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So my parents wanted to get me something for my 40th, and I've been having some issues with the old $30 Aliexpress Joyo clone daisy chain power supply I've been using for a decade, now that I actually have more than one drive pedal in my chain. So naturally I asked them to get me a $150AUD Joyo clone of a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2! The original is $360aud and up, the mxr iso brick is about the same, I think the only cheaper option is the Fender one for $270 and I don't really believe anything powered by a DC wall wart is going to be any better than a $60 mosky ISO-10. All of the recommended options seem to take AC power, and use separate taps on the transformer itself to deliver the isolated power so that seems like the way to go. While I accept that it's remotely possible that Joyo skimped on a few components vs the Voodoo labs version, I find it more likely that the price differential is a combination of typically insane music store mark ups, and the prevailing myth that you absolutely HAVE to spend $250+ American on a power supply or it will fry your pedals and ruin your tone. I did notice while looking around today that Warwick have a 16 output Rockboard supply on the market for a good $100 less than the next cheapest option from a "reputable" brand, and while I'm iffy about the DC input it does at least ship with an 18v 2 amp adaptor, which in theory would allow it to provide about 250mA to each output. Hopefully if there any good it will help pull the prices down from the other mainstream brand offerings.
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Jul 10, 2022 13:31
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The situation has evolved Be not afraid. I am in control.  The pedal board in front of the amp is things that go before the input, with the dirts and the comp on that board in an NS-2 loop. The pedal board to the left is three things prior even to those (Guitar-->Warden opto comp-->GL Dragon Wah 2 reissue-->Way Huge Red Llama III-->the board in front of the amp) and then everything else on board 2 is effects, into the smaller board with loopers, which then output in stereo to my DAW. I get the stereo from my monitors rather than the amp. 5150 Iconic has a great feature to mute the power amp and bypass the speaker to run direct, no fuss. After the Walrus Fathom reverb, the next in line is the EHX Grand Canyon, which is both Loop 1 and also a pedal that makes mono into stereo in many wonderful ways. That runs into the 720, which is Loop 2. I take the stereo output of that into my DAW, and then use the great Nembrini IR loader which features a dynamite power amp simulation as part of its capabilities and also offers a comp and EQ (you know, stuff that's handy for the job) and good mixing capabilities for up to three IRs at once. I have utilities that do more IRs than that but I haven't ever got a better sound with a poo poo-ton of IRs than with 2-3, but the power amp sim is really nice and completes the sound nicely for me. Two loops is really cool. I'm still learning how to use all of this live but it's coming along. I'll be using a pre-constructed drum loop that's both backing and metronome to make it feasible to time the loops well, then using them independently to make songs more complex than just one looped track can do, but without getting into the quantum physics degree type poo poo that the really really advanced super pricey loopers do in just one unit that takes a lot of hand control I ain't gonna give it. My hands will be busy with guitar and synths, you know? The pedal boards can do pretty much everything I want to do. I'm quite pleased to have the fuzz in the top left of the board in front of the amp working again - met a cool repair guy in town who really knows his stuff! - that's the "Jeff Baker Signature" AB-Synth that Tom from Fuzzhugger made me back in the early 2010s, 1 of 1, because I used to help him a lot with demos etc. - we plotted out what it should be able to do together and he pulled it off. It can self-oscillate when the middle footswitch is engaged, or have the oscillation kinda velcro to the guitar sound a bit depending on how its "Trip" knob is adjusted, and at some settings it gets a bit of a pitch thing going. Its tone control can be taken out of the circuit with a switch on the back, has a gain boost on the left. I got a special "designed for me" pick through my friend Vinni Smith who does V-Picks too that I use a lot when I'm recording. Those things are totally precious to me as wonderful memories of my days in the industry that give me cool sounds even now and hopefully for many years to come. I totally got that SG too! Today was the day I could pick it up and pick it up I did. I've been spending an hour every couple days playing it at the shop to bond with it before picking it up, freaking love it already. Man, SGs are cool.  Now I might, um, I might have my sights on a Mesa Maverick 4x10 in real good shape. Fascinating Class A recto, ... My wife astutely points out space to put it is questionable, but I have notions, and, well, we'll see how that goes but I'm hoping pals! Agreed fucked around with this message at 06:39 on Jul 14, 2022 |
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Jul 14, 2022 06:28
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Good call keeping the pedalboards small, man. I bought the huge pedaltrain board and once I had the pedals and power supply mounted to it, it was stupid heavy. Also great idea putting all the pre-input stuff together. I trust you, btw. Honest! So anyway I do need to get the rest of my pedals sorted because I am not keeping many. I need to put the power supply and pedalboard on Reverb or something.
