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I got my LTD EC-256 today: It looks, feels and sounds absolutely incredible. I've only ever played my cheap Ibanez Gio, so the rich warm sound of the LTD blows me away. Setup stuff. There was a bit of fret buzz on the low E string around frets 6, 7 and 8. I followed the recommended setup steps: first I checked the relief by holding down the string at the 1st and 16th frets and checking at the 7th. The space was about the thickness of a piece of paper, so I loosened the truss rod about a quarter turn, which increased the relief to about the thickness of a business card. Buzz was still present so I raised the bridge on the bass side (it's a tune-o-matic bridge). The point where the buzzing stopped puts the action of the low E string at the 12th fret at 2.5mm. To those with experience, would you consider that high action?
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# ? Jul 28, 2017 01:22 |
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# ? May 18, 2024 09:35 |
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If it feels OK to play then go with it, don't worry too much about qualifiers. So long as it isn't buzzing and you aren't fighting to fret notes then it's probably fine.
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# ? Jul 28, 2017 10:49 |
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Yep - action is a very personal thing. I never thought I'd want action higher than a gnat's whisker - but found I actually enjoy having some space to dig in. So after much long consideration, I'm selling my Tele and Ibanez to fund this: TollTheHounds posted:I guess I just never thought about the logic of a looper and the context of an amp with no effects loop. The only thing you need to bear in mind is that if you're using gain on your amp, the looped signal (even if you record it clean) will be dependent on the same gain as the 'solo' or whatever that you want to play over the top. I found this a bit of a pain with the Digitech Trio - I wanted to loop a clean chord sequence and play distorted over the top, but in the front end it was impossible.
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# ? Jul 28, 2017 14:29 |
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Schpyder posted:This question doesn't really make much sense. The looper records a snippet of sound, and then plays it back on repeat (mixed with your live input). It should sound like whatever you played when you recorded the loop. But if you are using the amp for distortion, won't you end up muddying things up unless you stick it in the FX loop of the amplifier?
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# ? Jul 28, 2017 19:49 |
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Clayton Bigsby posted:But if you are using the amp for distortion, won't you end up muddying things up unless you stick it in the FX loop of the amplifier? It'll still sound the same as playing it 'live' though - it's just that putting any kind of distortion after the looper limits you to distorting that whole sound. Putting the distortion earlier in the chain means it's only working on one guitar's signal (so the results should be better), and you can adjust the sound, drive the pedal more dynamically, and basically record a bunch of differently distorted sounds. But the recorded stuff and your live playing are both still going out through the same chain, and they should sound the same - but lots of guitars playing at once will always have drawbacks So yeah you generally don't want your distortion after the pedal, and the fx loop is important if that's happening in your amp, since it lets you stick stuff after the gain stages
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# ? Jul 28, 2017 20:16 |
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Stripped down cross-post from the new gear thread. I have kind of gotten obsessed with Double Cut LPs. Saw an Agile AD-2800 on ebay, which I bid on and won for $132. It arrived about 27 hours later. I wasn't so sure about the color in the pictures, but it looks really nice in person. Bizarrely, I kind of like it better in low light. Makes me think I would have liked it more if it was a darker blue burst, instead of the lighter sky blue or whatever it is. Plays and sounds great. Has an issue with the neck which is why it was so cheap. But it doesn't seem to be a problem at the moment. Was thinking of putting humbucker p90s into either this guy, or my Hamer DC.
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# ? Jul 28, 2017 21:14 |
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P90s are the best kind of pickup. I already have a decent amount of noise on my signal chain which is why I'm going with low output humbuckers instead but by golly there is just something about them!
