SteveB

I used to do amateur astronomy for a hobby. We had people who spent their time looking at stars, and people who spent all their time at night building telescopes. Same thing.

and if there wasn't already a small enough market for a 5 neck guitar.... lets paint it SALMON PINK!

Selections from some of my favorite rock albums: Gotta have some Kings-X on this thread: Dogman Robin really needs to work on that guitar face: Primus sucks! Jerry Steven Tyler is just a little bit baked: Seasons of Wither The Rev: Cheap Sunglasses She's got a date at Midnight... with Nosferatu: Black #1 Type O also does the best covers: Cinnamon

Classical guitar goodness from Rodrigo Y Gabriela...

Music is art not science. I am definately a techhead, but while knowing a bunch of specs about a guitar might give me an idea that it *might* work ok for me, until I pick it up and play it I'll never know for sure. And sometimes I get surprised when a guitar works well for me that I would have never expected, go figure. And why is it that I can deal with certain specs on Acoustics that would drive me nuts on electrics? Guitarist and guitar are a system for producing art... and the art produced can change depending on how the guitar and guitarist function as a unit. No measurements are going to show what happens when any individual picks up any particular guitar. I've owned alot of guitars, some cheap, some more expensive; but ever since I bought it the one I always pick up first is my PRS CE 24. I can give you some opinions of why that is, but all that I really know is that when I play that guitar it feels and sounds "right" to me. And that is all that really matters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRMsenNRKHQ

+ more I always hated the way non-recessed floyds look, hanging way off the top of the guitar. Recessing is the *classy* way to mount it.

truck was overloaded as it was. The mark IV/EVM12L combo woulda had it dragging butt!

yeah, figured out the problem with that later, of course. Sometimes the PODs have an issue with hot pickups... I should have cut down the gain on the patch I was using, or run into my valvulator to buffer it. Now sitting in Hays KS, getting ready to go to Salinas and turn South. Got out of colorado way later than expected.

I don't disagree that many people find tube amps more pleasing to their ear, but I have a hard time believing that a tube design can beat solid state at "linearity in tracking", ie, if you consider linearity to mean changes in output level corresponding directly to changes in input level. That at least should be measurable. I'm not saying that maybe tubes arn't somehow better, but it seems counter-intuitive. In fact, arn't Sag and Bloom basically describing NON-linear behavior in output verses input?

I'm not sure I buy that. Outside of the pro-audio and musician camps, is there any audio equipment out there using tubes because they are more "accurate"?

thats presuming you want power tube distortion in your sound. A jazz guy might argue that 300 watt solid state is better because the amp won't lose the clean headroom as it turns up. Its also important to clarify that DSP Modelling is not even remotely the same as the old definitions of "solid state". It doesn't clip transformers or even FETS, it converts the incoming guitar signal to digital, processes it, and turns it back to analog. These discussions are really alot like the digital verses film debate in photography. In fact, both are different mediums, and attempting to use digital in the same way as film, or vice versa, doesn't work. You have to learn the correct way to use either media, and they both have pluses and minus. Only you can decide which works for you, and quite frankly everyone elses opinion is basically meaningless because they operate under a different set of needs, desires, and biases than you do. Trust your ears and how an amp feels to you to play.

well, if you can't explain why it's better, maybe it isn't. Better is subjective. Some people say that tubes sound "warmer". Some people like the qualities of "Sag" and "Bloom" that are effects of a tube power section and rectifiers running at distortion levels. Some people say that Tube amps "cut through the mix" better, which I always thought was mostly an EQ problem rather than something inherent in the amp. Some people don't like tube rectifiers because they can effect the note attack, while others love that tube rectifiers can effect the note attack. It's also not possible to just categorically say that "tube amps are better than solid state". I've heard crappy versions of both, and great versions of both. I like tube amps, but I don't like all the crap that goes with them like weight, heat, variability depending on the power in the room, variability just cuz, and picking up bad AM radio stations. On the other hand, tube amps rule at getting musical feedback.

Yeah, I like the look of this guy: once I get settled into a house again I might have to give the MTS stuff a try.

You could always hook up to a pair of power speakers at that point ala JBL Eons or the Mackies. Yup, gotta pair of Mackie SRM450's that work great for that.

