Making Music

[Happy Blue]

3 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

The MicroCube's still at my parents. It's almost 30 years old, but I play it when I go back still (well, sometimes) and it still sounds great.

And yeah when you've got that 6505+ MH... I don't see why you'd still have your Spider seeing much action. And yeah, with that amp I don't see the point for a Metal Zone. So much gain on tap in that amp already, it can pretty much cover all bases - just needs another overdrive. In hindsight, I should have bought that + a cab over the combo. But I really just wanted a nice amp right away and I didn't want to buy a cab. In retrospect, that was really stupid.

You can swap the speakers out on your cab? ..i've even seen people convert your combo into a head    ..the bad thing about our amp is we cant really get a clean 

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 minute ago, Happy Blue said:

You can swap the speakers out on your cab? ..i've even seen people convert your combo into a head    ..the bad thing about our amp is we cant really get a clean 

 

I use an EQ pedal to make the clean channel less crap.

Although it makes me very sad to see how the EVH 5150 models basically have the same crunch and lead channels... but they get a much more Fender-y clean, which is probably the best clean tone (at least in my opinion). Makes sense as the EVH branded shite is really just Fender making stuff for Van Halen's brand... but it's so much better than the Peavey 5150/6505 tone.

I could mod that combo into a head and cab. It's worth looking into... I'm just not the most... handy person  - I'm good at baking, cooking, doing maths/stats, and playing guitar but not much else.

[Happy Blue]

36 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

@Happy Blue

After I got my ESP E-II Eclipse... I haven't wanted another guitar (and I barely ever touch my other guitars since getting it). The person who owned it before me put in the EMG Het Set, which is fucking incredible (and not just for thrash, really great pickups) and it's just a very, very, very, very nice guitar.

If I had to get another guitar (and let's be real, I would absolutely take another guitar) - I'd probably want to get some kind of super strat, either a Jackson, ESP, or Charvel model (I'd say Ibanez too, but I hate Ibanez necks). Something with an original Floyd Rose (or a Gotoh one), the EMG 57/66 set, and an ebony fretboard.

Oh and a cool finish is necessary.

Nice  ..them about 2k? ..the most i've paid for a guitar was about £700 for my Jackson KV7 with the seymour ducan blackouts, still the best sounding guitar i've personally played in my 30 years of playing ..are the EMG Het Set actives? i'm guessing so with them being Hetfield's, must be a tweaked 81?  ..the 81 sounds great in my Randy Rhoads, you just cant beat an active for squeal's and dive bombs! normally requiring a re tune after due to excessive use 

Id have 100 guitars if i had the space lol

[Happy Blue]

24 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I use an EQ pedal to make the clean channel less crap.

Although it makes me very sad to see how the EVH 5150 models basically have the same crunch and lead channels... but they get a much more Fender-y clean, which is probably the best clean tone (at least in my opinion). Makes sense as the EVH branded shite is really just Fender making stuff for Van Halen's brand... but it's so much better than the Peavey 5150/6505 tone.

I could mod that combo into a head and cab. It's worth looking into... I'm just not the most... handy person  - I'm good at baking, cooking, doing maths/stats, and playing guitar but not much else.

The EVH 5150 is made by fender isn't it? ..sounds great on you tube vids  ..id probably just pay someone to convert it  haven't got time for a project like that  ..and id probably fuck it up lol

[Dr. Gonzo]

6 minutes ago, Happy Blue said:

Nice  ..them about 2k? ..the most i've paid for a guitar was about £700 for my Jackson KV7 with the seymour ducan blackouts, still the best sounding guitar i've personally played in my 30 years of playing ..are the EMG Het Set actives? i'm guessing so with them being Hetfield's, must be a tweaked 81?  ..the 81 sounds great in my Randy Rhoads, you just cant beat an active for squeeze and dive bombs! normally requiring a re tune after due to excessive use 

Id have 100 guitars if i had the space lol

Yeah the Het Set are actives. I think it’s the 81/60 set tweaked (not sure though). I think the 57/66 set is an 81/80 set that’s been tweaked but I’m not sure if that’s the case.

