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Dr. Faustus
Feb 18, 2001

Grimey Drawer

Agreed posted:

(brown sound modded Plexi)
This is one of the most desired sounds in the modeler community to be sure, for obvious reasons. This is my hard-tail Strat-style with a SD Pearly Gates in the bridge. I mostly followed others' guides for amp selection and settings.
There's a bit of the intro to Mean Street where Eddie just snaps out an open G5 and it slays on the record. I mean, the intro to Mean Street is one of the most astounding bits of guitaring Eddie ever put to tape but who can actually play all of it? Sure as hell not this guy.
But I am amazed a modeler can do this at all. I'd love to hear the one you reference, because if there's one thing I believe it's John Cordy's assertion you can get great tones from all the modeler options out there. I just went for the expensive one because a) I wanted to be able to run two amp blocks at once, and b) I was turning 50 so I justified it as my mid-life crisis sports car expense, along with a new Tele and stuff.
Here's something I threw down just to enjoy it. I can't see myself trying to attempt the whole song without the full intro so maybe someday?
https://soundcloud.com/dr-faustus777/mean-street-test

Now, same preset but an Ibanez RG1070 with a ToneZone in the bridge, which is a much hotter pickup with a very different treble character than the PG.
https://soundcloud.com/dr-faustus777/little-dreamer-cover

My bassist asked me to record him a clip of this Freidman HBE/ENGL Savage rig I am working on, and I'm gonna try the Evolutions in the JEM7VWH with that. I'd like to make a clip of the 5150 BL and Soldano SLO100 I've been playing with, too. I told him I would do it today but :effort:.

Dr. Faustus fucked around with this message at 20:29 on Jul 10, 2022

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Helianthus Annuus
Feb 21, 2006

can i touch your hand
Grimey Drawer

Dr. Faustus posted:

This is one of the most desired sounds in the modeler community to be sure, for obvious reasons. This is my hard-tail Strat-style with a SD Pearly Gates in the bridge. I mostly followed others' guides for amp selection and settings.
There's a bit of the intro to Mean Street where Eddie just snaps out an open G5 and it slays on the record. I mean, the intro to Mean Street is one of the most astounding bits of guitaring Eddie ever put to tape but who can actually play all of it? Sure as hell not this guy.
But I am amazed a modeler can do this at all. I'd love to hear the one you reference, because if there's one thing I believe it's John Cordy's assertion you can get great tones from all the modeler options out there. I just went for the expensive one because a) I wanted to be able to run two amp blocks at once, and b) I was turning 50 so I justified it as my mid-life crisis sports car expense, along with a new Tele and stuff.
Here's something I threw down just to enjoy it. I can't see myself trying to attempt the whole song without the full intro so maybe someday?
https://soundcloud.com/dr-faustus777/mean-street-test

Now, same preset but an Ibanez RG1070 with a ToneZone in the bridge, which is a much hotter pickup with a very different treble character than the PG.
https://soundcloud.com/dr-faustus777/little-dreamer-cover

My bassist asked me to record him a clip of this Freidman HBE/ENGL Savage rig I am working on, and I'm gonna try the Evolutions in the JEM7VWH with that. I'd like to make a clip of the 5150 BL and Soldano SLO100 I've been playing with, too. I told him I would do it today but :effort:.

that sounds good! nice playing, doc

BizarroAzrael
Apr 6, 2006

"That must weigh heavily on your soul. Let me purge it for you."
Jaguar owners: what do you find is the best bridge situation there? I've got a bit of foam under the stings into the trem to stop buzz for right now, I've seen a few things like tape around the pegs to let it move less. I've seen buzzstops for about £20, which I think might also help sustain? I can also switch in a tuneomatic bridge from my kit Jazzmaster, would that render a buzzstop redundant? Is there any point at looking at aftermarking Jaguar style bridges?

landgrabber
Sep 13, 2015

the transfeminine guitarist urge to buy a shell pink short scale offset

Helianthus Annuus
Feb 21, 2006

can i touch your hand
Grimey Drawer
Here is the firefly guitar I recently got.



