jimmarchi1's forum posts 8022

Also, musicians who constantly ask for picks. They're like schoolchildren constantly begging for pencils. Get a pick holder or a tin and store your picks there, come one, people!

if I don't have a pick I don't use one

Just get a bunch of good L jacks and a spool of quality cable... sit down with your soldering iron and make them to the exact size you need. It will be cheaper and a cleaner signal path as well as a neater looking board.

too much distortion on recorded electric guitars! The whole recording and mixing process adds little bits of distortion, so dial it back a bit in the studio so I can actually hear the cool parts you're playing... by the time that scooped metal sound with the gain at 10 gets to my ear it has been processed so many times over and its just like a wall of white noise, try a less gainy amplifier or turn the gain down a few notches so the power amp can speak... it'll sound just as brutal in the mix, probably moreso. I have had this talk with every young band I ever recorded when I was engineering. The guys who took my advice were really happy with their records.

shred guitar

I refuse to look at that and see a shred guitar.

okey doke, duder... the parkers are definitely the 90s evolution of Charvel, Jackson, Kramer and the shred-oriented Hamers and PRSes of the 80s... Ia dmit they are hideously modern, but they are great for doing that sort of playing with their wide string nut, slim neck profile reinforced with graphite as well as a truss, the hot, tappable humbuckers, extremely well-designed wang bar bridge and also the locking tuners....

ESP, Ibanez and Schecter keep rehashing the old Floyd-rosey, Kramer barreta/Jackson Dinky shredder formula (anyone remember Floyd's arch enemy the Kahler bridge? or are you all too young?!), but parker went way out there and I give them kudos for their radical departure from the normal shapes and also for their unique knife-edge, strat-based vibrato bridge!

not my taste, but I have played a few parkers and they are fantastic guitars for the right player

http://www.guitar-planet.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Fly-Mojo-Flame-900b.jpg

Probably one of the most horrid looking guitars I've witnessed thus far, and ridiculously overpriced.

oh but the fly plays great in the shred guitar idiom... such a nice instrument if you are into that sort of thing!

What about band member who want to write 'as a band' but come unprepared and then contribute absolutely nothing but pointless noodling in mind-numbing ' writing jams' that produce zero songs and you just wind up working on something the primary writer suggested yesterday after Jackass leaves to go to the bar or whatever???

OOH OOH! or band members who say they want everyone to work on an arrangement for one of their tunes but won't accept anyone else's parts even though they didn't come up with anything for you to play beyond their line and maybe half a vocal with scratch lyrics?! Being all like, "I don't know what I want here, but I am sure nothing anyone is adding is right!"

Delicious. This sounds like some Behind The Music material...

guys are all like "its called 'playing' music so it shouldn't feel like work, dude"... but if you are getting paid its technically work even if you love it and sometimes it will feel like work and you need to treat it with respect and determination, so lets get serious and give our handful of fans the best product we can come up with! Does Mr Clean say that making floor cleaner was boring this month so this new batch of chemicals isn't going to clean your floor much at all? NO they stick to the formula and put the work in at the Mr Clean plant and your floor gets cleaned, man

read the story from their own website http://dangelicoguitars.com/explore/history/

the current D'angelicos have nothing to do with John or his apprentice James D'aquisto other than the headstock shape and the name which was purchased by investors in 2011. the cool deco look of D'angelicos is great, but what made them special was the hand craftsmanship of 2 guys building one off guitars for top players.... they had 'models' back in the day, but its rare to find 2 d'angelicos or d'aquistos that are specced identically in every way. They were not a factory guitar. Not that there's anything wrong with factory guitars, just saying, its kinda sad the d'aquisto family fell on hard enough times to sell the name and trademark headstock to a bunch of sharks churning out factory copies... the whole thing about d'angelico was that you called him if your personal jazz instrument had to be better than a Gibson super 400

I secretly like ovations, plastic abck and all... they are their own thing. y'know Kaman, the guy who invented the Ovation guitar? He was actually a Helicopter parts mogul for his day job. The Kaman music group that also owned Hamer? That was his hobby when he wasn't engineering and inventing stuff for aircraft. Guy was like a mad scientist.

