jimmarchi1's forum posts 8022

oh, like the digitech 'un chorus pedal' based on the original whammy's glitchy sounding detune mode

in the late 90s I had an alesis quadraverb GT, alesis midi verb (awful apart from the MBV reverse reverb thing), Yamaha SPX90, and a little later on a Lexicon 70 and A-Lex too. SPX90 was the best of bunch for cool sound quality and diversity of effects but Yamaha's SPX range have always had quite a following and therefore pretty high resale... nothing else really sounds like it, it does a lot of what the odler eventide gear does, but its got a bright n gritty quality that really jumps outta the mix

bang for buck buy a used quadraverb gt, darker sounding, similar range of effects to a Yamaha, just not an amazing timbre to any of it....but it has certainly been used by numerous shoegaze bands

the pitchfork can chorus?

yes

I dunno, my style of 'lead guitar' is more like rock chord melody with a mix of truncated chords or tasty extensions with minimal 1s 3s and 5s and licks interspersed with the passing tones that support the vocal without strictly doubling much of the rhythm line, but its based on years of big band jazz experience and I couldn't coach anyone how to do it in les than a year, especially a beginner. but it would work well for what you are trying to do if you could do it....

I would interpret all the passing chords if I were you, maybe reharmonize the main chords for interest and then work out counter rhythms so you have both rhythmic and harmonics differentiation. A song is just a melody, the 'chords' are just one possible harmony and anything that works is fair game if it fits the mood of the lyric. Okay? then at show time I might throw caution to the wind and just play it however I felt it at the moment...

also, 'strumming' is kinda washy and lame, be precise, use your fingers like the guy on the left or do something to change the attack so it doesn't wash with the guy strumming away with his pick like its a boy scout weenie roast

if you want to rehamonize or discover passing tones by ear try singing or playing a couple diatonic harmonies to the vocal line by ear and then use the notes that are NOT in the main chords to generate the passing tones (off beat chord changes between the main chords) and to reharmonize/extend the chords as written, avoid ANY notes being covered by the main rhythm line as much as you can, especially 1 and 5... then you can rehearse it a few ways, put it all in the back of your mind, and then try playing it with your gut for a little and see what comes out. maybe almalgamize a few versions of your part to make an ideal line

at worst you won't get anything out of my suggestions but experience, and really that's more important than getting it 'right' sometimes

most importantly, whatever you decide to do, do it with conviction and passion because connecting with the audience is more important than musical technicalities unless you're in an orchestra performing Stravinski or something and even then passion is as important as proficiency

except neither of them is doing much strumming, if someone is going to pluck with their fingers in a classical vein all bets are off

not a big fan of the tropics for more than a few days either

agreed... contact the mofo!

play the backbeat or play quarter notes, or break up the measure between you rhythmically (as you suggest let him play quarters and you lay the 8th note 'ands' between) OR stay out of dudes way and play bass instead

Jim smash puny comedians with pure tube driven sound pressure! RAAAH!!!

https://youtu.be/8AknBe-a_rM?t=1m44s

congrats, high class problem... no how do you capitalize on it without compromising your integrity?

Texas is not known for its great weather either. They say its a dry heat in the southwest, I could still leave it. Extremely hot is extremely hot.

still sounds like bad weather by USA standards... I'll tak the French Riviera or Tuscany any way

what guy?

your country's reputation for shit weather is well deserved... Its been about 75 degrees every afternoon in Philadelphia for weeks, morning and nights are a bit chilly, but not by YOUR standards

get outta the north sea dude

I just make my cables to length with really good low capacitance coax... plus then I can choose the right ends for the application, straight or L

go to warmoth.com or USAcustom and send them an email about it, sounds easy enough, but the enck may not be an 'off the shelf' conversion.... ask

that's probably from the Peerless factory, they went out of business, but they made some solid guitars from about '87 to '97 including the older sammick student-priced LP copies... I have been tempted to buy a couple early Korean Epis, the 80s run of semis and archies like the Sheratons with the "epiphone by gibson' on the headstock have overfret binding and really play darned well. They are kidna nicer than the previous run of Japanese epis in some ways.

80s G12L-35 celestions to tame my 50 watter for home use... Fanes were over the top, they didn't seem loud until I stopped playing and my ears were ringing. Great sound, more for big-stage use. Holding onto them. G12L-35s are in... they will do.

okay, I tend to be a celestion guy anymore because of the amps I play. When I was playing professionally I went back and forth between 12" and 10" enclosures or used a mix of both but have settled on all 12s lately. All older style celestions as of late.