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# ? Jul 28, 2017 21:51 |
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TollTheHounds posted:Ah ok, thanks! I get where you were coming from, it's a little weird when you try to wrap your head around the fact that, if you're using amp distortion, it's recording a clean tone, but you're hearing what the amp does to it as if you were playing direct. It's not something to worry about, though, because you're hearing the amp's tone when you're making the original loop, so it will be consistent when you're playing over it. For a (non-looper) example of this not working, the last time my band was in the studio, the guy insisted on re-amping us, mostly to cut down on mic bleed, but he espoused the "big sound" it would get. So we plugged into our pedals, then direct into the board. The song was recorded with the whole band, then he played the direct tracks back to our amps, mic'd them, then mixed the mic'd and direct tracks together. The thing is, not only had neither the amps nor pedals been EQ'd for the (now empty) room, but there was none of the tactile feedback you get when you're playing through an amp and making subtle adjustments (to your pick attack and so on) to make it sound "right". So even though, essentially, the amp was seeing the same signal it would have had we been plugged in directly, it came out sounding poo poo. When you're playing through the looper, you're making it sound right the first time, so, even though it's recording the "clean" sound, you don't ever hear it. The other thing to get a good use out of a looper, especially for practice purposes, is to make the two sounds different in some way so you can tell which is the one you're currently playing. So, as was mentioned before, you can record the loop with the guitar volume down, then turn it back up to play over top of it. Or even just switch to the other pickup. Since I use pedal distortion, I'll probably record the loop with one pedal, then switch to a different one to play over it. But you can still get distinct sounds even with amp distortion.
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# ? Jul 29, 2017 06:53 |
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NonzeroCircle posted:I think part of the disparity between ampsims and real amps is actually the output- even the most realistic impulse or cabinet model doesn't have the same 'feel' as a proper cabinet because its coming at your ears through headphones or studio monitors. I find this is more the case with bass than guitar though, there isn't that same physicality. Fried Sushi posted:Another thing to keep in mind is that Amp simulators generally simulate the sound of a 'miced' cabinet, so what you are hearing is what it would sound like on a recording, they aren't simulating the sound of an amp in an open room. It took me awhile to get adjusted to that but I think once you come at it with that mindset its easier to dial in a sound. These are great points. I've been keeping them in mind lately while I test these sims and guess what? It's working! Bias FX is still my favorite easily and once I figure out a small issue of it not showing up in GarageBand I'll probably purchase it. I think I really had to rearrange my expectations of what an amp sim is vs an amp in a room. It's not the same thing and even though I can't guarantee I won't reverse course and head back to tube land I have to admit digital makes a lot more sense in many situations. Definitely does in mine. I used the Strat today, played over some backing tracks, messed around dialing in a great ambient clean tone, generally experimented a little deeper. It was extremely rewarding and the depth as well as audio quality is becoming more and more clear. Unrelated, has anyone tried a set of the new Elixir Optiwebs? It's been a while since I tried Elixir strings. I never hated them like some people but I remember thinking they could use some refining. Kilometers Davis fucked around with this message at 09:16 on Jul 29, 2017 |
# ? Jul 29, 2017 06:58 |
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Not speaking of cab sims specifically, but at bedroom level my Runt sounds much better through the DI than through the cabinet - if nothing else I can open it up and get some sizzly power tube distortion.
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# ? Jul 29, 2017 14:08 |
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After The War posted:For a (non-looper) example of this not working, the last time my band was in the studio, the guy insisted on re-amping us, mostly to cut down on mic bleed, but he espoused the "big sound" it would get. So we plugged into our pedals, then direct into the board. The song was recorded with the whole band, then he played the direct tracks back to our amps, mic'd them, then mixed the mic'd and direct tracks together. The thing is, not only had neither the amps nor pedals been EQ'd for the (now empty) room, but there was none of the tactile feedback you get when you're playing through an amp and making subtle adjustments (to your pick attack and so on) to make it sound "right". So even though, essentially, the amp was seeing the same signal it would have had we been plugged in directly, it came out sounding poo poo. That's a really rear end backwards way of reamping. The usual trick is to record a clean reamp take AND go out to an amp take at the same time. You get all the tactile feedback (and real feedback) but can edit the sound afterwards using the reamp feed, then send it out to totally different cabinets/amps/FX chains. It's a fun experiment to see what weird sounds you can get running a clean reamp originally recorded with lots of gain into a drastically different setup like a clean Fender. Weird harmonics popping out in the middle of chords and such.
