Making Music

[Dr. Gonzo]

Holy shit @Mel81x - it’s great

[Mel81x+]

2 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Holy shit @Mel81x - it’s great

I knew I should have gotten one instead of an NS-2. I am guessing the fact that they have better circuitry than Boss for the frequency suppresion is where it really shines?

[Dr. Gonzo]

14 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

I knew I should have gotten one instead of an NS-2. I am guessing the fact that they have better circuitry than Boss for the frequency suppresion is where it really shines?

I haven’t used the TonePrint feature much yet - although I did beam in Gary Holt’s settings into the pedal through my pickup (WHICH BY THE WAY - WHAT THE FUCK? THE FUTURE IS NOW) and that was pretty cool. But I’m not the Exodus guitarist... and I wanted to mess around more with the knobs on the actual pedal.

But yeah pretty much exactly what you said. You can fine tune it more (even without going into the app/PC software to fiddle with it more, which I’ll have to do) than the Boss. The extra fine-tune-ability ultimately means it’s noticeable how much more transparent sounding it is than the NS-2. And tbh, I think it’s more transparent than the ISPs I’ve heard and used.

But I am very pleased. It does it’s job really well.

[Mel81x+]

32 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I haven’t used the TonePrint feature much yet - although I did beam in Gary Holt’s settings into the pedal through my pickup (WHICH BY THE WAY - WHAT THE FUCK? THE FUTURE IS NOW) and that was pretty cool. But I’m not the Exodus guitarist... and I wanted to mess around more with the knobs on the actual pedal.

But yeah pretty much exactly what you said. You can fine tune it more (even without going into the app/PC software to fiddle with it more, which I’ll have to do) than the Boss. The extra fine-tune-ability ultimately means it’s noticeable how much more transparent sounding it is than the NS-2. And tbh, I think it’s more transparent than the ISPs I’ve heard and used.

But I am very pleased. It does it’s job really well.

I use TonePrint on my SpectraComp and its not good its awesome. The amount of control you can add to your compression line is ridiculous so I expect this to be nothing less. As for the beam feature to the device I think that's one of the most innovative thing I have seen for pedals in a long long time.

[Dr. Gonzo]

12 hours ago, Mel81x said:

I use TonePrint on my SpectraComp and its not good its awesome. The amount of control you can add to your compression line is ridiculous so I expect this to be nothing less. As for the beam feature to the device I think that's one of the most innovative thing I have seen for pedals in a long long time.

Fucked around with the pedal... and more specifically TonePrint this morning. I am thoroughly impressed with the pedal & the TonePrint software, both on the phone and the computer (turns out I can make edits to make custom settings with the phone app, rather than just upload pre-made ones - I just need an adapter because apple are a bunch of twats and the iPhone needs an adapter).

I don't know if I'll be able to save multiple presets on the phone and be able to beam them in, but it looks like I'll be able to put my settings in while I'm playing around my computer via USB and the computer. And that'll require a higher threshold and different Damp settings than if I'm playing in a different room or when I'm jamming with my friends just because there's so much interference around my computer (a good deal of it is probably coming from the computer tbh). But it looks like I can at least save my jamming settings on my phone to beam into the pedal... and when I'm playing downstairs I'll just tweak with the pedal by hand because for some reason I don't get much extra noise downstairs other than the high gain amp hissing - so that's easy to tame. Being able to beam in 3 separate settings with my phone though would be extra cool - I hope that's possible.

But holy shit - TonePrint is REALLY great. The multiband gate setting and the Damp control on the pedal set it apart from the NS-2 in terms of tweakability as a gate... the extra software takes it up to another level of tweakability. Being able to set the threshold/damp/decay ratio (at least I think that's what "ratio" means in the software settings) for all 3 bands is just a really great function as a noisegate. You can be very specific about which of those unwanted frequencies you want blocked when the gate is closed - AND even change how quickly the gate closes & the signal decay for each band.

This is just a NOISEGATE! I can't imagine what TonePrint is like for things that actually are meant to truly alter how you sound (I mean, for the super djenty stuff, I guess you do want your gate to interfere with the sound in a sense). This is my first TCE pedal - and I think the company's found a new fan in me.

