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Elector_Nerdlingen posted:That is a super super pretty guitar. After having it for a week and finally getting to play it on my hot rod during band practice: it's the best instrument I've ever owned. Possibly the best I've ever played.
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Mar 27, 2019 19:47
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Now I too can be a cool Telegoon! My 1998 MIM: Fresh strings and a red tort pickguard (was black single ply, boring!) put on today. It rules.
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Mar 28, 2019 17:50
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Purty!
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Mar 28, 2019 18:34
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 Can't wait until my next band practice.
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Mar 29, 2019 13:52
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nice mapex maple
Less Claypool fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Apr 1, 2019 |
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Apr 1, 2019 03:29
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I owe you guys a picture post and I'm here to Faust-post about it. My new Ibanez RG1070FMNTL came this week but due to work I couldn't actually un-box it and start checking it out until late Saturday night. On the whole I am mostly satisfied with it but there's at least one issue that I have to figure out how to fix. As far as the pictures go I have a bunch but I still have the same problem I had with my previous camera: I don't have the right lighting. I need a big fill-flash type thing that spreads light evenly but the pop-up flash on my new camera only illuminates the center of the image leaving the outside dark. I am no photographer, but I have found that it's impossible to show off the shiny stuff, like the inlays on my new JEM or the woodgrain in a fretboard or figured top without a flash; but then you get weirdness in the colors and I spend a lot of time post-processing the pics to even them out. So that's picture chat and now on to the new guitar. Here is a link to the post with the details about the instrument from last week. First off, it's really disappointing you can spend almost $1,300 on a guitar and it arrives with a gig bag. That seems drastically miserly but I suppose they do it to keep the cost down, expecting us to buy a hard case separately. I can't argue about it in this day and age, but for $1k my buddy just bought a (kinda crappy, I think) Gibson SG and it came with an overstuffed and embroidered leather gig bag that looks like a cow suit. It's... roomy. Not like this thin, unpadded thing:  And that's what you get. A trem arm, spare bushings, a spring (Why didn't my new JEM7V come with a spare spring? I had to rob one from my old Kramer!) and an Ibanez mutli-tool. So the good news is I already have a decent Ibanez RG case that I bought for my RG471AH. The $400 RG471 will move into this gig bag and this new fiddle will go into the case. The finish really is neat. It's almost matte. Or, maybe it actually is matte. You will see what they mean by "natural low gloss." You can see the wood grain through it but it's not shiny, it diffuses light.   This next shot shows the low-gloss:  An aside: Notice how the figured maple top is a uniform depth all around. It appears to be a thin piece of wood that I suspect is steamed and glued down on the body to allow a thin piece of top to conform to the contour. Now, look at how the custom shop did it back in 1993:  They put a much thicker top on it and cut away material to make the contour. [/aside] The headstock is pretty but I was incorrect about the Ibanez logo. It's got a pearlescent (that's a word, isn't it?) rainbow sheen to it, but it is not luminescent like the side-markers on the fretboard are. Also, I mentioned how much I like the truss-rod cover having a slide-out door on it. I had to straighten the neck a little over a quarter-turn once I put my heavier strings on it and it was nice not to have to take it off to do so. Also, I realized the other benefit of the locking tuners: Look, Ma, no string retaining bar! So stringing up goes that much faster.   On to the back of the guitar, and one of the neatest features about it: this 11-piece neck. For those not familiar with the process, Ibanez glues together a bunch of blocks of wood and then machines the neck out of that block, and that's how they make all these stripes. Their main neck these days appears to be their 5-piece (maple and walnut) necks in JEM and Wizard dimensions, and they tend to feature a volute at the nut where the headstock tilts back. I first met a volute on my 1993 USA Custom Exotic Wood (flame maple translucent blue) which is very similar to this guitar in that it's mahogany with a FM top with top-mounted electronics (no pickguard) and a volute at the nut on its birds-eye maple neck. I like the way the volute feels and I imagine it strengthens that joint. I've seen RGs without the volute where the seam splits or deforms over time, I suspect the volute helps prevent that from happening. The neck is just really cool. It's a Wizard neck and unlike all my other Ibanez necks it's not a satin feel on the back. It's lacquered, but I am not complaining because I have not found it to feel "sticky." But look at it. It looks like it started life as some high-dollar hustler's pool cue:   You can see another "feature" of Indonesian quality control: the stain isn't applied evenly down into the screw holes for the neck bolts. This is also true of the paint on my Indonesian JEM70SFG. I think they are really rushing production on these guitars. I like the tuners a lot.  