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I've had an HT-1 for awhile now and it's a solid, good sounding amp. It takes my pedals just fine but my biggest gripe is the EQ, or lack of it. It just has one knob that they called the ISF knob and it's supposed to switch from an "American" sound to "British". I'd really prefer some proper EQ, but I wanted good sound at low volumes and some tube action at a low price and it's done the job. I'd be lying if I said I haven't been jonesing for something different after having it for nearly 2 years though. I'm just not sure what.
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Jul 30, 2017 23:33
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So I came into a possession of a Korean epiphone LP, and it has been modified in a way I have never seen before. The bridge pickup volume pot, if you turn it all the way down clicks like turning on / off a switch. You can rotate it back up to any volume with no click, but if you turn I need back down to 0: click. Now the strange thing is what the click does! If I'm running both pickups, I turn down the bridge volume and everything seems normal, but then if I get to zero on that, I get the click, then *both* pickups are silent. It basically cuts out the volume of the neck pickup as well. Then when I turn the bridge volume back up, they both come back up. Is there a name for this, and what is the reason for doing this? Obviously it lets you get zero volume on the guitar regardless of what the pickup selector is set to by rolling off one knob, but it seems an odd thing to do. Full disclaimer: I am an idiot, so maybe this common and there are obvious reasons to do this. Also, how does the pot only click in one direction! 
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Jul 31, 2017 00:25
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I don't know about the click, but the muting thing is actually the result of the way the two volume controls work. Pretty much every gibson with 2 volume controls ever has muted when you have one turned all the way down and the middle position. IIRC there are some alternate wiring schemes you can use but they result in weird frequency filter behaviors. e: I mean as far as the click goes I would guess it's a switched pot, those exist, but I have no idea why anyone would use one for that Shugojin fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Jul 31, 2017 |
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Jul 31, 2017 00:36
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Also, it's time to carepost with questions. I've been playing electric and acoustic for four years now, and contemporaneously I constantly bounce back and forth between confidence and inconfidence in my play. I feel like I can at least tread water at this point with a lot of basic material, but I still struggle a lot with more intricate stuff. I know my scales and some theory, and I do the medium and difficult exercises on http://www.guitarcardio.com/ to a metronome, but it still takes me a long while (ten minutes) to get some of them played once correctly through without errors at 120 bpm. I usually practice from half an hour to a few hours every day. Also, when I play songs that I've known for a while, I still often flub it up in places I hit successfully often, like my fingers just don't want to move correctly sometimes on some days. On simple songs with a lot of chordal strumming, I often feel like it sounds wrong in some inscrutable way rhythmically, which may be the result of my strumming too hard. I've been able to learn lead parts like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJExiqyRwRA&t=263s (up through 9 minutes). More chordal songs I can usually manage include Pinball Wizard (I can't think of any others off the top of my head). What I want to know, is is this normal for an intermediate player, and what should I be doing different in order to improve, especially as far as my solidity and consistency? Some songs I should try to learn? Tweezer Reprise fucked around with this message at 00:50 on Jul 31, 2017 |
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Jul 31, 2017 00:43
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Play with some other people.
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Jul 31, 2017 02:10
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Shugojin posted:I don't know about the click, but the muting thing is actually the result of the way the two volume controls work. Pretty much every gibson with 2 volume controls ever has muted when you have one turned all the way down and the middle position. IIRC there are some alternate wiring schemes you can use but they result in weird frequency filter behaviors. The strange thing is that the click drops the volume of the neck pickup to zero even if the switch is neck only.
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Jul 31, 2017 02:14
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Peetown Manning posted:Play with some other people.  I did an adult education band course with four other players (all at least thirty years older than me) upwards of a year ago and it was great, I played well and had a lot of fun! When I go to college in the fall I'm definitely gonna try to start a band or at least find people to jam with. Until then, it's hard to find people!  But yeah, definitely on the agenda!
