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 Not pic of mine because it's all wrapped up, but I got my guitarist roommate a Peterson StroboPlus HD. I use their software version for all my setup and tuning needs, it's been probably the most important overall purchase I've made re: my own studio. And since my roommate is both repairing guitars and doing his own studio work now, I figured he needed to stop using snarks to setup other people's guitars, lol!
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Dec 17, 2018 16:00
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Dewgy posted:After nearly two months, GFS finally got back to me, and I had to switch to a red tele instead of seafoam. But it shipped! Do what we did, and add a pickup to the inside! It's up under the case, around where the sheet music stand is, and you can see the input + volume knob on the side. 
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Dec 17, 2018 16:07
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Philthy posted:This looks real nice, but lol at "unlocking" the already built-in metronome for $40. Haha lol I totally missed that side of it. Peterson is really not good about their IAP stuff now, their software version has a bunch of "sweetened tunings" you can spend a bunch of money on. Hope my roommate doesn't want the metronome, that thing was already $150, haha.
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Dec 17, 2018 16:45
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I played one of those 11 string fretless nylon Godin solid body acoustics once, thing was weird and wild. Had doubled up strings like a 12 for everything except the low E iirc. Still wish I'd had the extra $ to buy it at the time, it was unique enough that I'm sure I could find great use for it. https://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/godin-a11-glissentar-11-string-fretless-acoustic-electric-guitar
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Dec 21, 2018 14:24
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZfFcnuWH2E Found this one of the godin, a cool example of how it can be used
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Dec 21, 2018 17:27
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Anime Reference posted:Every once in a while I think about replacing the pickups in my AL-3010, but I never do it because I know I'd just be replacing them for the sake of replacing them. I feel the same way. Have a 627 (3100 from the custom shop), and the pickups surprised the poo poo out of me. Bridge is super crunchy in a very pleasing way, and the neck has a really clear bell-like tone, but can get that cool thick distortion if you hit it really hard. Really not sure what would work better, it's like everything I consider is a side grade, not an upgrade.
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Dec 27, 2018 02:55
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Guitar quality as a whole is totally random, you have Gibson which had a bunch of terrible years in the mid 2000's, Rondo sourcing really surprising builds out of South Korea, all the small boutique US builders who make some great guitars for a few years then realize it's not financially feasible and close shop (and their counterpart, the scam builders who make a few good guitars, take tons of preorders based on that, then deliver garbage or flee). I've been buying and trading guitars for a couple decades now and haven't found any sort of thread tying the good builds together. They're all from different areas, with different woods, different styles. Even resonance is irrelevant when it comes to electrics, ime. My two best sounding electric guitars are pretty flat and lifeless acoustically, and the one that sounds amazing unplugged is really lackluster plugged in. I think taking the chance on cheaper builds is much preferable to trying to hit that perfection with a single $2000 Gibson LP standard. There will be amazing examples of both, and unless the goal is resale/investment (or just wanting a Gibson), it's a lot safer to take the risk when it doesn't cost a couple months rent.
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Dec 27, 2018 18:51
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sensy v2.0 posted:I went and bought a thing I've been looking at different models of for at least 5 years every month or so. Fuuuuuuuck man. I was on the list (#49) for his original run of customs, but had to bail out because it took over a year to go like three spots and by that time I didn't have the $$$ anymore. Still gonna pick up one, prob a letchford 8 sig just cos I need multi scale - but if the non-Swedish ones aren't too bad, maybe I'll go for them since they're cheaper (who's making the Boden's now?)
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Jan 31, 2019 19:25
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Problem is once you have over a dozen guitars + basses, that you all got for specific tunings/tones/feels, it becomes hard as hell to pare down. It's like, "I could sell an 8 string, I have 5... but one's an active pickup semi-custom with super low action, one is a 30" scale single pickup djentmachine, ones a multiscale, ones a 3 pickup custom with a mid singlecoil, and one's a 28" DA8-equipped modern metal rocker". If I did have to keep only one, it would be the Oakland Axe Factory tho. Besides being a wonderful guitar, it helps me forget about losing 2 grand to the Bernie Rico Jr "Black Friday" scam, lol. Still bitter about that after what, 9 years now? gently caress that guy so hard.