I want to replace it's pickups, but i don't know which pickups to pick! I've never replaced pickups before, so I'm pretty ignorant. I like my telecaster for its brightness, and i liked the P90s in my old Les Paul, so single coils seem like a good decision. Regarding humbuckers: I have never owned boutique humbuckers, but the cheap ones i have owned all sounded muddy to me. So maybe there are bright sounding humbuckers that I should consider instead?

I don't wanna dig thru the guitar's electronics more than once, so i'm asking for help picking out something I will like. But probably more importantly: I need help making sure i don't buy something that's not going to fit!

EDIT: I recently learned that some people prefer guitars with only one pickup, because the instrument sounds better with fewer magnets near the strings. I guess the strong magnetic field prevents the steel strings from moving the way they want to, and that this can deaden the sound somewhat. Does anyone ever decide to remove both pickups and only install one new pickup?

Helianthus Annuus fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Jul 11, 2022

muike
Mar 16, 2011

ガチムチ セブン
DiMarzio PAF of some variety/maybe Humbucker from Hell in the neck position

landgrabber
Sep 13, 2015

boss katana should get you the sound you’re looking for

Helianthus Annuus
Feb 21, 2006

can i touch your hand
Grimey Drawer

landgrabber posted:

boss katana should get you the sound you’re looking for

Let's talk about modeling amplifiers, then! There's something about modeling amps vs tube amps that I want to understand. It comes up in this video, at 595s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH-4eT9qrDY&t=595s

The video says firefly's stock pickups sound worse thru a tube amp, but you might not notice on a modeling amp. Can someone help me understand why this might be? Is it as simple as: the magnetic field is too strong? In other words, the pickups are too "hot"?

Baron von Eevl
Jan 24, 2005

WHITE NOISE
GENERATOR

🔊😴

landgrabber posted:

the transfeminine guitarist urge to buy a shell pink short scale offset

Ok but what guard? Tort? Mint? Pearl? Anodized gold?

TEMPLE GRANDIN OS
Dec 10, 2003

...blyat
BLACK

a.p. dent
Oct 24, 2005

Helianthus Annuus posted:

Here is the firefly guitar I recently got.



I want to replace it's pickups, but i don't know which pickups to pick! I've never replaced pickups before, so I'm pretty ignorant. I like my telecaster for its brightness, and i liked the P90s in my old Les Paul, so single coils seem like a good decision. Regarding humbuckers: I have never owned boutique humbuckers, but the cheap ones i have owned all sounded muddy to me. So maybe there are bright sounding humbuckers that I should consider instead?

I don't wanna dig thru the guitar's electronics more than once, so i'm asking for help picking out something I will like. But probably more importantly: I need help making sure i don't buy something that's not going to fit!

EDIT: I recently learned that some people prefer guitars with only one pickup, because the instrument sounds better with fewer magnets near the strings. I guess the strong magnetic field prevents the steel strings from moving the way they want to, and that this can deaden the sound somewhat. Does anyone ever decide to remove both pickups and only install one new pickup?

i installed one of these in the neck of my hollow body: https://www.amazon.com/Seymour-Duncan-Model-Humbucker-Pickup/dp/B0002D05RS. it had a better bright sound than the stock pickup at the bridge. not sure what sound you're looking for, but these brightened up some dull stock humbuckers. caveat: these are the only non-stock pickups i've tried

landgrabber
Sep 13, 2015

Baron von Eevl posted:

Ok but what guard? Tort? Mint? Pearl? Anodized gold?

tort on a jaguar, white on a mustang/duo-sonic

Baron von Eevl
Jan 24, 2005

WHITE NOISE
GENERATOR

🔊😴
Ok but you should still aim to swap all the hardware out with gold instead of chrome.

syntaxfunction
Oct 27, 2010

landgrabber posted:

the transfeminine guitarist urge to buy a shell pink short scale offset

I was looking at a faded shell pink Jaguar when I read this post so that's pretty funny. I'm personally about that old school mint green on the Jag tho.