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Jul 31, 2017 02:17
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Lumpy posted:The strange thing is that the click drops the volume of the neck pickup to zero even if the switch is neck only. Oh, then someone wired a killswitch to the switch portion of the pot. Again not really sure why, most people who want a killswitch want it to be a toggle because that's easiest (or they're Buckethead and use a literal arcade button)
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Jul 31, 2017 11:12
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Maybe it's just meant to be a quick mute without needing to worry about which pickups are active, like when you have a single volume control? Just a practical way of shutting it up on stage, none of this EEEE-EE-EEE-EE-EEEEE stuff
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Jul 31, 2017 12:03
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Anyone give any tips on an errant tuning peg. At least I think that's the issue. My G string never stays in tune. It also feels as if the peg is inconsistent in how it tightens the string. Is tightening the screw in the peg a hood idea or am I better off getting a pro to give it a look over? It's a PRS SE Ace Signature if that's of any help
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Jul 31, 2017 12:04
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Might be worth checking the string isn't catching in the nut slot, that'll make it inconsistent when you're adjusting the tension and it'll go out of tune again when it finally slips through. Rub a pencil in there
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Jul 31, 2017 12:07
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baka kaba posted:Might be worth checking the string isn't catching in the nut slot, that'll make it inconsistent when you're adjusting the tension and it'll go out of tune again when it finally slips through. Rub a pencil in there Not thought of that. What would the pencil do? Lubricate it?
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Jul 31, 2017 12:10
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Serotonin posted:Not thought of that. What would the pencil do? Lubricate it? Yep. Graphite powder lube.
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Jul 31, 2017 12:26
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baka kaba posted:none of this EEEE-EE-EEE-EE-EEEEE stuff Hey, don't make fun of my chord progressions. 
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Jul 31, 2017 13:24
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Serotonin posted:Anyone give any tips on an errant tuning peg. At least I think that's the issue. My G string never stays in tune. It also feels as if the peg is inconsistent in how it tightens the string. Is tightening the screw in the peg a hood idea or am I better off getting a pro to give it a look over? It's a PRS SE Ace Signature if that's of any help What guitar do you have? G-strings on Les Pauls are known for that kind of fuckery, but as said a good nut with well cut slots and lubricated properly (i.e. graphite from a pencil lead) will make it slip over easy. The issue is that it catches and either adds tension on the head side of the nut (if tuning up) or extra slack (if tuning down) which mean after you play that works itself out and you're stuffed. If it's really bad and keeps happening after lubrication, it might be worth getting the nut slots checked (angle, depth, etc.) and/or a new nut (Tusq, etc.)
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Jul 31, 2017 13:35
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Serotonin posted:Not thought of that. What would the pencil do? Lubricate it? Yeah - also you might want to try bending the string a couple times at the 1st or 2nd fret every time you adjust it, before you check the tuning. Helps work it through if it is a little stuck, I automatically do it on every string now After The War posted:Hey, don't make fun of my chord progressions. Look at mr chords over here! Too good to just play a single E note over and over like the rest of us baka kaba fucked around with this message at 13:41 on Jul 31, 2017 |
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Jul 31, 2017 13:39
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Tweezer Reprise posted:What I want to know, is is this normal for an intermediate player, and what should I be doing different in order to improve, especially as far as my solidity and consistency? Some songs I should try to learn? I'm pro lessons, so my suggestion is: Take lessons? If you ask around and explain your situation to a teacher exactly as you did here, they may be able to help you out. I think at the very least it would be a benefit to have a "pro" analyze your playing in detail, because otherwise we'd all just be guessing here as even you yourself can't really tell what the issue is. If nothing else, it would be worth it to spend a few $$'s, take a few lessons just to find out where you are at/what you may need to work on, and then you can decide from there if you need/want to continue or if you got a good "to do" list. In terms of practice, I've learned through my lessons it's not just "time spent" but QUALITY of "time spent". Perfect practice makes perfect etc - doesn't matter if you play 4 hours a day, if you feel like you aren't really progressing then it could be that you aren't practicing in a way that will actually help you improve, if you get my meaning.
