BotoxAgent
Member
razielim said:My gear in my friends basement.
yeah, Diezel is da bomb \m/
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yeah, Diezel is da bomb \m/
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
SpoonyBard said:
Mineshaft_Gap
4077th
Trasher said:
How much do you have?
Yamaha makes wonderful guitars that are lower-midrange in price. So does Godin/Seagull.
If you have around $400 you can buy an old Yamaha FG180 which is an amazing guitar. The late 60's early 70's red label nippon gakki models are considered to be "poor mans Martins." Elliott Smith used one almost exclusively.
Mineshaft_Gap
4077th
This is on its way to me right now.
Taylor GS5e.
I dislike MOST Taylors. The GS series is fantastic though, wonderful guitars and the best Taylor makes in my opinion. The GS5 especially. The deeper body, ceder top and mahogany back and sides give it some much needed bass that is notoriously absent from most Taylors.
Taylor GS5e.
I dislike MOST Taylors. The GS series is fantastic though, wonderful guitars and the best Taylor makes in my opinion. The GS5 especially. The deeper body, ceder top and mahogany back and sides give it some much needed bass that is notoriously absent from most Taylors.
Cereal KiIIer
Member
Question to all guitar experts:
I recently switched from a Les Paul to a Stratocaster. I like it quite a lot but I cannot stand the background noise that is associated with single coil pickup. Would a noise gate pedal do the trick to block this?
I recently switched from a Les Paul to a Stratocaster. I like it quite a lot but I cannot stand the background noise that is associated with single coil pickup. Would a noise gate pedal do the trick to block this?
adamsappel
Member
Replace your pickups with Bill Lawrence Keystones. Fantastic, noiseless pickups.Cereal KiIIer said:
Cereal KiIIer
Member
Is there any way to just shield the guitar?adamsappel said:
Cereal KiIIer
Member
Knowing this will really help meMedalion said:
Buggy Loop
Gold Member
Im currently building an Hiwatt DR103 clone from VHR's kits. About 95% done, got all my tubes bought, 4 Svetlana EL34 from russia, 3 NOS GE 12AX7A & 1 12AT7A. Also got the head custom made by Jeff Swanson to look like a DR103 head from hylight era.
Will bookmark this page and bring back photos when its all done.
Will bookmark this page and bring back photos when its all done.
Cereal KiIIer
Member
Medalion said:
Not really. I'm a lefty and they make like 2 models of strat and 2 models of tele
There seem to be a way of shielding the electronic inside with tin fold.
adamsappel
Member
Sure, I took off the pickguard and lined the cavities with copper tape and the back of the guard with aluminum foil.Cereal KiIIer said:
It will help, and is the cheapest way to reduce the "hum" of a single-coil. I still recommend the Keystones. They're really nice pickups, inexpensive and well-made.
Cereal KiIIer
Member
I just cannot justify spending money on new pickups for a 250$ squier lol. I will try the shielding. It's probably picking up my computer but I need it for backup track...
adamsappel
Member
Think of your guitar as a platform and you upgrade it like a PC. Pickups, tuners, tailpieces, etc. are easily swapped out and improved. There's nothing inherently wrong with Squiers.
I can certainly understand the financial aspect, though. Try hobby and craft stores for the copper tape. I just used a spray-can glue on the back of the pickguard and laid the aluminum foil on top of that.
I can certainly understand the financial aspect, though. Try hobby and craft stores for the copper tape. I just used a spray-can glue on the back of the pickguard and laid the aluminum foil on top of that.
ToyMachine228
Member
Eastwood Airline.
lawlohwhat
Banned
I'm looking into getting a new setup. Been playing american standard fender strats and I've fallen in love with how comfortable they feel. I play much cleaner and faster than I've ever experienced with any guitar, and the sound is classic and uncompromising.
I'm a little confused about which amp to get, though. Guitar center employees are absolutely worthless, so I figured I'd ask you guys. Is the hot rod NOS blues junior worth the extra cost? This video is pretty convincing. Obviously, I'll be trying both out in the store, but I want to go there educated about the differences so I don't have to listen to a bullshit sales pitch.
I'm a little confused about which amp to get, though. Guitar center employees are absolutely worthless, so I figured I'd ask you guys. Is the hot rod NOS blues junior worth the extra cost? This video is pretty convincing. Obviously, I'll be trying both out in the store, but I want to go there educated about the differences so I don't have to listen to a bullshit sales pitch.
