cammojodragon's Forum Posts

Thanks for your help, pal. I'll send a few messages/offers to sellers, see what I get back, and work from there! Aiming for the Fernandes for now but we'll see what happens

Thanks for the advice. If I might trouble you one more time, what do you make of this one? Really really liking the look of this one and the shipping is less extreme https://reverb.com/ca/item/11148289-excellent-1970s-type-fernandes-japan-tl-555-electric-guitar-ref-no-1359

https://reverb.com/ca/item/11840154-greco-se500n-super-sound#description-tab found a Tokai and a couple of Fernandes' that I quite like too, but I most like the look of this one

hmm, interesting... I have heard from most people that I have asked/would listen to about such things that the Player series is a definite improvement over the recent models, but not necessarily over the older Mexican models or some of the clones of a similar price range.

The problem with the latter option though, is that I live in two places with decidedly uninteresting secondhand markets. My Island home deals almost exclusively in squier bullets with the occaisional American Standard strat, and the area around my Uni in Canada is usually the opposite (vintage, top end strats worth thousands and the occaisional squier bullet). I'm having a scroll through reverb now, but my options are significantly limited, as Canada can have some HUGE import taxes (especially from the US nowadays), and subsequently I end up having to limit my reach mostly to stuff within the country, I think stuff from Japan might also be fine but I'm not too sure. Nonetheless, I'll be searching around for a little bit still (I still have a month before I'm back), but it's looking like one of the new player's series might be my best bet.

That being said, as I type this I've just found a '79 Greco on Reverb for a very reasonable price that looks beautiful. Hopefully it's not gone before I have the funds together!

To be perfectly honest with you, 'run of the mill' strat is fine by me, I have a Fender Tele, but my strats have only ever been Squiers, so it wouldn't have to be anything particularly special to be an improvement anyway. Any idea how they hold up to the older mexican standards? A friend is selling one at the moment. By the sounds of it, there's not much of a significant difference between the two, so I'm likely better off saving money and buying my pal's one.

I'm curious about the Floyd Rose models as well, if only because I've never found a Floyd on an 'affordable' guitar that could hold its tune very well (other than my 90's RG, which I actually haven't even added to my equipboard yet)

Hmmmm, I'm not sure. I guess a section would make more sense to me, if only because there's already an 'I want it' section on the page, but either would work well. You can change the order of the stuff on your board anyway so it's not like they'd have to be all muddled together

Just a friendly suggestion here: I'd love to be able to have a little more detailed organisation of my Equipboard. I actually use this sight to help me keep track of what I do/don't own, and I'd find it quite useful to be able to differentiate between stuff that I own and am currently using, own and aren't currently using, or stuff that I have owned but had gotten rid of. I'd like to be able to keep track of stuff that I've tried or used but without it being included in the main list of stuff on my profile.

Or alternatively, being able access a list of all the stuff I've ever reviewed/given a rating to would serve a very similar purpose. I really like what I can do with this site so far (there really is nothing like it), this isn't a complaint that these features aren't there so much as a suggestion that them being there would be super cool

Anyone had a chance to try the new player series guitars from Fender? Particularly the strats. I dig the colours and the variety of models, and *on paper *they certainly seem like a step in the right direction. But at such a reasonable price point I'm worried they're too good to be true. Considering grabbing one when I head up to Canada for my final year of Uni for open mics and the occaisional band thing.

I won't be able to actually play one until I'm up there (my Island is tiny and stocks very little gear for me to be able to try out), and obviously my having a test run of them will be what decides it, just wandering if anyone's had any experience with them yet, any issues I should be aware of.

In particular I'm wondering if the tremolo on the strat really is an improvement, that's always been the part I struggle with most on lower-end strats of any kind.

I don't have a specific favourite overdrive because it's not really an effect I use very often on it's own, I'd rather use a compressor on a clean signal or go all out with some fuzz (that I might use an overdrive to boost). Back when my songwriting was a little bluesier and all I was listening to was The Division Bell, it cropped up here and there, but I've never asked for much out of low gain pedals as it's rare they're the core of the sound. I've owned a Soul Food, TS808, BD-2 and a Boss SD-1, and they've all been great for my applications for them.