And yeah that guitars about 2k new, I got it used though and the previous owner took some one of the volume and tone knobs off so I haggled with him and he was willing to sell it for a bit more than half price. Then I just ordered new knobs for a pittance and put them on 

4 minutes ago, Happy Blue said:

The EVH 5150 is made by fender isn't it? ..sounds great on you tube vids  ..id probably just pay someone to convert it  haven't got time for a project like that  ..and id probably fuck it up lol

Yeah it’s basically the 6505 lead and crunch, a bit tweaked but generally the same as when EVH was with Peavey, with a Fender clean. Ridiculous amp.

[Mel81x+]

55 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

And then a part of me is just saying "go buy another fucking Helix, just don't get it stolen again"

No lol. Its so tempting to replace a stolen component but I'd wait a bit or look for used one (which I doubt is going to yield anything positive). Maybe get the HD POD one which isn't half bad either as it offers most of what the helix offers as well. 

As for the noise, I don't really know how you can solve that problem unless you find a way to soundproof the room.

In response to @Happy Blue's question about guitars/basses theres a small list I want to get before I turn 50 and I am determined to make them happen. I'll just sort out one a year and for some maybe two lol. I'd of course sell some of my guitars to make this happen.

• Fender Squier 50s Vibe Telecaster - 3 tone sunburst - There is something about this instrument that I truly love. I don't know if its the fact that its an affordable tele that can be gutted and turned into something better with pickups and gear-head changes or just the look but I personally want to own one at some point and I could get it now I just want the time to replace the parts on it and get it done right.

• Fender American Special Stratocaster - I have played one of these and I think out of all the Strats that Fender has ever made this one has some great appeal and I equate that to the frets. Plus it has that great bluesy sound that goes well when patched over.
• Yamaha NTX1200R - Classical Cutaway - I don't know if anyone on here plays classical guitar but if you have and you're always struggling to make headway on the higher frets across the neck this guitar is the best thing I have ever seen do this. The price isn't so much the concern as the fact that no one on this side of the globe is selling one which is so odd considering Yamaha sell most things they make the world over in Asia but its hard to find someone selling this here. I'd gladly trade my C70, which in its own right is fantastic, for this.
• Fender 50s Precision Bass - This is a working man's bass and the reason this thing costs as much as it does and is so hard to find is that it rarely stays on shelves long enough. Makes me curse myself for selling my Precision but I have a Jazz that I like much more these days.
• Finally, to add some wood porn to the list of guitars I'd get an Ibanez FRM100TR just because it looks like nothing else and has injector pickups for clean and dirty sounds. Also has a thicker neck with a fast profile action if you want to play some faster and heavier music.

[Dr. Gonzo]

@Mel81x I got my dad one of those Classic Vibe Teles a few Christmasses ago. His 70s era knockoff Tele's neck had warped so he couldn't use some frets properly. But the guitar I got him was the same finish and everything as that pic you just posted. It's honestly tough to believe it's a Squier, because I remember when I started playing Squier's were absolute dogshite instruments. I think the only thing I didn't like about it was the finish on the neck is really thick, but my dad spent a few hours sanding it down for that old school unfinished feel that he was used to.

I think he's kept the pickups all the same, they are surprisingly good. And he replaced the tuning pegs with locking tuners after I recommended some.

Great guitar for the amount of money spent. Seems like a lot of the things that were crap when I started playing have improved massively, multieffects, affordable guitars, affordable pedals. It's a bit unfair tbh.