I don't know who to blame for this. I suppose Sweetwater, since this passed their "55-point inspection" process:  Yes, I was very surprised to find the spring-retaining bar held on by one screw when I took the spring cavity cover off. WTF? But I can't tune up an Ibanez with just three springs so I can't use that bar anyway. It has to come off so I have a bunch of these little bars and their screws stashed away in the cases. This is how I set up my trems for my light-top/heavy-bottom (DR Tite-Fit JH-10) strings:  The fretboard wood is allegedly called "panga panga" which I won't bother to google because who would make that up? Take a look at the fret-ends. They are very comfy. I like the wood binding on the fretboard, too. The JEM70VSFG has that as well.   So the guitar was pretty easy to set up. I had no problem getting the action super-low once the neck was straightened (a lot of relief came in with the heavier strings so I had to stiffen it up and I think it is still settling.) The guitar is just as fast and easy to play as I would expect for the money, but it's obviously (actually, I say "obviously" because I played these guitars back-to-back this weekend and the difference is noticeable which makes it "obvious" sorry) not as resonant or sensitive as the new JEM. It's close, though. I have no complaints about the bridge or machine heads. The pickups sound great, but there is one really annoying problem that I have to fix. It's the volume pot and the high-pass cap. The Tonezone is a pretty hot pickup. I think the three hottest pickups I now own are a Tonezone, a Crunch Lab, and the bridge Evolution. It takes a fairly aggressive high-pass cap on the volume to keep the tone bright as you roll off. This guitar isn't doing that for me, and all of my guitars have to do this or I won't want to play them (because I transition from crunch back to clean by rolling off the volume knob, I don't use channel-switching.) So, balls out the guitar rocks. But it doesn't want to clean up. Also, the pot doesn't roll in smoothly. It's off-then-on and I hate that, too. So, it's annoying but easily fixed. The pot feels stiff and it's already scratchy and it's brand-new so I'll buy a new one and some caps and get that sorted. Good news it's top mounted so I don't have to take off a pickguard to get to it. Overall, it's very pretty, it's not very heavy, and it's wonderful to play. It has the pickup loadout I've been hoping to get some day and I like that a lot, too. Little features like the lack of string-bar at the nut and the locking tuners and the little truss-rod door are very welcome. I've always been a fan of these necks, though I like the JEM neck dimensions the most (there's a little bit more to a JEM neck than a Wizard, which is very thin.) On a side-note, I have not played my Blackstar/Peavey stereo rig in a long time. I've been playing my Blues Jr. since I brought it home, so yesterday I did some things. I put that expensive EI "Telefunken" 12AX7 in my Blackstar HT5 head, and put a brand new EH 12BH7 power tube in it. That little head is just a beast and I had forgotten how much it rules. It has this fat modded gain sound to it, while my Peavey Classic 20 mini-head has more bark to it. Together they sound amazing. They really complement each other beautifully. So it was a real joy to get the pedals sorted out and the effects loops hooked back up and dial the amps in together. And with the new JEM and RG together there was a real weight of "gently caress YEAH"  to this corner of my "dining area."Anyway, please forgive the state of the apartment, as I have been here almost 16 years and that corner has had more than a couple water-heater/ac leaks and the carpet is ruined, and the walls need to be repainted so it's fairly hideous. But still, I'm very glad to have my little rock-out corner back: 
Dr. Faustus fucked around with this message at 07:29 on Apr 2, 2019 |
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Apr 2, 2019 04:08
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You need either a proper separate flash with a diffuser, or a bright desk light and some printer paper to reflect it. The guitar looks ace nonetheless.
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Apr 2, 2019 05:15
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That's a great looking guitar. Wow. There are almost zero guitars in natural finish I've ever liked but that looks fantastic. The contrast between the dark colored back and the lively natural color of the flame top really make it. GreatGreen fucked around with this message at 22:08 on Apr 2, 2019 |
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Apr 2, 2019 20:07
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Siivola posted:You need either a proper separate flash with a diffuser, or a bright desk light and some printer paper to reflect it. yep. this. don't need anything fancy. Faustus that guitar is beautiful, especially that insane neck.
