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Thread: The Ever-Expanding Gear Thread

  1. #526
    Member hFx's Avatar
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    "Good" brand instruments comes with better hardware and better quality control for sure! As for well setup CNCs they produce components that make instruments of very good and consistent quality (presuming they do have a consistent quality control as well) but lacks that final touch of a good luthier.

    Lately I have come to trust instruments from the South Corean manufacturer Cort as it seems they have good factories and good quality control. I got a Chinese-made dreadnought (that comes with Fishman piezo bridge) and an Indonesian-made 5 string bass with Bartolini active electronics. Both with good hardware and wood, precisely assembled, but lacks the fine tuning of premium products. However they are ridiculously cheap cconsidering what you get. Cort manufacures instruments (at least the less expensive) for many different brands like Ibanez, Musicman, Schecter G&L and even most of Strandberg.
    Last edited by hFx; 02-16-2020 at 07:34 AM.
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  2. #527
    Member Yodelgoat's Avatar
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    I have a cort headless bass (steinburger copy) its really solid. Of course I paid $150 for it beat to hell, - and had to get it fixed up, so its a lot more expensive than a 99 dollar guitar. plays and sounds great! It was sitting under the stairs at someones house for 20+ years.

  3. #528
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    One of these is arriving to me tomorrow. Should make for some good fun and inspiration. I've been wanting a pedal like the Generation Loss or the Shallow Water. But they are pretty pricey. I can justify the money for a guitar but not a pedal. It's still a little expensive, but I had to jump on it.



    Balls. I forgot about Presidents Day, no mail today. Easy enough to forget about these days.
    Last edited by frinspar; 02-17-2020 at 05:51 PM.

  4. #529
    Member Plasmatopia's Avatar
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    Hopefully I didn't mention this already in this thread, but I canceled my order for the Boss SY-1000 guitar synth. I decided I didn't want to be one of the first ones to try it out and instead I could wait and see how others like it. My main concerns are whether most people like the tracking and consider it an improvement over other things on the market. Also I am curious to see how people like the quality of the sounds and whether the pitch-to-MIDI aspect is usable (like for connecting to a computer and triggering soft synths).

    After canceling my order I decided to buy a guitar. I've never owned a guitar with a Floyd Rose so I ordered a Schecter Hellraiser with a Sustainiac pickup in it. The first one I received had broken strings. It shipped during very cold weather so maybe that's what caused that problem. I had a set of strings around so I spent some time and put those on (not the gauge it was set up for). Basically a pretty nice guitar and between the Floyd Rose and the Sustainiac it was a fun instrument that provided something my other two electrics did not. But one of the two battery access doors was broken. Also a small set screw fell out of somewhere and I never determined if it was just an extra piece of loose hardware or something critical.

    So they sent me another one and I sent the first one back. This one sounded a bit better perhaps due to the correct string gauge, but the circuit for the Sustainiac had an issue where, if the Sustainiac circuit was active at all, there was a high-pitched perpetual resonance. Probably a filter capacitor problem somewhere. So I sent that back and asked for a full refund.

    The reviews are starting to come in about the SY-1000 and they seem really good. Some of the initial demos were pretty cheesy, but now more people are teasing out some pretty nice sounds from these things.

    In the meantime I had a lot of other unexpected expenses come up, so I'll probably wait a while to satisfy my GAS.

    Yesterday I started in on repairing the nut on my Jazz bass and filing a new slot. So far I think I've made some improvement on it and will continue to tweak the setup.
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  5. #530
    Member hippypants's Avatar
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    The tone samples on the Roland GR-55 sound pretty darn amazing, particularly the piano coming from a guitar.


  6. #531
    Member hFx's Avatar
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    I've had a Roland VG99 for a few years but never really connected with it. The unit is really nice itself but I have had yet to find a good installation for the GK hex pickup. Last autumn I picked up a Boss GP-10 at a crazy sale, which is more or less a halved VG-99 in a scaled down stomp-box format. However, the modelling is a generation later so it actually sounds better than the VG.

    In january I finally got down to make a proper installation of the GK-3 pickup on my Variax JTV-89. The problem is that the GraphTech Floyd Rose-style whammy on the JTV sits very close to the bridge pickup. I had already bought a special hardware kit for adding a GK to Floyd Rose guitars, which barely fit the JTV.

