jimmarchi1's forum posts 8022

You have a lot of stuff in there boom! Honestly, my favorite solid state bass sound was generated by a bass driver pedal run directly into a 300 watt 70s crown monoblock driving a vintage Kustom 3x12" bass cab miced with an AKG D112, but with a DI from the sansamp's Lo-Z out hitting the FOH mixer too to blend it all together thru board EQ and a lil alesis 3630. If you don't want a true ampeg or fender sound then that cheap tech21 pedal is the best preamp going to my ear. I do, however, really dig the Ashdown heads. Highly underrated.

I don't think they ever made it a full out war. I think it was some heroes against villains thing.

Just because someone's powers are similar doesn't mean one of them isn't more powerful than the other. I think Aquaman would win a toe-to-toe with Namor. He can swim 15 mph faster, he has way less weaknesses (like Namor is sensitive to pollution), hes physically stronger, and he can heal himself.

The only time the fight would be in Namor's favor would be when they were equipped with amazing items. Namor was entrusted to carry the Time Gem of the infinity gauntlet and another time we had the Phoenix live in him. Just on base states though, Aquaman has the advantage.

For me, DC would win. They have Superman who is essentially a God. They even had to scale his powers down over the years.

wait! what about the Shi'ar imperial guard? those guys are all directly based on DC's Legion of Superheroes and have identical powers! Gladiator would neutralize Superman.

Both sides have multiple super-geniuses. Most of the masterminds on both sides are great at understanding and invention but there is one genius that stands above all others as a tactician, Bruce Wayne. Unlike Marvel's geeks, DC's often have no powers. Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor must be able to out-think gods and ancients without having any innate powers. If we were to just put Stark VS Wayne, DC would win I think. Stark has more weaknesses and relies heavily on his equipment more than he does on out-thinking and out-maneuvering his opponents. Batman is willing to go farther than anyone else to win. When its on the line, he will cheat, die, and even kill loved ones in order to achieve the best results.

If Bruce Wayne were DC's general I would give it to DC for pure strategic brilliance, but the heroes and villians of the DC universe have trouble getting along with the bat, he's moody and tough to deal with and I just don't think anyone will take orders from him. His no-holds-barred attitude towards victory is one of the traits that would spoil his attempt to lead DC's army of heroes and villains. Also, if Batman were in charge of DC I would consider having Kang the Conqueror lead Marvel's army. This is a man who is such a brilliant strategist that he managed to found an extra-temporal empire. He also must have exceptional leadership skills to govern such a huge domain and constantly fend off the fantastic 4 and avengers! He has also managed to work with the good guys plenty of times over the years. And what about the Gamesmaster? Hes an immortal who has had innumerable lifetimes to perfect his skills at games of strategy and he is utterly unscrupulous and ruthless. The Gamesmaster has a machiavellian drive for victory. Thanos is no slouch either. And do I need to bring up Dr fucking Doom?

Speedsters. Even in a one on one of the Barry Alan Flash versus Quicksilver, The Flash is faster. He can actually time travel with it due to his tie with the speed force. No items needed. So if great items like the Infinity Gauntlet were left out, control of time goes to DC. There are time travelers in Marvel, but they are all reliant on machines and technology to do so (Apocalypse, Cable, Bishop, Stryffe). This is a major disadvantage.

you may have a few points here, without a doubt the Flash is way faster than quicksilver... QS was always a second-rate mutant, even if Magneto is his dad (though his comic relief factor as a member of x-factor was outstanding)

The Black Hand. Someone who controls the dead. Every super hero or villain from both sides being risen from the dead and given the powers of a black lantern. It nearly killed the entire DC universe. With the help of DC, I think it would definitely end Marvel's.

Lantern recruitment. The rings of the corpses recruit new members and 1 in particular holds a threat over Marvel. The red lantern rings force themselves onto those who have great rage inside and then clouds the minds of the new lantern with so much rage, they are unable to control themselves. These rings finding their way onto the fingers of Hulk, Wolverine, Punisher, and Antman would be detrimental to Marvel. Can you imagine a hulk flying around, drooling napalm, and having the rage inside him multiplied unstably? Technically, Hulk grows in size pending how angry he is. A red lantern hulk could be building size or more.