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Mar 26, 2019 17:48
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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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Multiscale basses and guitars oh my!Jcam posted:It's just a normal Combustion, not the Nolly signature, main differences are the pickup placement and preamp. I'm already running into an Alpha-Omega so I figured the Darkglass Tone Capsule was nice but maybe not necessary (however much I did want it, drat). It's going to be a long week or so waiting! That Combustion looks sick, a multiscale bass has been on my wishlist forever! Are you doing lower tunings with it, or just going that way for comfort purposes?
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Apr 11, 2019 14:01
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Went a little crazy today in moving my DAW workflow to 64-bit - been using ancient sets of plugins that were all 32bit only and I think I've been hitting issues with Live9 as a result, so said gently caress it because I saw the Waves sale that's ongoing. Picked up the Ren pack and the Dave Audé EMP Toolbox (fuckin amazing price for the L3's alone) plus the Codex and H-Reverb. No more iLok is a goddamn miracle too, was anticipating needing some lovely dongle upgrade but I guess not! Then decided I wanted to go full-bore with the latest Komplete since I'm on version 4 of it currently, lol. 
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Apr 17, 2019 00:20
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Laserjet 4P posted:TBH I was very much underwhelmed by Codex, Serum is a lot nicer in a lot of ways. While I respect their DSP prowess in other matters, synths aren't their forte and Element's specs are pretty vanilla too. Good to know about Serum - I've only recently gotten back into softsynth stuff after a decade of using the same plugins, so I'm a bit in the dark about whats considered good nowadays. I'm definitely not gonna be upset if Codex and Element aren't amazing though. $30 for codex and ~$9 for Element means even if I only use them a handful of times, I'm still getting my money's worth! Still learning the ropes of the MiniNova too, drat can it get deep. I primarily use Absynth, FM8, Massive, and Minimoog, so this is probably the biggest expansion of tools I've ever done.
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Apr 17, 2019 18:01
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 Picked up a Peavey VIP 2 yesterday, this thing slaps! For $250, I'm pretty impressed with it's modern metal tones. Been able to decently recreate my djent/sludge AxeFX amps already, and holy poo poo can this thing get loud! Bass tones are pretty good too; it can nail the clacky crunchy metal bass tones I love, and also pulls off smoother tones as well. My roommate has one of the Yamaha THR10s, was thinking of grabbing the X version, but the GC didn't have one in stock and this was $50 cheaper. While it's nowhere near as portable, I feel like this was a good buy and I can actually jam with it too! Next up will be the Sanpera 2 footswitch, dying to access the looper this thing has!
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Jul 23, 2019 16:30
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Some further thoughts on the Peavey Vypyr VIP 2 now that it's gotten a bit of use: - needs the footpedal; not unusable without it, but there's something to be said for easy patch switching. - still too loud, lol (also why does vol knob go to 13?!) - midrange is oddly muffly on many of the amps when above 3-4. Could be mimicking the actual amp controls, but I've found best sound has way more cut mids than I'm used to. - FX variety is better than most similarly priced modeling amps. None of the effects are outstanding, but there's enough variety to cover tons of ground. - while all the amps have 3 channels (clean, crunch, lead), feels like the crunch channels are mostly unnecessary. Too similar sounding across most of them imo, could've used one or two more amps instead. - 7-string mode is hilarious. Pitches guitar down a fifth, so on an 8 string makes me sound like Black Tongue or Within the Ruins. - Stoner, Sludge and Doom are a little harder to nail. Mostly due to only one TS and one Fuzz option. Haven't tried with pedals yet but I'm guessing it'll take a Big Muff or similar just fine. - Acoustic sim shines on split coils/XBars Overall thoughts have stayed pretty consistent. This is a sweet, small modern metal jam amp at a good cost. The VIP 1 may be better suited to practice (20w, 8"), but this can cover up to jam/small bar levels fine.
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Aug 12, 2019 20:49
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In my experience it's down to neck construction and the environment it's in. My OAF 8 string with 1 piece unfinished rosewood neck will both get wildly out of whack due to humidity changes every year, and will shift (though not by huge amounts) by the next day after adjusting the truss. On the other hand, my 8 string agile multiscale 5 piece neck through took like 5 years for the action to gently caress up any appreciable amount with zero setup on my end, and I can adjust the truss and be fine immediately. Also, my 1 truss 8's definitely have more issues than my 2 truss 8's, but that's more a construction concern, and less about the wood itself.