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Jul 14, 2022 06:51
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What model of pedal boards are those? My current setup is solid as a rock but has this sort of locking system where you can't get many pedals on there at once. e: this thing  It's got these sort of screw-mounted brackets that hold the pedals on nice and tight but the brackets themselves take up enough room that the board is just half empty space.
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Jul 14, 2022 10:13
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That looks rock solid! These are all just standard velcro boards, many similar options in various price ranges depending on desired construction quality. The empty space at the top on my loop board is probably going to feature a switchable active loop or maybe even an active fader (I had some cool custom mixer pedals made back in the 2010s, they're in good shape still) to bring the whole delay and reverb section on/offline in one footswitch so I don't have to, like, mega tap dance those. I've got an issue with my MXR Timmy having a really sensitive input jack that won't pass signal unless the cable is in the right position and that worries me about using it in a live context - might need to seek a replacement for it though I love how it sounds in the Boost loop of the Tim V3. I read it was picky about cables and doesn't like some pancakes - maybe I can try a different one before I look into swapping it. Dr. Faustus posted:Good call keeping the pedalboards small, man. I bought the huge pedaltrain board and once I had the pedals and power supply mounted to it, it was stupid heavy. Also great idea putting all the pre-input stuff together.  Always appreciate your support, man!What do you think you're going to end up letting go of? Just don't need the pedals with your AxeFX III Turbo, I'm guessing? Shoot me a PM if you want
Agreed fucked around with this message at 14:52 on Jul 14, 2022 |
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Jul 14, 2022 14:46
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Hey so what's the go with MiM fenders these days? I've been hankering for a tele for a while and some of the classic vibes look great, but I can probably afford to stretch a little bit further. There are a few Player series teles available for around $1k AUD, wheras the CVs sit around $6-750. I'm gonna pop down to a local store on the weekend but have limited time so if they're not a good value proposition ATM I'll avoid them entirely. Asking here because I know this is where the real GASers live 
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Jul 15, 2022 15:08
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Don Dongington posted:Hey so what's the go with MiM fenders these days? I've been hankering for a tele for a while and some of the classic vibes look great, but I can probably afford to stretch a little bit further. There are a few Player series teles available for around $1k AUD, wheras the CVs sit around $6-750. I'm gonna pop down to a local store on the weekend but have limited time so if they're not a good value proposition ATM I'll avoid them entirely. Asking here because I know this is where the real GASers live The way most folks talk about them, there are really only 2 substantial differences between the CVs and the MIMs. 1. Name on the headstock (which isn't nothing, if you tend to flip things you'll get a higher % and a quicker sale from a MIM than a CV). 2. The finish on the neck (CVs have a thick poly gloss finish, MIMs haver a smoother satin, and some people react strongly to one vs the other). You'll probably never hear a difference between the pickups between the 2, and fit and finish on them are very comparable (in that most are fine, but sometimes you'll pick one up and go, "this feels like someone had one more to squeeze out before the weekend"). From personal experience I played my 60s thinline CV back to back with my dad's american tele from 2012, and even recording and playing back over headphones I couldn't tell you which was which even clean. I hated the neck finish, though, and have been on an whole journey trying to get it comfortable. Huxley fucked around with this message at 15:24 on Jul 15, 2022 |
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Jul 15, 2022 15:15
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Yeah neck finish is a big deal for me. I've been playing a few PRS SEs because I love the way they play/sound, but so many of them have painted gloss finish necks, and all of my guitars have either natural maple necks or a satin finish so I find it really jarring. That's good info, thanks
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Jul 15, 2022 15:38
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I've had the same experience with every Gibson/Epi/PRS I've ever held. I get myself talked into enjoying the sounds and the scale length, then I go play one for half an hour and it's just not right in my hands. Gunky. I love my Thinline, but for what I have spent being persnickety about the neck, I could have just bought an MIM. One day they'll put out a MIM thinline at a price/finish I can't say no to, but it hasn't happened yet.
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Jul 15, 2022 15:56
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Honestly my squier thinline VM/CV telecaster was nicer fit and finish than my player series fender telecaster. The squier fret job from the factory was perfect whereas the fender needed work. If there's anything to replace in squiers it's the pots. The big things you'll get from a classic vibe are more interesting details like aged tinted necks, bindings around the body, possibly different inlays, and more unique colors.