[Mel81x+]

@Dr. Gonzo I'll try and find the video for Andertons Music where they talk about new Squier's and Elite Strats. I was shocked when I heard it through the DI that they played "obviously colored reproduction" but the Squier sounded infinitely better than the Elite. I think if you're going to splurge that much money on a guitar there are only two routes - Custom Shop or take a plan to Luthier and get one hand-made. Most Squier owners dont buy the guitar for anything else other than the neck and the body. The rest is easily replaceable and can be done without any professional help either, maybe the pots and the pickups need some work but that's also quite doable. Its the same reason I always recommend students to never touch an Ibanez Bass and instead start on a Jazz or Precision Squier because those instruments are so cheap and its almost as good as the more expensive versions.

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 minute ago, Mel81x said:

@Dr. Gonzo I'll try and find the video for Andertons Music where they talk about new Squier's and Elite Strats. I was shocked when I heard it through the DI that they played "obviously colored reproduction" but the Squier sounded infinitely better than the Elite. I think if you're going to splurge that much money on a guitar there are only two routes - Custom Shop or take a plan to Luthier and get one hand-made. Most Squier owners dont buy the guitar for anything else other than the neck and the body. The rest is easily replaceable and can be done without any professional help either, maybe the pots and the pickups need some work but that's also quite doable. Its the same reason I always recommend students to never touch an Ibanez Bass and instead start on a Jazz or Precision Squier because those instruments are so cheap and its almost as good as the more expensive versions.

My first guitar was a Squier bullet and two of the pickups fell out  funny to see how far Fender's budget brand has gone

After buying shit used and saving so much money that way, I think that's probably how I'll always get guitars from now on. Even the cheap shite, it makes it that much more of a bargain. The only thing that really limits you is the number of places around that sell particular used gear... but now there's also reverb.com to help a bit with that (although with used stuff, I like to be able to actually try it). Never bought a valve amp used though, even though I've seen plenty of tempting shite out there, not sure what my reasoning is there though.

[Inverted]

My current rig consists of...

 

 This badboy. 

In fact, mines doesn't even have a headphone jack. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 minute ago, Inverted said:

My current rig consists of...

 

 This badboy. 

In fact, mines doesn't even have a headphone jack. 

Does it have that AUX in for playing along with shite?

Nothing wrong with having a super barebones practice amp, especially when you're just starting. When you're just starting you really just want anything that works, so that'll do.

[Mel81x+]

1 minute ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

My first guitar was a Squier bullet and two of the pickups fell out  funny to see how far Fender's budget brand has gone

After buying shit used and saving so much money that way, I think that's probably how I'll always get guitars from now on. Even the cheap shite, it makes it that much more of a bargain. The only thing that really limits you is the number of places around that sell particular used gear... but now there's also reverb.com to help a bit with that (although with used stuff, I like to be able to actually try it). Never bought a valve amp used though, even though I've seen plenty of tempting shite out there, not sure what my reasoning is there though.

I know someone who got their daughter a really pretty looking Squier Affinity Strat and we were over drinking and talking so he asks me to try it out and tell him if he made a wise purchase. I had never touched one so I figured yeah give it a shot. You know how you get so used to taking a whammy bar/tremolo and just bending it with your palm at times just because you've gotten used to it on your instrument? Yeah well needless to say I bent the bar as I hit a note and something didnt feel right. Fast forward ten minutes and I look back to see that the bar I bent was now permanently bent. This was almost 10 years ago and I have since played another Affinity that they've put out and it has gotten significantly better.

Note: I did get that little girl a new bar because I felt bad that I bent the bar beyond what it should have done but on the upside she learned that her guitar could make a screeching noise that instantly made her parents pay attention to her. So I guess I some good public service too.

[Dr. Gonzo]

5 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

I know someone who got their daughter a really pretty looking Squier Affinity Strat and we were over drinking and talking so he asks me to try it out and tell him if he made a wise purchase. I had never touched one so I figured yeah give it a shot. You know how you get so used to taking a whammy bar/tremolo and just bending it with your palm at times just because you've gotten used to it on your instrument? Yeah well needless to say I bent the bar as I hit a note and something didnt feel right. Fast forward ten minutes and I look back to see that the bar I bent was now permanently bent. This was almost 10 years ago and I have since played another Affinity that they've put out and it has gotten significantly better.