That being said, here's my two favourite gain sounds I've ever gotten:

Squier strat > EHX Soul Food > Thorpy Muffroom Cloud > Delay > Blues Junior

Jackson superstrat > Red Witch Famulus (set fairly low gain) > Boss SD-1 (cranked) > Walrus Audio Fathom > Peavey Bandit

Over the weekend I'm going to try: Fender Modern player Tele > JHS Muffuletta (Ram's Head) > BD-2 > Dawner Prince Boonar > Hot Rod Deluxe. Can share clips of the above two if anyone's interested, but I won't be held responsible for the low quality of the recordings ;)

Yeah, every now and then mine will be waaaaay off, i'll tap a modest 120-ish bpm and it'll either somehow be at twice what I tap or go to an almost slapback speed. It's super frustrating, but as I'm in down time at the moment, mostly just recording demos of material and keeping my chops up before I start playing more gigs once Uni starts back up, it's not enough to make me lose the pedal, it just won't be coming with me come September. Even on the DD-500 I used to have, the tempo would always be that little bit off, I ended up just always assigning that switch to something more fun.

The music that I write is very ambient and washy with huge soundscapes, so my sound kind of necessitates a fairly robost set of effects, but by the standards of the genre I'm still aiming for relatively tame. My modulation, delay and reverb sections are pretty large (2-3 pedals each), but there's usually only 3-4 on at any given time. Covers a variety of sounds rather than combining to make one crazy sound.

Funnily enough, I find the X4's tap button to be far more tempremental than the strum tempo on the older Flashback and Flashback mini. It is also a pretty big unit, which isn't necessarily worth the real estate if all you're after is a tap function.

I'm just throwing ideas out there, man. Personally, The Flashback X4 isn't worth the huge amount of real estate it takes up on my pedalboard, and while the sound is great, I'm only using it for one sound (I have other delay pedals for other sounds, at least, I have them on the way), so a mini or standard flashback being smaller is actually a huge plus.

Not that real estate is an issue for the guy asking, mind you, if he's considering a Flight Time. But personally, if all I was after was a tap delay, I'd be good with either a Flashback mini or Flashback 2 with an external tap plugged into it, but if a Flight Time can be afforded, that's where I think I'd put my money too

The stuff I write is entirely instrumental; 90% on guitar, but my last release had some programmed drums and I've just acquired a synth to go full soundscape with. I usually start with a riff or rhythmic idea (usually inspired by some funky, hitherto undiscovered setting on my pedalboard), which I'll either load into a looper pedal, or record into my Zoom H4. I'll jam over it for a while (and I mean a loooong while), and while I'm doing that I'm looking for two things: a melody line, and a second contrasting section. I'll swap between guitar and synth while I'm doing this, just to get some variety and make sure I'm not limiting myself.

Once I have at least a first section that I have a good handle on, I'll load up Garageband and start tracking a proper demo, and normally during this part more ideas will start coming out. At this point I'll slap anything on that comes out, in the order it comes out (mostly), and when I'm exhausted I'll bounce it, pop it on my iPod, and give it a listen through the next day, and takes notes on what works and what doesn't. This basically cycles until I've got a complete unit of music that I like, and then I'll start mixing and such.

I agree with the above; the ARP-87 never felt quite as impressive in person to me. I recommend going the TC Flashback route; the first version has what it calls an 'audio tapping' feature, where you hold down the footswitch and strum the tempo on your guitar. I found it pretty intuitive and easy to get to grips with, but a lot players don't seems to get on with it. Version 2 lets you plug in an external tap but doing that sacrifices stereo operation.

The Flight Time IS worth it, but if you're just looking for something with more functional tap, and don't see much of a use for it's additional features, you can save quite a bit by going a different route (it sounds incredible, but so does a lot of other stuff). However, as you are willing to get kind of pricey for it, the Carbon Copy deluxe, Strymon El Capistan, Walrus Bellwether and EHX Memory Boy Deluxe are all fab sounding delays with tap tempo that are easy to use.

I adore my Descent, but I play really ambient stuff, so all that washy stuff that you don't find useable is exactly why it works for me. I have to say though, since getting the Fathom I've been using that an awful lot more, it's much more set-and-forget (even though I'd argue it's got more sounds in it than the Descent). Even the Sonar (octave) mode on the Fathom is way easier to dial into a more normal band setup than the Descent.

