Random (Music and Guitar Related) Thoughts Thread

[Michael_B]

I recently tried to sell an old kitchen table on CL. The offers I got make this look sensible...

[Steve Haynie]

A single guy did that. He might have been married when he started the project, though.

[gorch]

Thats a great idea! Still has table space for a strat and paul though. Does it need more than a cup of tea?

[mrjamiam]

The headstock does say "Kitchen", doesn't it? Kind of inspiring, but my table is oak and only about half as thick.

[Michael_B]

The headstock does say "Kitchen", doesn't it? Kind of inspiring, but my table is oak and only about half as thick.

Perfect for an oak SG.

[LucSulla]

I feel like me and PRSi are just destined to never get along.

I have a house now with a whole spare room for guitars and amps. I spent today futzing around with stuff and falling in love with some of these guitars all over again. My old Les Paul is always great to me, and so is the new one. The Hamer's are all badass, and finally getting to tweak and amp a little to get the best out of the korina standard is awesome. And... well, I guess I don't own anything except Hamers, Gibbys, and one PRS.

The PRS is built great, looks great, and does a lot of great things, but I still find myself playing it for a few and reaching for something else. It's me, not the guitar I'm sure. I really, really want to like DGTs, but I don't know. A month isn't long enough to decide, but I am starting to think PRSi just aren't for me.

[diablo175]

D'ja ever have a brief period where you went through several phases of widely varying levels musical capabilities? Like, from "I'm doing okay here" one day to "holy shit, I totally suck today!" the next and back to "Wow, that's pretty cool!" the following day?

I did. Yesterday, my playing sucked so bad and was devoid of inspiration and passion, I was poised to enter into the 2nd Great Guitar Dormancy of my life wherein I barely pick up a guitar, except in rare times of great inspiration and motivation.

The good news is: I was re-inspired, by Face Book of all places, and I was carried to a new height on the wings of a couple of beloved Hamers. The C³ and my trusty Python of Love have brought me back to the place where I am transformed and reborn in the crucible of rawk guitar.

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

Anyone who ever said (or thought) that Jessica Black's "Friday" was the worst song/video ever obviously never heard "Batdance".

[gorch]

HFC - The best way to meet your buddies with no need to wait until after-work.

Edited January 17, 2016 by gorch

[LucSulla]

After owning a couple of Charvels, a Jackson SL1, and a Diablo, I am glad to be in the Cali club finally.  Who knows if the awesomeness of this guitar will override the impracticality of of a Floyd Rose leading to this being a longterm love affair, but it is easily the best playing "shredder" I've ever owned.  That ebony fret board is beyond perfect. 

[Michael_B]

Jeez, the things we do for our kids.  Here's what's spinning:

[LucSulla]

One day I will be grown up enough to put a towel over my guitar while I solder so I avoid that inevitable ding when I drop the pliers. 

[LucSulla]

Mesa Mark Vs are why I will never own a Kemper or an Axe FX unit.  Not because all that sweet tube sound but because it has taken me literally five years to figure it out.  You almost have to live with the thing a year just to know which part of the manual you need to read to dial in what you don't like.  It's very clever - if you hard bypass the FX Loop circuit, the channel masters act as masters, but the master volume and solo don't work.  But when you do engage the FX loop, the polarity of the amp flips (which is important to know I'm sure, but I still don't know why), the output and solos work, and the channel masters control the FX return.  After discovering this, I finally realized I needed to go back and read that part about flipping the bypass on and off and adjusting the channel master and the FX send until the level was the same when the loop was in or out. 

Amps sounds really good now... and I have a bunch of pedals I probably never needed in the first place.  

All this is to say, as complex (perhaps even overly complex) as a Mark V is, it still has nothing on those digital amps.  And I am confident I would be 90 before I knew how the hell to do anything with them. 

[jettster]

4 hours ago, LucSulla said:

Mesa Mark Vs are why I will never own a Kemper or an Axe FX unit.  Not because all that sweet tube sound but because it has taken me literally five years to figure it out.  You almost have to live with the thing a year just to know which part of the manual you need to read to dial in what you don't like.  It's very clever - if you hard bypass the FX Loop circuit, the channel masters act as masters, but the master volume and solo don't work.  But when you do engage the FX loop, the polarity of the amp flips (which is important to know I'm sure, but I still don't know why), the output and solos work, and the channel masters control the FX return.  After discovering this, I finally realized I needed to go back and read that part about flipping the bypass on and off and adjusting the channel master and the FX send until the level was the same when the loop was in or out. 

