jimmarchi1's forum posts 8022

I forgot they changed their name to truetone recently!

here:

http://truetone.com/specialty-pedals/visual-volume/

hahaha, it took me years of wrangling to master the Gibson volume/tone layout when switching pickups and adjusting my output while playing.... 3 vus would be too far over the top for me too

look into the visual sound pedal, it will also provide the soundboard with a nice, strong, low impedance signal even if you use a bass with passives... I want to say you can adjust the top of the volume spectrum to be anything from gain boost to gain cut and the LED vu meter helps you know what you're outputting relatively, but I may be wrong, look it up

either that or just use your current volume pedal but insert a pad after it (maybe a passive DI with a -10dB function then you can send the dude a balanced XLR cable to boot)... for this purpose you can't do any better than the Radial engineering DI boxes which, incidentally, all sound really great for bass guitar be they passive or active varieties

passive volume pedals are like adding an extra volume pot to your guitar, so they load your tone a bit if you have passive pickups (which you don't).... but the different values will have different loading characteristics and a different sweep.... some are better for doing swell and reverse effects, some are easier to nail in on very specific spots so you can have a couple different output levels when playing dynamics aren't enough

that said, passive volume pedals are generally kidna delicate, moreso than a traditional wah pedal... I have had better luck with the morley optical volume pedals, though they have their delicate parts too

the ebst volume epdal I've ever tried was the visual sound active version with the LED indicator for output level, its built like a brick shithouse and is a pretty neutral buffer/booster type circuit that can actually enhance your tone depending on what your definition of nice treble response is

personally I just use my volume knobs, why have 'em on there if you don't use 'em? I flirted with pedals but its just another thing to keep track of while performing and another gadget that can break down mid-set

if you are just looking for 2 preset levels (say half and full output) you could build a stompbox with a passive volume attenuation when engaged, if you perceive trable loss try different value pots ranging from 250k to 1meg in conjunction with playing with treble-bleed networks... in my arsenal I have a 3 voice booster I designed that's an always on tone enhancer/shaper with 2 different footswitchable output levels, one with treble bleed so tis bright at low output and one with a lower value pot and no bleed so it provides a louder and somewhat darker tone when turned up as a boost... its a very simple circuit, but a smidge more complicated than a straight passive volume-knob in a project box with a footswitch

there's a pile of info, but I am just not super clear on what you are trying to do so it may all be worthless to you

I know this concert and we mere mortals cannot aspire to imitate what jeff is doing... so much hand technique!

but the new link is still restricted in the USA buddy

I'll see what I can do, but Vega info is hard to come by... Iwant points just for IDing the brand

I dunno, my collection has a lot of oddballs in it. I will regularly sell off 'great' guitars for a profit but I get sentimental about certain pieces that aren't worth shit but are special to me. I feel like some guitars have a lot of magic in them, like there are songs and riffs they contain that are just waiting to be revealed and every time I pick one up I get some of that. A piece of music I wouldn't have written just leaps off the fretboard and I am kinda just the conduit?

so my fender collction is fulla rando mexis guitars and parts that just do it for me, but I threw over custom shop and avri instruments that are 'better' guitars for the stuff I have... my set-neck collection is fulla mutants too... I threw over a late 80s LP standard worth quite a chunka change today but am devoted to my beat up SG and silver LP studio because they are more inspiring (and lighter LOL)

I could buy a legit custom shop 335 but instead I play the shit outta my lawsuit Yamaha from the 70s (for less than the cost of said custom shop RI I bought 2 in need of repair and kept the one that delivered the most original licks after a year)... around the time I bought the Yamis I had briefly had a gretsch chet akins and coulda bought a great 2008 'fat neck' 335 '59 RI, but nether guitar delivered the inspiration and I couldn't justify the money

I had a gretsch duo jet worth 3k, gone... I tried to love it for years! I also abandoned a one-of-a-kind pinecster made by a gentleman in Atlanta because it ahd no mojo... great guitar though, great player, no soul though

you have more basses than I have guitars now, well done

I updated the whole [Milk Carton Kids

you ever figure out what model Vega that guy was playing?

still a bit big, I could give it a go as its a really nice shot

I just did it, but that image you linked doesn't display right at all as its HUGE, see if the one I just posted instead works for you though

how many basses do you have now?

aww hell. as much as I love george rr martin lets keep it out of our moderating

we don't want to get backstabbed by a bunch of a rank n file users when e invite the gear wildlings in

or in the words of Stan Lee when I was sprog.... EXCELSIOR!

double shakes head

I have nothing to say but that its time for a stiff drink.

alright... KILL!!!

