Gear WANT thread

[Fantuzzi]

My Jackson came with coloured balled strings, after I changed them to Ernie Ball superslinky's, I noticed now how good the other strings compared in terms of their lifespan.

I think they must have been D'addario's, I thought it might have been Fender strings but they don't seem to do NPS strings without bullet ends.



Also Id like one of the Fender Pro series cases, black but with the Red insides, rather than just black, all I can see on the Fender site is black with orange...

[Fantuzzi]

Mastodon2 said:

Fantuzzi said:

My Jackson came with coloured balled strings, after I changed them to Ernie Ball superslinky's, I noticed now how good the other strings compared in terms of their lifespan.

I think they must have been D'addario's, I thought it might have been Fender strings but they don't seem to do NPS strings without bullet ends.



Also Id like one of the Fender Pro series cases, black but with the Red insides, rather than just black, all I can see on the Fender site is black with orange...

I just D'Addario 09s on my Ibanez K-7 last week. One thing I noticed, they are listed as "super lights" - when the fk did that happen? Perhaps my memory is playing tricks on me, but 9s were always "medium" weren't they? Whenever I bought a guitar, they've always come with 09s on them, this is evident at the first string change when I'd put D'addario 9s on them and the floating trem would not need even a mm of adjustment. The exception to this is my Ibanez K-7 which came with 11s and was factory tuned to ADGCFAD.

07s - super light
08s - light
09 - medium
10 - heavy
11+ - super heavy

I have a good mind to complain to ISO about this!

Speaking of D'addario, I've always liked their strings. I've tried all the big players and always gone back to Ds. Ernie Balls I found went dead way too fast, and I once foolishly spent money on Elixer Nanoweb strings, which sounded crap out of the packet, and lasted for ages, which was a more a curse than a blessing, as they sounded naff.

Ah I never knew there was a change, perhaps it was to do with making it harder for the counterfeit ones? Seems to be a lot about counterfeit ones online, they have even produced literature on it.

Ive always been an ernie Ball guy, but that said never did a lot of swapping and changing, managed to get a load of superslinky packs cheap from a guitar shop which wasn't doing so well so I got a lot of things really rather cheap!The super Slinkys I've got on at the moment seem to have gone really quickly, compared to the strings it was strung with. Will try some D'addarios see if they're any better after Ive used up my pink packs.

I remember being at a friends house, he lent me a strat copy for a jam, the strings were so bad I just my finger on my picking hand!

What guitars do you have at the moment Mastodon talking of your Universe?

[Fantuzzi]

Mastodon2 said:

Fantuzzi said:

Ah I never knew there was a change, perhaps it was to do with making it harder for the counterfeit ones? Seems to be a lot about counterfeit ones online, they have even produced literature on it.

Ive always been an ernie Ball guy, but that said never did a lot of swapping and changing, managed to get a load of superslinky packs cheap from a guitar shop which wasn't doing so well so I got a lot of things really rather cheap!The super Slinkys I've got on at the moment seem to have gone really quickly, compared to the strings it was strung with. Will try some D'addarios see if they're any better after Ive used up my pink packs.

I remember being at a friends house, he lent me a strat copy for a jam, the strings were so bad I just my finger on my picking hand!

What guitars do you have at the moment Mastodon talking of your Universe?

At the moment the only guitar I've got is my Ibanez K-7, which in truth is not far from the Universes I lust after. Mahogany body on the K-7 vs basswood on the UV, slightly different bridge, different pups though both guitars use Dimarzios, and the K-7 has a unique neck profile. Tbh I've owned a lot of guitars across a range of styles, and I've sold them all, they simply seem surplus to requirements when I've got my K-7, which does just about everything I want it to. I probably won't buy an more 6 string guitars, as I just find the lack of a low B too limiting - 7 strings has become the default layout for me. I was playing a 6 string a few weeks back, having not played anything other than 7s for months, and found it very unnatural to me, the "missing" string totally threw me off. Now I sort of understand why 6 string players feel so lost at sea when they play 7s, despite it not being a different instrument, just an extra string, I suppose it all depends on what you're used to and what you're willing to try and learn and incorporate into your playing.

The only 6 string guitar I'd ever buy now would be a Fender Yngwie Malmsteen strat, USA or Japan built - I don't care which really, I've had one before and it's the only guitar I've regretted selling, or wanted back after it was gone. That went off to a YJM strat collector in Germany who had over 60 of them, of different production years and country of origin etc, and I did make a profit on it. At the time, it was the right thing to do, but I will have another at some point. In general, I wouldn't have another 6 string, YJM excluded, as they come as love affairs; guitars I want, so I buy them, only to find that while objectively good instruments they simply don't meet my requirements. As said, the YJM is exempt to this as it's such a unique instrument and works well for me and my style of playing in a way that other 6s don't.