Note: I did get that little girl a new bar because I felt bad that I bent the bar beyond what it should have done but on the upside she learned that her guitar could make a screeching noise that instantly made her parents pay attention to her. So I guess I some good public service too.

When I got mine, the first thing the kid who was teaching me guitar did was block the trem for me - so I never even touched the arm bar really. Pretty sure I lost it almost as soon as I got the guitar. But I was very annoyed about the pickups just... falling out. I'm not even really sure HOW it fucking happened. But it was an HSS strat model and the second pickup that fell out was my bridge humbucker... and you know the type of music I play. That was the IMPORTANT pickup, it wasn't like the middle single coil - which I never used because I'd always either use the neck or the bridge pickup. It was the one that could go CHUGGA CHUGGA.

I fucking hated that guitar.

[Mel81x+]

2 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

When I got mine, the first thing the kid who was teaching me guitar did was block the trem for me - so I never even touched the arm bar really. Pretty sure I lost it almost as soon as I got the guitar. But I was very annoyed about the pickups just... falling out. I'm not even really sure HOW it fucking happened. But it was an HSS strat model and the second pickup that fell out was my bridge humbucker... and you know the type of music I play. That was the IMPORTANT pickup, it wasn't like the middle single coil - which I never used because I'd always either use the neck or the bridge pickup. It was the one that could go CHUGGA CHUGGA.

I fucking hated that guitar.

Firstly, I hope you got to use the trem eventually, if not on that guitar and secondly, they really did make some shit instruments back then but I have never heard of anyone's pickups falling out and of all the pickups to fall out the bridge pickup. Even if you aren't into playing heavy rhythm that thing is one of the most important pickups on a guitar for any kind of music. Never ever touched a Squier after that I presume? 

[Inverted]

8 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Does it have that AUX in for playing along with shite?

Nothing wrong with having a super barebones practice amp, especially when you're just starting. When you're just starting you really just want anything that works, so that'll do.

Tbh, once I replaced the knackered lead my brother gave me with just a cheap Fender lead, the tone is surprisingly clean. 

 

[Mel81x+]

23 minutes ago, Inverted said:

My current rig consists of...

 

 This badboy. 

In fact, mines doesn't even have a headphone jack. 

Marshall's are the kings of making good amps from personal experience. Size really doesn't matter you can plug a terrible instrument into them, fiddle around for a bit and get great sound. I'd even go so far as to say that if you're entertaining folks at home and just want some sound to cover a smaller room that amp you have is going to do just fine. They also get better with time as they use some weird material for the diaphragm that gets better the more it sets in. Pair that with a Gibson SG and you can make some good noise. 

Btw, since you mentioned Saxophone. How long have you been playing that?

[Dr. Gonzo]

8 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

Firstly, I hope you got to use the trem eventually, if not on that guitar and secondly, they really did make some shit instruments back then but I have never heard of anyone's pickups falling out and of all the pickups to fall out the bridge pickup. Even if you aren't into playing heavy rhythm that thing is one of the most important pickups on a guitar for any kind of music. Never ever touched a Squier after that I presume? 

Not until I got that one for my dad, and that was only after hearing numerous positive things about it on the internet. And even then I was very skeptical... because what I'd had happen to my guitar was ridiculous. They're screwed into the pickguard, they're wired into the guitar... and they still fucking came out. I have no idea how it even happened. I never used the trem on that guitar though & after that I stuck with hardtail guitars, until fairly recently when I had a Floyd equipped superstrat (that I ended up selling to get my E-II). One day I'll have a superstrat again, with some sort of trem system on it.

 

11 minutes ago, Inverted said:

Tbh, once I replaced the knackered lead my brother gave me with just a cheap Fender lead, the tone is surprisingly clean. 