Amps sounds really good now... and I have a bunch of pedals I probably never needed in the first place.  

All this is to say, as complex (perhaps even overly complex) as a Mark V is, it still has nothing on those digital amps.  And I am confident I would be 90 before I knew how the hell to do anything with them. 

I don't know the Axe seems to be pretty accurate with the Mesa's, they sound just as crappy in the Axe as they do in real life to me.  Owned one Mesa and that was enough. It seems if you are one of those that posses the ark of the covenant, you can get them to sound great. Us mere mortals are doomed to endless tweaking with Mesa's and suffer in constant disappointment. Glad you found the magic combination, mine is hitting a few power switches, plugging in the guitar and playing, serious smiles ensue.

[diablo175]

9 minutes ago, jettster said:

I don't know the Axe seems to be pretty accurate with the Mesa's, they sound just as crappy in the Axe as they do in real life to me.  Owned one Mesa and that was enough. It seems if you are one of those that posses the ark of the covenant, you can get them to sound great. Us mere mortals are doomed to endless tweaking with Mesa's and suffer in constant disappointment. Glad you found the magic combination, mine is hitting a few power switches, plugging in the guitar and playing, serious smiles ensue.

I'm the last person anyone'd want to take amp advice/recommendations from but my Mesa Roadster 2 x 12 combo was a seeming half ton rubic's cube. And I don't have the patience. Jeffro is quite a fan of his Mesa.

[LucSulla]

9 minutes ago, diablo175 said:

I'm the last person anyone'd want to take amp advice/recommendations from but my Mesa Roadster 2 x 12 combo was a seeming half ton rubic's cube. And I don't have the patience. Jeffro is quite a fan of his Mesa.

As ridiculous as my buying habits can be, the Mark V was the first "nice" amp that I bought, and I bought it new.  Prior to that, I had been playing a Marshall TSL 60 Watt combo for 10 years.  I was in grad school, used all the money I made from working a summer trip, and I really couldn't afford to get rid of the Mark.  I didn't play it much either beyond the occasional studio thing, and none of that was high gain-ish.  

I have very nearly tried to sell it, but I guess I just am stubborn.  I kept thinking, "this amp is built too well and does too much to sound this shitty."  The last two month, I've really been considering it again, but I FINALLY made it sound right. The problem really was all operator error, but coming from Marshall land, running a flag ship Mesa might as well be picking up a new language.  Channel Masters, Presence, and all kinds of stuff simply work completely differently.  Once you crack the code, it all makes sense, and the functionality is quite brilliant.  But the fucking learning curve!  Even the manual says it could take years to figure it out!  

Seriously, if I could have gotten close to my $2300 buck or whatever it was back out of it, I would have dumped it two yeas ago.  However, I am glad that I didn't.  It really is a great amp, but it isn't user friendly at all.  Then again, the damned thing really does make a lot of different noises once you do figure it out. Worth it?  I can't say because I never had a choice either way.  But I have to admit that having an amp that does crystal cleans, tweeds, Marshall-ish grunt, and death metal chunkiness is pretty cool.  I played a bunch of Dwight Yoakam today, changed channels, and played a bunch of Opeth stuff without really touch anything.  That's pretty nifty. 

[django49]

On 1/10/2016 at 10:28 PM, LucSulla said:

I feel like me and PRSi are just destined to never get along.

I have a house now with a whole spare room for guitars and amps. I spent today futzing around with stuff and falling in love with some of these guitars all over again. My old Les Paul is always great to me, and so is the new one. The Hamer's are all badass, and finally getting to tweak and amp a little to get the best out of the korina standard is awesome. And... well, I guess I don't own anything except Hamers, Gibbys, and one PRS.

The PRS is built great, looks great, and does a lot of great things, but I still find myself playing it for a few and reaching for something else. It's me, not the guitar I'm sure. I really, really want to like DGTs, but I don't know. A month isn't long enough to decide, but I am starting to think PRSi just aren't for me.

FWIW, I recently sold a DGT (to someone here). Without putting words in someone else's mouth (too much), he was underwhelmed (initially). A week or so later, with the family out of the house, he turned the volume up a bit. All of a sudden (he told me), "Now I understand!".