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Apr 2, 2019 21:27
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GreatGreen posted:That's a great looking guitar. Wow. I'm with you on large-scale production guitars, but almost everything I've seen Kenneth Lawrence do is drop-dead gorgeous. He picks up some amazing pieces of lumber.
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Apr 2, 2019 23:35
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Yeah panga-panga is a real wood that is used a lot in the Indonesian Ibanezes. It's (most of) the neck on mine and it feels really good.
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Apr 2, 2019 23:41
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Faustus that was a great review with warts and all. How well does putting a cap on the volume pot work? I’ve never been a fan of rolling off the volume of any of my guitars because they just sound dull if it’s not full out.
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Apr 3, 2019 00:01
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Thanks guys, My friends and I do this stuff with our new instruments anyway so it's fun to photo-document everything at first then use the stuff for e-mails and posts online, so these forums are a good place for me to gather everything and sorta package it. It was a nice way to unwind after the long process of getting the guitar set up and ready and deciding what it needs.Doomy posted:How well does putting a cap on the volume pot work? I’ve never been a fan of rolling off the volume of any of my guitars because they just sound dull if it’s not full out. But it's not that simple! You can just Google "high-pass for guitar volume" and you will find that Seymour Duncan and other places have schematics that use a cap and a resistor in parallel. To be very specific though I think the value of the cap is most directly linked to the frequencies that get shunted to ground as you roll the knob off. I don't really dare say more than that because I am already illuminating my ignorance enough. Suffice to say I have had the most luck with the .330pf caps that Ibanez uses, but I have a couple of guitars with other specs, usually just cheap .22s from Radio Shack. Having the guitar stay bright when you roll off is just way too useful. Once you fall in love with it it'll be a go-to mod that you won't want to live without. I bought a new pot and ta couple of those .330pf caps to replace what is in the new guitar. I'll come back when it's fixed and tell you what it took. P.S. - I do need to share one more picture, but I haven't taken it yet. I took the control cavity cover off the guitar and was very surprised by what I found in there. It's surprising neat, tidy, and thoughtful. The front of the cavity is covered in adhesive copper foil, with a tab that wraps up the side to connect to the foil on the cavity cover. The wiring is very clean and the solder joints are small and precise and shiny. The 5-way switch is of a type I have never seen. I'll snap something because none of my guitars ever looked that nice.
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Apr 3, 2019 05:05
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 I got a Novation MiniNova yesterday! My first hardware synth since I sold my Motif ES8 like 12 years ago. Been doing a ton of electronic music recently, and while I'm mostly writing/arranging on Auxy for iOS + softsynth stuff in Ableton, I figured it was time to add a hardware synth back to the equation. So far I'm incredibly happy with it - it's far more full-featured than I expected, creating sounds from scratch is one hell of an in-depth process but pretty intuitive and I'm starting to get the tones I want. Also seems to nail the synthwave Stranger Things tones like a boss, can't help but noodle out stuff that would fit on that soundtrack. Only real complaint is how awful the timeclock stuff is; trying to sync the arp to Ableton leads to massive drift (around 10bpm either direction every 1ms or so), and nothing I've been able to do has fixed it. So for now, I'll probably just manually set the tempo on the MiniNova when using the arp, or just arpeggiating through Ableton. This seems to be an issue with tons of cheaper synths though, so at least I'm not alone there. This got me to realize my Scarlett 2i4 isn't gonna cut it anymore; not willing to switch every time I want to use the AxeFX or record vocals. And since my old-rear end RME Fireface 800 doesn't seem to work with win10, I decided to order a Scarlett 18i8, so I can either use the ADAT from the Fireface or my Soundcraft 328 for the 8 additional channels whenever I build a synth dungeon. Haven't used either of those in probably 8 years, so will be interesting to see if they still work/if the preamps are what I remember.
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Apr 4, 2019 04:12
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Thanks I’ll definitely give that a shot, Seymour Duncan’s website has always been good for cribbing wiring diagrams. I’ve got a Epi LP that could really use this mod.
