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TraderStav posted:
 This was the correct decision!
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Feb 17, 2020 23:27
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Kilometers Davis posted:
Worst case scenario I just spent $300 on a really awesome wall hanging. It plays nice though. Gotta sort through the strumming, my thumb either catches on a string or misses one. Plenty of time to fart around on the beach though! I can barre with no problems!
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Feb 17, 2020 23:31
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Captain Apollo posted:I want it!!!!!
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Feb 17, 2020 23:54
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That's exactly what I paid (and got a free hard case) so I don't feel ripped off! Thank you
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Feb 18, 2020 00:03
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Doomy posted:Pulled the trigger on a Fender Tone Master Deluxe Reverb yesterday: Wow those look awesome, and they have built in attenuation? Might have to look into that...
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Feb 18, 2020 01:05
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Pablo Nergigante posted:Wow those look awesome, and they have built in attenuation? Might have to look into that... It’s basically a master volume on the back, but but it’s after the amp emulation so you can manage the volume as you turn the gain up past 3-4. I’ve only had it a day, but I’m very happy with how it’s sounded on all my different guitars and drives.
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Feb 18, 2020 01:32
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Pablo Nergigante posted:Wow those look awesome, and they have built in attenuation? Might have to look into that... It's not really an attenuator in the true sense of the word. The Fender Tone Master amps are 100% digital modeling amps made by Fender, but they made them to look and control exactly like a traditional tube amp, so instead of a bunch menus and LCD screens like most modelers have, these just have a single set row of knobs. The "attenuator" on the back is really just a master volume control for the built in poweramp, which is solid state.* The fact that it's stepped instead of a smooth rotating pot also adds to the effect that it's a real attenuator, but it's still simply a volume control for the actual solid state power section. It could have just as easily been a regular knob. The solid state amp in this thing is 100 watts, which was how much clean headroom Fender thought they'd need put in it to simulate 22 watts of distorting power tubes. The "Volume" controls on the front are simulated volume dials, modeled to behave just like real tube amp volume controls. Turn them up and yes the amp will get louder, and also the higher you dial it, the more distorted and broken up the amp becomes. But the attenuator knob on the back is the amp's true Master Volume control, which is named "Attenuator" because that makes sense in its context, and it acts the same as an actual attenuator would act if this was a real tube amp. *For the record, I've heard nothing but fantastic things about these amps from everybody who has played one, even people who usually hate digital modeling. They're supposed to be very good amps. They also weigh like 20 lbs so you can pick them up with one finger, and you'll never have to replace the tubes, which is extremely cool if you play out anywhere. GreatGreen fucked around with this message at 06:21 on Feb 18, 2020 |
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Feb 18, 2020 02:04
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I got to play a Tone Master at a trade show, and with the caveat that I’ve never played the real thing, it sounded and felt fantastic. For all his faults and silly jumpers, I do trust what Henning has to say. I believe the takeaway from this video was that with pure clean, it’s flawless, but it doesn’t take pedals quite as well as the real deal. https://youtu.be/nCYzmHvFdKU
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Feb 18, 2020 10:32
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(Apologies if this image is giant, trying the iOS app upload function and no clue if it timgs them, will check on PC later) Picked up the Sanpera 2 for the Vypyr last week, has made a big difference in functionality of the amp. Buttons are way too loud/heavy, and the looper is less functional than I’d hoped (30 seconds max, no tempo sync, no loop layering), but it should let me use this amp for small gigs, instead of figuring out a live AxeFX setup and risking the thing breaking. Bought what GC said was a used one at grade 2, but it arrived with all the packaging + manuals and no visible wear, so I’m wondering if I just got a new one for ~$50 off? Either way, I’m not disappointed!
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Feb 20, 2020 15:57
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GreatGreen posted:*For the record, I've heard nothing but fantastic things about these amps from everybody who has played one, even people who usually hate digital modeling. They're supposed to be very good amps. They also weigh like 20 lbs so you can pick them up with one finger, and you'll never have to replace the tubes, which is extremely cool if you play out anywhere. There's absolutely nothing wrong with solid state power sections FWIW. If I'm remembering this guitar world article right, EVH uses some old 80s FET-based power amps 100% of the time live. There's really nothing wrong with solid state amps in general, it's just that so many cheap lovely amps are SS that people assume that every SS amp is cheap and lovely. If you gave me the choice between an ISP Theta (or some other high-end solid state amp) and a cheapo Blackstar/Bugera tube amp I'd take the Theta every day of the week. Even putting digital modeling aside, a JFET based solid state amp can sound every bit as good as a tube amp.
