decessa's Reviews

Does your cable have a lifetime warranty?

Mine does. I have only had to use it once in like 8 years now after an unfortunate accident involving a sharp object. Walked into GC, gave them my old cable and they handed me one off the wall... no paperwork, no explanations necessary... literally in and out. Price be damned, it is a lifetime of cables... haven't purchased another brand since.

A good upgrade from my old fasttrack

Has served my purposes well. Get a nice low latency, a great soundstage when used with even a decent microphone, headphone monitoring that doesn't kill the outs to the main monitors and a decent amount of control. Can get a bit noisy with instruments plugged in (though a lot of that could be environmental on my end, it has followed me across three different living arrangements and still shows that tendency), and the volume knob can get quite fidgety as you hit higher levels (and seems to go full on before it actually reaches the end of its travel), but how often does one need to dime their input anyway?

Been using since V3

When I first tried Amplitube (version 2) I walked away unimpressed when comparing it to Peavey's Revalver (3) software. All of the good faith Peavey had built was dashed with Revalver IV, as the ability to pair preamps with different power amps was removed. I began to search for something else to get me where I wanted, and noticed Amplitube had moved to an À la carte format. I loaded it up locked in a tone, and deleted Revalver after about an hour. Solid heavy tones, shimmering cleans, and the added bonus of the Fender, Hendrix and Slash (and others) licenses on top of the ability to test any À la carte offering for three days before buying makes this my primary way to practice at home, where the 2x12 would lead to some angry neighbors.

Regarding version 4: Still does just about everything I could want, especially after upgrading to Max. Dropped a star due to some questionable midi decisions (0out=1in, no tap tempo and some general weirdness when using certain foot controllers), but overall I love it as much as I did when I stopped using Peavey's Revalver software after they stopped letting you pair seperate preamps and poweramps (I guess it isn't even owned by Peavey anymore). The built in looper and multitrack recorder are just icing on the cake.

Third bass I bought

And easily my number 1. I wanted a Jazz from the beginning as most my heroes played them, but my ex caused a short foray into the five string realm to keep up with his 7. As soon as that was over however, my first purchase was this beauty in Olympic White. It sees use everyday. Most comfortable, playable neck I have ever encountered and great tone no matter where you set the knobs (which includes off because it still sounds great acoustically).

Older model, but does the job.

This Fast Track model is one of their earlier models, made obvious by the use of separate 1/4" and XLR connections as opposed to the more modern Neutrik combo connections. Other than this, the model shares many of the same features with the newer models, including input/playback monitoring, 1/8" headphone output, RCA outputs, line level/intrument level switch for the 1/4" input, as well as up to 24-bit/48kHz resolution. For all the features that were included, one of the most glaring omissions is a gain knob and clipping indicator for the 1/4" input. While this missing feature hasn't led to any problems with my gear, it is certainly worth noting. Also worth noting, though likely only affecting a select few, while many current audio interfaces can be used to "cheat" the PC version of Rocksmith, this model will not work, as the mic input is input 1 with the 1/4" input being ignored by the game altogether.

Only pick I use.

Used the standard Tortex's before discovering these bad boys. The small size and thick body just work well for my playing style. While I have tried many variations, I generally stick with either the standard black III's or these Ultex variants when I can find them. While it may just be psychological, they just feel better than the reds to me.

A great power amp with a cheap digital pre.

Despite their claims to the otherwise, the amp does not really sound like a tube amp. The digital frontend gives the tone an artificial quality that never really goes away. That being said, the Bogner designed poweramp is great with a true tupe-pre. Good as a practice amp and for just jamming around, but I couldn't see myself gigging with it.

Does what it is meant to.

As a signature model of "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott's, this guitar does exactly what you would expect when large amounts of gain are applied. As Dime often had to do himself, pieces of foam have been stuck behind the springs on the Floyd and right behind the locking nut so as to prevent excess noise during palm muting (a metallic ping can often be heard otherwise). While the Dimebucker is great (though often listed as inferior to the Bill Lawrence Dime used prior to the pickups creation), the Dean designed neck pickup really stands out, with a buttery tone that can really sing the blues.

With some work, can be great.

When I first tried the guitar out in the store, I played it without plugging in first and fell in love with its acoustic sound. Upon plugging it in, I was disappointed with the pickups. After testing others in the same price range, I found myself constantly returning to it and wound up purchasing it. Ripped out the Ibanez humbuckers (left the single coil in), and swapped them for Dimarzio Crunch Lab (B) and Air Norton (N). While the cheap hardware is bad enough to take a star off, this guitar quickly replaced my Dime-o-flame as my primary.