Currently using:

2x 80s Celestion G12L-35 speakers in closed back, very inefficient and neutral for a celestion, tames loud amps (every 2 to 3 dB reduction in sensitivity will be like halving the power of your amp, so for my 50 watter using these allows me to play her at home without offending my neighbors too badly. Tight bass, compressed, can get muddy when pushed too hard, but overall is like a more balanced greenback with a more sparkly top end. Crunchy distortion but not remarkably detailed or clear. These speakers and their slightly more efficient cousins (G12L-50, G12S-50) are much maligned and can be had for a pittance. For some applications they are pretty good though. These speakers were mainly supplied to Marshall, Ampeg and Laney in the 80s and early 90s as OEM 4x12 drivers in cheaper cabs and are available in 4 ohms as well as Celestion's traditional 8 and 16. I have two 8s. These were replaced by the slightly more efficient Rocket 50 when Celestion moved production to China. I would not trust a Chinese celestion with 50 watts though, whereas these little 35 waters can take a beating.

2x 60s Celestion G12S (20 watts) in 62 AC30b, these were an OEM speaker with a magnet between the 60s G12L and G12M greenbacks, pulsonic cones, very similar to original 60s greenbacks, a little brighter and ore compressed than the G12M, a little less efficient with looser bass, sort of a compromise between a G12M and G12 Alnico in frequency response and breakup but not as loud as either. I can never bring myself to remove these from my vintage AC30 even though they are not original to the amp. They have really phenomenal midrange that is different than the blue alnico or the G12M. Crunchy yet smooth distortion. I've stuck with this pair of old Celestions the longest and I'm really fond of them. They can still be had pretty cheaply, especially the 70s ones with Kurt Meuller cones instead of the more desireable Pulsonics. Going rate is between $100 and $300 per speaker depending on condition and the seller. I almost bought 2 more on ebay recently but decided not to spend $200+ on speakers I didn't actually need right now. If you live in the UK, look out for these awesome silver-framed celestions in your solid state amps of the era. Investing in a vox solid state amp just to get a couple of these bad boys could be worthwhile if you want to equip a cab with real pre-rolas.

G12 Blue Alnico reissue (15+ watts) in AC30HW2 with another speaker... to my ear the reissue sounds just like an original 60s Vox branded G12 once it breaks in. These are very stiff from the factory and need to be professionally broken-in or gigged hard for a year to sound right. Extremely efficient, bright and chimey but never harsh, breaks up early in the upper mids giving even the lightest of drive tones fantastic presence. Tone is complex but low on bass in an open back cab. A pair of these will sound thin in an ac30 (giving the AC30 its reputation as a thin amp, not true by the way) and will start breaking up before the amp does. Very crunchy and detailed distortion. Pairs well with other very efficient speakers. Worth the buy-in. I prefer this to Weber's Blue Dog but YMMV

WGS Reaper 55hz (30 watts) clone of the 60s G12H30 bass cone speaker. Appears to have a 70s type Kurt Mueller bass cone with the cloth surround. Lowest resonant frequency of any vintage Celestion design. Very balanced, punchy deep bass with restrained but bell-like treble and aggressive midrange when pushed. Very efficient, late breakup, more grind than crunch. Very similar to Celestion's Anniversary RI of the H30. Sounds better to my ear and is cheaper than the Scumback and Weber Legacy versions. If I were planning on using 4 of these for the Page/Hendrix sound I would probably get a more accurate version, but I prefer this paired with my Blue as it gives more definition than the vintage H30 I tried first in this application. Killer all around speaker though, affordable and a total monster for a detailed, neutral british sound with fantastic definition on the wound strings.

more to follow, everyone post your speaker experiences

narcan? shanpp, opiates

I didn't even read that carefully, jeez, can we keep kids off the internet, please?

You might be thinking of Christian Scientists... I feel a google seach coming on, but I am pretty sure that as far as Jehova's Witnesses go doctors and medication are okay and its the Christian Scientists who try to pray away the disease.

http://equipboard.com/pros/austin-frith

from NBC:

"I would give overwhelming odds that, tragically, this is a drug death," Cyril Wecht, a forensic pathologist who is not involved in Prince's case, told NBC's TODAY.

"When you rule out foul play, when there is no history of any kind of significant disease … heart and lung … when you rule out any kind of intervention, anything of an environmental nature, you come down to an autopsy that is essentially negative … and that probably means drugs," added Wecht, whose worked on some of the nation's most high-profile autopsies.

He said the emergency landing of the singer's private jet last week for a medical reason "fits into the drug picture."