Tbh if it came down to having the money there to buy either another YJM or a UV, I really don't know what I'd do. I think getting the UV77MC would edge it, as it's been the guitar I've always wanted, like a holy grail that I've wanted for years, even though it wouldn't be all that different to my K-7, but I think having "that" guitar would just make it irresistible. The YJM on the other hand, is vastly different in tone and playability to my K-7. I guess I'll just have to own all 3.

Funnily enough I've always been a one guitar sort of person, I think because I was picky getting my first guitar, so Ive always had high standards. I first got an electric after playing for about 3-4mounths on a classical I was given by my school, they had frankly too many of these cheap classical guitars and they were just stored away in massive cupboard going to waste so a teacher just told me to take one.

So when I was going to get my electric I wasn't in the mode of 'just buy something to get you going' as I was loving playing and knew I wasn't going to stop. So I was really picky, I bought a Cort X2, which was £180, the parts were cheap but played like a far more expensive guitar, most friends/teachers who played on it were pretty surprised at the price. I was/am quite hard on guitars after that, so when it came to get another guitar after a couple of problems that come with a cheaper guitar mainly electrics on the cort, I was a really harsh judge on any guitar I picked up. mid range Ibanez, charvels, fenders, there wasn't much that I was impressed both in feel and sound with.

So I started to think that to get the sound and feel I wanted, I would have to look at a more expensive guitar, I started to look at the Jackson Soloists but the painted necks really put me off. But then I heard some good things about the Dinky's JS32s, I liked the look of them especially with the reversed headstock, and managed to find a store that was able to get one in without an obligation to buy. After playing it I was really impressed, I was expecting the pickups to be the weak spot, but they were actually rather good. I think the reason why I was impressed was that a lot of the parts (apparently) that went on the latest Dinky JS32s were from the old Pro Series models, so perhaps that's why.

But I tend to not use price, or brand, as any sign of quality. As many modern Gibson owners will know...

I will have to try one of the Yngwie strats as like you, people seem to rave about them.

Although my next purchase will be something 80s charvel-y with a trem.

[Fantuzzi]

Baryonyx said:

Today's obsession must be with the Jackson Soloist Bengal Tiger.



I could just imagine flying through the outro solo of CAB's 'Bernard' on one of these...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5vL39j6UK8

I think you've mentioned this feline obsession before...

I'm not too familiar with them, were they a special edition or is it just the graphic on a modern soloist?

[Fantuzzi]

JaymzDead said:

and so ampquest goes on! Had a go on an Orange Dark Terror and good god you can get a great high gain distorted sound through it! It's bloody inhuman!! However it has one (admittedly rather large) drawback for me, it is a single channel amp and being that the stuff that we're doing can go from the full on Neurosis style sludgy stuff into clean passages and back again I can't really see this amp working for me, which is a shame So it looks like the Blackstar HT-5 Metal is still favourite, my only concern about this being it's suitability for using for pub and small club gigs, I'm specifically worried about being heard over the drums, any thoughts, again would be greatly appreciated.

I wouldn't worry, most find it very loud for its size, It should be find, at least I found it very capable in jams with the ministack (so two 10inch cabs) and from what I've heard its very, very gigable. Perhaps sign up to a bigger site like Ultimate guitar or music radar (although I think that last one has had forum troubles) and ask for some advice from those with experience giging the ht5 head.

From one of your posts a while ago you were thinking of going with a bigger 4x12, which should be a good idea as you can have some more flexibility, plus most medium size gigs will be using PAs (hopefully!).

Have you had any thoughts on what cab you will couple with, I think the Orange is meant to be good value given its got Vintage 30s.

[Fantuzzi]

Gaspode said:

Whenever I see a guitar with a hairband around the zero fret, I tend to immediately form an opinion of the guitarist.

I understand that not everyone is able to perfect their muting techniques ( and I freely admit I'm one of them) but I ask you, a hairband?

Would Stevie Ray Vaughn have used a hairband? I don't bloody think so!

Edited by Gaspode on Tuesday 8th October 20:44

It's for 8 finger/two handed tapping with distortion, lots of great guitarists use it, especially when playing high volume to prevent excess noise during hammering on 'from nowhere'.

You don't really need it unless you're using 8 finger/two handed tapping. I don't think SRV uses that technique, although I'm not overly familiar with his work.

[Fantuzzi]

Mastodon2 said:

Gaspode said:

Would Stevie Ray Vaughn have used a hairband? I don't bloody think so!