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Jul 15, 2022 17:55
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It's pretty boring but I bought a bunch of picks:
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Jul 16, 2022 01:25
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I love those petrucci picks for bass. the max grip jazz iii used to be my go-to guitar pick too!
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Jul 16, 2022 01:33
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muike posted:I love those petrucci picks for bass. the max grip jazz iii used to be my go-to guitar pick too! People of the Internet raved about the Petrucci ones and I liked them but they felt a bit thick for me. My go-to is the Cabron Max Grip Jazz III for sure, the plastic ones felt weird but the carbon ones feel nicer. Also, I've been playing the same one for weeks and it shows zero wear! There could be some bias given my guitar teacher just happens to use the same ones though.
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Jul 16, 2022 01:56
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I got turned onto the JP-1 Jazz IIIs from regular Ultex a few years back, ended up buying 50 of the drat things. They're a drat good thing for someone who's not much of a shredder and trying to learn some picking technique. Between the grip, the ultex material and the finer point, I found they just made it a lot easier for me to actually get my right hand moving at a reasonable clip. I'm still a poo poo guitarist, but I feel a lot less uncoordinated and clumsy with one of those.
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Jul 16, 2022 02:06
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Those green tortex sharps are my go to picks.
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Jul 16, 2022 02:53
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New strap day! On the left, the one that was thrown in free when I bought a P-Bass back in 1995. Best friend bought a Strat at the same time, and also got a free pink strap. Sales rear end in a top hat thought he was being funny and making a "u guys r gay" joke. Joke is on him, 27 years later he's still one of my best friends and we both use the free straps! On the right, the latest version, bought open box from Amazon on Prime Day for 25% off an already reduced price. I don't like it. Color is obviously less faded, but it's also way shinier and slicker and slides all over the place. Not good with a neck-heavy guitar.
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Jul 16, 2022 03:05
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Don Dongington posted:Hey so what's the go with MiM fenders these days? I've been hankering for a tele for a while and some of the classic vibes look great, but I can probably afford to stretch a little bit further. There are a few Player series teles available for around $1k AUD, wheras the CVs sit around $6-750. I'm gonna pop down to a local store on the weekend but have limited time so if they're not a good value proposition ATM I'll avoid them entirely. Asking here because I know this is where the real GASers live This was what I was trying to figure out when I was buying my P-Bass. Then I figured out that if I bought a CV, I could replace all the hardware on it for "proper" Fender hardware, and it would still cost me less than the price difference of a MiM P-Bass. I liked the CV more than I liked the MiM strat so....I grabbed the CV. In Australia, it's a 500AUD difference. I'm pretty sure I could get a neck re-finished to satin for that much as well...
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Jul 16, 2022 07:22
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H13 posted:This was what I was trying to figure out when I was buying my P-Bass. Which hardware would actually be key to replace? Where I am, New Zealand, it’s a similar difference. The MIM are almost double the CVs.
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Jul 16, 2022 07:48
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Yeah I'm only seriously considering one because there's a mim butterscotch and maple tele on sale near me for $1k, all the CVs are about $720. $300 is a bit more enticing than $500. I'd wager it wouldn't cost a great deal less to bring the hardware and electronics up to spec, although if I were going to do locking tuners and a nicer bridge on the MIM anyway it's a bit moot. Will see how they play.
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Jul 16, 2022 14:34
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GOOD NEWS, EVERYBODY! I played this one ($700AUD), the player ($1040), a 70s solid CV, and the 40th anniversary Squire Telecaster. The player failed in under a minute due to fretwork I wouldn't have accepted on a $500 guitar. The 70s CV was lovely, but the neck humbucker was a bit wooly sounding and it couldn't beat the thinline for the range of tones. The 40th anniversary was built very well, but didn't sound as good to my ears, and the Laurel fingerboard just sucked the playability right out of it. So the Classic Vibe 60s thinline it is. It beat everything above for tone and playability, and looks pretty wonderful to boot. I am gonna look at getting the back of the neck refinished in satin or just sanded a bit, and might change out the bridge and pots at some point but honestly there's nothing that immediately jumps out as problematic with it. Tuners are nice and stiff without catching, switch feels decent enough and the pickups are unreasonably good for a cheap guitar. First NGD in about 7 years. Basically paid for via a returned overpayment for child support after the ex who caused me to stop playing and buying guitars did her tax return which made it a bit sweeter! Also got my wall hangers back up for the first time in about as long.  Now if you'll excuse me I need to clean up the mess i just made reinstalling those so I can play the drat thing
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Jul 17, 2022 07:52
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Say, that is good news!