"I cannot think of any medical or pathological condition that fits that kind of scenario, with incredible ups and downs … other than drugs," he added.

right, that settles it! gossip show and tabloid reporters are paragons of objective journalism, heck they knew about this kid:

http://wp.production.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/files/2015/01/BatBoy.jpg

and NO ONE else had the guts to report it but the Weekly World News. I'm sure TMZ wouldn't let the facts get in the way of 'the truth.' I mean, when a musician dies unexpectedly its ALWAYS an OD, right?

wtf?

https://reverb.com/news/prince-dead-at-57

you younger guys don't realize what a great time you live in, affordable student guitars have been getting progressively better for the last 20 years.... when I started the only decent student guitar that I could afford was the used JV squire strat I bought

all the other intro-priced strat coies were super junk, especially the current production ones in 1990

the rack processors I had did pitch shift and harmony stuff... there was no H9 in 1997... the spx90 does some really cool stuff in that vein, eventide was not the only game in town though they are the best going.... most shoegaze bands did that stuff with more affordable processors or boss pedals

why not go with authentic gear and not modern, better stuff? part of the shoegaze thing was the budget friendly chain of excessive effects

now I am going to point out that this is over, shoegaze happened, I was late to the party and that was 20 years ago... do something new, be yourself

wait, I thought he was a generous god?

So we can all agree on a few quintessential fender amp sounds (tweed deluxe/champ, tweed bassman/twin, ANY blackface combo w/reverb, the blonde and blackface bassman heads etc) and we all know the quintessential vox sound is a mid 60s ac30 top boost.... but what's the quintessential Marshall sound to you?

Despite being mostly a pexi/JMP guy for a decade (I did own a single channel and a split channel 800 and a laney gh50L) more and more to me the single channel JCM800 2203 and 2204 ehads are the quintessential Marshall tone. I grew up with those amps as the de rigeur hard rock backline (at elast if MTV was an indicator). pretty much every music video had JC120s or if the band had balls there was a wall of 2203 stacks. I really identify with those sounds. In the plexi style I am just more a cranked ac30 or Hiwatt guy. Not the same exactly, but more in the ballpark than the hot input on an 800.

But there have been many generations of Marshalls since then. Slash popularized the silver Jubilee heads. The 900 series was (apart from the fender twin) the amp of choice in the 90s when I was coming up through the local punk scene. I see tons of JCM2000s on stages (sure a lot of times smoke is coming out of them, but they are there) and the discontinued Vintage Modern heads had quite the loyal following (and a pretty impressive sound as I recall)....

what's THE marshall tone to you? feel free to post youtube clips of ultimate marshall tones (using stock Marshalls thank you)....

people assume that all of Marshall's amps are all similar, but though they are on the same hot-rodded tweed bassman platform with el34 output tubes instead of 6L6es they are NOT THE SAME at all.... even various eras of plexis or JMPs have big differences in the preamps and feedback loop that drastically change the sound and feel of the amp (trust me I have had my fair share of these amps)

lets get discussing

bazinga!

a quick google search and a look at some pics revealed these guys use old blackface fender head and cab setups.... get a bandmaster, bassman or showman to start. You will literally have your guitar socks knocked off by how awesome an original 60s fender is at doing the fender sound. Any reissues and hot rods you have tried in guitar stores will pale in comparison. In some of the pics it looks like the guitarist is playing a silverface bandmaster reverb head which is very similar to a pro reverb combo.... you can tell the bandmaster and showman reverb by their silver faceplate and taller headbox (to accommodate an F reverb tank)

they also appear to use dual showman 2x15 cabs or the later oversized abssman and bandmaster 2x12 cabinets. The old pine fender cabinets have a sound, especially the oversized ones. Its not my thing, but its a tone all its own.

cool, but some of my gear doesn't ever connect LOL, like sometimes synths go into guitar amps, but not usually into guitar stomp boxes... I seldom use rack processors for guitar these days.... mine would be a mess!

God bless you if you can teach. I used to teach guitar to fill in my income when I was playing with these guys http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v463/idavisjr/Music/UMB.jpg

doing original music instead of engineering records and working as a sideman. There's not a lot of profit touring around as a regional band with a patchy following. I amamazed by any musician who can teach. Its such a struggle whether you've got beginners or more intermediate players it can just be hard to explain a lot of the physicality not to mention the frustration of students who do not practice.

I actually know the dude who created the school of rock franchise. He sold it many years ago, but it was originally just a couple locations around Philly. I never taught for Paul myself, but I have a number of friends who did. Last I heard he had blown all of the settlement money from the school of rock film on fast women and slow horses, his wife left him, and he had gotten a place in the poconos where he's systematically spending his remaining fortune on hookers, beer and blow.... or it could just be rumors from disgruntled former employees. Apparently all you teachers are better off under new management. I should follow this up by sayng that, while Paul and his founding cohorts of SofR could be abrasive at the best of moments, I knew them all to hearts of gold (for music biz types). I may have better manners than those guys, but I was a real dick bag of a human being back then and I wouldn't have blamed Paul for giving me a swift kick in the mouth or firm love tap with a bat on more than one occasion (look at the 2 guys in that picture with dyed hair, me and Bryan were not always the kind and tolerant men we are today). Instead he was tolerant and forgiving... but the school of rock saga makes for a series of amusing anecdotes I can't help but share.

you may want a fatter or rounder neck. It seems comfortable, but you should not getting fatigued in 2 hours if your neck is right for you. Those modern fender "C" necks are fast, but lack shoulder.