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# ? Jul 29, 2017 14:51 |
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darkwasthenight posted:That's a really rear end backwards way of reamping. The usual trick is to record a clean reamp take AND go out to an amp take at the same time. You get all the tactile feedback (and real feedback) but can edit the sound afterwards using the reamp feed, then send it out to totally different cabinets/amps/FX chains. I would imagine that you would use a splitter (or something like that) in front of everything , then one out goes to DI for messing with later, and the other end goes through the normal pedal / amp signal chain to be captured with a mic?
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# ? Jul 29, 2017 18:10 |
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Lumpy posted:I would imagine that you would use a splitter (or something like that) in front of everything , then one out goes to DI for messing with later, and the other end goes through the normal pedal / amp signal chain to be captured with a mic? They wouldn't bother micing the amp in this instance, it's there purely for the benefit of the performers.
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# ? Jul 29, 2017 18:47 |
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Lumpy posted:I would imagine that you would use a splitter (or something like that) in front of everything , then one out goes to DI for messing with later, and the other end goes through the normal pedal / amp signal chain to be captured with a mic?
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# ? Jul 29, 2017 20:01 |
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They should release some of those clean tracks from classic rock albums. Even more than isolated tracks
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# ? Jul 29, 2017 20:40 |
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OK so sanity has prevailed and the Gibson Historic 1958 Reissue Heavy Relic VOS Les Paul Guitar is off the table. instead I spent all day playing George Lynch licks, so I consider it both a fiscal and moral victory. EDIT: for more content: I decided against the R8 because frankly, it's too much guitar for me - I sold three other guitars to make up the bulk of the cost but got far less than I was hoping. I think if anything I will get some more traditional humbuckers to go into my Halcyon - Oil City, OX4, SD Antiquity, etc. The reason for this is that even with the choke turned on, on my Runt, I still much prefer the volume backed off on my pickups and balls-out 10/10 is only fun for as long as I can stand not hearing any definition. "Lynch Licks" by Jay Parmar on YT is a fantastic resource for playing outside the box. I'd never really given Lynch (with his awful signature guitars) or Dokken/Lynch Mob much of a second thought - but for want of something new to play I checked out the video and they're really, really interesting. He reminds me of Van Halen in the sense that he's typically playing repeating patterns rather than scales - but it works so very well. Southern Heel fucked around with this message at 23:26 on Jul 29, 2017 |
# ? Jul 29, 2017 23:18 |
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Lumpy posted:I would imagine that you would use a splitter (or something like that) in front of everything , then one out goes to DI for messing with later, and the other end goes through the normal pedal / amp signal chain to be captured with a mic? Straight into DI and out to the board, then from the clean thru output to your amp, yes. Anime Reference posted:They wouldn't bother micing the amp in this instance, it's there purely for the benefit of the performers. Sometimes the case, but you'd probably record the amp anyway as a lot of studios have amps pre-mic'd so it makes no difference and you might nail it first time round. No point in wasting tape, even if you don't actually waste tape anymore! I was in a place over summer that had a wall of mic'd cabs in an iso room and a corresponding wall of heads in the desk room. You plugged into the DI in the desk room and the signal went out to whichever head you plug in, then the heads were all routed through a complicated and expensive dummy load switcher that could send the signal out to whichever cab you wanted. All five cabs had a different speaker in each position so you had twenty different speaker/mic setups to play with, and probably fifteen different heads to run through. It was IRL Amplitube and the perfect setup for reamping.