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Jul 17, 2022 11:01
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That's a drat nice lookin' tele you got there. Nicely done!Red_Fred posted:Which hardware would actually be key to replace? Honestly, I haven't bothered and just left everything stock. I'll replace something if it breaks.
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Jul 17, 2022 14:14
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Let me get home, I'll write you an effort post on my experience modding and replacing my thinline neck, and the hardware adjustments I've made. e: Effort post, here's where my 60s Thinline stands:  That's a completely new neck (a $70 guitarfetish unfinished maple and "rosewood"), road worn classic tuners, black pickguard, brass saddles.Electronics are all stock. I'll start with the advice: go get a brown and yellow scotch bright pad like this: https://www.amazon.com/Scotch-Brite...122&sr=8-6&th=1 And rub gently up and down a few times, then see how you feel. Repeat until you're either happy or you get to a matte finish and you're not happy (because what you want is that MiM satin). If that's the case, tape off the front of your board, go buy a can of spray satin poly, do 3-4 coats per instructions on the can, then sand with 1k, 2k, 3k grit paper. Really just a polishing run. Don't replace the tuners, they're perfect. You're not going to get a dramatically better sound out of any pots or pickups. Do be careful using actual sandpaper on the stock neck. You can get a nice raw finish on it, but on the edges it's very easy to go through the finish on the edges. I got mine to a feel I loved, but along the way did this to it:  And never forgave myself. Now that I've got the rosewood neck on it i'm going to take this one and just sand the heck out of it and see where I end up. But scotch bright, go slow, see what you think. Huxley fucked around with this message at 20:32 on Jul 17, 2022 |
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Jul 17, 2022 15:27
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Due to the fact that the JPY has just absolutely eaten poo poo against the USD and that Japanese Amazon has been slow to adjust prices to reflect that, a lot of gear is crazy cheap on Amazon here right now. I just got a brand new Traktor Kontrol S2 Mk3 for about 22,500 JPY, which is just over 160 USD. I am going to teach myself to scratch librivox books and just be extremely weird with it.
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Jul 18, 2022 04:41
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Similar things going on w/ the Euro and sorta the Pound, most of Thomann's new Behringer is undercutting the used market on American Reverb.
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Jul 18, 2022 04:58
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I got a couple of pretty affordable Rode mics, an NT-1a and an NT-1. Also got an audio interface that can record the both of them simultaneously (previously was just working with a 1 XLR + 1 line input interface). I like how they sound with my voice and I'm looking forward to being able to dual mic my cab on this amp, haven't been able to do that in more than a decade. It also has a couple line-in so I can go direct from the left/right outputs on my looper. I picked up one of these lil ProCo Rat 2 pedals with the glow in the dark text. Got it for a low price second hand, I didn't have any Rat-derivatives and it's nice to have one for the thing it does in particular. Appears to be made sturdy enough to use as an emergency escape device from a car, or a locked crate, or maybe to fight off robots with. I'll get some pics tomorrow!
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Jul 18, 2022 05:13
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Mics: Mentioned it in the guitar thread but I had to do a rebuild of my pedal boards to track down and eliminate some ugly noise that showed up suddenly. It was a success! One of the contributors to said noise was my custom Fuzzhugger AΩ-Synth, which appears to really hate being daisy chained probably because it's nuts and has parts that are wired real weird on purpose to get it to self-oscillate and go velcro-mode with a footswitch. I'll use it on its own without the board when I want to do the crazy things it does The rebuild helped me put things where they ought to go better:Guitar goes into the rightmost Squeegee first then into the Q-tron and the two pitch pedals. Q-Tron is so, so much better than that bullshit Pigtronix envelope filter. That thing sucked compared to this, this is what you want. QUACK, baby. The rest of the effects on the board from the second Squeegee to the Walrus Fathom are effects loop stuff.  Before amp input board, after the earlier comp and the FX pedals, all in the noise reduction loop:  Got the RAT on there, and it's my favorite way to boost Channel 2 of my amp already. One of the best bang-for-the-buck pedal purchases I've made maybe ever. I don't really like its distortion sound on its own in the clean channel, but the rest of the drives are for that and give me lots of tonal and textural variation into the clean. To get this amp to rip n' tear, I use Tim -> RAT -> 5150 Iconic channel 2 with its own gain set to 3 (like other 5150s, it has shitloads of gain on tap, that's already real gainy) and it sounds fuckin' awesome. I'm recording this setup in stereo using the amp's FX loop Send into the aforementioned modulation and delay pedals, which then go to an EHX Grand Canyon that I already posted and into the EHX 720 for stereo looping. Does anyone need to see a Focusrite 3rd gen 4i4? I bet not, it's just a little red box that can record two mics and stereo line-in. Works great though! Igor Nembrini's "NA IR Loader" plugin is what I prefer after that since it loads up to three IRs with good mixing options and built in adjustable compression and parametric EQ, with the crucial added element of a nice power amp simulation that really puts a bow on it and gets it sounding through my monitors like my amp sounds for real even though by going through the FX send I'm leaving my amp's power amp unused. On that note, really appreciating the 5150 Iconic's "Power Amp Mute" function and 1/4 wattage mode options - it runs cool even though it's doing its preamp thing full tilt, digging it a lot. Agreed fucked around with this message at 06:56 on Jul 19, 2022 |
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Jul 19, 2022 06:32
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Couple Prime Day deals finally came in JHS Reverb and a Fender Mustang Micro. Both were in the warehouse, both were 25% off their already reduced prices, so it was only ~$140 total. I also have a JHS Hall Reverb coming because it was cheap,
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Jul 20, 2022 17:14
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Why did I wait so long before I bought a nylon string guitar?