You might try the advice of DG himself, who sets up to play with the volume on the guitar down a bit (maybe even 5-6, I think), them rolls it up to where he wants to "cut through". I know there are some guides to his thinking around on line. Maybe PRS DGT demos.

In any case, I would not give up too quickly. Good luck!

[LucSulla]

1 minute ago, django49 said:

FWIW, I recently sold a DGT (to someone here). Without putting words in someone else's mouth (too much), he was underwhelmed (initially). A week or so later, with the family out of the house, he turned the volume up a bit. All of a sudden (he told me), "Now I understand!".

You might try the advice of DG himself, who sets up to play with the volume on the guitar down a bit (maybe even 5-6, I think), them rolls it up to where he wants to "cut through". I know there are some guides to his thinking around on line. Maybe PRS DGT demos.

In any case, I would not give up too quickly. Good luck!

I gave it another month.  Then I traded it with Nathan for a Cali, the most unDGT thing ever.  I love that damned Cali. 

For what it is worth, I played it quite loud quite a bit when I first moved into the house.  It has a great sound, but it just isn't my sound if that makes sense.  

My sound apparently likes zebra-striped spandex still.

[django49]

Just now, LucSulla said:

I gave it another month.  Then I traded it with Nathan for a Cali, the most unDGT thing ever.  I love that damned Cali. 

For what it is worth, I played it quite loud quite a bit when I first moved into the house.  It has a great sound, but it just isn't my sound if that makes sense.  

My sound apparently likes zebra-striped spandex still.

Unfortunate, But I am glad you found something you like better!

[LucSulla]

I've never really liked Dual Recs.  That whole late 90s-00s hard rock scene, from metalcore to nü-metal to post grunge, seemed to just wear these things out.   I also happen to be a huge COC fan and was listening to some just now.  I forgot Woody was probably the first guy I ever heard playing a Dual Rec (which I didn't know for years and years), and I always loved his tone for stoner metal.  It's hard to imagine one on a recording that doesn't sound like Creed or Nickelback, but here it is. I wish more people had used them to get other tones. 

 

Edited March 11, 2016 by LucSulla

[LucSulla]

Hey, it's me demoing an amp with a Hamer Standard.  What is better than an iPhone mic for that?

https://www.facebook.com/jason.cain3/videos/10103633045135517/?l=5727484543179639505

[Michael_B]

[gorch]

On 13. Januar 2016 at 3:08 AM, diablo175 said:

D'ja ever have a brief period where you went through several phases of widely varying levels musical capabilities? Like, from "I'm doing okay here" one day to "holy shit, I totally suck today!" the next and back to "Wow, that's pretty cool!" the following day?

I did. Yesterday, my playing sucked so bad and was devoid of inspiration and passion, I was poised to enter into the 2nd Great Guitar Dormancy of my life wherein I barely pick up a guitar, except in rare times of great inspiration and motivation.

The good news is: I was re-inspired, by Face Book of all places, and I was carried to a new height on the wings of a couple of beloved Hamers. The C³ and my trusty Python of Love have brought me back to the place where I am transformed and reborn in the crucible of rawk guitar.

Dang, I think I'm just at a low right now. In the week I rarely pick up a guitar for weeks now. Although, I had a rhythm I like that's been recorded already. I bought some VST effects to bring the band on to the PC too. It doesn't get me on to make the song out of it I have in mind. Actually, I barely do anything useful musically right now. At this low point even bought a guitar. Gratefully it is a Standard and I didn't do any stupid. I really hope it all lifts me to another level as you describe.

[diablo175]

6 hours ago, gorch said:

Dang, I think I'm just at a low right now. In the week I rarely pick up a guitar for weeks now. Although, I had a rhythm I like that's been recorded already. I bought some VST effects to bring the band on to the PC too. It doesn't get me on to make the song out of it I have in mind. Actually, I barely do anything useful musically right now. At this low point even bought a guitar. Gratefully it is a Standard and I didn't do any stupid. I really hope it all lifts me to another level as you describe.

I find that inspiration helps. Whatever inspires you to want to play is the secret to getting past the low point. It can come in many forms. For me, it's usually watching footage of other players I respect or admire. Sometimes, it's hearing musical items I've created in the past and now hear potential in for revisiting.

Keep at it, Gorch.

 

[LucSulla]

Still cleans up nice.