 

The Marshall MG series are one of the most common practice amps for a reason, especially the smaller ones. There aren't many ways to get a Marshall sound at that price point other than getting that amp, so it's definitely not a bad amp. Especially for the price they go for. There were thousands of worse options when I started - I'm sure that's the same nowadays. And yeah, leads go bad after a while for a bunch of different reasons - but the biggest one is probably when they're not folded up nicely and left tangled or bent when you aren't using them.

[Inverted]

14 hours ago, Mel81x said:

Marshall's are the kings of making good amps from personal experience. Size really doesn't matter you can plug a terrible instrument into them, fiddle around for a bit and get great sound. I'd even go so far as to say that if you're entertaining folks at home and just want some sound to cover a smaller room that amp you have is going to do just fine. They also get better with time as they use some weird material for the diaphragm that gets better the more it sets in. Pair that with a Gibson SG and you can make some good noise. 

Btw, since you mentioned Saxophone. How long have you been playing that?

Since near the end of primary school, so about 13 years. I got my lessons for free through school. 

Im not remotely as good as someone who's played for so long should be, but it's by far the instrument I'm technically the best on. I'm an alright drummer, but I've hardly touched a kit for the last 4 years. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

I am so fucking shite at drums it's unreal.

[Dr. Gonzo]

I contacted the guitar store where I traded in my Mooer before I bought the Helix to see if they still had it... and they did. And the guy emailing me back was the same guy who was helping me in the store (and the owner's son, which ends up being pretty handy for this story), wanting to know why I wanted it back after I'd just got the Helix. So I told him what happened. He emails back saying he's going to talk to his dad, the owner of the store about it. I get an email back about an hour later saying that I can come in today to pick up my old Mooer back for nothing and also that I'd be given some store credit for the next time I wanted to buy anything from them, and that they were sorry they couldn't give me a new Helix (lol, no shit they couldn't - but nice of them to suggest they would have if they could). Pretty great customer service, well pleased with that.

So I'm gonna pop around on my lunch break and pick that back up. It's not ideal, because what would be ideal is getting my Helix back... but it's nice that they wanted to help me out like that. Apparently there's been a hardware update since I last traded it in, so that's cool. I liked the high gain amp models on it, some of the effects aren't as good as on the Helix - but fuck it, it'll do for just fucking around. Going to have to go through some IRs to figure out which ones I liked.

There's some great free IR cabs out there (if you use that stuff @Mel81x @Happy Blue - I think the 6505 MH has USB/XLR outputs so you could put it straight into your computer/an interface and have your actual amp powering virtual cabinets). This video lists some good ones:

 

[Mel81x+]

5 hours ago, Inverted said:

Since near the end of primary school, so about 13 years. I got my lessons for free through school. 

Im not remotely as good as someone who's played for so long should be, but it's by far the instrument I'm technically the best on. I'm an alright drummer, but I've hardly touched a kit for the last 4 years. 

I like that. I play drums only as a necessity and I can run do a few rolls here and there but I wouldn't say im anywhere near beyond beginner level. I just can't get my limbs to get in sync.i am terribly good with a Cajon though and I think its because I can just use my hands and play. 

As for wind instruments I tried playing a trumpet once and I couldn't really muster up enough to keep it going. But a saxophone always seems like one of those "too tough" instruments to me because I'd imagine it takes a lot of practice to learn to sustain notes and blow just enough to hit the right pitch as well. Have you played with any bands or done any recordings? I'd love to hear them.

[Mel81x+]

6 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I contacted the guitar store where I traded in my Mooer before I bought the Helix to see if they still had it... and they did. And the guy emailing me back was the same guy who was helping me in the store (and the owner's son, which ends up being pretty handy for this story), wanting to know why I wanted it back after I'd just got the Helix. So I told him what happened. He emails back saying he's going to talk to his dad, the owner of the store about it. I get an email back about an hour later saying that I can come in today to pick up my old Mooer back for nothing and also that I'd be given some store credit for the next time I wanted to buy anything from them, and that they were sorry they couldn't give me a new Helix (lol, no shit they couldn't - but nice of them to suggest they would have if they could). Pretty great customer service, well pleased with that.