Baron von Eevl posted:

Ok but you should still aim to swap all the hardware out with gold instead of chrome.

Don't ever come near me or my family.

Also a couple days ago my brain broke and I ended up spending like 4 or 5 hours wandering the city with a collective memory of about 15 minutes, all in a dreamy haze where reality wasn't real and everything was visually broken. But that's not the important part.

I ended up at a music shop and played the new Fender Meteora and EVH 5150 Iconic. The Iconic is really loving good, but the entire time I played it I was like "okay, but what does this do that my other high gain amps don't?" and I didn't have an answer.

The Meteora is pretty dang slick, it's light, it's very comfortable, and the satin neck is very nice. Neck was definitely chunkier than I expected tho, I was expecting something slimmer and more, I dunno, shreddy feeling? Just given that it has humbos, and is aimed at heavier stuff. I think that's the only thing that threw me, because most of my Fenders have pretty slim necks.

Oh, and the weird shape means it hates normal stands lol

The part I remember most tho is giving the guitar back to the guy and mentioning the jack AND switch are both a bit fucky and they might want to address that. He goes "oh it's just a bit dirty, it happens."
"Yeah, but it means someone picking up that $1800 guitar is gonna switch the pickups and get no loving sound, that isn't a good look for a sale."
Like goddamn, it's like having rusty strings and telling the customer "well you can swap them after." Just fix the loving thing before.

Baron von Eevl
Jan 24, 2005

WHITE NOISE
GENERATOR

🔊😴
Pink fender-style guitars with gold hardware give off a cool Mary Kaye vibe. Yes, I know that was trans white not pink, but they aged to a lovely orange-pink.

Dr. Faustus
Feb 18, 2001

Grimey Drawer

Helianthus Annuus posted:

Let's talk about modeling amplifiers, then! There's something about modeling amps vs tube amps that I want to understand. It comes up in this video, at 595s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH-4eT9qrDY&t=595s

The video says firefly's stock pickups sound worse thru a tube amp, but you might not notice on a modeling amp. Can someone help me understand why this might be? Is it as simple as: the magnetic field is too strong? In other words, the pickups are too "hot"?
He's basically saying a tube amp will be way more sensitive than "a modeler" but I just can't agree with that. I've only spent time with two modelers and only liked one of them, and that one has all the chime and sparkle of a tube amp. If it didn't, I would not have stopped playing my Blackstar and my Peaveys and my Blues Jr. He goes on to talk about sustain and stuff but he's making general claims I just can't support. I bought exactly that FFLP myself and can confirm the stock pickups that came in it were awful. Very dark, a bit loud, and really muddy.

Regarding replacement humbuckers (get ready for a bunch of general claims that I do support but YMMV):
General rule of passive humbuckers is more gain = more resistance = more treble signal lost. (Hotter = darker, mostly) So if you're looking for replacement buckers (and you don't mind adding a gain pedal, or have extra gain on tap that you can turn up on the amp when you need a saturated distortion) you'll find vintage/low gain pickups have more air/presence to them. Lots more. That leads to really pleasant and expressive pick attack that will respond far more to your picking dynamics. Another thing I find is you can push low-gain pickups as far as you want and they will give you a cool sponginess that retains clarity due to the high-frequencies present. I have several DiMarzios and my favorites are the FRED and the ToneZone. The FRED is mid-gain and the TZ is much hotter but designed to introduce its own kind of treble boost, which can be off-putting. But the pickups that really disappointed me the most were the PAF Pros that came in my first JEM. They sound really good at first, but they are super generic-sounding and just don't have that expressiveness. I think they lack harmonics, but that's getting past my technical knowledge. All the Duncans I have sound amazing in the high end, and I think the hottest one I have is my JB. Sorry, this topic is SUPER subjective and very hard to describe in a way that people can follow with any consistency.