Jim, I think you're the only one here who has that many guitars, you lucky man.

For everybody else who does not have that many guitars, we keep ours close at hand because we cannot afford more than the few we own.

I'm sure even when I finally finish paying off my student loans, It'll be years until I think it safe to buy a brand new a GOOD guitar without going bankrupt for the month.

I think I have the least guitars of anyone I know LOL, but I run in that kind of crowd and I make a pretty solid living! I really thinned the herd lately I swear it! I think when Iw as your age I ahd 2 axes... you'll be able to afford 3 or 4 by the time you are 21 or 22, honest

I am actually playing guitar while typing this.

Vengeance and Gates were the first 2 guys who's sound taught my ear how to harmonize guitar parts. Took me forever to discern exactly what they were playing to each other. Vengeance always plays a 5th higher. I dig it.

I was really surprised by Bad Religion. Not a lot of people are familiar with them. I used to have a car air freshener of their logo and people just thought it was an atheistic statement :)

people don't know Bad Religion? They were HUGE when I was a teenager. Right in the forefront of the SoCal punk revival though not exactly a part of it... WOW

"mommy is on valium, so ineffectual..."

aww come on kids

also? Drummers. PERIOD

But you're right about the Big Two, and it really bothers me. I'm sure people think, "Why get this guitar when this one is more popular?" and think it easier to just buy a Fender or Gibson and I get frustrated because It's NOT better to just go the easier and more popular way because there is such a thing as a diamond in the rough, and if you look hard enough, they're not so ordinary after all!

Its also a resale thing... if I am in a financial bind my Gibbies always bail me out... and I know my other set-necks are as good or better, so its not impossibly heartbreaking to part with a Gibson if you need to. As a Gretsch guy though, I cna attest a good Gretsch can pay for emergency car surgery when thigns go seriously wrong). The big 2 are a very known quantity (although Gibson these days? not so much! I am underwhelmed with everything but the unobtainium Memphis guitars... I have to sift through so many Nashville axes to get a winner).

I like the UI but I switched back to 11 because I'm not patient enough to load all my samples and presets in. Plus, installing plugins & VSTs is really confusing.

I know dude. I am not happy.

Holy God is it a pain to get all your plugins from FL11 to 12. I am mad... at IL. Rah! Well, might as well plunk away at it.

I don't have a Synth just yet I've looked up and down for a good cheap one but it hard to get any of these things when I have little money. Which is why I haven't posted a reply in a while.

try a korg volca bass or one of those arturia mini brutes tos tart... CHEAP! and nice sounding analog units to boot. I am still getting next to my korg, no free time :-(

What about band member who want to write 'as a band' but come unprepared and then contribute absolutely nothing but pointless noodling in mind-numbing ' writing jams' that produce zero songs and you just wind up working on something the primary writer suggested yesterday after Jackass leaves to go to the bar or whatever???

OOH OOH! or band members who say they want everyone to work on an arrangement for one of their tunes but won't accept anyone else's parts even though they didn't come up with anything for you to play beyond their line and maybe half a vocal with scratch lyrics?! Being all like, "I don't know what I want here, but I am sure nothing anyone is adding is right!"

Guitar websites like PRS that have a long list of names but no quick view.

or guitars like current production PRS models that have premium price tags, are made fairly well BUT have an unplayable heel shape that makes an LP seem just wonderful or some other inexplicable design flaw...

More so Fender than Gibson I think.

yeah, I second that... but the Gibson headstock is a big upcharge, which is why they got so uptight with Greco and tokai in the 70s and 80s

Nevertheless, the guitars certainly look like they were made with care. Their hollow-bodies and solid-bodies should have been sufficient enough to sweep that market... I'm surprised it hasn't.

no one willever displace the big 2, the headstocks are so iconic people just want a gibby or fender

Herbie Hancock - keys

Jeff Beck - guitar

Ginger Baker - drums

Victor Wooton - bass

David Bowie - vocals

it would be so nuts, I don't think any explanation is needed

From what I heard, they were starting to go under a few years back, but I never heard anything about anyone buying the name. Though the guy who manages the company sounded like he wasn't really doing his job well.