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 05:56 |
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Southern Heel posted:OK so sanity has prevailed and the Gibson Historic 1958 Reissue Heavy Relic VOS Les Paul Guitar is off the table. instead I spent all day playing George Lynch licks, so I consider it both a fiscal and moral victory. Any reason you can't just get a Standard or a Studio? I've had my 90-something studio going on 10 years now and it's scratched that LP itch to the point that even though I'm a huge LP fanboy I don't see myself ever shelling out for another one unless I come into a bunch of money. Here's a picture of it tucked away in my tiny little guitar corner. Quite A Tool fucked around with this message at 06:20 on Jul 30, 2017 |
# ? Jul 30, 2017 06:14 |
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Welp I'm completely in love with Bias FX. I grabbed the Standard and Pro upgrade for $120 tonight and spent an hour playing through Marty Friedman's setup, a very authentic Mesa setup, and a mix shredding 5150. I also played around with a beautiful clean tone in front of the Valhalla Shimmer demo. It sounds so good. Southern Heel posted:
I looked that up but all of his videos are super long (lol attention span) and I couldn't tell which would be a good one to watch. What's a good one to try out some Lynch leads?
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 09:37 |
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Kilometers Davis posted:I looked that up but all of his videos are super long (lol attention span) and I couldn't tell which would be a good one to watch. What's a good one to try out some Lynch leads? The first video is a typical lick in that it is really part of a solo as to a real lick, but gives ideas on pre-bending and phrasing, and an introduction to Lynch's signature slides (between notes and as vibrato, of all things) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw1ra9FRpjM&t=75s Licks 2 and 3 are as I mentined before - more usable patterns around scale shapes each along similar lines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awi0LLmqW-s&t=16s Lick 4 is a super cool 'out' repeating octave lick that sounds funky as gently caress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0yvgRK7CsA I'm not saying they're particularly revolutionary ( for ex. the string skipping three-note-per-string thing in Lick 3 is something I've mentioned on here before as a scale practise routine, of course in this case morphed to a non-diatonic chord-tone thing) but they give some nice spice to the usual bluesy pentatonic rock stuff you see elsewhere. Quite A Tool posted:Any reason you can't just get a Standard or a Studio? I've had my 90-something studio going on 10 years now and it's scratched that LP itch to the point that even though I'm a huge LP fanboy I don't see myself ever shelling out for another one unless I come into a bunch of money. So the funny thing is that I sold my Explorer (after realising how much I enjoyed the scale length but the practicalities of 'bedroom playing' necessitated something a little more compatible with seated playing) and got myself a Les Paul. As per the Stupid Music poo poo thread discussion around the worth of Les Pauls new, I had already taken my own advice and got a pre-owned Bill Kelliher signature (pictured below). It was such a revelation that I was absolutely besotted and my other guitars haven't had a look in since I got it last Christmas. I found myself splitting and turning down the volume relatively frequently when I wasn't playing retard-metal, and it's appointed with relatively modern features (grovers, push-pull splits, speed knobs) . I've come to realise that in order I want a guitar that matches the Halcyon in a number of ways, but is different enough to complement it. I tried a 54 reissue many years ago and enjoyed the fat neck, and I figure that I can kill multiple birds with one stone. To me this means the instrument needs to fit the following criteria: Same: - Singlecut - Binding - 4 knobs - 24.75" scale length - Thin nitro finish Different: - Lower output pickups (PAF or P90, preferring the latter) - Thicker neck (currently 0.8 to 0.875") - traditional type finish (goldtop, black, cherry sunburst, etc. ) I got distracted in this search by the R8 heavy relic (which while definitely the top tier guitar Gibson offer, is just too much). I'm thinking of picking up a SG 50's tribute (but haven't played an SG since I bought it as my very first guitar many, many years agoo and many abortive attempts to learn earlier) but realistically I want something with an LP bodyshape and binding, because it makes me all warm inside. Thoughts?
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 12:32 |
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Southern Heel posted:P90s are the best kind of pickup. I already have a decent amount of noise on my signal chain which is why I'm going with low output humbuckers instead but by golly there is just something about them! I have never actually owned a P90 guitar. Meant to get one as my next guitar, but ended up with this instead. Hopefully some humbucker sized P90s will be "close enough". Was considering either GFS Mean 90 for a cheap option or BG Pure 90 for a more mid range option. I am hoping either will be what I am looking for.
