***The Official Guitar Thread***

Soldato
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5 May 2004
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Northern Ireland
Thanks to Danny and SilverFox for those comments. It sounds like the biggest improvement for us is to look at a bassist to try and help time down the timings.

We'll see if we can get one and go from there, thanks again.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
29 Mar 2003
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Stoke on Trent
Nice! I just plumped the best part of £60 to finally buy guitar pro... after years of free trailing it every so often.

Really need to get some solid practice in. I'm terribad these days.

Tab Pro basically works exactly like Guitar Pro which I've used for well over a decade but more handy. My only gripe is that it hasn't got a keyboard on.
I've been given 6 songs to learn for next thursday and I was through them in 1 hour with Tab Pro.
 
Man of Honour
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I've been fiddling with my Mesa Boogie for a year and getting good tones out of it is admittedly really hard... but I have today stumbled upon the holy grail! The AJFA / Black Album (Sexy Grey Fox - I mean 'Metallica') tone! Before anyone gets crabby they are essentially they same but the Black Album got the better mix :p

The secret? Getting a tube screamer in front - setting gain to zero but volume high. It sort of compresses the signal so all notes go through the boogie at the same volume, which makes the correct notes 'pop' out. I've tried this before to mixed results but it's a total crap shoot with the Mesa... can sound godly one day then terrible the next. It's only when you get everything just right it sounds great.

Very pleased :)
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Jun 2012
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5,951
Any suggestions for a moderately priced hollow body?

Selection for a lefty is few and far between, two I have my eye on are either the Gretsch Streamliner or the Ibanez Artcore Vintage.

Cheers.
 
Man of Honour
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29 Mar 2003
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Stoke on Trent
I've been fiddling with my Mesa Boogie for a year ....

I'm going back many years when one of the first Mesa Boogie's came into the country but I traveled to Wishers in Derby with my mate who had £1600 in cash to buy it. He spent 2 hours trying to get a decent sound out of it but failed. We went into another room and he plugged a guitar into a 30 watt valve Marshall, got the sound immediately and left with that :)

I must admit this Roland GR55 I have is the best toy I've ever bought in 47 years of gigging. I go to rehearsals, think of a sound I need and come home and make it. eg I wanted a 12 string acoustic with a sitar behind it for Across The Universe by The Beatles - it sounds awesome but playing live with the band will see if it's any good. I also needed a SRV tone for Bowie's Let's Dance guitar solo and I think I've nailed it.

My guitarist has just bought an Electro Harmonix C9 pedal which emulates organ tones. We now have 3 of us in the band that can play organ sounds.
It came in useful for one song where we both played strat tones with me chugging and him strumming while the keyboard player switches from organ to piano and back again. He went onto his Hammond tone, the keyboard player stayed on piano and I chug and strum which has now improved the song 100%.
 
Man of Honour
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@SexyGreyFox The Roland sounds very cool :) I think the digital tech has got to the point now where it's indistinguishable from the real deal.

As for the Mesa, I consider myself a relatively switched on guy but Christ - I had no idea how hard it was going to be to dial in....
 
Man of Honour
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@SexyGreyFox The Roland sounds very cool :) I think the digital tech has got to the point now where it's indistinguishable from the real deal.

I now use one of my powered Behringer monitors as the amp/speaker. I was trying to use it through my Blackstar on the cleanest setting I could find but my mate suggested going through one of my spare Mackie full range powered speakers which improved the sound 100x. I then decided I needed a bit more control on tone so tried on of my monitors and never looked back.
My guitarist has always been a Strat into a Marshall/Fender valve ever since the early 80s but he now has a Blackstar ID60 which he reckons is the best sounding amp he's ever owned, coming from him that was a hard statement to make. It will take a long time to get him to a GR55 but he never stops admiring what I get out of it.
Last week we were doing a song and he said "A 12 string Rickenbacker would sound good on that" so I dialled it in and he was gobsmacked. "Can you put a Hammond behind it?", 1 minute later the sound is there. I'll be buggered if the pedal breaks on stage though. Even some of my tunings are done by the pedal. Drop D, Eb, G (as though I've got a capo on), DADGAD and open G using 5 strings (like Keith Richards).
 
Caporegime
Joined
24 Dec 2005
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Autonomy
Just bought a Variax Standard based on the Pacifica...so disappointed...however many adjustments I made I just couldn't get rid of the horrible fret buzz...

Got it for 345 quid as a b stock item...thought it was worth a punt...

Garbage so returned it. :(
 
Man of Honour
Joined
29 Mar 2003
Posts
56,812
Location
Stoke on Trent
Just bought a Variax Standard based on the Pacifica...so disappointed...however many adjustments I made I just couldn't get rid of the horrible fret buzz...

Got it for 345 quid as a b stock item...thought it was worth a punt...

Garbage so returned it. :(

My Dad has the same one and his plays really well.
Oh, the Pacifica one, my Dad's is the JTV series.
Both of my Variax's are on loan because I now use two Strat's with MIDI pickups.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
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Stoke on Trent
Will it fit on a Epiphone SG? Have you hardwired yours?

I need pics please :)

It should fit in the Epiphone - check this site out - www.telemods.co.uk

I threw this together with all genuine Fender parts and this is the best guitar I've played in 47 years of gigging - it plays like a dream.
Also the first time I've used Ernie Ball 9s because for decades I've used Dean Markley 10s.

guitarfendermidi.jpg
 
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