Thanks for listening to my little Van Halen thingy.

muike posted:

DiMarzio PAF of some variety/maybe Humbucker from Hell in the neck position
I paired the FRED in my JEM with a HfH and the thing to remember about the HfH is it's meant to sound like a single coil. And that it does. I love it. But it won't step up to the level of a great vintage output HB like, say, the '59. The '59 is just a phenomenal neck pickup and it's the only pickup I have three of. I have two JBs, one in my RG770 and one in my FF338. Those are the only repeats in my humbucker collection.

Dr. Faustus fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Jul 11, 2022

Baron von Eevl
Jan 24, 2005

WHITE NOISE
GENERATOR

🔊😴
Lower-gain buckers also impede your strings less, so you'll get a tiny bit more natural sustain out of them.

Gramps
Dec 30, 2006


Helianthus Annuus posted:

Let's talk about modeling amplifiers, then! There's something about modeling amps vs tube amps that I want to understand. It comes up in this video, at 595s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH-4eT9qrDY&t=595s

The video says firefly's stock pickups sound worse thru a tube amp, but you might not notice on a modeling amp. Can someone help me understand why this might be? Is it as simple as: the magnetic field is too strong? In other words, the pickups are too "hot"?
On the cheaper side of things especially an analog signal path is going to be a little more responsive and immediate than a digital modeler would be. That's why I like the Peavey vypyr amps better than most other modelers- it's a digitally controlled analog circuit. A tube circuit is going to be even more responsive still, and you can definitely pick up a bit more nuance through a tube Amp. The main difference still is feel. The very best Amp Sims do a fantastic job of replicating that, but it's still not the same as standing in front of a ginned up half stack. That said, unless something about your play style requires that direct interaction with the Amp (feedback etc) then I'm not sure anyone could tell the difference in the studio. If you're tracking in the control room (which is how it's done most of the time nowadays) I virtually guarantee you couldn't tell the difference between a micd up SLO in the next room and the neural DSP SLO plugin, but either way you'd definitely be able to hear the difference between pickups through either rig. Pickups are super super important, spend the quiche on good ones.

Agreed
Dec 30, 2003

The price of meat has just gone up, and your old lady has just gone down

Dr. F, great Van Halen style clips man! I'll try to get some recorded tones from the MRH159 tomorrow to give you an idea of how well I can dial it in for that kind of sound - it's my go-to hotrodded Plexi sim, but I don't actually use it primarily for doing Van Halen style stuff typically. I will try for this though. Your setup sounds very nice man :) I've always loved the idea of an AxeFX but as the years since they were introduced have gone on I get FOMO for what the next one will bring - it's kinda silly, at any point owning one would have been some stellar sound quality for the time, he's always had a good grasp of the fundamentals you have to get right to get a great signal into the processor and great quality DSP.

On the "can't tell into a modeler, can tell into a tube amp" thing in my opinion some of that is classic cork-sniffing, buuuut I did play a Boss GT-1 today that really did homogenize the sound a lot and made a cheap Jackson with whatever pickups they use in the factory making those sound about the same as an expensive ESP with good pickups. That's low-power COSM modeling, running on 4 AA batteries, relying on compression and pretty heavy effects and using, well, frankly mostly lower quality amp sims though. More sophisticated modelers with appropriate input circuitry absolutely do show the differences in the ways guitars sound just fine. I feel mildly obligated to bring up that youtuber who has gone to extensive lengths to examine what makes music gear sound how they do here but nonetheless, different guitars' electronics absolutely are well represented and play a huge role in the sound you'll get from good modeling just as if you were using a real amp.

