OT: Guitar Talk

[blindbaby]

Tough times for Fender:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/b...ging-music-trends.html?_r=1&hp&pagewanted=all

My opinion is that unless you're going to buy a collectors edition, vintage 50's or 60's guitar, Fender might not be your best option. Not to say they're bad guitars, but the copies are JUST as good these days and cheaper. You're paying way to much for the name on the headstock.

That said, I did buy a re-issue Fender Deluxe Reverb amp a couple of years ago. Not to say it's a better amp than others (to be honest, my Seymour Duncan 84-40 with swapped Weber speaker is probably better tone wise), but, it does have the distinctive Fender amp tone which I pretty much said fuck you to logic and pulled the trigger on it.

 

[SLY]

I may be switching over to Gibson myself. I'm beginning to love the Les Paul more than my Strat... Never thought those words would ever be spoken by me.

 

[puckhead]

Even Fender's own $300 Chinese knockoffs (the recent Squier Classic Vibe series) have are phenomenal quality for the money.
I have a tele from that series, and liked so much that I bought a strat even though I didn't need another one.

I can't see spending $1,500 -$2,000 on a mass production guitar (goes for Fender or Gibson) when there are very close quality alternatives for a fraction of the price.
For $2,000, I'd get something boutique like Suhr or Tressart.

 

[SLY]

I'm eyeing a mandolin. Been really getting into folk (celtic, american) lately.

 

[blindbaby]

Just ordered this:

Battery powered guitar amp that I'll pretty much use as a keyboard amp for up at the lake or playing in front of liquor stores for beer money. It has it's own separate keyboard channel as well as a line in and mic channel. Hope it's a killer for a synth as it is for a guitar - like in the youtube demo below; but for slightly less than 100 bucks, you can't go too wrong.


[youtube]/01rVgISZdKE[/youtube]

 

[puckhead]

I have one of these, for out in the woods as well.
tons of fun

 

[blindbaby]

I have one of these, for out in the woods as well.
tons of fun

Cool, Puck. I was pretty much flipping a coin on whether to pull the trigger on the Micro-Cube, Cube Street, or the Vox. The Roland JC 120 is their piece de resistance IMO (although it would just be a sim on the Cube) which really had me leaning towards the Cube, but in the end I saved 30 bucks and put it towards my next purchase (see next post).

 

[blindbaby]

Yes, I know this is a guitar thread, but I felt the need to post what I purchased tonight whilst drinking a tad.

The Plugiator:

Generally, the street price of these puppies is around $400.00; Tom Lee Music in Vancouver has them on right now for ...wait for it....$199.00. Basically, it's a quasi analogue sim of a Mini Moog, Hammond B3 and a Prophet. Amongst most experts, the MiniMoog sim sounds better than Moogs MiniMoog. Yes - you heard that right - better than Moogs Minimoog. Simply because Moog is now emulating the original Mini Moog. The Plugiator actually does a better job (which incidentally, Moog does just fine) of emulating the Mini Moog (now the Voyager), which incidentally, runs about $2500.00 if you're one that just has boatloads of cash and really needs something that says "Moog" on it.

It will probably cost me an additional $100 to get all of the updates I want for this puppy; big whoop.

For you rookies out there wondering why there's no keybed, I have a midi keyboard that I plug into this thing.

 

[blindbaby]

should read:

runs about $2500.00; which should be fine if you're one that............

 

[SLY]

Put in a pre order for this bad boy. Not available till mid-November.

Me and a buddy of mine are going to be putting together a celtic folk group. Gonna be fun to play pubs and shit.

 

[puckhead]

 

[SLY]

Haha puck, those are awesome.

So, for some reason my preorder didn't go through fo the mandolin, and honestly I think I am just going to save up for a nice acoustic guitar. I was thinking an Ovation, I really like the feel of them, but the rounded back gets annoying, and the sound doesn't have that "authentic" acoustic sound to me. Hard to explain. I've been looking into these.

I really like the sound I have heard through videos. Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree (one of my fav bands) uses these. They're like 1100 bucks. Though have yet to hear/see with my own ears/eyes except through a computer screen.

 

[puckhead]

does that string-through thing past the bridge do anything, or is it just aesthetic?

 

[SLY]

does that string-through thing past the bridge do anything, or is it just aesthetic?

Yes, there is also a mechanism to raise or lower the strings on the back side of the guitar body. Supposedly the tone is supposed to be much different with the strings being stretched across the body. It's not just aesthetic. Check out the site. They're pretty cool. The sound is great as well.

 

[SLY]

Babicz Guitars USA - Welcome to the Babicz Guitars USA website

 

[powerchord86]

I have a Peavey 5150 II amp head that I love and was great for gigs when I was still in bands but I have not been in a band or played a gig in five years and am thinking about downgrading as I no longer need that much amp. I have become more of a hobbyist now and I play a lot of rock and metal mostly. Any suggestions? I haven't tried one but a buddy of mine swears by these:

 

[puckhead]

I have a Peavey 5150 II amp head that I love and was great for gigs when I was still in bands but I have not been in a band or played a gig in five years and am thinking about downgrading as I no longer need that much amp. I have become more of a hobbyist now and I play a lot of rock and metal mostly. Any suggestions? I haven't tried one but a buddy of mine swears by these:

are you basically playing in your home now? I have good things to say about Roland's Microcube higher up the page, and blindbaby just got the Vox model (not sure if he's received it yet). I don't have any experience with the Kustom. Al these little micro-amps seem to have plenty of punch for living room playing. My cousin bowwors mine to buck sometimes, and I have brought mine out to play in an a cabin-rock situation (full drums / bass / vocals/ other guitar which are plugged into a mixer & PA), and it cuts through nicely.

 

[powerchord86]

are you basically playing in your home now? I have good things to say about Roland's Microcube higher up the page, and blindbaby just got the Vox model (not sure if he's received it yet). I don't have any experience with the Kustom. Al these little micro-amps seem to have plenty of punch for living room playing. My cousin bowwors mine to buck sometimes, and I have brought mine out to play in an a cabin-rock situation (full drums / bass / vocals/ other guitar which are plugged into a mixer & PA), and it cuts through nicely.

Yeah, just noodling around at home these days. Would be nice to have something I could easliy bring out to the garage on a nice day. Would also be cool if you could still jam for fun once in a while and hear it over a drum set. Hadn't really thought that would be possible with a smaller amp.

 

[puckhead]

Yeah, just noodling around at home these days. Would be nice to have something I could easliy bring out to the garage on a nice day. Would also be cool if you could still jam for fun once in a while and hear it over a drum set. Hadn't really thought that would be possible with a smaller amp.

When we go to jam spaces where we can really crank up, I will bring a bigger amp (and better guitar), but the Roland will cut through a decent volume level (an unmiked drum set, everyone sets their level accordingly) on one of the dirtier settings and with some gain. It would get lost trying to do clean rhythm stuff, i think.

 

[powerchord86]

Sounds like I'll just have to get out and try some Kustom's, Vox's and Roland's.

Thanks puck!