[Mel81x+]

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Fucked around with the pedal... and more specifically TonePrint this morning. I am thoroughly impressed with the pedal & the TonePrint software, both on the phone and the computer (turns out I can make edits to make custom settings with the phone app, rather than just upload pre-made ones - I just need an adapter because apple are a bunch of twats and the iPhone needs an adapter).

I don't know if I'll be able to save multiple presets on the phone and be able to beam them in, but it looks like I'll be able to put my settings in while I'm playing around my computer via USB and the computer. And that'll require a higher threshold and different Damp settings than if I'm playing in a different room or when I'm jamming with my friends just because there's so much interference around my computer (a good deal of it is probably coming from the computer tbh). But it looks like I can at least save my jamming settings on my phone to beam into the pedal... and when I'm playing downstairs I'll just tweak with the pedal by hand because for some reason I don't get much extra noise downstairs other than the high gain amp hissing - so that's easy to tame. Being able to beam in 3 separate settings with my phone though would be extra cool - I hope that's possible.

But holy shit - TonePrint is REALLY great. The multiband gate setting and the Damp control on the pedal set it apart from the NS-2 in terms of tweakability as a gate... the extra software takes it up to another level of tweakability. Being able to set the threshold/damp/decay ratio (at least I think that's what "ratio" means in the software settings) for all 3 bands is just a really great function as a noisegate. You can be very specific about which of those unwanted frequencies you want blocked when the gate is closed - AND even change how quickly the gate closes & the signal decay for each band.

This is just a NOISEGATE! I can't imagine what TonePrint is like for things that actually are meant to truly alter how you sound (I mean, for the super djenty stuff, I guess you do want your gate to interfere with the sound in a sense). This is my first TCE pedal - and I think the company's found a new fan in me.

TCE Pedals I own/have used and can recommend to a lot of folks

• Hall of Fame 
• Spectra Comp (Bass Compressor)
• Dark Matter Distortion
• Flashback 2
• Corona
• HyperGravity

[Dr. Gonzo]

28 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

TCE Pedals I own/have used and can recommend to a lot of folks

• Hall of Fame 
• Spectra Comp (Bass Compressor)
• Dark Matter Distortion
• Flashback 2
• Corona
• HyperGravity

No idea if you've tried the Boss Digital Delays (any of them)… but how do they compare to the Flashback 2 (if you have tried any of them)? It seems like everyone really loves the Hall of Fame.

[Mel81x+]

50 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

No idea if you've tried the Boss Digital Delays (any of them)… but how do they compare to the Flashback 2 (if you have tried any of them)? It seems like everyone really loves the Hall of Fame.

HoF is in a league of its own personally. I find that they have this interesting sound that Boss just doesn't have an vice-versa. The DD7 is legendary in itself just for the controls that they have and the sound but the HoF is like the Sentry, there is so much under the hood for stuff you want to try and use. I think its one of those must-have pedals if you're working in studios personally but for gigging I'd rather take the Boss just because its a road-warrior. 

All said and done though I have the best of everything in the Timeline from Strymon and that shades both these pedals in every department. However, for travel and portability its hard to say Boss is better than TCE or vice-versa.

[Dr. Gonzo]

10 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

HoF is in a league of its own personally. I find that they have this interesting sound that Boss just doesn't have an vice-versa. The DD7 is legendary in itself just for the controls that they have and the sound but the HoF is like the Sentry, there is so much under the hood for stuff you want to try and use. I think its one of those must-have pedals if you're working in studios personally but for gigging I'd rather take the Boss just because its a road-warrior. 

All said and done though I have the best of everything in the Timeline from Strymon and that shades both these pedals in every department. However, for travel and portability its hard to say Boss is better than TCE or vice-versa.

I imagine the Timeline is miles better than both of those pedals. I looked it up when you first posted about getting it and... it just looks (and sounds on the demo videos on YouTube) absolutely incredible.

I think a pedal like that would be absolutely wasted on me  - I use delay only when I play leads, and only some of the time when I'm playing leads. To be honest, I think it's because I hate my delay pedal - it's from a company I'd never heard of before "GarageTone" and I think it's like a cheapo MXR Carbon Copy clone. I only have it because I paid $3 for it and the Boss DD5 (I think it was a DD5... it definitely wasn't a 6 or higher) I had at uni got stolen from me at uni while I was out being a drugged up idiot. It gets the job done for now, but one day I'd like to massively upgrade on that pedal. And maybe get myself a nice reverb.