Agreed fucked around with this message at 05:41 on Jul 11, 2022

Helianthus Annuus
Feb 21, 2006

can i touch your hand
Grimey Drawer

muike posted:

DiMarzio PAF of some variety/maybe Humbucker from Hell in the neck position

cool, appreciate the recs. The website for those says they are all using Alnico 5 magnets. Alnico 2 is the other popular choice.

a.p. dent posted:

i installed one of these in the neck of my hollow body: https://www.amazon.com/Seymour-Duncan-Model-Humbucker-Pickup/dp/B0002D05RS. it had a better bright sound than the stock pickup at the bridge. not sure what sound you're looking for, but these brightened up some dull stock humbuckers. caveat: these are the only non-stock pickups i've tried

thanks mr dent! I looked it up, and the website for your pickup has this to say: "Magnet: Alnico 5". Interesting! I guess that's the alloy for me.

Dr. Faustus posted:

General rule of passive humbuckers is more gain = more resistance = more treble signal lost. (Hotter = darker, mostly)

I've gone down a rabbit hole, and I've learned a bunch about pickups! What you are saying jives with what I've learned:

With higher electrical inductance (H), we lose high frequencies, which gives a darker sound. This is a (mostly?) invariant property of the magnetic material. Alnico 5 will be brighter than Alnico 2 because it has a lower inductance, for example.

With higher magnetic field strength (Gs), we keep high frequencies, which gives a brighter sound. This is a variable property -- magnets can be degaussed or remagnitized until they have the desired field strength.

Baron von Eevl posted:

Lower-gain buckers also impede your strings less, so you'll get a tiny bit more natural sustain out of them.

Right, and that makes sense. The pickup's gain can be increased by 1) increasing the number of windings and 2) increasing the magnetic field strength. But only increasing the field strength will impact the sustain -- the number of windings shouldn't affect sustain, right?

Some youtube sources if anyone else is interested:

Little talk about the different Alnico alloys, denoted by the number. https://youtu.be/_pb66WsbdQ8?t=185
Little discussion of how a stronger magnetic field strength will reduce sustain. https://youtu.be/_p5ejoOS4-Q?t=742
Check out how the sound changes when you swap in a new magnetic strip with a different composition: https://youtu.be/TyKS8WGcJ34?t=176

Helianthus Annuus
Feb 21, 2006

can i touch your hand
Grimey Drawer

Dr. Faustus posted:

He's basically saying a tube amp will be way more sensitive than "a modeler" but I just can't agree with that.

He seems like he's saying that the stock pickups are lossy for high freqs, and the strong magnets impact the sustain, which would make sense. So it's at least plausible to me, that the Tube Amp won't break up as nicely if it can't hear your high freqs / harmonics as well. I imagine the modeling amp only really needs to hear the fundamental, but I don't really know.

Gramps posted:

That's why I like the Peavey vypyr amps better than most other modelers- it's a digitally controlled analog circuit.

looks cool -- seems similar to the NuTube amp we talked about in the previous thread.

Agreed posted:

On the "can't tell into a modeler, can tell into a tube amp" thing in my opinion some of that is classic cork-sniffing, buuuut I did play a Boss GT-1 today that really did homogenize the sound a lot and made a cheap Jackson with whatever pickups they use in the factory making those sound about the same as an expensive ESP with good pickups. That's low-power COSM modeling, running on 4 AA batteries, relying on compression and pretty heavy effects and using, well, frankly mostly lower quality amp sims though. More sophisticated modelers with appropriate input circuitry absolutely do show the differences in the ways guitars sound just fine. I feel mildly obligated to bring up that youtuber who has gone to extensive lengths to examine what makes music gear sound how they do here but nonetheless, different guitars' electronics absolutely are well represented and play a huge role in the sound you'll get from good modeling just as if you were using a real amp.

Right, it makes sense that not every modeling amp would homogenize the sound coming from the guitar, but i suppose he was talking about the types of modeling amps that do have this behavior.

And if I understand you right, it seems like the guitar with the poor stock pickups would sound worse thru the modern and sophisticated amp model, but would sound just fine thru a lower quality amp sim. And the more expensive guitar would sound good thru both. Kind of ironic!