    I'm quite satisfied with the result, a real electronic guitar powerhouse - a Variax JTV with its sonic flexibility combined with a GP-10 (or the VG99). Furthermore I also a keen user of the JamOrigin MIDI-guitar II plugin in my DAW, which creates hex MIDI from an ordinary guitar signal. However, my main interest for the Variax and GK/GP/VG is the modelling and alternative tunings possible, while JamOrigin is sufficient for creating MIDI for synths and sampled instruments.

    Continuing the guitar synth discussion above, in the 80s I used a GR300 quite alot and in the 90s I had a GR-09, but I haven't been a fan of guitar synths in general. GP/VG comes with some synth capabilities but are focused more on modelling, like myself...

    jtv89-gk3.jpg
    The GK installed on the JTV-89.
    Note the tight fit!
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  7. #532
    Member Yodelgoat's Avatar
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    I have a fishman MIDI controller I bought a few years ago that Ive installed on my Taylor T5 - but have never actually tried it out - Too many other irons in the fire. I would love to see how that pairs up with some of my synths (virtual and real). I think eventually it will become something I can use in my shows, but it has been so long since I bought it, I will have to go back and learn everything about it all over again. Chances are some new technology will have buried the capabilities of the one I have.

  8. #533
    Member Plasmatopia's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yodelgoat View Post
    I have been considering buying the BOSS VE8 acoustic guitar and vocal processor for my gigs. Some people have been saying I need to just stick to live music and dont use backing tracks (which I love, and is the only way for me to do my originals, without boring people with just acoustic guitar parts and no backing vocals) I try to mix it up so uts a good variety of full backing, acoustic only and originals - Keep things interesting.

    Anyway. I could probably back off some of my backing tracks and replace them with using this harmony vocal generator, but isnt that just as bad as a backing track? maybe just a tad less sluttish. But I just dont know how well it really works. anyone used it before? I will not use the loops function, as it increases the length of the songs and kind of makes everything seem "loopish" (what a surprise).

    Still 300 bucks for some improved quality on straight acoustic songs, like "behind blue eyes", "Rocket Man" and 'Carefree Highway" (others too) May be worth it, but I've bought a lot of crap for my show and have wound up using just a tiny part of the gear, trying to simplify my show.

    I do see that you have to turn harmonies on and off manually, some other vocalizers just allow you to hold a button down when you want harmonies, and take your foot off when you dont want it.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srw6GmCFQcI
    A friend of mine has the VE-8 and so far he really likes it. He's only done one gig with it so far though. He recommends getting the optional foot switch if you plan to do looping.
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  9. #534
    Member Plasmatopia's Avatar
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    That ZOIA pedal someone posted the demo video for seems to do guitar-to-MIDI as well and I've heard good things about how well it performs that function. Add in everything else it does and it seems tempting. But at this point it seems like everything I'm getting interested in is sold out, lol.
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  10. #535
    Member hFx's Avatar
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    I've been a bit curious about extending the range of the guitar for a while and then an opportunity appeared... Let's see if this 8-string comes to any use!
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  11. #536
    Member Plasmatopia's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by hFx View Post
    I've been a bit curious about extending the range of the guitar for a while and then an opportunity appeared... Let's see if this 8-string comes to any use!


    That's a lotta strings!

    I ended up buying an Eventide H9 Max pedal. For those who don't know, this is a sort of jack-of-all-trades pedal. It's pretty crazy how many different uses there are for this pedal (and there should be, given the high price). Compression, distortion, chorus, flange, phase, leslie, reverb, delay, synths, and on and on. But for the most part it only does one effect at a time.

    Apparently, now that I have an H9 Max (and have registered it with Eventide) I can get a (less expensive) H9 Core, register and update it, and it will have the same functionality as the more expensive unit.

    Now I'm starting to think it would be handy to have a loop switcher like the Boss ES-5 or ES-8. With a loop switcher I could change the position of the H9 depending on function. For some effects it makes sense to have it in the amp's effects loop, in other cases it could be in front of the amp. And of course there's MIDI to change programs or to send control data from an expression pedal. The other thought I had was to have one pedal board to rule them all which could also be used as part of my bass rig.

    I'm just in the dreaming and planning stages now...
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  12. #537
    Quote Originally Posted by Plasmatopia View Post


    That's a lotta strings!

    I ended up buying an Eventide H9 Max pedal. For those who don't know, this is a sort of jack-of-all-trades pedal. It's pretty crazy how many different uses there are for this pedal (and there should be, given the high price). Compression, distortion, chorus, flange, phase, leslie, reverb, delay, synths, and on and on. But for the most part it only does one effect at a time.

