The Ever-Expanding Gear Thread

[Rarebird]

I have a very old tuner, but alas it doesn't seem to work, so I have to tune the synthesizer by ear, which is harder. It has 2 tuningknobs. One goes from 10 Hz to 10,000 Hz and the other one is a finetuning one. Besides it has a tuning-ocsilator.

[progmatist]

My home-made bass pedal..............



I took the innards of a computer keyboard..............



and hard wired mechanical switches to act as keys........



Now I can use virtual keyboard plugins which convert a computer keyboard into a music keyboard. I even have a Moog Taurus VSTi I downloaded years ago. That's in addition to being able to play full chords with my feet, ala Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. The whole thing cost around $125 in parts and materials

[Sputnik]

^^^

Cool!

[Plasmatopia]

That's awesome!

[hFx]

Nice and innovative!

[kid_runningfox]

Decided that the modded Peavey Triumph I have in the UK wasn't really cutting it after a gig I did with it in Wales back in February where I just couldn't get a sound out of it that I liked (not usually a problem I have with amps). As a result, I've just picked up a secondhand Blackstar HT Stage MK II 100 head to replace it:

https://blackstaramps.com/uk/ranges/...es-mkii#choose

Looking forward to really getting to grips with this shortly! I plan on taking my full UK rig into one of the local rehearsal rooms and spending some time just getting everything working in full sympathy with each other, as I only get to use it for about 3 months of the year, each time I come back to the UK is a bit of an adventure to what still works and what doesn't. Moreover, after the power supply on my pedalboard let me down at the last gig I did with it, I want to ensure that everything is functioning precisely as it should be...

[Sputnik]

Sweet! Blackstar makes great stuff, hope it works out for you. Looks really versatile with two overdrive channels and six voices with the footswitch. The only thing you might be less than 100% satisfied with is the reverb, which I found a bit lacking on my HT-1R. But that may not be important to you, and even with that, this amp should pretty much kill.

Bill

[Plasmatopia]

I'm not that familiar with Blackstar amps (a guy I played with a couple years ago had a much smaller one that wasn't bad for it's size), but that amp certainly sounds like it will offer lots of tonal options.

[Yodelgoat]

I have a little Blackstar battery powered amp I use for practice and it is perfect. I also have it as a part of my live show, if I have a guest coming in and playing leads I have them use that. Some have brought in Marshall Half stacks and its just too much guitar for the rooms I play. This thing is perfect. I feed it back to them in the monitors and they can hear just fine. No one has complained yet about the sounds the little thing puts out. It does a totally acceptable job for lead stuff - at least at my little shows. No one has complained yet, in fact they are surprised by its performance.

[Yodelgoat]

As far as new gear goes... I have added a second Harbinger MLS900 to my PA. I have been playing indoor small rooms and the one has been surprisingly adequate-if not stellar. I am going to start doing some outdoor gigs and hopefully this will suffice. Its still to mostly small audiences - 50+ but I may be able to reach more people outdoors. There have been times when One MLS has been too loud, and they've asked me to turn down. These things still sound great at low volume, so Its no big deal. Just sometimes my monitor mix is as loud as the pa. If I need anything bigger I have a Carvin 3 way dual 15 PA that pushes 1500 watts per channel. Ive had no need for those so far. I would love to go to the BOSE 812's though. No - issue with hauling around huge cabs. Smaller and twice the volume of the MLS900's - but I actually prefer the sound of the Harbingers - Very, very clear and people think I sound way better than I think I do. Anyway, for a one man show, they do awesome.

[kid_runningfox]

Sweet! Blackstar makes great stuff, hope it works out for you. Looks really versatile with two overdrive channels and six voices with the footswitch. The only thing you might be less than 100% satisfied with is the reverb, which I found a bit lacking on my HT-1R. But that may not be important to you, and even with that, this amp should pretty much kill.

Bill

Thanks Bill! I already have two Blackstar OD/Distortion pedals - an HT-Metal valve distortion unit on my Chinese board (which features a speaker compensated output that's perfect for doing gigs where you can't use an amp - not that unusual here in Ningbo), and a solid state LT-Dual on my UK board, which is now about to be a bit, erm, redundant. I love both of them, and they're built like tanks, which was one of the factors in going down the Blackstar amp route. I also love the DSP control which seems to be a standard feature on most Blackstar gear, which allows you to move between a more 'American' sound at the anti-clockwise extreme towards a more 'British,' Marshall-type sound at the clockwise opposite. I set mine pretty much to 'hard Marshall,' but it's brilliantly versatile. Both pedals are highly recommended if anybody's looking for a new drive pedal.