Motown and the muscle shoals sound are only related in that they were 'race music' in the parlance of the day... Stax is more related to the muscle shoals sound popularized by Jerry Wexler and to a lesser exent Ahmet Ertegun (the MAN who signed zep etc)

shakes head

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/24042-last-call-what-would-jimi-do

hahaha, Jeff Beck, hes the man

but I doubt hes out transcribing anyone else's music, hes just being the best jeff beck he can be, so if you want to play like jeff then practice being yourself at the highest level you can be

but if you must know the chord you need to post a youtube link I can actually play, this one has been restricted by eagle rock entertainment

eh, I don't mind typig 2 or 3 extra letters for ohms, I can live w/o the spiffy Omega character for now, there are way more important things that need addressing....

but eventually, sure

gorillaz cartoon musicians... should theyhave equipboards? they're fictional characters ....

http://equipboard.com/pros/murdoc-niccals

or cup of tea.... Jim is also a lot of fun to drink with

we're bot Jims so we always drink "jim and ginger" which is jim beam bourbon with ginger ale (something I would never order unless hanging with another guitar toting Jim)

Jim's best record is without a doubt "misadventures in stereo"

mine or Jim's? jim is on Spotify I am sure

and here's Jim doing one of his tunes that's more folky you may like... it has his usual wit

y'know, for as close I live to Jim these days I haven't seen him in ages, I miss the way that motherfucker likes to bust my balls when I'm drunk! I need to catch up with him.

hahaha, welp, you can just HEAR it (in that Opry video he's using a pick for some of of his plucking and its still choked, but it has an 'aunthentic americana' quality that's endearing, though I'm not sure why a a European identifies with it more than I do)... hard fretting is a technique to be deployed intandem with appropriate right hand touch using your fingers or pick/bow to coax a wider variety of tones from any stringed instrument, it can even verge into vibrato if you develop it, but you don't want to do it all the time... its not good dynamics... its about broader timbrality in a piece and therefore a deeper elvel of emotional nuance behind each note... I think!

but that's just one jaded guitarist's opinion....

here's an acoustic example where I am combining my fretting pressure with a mix of classical and folk fingerpicking on one of my compositions to change the balance of fundamental to harmic on each note to fit the tune (as well as vrying left hand pressure to produce an almost chorus tone)... the track is maybe a little warmer than I woulda liked because the engineer convinced me to do it with a mahogany 60s Guild I felt really uncomfortable with playing this style (great strummer, maybe not my favorite fingerpicking guitar, plus the action was 2 miles high and over the top even by my standards... and I am well known to favor high action assuming it gets the best tone from a guitar) any way, in hindsight this guitar was too warm to make all the stuff I was doing audible to even the C414 we used to record (or did we go ribbon on this track... nah, AKG condenser)

if you listen past Jim's fantastic vocal performance you can hear my 'choking' the strings, particularly on the wound strings at various points to coax a wider range of timbralty from the guitar

god, I thought I did a lot of hammer-on chord extensions when I play acoustic ballads, but Kenny here really throws down the folk/country clichés on a whole new level.... in a good way

he frets too hard though, he's choking the harmonics off his notes, you can hear it on that home recording in front of the AKG C414

damn if I don't wish I could sing like that though

there's really no rules as to what guitars you can play in any given genre if it produces a sound YOU like for your music and you feel comfortable enough to really stretch out and play your best... but when it comes to other people's music, some artists and producers are very concerned with classic, genre-specific sounds and others are more interested in getting you to feel comfortable so they can make the most of your personal technique.... neither is wrong