Edited by Gaspode on Tuesday 8th October 20:44

Interesting you should perceive it in that fashion - whether a moderately talented blues banger like SRV would have used one is probably irrelevant (did he do much two handed tapping? I can't remember ever basic tapping in his music, not that I'm saying he didn't do it!), I think if SRV were still alive he'd be the first to admit that Howe's command of the instrument vastly outstripped his own, in which case I'd be tempted to say that there are much more important things to focus on than hair band or no hair band. And as Fantuzzi already rightly pointed out, once you have a certain amount of gain going on and you are doing a lot of out of nowhere hammer ons, no muting technique will clean it up, unless you happen to have 3 hands.

Its a bh of a technique to 'keep' nailed down, I got it down a couple of months ago, but after a couple of sessions of not practicing it on more that two strings (or skipped strings so from A to B rather than B to E, E to A etc). You can get around the excess noise issue a little by switching to neck pickup, using reverb to clean it up, but its quite deceptively hard as the mechanics of the technique are easy (ish!) but controlling excess noise is the hard part, on a clean tone you think you're nailing it, switch on some gain and you realise why its a revered technique when done cleanly.

I don't think Chris Broderick (of Megadeth, rather famous for his great 8 fingered work) uses one, but then its all down to the tone/what effects you are running.

[Fantuzzi]

Monty Python said:

Fantuzzi said:

Some very Early Moog?

ARP2500 modular with a couple of wing cabinets.

Ah thanks!

[Fantuzzi]

Gaspode said:

Fantuzzi said:

It's for 8 finger/two handed tapping with distortion, lots of great guitarists use it, especially when playing high volume to prevent excess noise during hammering on 'from nowhere'.

You don't really need it unless you're using 8 finger/two handed tapping. I don't think SRV uses that technique, although I'm not overly familiar with his work.

Just making fun mate, I know why they do it.

Sorry I hope I didn't come across as patronising, I thought you were confused why it was there.




I think I know what cab I would want to pair with my Lionheart head of savage 'want'

Not sure what colour to have the Zilla Fatboy in, perhaps in a dark purple plus zilla will put the same cover on your head if you ask nicely...or pay.

But then the blue of the laney does look supercool.


Fatboy 2x12, with vintage 30s methinks.

[Fantuzzi]

Gaspode said:

Fantuzzi said:

Sorry I hope I didn't come across as patronising, I thought you were confused why it was there.




I think I know what cab I would want to pair with my Lionheart head of savage 'want'

Not sure what colour to have the Zilla Fatboy in, perhaps in a dark purple plus zilla will put the same cover on your head if you ask nicely...or pay.

But then the blue of the laney does look supercool.


Fatboy 2x12, with vintage 30s methinks.

But then again there's nothing like a 4 x 12 cab for the genuine punch in the guts sensation, so I reckon you need a Lionheart 412 in blue

True. Apparently the zilla 2x12s are rather loud for a 2 speaker unit.

The G12H'S in the laney sound a little sharper, but not as harsh as I thought, now I'm not so sure about the speaekers.

Perhaps a Zilla 4x12, although that might be nearly 700 english pounds once Ive added speakers, whatever they might be...

[Fantuzzi]

Gaspode said:

Baryonyx said:

It wasn't me that said it, but I wouldn't really rate him at all. I could fall asleep listening to him play, he just seems to plod along like so many blues players. No real passion, no fire, little in the way of soul, very basic guitar playing and song writing. Not that I listen to a great deal of blues, because I find the common progressions quite tired and tedious. But if I did wanted to listen to some blues playing, I'd sooner opt for a John Mclaughlin or Frank Gambale tune (of their bluesy output, anyway). Music on a whole new level of sophistication than SRV's stuff.

Of course, since his death he has been deified and there are many, many listeners willing to White Knight on his behalf, so the point that to suggest he was anything less than incredible is akin to killing a sacred cow. Whilst I don't personally rate his playing, he had a tremendous influence on a generation of players including luminaries like Shawn Lane and Eric Johnson.

The most important thing to remember though, and something I always stress, is to ignore what others think of certain players and just listen to what you like, otherwise you are just making an exercise of listening to music.

To be perfectly honest, SRV isn't my guitar player of choice either, but to me he embodies the raucous blues spirit - music played for the hell of it, to get people feeling and moving, not as an intellectual exercise in complexity.

His influence has been indeed great, players like Kenny Wayne Shepherd (who as far as I can see is a straight reincarnation), and Andy Timmons can be added to the list. Andy Timmons rates SRV very highly as does Paul Gilbert. Now those guys I admire enormously.

From a bluesly point, I've always preferred Gary Moore for my blues guitar, real soul to his work, wasn't just jamming a 12bar, his notes really screamed with feeling. Of course its subjective, but he really appealed to me, and seemed to have a breadth of ability in his playing that meant he could really write great stuff.