Incidentally, something I feel compelled to point out: I went to our local jam session last night at the music store/rehearsal space I frequent. Had a brilliant time playing with a bunch of people from all over the world at a phenomenally high standard of musicianship (and was informed by a very, very good guitarist that 'your fingers are like f**king magic!!"). However, it was also very, VERY loud and my ears are suffering today. MAKE SURE YOU LOOK AFTER YOUR HEARING - WHEN IT'S GONE YOU'RE SCREWED. Had I known thing were going to be as loud as they were, I'd have brought earplugs, and even with leaving the room as soon as I could it was still too late. A lesson for the future.

[Yodelgoat]

My home-made bass pedal..............

I took the innards of a computer keyboard..............


and hard wired mechanical switches to act as keys........


Now I can use virtual keyboard plugins which convert a computer keyboard into a music keyboard. I even have a Moog Taurus VSTi I downloaded years ago. That's in addition to being able to play full chords with my feet, ala Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. The whole thing cost around $125 in parts and materials

This is genius! You ought to market this. I have no idea what it would cost, but Taurus pedals are too expensive. Surprised no one has done a cheaper version, This would certainly fit that Nitch market...

[Plasmatopia]

I just ordered one of these to help with evening out the levels of my different basses: https://www.darkglass.com/creations/hyper-luminal/

The only gig I plan to be part of this year will require using two basses, one tuned down a whole step. But my basses seem to have very different outputs. I do have a Boss bass limiter, but that seems to add a lot of noise so hopefully the Hyper Luminal will not have that issue.

Mark - I hear you about hearing loss. My right ear has taken a beating over the years from snare drums (and hard-hitting drummers). What's really nice about the guys I'm playing with nowadays is the drummer has an electronic kit which helps us all keep stage volumes more reasonable.

[Plasmatopia]

Well the Hyper Luminal compressor doesn't seem to work that well as a pure limiter, but it sounds great nonetheless. I just spent some time putting the pedal board for my bass rig back together. Nothing too complicated on this pedal board, just a Boss tuner --> Hyper Luminal compressor --> Sansamp Bass Driver DI. I decided to use the Sansamp because it has three presets, mainly so each of my three basses can have it's own signal level to the amplifier (G-K MB Fusion 500). The Sansamp can also add some drive, bass, treble, presence, and blend can be adjusted, but I'm trying to keep that stuff mostly flat (and relying on the amp's EQ section). Also I will now have the option of using an XLR line out to the PA from the Sansamp, the G-K, or I could mic the bass cabinet (I have a Sennheiser E602 II that works well for this).

But I'm not going to get too hung up on getting a great bass sound through the PA. As long as I like what I'm hearing on stage I'm happy. Yes, I would love to hear this setup tweaked properly through the PA, but having just witnessed the band I'm going to be playing with over the past weekend (with their regular bass player), well....he was pretty much lost in the mix. Just sort of an amorphous sound to fill in the low end. I am not sure if that was by design or not - he definitely didn't know the songs as well as he should have and fluffed his way through some of the more complicated parts. He's a super nice guy though and loaned me his Professional Series Jazz bass when I was deciding if I should get one.

[Plasmatopia]

The Jazz bass sounded great (much tighter, punchy, and focused low end) at last weekend's show. I could only play it on about 10 songs and it made me wish I had another one that I could have tuned lower to play all the other songs with. Oh well, lol....

[Gizmotron]

Well the Hyper Luminal compressor doesn't seem to work that well as a pure limiter, but it sounds great nonetheless. I just spent some time putting the pedal board for my bass rig back together. Nothing too complicated on this pedal board, just a Boss tuner --> Hyper Luminal compressor --> Sansamp Bass Driver DI. I decided to use the Sansamp because it has three presets, mainly so each of my three basses can have it's own signal level to the amplifier (G-K MB Fusion 500). The Sansamp can also add some drive, bass, treble, presence, and blend can be adjusted, but I'm trying to keep that stuff mostly flat (and relying on the amp's EQ section). Also I will now have the option of using an XLR line out to the PA from the Sansamp, the G-K, or I could mic the bass cabinet (I have a Sennheiser E602 II that works well for this).

But I'm not going to get too hung up on getting a great bass sound through the PA. As long as I like what I'm hearing on stage I'm happy. Yes, I would love to hear this setup tweaked properly through the PA, but having just witnessed the band I'm going to be playing with over the past weekend (with their regular bass player), well....he was pretty much lost in the mix. Just sort of an amorphous sound to fill in the low end. I am not sure if that was by design or not - he definitely didn't know the songs as well as he should have and fluffed his way through some of the more complicated parts. He's a super nice guy though and loaned me his Professional Series Jazz bass when I was deciding if I should get one.

I am not familiar with the Luminal but I just ordered a used Keeley Bassist to use as a limiter.