Nevertheless, D'Angelico's name is still really important.

I guess, After D'Angelico died his assistant took off and formed D'Aquisto to continue the great tradition of quality archtops for top jazz musicians. D'Angelico went downhill after that and I think someone bought the name up in the 90s and tried to revive the company but they have been limping along ever since... I don't know what's up with these new ones. I will have to try them whenever I see one. I do not have a lot of time for guitar stores and I couldn't afford to go to summer NAMM this year like I wanted to.

Dude, I know. I just got it last week but haven't gotten to try it yet. Too busy :-(

I feel a new song coming on though!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DAngelico-NYSD-9-ohsc-/111728349147?hash=item1a03874fdb

I never knew D'Angelico made solid-bodies...

She's beautiful

they're new, someone bought the d'anfelico name... dunno if they're any good

I do not care for the Indonesian set-neck teles, find one from Korea for that price, they are readily available. The necks are very slender, but they are nice guitars overall. The Indonesian ones have funky fretwork and bad neck set angles.... look up the spalted maple telecaster too! really pretty tops on those.

Also, that clubman is a professional amp with a very professional price tag as well as serious tube upkeep needs. it runs those EL34 power tubes really hard and current production EL34s tend to short out quickly. It will be a nightmare for you. It the sort of amp you will grow into as you get older. I recommend you look at something under a grand

the matchless C30 is one of the greatest modern guitar amps... love it... the clubman is also killer... they are a good 2 to 4 grand in USD. You do not need effects with a Matchless, though they handle pedals very well. I built a HC30 kit. I love it. I tend to run everything into the 'click channel...

Narcist, play any winners lately in sunny CA? Keep going to stores and learning what you like... also, try lots of amps! Maybe if you are saving you should get yourself a good tube amp at the same time you buy your guitar. A big box store like GC will cut you a deal and throw in some cables if you buy it all at once. Blackstar amps outta the UK seems to be doing some affordable stuff that will meet your needs. I tried some of the club series Blackstars and was reasonably impressed with them for the type of amps they are. I would take them over a lot of other affordable channel-switching tube amps any day of the week.

Darkseid isn't nearly as clever as Thanos though... in my opinion at least. Anyway, I need to process all of that. That was a blast of info, some of it outside of my comic book era (I didn't keep up with doomsday after superman died and returned as I was getting out of mainstream comics)...

"The Inglorious Basstards"

I am dying here. HA!

Unrelated note, look at this.

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/22817-rig-rundown-hinder

Go to the last photo and look at that pedal board. The tuner's on the far right.

Tell me what model that is, because I am sure that is a TU-2, not the TU-3 as the Premier Guitar says.

I didn't find any photos, but at 5:14 and 8:16 I think i see large bulbs which would make it a TU-2.

I see a TU-2 in the video, not a 3

There's a bassist on TalkBass who says he's going to buy it and hang it on a wall as an art piece. He's taking a long time to gather the funds for it though. It seems a shame that it would just be crucified over a fireplace.

I hate guys who do that! If I don't play a guitar I sell it, period. Unless it has extreme sentimental value...

Putting a 59 les paul or 335 in a climate controlled display case instead of making music with it, for instance, is a total crime. You are stopping the decades worth of music trapped in the guitar from getting free to the listening public.

WHAT?! I have not seen that band play but I HAVE seen Weird Al and GWAR take a stage. Those guys would be very tough to beat for best live show.

E-N were banned in NYC since the 80s for almost burning down a venue because they tore the stage apart and lit a fire as part of a composition! They also build 90% of their isntruments from found objects and parts of abandoned buildings. But the music is so, well, musical! Its not a show and music, their music just becomes a spectacle because of the process used to play some of it. By the way, I love GWAR.

https://neubauten.org/

That IS interesting. Wrestler Sting kinda looks like Chris Pratt in that photo, which only adds to my amusement.

He does, doesn't he? These two should mount a tour together that would combine a Sting show with some UFC cage match using bass guitars as weapons....

I think I have to go with Einsturzende Neubauten for pure unadulterated innovation coupled with a very broad stylistic palette. They are not for everyone, but they really do it for me. Best live band ever.