On topic,

Really want one of these
http://www.tcelectronic.com/ditto-looper/

Would make writing so much easier by myself.

Also want a Laney Klipp, but apparently they blow up a lot....

[Fantuzzi]

scrubchub said:

Fantuzzi said:

Really want one of these
http://www.tcelectronic.com/ditto-looper/

Would make writing so much easier by myself.

Also want a Laney Klipp, but apparently they blow up a lot....

Looks great. Not sure when I'd use a loop pedal in the 'real world', but I've always thought one would be very handy when I'm teaching, especially for giving demonstrations of different scales and modes.

Yeah its mainly for home use, for teaching its meant to be great, Guthrie Govan said how he mainly uses his in clinics. But just having the ease of over laying parts, its got a 5 min loop!

Justin Cyder said:

They're nothing new, that KT Tunstall record, Black horse & the Cherry tree was done on an Akai Headrush loop pedal. My Hardwire DL-8 delay pedal has a loop function & I can never get it to stay in time very well.

Asking around, this seems a common issue with loop pedals, some are better than others to use but I would certainly try a few out before parting with cash.

Yeah I've been aware of them for a while, but was surprised by the size and price, and given its unlimited over dubs and 5 minute playback seem rather good for what you are getting.

But as you have said, best to shop around with these things.

[Fantuzzi]

Chimune said:

Fantuzzi said:

scrubchub said:

Fantuzzi said:

Really want one of these
http://www.tcelectronic.com/ditto-looper/

Would make writing so much easier by myself.

Also want a Laney Klipp, but apparently they blow up a lot....

Looks great. Not sure when I'd use a loop pedal in the 'real world', but I've always thought one would be very handy when I'm teaching, especially for giving demonstrations of different scales and modes.

Yeah its mainly for home use, for teaching its meant to be great, Guthrie Govan said how he mainly uses his in clinics. But just having the ease of over laying parts, its got a 5 min loop!

Justin Cyder said:

They're nothing new, that KT Tunstall record, Black horse & the Cherry tree was done on an Akai Headrush loop pedal. My Hardwire DL-8 delay pedal has a loop function & I can never get it to stay in time very well.

Asking around, this seems a common issue with loop pedals, some are better than others to use but I would certainly try a few out before parting with cash.

Yeah I've been aware of them for a while, but was surprised by the size and price, and given its unlimited over dubs and 5 minute playback seem rather good for what you are getting.

But as you have said, best to shop around with these things.

A fortuitous mention as my old man said just a week ago: 'go get me a looper boooy' and I was about to get him a Vox lil looper. but the Boss RC3 seems good too. Then I keep reading about Tunstall and her Headrush. Now I don't know what to get !
The main reason I initially had the Vox in mind is that it has a mic in and my dad plays sax. Also he is old and I presumed that doing everything with one pedal is harder than the spread out nature of the Vox.
Anyone tried them ?

I'm not an expert, but the TC electronics ditto pedal one is just one pedal one button, you can over dub it indefinitely and it goes for 5 mins, which I think is pretty long.

Have an hour on youtube there will be enough vids online of reviews I would have thought, as Im guessing finding stores that have them might be a bit of pain to try out.

[Fantuzzi]

King Crimson - Discipline CD.

Cant find it in stores anywhere.

[Fantuzzi]

Seeker UK said:

Fantuzzi said:

King Crimson - Discipline CD.

Cant find it in stores anywhere.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Discipline-King-Crimson/dp/B00064WSNW

I don't really buy much online, bit of a luddite,in stores like HMV they tend to do the whole 3 for 15quid things. Which is better.

[Fantuzzi]

B17NNS said:

RedLeicester said:

Wow. Now that is cool.







What is it?

Looks like the Hifi for the Tardis!

[Fantuzzi]

I want a Suhr SSH+ bridge pickup, although I think I will use the Guthrie Govan name for it - The Power Tiger!

[Fantuzzi]

The suhrs are rather tasty, the modern frost colours look surprisingly good for matt, plus 'snowblind' is such a good name for white...

http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/electric_guitars_det...

Really would be tempted to splash out if it had a black head stock.

Really been fancying a JEM recently, in pink. 777VSK to be precise.

[Fantuzzi]

Just made the mistake of looking at the Jackson custom shop spec options...

Lots of want there, serious want. A mahogany bodied soloist with a natural neck would be y basic pick, but then when you start adding stuff up you realise how pricey this stuff can be...

[Fantuzzi]

I've been thinking about a project guitar...

http://www.kramerguitars.com/Products/Baretta-Spec...



+




+

SSH+ Suhr



+ Purple paint - like this SoCal



Ultimate DIY 80's cliché!