[hFx]

If you have the chance, try the Strandberg guitars! I spent an afternoon testing out the 6 and 7 string versions and it was a thrill! Very ergonomic shape and weigh in at under 5 lbs, among other any innovations. A growing number of accomplished prog guitarist use them, such as Plini, Tosin and Javier of Animals as Leaders, Richard and Charles of Haken, etc. A bit pricey though (US$ 2000 and up), but one day



Interesting interview with the creator/builder Ola Strandberg:

[Plasmatopia]

Those Strandberg guitars look awesome. Yes, maybe some day...

In keeping with the subject of electric guitar, I have Danelectro Daddy-O overdrive pedal that I've had since the early '90s. It always sounded pretty bad. Very thin and just rather unpleasant. I bought a mod kit for about $23 which involved (mostly) just replacing a bunch of parts. I can't believe how much better it sounds now. I was planning to sell it (or probably give it away) but now it's a keeper. Very usable sounds. The circuit is supposed to be based on a Marshall Guv'nor pedal (which seems to be a much more well-loved pedal than the Daddy-O ever was).

Now I'm eager to see what other mods are out there for my other pedals. I did see a good one for my Boss GE-7 equalizer pedal that drastically reduces noise.

[Gizmotron]

Those Strandberg guitars look awesome. Yes, maybe some day...

In keeping with the subject of electric guitar, I have Danelectro Daddy-O overdrive pedal that I've had since the early '90s. It always sounded pretty bad. Very thin and just rather unpleasant. I bought a mod kit for about $23 which involved (mostly) just replacing a bunch of parts. I can't believe how much better it sounds now. I was planning to sell it (or probably give it away) but now it's a keeper. Very usable sounds. The circuit is supposed to be based on a Marshall Guv'nor pedal (which seems to be a much more well-loved pedal than the Daddy-O ever was).

Now I'm eager to see what other mods are out there for my other pedals. I did see a good one for my Boss GE-7 equalizer pedal that drastically reduces noise.

Wow...that "Daddy-O" was my first pedal. I still have it somewhere. I found it needed a fairly hot signal to get somewhere with it. Kudos for getting and installing that mod!

[Plasmatopia]

Wow...that "Daddy-O" was my first pedal. I still have it somewhere. I found it needed a fairly hot signal to get somewhere with it. Kudos for getting and installing that mod!

If you are familiar with soldering at all you should modify your pedal. I think you'd be happy with the result.

[kid_runningfox]

In keeping with the subject of electric guitar, I have Danelectro Daddy-O overdrive pedal that I've had since the early '90s. It always sounded pretty bad. Very thin and just rather unpleasant. I bought a mod kit for about $23 which involved (mostly) just replacing a bunch of parts. I can't believe how much better it sounds now. I was planning to sell it (or probably give it away) but now it's a keeper. Very usable sounds. The circuit is supposed to be based on a Marshall Guv'nor pedal (which seems to be a much more well-loved pedal than the Daddy-O ever was).

Now I'm eager to see what other mods are out there for my other pedals. I did see a good one for my Boss GE-7 equalizer pedal that drastically reduces noise.

I had an original Guv'nor pedal (that now change hands for ridiculous sums on Ebay) back in the 90s. Sounded fantastic, but the build quality was shocking (this seems to be a regular Marshall theme these days), and it steadily disintegrated on me over time. Wish I still had it, though, as it was a great OD/distortion pedal - very natural and full sounding.

[battema]

Too god damned RIGHT I'm humming "that song" right now

http://wingmanfx.com/dangerzone/



You can't tell from the image but the jet afterburners are the rate LEDs.

I don't need this pedal for any sonic purpose but good grief I want it just to have that staring back from the floor at all times

[Plasmatopia]

I had an original Guv'nor pedal (that now change hands for ridiculous sums on Ebay) back in the 90s. Sounded fantastic, but the build quality was shocking (this seems to be a regular Marshall theme these days), and it steadily disintegrated on me over time. Wish I still had it, though, as it was a great OD/distortion pedal - very natural and full sounding.

You can pick up used (and modded) Daddy-O's very reasonably on Reverb.

[Plasmatopia]

Too god damned RIGHT I'm humming "that song" right now


You can't tell from the image but the jet afterburners are the rate LEDs.

I don't need this pedal for any sonic purpose but good grief I want it just to have that staring back from the floor at all times

[Gizmotron]

If you are familiar with soldering at all you should modify your pedal. I think you'd be happy with the result.

Ha ha...I am much more "familiar" with STRYMON, WREN AND CUFF, and PIGTRONIX.

I'd have to get awfully bored to bring that Daddy-O back into the rotation. But I do appreciate the encouragement.