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Jul 31, 2017 20:28
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TollTheHounds posted:I'm pro lessons, so my suggestion is: Take lessons? Mhm! I'm aware of my tendency to practice like poo poo, and I try to avoid that. I'm definitely scouting for guitar lessons as well. In other news, it's July, it's hot and humid, and thusly I'm about to learn how to lower the action of my acoustic. Exciting!
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Jul 31, 2017 21:06
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Are skype/online lessons worth anything or would I be better off continuing to just follow along with justinguitar? I feel like I'd like someone guiding me. I read people on reddit saying like "Oh, I've been playing for 10 years but I never improved beyond beginner skill" and I'd really like to avoid that. Also for some reason I can't seem to join takelessons.com so I dunno if there's a better platform out there for online lessons or what.
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Aug 1, 2017 00:44
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Tweezer Reprise posted:
Just my opinion but you have to play and play then play some more until it becomes something more than muscle memory, it becomes something you can do while chatting to someone. That's how I get where I need to be, leg work I suppose  Lumpy posted:Now the strange thing is what the click does! If I'm running both pickups, I turn down the bridge volume and everything seems normal, but then if I get to zero on that, I get the click, then *both* pickups are silent. It basically cuts out the volume of the neck pickup as well. Then when I turn the bridge volume back up, they both come back up. This is just what a lot of Gibson / Epi guitars do (apart from the click) - it's why '50s wiring' is popular because that doesn't do it. It's hit and miss on which models are like that but it's a really normal thing even though it seems stupid. peter gabriel fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Aug 1, 2017 |
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Aug 1, 2017 01:02
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My practice before joining a band (at 23, in 1993) was just buying guitar magazines that had bad tablature in them and then spending the days after school before my Dad came home from work (he wasn't putting up with that noise) playing along with cassettes/CDs. Ear-training and then just trying to play along with a studio song just happened naturally. I never practiced with a metronome and the scales I practiced then I still can't shred today. I suck. This was before mp3s, being able to slow stuff down, and pitch-shift, and all that cool poo poo that you can just do on your phone now, and your practice amp probably has a line in to let you play along. Now, when I want to learn something that's always eluded me (like, how does EVH actually play the riff from Drop Dead Legs) all I have to do is go on YouTube and there's 10 videos. One or two of them are right. I love YouTube, although it sucks being shown how easy some people make it look. Um, get off my lawn or whatever. Lessons are great but you have to find a teacher who's got the right priorities and isn't a fraud. I took bass guitar lessons for a short time, and the focus was fundamental: intervals, the major scale, triads, and the relative modes of the major scale. I never got great at the relative modes but I know enough basic stuff to get the gist of a chord progression. It's served me well enough I guess but I found playing with other (competent) musicians to be the most rewarding practice of all, and a lot of my favorite licks and stuff were mistakes that we made, but resolved them into sounding intentional. You don't get that from playing with an MP3. Finding people to play with, now THAT'S hard, because we all seem to over-evaluate our skills and some more than others. poo poo I could write a thesis on this but if you've ever tried playing with two/three people you've never met before, you already know.