I finally bought my first electric guitar. I can't have it for 3 months though because its my birthday present. I've been playing an acoustic for a while now and I've been looking for a great starter electric guitar in the $500-$700 price range. I went with a Fender Standard Stratocaster HSS. Its the Mexican import, but I think it was the best I could do in my price range.
Mineshaft_Gap
4077th
Is it possible to shield the guitar to cut down on the noise?
YES! And to spectacular results. Here's my Eric Johnson strat.
Here's a before and after pic of the shielding. The pics were taken by my guitar tech. I had him do a few other things while he had it on his table too.
There's an enormous difference. The guitar before was noisy like you wouldn't believe. Afterward there was still noise but FAR, FAR less of it. You CAN achieve similar results by doing something called a star ground. Take your guitar to a competent tech and weigh your options. There are a number of ways to shield a guitar. Some better than others. It is possible to use a shielding PAINT on the inside of the pickup and control cavities, however it isn't as effective, especially if the conductive paint you use is carbon based. Non-carbon based conductive paint is quite hard to come by and it's expensive.
There's a lot involved with the copper foil method. You need to use a foil with a conductive adhesive, it's also smart to solder the pieces of foil together otherwise the entire venture is pointless. You'll notice a piece of foil is distended from the control cavity to make contact with the copper plate under the pickguard where one of the screws is inserted. That's another essential part of the procedure. If there isn't a proper ground than it's a moot point.
YES! And to spectacular results. Here's my Eric Johnson strat.
Here's a before and after pic of the shielding. The pics were taken by my guitar tech. I had him do a few other things while he had it on his table too.
There's an enormous difference. The guitar before was noisy like you wouldn't believe. Afterward there was still noise but FAR, FAR less of it. You CAN achieve similar results by doing something called a star ground. Take your guitar to a competent tech and weigh your options. There are a number of ways to shield a guitar. Some better than others. It is possible to use a shielding PAINT on the inside of the pickup and control cavities, however it isn't as effective, especially if the conductive paint you use is carbon based. Non-carbon based conductive paint is quite hard to come by and it's expensive.
There's a lot involved with the copper foil method. You need to use a foil with a conductive adhesive, it's also smart to solder the pieces of foil together otherwise the entire venture is pointless. You'll notice a piece of foil is distended from the control cavity to make contact with the copper plate under the pickguard where one of the screws is inserted. That's another essential part of the procedure. If there isn't a proper ground than it's a moot point.
Mineshaft_Gap
4077th
One last thing.
My Taylor is almost here.
03/04/2010 3:41 A.M. OUT FOR DELIVERY
My Taylor is almost here.
03/04/2010 3:41 A.M. OUT FOR DELIVERY
Yeah...sorry first of all for semi-shitting up the thread, but it really seems like a waste to make another thread.
I'm looking to get my first electric, and have been doing my research in terms of what style I want. In terms of sound, I'm really a fan of pretty much everything and the stuff that really stands out to me doesn't fall neatly under mostly Les Pauls or mostly Strats or mostly Teles. So I'm assuming a fat Strat or Pacifica would be a nice compromise for someone like me? I'm pretty close to settling on a Pacifica 112, after checking out the Alpine 2500s for a while (but deciding against it mostly due to horrible import costs to Canada). Also, anything to look for if I get a used 112?
I really have no idea about amps though. There's just a wide range of stuff people recommend that I just get lost in it. I'm not expecting any good effects on an amp, just a nice clean channel, and be decent-enough if I want the kind of sound on something like My Guitar Gently Weeps. Also, really not looking at dragging it around anywhere, so I guess ~15W is enough. All told, I'd like to spend $500-$600 on guitar/amp. Those 112s are ~$250 here, so I think it's doable, but let me know. So yeah...if anyone has any recs, it'd be hugely appreciated.
I'm looking to get my first electric, and have been doing my research in terms of what style I want. In terms of sound, I'm really a fan of pretty much everything and the stuff that really stands out to me doesn't fall neatly under mostly Les Pauls or mostly Strats or mostly Teles. So I'm assuming a fat Strat or Pacifica would be a nice compromise for someone like me? I'm pretty close to settling on a Pacifica 112, after checking out the Alpine 2500s for a while (but deciding against it mostly due to horrible import costs to Canada). Also, anything to look for if I get a used 112?