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Apr 4, 2019 04:31
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I was playing with the acoustics at my local shop yesterday for about 1.5 hrs. I'm in the market to get a cutaway acoustic and have been taking my sweet time playing everything I can get my hands on until I find The One. Well, yesterday, at the end of my visit, the guy handed me a used Taylor 214 (or maybe it was a 314) that had just come in. I had this weird moment when I strummed out the requisite open G chord and it hit me like a train. Something about the neck and the sound got me a little emotional  . It's perfect, and while I wasn't planning to buy in the solid wood Taylor price range, this used one is at a price I can stomach. The only catch is there's a sizeable ding on the solid top up on in the area where a Les Paul's pickup selector switch typically sits. There are no cracks around the ding -- it's about the size of a pencil eraser and not too deep. That ding is likely why that guitar is down at a price I'm comfortable with, but what do you guys think about a ding on a solid spruce top? Could I expect that to form into a crack with time? I'm perfectly fine with the guitar looking a little beat up - the neck and sound is just awesome. But I don't know what to expect long term from an acoustic top. If it were electric, I would have already bought it.
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Apr 4, 2019 14:24
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I’d buy it. Dings are fine.
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Apr 4, 2019 16:57
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Sometimes a ding can be steamed out. After a while you probably won't even notice it.
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Apr 4, 2019 17:39
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Slothful Bong posted:
I upgraded to an 18i8 as well and its been excellent. The only thing I would have done differently is maybe looked at the 18i20 rack-mount version. I have some rack space on my studio desk and it would definitely save me some space and also look cool.
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Apr 4, 2019 20:03
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I went back to the shop because this thing wouldn't leave my mind. It turns out it was in fact a solid wood back and side 314ce model. When I played it again for about 20 mins I made the call and brought it home. I'm pretty gosh darn friggin' chuffed with this one. Came with a really nice hard case and the pics show the little ding and a few minor scratches. I'm really pleased with this one. Can't wait to put some hours on on it.    I appreciate the feedback on the ding. The tech at the shop said similar things about steaming it out, but I honestly am not bothered by it at all - it's 10 years old anyway - and it sounds great. e: typos former glory fucked around with this message at 20:08 on Apr 4, 2019 |
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Apr 4, 2019 20:06
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Nice! I bought a regular 314 (no cutaway, no pickup) about ten years ago used and it is my favorite acoustic I've ever owned. Sounds amazing when recorded, too. I do wish it had a pickup, but I'm seriously entertaining the thought of taking it to my local Taylor dealer and getting one put in.
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Apr 4, 2019 20:12
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The Taylors I played on an amp all sounded really awesome. I wonder if they'd need to replace the bridge to retrofit one, or if you can get one of those sound hole add-ons. Justin Sandercoe has a sound hole add on one of his and it sounds pretty great to my ears. After owning it for 10 years, have you noticed the sound getting better with age as they say a solid wood does? The strings on this thing are definitely old and full of all sorts of semen and goop, but I'm scared to change the strings over in case it upsets this perfect perfect setup. I hope I matched the gauges right.
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Apr 4, 2019 21:20
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I'm not sure I've noticed it sounding better, but it was already a good five or so years old when I bought it so maybe that process was already underway. It's always played great and sounded fantastic on tape, but it would be hard to even compare new and old recordings because my mic and recording setup has been massively upgraded in the intervening years as well.
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Apr 4, 2019 21:32
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Dings are battle scars. Battle scars are badass.
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Apr 5, 2019 06:42
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Got an SWR Super Readhead   I borrowed my buddy's 4x10 for a practice and I now completely understand why 6x10s are a "thing." Time to hunt down a similar era Goliath. Wark Say posted:Dings are battle scars. Battle scars are badass. 
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Apr 5, 2019 15:09
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I had a Goliath 4x10 like that. Was a nice-sounding cab.
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Apr 5, 2019 17:11
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One thing I always loved about SWR combos was the empty rack space for a tuner or compressor
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Apr 5, 2019 18:55
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It sounds fantastic, but it's having trouble keeping up with the guitars  This oughta help, tho!
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Apr 5, 2019 19:18
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scuz posted:Got an SWR Super Readhead If you like that 4x10, you'll LOVE the 8x10 Classic. I had one and my god it was such a good cabinet. Paired with an SVT-4 pro it was unbeatable.
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Apr 6, 2019 04:21
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 Got a pretty drat good deal on this Gallien-Krueger MB500 today. Just have to patiently wait for a great deal on a pair of 2x10" cabinets now (or just a 4x10"). Jcam fucked around with this message at 18:04 on Apr 6, 2019 |
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Apr 6, 2019 17:58
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Dr. Faustus posted:Faust-post unrelated: I have no idea whether this came up already in an earlier thread or someone asked you this already but why don't I see an Eventide H3000 in that effects rack o' yours?