So I'm gonna pop around on my lunch break and pick that back up. It's not ideal, because what would be ideal is getting my Helix back... but it's nice that they wanted to help me out like that. Apparently there's been a hardware update since I last traded it in, so that's cool. I liked the high gain amp models on it, some of the effects aren't as good as on the Helix - but fuck it, it'll do for just fucking around. Going to have to go through some IRs to figure out which ones I liked.

 

Woohoo. Firstly, its nice that they did what they did. Most stores would have call it shit out of luck and left you out in the cold but they were nice enough to help you out and I think that goes a long way to building customer relationships as well. I'm sure you'll go back there when the time is right to pick up another Helix LT or maybe ... a Helix.

https://www.gearnews.com/boss-katana-air-wireless-wonder-amp/

Spent some time today going over an amp I want to replace my old Fender and I am kind of sold on the Katana for now but then I saw this and thought to myself that in a smaller room this could be good enough and I never record from the amp out to the audio-interface anyways.

This crazy bastard also did a good review of it.

 

no cables. whats not to love.

[Dr. Gonzo]

3 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

Woohoo. Firstly, its nice that they did what they did. Most stores would have call it shit out of luck and left you out in the cold but they were nice enough to help you out and I think that goes a long way to building customer relationships as well. I'm sure you'll go back there when the time is right to pick up another Helix LT or maybe ... a Helix.

https://www.gearnews.com/boss-katana-air-wireless-wonder-amp/

Spent some time today going over an amp I want to replace my old Fender and I am kind of sold on the Katana for now but then I saw this and thought to myself that in a smaller room this could be good enough and I never record from the amp out to the audio-interface anyways.

This crazy bastard also did a good review of it.

 

no cables. whats not to love.

The Katana Air is really cool. I like that you can edit the settings from your phone, but unfortunately you can't access all the stuff you'd get from plugging it into a computer through the Bluetooth phone app.

Seems like the ultimate practice amp though. Pretty big pricetag for a tiny amp though... but you're paying for that wireless jack.

[Mel81x+]

22 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

The Katana Air is really cool. I like that you can edit the settings from your phone, but unfortunately you can't access all the stuff you'd get from plugging it into a computer through the Bluetooth phone app.

Seems like the ultimate practice amp though. Pretty big pricetag for a tiny amp though... but you're paying for that wireless jack.

There are some plus points to it however, the biggest plus point is the ability to run backing tracks through it at the same time as having the instrument plugged in via a bluetooth device so yeah its a great practice amp but if you're into doing more with your setup this isn't going to cut it.

[Inverted]

35 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

I like that. I play drums only as a necessity and I can run do a few rolls here and there but I wouldn't say im anywhere near beyond beginner level. I just can't get my limbs to get in sync.i am terribly good with a Cajon though and I think its because I can just use my hands and play. 

As for wind instruments I tried playing a trumpet once and I couldn't really muster up enough to keep it going. But a saxophone always seems like one of those "too tough" instruments to me because I'd imagine it takes a lot of practice to learn to sustain notes and blow just enough to hit the right pitch as well. Have you played with any bands or done any recordings? I'd love to hear them.

Yeah I'm quite glad that sax is the instrument I had a lot of proper methodical lessons in. It's in that group of instruments that you can't really just pick up. Like the classical string instruments and brass instruments. 

Anyone who's musical and got a decent grasp of theory can get to a passable level at guitar or piano or drums on their own, but without lessons I'd never have got near saxophone. I got to grips with piano a bit on my own, and now I'm trying to at least know my way around a guitar. 

I think instruments are like languages, every one that you have experience with teaches you something you can use on the next one.