"driven by a desire for fame and money become an evangelist or a vulture capitalist.

Isn't this an oxymoron? An evangelist does the opposite, he's just a widespread pastor.

Sorry mate, but Reeves is a capitalist himself, you might as well be Tom Morello.

I think you're missing the modifier on capitalist... like it or not we are all capitalists because that's the system we live in

Well in that case, I got a Takamine GE-400 with a coffin case and leather levy strap for 800+shipping ;)

I would buy it, but I already have more guitars than I have time to play in earnest. I need to stop acquiring for a bit, its just getting silly.

As a kid, I thought Ashdown was a cheap brand that made low quality products. If that was true, it seems they are turning around.

I am not sure. I never even heard of them until maybe '06? This guy who did some session work for me showed up with an ashdown head and it sounded just great, especially bi-amped with my vintage Fender Showman.

I swear by the Yamaha P-85 as a keyboard controller because it has realistic acoustic piano weight/action and the best MIDI velocity and aftertouch sensiticity in its class, plus its a full size keyboard. I play the piano tolerably well so these things matter to me and I prefer to get control of other parameters via a dedicated knob/slider controller... for that job I like the now-classic phatman2 a lot. Generally I will play MIDI data into FL on the Yamaha and focus on a good performance on the keys, then go back and start fiddling with knobs and stuff...

If you don't play the piano well then a midsize Novation with lots of knobs gets my vote! Novations are head and shoulders above m-audio and most akais.

Music is not a career choice. it’s a calling. It’s a satisfying and wonderful road but it’s also a hard road. Only take this path if you can’t live without it. This is not American Idol. If you are driven by a desire for fame and money become an evangelist or a vulture capitalist. Do the rest of us a favor get the fuck out of the way. Do something else. Then you can play music as a “hobby”.

-Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie band, tin machine, etc)

You make a lot of good points and DC probably has the edge if only because of the man of steel, though arming Gladiator with a chunk of Kyptonite would up the big G's confidence and powers as well as weakening the big blue boyscout. The Lanterns are pretty intimidating but they are not without their weaknesses, plus there are tons of Novas too. The Nova corp is less powerful but they are incredibly numerous. I think if all the titans banded together with the Novas they could keep all those Lanterns busy fighting and re-recruiting for a little while!

I still think Marvel's characters have better teamsmanship versus DC's most powerful and/or cleverest characters who are on the irascible side of the personality spectrum. Mxyzptlk is totally unpredictable for instance. Maybe he could get rid of an army of celstials with a thought, but would he? A Doctor Doom or Thanos is able to work with the good guys when he sees advantage in it and Marvel's heroes are traditionally more than willing to utilize the talents of their arch-enemies when they need to. Hell, Magneto and Emma Frost have both run the school for gifted youngsters at various times. There's an element of comraderie and grudging admiration to the rivalry between Marvel heroes and villians, plus there is a larger ethical grey area in the Marvel universe. Only Luthor seems to have this quality in the DC world (apart from some inconsequential Bat-Baddies). Everyone in Marvel's universe has sophisticated movitves beyond truth, justice etc, so its a rare Marvel Villian who is truly malevolent and incapable of behaving to fight a common foe. Many of Marvel's baddies have a certain level of enlightened self-interest at the least. DC villians have typically been a lot more sociopathic and would turn on their arch-enemies in a heartbeat to settle an old score even if it meant a real hit for team DC. Anyway...

This could be a great miniseries if we wrote it. When will someone else chime in? I can't believe that we are the only 2 comic book geeks on EB.

I wish the stores here were mindful enough to carry the shock ones. I want to see this inside of one and see what exactly is anti-shock. I figured it was a box suspended in a box by rubber or something but from what I can see, it's just a konex set on the inside that is bolted to the sides.

The ATA approved rack I had was definitely a crazy box within a box like you want with a ton of foamy crap in the air-space as well as a spring-based suspension rig kinda like on some 70s ampeg heads. It took some doing to figure that out non-destructively. This thing was bullet-proof, but I had no use for it or most of the junk in t so I used the whole thing as a trade item on a guitar.