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Apr 6, 2019 20:35
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Jcam posted:
ooh the new gen focusrite looks really good. How do those knobs feel? nice a tight with a good resistance like the last gen?
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Apr 7, 2019 01:51
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GnarlyCharlie4u posted:ooh the new gen focusrite looks really good. They're awesome! It's a great little unit, feels very high-quality. Still wrapping my head around using recording software but I'm pressed with the quality of the knobs, inputs, sound, etc.
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Apr 7, 2019 03:10
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Laserjet 4P posted:unrelated: I have no idea whether this came up already in an earlier thread or someone asked you this already but why don't I see an Eventide H3000 in that effects rack o' yours? It's another piece of gear that I lusted for but couldn't afford, and now that maybe I could afford one, who would have it? That effects rack once held all my guitar effects, but now it holds mic preamps and a compressor. The original effects units died and are stacked up in storage. All of my guitar effects are pedals now. I preferred the old way of using rack devices controlled by MIDI signals and a pedal to switch between presets, and expression pedals to modify parameters on the fly, but that was because I was in a band playing live and I had the time to program all that poo poo. I should probably get a Helix or an AxeFX but I am putting my money into instruments instead, and I just play at home so no time to program all that poo poo. File under: Steinberger guitar with a trans-trem, Rocktron Intellifex and Replifex, Bradshaw switching system, remote wah pedal, Digitech's 24-bit line of effects and harmonizers, and so much other gear that came and went (the Bogner Alchemist is awesome and I want two, and a Pearce, and a Lab series, and...)
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Apr 7, 2019 10:29
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Scored a deal on a used Peavey 410TX, $140 CAD. The cab is ~20 years old and still sounds crisp, it was barely used.
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Apr 9, 2019 01:45
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Dr. Faustus posted:It's another piece of gear that I lusted for but couldn't afford, and now that maybe I could afford one, who would have it? The paralyzing amount of choices involved in an AxeFX or Kemper, on its own, keep me away.
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Apr 9, 2019 01:54
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Effort post incoming! So along with my other gear I picked up the Ashton (at the bottom) today. Here's what I know about it. Apparently in the early 2000's Ashton, a well known "budget" (cheap and poo poo) manufacturer of amps and guitars and poo poo decided to branch out and do some tube amps. They failed. However these are generally known to be well made, reliable and sound good. They would sound good, because apparently they're a clone of a Marshall JCM2000 DSL. I picked this bad boy up for AUD$150 or about USD$100. Ashton reworked the second OD channel ("filth" ugh) for a tighter and more modern voicing compared to the 2000. It's good. Essentially it's a four channel amp, kinda. Functionally it is with two channels sharing each EQ section. This does lead to some disparity in terms of volume and voicing, but hey $150! I'm putting it through it's paces and yep, sounds like a Marshall. The cleans are full and present, the crunch is nice and crunchy if a little bit woofy when the bass is dialed up. The two OD channels are tight and sound like 80s metal and good heapings of rock. I'm sure it can do harder metal but I wouldn't know. Let's talk about the names. Ashton decided to go with Digitech 00's style names for pots. Instead of "gain" we have "Filth". Instead of Gain or OD we have a "Mean" channel. Like seriously lame poo poo. Aside from that it delivers on the goods. It sounds like a Marshall and seems considerably robust. The thing weighs a tonne and is huge though. I didn't expect it to be bigger than the Hiwatt, but I guess that's a thing. Anyway, pretty happy with it especially for the price. If it blows up I'll post here to warn you off it.
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Apr 9, 2019 03:20
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Dang It Bhabhi! posted:The paralyzing amount of choices involved in an AxeFX or Kemper, on its own, keep me away. 
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Apr 9, 2019 03:26
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Dang It Bhabhi! posted:The paralyzing amount of choices involved in an AxeFX or Kemper, on its own, keep me away. I just can't. Thank you, Blackstar. Thank you Peavey. (I played today and I had so much fun! I didn't even have the police called on me.) syntaxfunction posted:Effort post incoming! Dr. Faustus fucked around with this message at 08:48 on Apr 9, 2019 |
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Apr 9, 2019 08:46
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| # ? May 18, 2024 19:31 |
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Doc, stop! You have like 4 rad amps, one of which (if memory doesn't fail me concerning your posts) was modded by your pops. Also you just got an expensive Ibanez. Your wallet will not survive. 
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Apr 9, 2019 09:46
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