So yeah. I'd recommend you swap the Descent for the Fathom

My favourite modulation for ambient music has come out of having a chorus right after my delay pedal; I'm struggling to think of any place in my own writing a phaser'd sit nicely, but maybe on a droning chord underneath the main parts it'd sit nicely

Thanks again for your input, I'm trying to make these sound as good as they possibly can, I'm grateful for all that you've said so far.

I'm aware a 'mistake' can sometimes take a track from good to great, but none of the mistakes I made making this felt organic to me, they just all felt kind of wrong... there's a couple of demo recordings I've made that have a nice 'done in one take' vibe to them that I do enjoy though.

I'd never even heard of those cards before but I've bookmarked them, this is an incredible resource!

Thanks a bunch for your input; the stuff you heard was put together from a few loose ideas at the back of my head that didn't get much room to breathe before they went in front of a microphone. I've already put a lot of thought into where to go next, and it feels good to have that extra level of focus in whatever I end up doing next

Getting the right mix was weird and difficult for me, I was only ever recording guitar parts and I don't have a particularly sensitive ear for things like that, but I'm well aware of how important it is and I so wanted to get it right! I'm considering investing in a graphic equalizer to make stuff like that a little easier, do you reckon that's a good way to go?

I seriously appreciate any feedback/critique you're willing to give me, I cannot stress enough that how little I knew going into this, the way I see it the only way I can possibly go is up!

I recorded an EP a while back that's available on Bandcamp, but even at the time was very glaringly aware that I simply had no idea what I was doing. In an effort to make amends for the next time I have a project's worth of material to put out there, I was wondering if I could get a few general pointers about the recording process:

1) What seems to work best for amps in terms of mic placement? My mic was always just a tad left of centre, four or five inches away from the speaker. Doing this produced two noticeable issues; the lovely reverb I'd dialed in on my pedals was all but inaudible, and I had to add some extra in in post, and also, the more driven tones lost a lot of their power. Am I better off setting the mic further back and cranking the volume of the amp? Or is this not even a placement issue?

2) I'm a student with no money and a decent-but-not-built-for-recording laptop; I recorded my stuff on a Blue Yeti into audacity, which apparently sucks the quality out of your recording all by itself (having said that I have a friend who's been doing that for years and HER stuff sounds really crisp and clear). Can anyone recommend any affordable DAWs of a higher quality? Preferably one with a metrenome. (I know there's an article on here for mics and USB mics, so I'm not asking for help here unless anyone happens to have a goldmine)

3) Double-tracking parts; every time I tried, the track would pop/click/do that thing where there's too much input and sound awful. I tried recording with a lower volume on the amp at the time but then the track was just too quiet. Any pointers?? Is this even necessary to do?

4) I'm well aware of both the fact that I'm maybe being a little TOO critical of what I've done, and also of the fact that no 'one-size-fits-all' answer exists here. Was just looking for any any general advice that might be on offer, any nuggets of wisdom that might make whatever I do next sound less trash-y :)

Very true, it's always the guys that put the 110% effort into their rigs that sound like themselves no matter what... speaking of which, did you ever see the video of Eric Johnson playing through Zakk Wylde's rig? For a man that has a practically superhuman feel for the nuances of tone, it's amazing how he can pick up a whole different setup and still sound very much the same

Oh I completely agree, Gilmour sounds like Gilmour because he's Gilmour! No matter what you do to emulate him you're not going to get it 100%, same as any other guitarist, but we should learn to embrace those nuances of difference as the things that make it US playing guitar :)

By the looks of the site he'd normally have it mixed relatively low against the normal cabs to add a bit of depth and movement, but depending on the era he used a wide range of pedals (notably the old vintage Electric Mistress which seems to be somewhat of a mainstay) and different kinds of cabs to get his tone - I could rant on forever about this, I've perused this sight and others endlessly searching for Gilmour's sounds

If it's Gilmour tones you're after, I'd recommend a Vibe pedal over a phaser to be honest, at least in my experience it's been the one that gets me closest. I'd also recommend placing your modulation AFTER any delay pedal you're using, it better replicates the sound of Rotary Cabinets, which are in Gilmour's set up 90% of the time. That said, as others have mentioned here, make it your own! Experiment, trying out different stuff, even while searching for someone else's tone, is how you end up finding your own :) I play that tune with a slow but deep flanger effect, it's just that lovely little bit different

This thread has gone a large number of places I had not anticipated, but yes, everyone is a star

There's a really brilliant explanation of what the pedal is supposed to be in here, kudos to you! The pedals that take 18V power is something I'd never even considered! Brilliant article this is :)

Sir you are a star! Let it be known that your work does not go unappreciated :)

Thanks very much for your help!