I used to take a strat and a vox to every gig in every genre, it makes MY sound and I just changed my picking technique, volume settings and adjusted my improvisation decisions to fit the style

never used to get complaints... I might bring other stuff to a gig thatw as really genre specific like a tele, gretsch and a deluxe for country or an SG, Supro and Marshall to rock, but they wouldn't always get plugged in, I would just start n my comfort zone and focus on approach first

if I need to playa coustic I always bring my mangled, willie nelsonish classical guitar in case I can get away with playing that over a steel string because I have had it for 25 years and I always get more creative playing her

its a very similar 60/70s Espana to this: https://reverb-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/s--GA_DPZhf--/a_exif,c_limit,f_auto,fl_progressive,h_620,q_75,w_620/v1447875668/jbgrwsevv3tcpjk0zenn.jpg

actually more like this '74 http://www.guitar-museum.com/uploads/guitar/90/190241294206-1.jpg

so in short, get an old, oddball and see if you can make it work with what you do.... just look for the best price so that resale is easy if you fail to bond with it. I always try to look for folks in dire financial straights when I buy a guitar for experimental purposes so I might be able to turn a profit or use it in an advantageous trade. I try not to pay top dollar for anything, but if I do its on an axe I know I will keep for at least a decade.

it depends, plenty of early country artists used archtops as well as flattops, archtops weren't unknown in American folk and 'bluegrass' music, particularly in the depression era... a lot of very early blues artists favored archies over flattops too...

However, if you are only into modern acoustic stuff, golden-age Nashville/Bakersfield country&western and 60s greenwhich village revival-era folk then tis probably a big waste of money...

I was tempted because I have a jazz background and have never owned a full-depth, non-electric archtop and the prices aren't bad on these Vegas even though they are pretty well made and use great old-growth woods you can't get anymore. If I were living in Germany I would look at an early post-war Hofner archtop like the 465. I can fingerstye some travis picking or folk arpeggiations with the best of 'em if you pay me, but I am primarily a rock and jazz player and really like the feel of instruments designed specifically for those idioms. I have only met a handful of flattop acoustics Itruly enjoyed playing.

I have the right guitar, but I don't know what model it is. Vega didn't nescasarily mark the guitars with a model number, so unless I can find a full size '39 catalog scane (no luck yet) your guess is as good as mine on the model. Sorry.That's a really rare archtop. There are almost no pictures of another Vega with the mix of dots and diamonds anywhere on the internet.

How much you wanna bet Kenneth there doesn't know the model name either?

here's the guitar model you're looking for:

https://www.gbase.com/gear/vega-archtop-1939

sadly the dealer doesn't know what model it is any more than I do.... its not a C26, wrong inlays, but its not a 46 or 66... maybe its a C36? I have no reference for that model but you would think there would be a model between 26 and 46, right?

I think this is one f the toughest but most interesting mystery guitars ever posted to this thread, I have learned a lot just trying to find out the manufacturer and model... if vegas weren't reputed to have slim encks I would buy one just to find out about them. I am hovering on g-base, tempted to pull the trigger on one of their early acoustic archtops in player condition, but NOOOOOO, too many guitars already

ah ha! what about this pre-war Vega C-56?

http://www.guitarz-for-ever.com/vega-guitars.html

I think I am at least getting close.

been there, gorgeous blonde and all, single again... maybe I should date Kenny... I'm not very homosexual and I'm not so into folk music, but it couldn't go any worse than being married

but seriously, after consulting a few books and based on the inlays I think that guitar is a pre-war Vega, I am having trouble finding a good pic on google thismorning, but I am feeling pretty sure its mid-range Vega model.... here's an example of a tobacco burst Vega with the big diamond position markers:

http://www.vintagearchtop.com/images/38_vega/v5.jpg

http://www.vintagearchtop.com/images/38_vega/v2.jpg

also, look at the adjustable rosewood bridge style... its a VERY rare guitar, though not remarkably valuable for a pre-war instrument....

UPDATE here's a Vega C-66 in natural...