    Apparently, now that I have an H9 Max (and have registered it with Eventide) I can get a (less expensive) H9 Core, register and update it, and it will have the same functionality as the more expensive unit.

    Now I'm starting to think it would be handy to have a loop switcher like the Boss ES-5 or ES-8. With a loop switcher I could change the position of the H9 depending on function. For some effects it makes sense to have it in the amp's effects loop, in other cases it could be in front of the amp. And of course there's MIDI to change programs or to send control data from an expression pedal. The other thought I had was to have one pedal board to rule them all which could also be used as part of my bass rig.

    I'm just in the dreaming and planning stages now...
    I've known someone who played a 18-string bass.

  13. #538
    Member Plasmatopia's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rarebird View Post
    I've known someone who played a 18-string bass.
    That doesn't sound like an instrument that would be fun to change the strings on, lol.
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  14. #539
    Member Gizmotron's Avatar
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    Nah, all that is easy.

    My Gu-Zheng has 23 strings.
    My home-made psaltery has 53 strings.
    My chromatic hammered dulcimer has about 3 or 4 times more strings than the psaltery.

  15. #540
    Quote Originally Posted by Plasmatopia View Post
    That doesn't sound like an instrument that would be fun to change the strings on, lol.
    It was a 6-string with double octave-strings, so a hell of a job to play, considering you have to press down 3 strings with one finger.

  16. #541
    Member Yodelgoat's Avatar
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    Ive been trying to consolidate my live show and simplify the setup. It was taking 45 minutes just to plug everything in... I bought some small items I thought would make things better, but it just keeps getting worse. I am now looking at replacing the S1 with the Boss Acoustic Singer Live amp. I can run my voice (plus the harmonizer), Guitar and sample tracks thru it, come out of one XLR jack and into my Bose 812's should sound great. Ive been using the Bose S1 as my "preamp" and monitor. While it sounds good, getting everything to connect has been what is making my setup so complicated. I also recently added 2 kick pedals that I play with on some songs, just for a little added rhythm. Using a Roland TM-1 - it gets good kick and snare sounds. I have a tiny mixer to mix thru the Auxiliary input, it just seems to get crazy to get all this stuff working together. anyway, I added some more lights, so now I'm lit up like a Christmas tree. I may be over complicating things, but I know what I want to do, so if I can get it to work and be simple enough for a 15 minute setup... I'll be happy. Right now I'm just spending spending spending. Once I get something that works, I'll have a sale...

  17. #542
    Member Gizmotron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yodelgoat View Post
    Ive been trying to consolidate my live show and simplify the setup. It was taking 45 minutes just to plug everything in... I bought some small items I thought would make things better, but it just keeps getting worse. I am now looking at replacing the S1 with the Boss Acoustic Singer Live amp. I can run my voice (plus the harmonizer), Guitar and sample tracks thru it, come out of one XLR jack and into my Bose 812's should sound great. Ive been using the Bose S1 as my "preamp" and monitor. While it sounds good, getting everything to connect has been what is making my setup so complicated. I also recently added 2 kick pedals that I play with on some songs, just for a little added rhythm. Using a Roland TM-1 - it gets good kick and snare sounds. I have a tiny mixer to mix thru the Auxiliary input, it just seems to get crazy to get all this stuff working together. anyway, I added some more lights, so now I'm lit up like a Christmas tree. I may be over complicating things, but I know what I want to do, so if I can get it to work and be simple enough for a 15 minute setup... I'll be happy. Right now I'm just spending spending spending. Once I get something that works, I'll have a sale...
    Sounds very cool!
    You had me at "lights."

  18. #543
    Member hFx's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gizmotron View Post
    Nah, all that is easy.

    My Gu-Zheng has 23 strings.
    My home-made psaltery has 53 strings.
    My chromatic hammered dulcimer has about 3 or 4 times more strings than the psaltery.
    LOL!!

    The 8-string is an ordinary guitar with two extra low strings. The standard tuning (from low to high) is F#, B, E, A, D, G, B, E. The thing is to learn to navigate on the wider neck, the 1.5" longer scale, and still treat the 6 normal guitar strings as a... well, guitar. All such instruments are designed with metal in mind, using the thicker strings for chugging. Also, the pickups are invariably active super hots with a rather ugly tone, but as they are intended to feed a hi-gain distortion signal chain, not many care. Some more proggy/sensible metallurgists, like Tosin Abasi, require a more varied tone and there are some more dynamic signature pickups, which I'll probably go for if the my new axe is a keeper.