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Nov 19, 2019 19:42
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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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Not exactly new, but these cabs have been sitting in a storage unit for like 12 years and I'd totally forgotten about them. Cleaned it out and was pleasantly surprised! Of course I don't have a bass amp anymore since I'd moved to ITB for bass sounds, but I'll probably be grabbing some smaller bass head so I can properly rock out again. The Mesa is a Powerhouse 1000, the Hartke is a VX1508. Got the mesa for $400 from a friend, which I'm sure he regretted lol. 
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Sep 24, 2020 17:06
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After almost 2 years of not playing guitar due to a cyst on my hand, I finally retrained myself so I can rock out without causing pain. Can’t do precise “bleed” style picking patterns anymore, but everything else seems to work with some technique adjustments! As celebration, I got a few new pieces of gear (not my photos) First up is a tiny acoustic! Baby Taylor BT1  Got for $221 on clearance from GC. This thing is by far the best value I’ve seen in a travel guitar. Action is low, intonation is really good, sound is bright and punchy, weight is lmao. I had a Martin backpacker for a while and was not impressed, the Taylor is everything I wished that could’ve been. Headrush MX5  Got this guy for more portable noodling. Main rig is an AxeFX into my PC, and my jam rig is a Peavey Vypyr VIP 1 20 watt. Tbh, the Peavey is far too loud, it’s high gain tones are lacking a little, and the looper can’t do layers. It wasn’t bad for the price, just a major step down when I’d go from recording with the AFX. The MX5 is replacing the Peavey entirely. It’s not Fractal quality, but it’s close enough that within an hour I was able to replicate my main AFX patches to a surprising degree. Especially after switching over to IRs for the cab sim. The touchscreen is a genius choice, size is awesomely small, can do 4-cable for real-amp integration, has 11 fully customizable FX blocks, and sounds good enough that I’d be fine using this for recording in a pinch. Only con is some of the FX could be better. Primarily verbs and delays, but I’m likely just spoiled from the AFX and software plugins. And the final thing to round this out, coming tomorrow: Headrush FRFR-108  Since I’m replacing the Peavey, needed something to project the sound. This looks like it’ll work fine, and should also work for vox or AxeFX if I want.
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May 2, 2022 18:54
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Dr. Faustus posted:They are still bass heavy but at rehearsal volume it evens out some and frankly, I can't believe what they can do and at that price point. I bought stands to put them on but haven't had the chance to try it, I'm told they sound really great up off the floor. I love 'em already. YMMV but I've compared to the HR 112 and... No thank you. The 108s are 19 lbs. each, and they are inexpensive. I know there are greater options out there but my modeler has four output EQs so I could just run one output to the HRs with a bass cut, while the FOH output is flat. Working out great so far. Thanks for this info! After playing with it for bit, I got some thoughts. I noticed the same as you, this speaker is bassy as hell at low volumes, but evens out incredibly at louder volumes. Definitely worse flat on the ground, angling it works great and lifting it is even better. I’m running a cut at around 100hz and another smaller one at ~250, and that’s tightened up my tone a bunch for bedroom volume. Overall I’m pleased with it, and the small size really can’t be overstated. I never want to lug a half stack or brutally heavy 2x12 combo again. Looks like I’ll be picking up another one to do stereo, as like all of my rigs are dual amps!
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May 7, 2022 14:54
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The Leck posted:Which hangers are those? I’ve been thinking about getting some to free up floor space. It looks like they’re close enough together that they aren’t all screwed into studs - do you find them stable enough? I had some non-stud hangers for a while, but my drat schecter bass was too heavy and fell off the wall one day. what I ended up doing was mounting my hangers to a plank of wood, which was then mounted to the studs. Not the most pretty, but it let me have all my guitars hanging instead of only like 3 of them.