Probably not Strymon nice though! I know those pedals are worth the money... but I just think they'd be wasted on me for someone with really minimal application of either effect needed on my part. Also a part of me gets nervous when I see very complicated looking pedals. My "pedalboard" (it's a literal plank that I superglued carpet onto - will eventually upgrade to something less shite) is fairly simple right now. Tuner, Gate, EQ (which I'm using to mimic an OD boost you'd typically see in metal with say a tubescreamer), OD (which I'm using like a lead boost... which I haven't done with an OD pedal since I was a kid!), & my shite delay. It's a simple simple setup and all of the pedals are super simple (the Sentry is probably the most complex to set up). I'd like any other pedals I add to the signal chain to be similarly simple.

Ideally, I'd like a pedal that combines delay and reverb into one pedal... because the only times I'm ever going to use delay/reverb are when I'm playing leads, and right now I don't use reverb ever (because I don't have any) - it'd be nice to be able to turn both effects on with just one stop on a footswitch. It'd also save space... which is obviously nice. Something along the lines of the Eventide H9 looks like it'd fit the bill... but it also looks insanely fucking complicated compared to a normal guitar pedal. I do like how you can "upgrade" your unit over time though if you did just want to get the cheapest one. Still... I think that might be a bit too complex for my tiny little brain.

[Dr. Gonzo]

Also, I must say... for as much as I'd been praising modelers and how much they've improved in quality over the last few years (and I stand by it) - there's something really enjoyable about playing out of an actual amp and using actual little effects units. The 2 micro amps I got recently aren't even true valve amps... but holy shit, having those valve preamps really does make a difference in terms of feel while playing.

Also @Mel81x… show me your pedal board  

[Mel81x+]

6 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Also, I must say... for as much as I'd been praising modelers and how much they've improved in quality over the last few years (and I stand by it) - there's something really enjoyable about playing out of an actual amp and using actual little effects units. The 2 micro amps I got recently aren't even true valve amps... but holy shit, having those valve preamps really does make a difference in terms of feel while playing.

Also @Mel81x… show me your pedal board  

I am going to haha once I get the pieces all back on it. I take them off and do smaller blocks as I am never satisfied with how I have laid it out. Right now its a bass pedal board which isnt very impressive at all.

[Mel81x+]

Don't know how many of us actually play acoustic guitar but this is also a very useful technique for creating the illusion of a dual-bass system (with your bass player) when you want to do some more intricate arpeggio work. If I remember right I think when Satriani plays the pull and push pattern on Satch Boogie he uses a thumb in two parts just like this but its much faster and coupled with the 8th and 9th notes to give that jazzy/rock feel. 

Oh and towards the end of this he starts to show the John Mayer technique which is to forget you have five fingers and use only three with the thumb adding percussion to give that stop-start feel. Great lesson overall. 

[Mel81x+]

Has anyone tried this and if so how did you get around the slap and flick? I can do a full palm mute and open like they do with most latin music but this is a whole new kind of weird to me. When I hit my thumb on a string the natural tendency is for my fingers to curl like a fist versus the way it stays open. If you did somehow get this right I'd love to hear how you did it?

[Dr. Gonzo]

On 06/01/2020 at 22:20, Mel81x said:

Has anyone tried this and if so how did you get around the slap and flick? I can do a full palm mute and open like they do with most latin music but this is a whole new kind of weird to me. When I hit my thumb on a string the natural tendency is for my fingers to curl like a fist versus the way it stays open. If you did somehow get this right I'd love to hear how you did it?

Nah, I can't play like John Mayer at all with that slapping thing technique. My hand just doesn't want to move like that.

[Dr. Gonzo]

Thought this was a pretty good lesson: 

 

 

[Mel81x+]

On 16/01/2020 at 00:45, Dr. Gonzo said:

Thought this was a pretty good lesson: 

 

 

I think the explanation of how to go about slowly improving speed is very accurate. Most people just want to fill the entire bar this guy wants to fill a beat and then go from there. Its definitely very helpful for people who want to learn shredding. 

[Mel81x+]

If you don't already know most of this its a great video to explain why 15W amp heads are sufficient for most of the things we attempt. There is another video talking about amp ceilings which I also recommend watching but this one touches most of the important points you'll want to know when buying an amp unless you're entertaining the whole neighborhood and have thousands of screaming fans.