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Aug 1, 2017 01:07
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Dr. Faustus posted:if you've ever tried playing with two/three people you've never met before, you already know. Amen to this. I did a gig a while ago for a guy who I sort of know, our singer knows him well and they asked us to play at his birthday as he's a fan of our poo poo. We got all set up and were all set to have a good giggle of a night, no pressure and chilled times. Then the birthday boy gets on stage and announces 'We're going to have a bit of a jam before the band come s on, so if anyone wants to get up and have a go, please do!' So the only guitars on stage were my pals Gretsch and my Gibsons, and I saw a small group of strangers making their way towards them with fire in their eyes. I of course went 'nope' and sort of dived in front of them and grabbed my guitar to 'jam' with this drunk hippy dude who had somehow already got my pals acoustic on and was strumming away. Anyhoots, the point is he had a capo on like the fourth fret and was playing some mad odd folk chords, so to ensure my stuff wasn't mauled I essentially played one riff over and over again for 20 minutes as anything else I tried was way out of tune, or he was. I'll probably never know. The mission was a success however as no guitars were pawed that day by vagrant hippies
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Aug 1, 2017 01:23
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Mi amigos, How do I get this tone at 1:27: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrhVYVue3vk&t=84s I nearly shat my pants when I heard it for the first time. Is it just insane amounts of power tube distortion? I know there is a bass in there playing the same parts, but the bass is obviously distorted as hell too. Both just feel super tight, yet brutally heavy and fuzzy. Whenever I try getting fuzzy tones I end up with too much sloppiness and looseness.
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Aug 1, 2017 04:06
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Dr. Faustus posted:Finding people to play with, now THAT'S hard, because we all seem to over-evaluate our skills and some more than others. poo poo I could write a thesis on this but if you've ever tried playing with two/three people you've never met before, you already know. I've known some amazing guitarists from the back of beyond who taught themselves alone and they were very hard to play with because they've had no practice with anyone. Good for a cover band that sticks to the letter of the music and that's about all. Playing with others when you're learning is vital, not just as a more truthful measure of your progress, what you learn about what makes a song work and your own creativity can't be taught from a book or even a good teacher. I think this is especially crucial for guitarists because there seems to be a lot out there who don't understand that the band isn't just background for you to noodle in front of. I should add that I learnt to play bass in bands and haven't fronted one often with a guitar, but when I have I was glad I knew what I was doing, there's no bigger fuckup than a bad guitarist.
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Aug 1, 2017 04:31
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Bazanga posted:Mi amigos, If you mean the bit at exactly 1:27, where it sounds kind of weak and thin for a second before the main riff gets going, that sounds like a fuzz pedal either not getting much signal, or maybe a fancy fuzz with a voltage control set low briefly. Not sure if they change the sound after the bass kicks in. But overall it sounds just like a rattier-sounding fuzz. There are plenty that will do that, just don't set them for warm and beefy. It sounds pretty similar to a sound I can get out of my MXR Sub Machine. Their simpler fuzzes might get you there too. Here's an interview, in which they support Bill Ward, proving themselves to be worthy, and also tell you that on guitar it's a Boss Hyper Fuzz and on bass it's some Death By Audio fuzz: http://echoesanddust.com/2014/04/interview-monolord/ Good track. Think I'm going to go buy this.
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Aug 1, 2017 04:31
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that sounds exactly like the fuzz 2 setting on a fz-2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37xKzcjGXHw&t=93s The Muppets On PCP fucked around with this message at 05:32 on Aug 1, 2017 |
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Aug 1, 2017 05:30
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So why is it that the FZ-5 sounds like complete poo poo? Every time I heard someone plug one in at a store I worked at it was disappointing.
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Aug 1, 2017 05:41
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Tweezer Reprise posted:What I want to know, is is this normal for an intermediate player, and what should I be doing different in order to improve, especially as far as my solidity and consistency? Some songs I should try to learn? OK so I'm going to go for a controversial opinion here and say that lessons MAY NOT be the answer. I've gone through many teachers, finally sticking with one for about a 18mo or so - I ended up playing how he played. I don't think this was a conscious decision on his part, but just the natural way in which he teaches what he values/etc. It was hard enough finding someone competent at all as an intermediate (you would be surprised at how few 'guitar teachers' actually know their poo poo - as someone very intermediate I sat down with a guy who said that he had nothing to teach me after mashing through a few barre-chord songs!), so the pickings were slim already. I found a guy who came from a black metal background in the 80's and has since been teaching for 10+ years. He's ultimately following a curriculum and honestly was very enthusiastic, kept lesson notes and plans and generally was excellent. I've kept all my lesson notes for the last 9mo or so, here's the first chunk of those from that period: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17TjJ8rI_W4uHNC0BKpyAYl6mYyjHTrnVtnqQx0p0_Ag/edit?usp=sharing We spent alot of time just running drills of varying degrees of difficulty (scales, modes, chords, rhythm) and then applying that to solos - but spent very little time doing all those things you say that your guitar teacher shouldn't teach you - how to do a particular solo or song. The result was that I have many tools in my arsenal, but have no sense of how or when to use them - and as such they sit mostly unused. When am I ever going to prefer playing an SATB voicing with a 3rd in the bass of a chord on the four middle strings? Never. When am I going to specifically need to jazz count, as opposed to regular count a song? Never. When am I going to need to do three octave diatonic speed scales? Never. I guess what I'm saying is that i didn't know what I wanted, and as such just took a teacher with no real goal and as such got less value than 'I want to play like Van Halen' would have done on my own.