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 16:48 |
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IMO P90's are excellent for anything up from clean to 80's gain. I think once you get to 'hot rodded Marshall' levels of gain or above that they lose out in sound, and you would definitely need a noise suppressor. Here's Johan's excellent comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5OA_Rbcb_c I've heard great things about the Mississippi Queen from BKP, but my God-pickup has been the Oil City Firewatch - it's definitely the best sounding P90 out there and is super cheap (albeit in regular P90 size, so you'd need adapter rings)
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 16:55 |
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Southern Heel posted:Same: An SG with P90s probably hits all those points, but maybe a Nighthawk, if you can find one? The only thing "off" for that would be the scale length (25.5"), but might be just different enough to justify owning one!
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 16:56 |
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Anybody have any experience with the new(ish) Ibanez Talmans? I was just looking at this and thinking it might be an interesting alternative to a Tele.
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 17:17 |
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EDIT: Yep, I think Dr Faustus of this parish has been lauding them for a while now? AFAIK he put a Danny Gatton pickup set in his. The 2016 SG with P90's has got a super slim neck, AFAIK the 2013 SG Special P-90 has the vintage neck but they're rarer than hen's teeth. I'm wondering if I should diverge into semi-hollow territory with lower output to scratch that itch tho... Southern Heel fucked around with this message at 17:31 on Jul 30, 2017 |
# ? Jul 30, 2017 17:22 |
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Southern Heel posted:IMO P90's are excellent for anything up from clean to 80's gain. I think once you get to 'hot rodded Marshall' levels of gain or above that they lose out in sound, and you would definitely need a noise suppressor.
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 17:59 |
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magnificent7 posted:So, is a P90 just Gibson's version of a single coil pickup? I know people cream themselves over P90s, and I've had guitars with them, (have one now) and I can't really tell what makes the P90 different from single coils OR humbuckers. I mean, they sound different, but, what is it? It's exactly that really, Gibsons single coil pickup. They are wound flatter and wider so sound a different to Fenders for example, they are sort of similar to Jazzmaster pickups but a bit hotter usually. peter gabriel fucked around with this message at 18:38 on Jul 30, 2017 |
# ? Jul 30, 2017 18:35 |
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Anime Reference posted:Anybody have any experience with the new(ish) Ibanez Talmans? I was just looking at this and thinking it might be an interesting alternative to a Tele. Southern Heel posted:EDIT: Yep, I think Dr Faustus of this parish has been lauding them for a while now? AFAIK he put a Danny Gatton pickup set in his. I also re-wired the controls based on a trick Danny used in his music: the tone knob now works as a wah and has been swapped to the volume position for ease-of-access (and switched to knurled dome knobs): Here she is today: It's a really wonderful guitar. I like its quirky looks and love the neck BTW, the tone-knob wah trick is very old. It came from pedal-steel guitars, which were among the first to get tone controls, and Danny shows his off to great effect. The first player I've seen referenced using it on a guitar is Roy Buchanan. This is the only video I've found that gets right to the point, but it's a little cringe-y: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvPVlV1JfZk The Talman lead me to taking the plunge on my first "real" Tele, a MIM Standard ($600) that got the same tone mod, and control plate reversed for easy pinky access to the knobs, and string-saver saddles. The stock pickups got swapped out for Lindy Fralin's "Stock Tele" set, with a 5% over-wound bridge pickup and 2% over-wound neck pickup (this is a great set of pickups, but they're not noiseless like the Gattons which are actually voiced humbuckers): ... and I love this Fender so much it has lead to the purchase of my first ever Fender Stratocaster: a MIA 2017 Elite ($*gulp*): I've wanted a Strat since before I ever played. Specifically a burst with a rosewood neck. I just never liked the way they played. This one has some neat ergonomics and a fantastic compound radius/compound shaped neck. I'm going to be paying this off for awhile, so no new gear for me (unless I decide to swap out the stock pickups, which I always do). So now I own a trio of tri-bursts! It's a big departure from my stable of Ibanez RGs and JEMs, and it's fun to be exploring new (to me) old-school guitar styles.
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 19:02 |
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Dr. Faustus posted:
These are just so pretty - awesome guitar
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 19:05 |
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Even if he was before my time, Danny Gatton was a local musician, so I know a fair number of people who knew him, and that loss still stings, man.