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Feb 21, 2020 01:10
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Gnumonic posted:There's absolutely nothing wrong with solid state power sections FWIW. If I'm remembering this guitar world article right, EVH uses some old 80s FET-based power amps 100% of the time live. the gk 250ml? a lot of people supposedly used them as their main stage amps- alex lifeson, at least one of the maiden dudes, van halen, etc. but i'm not sure how true that was quote:There's really nothing wrong with solid state amps in general, it's just that so many cheap lovely amps are SS that people assume that every SS amp is cheap and lovely. If you gave me the choice between an ISP Theta (or some other high-end solid state amp) and a cheapo Blackstar/Bugera tube amp I'd take the Theta every day of the week. Even putting digital modeling aside, a JFET based solid state amp can sound every bit as good as a tube amp. 99% of what makes solid state practice amps sound bad is the tiny speakers that can't drive poo poo inside a small box
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Feb 21, 2020 01:17
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The Muppets On PCP posted:the gk 250ml? a lot of people supposedly used them as their main stage amps- alex lifeson, at least one of the maiden dudes, van halen, etc. but i'm not sure how true that was
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Feb 21, 2020 01:54
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Gnumonic posted:There's absolutely nothing wrong with solid state power sections FWIW. If I'm remembering this guitar world article right, EVH uses some old 80s FET-based power amps 100% of the time live. So that's kinda true and kinda not about the Van Halen thing. There's is nothing inherently wrong with SS amps, but the reason tube amps sound "better" to people, even when they're not breaking up at top volume, is because of the way tube amps interact with the speaker impedance. Basically, tube amps output a frequency response curve that follows the impedance curve of the speaker, whereas a "theoretically perfect" solid state amp always outputs a perfectly flat signal. A tube amp's frequency response changes depending on the cabinet it's connected to, but here's an example of a what a tube amp's impedance curve looks like when it's connected to a typical speaker cabinet:  What you're seeing is basically every frequency's level at a given volume setting. The hump on the left is the speaker's resonant frequency, and the climbing line moving right is the speaker's impedance effect on the amp. Basically with tube amps you get a boost to the bass and a rising boost to the treble. Compared to a solid state amp, it's almost like a loudness switch on a stereo. This is obviously going to emphasize the treble and bass more than the mids, compared to a flat SS amp, so it's going to sound "bigger" and more present, compared to a relatively flat SS amp. Of course, tubes also break up in a more pleasing way than SS transistors, but this curve is a huge part of the reason tube amps sound the way they do. Van Halen used solid state amps in a very complex rig. Basically, he connected the speaker outputs of his real tube amps to load boxes, which are basically metal appliances about the size of a brick or two, that actually simulate a speaker load for tube amps. This way you don't have to plug your tube amps into speaker cabs. From here, these load boxes had a line out he could use to send out his cranked tube amp signal (with the impedance curve applied) out to solid state amps at line level. He would do this so he could put effects like delay after the distortion generated by his tube amps, so the tube distortion wouldn't mush his dry and delayed sounds together. So yes, he did have solid state amps in his rig, but he basically used SS amps and 4x12 cabs as a mini-PA system to amplify his 100% tube amp signal. Here's a video of a dude named Pete Thorn explaining what a load box is and how to use one. The video comes off as a sales pitch so ignore that but there's a lot of good info in there. Load boxes have really started to gain in popularity over the last few years, especially when people pair them up with IRs (digital simulations of speaker cabs): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHfDi0bSlpY GreatGreen fucked around with this message at 03:18 on Feb 21, 2020 |
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Feb 21, 2020 03:03
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I bought another Technics SL-1200mk2 and did some carpentry to fit everything together. Behold, the CIC Tactical station in its new form. It's still not quite as I'd like it (the laptop on the left is kind of in an awkward position right up against the acoustic treatment). Real estate in this room is becoming quite scarce in this room. The DJM900NXS2 mixer is also new, so I'm selling my NI Audio10 interface (since the DJM has dual audio interfaces) and some other gear like a Traktor F1, old Akai APC40, etc...
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Feb 21, 2020 04:02
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Jfets sound like triodes and mosfets sound like pentodes when you know what you’re doing. No excuse for any kind of amp to sound lovely.
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Feb 21, 2020 06:53
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Does anyone make FET-based amps these days?