I really have no idea about amps though. There's just a wide range of stuff people recommend that I just get lost in it. I'm not expecting any good effects on an amp, just a nice clean channel, and be decent-enough if I want the kind of sound on something like My Guitar Gently Weeps. Also, really not looking at dragging it around anywhere, so I guess ~15W is enough. All told, I'd like to spend $500-$600 on guitar/amp. Those 112s are ~$250 here, so I think it's doable, but let me know. So yeah...if anyone has any recs, it'd be hugely appreciated.
Mineshaft_Gap
4077th
Buggy Loop said:
How much did that cost you?
My impression when I looked into attempting such a (ambitious) project was that it would cost just as much to build as it would to buy a Reeves or find a good deal on an old Hylight era Hiwatt.
Those transformers are EXPENSIVE. You know what I ended up getting?
A Traynor YBA1....A
The old YBA1 amps are known for being near perfect copies of the Fender Bassman/Marshall JTM45(Plexi) circuit. The JTM45, Bassman, and YBA1 Bassmaster were all 45 watt amps with a VERY similar circuit. The JTM45 was pretty much a piece for piece rip off of the Bassman using British parts. Where the JTM45 is considered the "British Bassman." The Traynor is considered the "Canadian Plexi." The Plexi and the Bassman of the most famous amps ever made, famous and expensive. A tweed bassman and an original JTM45 cost a lot of money. Even the reissues which aren't nearly as good cost an arm and a leg.
That amp... the YBA1A uses the same circuit except...
The YBA1A is 90 watts as opposed to the YBA1/BASSMAN/PLEXI. It uses the same circuit and it still only uses EL34/6CA7 power tubes. How? You can't tell so much from that last picture but the transformers are MASSIVE and it has a fan mounted on the side. Pretty neat.
With the giant transformers and the Plexi/Bassman circuit the amp pulls off extremely convincing impression of a Hiwatt DR103. I'd say more than "pretty convincing". When you mess around with the settings and bridge the two channels you can get a dead on impression of a Bassman and a Plexi. A lot more clean headroom and a tighter gain structure make this amp more Hiwatt in nature than anything though and it cost...
$350.
Mineshaft_Gap
4077th
Doytch said:
$600 for both a guitar AND an amp is more than doable.
You can get a used Mexican Strat for less than $300 and a Fender Super Champ XD for around $300 brand new. If you want a little versatility you can get a fat strat, which is a Strat with a humbucker in the bridge. They all have HSH routes so you could even swap the neck pickup out for a humbucker in the future if you want. You can't do much better for $600.
The Super Champ XD is actually a really nice modeling amp. The tube it comes with is crap but you can buy another one for cheap. The amp is worth the price of admission for the clean channel alone, but the amp has a ton of effects and amp models. It isn't like an awful Line 6 Spyder amp. The Vox AD30 is quite nice too for the price.
For a few bucks more you can actually buy a black or silverface Champ or or vibro champ. Bare bones in terms of features and effects. Legendary tone, tons of songs were recorded using Champs including Layla and quite a few of the songs off of Led Zeppelin 1
Mineshaft_Gap
4077th
adamsappel said:
You're missing a key part of proper shielding. A piece of the foil inside the body needs to stick out in order to make contact with the shielding on the pickguard. If the whole thing isn't properly grounded than it's pointless. And unless the adhesive you used was conductive you need to solder the pieces together.
Noiseless pickups lose a LOT of the character that single coils are best for. Especially the in-between positions which are often enough... noiseless/hum canceling anyway because the middle pickup is rv/rp (on strats at least).
lawlohwhat
Banned
/jaw dropping at ducky_mcgee's collection
very nice.
very nice.
Doytch said:
The Pacifica 112 is a great first electric (speaking from first-hand experience here!). It has a quality stock configuration and I wouldn't hesitate to upgrade it if I had the money -- something I wouldn't say about a lot of guitars in its price range. I really love the versatility of the HSS pickup configuration.
Thrasher said:
I don't know how much money you're willing to spend, but I think the Yamaha FG700 is a solid acoustic and will only run you $200. I had read this on forums before, but I've tried them out at multiple stores and I'm always surprised with the sound and how well-made they are.
I guess I seem like a bit of a Yamaha fanboy, but they really do make quality gear. I think a lot of people stick to other brands because they don't think Yamaha is a 'guitar company.'