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 hour ago, Mel81x said:

If you don't already know most of this its a great video to explain why 15W amp heads are sufficient for most of the things we attempt. There is another video talking about amp ceilings which I also recommend watching but this one touches most of the important points you'll want to know when buying an amp unless you're entertaining the whole neighborhood and have thousands of screaming fans.

Even if you're playing massive gigs, a lot of bands are playing something that's going straight to front of house - big amps are cool, but they're pretty archaic nowadays. It's only really big old school bands that use multiple 4x12 cabinets (like Slayer) still - and even many of the old school bands have moved onto smaller amps/newer technology because it's just easier.

[Mel81x+]

34 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Even if you're playing massive gigs, a lot of bands are playing something that's going straight to front of house - big amps are cool, but they're pretty archaic nowadays. It's only really big old school bands that use multiple 4x12 cabinets (like Slayer) still - and even many of the old school bands have moved onto smaller amps/newer technology because it's just easier.

Agreed. Its just a pain to lug all that around and more of a pain when you have to play with the band and you've got all that noise behind you creating another sonic soundstage to overcome with the music ahead of you.

[Dr. Gonzo]

When I was a kid, I was always too scared to play Dimebag’s solos because I thought they’d be way too hard. Now I’m revisiting a bunch of Pantera songs and this time I’m going to actually learn the solos.

Started about 30 minutes ago and I’m finding it’s really showing how much of a genius Dimebag Darrell was on guitar

[Mel81x+]

On 25/01/2020 at 06:12, Dr. Gonzo said:

When I was a kid, I was always too scared to play Dimebag’s solos because I thought they’d be way too hard. Now I’m revisiting a bunch of Pantera songs and this time I’m going to actually learn the solos.

Started about 30 minutes ago and I’m finding it’s really showing how much of a genius Dimebag Darrell was on guitar

I find this to be so true about a lot of artists you just listened to and went "wow how did they ever do that with so much skill" and then in later years translating it to all the skills you've picked up. It's truly amazing how songs that were ballads would scare me because I always think that I'd forget parts of it or totally blank out. Then I'd realize the amount of hours that went into practice and how important it was to always, and i mean always, write stuff down so you don't trip up over yourself. 

Dimebag is a genius however because you dont imagine those harmonies on so many songs especially with that hit Cemetery Gates. At the end the guitar is really trying to outdo the vocals at one point and that comes with a lot of experimentation coupled with some very good skill.

[Dr. Gonzo]

Bad news for me in terms of gear. In my SG... I don't really know what the fuck happened to it, but when I switch to the neck pickup... there's no sound at all. They're passive pickups so it's not like I need to change a battery. The bridge pickup works fine. On Saturday it was working fine... but last night it was not. I'm assuming that's some sort of wiring issue. I'm not sure if I want to fix it myself or take it to a guitar tech.

And more irritatingly, my favourite pedal... MXR 10 Band is similarly mysteriously fucked. The signal passes through the pedal fine when it's not active, but when I turn the pedal on... firstly nothing lights up (I probably should've noticed the two lights that are always on never lit up when I plugged it in). Then when I turn it back off... I'm still getting signal. So I'm not really sure what the fuck has happened to that - I think I'm going to need to send it in to MXR & hope they won't charge me too much (if anything).

The only thing I can think of happening with the pedal is the powersupply I got for a pedalboard fried it. But it's an MXR Iso-Brick... so if my MXR pedal was fried by their power supply, that's very annoying. And it makes me weary to keep using it with some of the pedals I've had for a very long time (like my Digitech Bad Monkey, which they don't make anymore... but I absolutely love that pedal as an overdrive).

[Mel81x+]

20 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Bad news for me in terms of gear. In my SG... I don't really know what the fuck happened to it, but when I switch to the neck pickup... there's no sound at all. They're passive pickups so it's not like I need to change a battery. The bridge pickup works fine. On Saturday it was working fine... but last night it was not. I'm assuming that's some sort of wiring issue. I'm not sure if I want to fix it myself or take it to a guitar tech.