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Aug 1, 2017 06:56
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Bazanga posted:Mi amigos, Dude, I actually saw Monolord live and spoke to the guitarist. Not sure what they used on the album but when I asked him about his pedal board the fuzz he was using live was, I believe, a Ground Control fuzz. From what I saw I'm guessing it's the Locust by Ground Control Audio, and it does indeed seem to fit the sound (he was running through a JCM800 at the time) although rig photos also suggest your usual FZ-2. Altohugh some digging and there's this: http://echoesanddust.com/2014/04/interview-monolord/ Which says yeah, they did use an FZ-2 for that album. Good luck getting one though, I've wanted one for ages and they cost so much and are so rare. Also Monolord are cool and chill guys. Edit: Should've read the whole thread. Beaten, badly. Still I got to gloat about seeing them so that's a win.
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Aug 1, 2017 07:12
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Behringer SF300 is a clone of the FZ-2 which is a clone of the Superfuzz? Cheap as poo poo and definitely gets that sound. OTOH I had a DOD Carcosa for a while and it definitely fit the bill too. I'm just a terrible lovely person who doesn't like his guitar to sound like the soundtrack of Duck Tales on the NES being played through a boombox the other side of a hellgate.
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Aug 1, 2017 13:15
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Weird BIAS posted:So why is it that the FZ-5 sounds like complete poo poo? Every time I heard someone plug one in at a store I worked at it was disappointing. Dunno about the FZ-5 but the FZ-2 and SF-300 are just clones of the superfuzz circuit. They can sound like poo poo if you play the wrong thing or have the wrong settings/amp but they are perfect for some really heavy sounds. Work great with bass too. Google says the FZ-5 is digital emulation of three different fuzz pedals and nothing to do with the superfuzz circuit. It doesn't just emulate a fuzzface or whatever. it tries to emulate tube preamp response too but it has the side effect of making it sound poo poo through small amps and even some larger solid states. My SF-300 was like £10 on ebay and I've used it with a Laney tube amp where it sounded ok but not as good as tube distortion, then tried with a couple different modelling amps. Found it actually works best with a Peavey Max bass crunch channel. low gain with the switch in between positions 1 and 2. Volume on the pedal is set to just a hair over the amp on it's own. Just don't play minor thirds too much, it fucks with the harmonics and sounds as if a recording interface is clipping at random. Can make for a strange bitcrushed+ringmod effect in the middle of a chugging riff but on it's own it's like a bearded robot trying to vomit into a sieve. So yeah if you want that kind of fuzz don't worry about the FZ's just spend half the money on several Behringer SF-300's. If one breaks that's the cost of a cheap bottle of vodka. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAO8BdGgLeo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTu9nAOH9r0 Verizian fucked around with this message at 13:20 on Aug 1, 2017 |
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Aug 1, 2017 13:16
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The Hyper Fuzz is a special pedal to me. When me and my mate very first got our first guitars we wanted a distortion pedal and somehow ended up with one of those each. We had no money back then so it was a big purchase. I'll never forget the look on his face as we plugged in and basically Summer Breeze came out of the amp when we really wanted Enter The Sandman 
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Aug 1, 2017 13:18
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pter garbiela please tell me about your 335
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Aug 1, 2017 13:30