Agreed
Dec 30, 2003

The price of meat has just gone up, and your old lady has just gone down

I dunno, "sounds just fine" is generous - it's more like with really smudged glasses you probably couldn't tell the difference between an original painting or a badly compressed JPEG of that painting, or if you've got really bad speakers / earbuds / whatever a 64-92kbps mp3 and the CD it was ripped from may be hard to distinguish. Now I might be cork sniffing, but take that same guitar comparison and put them into one of the real Mesa/Boogie amps sitting there and that homogeneity is gone. The lower quality sim kinda just sucks the tone, and if you have any experience with better tech or real amps it's pretty dang obvious. Not to say of course that there isn't room for a GT-1 to be used creatively, or that its limitations mean that playing is a waste of time or whatever, quite the contrary IMO.

After The War
Apr 12, 2005

to all of my Architects
let me be traitor
Making a dumb anime-reference flyer for an upcoming show counts as practicing for that show, right? The whole time, I was listening to one of the other bands that are playing, so that's got to be worth something.

Verman
Jul 4, 2005
Third time is a charm right?

luchadornado posted:

I literally just watched a DBG video about him putting a bigsby and some filtertrons on a tele because he didn't care for the Gretsch look. It did sound really nice.

This has been the guitar I've been wanting to build for a while now but the bridges on cabronitas are always dumb strat style hard tails and it really turns me off.

I want to build a telecaster, double bound, with a bigsby, standard aged white or mint pick guard, and dual filter trons but I wish the bridge was an ashtray custom made to work with a bigsby. I thought about a thinline but I think that might be a little too much. Maple neck, maybe even roasted.

The color? Seafoam sparkle.

I think filtertrons work so well in a telecaster because teles and gretsches are great twangy guitars with high clarity/fidelity so it only makes sense that an ftron would sound good in a tele.

https://youtu.be/cdC0mbxSdYg

Lord Stimperor
Jun 13, 2018

I'm a lovable meme.

Hell yeah, new thread smell.



Anyhow, just wanted to chime in that about 10 months ago, I renovated some of my guitars with help from this thread after not having used them for about 12 years or more. I fell in love with a style of playing that I didn't know before (open tuning, hold chord with left hand, tap melody with right hand) and I'm perpetually just not quite in the right mood to record some pieces. And I fell in love with a cheap-rear end Squier Bullet Mustang, which is the most fun I've had in a guitar, for less than 200 bucks. So thanks y'all for encouraging me to re-discover an old passion.

Baron von Eevl
Jan 24, 2005

WHITE NOISE
GENERATOR

🔊😴

Helianthus Annuus posted:

Right, and that makes sense. The pickup's gain can be increased by 1) increasing the number of windings and 2) increasing the magnetic field strength. But only increasing the field strength will impact the sustain -- the number of windings shouldn't affect sustain, right?

I could be wrong, I'm not an expert on pickups, but I believe the number of windings impacts the field strength.

BonHair
Apr 28, 2007

Any amp, modeller, tube or solid state, is, at it's basic, taking in some input and modifying it somehow. The basic idea is that you want the modification to include greater volume. The input signal has some sort of spectral profile or whatever, and what the amp does is that it (more or less) amplifies certain frequencies more than others. And on top of that it might clip or distort or compress, and I guess whatever other effects. And based on the properties of the amp, you get a new spectral profile.
My view is that the modellers are fully capable, at the very least in theory, of simulating the exact same modifications the tubes are doing, it's just a matter of finding out the right parameters.
I guess there might be a tiny bit more latency because you need to digitise the signal, but I don't really think it's worse than using wireless systems (or being a bit drunk).

Also trip report: my THR10IIW is loving brilliant because it's battery powered, allowing me to take it, a guitar and my headphones out in the garden and jam, including backtracks. It's cool.

syntaxfunction
Oct 27, 2010
Actually all modellers and sims just turn up the gain knob and that usually does the trick.

Legitimately tho, it's one of those things were models and simulation have gotten disturbingly good, like reverb did decades before. And like reverb, most of the times models and sims will be absolutely fine and dandy and neither you nor anyone else will notice. And then there's times when you want the real thing, regardless of practicality.