My Pacifica 112J and RBX170.
lawlohwhat
Banned
New addition to the family:
American standard strat and blues junior tweed amp. They had the amp on display for $399 as a "manager's special", and I traded in my old amp with their 15% off coupon, so the grand total was $1032 for $1600 worth of gear. The employees were flabbergasted as to how I managed to get a $600 amp for free. I'm stoked.
The acoustic is a '79 takamine f-340 from before they were sued by martin for the headstock logo. It's pretty rare and plays very well for an intermediate level acoustic.
American standard strat and blues junior tweed amp. They had the amp on display for $399 as a "manager's special", and I traded in my old amp with their 15% off coupon, so the grand total was $1032 for $1600 worth of gear. The employees were flabbergasted as to how I managed to get a $600 amp for free. I'm stoked.
The acoustic is a '79 takamine f-340 from before they were sued by martin for the headstock logo. It's pretty rare and plays very well for an intermediate level acoustic.
Always-honest
Banned
any loss of tone because of shielding? highs, mids? or nothing you can notice?Ducky_McGee said:
Thanks for the ideas. Been browsing craigs/kijiji and I'm seeing strats for $350-$400 (Canadian...) and no fats. I'll check some of the stores downtown this weekend.
And about the SCXD, a lot of the reviews I read are from people swapping out both the tubes and speaker. Overkill? And tube prices seem to range quite a bit, is it really a big quality gap, or is it more of a preference for a certain sound?
Yeah while browsing this thread I saw a few people had it, so it definitely pushed it up the list. I think it's still up there in my mind, unless I can find a nice deal on a Mexican.
Mineshaft_Gap
4077th
Always-honest said:
Not in the least. Quite the opposite. You can hear the tone of the instrument better without all the noise.
Noiseless pickups on the other hand... take extreme hits to the character of single coil pickups. Noiseless single coil pickups are for the most part... lifeless. That hollow woody sound you get from the neck pickup on a Strat is nowhere to be found with most noiseless single coils. The quack from the in position is also missing in noiseless single coils.
That has to do with how the pickup is constructed and shielding has nothing to do with it. It's a rip off that more electric guitars with single coils don't already come shielded. A $10 tape recorded from is shielded better than most $2000+ electric guitars.
Shielding is good!
While you have the pickguard off you might want to looking into something called a treble bleed, blender pot, and master tone. The treble bleed allows you to roll the volume back without cutting the treble (the treble bleeds through hence the name). On most guitars as you roll the volume back on the guitar you're also rolling off the higher frequencies.
The reason that isn't desirable for most people is because they want their tone to stay the same... and for the volume to be the only thing that changes. Having a volume control that doesn't effect the tone of the guitar can be extremely useful when you want to cut the output of your guitar to achieve a cleaner tone. That way you can crank your amp and when you want to tame the overdrive you can turn your guitar down as opposed to reaching over to the amp. Makes the volume control WAY more useful.
Some people don't like treble bleeds because they use a technique called volume swelling. You can achieve the same effect with a volume pedal so why not just use that.
The blender pot is a pot that allows you to combine... BLEND the bridge (or neck pickup) with the rest of the pickups regardless of the position of the selector switch. That gives you two new pickup combos: bridge+neck and all three pickups at once. All three at once is meh but neck+bridge is awesome. David Gilmour uses that on his guitars.
Master tone is also fantastic and since the blender pot will take the place of the bottom tone knob... it's necessary if you make that mod. It allows you to control the tone for all 3 pickups instead of using two separate pots.
If you don't want to add a blender pot or a master tone then you should at least wire the bottom tone pot to the bridge pickup. The bridge pickup benefits from it FAR more than the middle.
Strats are so awesome and there are so many different combination to be had. This is just the top of the iceberg.
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
So, if one wanted to learn how to play the guitar, how would one do so? Assuming of course, that high school is a distant memory and I live nowhere near a decent college?
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
nomster said:
Checking it out now. How long did it take you to not be embarrassingly bad?
I had the open chords down in a couple weeks, I was unemployed so I had tons of time to practice though. There are plenty of songs that you can play with just those shapes. Then I moved onto some scales, barre chords, etc. I'm by no means good, but I'm about a year and a half in and I feel like I've made good progress. Just give it a shot, you won't regret it.WanderingWind said:
Mineshaft_Gap
4077th
Doytch said:
The speaker isn't a bad thing to upgrade but it IS overkill especially if you're just starting out. The Super Champ XD in its stock form is leagues ahead of whatever garbage Line 6 or Marshall MG you would have bought instead. The SCXD is inherently a better amp for the money than most. Tubes and speakers can be changed afterward, it's still a good amp.