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Aug 6, 2022 12:42
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Agreed posted:First, I got an Agile Septor 827 - 8 string, 27 inch scale. I had it set up yesterday and it plays great. The stock pickup installation was badly done, to be honest, it had two offset pieces of hard foam under the pickups and the screws were way down smushing the foam so they were very far from the strings. Tech replaced that with a more standard spring assembly and got 'em into an ideal range to actually pick up the vibration, muuuuch better. Frankly better than I expected, these 8 string ones with "Cepheus" in-house branding actually sound quite good. Congrats on this! I’ve owned probably 8 Agiles over the years, and haven’t had any real complaints on any of them, besides maybe weight and the 30” scale on an 830 was too much for me. Still looking at their headless models, I had to drop out of the original .strandberg run (was around #42 on the build wait list) cos it didn’t come up for almost 2 years after I hopped on, and while the Agile’s don’t look as good I can’t imagine they’re bad guitars. Afaik the Cepheus pickups were modeled somewhat after lundgrens, but with a slightly tamed high end. Was always impressed with them, seemed to cover a pretty decent range of tones and worked as a great all-around pickup.
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Aug 20, 2022 14:45
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 Got a couple of really neat things yesterday! First up is the strandberg Boden Metal NX 6. It’s a used one, was sitting in the shop for a couple months and no one had grabbed it. Played it for about an hour, and realized the only thing “wrong” with it was the action was pretty high. Bought it, and after a quick setup the guitar is incredible. No bad frets, plays like a dream, and only weighs about 4.8lbs. Also surprisingly acoustically resonant! Only complaint is the pickups are a bit biting, I’m used to smoother highs, but that’s an easy fix. Second is the Boss RC505 mk2. Been looking to upgrade my loop setup for a while as the looper in the headrush is okay, but pretty limited. This thing is dope! Allows for footswitches so I can easily loop when doing guitar, has lots of fx and a drum machine, and it’s auto tempo thing is great for non-click looping, makes building up layers super easy. Only scratched the surface, but I think this is my musical focus now lol. And finally, my GF got me a PS5 which was a total surprise. Now I can play all the cool new games!
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Dec 19, 2022 14:08
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  Made some progress on my looper setup; got some wall mounts for guitars, have the new electronic drum set in the corner. Just need an interface for the laptop, some cables, and a stand for my APC40, then I can do full-fledged recording in the room. Right now my recording setup is in another room so I haven’t been able to try the electronic kit with drum VSTs, but I figure instead of moving it I’ll just set up a second.
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Mar 22, 2023 15:41
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TotalLossBrain posted:Looks great! All my gear is scattered over two bedrooms and a large living room on two levels I have an acoustic and a small Peavey amp over by my TV on top of the two rooms of looping/recording stuff. Honestly pretty cool, I can do serious client work, but also jam and just relax and there’s minimal overlap so I don’t feel too pressured. The place is too small to really nail it, but I’ve managed to carve some nice music spots!
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Mar 22, 2023 17:48
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muike posted:the blue 8 string looks really familiar but i can't put a name to it. Oakland Axe Factory! It’s my “Rap Hat” sig, one of five from the 2011 Black Friday run Tom Drinkwater did on sevenstring.org. Thing is a genuine prestige beast - one piece oiled rosewood neck with custom asymmetrical profile, rosewood FB, swamp ash body with 5A maple top, HSH Dimarzio Ionizer set with 6 way (3 hum, 3 split) switch, cool dual layer (black then blue) rubbed finish. I call it “ocean storm”, a sort of modification of PRS’s Matteo Blue.    
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Mar 23, 2023 01:21
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muike posted:yeah that's it! very sick. he closed up shop, right? Yeah, afaik he’s working at a guitar store in Augusta Maine, living the northern life. Pretty sure he’s still doing repairs and setups, and I’m sure for the right price could do a build (his website implies he’ll do it for the right guitar) but it doesn’t seem to be his focus anymore. Honestly tho, I’m glad. Most of the other small builders of that era ended up getting over their heads and scamming customers, so for Tom to hang up the hat instead of letting greed get in the way was immensely respectable. Still wish there were some builders doing limited-spec customs for less than $1500, but I think that ship sailed a decade ago.