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qgpIQwESfMQ/maxresdefault.jpg

this one doesn't have a year, but it eventually sold for under $1000, so Vegas would make really nice video prop/gimmick guitars wouldn't they.... interesting these guitars were made with BRASS frets that couldn't have worn well, especially given the heavy string sets of the era

its not the same model he's playing, his only has one large diamond at the 12th fret, but the tailpiece and bridge look Vega as well so I am saying its a Vega, though I am not sure of the era or model yet... these guys are better known for banjos and (believe it or not) trumpets.... I knew about their banjos, but I had to consult Wikipedia to find out that vega was acquired by Martin in the 70s and the vega trumpets were the basis for the popular Martin Committee model endorsed by THE MAN, Miles Davis... getting info on their guitars is very difficult though

dope is interesting, if junkies can manage to avoid overdose and hepC it seems to mummify them so they're a nuisance for decades

so you're planning on dating him?

yes, so hot she would never date that goon-ball... the interesting inlay work should be your tip-off on the guitar, I am not sure what it is, but if you look at enough old archtop pictures you'll find one with those inlays

it depends

if you really want to try designing your own DSP pedals this site may be the best place to start

http://diydsp.com/livesite/

homebrew digital guitar FX are still very new because up until now powerful DSP chipsets were not readily available at reasonable prices for hobbyists... the guys at the cutting edge use a variety of languages to program their chips.... there wills till be some analog circuit design needed to create a good preamp to prepare your hi impedance guitar signal to be converted to 1s and 0s in the most musical way possible

not JUST you, I've run into a lot of nebulous sources referring to "C414" mics lately

Fender hasn't had a hit with a new amp in ages. When did they release the hotrods and the blues amps? Mid 90s? Early 90s? They are 20 year-old designs now. I think in the UK most of your cost is the import duties and such. Fenders are very affordable here. Even the handwired vintage reissues like the low power tweed twin they released is about the same cost as Victoria's comparable boutique version. Over here Marshalls and most Oranges cost an arm and a leg (for some reason Korg manages to keep the cost down on Vox amps). The handwired Orange and Marshalls are prohibitively expensive over here and its cheaper to go with a boutique clone. They should call the JTM45 the Marshall Bank Breaker!

But I am seriously thinking of making some time to go to a big box guitar store so I can try this new Fender. I'm curious even though I suspect I will be let down in the end. I'm not a huge tweed bassman fan and I'm kinda Marshalled out at this point. I got rid of my plexi because it was too loud, but I was also getting sick of it. All of the tweed bassmanish amps are really finicky, one trick ponies. I wish Fender woulda done one of these bassbreakers with 6V6 tubes instead of the el84 models they wound up releasing... I was really excited when they did the 25 watt 6V6 loaded supersonic, those amps are not my cup of tea, but I really thought Fender might do more new 6V6 designs, but it hasn't happened yet.

here's another thing to straighten out:

http://equipboard.com/search?search_term=akg c414

there's really a bunch of versions of this great workhorse microphone, the current XLS version is a little different than the earlier versions and then there's the TL with no output transformer that sounds REALLY different.... but we have a lot of duped here

its also confusing because a lot of the sources just say "we used an AKG 414" and most of the kids just post the new XLS version even though most mic lockers are stocked with the older versions

http://equipboard.com/pros/nick-bisanz-the-last-conspirators

There must be a way to forbid crap like that.

I wish we didn't have to and people would just respect the equipboard mission and format!

I can only guess fender feels like they're losing a lot of market share. To be honest, the only new Fender amps I see selling out of stores around here are Blues Juniors, the Hot Rod amps and Deluxe Reverb Reissues. Even those Supersonic Amps failed to fly off the shelves and I thought they would appeal to a lot of people (and the price was right). Maybe they sold well globally though, I dunno. But the Fenders hat people keep buying are the simpler, affordable combo amps. I enver see people use the gain features on their hotrods, they just run pedals or blast them for power tube distortion.

If you think about it, Fender hasn't put out an affordable vintage style amp in the modern era. Look at the Tiny Terror and Vox's new AC10 flying off the shelves. People are getting back into basic circuits that just sound good.