The Guitar (or other instrument) discussion

[TheFlowerKing]

Wow, talk about digging up old threads but I just found this one and must add myself in.

 

First of all, I must tell you Happy_Games, I am VERY jealous of that Sonic Maximiser! That must be great for your tone.. and other mic'ed stuff

AndyOCZ.. handwound pickups!?! Again, very jealous..

 

Before I was an overclocker I was a shredder, grew up wanting to be a late 80's guitarist (Vai, Satch, Slash, Jason Becker to name a few) but then I grew up and found even greater music (Yes, Zappa, SRV, Zappa, Zappa).

 

I'm a bit of a basics man when it comes to my rigs though, prefer to have just a guitar and amp, with maybe delay, flange/phase, or wah if need be.

I don't get much practice in these days compared to my anti-social youth (I'm in anti-social adultness now) mainly because my only working amp (yes, I'm looking at you Mr broken Marshall Valvestate) is a raging loud beast and I have this thing about warming up in another section of the house.

I try to get off Steve Howe's "Mood For A Day" at least once a day though, I just love that song.

 

Anyway, here's the deals ::=

 

Influences :

Frank Zappa, John Petrucci, Steve Morse, SRV, Steve Howe, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Roine Stolt, Vinnie Colaiuta (yeah, he's a drummer, but very influential none the less)

 

Gear :

Ibanez RG30 US Custom (like the Ibanez John Petrucci model) - shred machine

PRS McCarty Gold Top - blues back breaker

Carvin Legacy VL212 100w combo - ear bleeder

An acoustic and a classical.

Marshall Valvestate 65w - works, but cuts out and then emits a loud pop. Not gig trustworthy.

 

I spent a lot of time focusing on techniques for practicing in order to be able to improvise without sounding like I was rehashing Metallica/Megadeth from my learning years.

I also suffered from RSI which forced me to change my picking technique so I now hold my pick with my first two fingers as well as thumb instead of just first finger and thumb. It changed the angle of attack and let me get a lot more tone. (I'm a very aggressive player, I often break strings through vicious bending. SRV had the right idea, high action, hard playing, MONSTER TONE!).

Before I played on a tube amp I held the pick like it was delicate and had razor thin action, now I am on unflexible pick gauge (my strings are 11's, I tell ya, setting up a Floyd Rose with 11's is a PITA) and my action is ridiculously high. But I work for my tone and get what I desire.

 

BTW HG, Dinky's kick butt

[Angry_Games]

heh

 

i need to figure out how to run the BBE462 after my Boss GT-8

 

the GT-8 is so fantastic that I've totally forgotten about the ADA MP-1 and the BBE462

 

I've also forgotten about playing the damn guitar for about 2-3 weeks in a row as I've just been busy doing summer stuff (summer stuff = got to cram everything in that I won't/can't do during hockey season)

[TheFlowerKing]

Not sure about after the GT-8, you'd want it in the effects loop of either the GT-8 (if it has one) or your amp, but youll need the effect mix at 100%.

Reason I say the effect loop is because the BBE will work with line level signal and the GT-8 will be outputting Z-level (instrument level). It'll work with Z-level but you're compromising signal quality.

How did you use to have it setup before? (I worked as an audio engineer when I had the chance and signal theory has haunted me ever since).

[AndyOCZ]

I worked with Guitar Shorty for years and he uses a BBE 462. His setup is strange and its hard to know how he ran it. He uses 2 of the red knob Fender "The Twin" (aka The Evil Twin), so I know he doesn't use the effects loop, cause only one would get the signal. I believe he runs the BBE last in his chain after his pedal effects, so it must not be line level.

 

He sounds just as bad with the BBE as without. Great player, crap tone IMHO. Gimme a Fender, a cord and a good guitar and I'm happy.

[Angry_Games]

loops are just something I fell out of practice with...not that I ever had any badass rack systems before...but I did have an old *brand new back then though @ $850) Boss rackmount effects unit, a Digitech DSP-21, ADA MP-1, Marshall 20/20 power amp...and once I got them all running the way I wanted together through a 4x12 Peavey cab...I then screwed up and sold them all grrr

[danzgpgt97]

Ive been playing full time for about 6 years now. I play a fender powerhouse deluxe with 25db mid boost mod, tbx tone control, and fender noiseless pickups and I de soldered the resistor on the power pot to make the full 25db. I made an exact replica of the eric clapton strat. My guitar cost 450 and the claptons 1300. You could literally use the wiring diagram for the clapton strat on mine. I play it through a fender hot rod deluxe with tad main tubes and modified preamp tubes. The only effect I use is a dunlop wah pedal all the rest I adjust on my guitar with the modified tone and and amp settings. It really sounds awesome and I can replicate any sound. And buy the way with the mid pickup boost the tbx tone control is needed to cut throught he mud give it a great sound. Dan

[TheFlowerKing]

@ H_G : I have learnt the hard way not to sell musical gear, I used to have this great practice amp, a Park G15 which had possibly the best tone for a small solid state amp in existence, but gave it off to a mate. I regret that daily.

 

@ danzgpgt97 : Sounds like you overclocked your Strat! I was going to do that with an Ibanez, modify it to be a shred machine, then I found the USA Custom and fell in love with it (and my credit fell in love too).