I think it would take a creative twist to give Marvel a chance at winning.

You are forgetting a pile of insanely powerful Marvel 'cosmic' characters who can go toe to toe with the lanterns... I mean, could Mistress Death revoke Black Hand's power to raise the dead? I wouldn't want to piss off Galactus either! nor do you want to tangle with the Celestials unless you are an absolutely 1st rate power.

Oh, Jim Lee was my favorite artist.

Mine too. I went to art school because I wanted to be Jim Lee whn I grew up but I just don't have the talent. I still have a pile of x-men and wildcats issues signed by the man himself as well as a number of sketches he gave me at signings. I also loved Frank Miller's Wolverine miniseries and I grew up on John Byrne's x-men and fantastic4. Great stuff. The Jim Lee and Claremont era of uncanny x-men and early (no superlative) x-men in the 90s was really a high water mark in comics for top notch art and storytelling.

I have my own strong opinion on this matter and I would like to see what you guys say about this?

If the DC Universe suddenly fused with Marvel Universes 616 and an impromptu fight broke out between the universes, who would win and why?

Keep in mind, they all must fight. Most of the heroes of both universes would join forces to figure out how and why this happened, but that's not fun to debate. They must fight.

first off, so many of the characters cancel eachther out... Namor and Aquaman for instance? new mutant and teen titans? come on guys... also, I think DC and marvel already did a miniseries with their universes fused, but I am not positive as I burned out on comics after Chris Claremont quit x-men the 1st time

I have been liquidating my extensive fuzz collection bit by bit and noticed I still have a few left that I am not using. A couple went already locally and I just put a really nice Tonebender clone on Reverb.com 5 seconds ago. If anyone here wants it contact me via reverb and tell me you are from equipboard when you make an offer and I will probably accept if you are fair about it.

https://reverb.com/item/924831-v8v-sweet-little-66-vox-tonebender-sola-mk-1-5-dam-d-a-m-oc76-nkt213-mullard-germanium-fuzz

Sorry mods and admins if this was against the rules, I just thought someone from EB might want to scoop this cool pedal up before some non-member grabs it.

Is he old enough for a sport like Soccer? That would drain a bit of it.

not in a team situation, he's 18 mos

Lu does have a really good attention span for a toddler, I have started teaching him to dribble and pass a soccer ball and an hour or 2 of soccer practice with daddy does take it out of the little guy. I think sting's method of putting kids to sleep looks way more effective though.

I think of it all like this. Does the item that's added, be it paint, a tremolo, an different preamp, or a gauge change the guitar itself? Would changing any of the said items mean that what was once a Gibson Les Paul is now something different?

I say no. Especially to the DALE EARNHARDT GUITAR! lol. What, does that have have a small engine and steering wheel being the control panel?

usually I would agree, but I think I would automatically have to take away a star from the Dale Earnhardt LP just because the picture of that stock car will certainly detract from the tone.

A friend of mine swears by Bullet Coils. I own a LAVA Coil and the craftsmanship isnt up to snuff.

The best cable I own is a Pig Hog Xlr to Xlr. Very high quality, very happy with it's results, and it wasnt an arm and a leg.

I do NOT like the Lava cable, don't get why they charge so much.

I've had to record straight from my SansAmo RBI once due to cable problems and I don't prefer it.

I am not fond of the RBI... I like the bassdriver well enough and the original guitar sansamp from the 80s sounds okay.

Personally I am all about my AC4HW for recording lately (sometimes run thru one of my AC30's speakers) with a 57 and/or an audio-technical condenser 2 feet out and 30 to 45 degrees off axis from the speaker cone, but I really like doing DI with a radial usb box straight in sometimes (mostly to make short riffy loops for electronic music) and then processing the hell out of the dry track with crazy plugins followed sometimes by serious BP filtering, that free amplion VST [ http://www.megavst.com/amp/audiffex-amplion-free/ ] or the JCM900 VST from www.simulanalog.org if it needs more shaping to sit in the track. I also keep eyeballing that Kemper Profiler!