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Feb 21, 2020 07:50
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I really like my Blackstar Tvp100 head because although it's a modeller its all pretty much controlled like a 'proper' amp besides the fx section, with the bonus of presets and a manual mode that makes it behave like a normal amp and no rotary pickup or anything like that. I don't feel like I'm playing with a bit of technology like I do with my vst ampsims, I get the same vibe I do off my Peavey Bandit where I can just twiddle knobs until it sounds good. The TVP tube emulator thing is always on, the raw solid state sound isn't too hot. Whilst I'd love a big obnoxious ENGL or 5150 or Mesa, this thing covers those bases good enough for my amateur mostly home-use rear end, and doesn't need to be cranked or attenuators or other gubbins to sound good. I've heard quality control on the smaller Blackstar models isn't consistent and they can be really hissy but I haven't had that problem with mine. My next purchase is probably going to be a Metalzone...
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Feb 22, 2020 00:11
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GreatGreen posted:So that's kinda true and kinda not about the Van Halen thing. This is all correct (and tbh I knew I was fudging the Van Halen thing a bit, I was pretty sure he did use a loadbox but I couldn't find the article)... ...however, not every solid state power amp is flat response, and FET-based SS power amps exist that do not aim for "theoretical perfection". I have a one watt AMT Tubecake power amp, and I also have a reactive loadbox, and I can promise that the AMT power amp sounds significantly better than the somewhat sterile power section on my DSL-20HR. Or rather I used to have a one watt AMT power amp until I cranked it too hard into said loadbox and blew it up. But it did sound really good, I promise! I didn't run the signal through analysis but I also had an ISP power amp, which was very "flat", and it did not sound particularly great. Which is just to say that there's variety in SS power sections. A good SS preamp is pretty much indistinguishable from a tube preamp. When I had a 6505 MH, I'd bypass the preamp and run my AMT P1 (SS recreation of a 5150 preamp section) into the return and it sounded just as good if not objectively better than the tube preamp section in the amp itself. Siivola posted:Does anyone make FET-based amps these days? AMT makes a FET based amp, I'm pretty sure that's what the Quilter amps use, ISP apparently still makes a Theta head but I can't find one for sale anywhere new. There are also a ton of FET based preamps (AMT, I think the Diezels, etc) that you could combine with a FET based power amp. I don't hate tubes or anything. I have two tube amps. But one of them (my Ceriatone Son of Yeti) has a blown output transformer and nowhere local will fix it, so in addition to the $150 for the part and whatever for the labor I need to pay like $100 in shipping to a shop that can repair it. Probably looking at $350 in repairs for an amp that cost less than $1k. Spent $400 repairing a Trem-o-Verb Dual Rectifier combo that broke the day after I got it cuz the power tubes worked themselves loose. Had to drive two hours cuz it was too loving heavy to ship through normal services. At a certain point, you have to wonder whether the extra 5% in tone is worth the hassle. Edit: I will concede that there are certain things that cannot be replicated with solid state. I do not think SS can capture the "Plexi cranked so high it's about to explode" thing. There is something almost magical about a dimed Plexi power section that a FET can't imitate. But very very few tones require the exploding power amp thing. For all my tube amps and load boxes and preamps and power amps and whatnot, I spend 90% of my time playing through the Mercuriall Spark VST. It's resource intensive as gently caress but, as someone who owns a hotrod Plexi and played it hard enough to blow the output transformer, it absolutely nails the tone. I just wish you could bypass the preamp section so I could run my SS preamps into that glorious power tube emulation. Gnumonic fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Feb 22, 2020 |
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Feb 22, 2020 00:37
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Mister Speaker posted:I bought another Technics SL-1200mk2 and did some carpentry to fit everything together. Behold, the CIC Tactical station in its new form. This is pretty great but I think I'd prefer swapping 2 of the CDJ's for the 1200's and put the cdj's in the back up at an angle.
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Feb 22, 2020 01:27
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Gnumonic posted:...info... This is a great post, thanks for the info!
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Feb 22, 2020 02:00
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Gnumonic posted:This is all correct (and tbh I knew I was fudging the Van Halen thing a bit, I was pretty sure he did use a loadbox but I couldn't find the article)... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0XQwazkx10  You have a blown SoY OT and nobody wants to fix it?! Where are you if you don't mind me asking? Nik is incredibly easy to work with I'm surprised your local solder dicks are refusing easy money.