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Southern Heel posted:pter garbiela please tell me about your 335 It's a 1963 reissue, it's an odd guitar. It's not the ones you usually find online as it is custom shop with the MHS pickups and it's also the VOS version, I'll sort of explain this poo poo as shortly as I can. The ones online are pretty much the same but come with burstbuckers / no VOS / none period parts. The VOS is 'Vintage Original Spec' and it's not something I really wanted. VOS has up and downsides, the upside is it feels like a well maintained old guitar right out of the box. It really does too, feels extremely nice. The downside is they use this odd gunk poo poo to give the hardware a fake a patina, it's not the end of the world as it's pretty much all come off mine cos I play the thing but it's something to keep in mind. They go as far as putting fake rust on the screws and poo poo, all this has come off thankfully. I get the feeling it's for the proper bluesdads who pamper their stuff, not for a poo poo kicker like me. It's very accurate as a reissue though, so loads of neat touches like hot hide glue construction, aluminium stop piece, nylon saddles and nut - They really have gone all the way making it as accurate as they can. Even the case is correct, yellow lining. Even the caps and poo poo are period correct, but that's stuff I give zero fucks about. It's maple / poplar ply with spruce bracing and mahogany neck. The finish is Antique Natural and is really nice, and that's what made me get it eventually - it's a nice change from cherry / sunbursts that you see a lot of. It's the only guitar I haven't changed anything on as well, and I won't because they nailed it I feel. The MHS pickups are scatter wound so no two are the same - just like back in the day. Plugged into my amp I can go from jazzy smooth to harsh overdrive with no peddles. It has more sounds in it than anything else I own, by a long way. I can't praise it highly enough to be honest. It's my main guitar and I play every gig with it and it never misses a beat. Action is low, build quality is perfect but more than that it's just good to play and make work. They are meant to be played and are solid as gently caress. Here's a couple of pics!    I've tried everything I can out there that is like a 335 but nothing is really the same, unless you spend big money. I've tried the cheaper routes and while some were great guitars, they were no 335. peter gabriel fucked around with this message at 15:09 on Aug 1, 2017 |
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Aug 1, 2017 15:05
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Just bought a Behringer. This should fit the bill. If not, time to check reverb for an FZ-2. Thanks dudes.
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Aug 1, 2017 19:16
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peter gabriel posted:l Wait wait. You've got like pristine shiny screws and they've just glued on some sprinkles?
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Aug 1, 2017 19:20
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baka kaba posted:Wait wait. You've got like pristine shiny screws and they've just glued on some sprinkles? Tone Sprinkles.
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Aug 1, 2017 19:34
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baka kaba posted:Wait wait. You've got like pristine shiny screws and they've just glued on some sprinkles? They artificially rust them, I dunno, like I say it's not really my thing and I think it's stupid. All the bits of artificial poo poo has come off the pickups and bridge etc through gigging, but the screws are actual rust. I remember reading that they literally have jars of screws in this liquid that rusts them. I think it's dumb and hilarious that this is a thing that happens, but here we are
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Aug 1, 2017 20:07
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Oh all right, that's what I'd have expected. I thought you meant the rust had just wiped off I don't mind the relic stuff, worn guitars look good but I'd want it to be actual wear, not like painted-on distressed effects
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Aug 1, 2017 20:31
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So I'm a picky bastard and decided that my "Cobalt Blue" EC-256 was way too green. A few more came in stock on Sweetwater that look much more like what I was expecting, so I setup an exchange. Luckily Sweetwater is awesome about returns. The green one looks really great, but I like the blue one a lot more. Old one:  New one:  Kinda crazy these are both the same color.
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Aug 1, 2017 20:42
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