    Apart from the djent:ish chugging, the 2 extra strings provide extended range for soloing and arpeggios in high neck positions, which is what appeals to me the most. The longer scale makes the lower position more awkward so maybe I go for an instrument with fanned frets and maybe I'll find myself happy enough with "only" 7 strings.

    Regarding the strings shoot-out my 18-string guitar was a nuisance to tune and re-string! (OK, a 6/12 double-neck)
    My Progressive Workshop at http://soundcloud.com/hfxx

  19. #544
    Member hFx's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gizmotron View Post
    You had me at "lights."


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  20. #545
    Member Gizmotron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by hFx View Post
    LOL!!

    The 8-string is an ordinary guitar with two extra low strings. The standard tuning (from low to high) is F#, B, E, A, D, G, B, E. The thing is to learn to navigate on the wider neck, the 1.5" longer scale, and still treat the 6 normal guitar strings as a... well, guitar. All such instruments are designed with metal in mind, using the thicker strings for chugging. Also, the pickups are invariably active super hots with a rather ugly tone, but as they are intended to feed a hi-gain distortion signal chain, not many care. Some more proggy/sensible metallurgists, like Tosin Abasi, require a more varied tone and there are some more dynamic signature pickups, which I'll probably go for if the my new axe is a keeper.

    Apart from the djent:ish chugging, the 2 extra strings provide extended range for soloing and arpeggios in high neck positions, which is what appeals to me the most. The longer scale makes the lower position more awkward so maybe I go for an instrument with fanned frets and maybe I'll find myself happy enough with "only" 7 strings.

    Regarding the strings shoot-out my 18-string guitar was a nuisance to tune and re-string! (OK, a 6/12 double-neck)
    I too am interested in extended guitars but I would not want super hot pickups; thanks for pointing that issue out.

  21. #546
    Member Yodelgoat's Avatar
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    I just got my BOSS footpedal this afternoon, and I could not be more happy with this purchase... It has made my setup so much more simple now. I e it Just need a pedalboard that can house it and a couple more processors, small mixer etc... just a briefcase I can pop open and have all my stuff ready and able...

    My voice, guitar and backing track all just plug into the pedal, all the processing sounds like a million bucks (huge stereo reverb on the vox!) I jut need to add my kick pedals, and I think it's going to be amazing and a simple setup - and no need for lugging all my other outboard gear Just straight to the BOSE 812's and the S1 monitor, and I'll sound like a 4 big piece bar band. The harmonizer makes my vocals on some of the acoustic songs sound really strong... I have it mixed so that it sounds fuller, but not super obvious. I also need to buy a pedal, that will allow me to add a subtle lower octave to my guitar without muddying it up too much. I was told the digitech bass synth wah works great with acoustic guitars to add a controllable low end to the sound. I hope it doesnt interfere with the Boss processing the vocal harmonies.

    Inching Closer to the setup I've been hoping for. I am also going to pick up and do a little looping, for an even more diverse sound. Full backing, Solo 1 person stand alone acoustic songs, Solo with live percussion played via footpedals. Add looping for additional high tech performance. Should be a diverse evening of music.

  22. #547
    Member hippypants's Avatar
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    I wondered if anyone has one of these Danelectro French Toast fuzz pedals, and do you like it?


  23. #548
    Member Jerjo's Avatar
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    All I have is an acoustic guitar. It has been an up and down battle learning on it. First I broke my ankle which sidelined me for quite a while (couldn't get my feet flat on the floor for months). Then I spent a couple years driving for our local school district and damn, it raised the tendinitis in my hands so severely I couldn't strum for more than a few minutes. That ended last spring and with exercise/rest I have finally moderated the tendinitis somewhat. Fender just announced the you could get three months of free lessons on Fender Play so I signed up. Yesterday I was across the street where my neighbors were drinking on the front lawn. My neighbor's brother was there. He collects guitars and bikes. He doesn't play much any more. So I brought up the Fender thing and he said, "I've got something you can play for awhile". And he brought over this.



    I am not worthy!
    I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart

  24. #549
    Member Sputnik's Avatar
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    ^^

    Wow, nice! You can have some fun with that!


  25. #550
    Member Yodelgoat's Avatar
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    Cool! Stay patient, start watching how to play videos, and you'll be Angus Young in no time at all. Remember that you have to repeat stuff over and over to get muscle memory working. It will drive people around you batshite crazy. but that's why people who are competent at their instruments have no friends. I'm told its worth it. (since I am not competent myself - but I am doing well on the "no friends" front)

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