made in China). There are some excellent factories in China in terms of quality control, they tend to have very new factories compared to the U.S. (lol I worked in a factory from the '60s and that poo poo was nightmarish, got so hot it'd throw the robots completely off and we'd have to fix a shitload of welds) - I see it as a problem of having generally great working stations but sometimes very frightening working conditions, and expectations from the folks paying the wage. People still line up in the Southern province factories anyway if there's an opening, but that's not especially optional from their perspective. Wait nobody comes to the gear thread for that poo poo. Apologies! I'm glad that Schecter have improved the quality of their instruments again, because they had great guitars for a little while there, then suddenly didn't and it hosed up my whole perception of the brand. Pick up several adjacent $700-$1000 instruments made in China and they ALL want your blood (lol what is fret crowning) and looked like they'd been set up by somebody who had only ever heard of the concept of a guitar, never actually seen one... I mean the new locking tuners on the higher end models were cool but I've never had issues with my tuners, whereas that poo poo was unplayable and inexcusable at the time as far as I'm concerned. The Bass VI has such a weird loadout hardware-wise... I'm factoring in a nut replacement for it as necessary if I go down that route, but I don't like the idea of that style bridge for a bass. I dunno, though, I need to find one local-ish and try it so I can quit talking poo poo and make a decision one way or another. I want an extended range bass very badly, or a Hellcat. I kinda think I ought to get a Hellcat just to know for sure whether I like it, since my whole thought process seems to be running "well I could get either a Hellcat or some other extended range bass idk" and I probably wouldn't be able to call out the Squier VI by name if it weren't pretty big lately. Hm. Agreed fucked around with this message at 19:10 on Aug 9, 2014 |
# ? Aug 9, 2014 19:06 |
|
Allen Wren posted:I'm not cool enough or good enough to gig, and what band I had is basically a non-extant thing, so even though I'm not new (sucking for seven straight years now), I'm basically trash with bad opinions so whatever. I just get to play in my apartment. Playing with other musicians is the best time, as well as the best way to learn and improve, so even if you don't feel comfortable gigging, you should at least try to jam with other people. I've noticed that musicians who lack confidence like to apologize for their perceived lack of skill, and I always respond by reminding them that I'm not very good either. No one can feel ashamed if we all suck equally.
|
# ? Aug 10, 2014 02:04 |
|
Agreed posted:I've said the phrase "MIK is the new MIJ for import quality" before, back when Agiles first started getting big, PRS' QC for the SE series MIK was kicking rear end at the time (they still have really good quality control), Schecters back in like 2005-2008 (when I first started seeing Made in China pop up was 2009 iirc), but I am not /totally/ confident that it's true. Mainly because MIJ instruments tend to be so nice, and Korean manufacturing facilities are closer to Mexican ones in terms of working conditions, especially in the instrument world. Cort is the go-to example here: controlled 30%+ of the guitar market coming up to 2007, but put workers in conditions with exceptionally poor ventilation (yes, even around that fuckin' poly spray). Cort shut them down the moment they unionized looking for better wages and/or conditions (seriously, or). Then they were in a position of really needing the work so they begged that lovely company to reopen their closed facilities. Not a universal problem in Korean manufacturing, but enough that it got to be too pricy for a lot of manufacturers who were ostensibly trying to use a "good" country to make their poo poo super cheap (because nationalism, imo - people have very "gut" reactions to Made in China). I feel kinda iffy on buying import guitars new other than from South Korean places since their collective bargaining thing
|
# ? Aug 10, 2014 02:37 |
|
muike posted:I feel kinda iffy on buying import guitars new other than from South Korean places since their collective bargaining thing Same here (and I consider SK and Japan to be a substantially higher tier vs. China, Indonesia, Vietnam, etc,) although I have an easier time rationalizing purchasing cheaper stuff from China. The conditions for the worker on the $250 guitar and $1000 guitar are probably identical, but I can sympathize more with a company moving a product overseas and cutting costs substantially vs. moving it overseas, keeping the price the same and pocketing the difference. At least any guitar no matter where it was made or what it is can ostensibly be used to create art. Why the gently caress do people pay $500 for the exact same mass market, commodity Made In China Coach handbag everyone else has?