What are the rest of you doing?

Since Equipboard is my go-to for gear stuff they should do a write-up on this. Not just a few guitar cable suggestions, but also clearing up cable confusion for people (instrument vs speaker, how to shop for cables, what to look for, etc).

Also, it would be awesome to be able to sort item types by number of pros using them and/or number of community members using them. So in this example I want to go to the instrument cables page and have a lot more sort options.

Just some random thoughts!

add both those good ideas to the suggestions thread in the general forum

Dem coily cabs, though.

Never tangle and trip ever again...

Yeah, I like Bullet's coily cables to go from guitar to polytune. They sound pretty good and they don't tangle or trip me. For most other applications, as you can guess, I mostly build my own cables. My second pick for stage work is Spectraflex. They have minimal tangling, are unbreakable and use pretty decent cable inside. Not Mogami good, but just as good as what's in the Monster you have now.

Rack Cases. It bothers me that I cannot ever find one that has the exact number of unit I want, with the same features I want, with a price I want. For the price of some of them, I'm sure I could make my own and have it a lot more secure.

I dunno, I had a really nice Calzone touring rack for a decade or more. I assure you that even though I am quite handy I could not have made a more sturdy case for less money and mine wouldn't have been airline approved for fly dates. It had more spaces than I used, but they were handy for ventilation.

Auto Tune. Everyone feels they are 2 steps away from replacing Celine Dion because of this stuff.

aww hell I hate Antares! and locking to grid in pro-tools too.... and unlimited overdubs! Just get in there and play a fucking take, you ponce! The stones would just put shit out warts and all and it was great.

OK, well the picture I used, I think it would serve as a very good standard for tunings, but I don't know how to reproduce that picture, and my knowledge of theory is very weak.

yeah, you could use a piano chord type staff notation for a tuning symbol, beats the weak names people come up with for the more esoteric tunings...

1. "I'll be watching you" is supposedly written by a stalker to Sting and he used it as a love song. Probably all urban legend.

2. The Answer is, he beats kids!

http://wrestlingmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/stingfightskid.gif

My son is such a hoolign, he would probably enjoy that, especially smashing into the china cabinet! My little dude just tore around the yard naked with a hose for an hour before yanking me into his kiddie pool (that's what the hose was supposed to be doing). Even in this heat wave the yard is like a swamp now. I guess I'm not mowing the lawn during his nap. Oh well. Call Sting for me. I need his help wearing this toddler out.

that can be subjective

I think from a purely scientific standpoint you want the solid-core cables David Gilmour favors... but every cable can be something of a tone filter, so use your ears IN A BAND SETTING.

also, building cables is really easy even if you have never soldered in your life, the only thing easier is fixing your own output jack... seriously, building a fuzz face is so easy that a novice could do it with a diagram and a handful of parts from smallbear electronics. None of this stuff is difficult to understand or execute, it just seems intimidating! Which is great for techs, keeps them in work. Soldering takes less coordination than guitar playing. Don't be intimidated by electronic or set-up work, fortune favors the bold. Print some instructions, get a few tools and jump the hell in. The water's fine.

I haven't made my living from music for the last 7 years and no longer have a publishing/licensing deal.

That said, I have never sampled more than 1 note or chord from anything and the way I treat and blend my samples it would be nearly impossible for a record company to figure out where I got them. Even if they did its a legal gray area on usage of mechanicals that is not worthy of a cease a desist order from a court... and the very short duration of the samples in question would require such a small cut of my profits that I doubt anyone would consider it cost effective to file suit against me.

Legally? Its like Clinton's policy on gays in the military. Don't ask, don't tell policy!

I don't tend to hand out my proprietary samples, but I will consider it. I remember when I got interested in electronic music all this stuff was a lot of work and a major investment. Everything seems WAY easier these days!