POD works great for me, although I've never been a tube "purist" anyway. I like the more controllable and consistent results, and I also like the fact that I'm hearing the same thing the audience is hearing. I'm not the kind of player that relies on bloom or sag. It is nice to "push air" once in a while though, although then you get that fun effect that the sound is different depending on where you are in relation to the cab. At some point though I might have to play around with the Randall MTS stuff.

just sold all my Tubes. They were sitting in a Mark IV, Subway Rocket, and Traynor YBA. Played our last gig with POD XT/Live -> PA. Used one patch based on Soldano and controlled the amount of distortion with pickup selections and volume. Tastes great, less filling. At least the Tech21 doesn't kill me carrying it around like the Mark IV/EVM 12-L combo. Down to these:

check yer email.

well, $345 shipped for a USA Diablo is pretty much in the range of what those go for, so I'm not sure you could flip it for much profit. Besides, if it didn't go for more than $345 the first time on the bay, what would make it go for more the second time? Sometimes you get lucky and stumble on something that other people have ignored either because of a bad ad or bad keywords, or a questionable seller, but usually ebay is pretty good indication of market value. It goes in waves, so you could maybe hold it a while and wait for a resurgence in Diablo prices, but I know the Diablos I've bought in the past have all been in that same price range. Its possible to make money doing it, look at www.chrisguitars.com or www.jcguitars.com. However, usually you arn't going to be able to do straight flips. In any flipping business, your best bet is to buy below market products that need some work, add value by cleaning and repairing them, and then selling them at market. Personally, I think there is way too much effort involved in doing that for guitars with not so much return.

I was in an MGR the other day and saw a Taylor 110 dread on the wall. This is like the lowest end Taylor you can get ( besides the baby's) , but It sounded fricken great, I was shocked. And MGR only wanted HFC approved $350 for it. I didn't get it since I don't need a dread, but if anyone is looking for dreads these things are definately worth a look. A new they only run around $700 I think.

Taylors play more like electric's than any other acoustics I've played anyway. I ran into a Taylor 110e dreadnaught ( their simplest line ) at a MGR for 350 bucks the other day and it sounded killer. No electronics though, and no cutaway if you need it. I picked up my 414ce for $1000 when a Mars went out of business. It's a great guitar for finger style stuff but not really built for dread style chording.

The wood is magnitudes more important in an acoustic over an electric. Even two of the same make and model might sound quite different, so you have to be willing to just try a ton of them before you buy an acoustic. I would never buy an acoustic without playing it first. As mentioned, go to a specialty acoustic store. a few years back I wanted to replace my old student yamaha that I'd had since I was about 14 and bought for like 80 bucks. I set a price limit of 500 and went out shopping. I swear I tried nearly everything in that price category and couldn't believe I couldn't find a guitar that sounded as good as my old beat up plywood topped small bodied Yamaha. I think that sucker aged well, but it played like crap, so I kept looking around. In the 500'ish range I only liked the Seagulls, but I was hoping to get something with piezo electronics. The vast majority of import acoutics sounded like utter crap to me. I decided to double my price and started looking around again before I ran into a Mars music that was closing down and found a Taylor 414CE priced way down. For me, the guitar works great and sounds great, because I usually finger pick on acoustic. It wouldn't work for hamering out chords though, you kinda need a dreadnaught sized body for stuff like that. Anyway, finding a good acoustic that speaks to you can be tough.

Billy Gibbons Dusty Hill Frank Beard or Doug Pinnick Ty Tabor Jerry Gaskill Alternatively, for a guitar only group I'd have to go with 6 cuz I don't know who I'd leave out.. Joe Perry Brad Whitford Robin Trower Billy Gibbons Ty Tabor Tony Iommi or, If I was in a Jazz Mood Joe Pass John Scofield Charlie Hunter

Condolences Bill, that can't be easy.

the rub on the "Cold Heat" is that it gets hot enough to melt the solder but doesn't get the metal heated for proper bonding. Ie, a Cold Solder Joint as TT mentioned. If thats the case then I'm sure you'd be screwed trying to get anything to stick to a pot. Haven't actually tried it myself though, I'm perfectly happy with my dual heat Radio Shack solder station.