|
# ? Aug 11, 2014 08:08 |
|
Just bought EastWest Hollywood strings Gold. hell...yes (not me) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQeRXbAwV4w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVyoR5osoAk
|
# ? Aug 11, 2014 17:10 |
|
Hey look! It's a Soul Food! I bought it on saturday, but I only got time to actually play it on my rig today so I'll probably be back later to give some actual words regarding it. Edit: Here's what I wrote about it on OSG: quote:In any case, I spent a good deal of time with it today and I must say I really enjoy the Soul Food. Adeline Weishaupt fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Aug 11, 2014 |
# ? Aug 11, 2014 18:15 |
|
Agreed posted:I've said the phrase "MIK is the new MIJ for import quality" before, back when Agiles first started getting big, PRS' QC for the SE series MIK was kicking rear end at the time (they still have really good quality control), Schecters back in like 2005-2008 (when I first started seeing Made in China pop up was 2009 iirc), but I am not /totally/ confident that it's true. Mainly because MIJ instruments tend to be so nice, and Korean manufacturing facilities are closer to Mexican ones in terms of working conditions, especially in the instrument world. Cort is the go-to example here: controlled 30%+ of the guitar market coming up to 2007, but put workers in conditions with exceptionally poor ventilation (yes, even around that fuckin' poly spray). Cort shut them down the moment they unionized looking for better wages and/or conditions (seriously, or). Then they were in a position of really needing the work so they begged that lovely company to reopen their closed facilities. Not a universal problem in Korean manufacturing, but enough that it got to be too pricy for a lot of manufacturers who were ostensibly trying to use a "good" country to make their poo poo super cheap (because nationalism, imo - people have very "gut" reactions to Made in China). Korea makes fine instruments but I'm not sure why every one that I touch feels like it has a half inch of poly on it. Even the ridiculously expensive Deusenbergs have that plastic feel to them. And when MIJ is still relatively cheap and great....
|
# ? Aug 11, 2014 18:25 |
|
umalt posted:It's a Soul Food! This is the corniest post I've ever seen in ML.
|
# ? Aug 11, 2014 18:57 |
|
Zuhzuhzombie!! posted:Korea makes fine instruments but I'm not sure why every one that I touch feels like it has a half inch of poly on it. Even the ridiculously expensive Deusenbergs have that plastic feel to them. Yep. Also, it is really really thick, I finally got a look under it on accident () when a dropped pedal hit a guitar with that poly. It dinged the guitar without actually making it through all of the finish, just most of it, even though the guitar is ostensibly a "natural" finish guitar, haha.
|
# ? Aug 11, 2014 19:35 |
|
I have pretty big issues with thick poly because of aging and resonance issues but I can't lie, my CV50s Tele is like a tank. I've whacked it so many times and it doesn't even dent. Considering it's soft pine I can't complain too much. In related awesome Chinese made instrument news I'm charging my DSLR right now to take some photos of a new friend I acquired this morning. It's really something.
|
# ? Aug 11, 2014 20:06 |
|
I have a Fender MIM FSR that has a surprisingly even and small poly coat. Loaned it to a buddy who has a modded Squier J he uses from time to time. He usually has a host of Warwick's he plays through but those things have necks for days and I can never play them well. Anyway, loaned him my Fender and he's been asking to buy it. Says it sounds way better, acoustically, than the Squier and has better definition as well. We attribute it to both the ash vs basswood and the lack of thick rear end poly.
|
# ? Aug 11, 2014 20:43 |
|
So it's not particularly exciting, but it's still kinda cool! Never gotten any of my guitars in tune so fast before, I'll say that much. Now I need to build a pedalboard...
|
# ? Aug 14, 2014 00:41 |
|
What does a badass, reliable, durable tuner go for nowadays anyway? $100? I've been toying around with the idea of getting that Tronical Tune system for so long, but $300... ehhhhh. But I guess if you take into account that you don't actually need a tuner anymore, then that kind of helps justify the price. Right?
|
# ? Aug 14, 2014 07:05 |
|
Polyphonic tuners are in that range, as are most better single-note chromatic tuner pedals. The Korg seems to street for less than most, though, and you can find some listings on Reverb/eBay for under $60! I paid a little more for mine at a local shop, but I like to spend my money locally when possible.
|
# ? Aug 14, 2014 13:38 |
|
I like the look of the new Korg Pitchblack Poly, I may snag one at some point, but I've been using the Polytune since they were released (now using V2) and have zero complaints.
|
# ? Aug 14, 2014 15:10 |
|
Most tuner pedals will get you more or less in tune so if you're not intonating something why not go with what looks the coolest
|
# ? Aug 14, 2014 17:18 |
|
Yeah, we've had solid pedal tuners for ages now. A mediocre tuner that works directly on the signal and listens for one note at a time? +/-1 cent. And that's not getting into the cool tech that's emerged since. Even intonation isn't hard with one of those, especially if you use your amazing super power of "being able to hear and also play at the same time WOAH" since you can pretty much tell where it sits with a +/- 1 cent tuner. Of course, if you want to lay down a hundred bucks and get a super badass polyphonic tuner or a .01 cent tuner or something then more power to you! But in general, at least since Planet Waves got into the gig with their Chrome Chromatic back in like 2008, tuner pedals have damned near been a commodity purchase and essentially fungible until you approach them from a different angle Even then, unless you're literally a robot with extreme precision - and they do actually make those for tuning, which is just cool as heck - you're not gonna convince conventional guitar or bass tuning pegs to land anywhere close to the perfect .01 cent. Even fancy bridges and fully locked up systems will skew out of THAT degree of precision just due to playing the damned thing for ten minutes, haha.
|
# ? Aug 14, 2014 17:46 |
|
|
# ? Jun 6, 2024 09:03 |
|
Lil' tuning tip from your uncle Bort (well really Jack Endino): switch to the neck pickup, roll off the tone if you have one, and pluck at the 12th fret. You're welcome. Also Peterson makes a strobe stompbox that's totally tits.
|
# ? Aug 14, 2014 18:11 |