Yeah, you can simulate things, but sometimes recording vocals in a literal bathroom makes the sound for the album. Sometimes an actual analog amp makes you feel something that gets the right vibe for that perfect take. There's no right or wrong, is the secret. There's practical concerns, there's questions of money and space and all that, but those flicker between person to person.

Yeah, for most people a good modelling amp or amp sim is the right choice. For some people they'll never be happy with it, whether because of particular tastes or, gently caress, just because they psychologically prefer a big ole toob amp and cab. And having a preference for a certain style doesn't make you wrong, at all. If you have the means and it will make you happier and fucken *practice* then do that. It's all relative, don't pretend your specific use case is the correct one, regardless of where you fall on the spectrum. And don't let anyone tell you that either.

But yeah, probably get a Katana.

Huxley
Oct 10, 2012



Grimey Drawer

BonHair posted:

Also trip report: my THR10IIW is loving brilliant because it's battery powered, allowing me to take it, a guitar and my headphones out in the garden and jam, including backtracks. It's cool.

I'll be honest and say that, having NEVER been able to get rid of the ambient buzz that I get whenever an amp is plugged in at my house, I would probably trade my big 50w modeller for this just on the battery power alone.

The buzz is from a dimmer switch on an overhead fan in the living room. Known bug, unfixable (my wife really likes having a dimmer switch there). So my amp just buzzes at me unless I am alone in the house and can turn stuff off. So it goes.

Spanish Manlove
Aug 31, 2008

HAILGAYSATAN

Huxley posted:

I'll be honest and say that, having NEVER been able to get rid of the ambient buzz that I get whenever an amp is plugged in at my house, I would probably trade my big 50w modeller for this just on the battery power alone.

The buzz is from a dimmer switch on an overhead fan in the living room. Known bug, unfixable (my wife really likes having a dimmer switch there). So my amp just buzzes at me unless I am alone in the house and can turn stuff off. So it goes.

have you tried changing out the type of dimmer switch used there?

Huxley
Oct 10, 2012



Grimey Drawer

Spanish Manlove posted:

have you tried changing out the type of dimmer switch used there?

I've tried changing that fixture from LEDs to the old-style incandescent bulb, which didn't do anything but make me change the bulbs a month later and I went back to LEDs. I also went on a real journey getting all the CFLs out that I guess I put in when we got here and didn't see enough use to die and get replaced yet.

I admit, the switch itself is 6-8 years old and I guess it's possible dimmer technology has worked out a kink somewhere. Maybe removing that switch and swapping over to a smart bulb in that spot.

Baron von Eevl
Jan 24, 2005

WHITE NOISE
GENERATOR

🔊😴
There are specialty dimmer switches that significantly reduce noise, they're generally designed for pro audio applications.

BonHair
Apr 28, 2007

The main case against modellers for me of the complexity. You have basically infinite options, and then you get to the cab sim. Whereas on my Orange bass amp, i have volume, bass, middle, treble, blend and distortion, all with helpful pictograms. I'm never gonna get the perfect tone from it, but I can get something good pretty quickly. On my THR10IIW, I can connect to the app and do a million things, but honestly, I don't really care, I just dial it to high gain or lead or clean, maybe some chorus and reverb and that's good enough.

I still think you can get every possible sound out of a modeller if you fiddle enough with it, but I definitely get the appeal of just plugging in, turning it up and getting your face and eardrums melted.

NC Wyeth Death Cult
Dec 30, 2005

He lost his life in Chadds Ford, he was dancing with a train.

BonHair posted:

The main case against modellers for me of the complexity. You have basically infinite options, and then you get to the cab sim. Whereas on my Orange bass amp, i have volume, bass, middle, treble, blend and distortion, all with helpful pictograms. I'm never gonna get the perfect tone from it, but I can get something good pretty quickly. On my THR10IIW, I can connect to the app and do a million things, but honestly, I don't really care, I just dial it to high gain or lead or clean, maybe some chorus and reverb and that's good enough.