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Mar 24, 2023 14:48
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I think I’m just about done with my studio rework (minus shelving)! For being one room in a tiny 2nd floor apartment, I’ve managed to create a space I feel super comfortable in.  Picked up the following software: Live 11 (upgrade from 10) Superior Drummer 3 (upgrade from 2) Komplete Standard 14 (upgrade from 12) GGD Modern & Massive And consolidated to one room/reworked routing - I’ve now got my main recording setup for drums, bass, gt, vox, keys etc, and a separate looper setup with MiniNova and Headrush, that’s fed into the DAW in case I want to record it. Drums are fed via MIDI to DAW, and I have the APC40 on a stand so I can properly record while playing. Only real hitch with drums is on the SD3 side. I had one hell of a kit set up in 2, but they’ve changed how everything works and their samples are quite a bit different. So it’s likely going to be 15-20 hours of building a kit and drum mix template from scratch again. Thank god I’ve got GGD though! Took me a day to get the mapping and a template mix set up, and it sounds more than good enough for production use.
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Mar 30, 2023 16:49
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Haha nice! I’ve been waiting to see someone snag those, my friend is way into the TE stuff but those were too niche for him to get. You gonna do any little recordings with them? Really curious how they all work together.
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Jun 23, 2023 13:55
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Hah that reminds me, my guitar with the most sustain plugged in sounds like a wet fart acoustically, and the one that projects/sustains the most unplugged is solidly mid when amplified. Interestingly enough, it’s opposite of weight; the bad acoustic one is a 10.5lbs solid mahogany LP style, while the good acoustic one is a 7.2lbs PRS SE.
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Oct 23, 2023 22:08
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DrChu posted:Ibanez EHB1265MS  lol this is great, I just bought an EHB1505MS myself! Got to compare it against the EHB1005MS - they both played similarly, the 1005 was a little lighter, but I liked the look of the 1505 more and the Nordstrand pickups were a huge leap for the music I play. Not sure that was worth $500 more tbh, but the overall quality of the bass is high so I don’t feel ripped off. Was planning on a strandberg, but not finding a local one to play meant I wasn’t comfortable dropping $3400. This was half the cost, sounds very dingwally, has a pretty useful mid-sweep, and is light-ish. Neck seems to be straight, no obvious issues or construction fuckups. Action is around 1.5mm to 2.75mm, I’d like to go a little lower but fretwork is causing a little too much buzzing below this. My only complaints are it needs some minor fretwork and the pickups should be much more rounded - the ramp should help when I install it, but without it I can’t find a comfortable spot to anchor my thumb. Other thing in the pic is a Cordoba Stage electric nylon. Since I’d budgeted for a strandberg I used the extra money to grab this - it’s cool! I’ve always wanted a Godin ever since I played their weird 11 string nylon electric years ago, but the cost and really quiet acoustic sound turned me off. When the Ibanez TODs came out I was interested, but the tone was really far from what I was looking for. This is probably the closest I’ve found at a good price point - it’s loud enough to hear unplugged, action is very electric guitar, and the electronics are decent so it’s easy to get a passable recorded tone.
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Feb 4, 2024 18:12
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 I’ve got a drat problem lol. I thought I was done with new 8’s, I’m primarily playing on a strandberg, carvin, and an OAF custom. Happy with em for sure! But then I stupidly decided to try this at GC today. Had no plans to buy it, but I figured “what’s the worst that could happen?” Well it turns out the Majesty 8 is a way better guitar than expected. A very very nice feel, excellent balance, some really unique tones thanks to the piezo and blend, really well done frets, and god is the thing ugly (which I like!) And this is the push I need to sell a bunch of my less used 8’s, primarily all the Agiles I’ve been collecting over the years. Feel like I’ve finally gotten a stable of 8’s which is on par quality wise to all my six strings.
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Mar 30, 2024 20:24
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I wonder how many people are still going for that “hifi” pickup sound? We had the lace XBars and QTuners causing a stir a decade ago, but that seemed to drop off pretty quickly. From my own experience, the XBar was tough to dial in at first - ended up having to start from scratch as it didn’t react like any of my other pickups. Have to imagine that “neutrality” is actually a drawback for most players in the end as you end up relying way more on amp and FX coloration.
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May 15, 2024 01:31
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Interesting! I didn’t know EMGs were a 20-20k pickup. Always thought they were just hot actives with pushed mids. Funny about the deathbar though; I remember sevenstring.org going nuts about them when they were released, then everyone went back to their EMGs. I’ve been wondering if fishman is going to hit the same, fluences are everywhere now and that hype can’t last forever E: oh woah, deathbar and deathbucker are different pickups. Curious what the difference is. Slothful Bong fucked around with this message at 02:09 on May 15, 2024 |
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May 15, 2024 02:06
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