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Feb 22, 2020 04:54
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Gnumonic posted:AMT makes a FET based amp, I'm pretty sure that's what the Quilter amps use, ISP apparently still makes a Theta head but I can't find one for sale anywhere new. There are also a ton of FET based preamps (AMT, I think the Diezels, etc) that you could combine with a FET based power amp.
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Feb 22, 2020 11:24
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GnarlyCharlie4u posted:This is pretty great but I think I'd prefer swapping 2 of the CDJ's for the 1200's and put the cdj's in the back up at an angle. I use the CDJs more these days than anything else on that table, and quite honestly I literally don't even have the space. You can see the laptop on the left is uncomfortably stuffed against the acoustic treatment and not properly-angled, and I had to sadly get rid of my Traktor F1 in between the 1200s in order to fit everything the way it does right now. And that's having built a raised platform for the 1200s + laptops that's a whole six inches wider than the table everything is sitting on.
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Feb 22, 2020 21:01
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Gnumonic posted:For all my tube amps and load boxes and preamps and power amps and whatnot, I spend 90% of my time playing through the Mercuriall Spark VST. It's resource intensive as gently caress but, as someone who owns a hotrod Plexi and played it hard enough to blow the output transformer, it absolutely nails the tone. I just wish you could bypass the preamp section so I could run my SS preamps into that glorious power tube emulation. I only play my Diezel pedals and Friedman BE-OD into Thermionik or Mercuriall Reaxis because you can't turn the preamps off on Spark. Otherwise I'd buy Spark in a heartbeat.
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Feb 22, 2020 23:44
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Gnumonic posted:I don't hate tubes or anything. I have two tube amps. But one of them (my Ceriatone Son of Yeti) has a blown output transformer and nowhere local will fix it, so in addition to the $150 for the part and whatever for the labor I need to pay like $100 in shipping to a shop that can repair it. Probably looking at $350 in repairs for an amp that cost less than $1k. Spent $400 repairing a Trem-o-Verb Dual Rectifier combo that broke the day after I got it cuz the power tubes worked themselves loose. Had to drive two hours cuz it was too loving heavy to ship through normal services. At a certain point, you have to wonder whether the extra 5% in tone is worth the hassle. After spending about $500 getting my Ampeg V4b rebuilt and $1,000 on an early 60’s B15 in repairs over 8 years, I had no desire buying a new tube amp, even a new one. That was one of the main drivers looking at the Tone Master.
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Feb 23, 2020 05:06
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Yea but good luck finding an amp that sounds like a V4B. That Bax+active inductor-based mid control is *chefs kiss*. I feel you on the cost, though.
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Feb 23, 2020 23:12
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Dang It Bhabhi! posted:Yea but good luck finding an amp that sounds like a V4B. That Bax+active inductor-based mid control is *chefs kiss*. I feel like the SVT-4 Pro got really close. And honestly I'd rather have all that EQ and compression control (oh yeah and 1600w) anyway. I had mine for 10 years and never had a single issue. I regret selling it frequently even though I'll probably never need that much amp again in my life.
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Feb 23, 2020 23:21
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GnarlyCharlie4u posted:I feel like the SVT-4 Pro got really close. And honestly I'd rather have all that EQ and compression control (oh yeah and 1600w) anyway. Excellent point, the SVT-4 Pro has an inductor-based active mid control which is most of the goodness of the V4's. Ampeg EQs loving rule in general, I guess.
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Feb 24, 2020 01:24
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Dang It Bhabhi! posted:Yea but good luck finding an amp that sounds like a V4B. That Bax+active inductor-based mid control is *chefs kiss*. The last issue I had with it was a cold solder joint from the factory, local amp guru did a decent troubleshooting video on it because it was such a stupid intermittent volume dropping problem: https://youtu.be/_j_ia91_UOY Ever since though, sounds fantastic!!