I forgot to mention though. There are three other amps worth checking out. The Blackheart Little Giant, Black Heart Killer Ant, and the Epiphone Valve Jr.
I'd ask that you put wattage out of your mind. A 5 watt amp through a 10 or 12 inch speaker can be very loud. Loud enough to damage your hearing if cranked all the way up and too loud to play in an apartment. Wattage has a bigger bearing on clean headroom than it does on loudness. Wattage affects volume in factors of 4. You need a 20 watt amp to be twice as loud as a 5 watt amp. Even more eye opening is that you need an 80 watt amp to be twice as loud as a 20 watt amp! 20 watts is LOUD!!!!!!!!! Especially if we're talking tube amps.
The only reason I say this is that people just starting out put way too much thought into wattage. You don't need a 50-100 watt amp. Very few people do. Wattage should be considered mostly when determining how much clean headroom you need. That means how loud you can crank the amp before it starts to overdrive and distort. The small 5 watt amps break up quickly and for most people that's why they like them.
The Blackheart amps and the Valve Jr. are tube amps that need to have their volumes turned up in order to distort. Classic tube amp distortion that comes from the power section of the amp. Not a ton of features but a ton of tone and for not very much money.
The SCXD will be just fine but you can't go wrong with a Blackheart Little Giant or Killer Ant either. The tubes in all of these cheaper amps leave something to be desired... it's a place where they cut costs.
JJ is the best maker of power tubes currently in production in many peoples opinions. There's a market for GOOD old lightly used or New Old Stock tubes because well.... they aren't made like they used to be. They can get up there in price... way up there. JJ tubes are fantastic although you may need to order them as Guitar Center does not carry them. Some small mom and pop shops might.
WanderingWind said:
I'd also add to make sure you have a lot of patience if you really want to learn. Learning to play guitar, or any other instrument for that matter... is a marathon, not a sprint. At the pace I'm going, I think its going to take me another year to not be embarassingly bad, but I've only been taking lessons now for 6 months.
I've got a friend who plays lead guitar in a local classic rock/blues bar band and he's been playing for seven years. He said it took him a good 5 years before he could sit down and play just about anything by ear. He said after the 5 year mark he really didn't need to practice near as much anymore. He was putting in about 4 hours a day prior to that.
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Thanks for the advice. I think my guitar is strung incorrectly, or I'm missing something. The thick E string is at the top. Is that right?
Mineshaft_Gap
4077th
Looking down the low e, the thickest string, should be closest to your face and the high e should be closest to the ground.
Taylor DN3. I wasn't looking to get a Taylor because all of the ones I tested played too bright.. they all needed more bass. Then some guy put a DN3 in my hands. It had a booming, rich bass/bottom without losing too much of the brightness. I fell in love with it right there.
When it's tuned right, the guitar sounds epic. Too bad I still mostly suck.
SpectreFire
Member
My MIJ Epiphone Les Paul Junior. This is THE luckiest guitar purchase I've ever made. Someone on another forum notified me that it was up for sale on a Japanese guitar site. So I hurried there, put an order on it, and managed to get the guitar for a pretty meagre $450 CAD.
These guitars are ridiculously rare, they were only made for about 2 years in very limited quantities. It's almost impossible not to find one used. I really lucked out on it. They pretty much blow the any of the Juniors Gibson has out of the water, save for the custom shops.
Aside, from the Junior, my other guitar is an American Tele, which I also bought used.
Mineshaft_Gap
4077th
Tashi0106 said:
The Blues Jr. doesn't have great overdrive. Pretty bad in most cases. :/
Iceman said:
Taylor DN3. I wasn't looking to get a Taylor because all of the ones I tested played too bright.. they all needed more bass. Then some guy put a DN3 in my hands. It had a booming, rich bass/bottom without losing too much of the brightness. I fell in love with it right there.
When it's tuned right, the guitar sounds epic. Too bad I still mostly suck.
I came very close to buying this over my 110CE, but it was 400 dollars than it, and this is my first Taylor and can't afford everythang yet.
WanderingWind said:
Yes
If you're holding the guitar in playing position and looking down at it.
E at
A
D amn
G ood
B reakfast
E veryday
Low is at the top and high is at the bottom.
Assuming you are right handed, and you are holding the guitar in its natural playing position, if the high E string is on top.. then you may be trying to play with a left-handed guitar.