And more irritatingly, my favourite pedal... MXR 10 Band is similarly mysteriously fucked. The signal passes through the pedal fine when it's not active, but when I turn the pedal on... firstly nothing lights up (I probably should've noticed the two lights that are always on never lit up when I plugged it in). Then when I turn it back off... I'm still getting signal. So I'm not really sure what the fuck has happened to that - I think I'm going to need to send it in to MXR & hope they won't charge me too much (if anything).

The only thing I can think of happening with the pedal is the powersupply I got for a pedalboard fried it. But it's an MXR Iso-Brick... so if my MXR pedal was fried by their power supply, that's very annoying. And it makes me weary to keep using it with some of the pedals I've had for a very long time (like my Digitech Bad Monkey, which they don't make anymore... but I absolutely love that pedal as an overdrive).

For the SG if its a pair of humbuckers just unscrew it and see whats going on with it? Chances are something is wrong with the shielding causing the issue and thats what needs to be fixed. I think I saw a vid on YouTube about something very similar with the pickup on an old Strat. All they did was wipe it and then it sorted itself out. If its totally dead (which is highly probable too) then its got to do with the coils and I wouldn't mess with that even if I knew how to fix it.

As for the pedal, don't bother fixing it if what its doing is not sending the signal through I'd just have MXR look at it. Chances are something is blown in the serial chain that is causing the signal to get cut. They are also slightly harder to fix pedals just because of how they are internally constructed. MXR should help out there though.

I have an MXR DC Brick and it always scares me when I hear noise on the line at times because I always feel like im going to destroy the pedals I own one day.

Edit: Forgot to mention about the SG as well it could be the Pot? 

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 minute ago, Mel81x said:

For the SG if its a pair of humbuckers just unscrew it and see whats going on with it? Chances are something is wrong with the shielding causing the issue and thats what needs to be fixed. I think I saw a vid on YouTube about something very similar with the pickup on an old Strat. All they did was wipe it and then it sorted itself out. If its totally dead (which is highly probable too) then its got to do with the coils and I wouldn't mess with that even if I knew how to fix it.

As for the pedal, don't bother fixing it if what its doing is not sending the signal through I'd just have MXR look at it. Chances are something is blown in the serial chain that is causing the signal to get cut. They are also slightly harder to fix pedals just because of how they are internally constructed. MXR should help out there though.

I have an MXR DC Brick and it always scares me when I hear noise on the line at times because I always feel like im going to destroy the pedals I own one day.

I've not had any weird noise with the ISO Brick yet. Tbh, it's all been working fine until yesterday. But yeah, I don't think I'd even know where to begin in fixing an MXR EQ pedal - it seems like a very complicated pedal. All of the MXR stuff seems pretty well built but also a bit more complicated than it maybe needs to be.

I was filling out their form for repairs, but then it asked for the serial # which I don't have right now. And it might be underneath some fuckin' Velcro... so that'll be annoying to get off. I think I've got the box somewhere upstairs at home (at least I hope I do). But looks like I'll have to fill that out tonight and probably will ship it out to them tomorrow.

As for the pickup thing... they can totally die?! Fuck! I hope that's not what's gone on. But yeah, changes are I'll be coming home today and checking out that video you mentioned and then trying something along those lines and hoping that fixes it. 

[Mel81x+]

1 minute ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

As for the pickup thing... they can totally die?! Fuck! I hope that's not what's gone on. But yeah, changes are I'll be coming home today and checking out that video you mentioned and then trying something along those lines and hoping that fixes it. 

Yes they can but I'll tell you a story to make you feel better. So, me in my infinite wisdom, decided to remove the pickguard on my Fender Precision Bass. Fairly simple process that doesn't even require you to take the strings off the bass. I go about my business, removing the knobs off the pots, the plate and replace it. I am extremely careful to replace things in order and do everything right. Put it back in and leave it as I had to step out. Come back home about 5 hours later, plug it in to do a sound check and lo-and-behold it stops making any kind noise. 

I take the plate off again, check all the wiring to the pots and its all fine so I screw it back in and then find out that its still not making noise. So im now sitting there scratching my head and i notice the knob on the tone control is a bit loose so I push down on it while the instrument is connected to the amp and all of a sudden i hear a little click so I pluck a string and no sound. I push it down again and then i hit a string and it starts making noise. Turns out there was one wire which was touching a non-shielded part and it totally messed my sound up. This is why I tell people its okay to take the pickups off to inspect them because chances are something has gotten a bit corroded and a little wipe and replace does the job.