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Feb 24, 2020 03:15
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Dang It Bhabhi! posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0XQwazkx10 I live in Santa Cruz. There's a place in town that said they'd try to fix it but their quote on labor was insane ($400 before parts, which I know is too high) and I'm not super ultra confident in their work. They were also... kind of dicks to me when I went in and busted out some Yngwie/Joe Stump riffs (I'm no Yngwie but I can nail parts of Trilogy Suite, Black Star, Now Your Ships Are Burned, etc, they just didn't like what I was playing) so I'm not overly inclined to give them my money. They did the bluesdad r/guitar grimace when I started shredding and I was just kinda like "gently caress these guys and their undeserved sense of superiority and their lovely overpriced piece of poo poo vintage strats". Death Panel Czar posted:
Shiiiit I forgot that Reaxis is a thing. I need to pick that up. I have a bunch of AMT preamps and I really want a Diezel tone. It bothers me greatly that most of the amp modelers out there do IRs but not power amp sims, at least as far as I can tell. I'd get an HX stomp in a second if it had a convincing power amp simulator. I don't mind playing in front of a computer but sometimes you wanna jam with your friends and I'd rather lug around a small FRFR and a helix. Does the BE-OD sound good as a preamp? I have a DS-OD that I don't really use and was thinking about selling. It sounds great into a clean amp but I was not impressed running it straight into IRs. Some preamps work fine into IRs, especially high gain stuff that isn't supposed to have any power tube distortion (AMT P1/P2, Amptweaker Tightmetal series), but the DS-OD is not like that.
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Feb 27, 2020 02:22
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New stuff day! I needed some new pedals for my live setup, so ruggedness was a consideration.... Boss Tremelo - This is replacing an Electro Harmonix Pulsar which is dying (There is a theme coming up, see if you can spot it) Boss Delay DD8 - This is quite a new pedal with loads of stuff to tinker with, I am excited about this one, it replaces an Electro Harmonix Memory Toy which has died. Stone Deaf Fuzz pedal, I am also excited by this, I need a noise gate (a 335 + fuzz can be chaos) and this seems to be well liked and has a ton of new to me options to mess with, seems versatile, this is replacing an Electro Harmonix Big Muff which has died. TC Electronics Phase pedal, I wanted an MX phaser but then saw this and it seems to do everything they do and a whole lot more, this is a new addition to my board and I am looking forward to exploring it. So, the EHX stuff has died over the space of 6 months and I have chuck a couple of replacements on the board that were just quick fixes, I'm hoping this lot takes the abuse of gigging a bit better. I just think I had really back luck, I love EHX stuff and still use their pedals....  I can't wait to stick all this through my new amp on Saturday  Quite a few days I've had, I am satisfied - For now...
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Feb 28, 2020 14:01
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Lonestars are really great amps, hell yeah. They have some of the best warm clean tones I've ever heard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00Heev2_94A
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Feb 28, 2020 16:00
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GreatGreen posted:Lonestars are really great amps, hell yeah. They have some of the best warm clean tones I've ever heard. It's been absolutely incredible so far, and I have a Twin so am used to lush cleans, this thing does so much so well, really delighted 
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Feb 28, 2020 19:44
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It’s not bad luck, EHX has always been really poorly made.
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Feb 29, 2020 06:29
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Gnumonic posted:Does the BE-OD sound good as a preamp? I have a DS-OD that I don't really use and was thinking about selling. It sounds great into a clean amp but I was not impressed running it straight into IRs. Some preamps work fine into IRs, especially high gain stuff that isn't supposed to have any power tube distortion (AMT P1/P2, Amptweaker Tightmetal series), but the DS-OD is not like that. Edit: This is kind of a good comparison between how the BE-OD sounds compared to another preamp pedal with more presence, the KSR Ceres. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa0n6kCYdHo&t=337s If the timecode isn't working, skip to 5:36 for the KSR, and 6:22 for the Friedman. It sounds way less present than the KSR. Death Panel Czar fucked around with this message at 18:02 on Feb 29, 2020 |
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Feb 29, 2020 13:08
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Dang It Bhabhi! posted:It’s not bad luck, EHX has always been really poorly made. You know, I didn't want to admit that but you are probably spot on, I went through a phase of really liking them and my board was 80% their stuff, but over the course of a year that's gone way down as I have replaced them as they died.
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Feb 29, 2020 13:50
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Guessing most haven’t seen one of these :-)
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Mar 1, 2020 16:57
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These new MacBook pros are getting weird.
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Mar 2, 2020 05:19
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Because I have terrible self control and can't pass up a bargain, I now own a Fender Blacktop Jazzmaster HH with candy apple red stripe. Also came with a hardtail plate and the original tailpiece which may or may not get reinstalled when I change strings.  After a quick play, I don't like the pickups. Neck is okay, bridge is kind of shrill. I was kind of planning to replace them anyway, thinking of a couple of WideRange HBs instead for the Lee Ranaldo vibe.
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Mar 5, 2020 18:43
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100% awesome.
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Mar 5, 2020 22:33
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