I still think you can get every possible sound out of a modeller if you fiddle enough with it, but I definitely get the appeal of just plugging in, turning it up and getting your face and eardrums melted.

If you really want to paralyze a musician on the fence between the two, tell them that a common practice by people who use orchestral instrument VSTs is to reamp the digitally altered sound and re-record it through different amps and different techniques or use digital instruments to fatten out an analog one. Sky's the limit and you can get nothing done if you don't limit yourself.

ColdPie
Jun 9, 2006

Just put a 13-56 (Earthwood medium) set on my acoustic and I must've had on 12s or even 11s before because these strings are beefy. That low E feels like it's as thick as a pencil.

curried lamb of God
Aug 31, 2001

we are all Marwinners

BonHair posted:

The main case against modellers for me of the complexity. You have basically infinite options, and then you get to the cab sim. Whereas on my Orange bass amp, i have volume, bass, middle, treble, blend and distortion, all with helpful pictograms. I'm never gonna get the perfect tone from it, but I can get something good pretty quickly. On my THR10IIW, I can connect to the app and do a million things, but honestly, I don't really care, I just dial it to high gain or lead or clean, maybe some chorus and reverb and that's good enough.

I still think you can get every possible sound out of a modeller if you fiddle enough with it, but I definitely get the appeal of just plugging in, turning it up and getting your face and eardrums melted.

Yeah, it's easy to get overwhelmed, and a lot of people think they have to use every possible bit of DSP on their patches. That's basically the raison d'etre for the simpler amp sim boxes like Iridium and Simplifier, and they do sound great; I actually bought an Iridium as my first silent practice solution, but sold it because its headphone output was too weak and noisy and bought an HX Stomp instead. I definitely tried to do too much with my earlier patches, but I've been way happier since I started using just an amp and cab (or amp and IR) with a dab of room reverb, and maybe an OD pedal.

deedee megadoodoo
Sep 28, 2000
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one to Flavortown, and that has made all the difference.


curried lamb of God posted:

I definitely tried to do too much with my earlier patches, but I've been way happier since I started using just an amp and cab (or amp and IR) with a dab of room reverb, and maybe an OD pedal.

Somewhere, Kevin Shields sheds a single tear.

a.p. dent
Oct 24, 2005
something seems to be clicking in my technical work. i've never been able to play fast. i carry a lot of tension in my hands and shoulders and i simply can't do it. alexander technique, i think, is finally helping me break through - with the aaron shearer scale pattern studies, i'm starting to be able to play fast in upper positions while not losing my place in the music. and i am able to sense what note i'm playing at all times. wild!!

zenguitarman
Apr 6, 2009

Come on, lemme see ya shake your tail feather


ColdPie posted:

Just put a 13-56 (Earthwood medium) set on my acoustic and I must've had on 12s or even 11s before because these strings are beefy. That low E feels like it's as thick as a pencil.

I've had 13s on my Tele for a while :twisted:

I love the feeling, but I might drop back down to 12s with the wound G.

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luchadornado
Oct 7, 2004

A boombox is not a toy!

I'm on vacation and reading a bunch and catching up on interviews and new albums. I just found out that Andy Summers doesn't really care for teles any longer and he considers the strat a perfect guitar. Obviously people should play whatever they like and tastes change - but, I'm a huge Andy Summers fan so it's a little sad to me, because his tele is iconic.

Then I read that Porcupine Tree released a new album just a month or two back! And Steven Wilson has a new favorite guitar that is gorgeous:

Steven Wilson posted:

And I say this only partly tongue in cheek because it is partly true, it's the only guitar that I've ever truly loved. Because I always thought of guitars as tools… until I got this one. This is a guitar I can genuinely say I have some kind of attachment too. It feels like a treasure to me in a way that my other guitars didn't. Sorry, all the other guitars I've played but this is special.

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