While we're all here, I have a similar query;

I'm trying to add to King Charles' gear list, and I'm having trouble pinning down the exact model Telecaster he's using

There's a few points within the video that you can see it but the clearest is probably at about 1:12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiJADqrxsCo

I'm 99% certain it's a single coil bridge, definitely a humbucker in the neck, but I can't find any models that have this configuration and seem to come in this colour? I wonder if it's perhaps a custom job? If anyone has any ideas I'd much appreciate it

If anyone has any idea of the pedals at 1:17 also, I'd appreciate it; I have the Boss TU and the EHX Holy Grail down, you see them earlier in the video, but there's too much Marcus Mumford in the way of the others, perhaps someone who owns any of these pedals can tell what they are!

That is AMAZING news! I knew you guys were on the ball!

It is a very niche thing, largely because, as you say, I reckon a lot of people have a hard time telling some of these modulation effects apart, but as a long time Gilmour fan, it's an area of particular interest! Many thanks for all your hard work :)

Seems to be the one range of effects pedals that's not been covered, and the articles that are there are an amazing resource; I don't suppose there's one in the works? Perhaps not the most commonly sought effect, but for that reason it'd probably also be one of the most useful articles as the information is perhaps harder to find

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Marshall/CODE-50W-1x12-Guitar-Combo-Amp.gc#reviews

Consensus seems to be that they're pretty great.

I don't have one, Marshall isn't really my thing, but a friend of mine had one ordered in and he loves it for his little studio, I've heard it played and the effects on board are pretty stunning and the level of control over their individual parameters is hard to beat.

I don't know if you've seen but the Andertons TV channel did a pretty lengthy demo of it a while ago, if I remember they do go into good detail about how the Bluetooth app works

Caspian did an Audiotree session? I had no idea, I've got Hymn for the Greatest Generation, discovered them years ago, they're my go-to for going on night time drives and stargazing, I'll definitely have to look up that session!

I've had a look at it, but as I come from a small Island with just the one (really quite small) guitar shop, I'm very limited in what I can try out. The AC4 did catch my eye, though it probably would be a little out of my price range, hence the gravitating towards the AV15, which seems like the best option but, as I say, I'm unable to try much out, the shop here can do Vox as a special order but only has Fenders and top-range Marshalls in stock

It would just be me and a singer (maybe an acoustic guitar), playing in tiny coffee shops I'd imagine; doesn't need to be particularly loud at all.

I often forget to check Audiotree, but they're how I discovered Julien Baker, who has become by far and away my favourite artist almost immediately. I also loved the sets from Tancred, Small Houses and Bruns, among others. There's always great stuff there! Just wish they got more exposure, doesn't seem their videos are getting overly many views

I'm headed back out to Canada soon for my second year of university, and I'm looking for an amplifier to buy out there to use. I've got a squier strat out there, and I'm taking five or so of my effects pedals with me, but the one thing I'm lacking is an amp. I was using a Marshall micro amp in first year as I didn't really need anything else, but I'm hoping to do some recording and coffee shop gigs with a friend, so I need something on the cheap that's still going to get me a great tone; preferably a tube amp, but I can't afford a great deal so I'm open to suggestions.

Equipboard already have a few articles that have helped me out, but I was wondering about more general opinion before I made my final purchase. At the moment, my preferred choice is the Vox AV15, it seems to tick all of the boxes... does anyone have any other suggestions?

Should probably mention: I always run my amps clean, or just on the edge of breakup, so gain channels and such aren't an issue, and I won't be keen to put the extra money down if all it'll buy me is better on-amp gain when I get all of that out of pedals anyway