Next time you are at a good sized music store pick up a dozen or so guitars with very different neck profiles and spend a long time there. The bigger necks like V shapes and roundbacks will feel challenging at first but will get easier after about 15 minutes. At least for my long, thin hands the Gibson roundback type of profile is the least fatiguing, though the more baseball-bat shaped gibsons and fender U shapes are a bit too much for me. Also try a Clapton strat or a jimmy vaughn. The soft V neck is ideal for a lot of people and is my 2nd favorite neck shape.

nut width and string spacing is also a factor in hand fatigue, and this is not 100% standardized and never really has been so YMMV

Bartok! I love 20th century harmony composers.

Jim. 35 year-old single father of 1 unruly 2 year old boy. Native Philadelphian though i have been all over in my professional music career. I have been an accomplished amature since about 2011 when i threw in the towell on making my living soley as a player, engineer and songwriter and got a respectable day job.

Non-music interests include physics, electronics, astronomy, philisophy, political science and ancient history. Favorite authors are Plato, Machiavelli, Plutarch, William Gibson, Colleen McCullough, Margaret Atwood, Shakespeare, Frank Herbert, etc.

Instruments are Guitar, Piano, Bass, Violin, Viola Cello though I pretty much gave up the classical strings 10 years ago. I can still play a little though. I have 28 years music experience and 25 years guitar playing. Extensive jazz background in highschool and college, though I am more of a rock guitarist by inclination and style. My jazz trining informs a lot of what I do. I read and write classical notation as well as Nashville charts. I cannot make head nor tail of tablature unless I stare at it for like 20 minutes.

Favorite bands and albums are too numerous and diverse to be worth recounting.

some of my random musical endeavors including works in progress (personal, not for hire) are on my soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/james-marchione-1

probably hand fatigue, you took a break before you got any cramping, but you would've

don't clench the neck as tightly, stay loose and try to let your hand 'float' and don't fret hard unless there is a musical reason to do so...

make sure you play a guitar with the most comfortable neck for YOU. I find fairly thick necks to be less tiring to play, though I am naturally faster on slim necks it does not last due to fatigue... my SG and lawsuit 335 are my least fatiguing necks, my other guitars can be tiring either because the encks are too slim or too thick, or maybe the string spacing makes me arch my fingers differently.... theya re all good to play for an hour or two, but those 2 electrics I can play without tiring for HOURS on end... if all of your guitars fatigue you a little then try switching guitars after you take a break. If you were playing a slim neck switch to a fat neck and vice versa...

additionally there are stretches you can do before and after you play to limber up a little... muscle get tired and a lot of playing is muscle memory.... when your brain is tired how is your memory?

or its not fatigue and then I don't know what to tell you....

my shoegaze era pedal line up was (if I recall correctly):

big muff -> vox wah -> bf2 flanger-> boss limiter -> DOD distortion -> Ibanez chorus -> tubescreamer -> quadraverb GT mostly for delays and over the top modulation -> blackface fender combo with reverb turned up pretty high

I think I also had a Rat and some other big muff type of pedals swapped in and out... maybe a distortion plus at one point too, just whatever crap I could pickup in the cheap sued effects case at Bob's Route 13 music!

later on I did a little shoegazey stuff with this rig:

germanium rangemaster clone cranked until it fuzzed itself out -> small stone phaser -> BF2 flanger -> Yamaha spx90 for insane stuff and as a stereo split -> roland chorus echo for chorus delay and spring reverb, wet to an early dual showman or sometimes a 100 watt univox bass head, dry to a marshall 1959 plexi or when I didn't wanna be deafening I would use my 62 ac30 and a jcm800 4401 or ampeg VT40

but my reference for shoegaze was on the more noisey side, I am a huge swervedriver and mbv fan and less of a slowdive/ride kinda guy

multiple big, loud amps of different types are a big part of it as well as effects, they add a lot of texture to the effects. But pretty much you should chain up every darn effect you can find, digital rack effects imparticular as well as lots of really skronky fuzz and distortion boxes... not boutique shit, just basic, meant and potatoes stomp boxes and rack units being set in the most extreme ways possible

look at Adam Franklin's rig from the last 90s swervedriver US tour:

https://www.guitar.com/rigs/adam-franklin-swervedriver-1998-rig-and-gear-setup?v=fullsize