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Jul 21, 2022 04:24
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Just play, friend.
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Jul 21, 2022 04:41
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widefault posted:JHS Reverb and a Fender Mustang Micro. Both were in the warehouse, both were 25% off their already reduced prices, so it was only ~$140 total. I also have a JHS Hall Reverb coming because it was cheap, Let me know how the JHS pedals are?
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Jul 21, 2022 04:58
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Agreed posted:Let me know how the JHS pedals are? I should have the Hall Reverb tonight, but the regular Reverb is already going onto the board. The Pre-Delay switch is a winner. I can actually see running both, they seem to have unique enough features, but I guess I'll find out.
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Jul 21, 2022 17:37
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And after selling 8 guitars in the last month I have four coming to me, with two of those hopefully being easy flips, one being Something Nice, and the fourth being a sight-unseen impulse buy that I'm either going to be amazed with or enraged by. Anyway, #1 just delivered   "VN" serial number Made in Korea Squier from ~1995. Under $100, will need a clean-up, strings, and a setup in addition to the two parts-box bridge saddles I already put on. These have great necks and seem to be gaining a fan club, so should be an easy flip. Agreed posted:Let me know how the JHS pedals are? So far, great, and I plan on having both on the board since they are different enough. The regular Reverb does the regular Reverb thing very well with the pre-delay giving a slight slap/echo effect. The Hall Reverb does the spacey infinite reverb thing with a bit of shimmer with the Modulation switch on. I might even have paid full price for them if I had a chance to play with them earlier.
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Jul 23, 2022 17:22
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Ow my wallet.
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Jul 23, 2022 18:37
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Tenchrono posted:Ow my wallet. Ow my eyes!  What is it exactly? More importantly, to me, what’s that next to it? Edit: to contribute I picked up an ISP Decimator in great condition for $75 NZD! Maybe the second most boring pedal purchase after a tuner (or even more boring?) but a good addition. Red_Fred fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Jul 23, 2022 |
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Jul 23, 2022 22:39
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It's "boring" but it really is such a fantastic noise gate. I use it for my ultra high gain stuff it doesnt let me down!
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Jul 23, 2022 22:45
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Red_Fred posted:Ow my eyes! Whoops forgot the name. PRS S2 Custom 24! One of my other ones is the Schecter C1 Platinum I picked up few years ago. 
Tenchrono fucked around with this message at 00:00 on Jul 24, 2022 |
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Jul 23, 2022 23:58
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Custom 24s are so nice to play. I know some people don't vibe with them because they don't have as much individual "character" as a Fender or Gibson halo model, but I'm a fan of a guitar that you can do literally anything with, and apart from maybe the EBMM Majesty, there's not much that can compete in that space. Even the SE models are fantastic, that'll probably be my next purchase after the CV Baritone tele I'm hoping to grab next week (unless I can talk them down on an SE 227) Love the C1, I wish I'd grabbed a fixed bridge version to compliment my Hellraiser FR before their prices shot up over here. Much better necks than ESP/Ibanez super shredders they used to compete with.
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Jul 24, 2022 01:51
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Tenchrono posted:Ow my wallet. Love it. PRS makes some of the most well-made guitars you can buy. They're excellent.
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Jul 24, 2022 01:55
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There needs to be a PRS Flying V for us heavy metal dentists.
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Jul 24, 2022 13:50
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