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 19:17 |
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I can't get through listening to his recording of Harlem Nocturne without getting choked up. Dude was apparently just a really great guy who loved cars and guitars. I hate it that he's gone. After almost two years of trying, I can't actually play any of his stuff.
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 19:27 |
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Dr. Faustus posted:a bunch of stuff No Talmans in my area to check out, unfortunately, although the neck specs sound surprisingly similar to the one on the Omen (except slightly narrower, which suits me fine.) When it comes down to choosing between the Talman and the Classic Vibe Tele I might just end up flipping a coin.
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 20:20 |
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Do most luthiers offer refinishing? I think I want to get an affordable SG or Tele and get it redone in Inca Silver or Lake Placid Blue.
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 20:20 |
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Kilometers Davis posted:Welp I'm completely in love with Bias FX. I grabbed the Standard and Pro upgrade for $120 tonight and spent an hour playing through Marty Friedman's setup, a very authentic Mesa setup, and a mix shredding 5150. I also played around with a beautiful clean tone in front of the Valhalla Shimmer demo. It sounds so good. You said you got a Focusrite Scarlett for this, right? How do you like it? I've been looking at doing something similar but the world of interfaces is super confusing. Some people say the Scarlett is fine and others say it sounds horrible.
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 20:26 |
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Tweezer Reprise posted:Do most luthiers offer refinishing? I think I want to get an affordable SG or Tele and get it redone in Inca Silver or Lake Placid Blue. Someone turned me onto these guys, and if I ever decide to get my home-built Strat-style painted I'll get a quote from them: Southbound Custom. I believe they're based in Nashville. I'm sure they're not cheap, but they are willing to do basically anything. I think my old Strat-style would look great in grand piano black. The body is so beat-to-poo poo I can't see myself changing it now.
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 20:28 |
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Kilometers Davis posted:Welp I'm completely in love with Bias FX. I grabbed the Standard and Pro upgrade for $120 tonight and spent an hour playing through Marty Friedman's setup, a very authentic Mesa setup, and a mix shredding 5150. I also played around with a beautiful clean tone in front of the Valhalla Shimmer demo. It sounds so good.
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 20:29 |
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Dr. Faustus posted:This is a difficult thing. Here in the Charlotte area there are a few luthiers with spray-booths but they're so popular their backlogs are very, very long. I wonder how difficult it really is to do it yourself, in that case!
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 20:32 |
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Ooof. Don't remind me. I tried to do a drop-fill and buff out on a guitar. I thought it looked like an ok beginner project. Let's just say I failed and I'll leave it to the pros with the right tools from now on. There's so much buffing involved it's one of the hardest chores since "I'm gonna scallop my own fretboard."
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 20:54 |
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I have a Scarlett Solo (1st gen) and to me it sounds fine, I use it for all audio out of my PC and even (with some creative use of adapters) for audio from my PS3 which is connected to my monitor. I got the producer bundle thing they do and the headphones are pretty ok too. It's got a lot of input headroom (possibly the wrong term) IMO- my Invader needs the input gain at about 12 o'clock to verge on clipping without going red so even very quiet pickups shouldn't cause an issue. No latency issues unless I'm trying to do something stupid like tracking with Izotope Ozone on the master. Ridiculous Amplitube presets, Superior Drummer with multiple outs and hefty VST chains on each one don't cause any problems. My one regret is not getting something a bit bigger with balanced outs because RCA is well prone to noise to the point where I can hear my GPU thinking, especially when playing games. I used to output to a Rotel amp and some Eltax speakers so RCA was my only consideration, but now I have some Presonus monitors and they are super sensitive to the interference.
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 20:58 |
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# ? May 18, 2024 09:35 |
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If I want an affordable amp that is NOT a modelling amp, is the HT-1 my best bet? Just give me two channels and a few EQ knobs and let me use pedals or Bias FX or something for the rest. This is strictly for living room practice. My local GC sadly does not have this amp for me to try in person but I feel like it would be good for what I want.
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# ? Jul 30, 2017 22:59 |