That band is another proposition altogether. It's definitely 90s alt-rock/pop influenced, though that has to go away on the next round of tunes. It's been a fun ride, though, and I've been lucky enough to work with some cool people--including the Replacements' touring guitarist, who runs the studio where we record. He's rad. So at least there's that.

Aww hell, I love the replacements! Lucky SOB....

Fender USA after about 1985 is fine depending on what features you want. In dual humbucker guitars I recommend a 90s American Big Apple Strat. I did not care for the cast-steel saddles fender used until recently, but American standards currently have vintage strat-style pressed steel saddles that are better to my ear. Its a small thing though. If you are down with a very vintage-inspired guitar Highway 1 Strats and Teles are superb instruments for a fair price.

Fender Japan is great currently (since about2012) anything marked MIJ rather than CIJ is very good and JV and A serial #s from the 80s and early 90s are outstanding. Fender Mexico standards are good from about 90 to 96, after that you want to look at Mexican signature models and classic series stuff. The current crop of blacktops and classic player guitars are uniformly decent. I believe they are still all made at the Mexico factory. I was very impressed with Fender's Blacktop Jazzmaster. Any Japanese made Squire is as good as any basic American Fender, but they are less readily available and may not even be much cheaper.

This is all just one man's opinion and there are instruments that are exceptions to every rule I have stated... like the Pirate Code in the 1st Pirates of the Caribbean film, this is more of a guideline, YAR!

I will say this, I worked hard, saved up and spent a chunk of change (for a teenager in the 90s) on my 2nd guitar and got a serious instrument that was geared towards the kind of music I was playing then. I'm not saying that more money always buys a better guitar, but I am saying that you should save up and make a substantial budget for your first serious guitar so that you won't get priced out of "the one." If you are really serious about playing you ill work like a slave, beg, borrow and sell your mother's eye teeth to make that 1st major guitar purchase one you never regret!

If you are unaware of Jon Bryon and Jason Falkner's 90s band, check this out: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-grays-mn0000060078

I think it will be right up your alley... sadly the album is out of print, but it can be had thru illegal file sharing (I didn't say that shhhhh)

speaking of good songs and bad songs, I am listening to your band and solo music and I really dig your killers meets psychedelic furs aesthetic

but under the arrangements there are some really memorable melodies with cool hooks that will stick in my head, the poppy sensibility is more American than the arrangements have me expecting, 'breaking my heart' has a chorus that would be at home on the 1st gin blossoms album (I showed my age twice in this post)

it can be. I used to combine phase, flange and stereo chorus a lot. try getting 2 amps, running into the chorus and flanging one output and phasing the other. A good chorus to use is the Boss CE3 where both outputs are wet already.

my set-up was guitar---> mxr stereo chorus set medium to fast and light so its mainly a doubling effect like on a Boston album---> right side mutron flanger set even faster and with very little width to the LFO and then left side EHX smallstone set very slow both feeding blackface fenders set clean

its a very 80s stereo sound

Here's a pet peeve! guys who think that if you gig a pile of mediocre songs 1000 times they will miraculously get better. You will play them tighter, you may refine the arrangements, but if the song lacks good hooks and engaging themes/structure then it is what it is! Better to go back to the drawing board, take that one cool bit out of the old tune to use in a god one and wait for inspiration to strike (this does not mean noodling on the fretboard or keyboard until you stumble on something that isn't too derivative). Also people who think that the inspiration for music needs to be the same as the inspiration for the lyrics! Hate that. If the mood is the same, then you're golden.

Heh. It's more a matter of writing some things worth recording, but yeah. Fingers crossed.

Which brings up another musician pet peeve: writing songs. Ugh :-)

tell me about it.... sometimes you get inspired and compose an album worth of solid material, then years can pass without a single phrase of worth popping into your head!

I thought I was emerging from a massive slump recently, but the well dried up in 3 tunes :-(

Nice! Thank you kindly for the tip. I'll shoot him an email soon, we'll have some work lined up for him in the next couple of months, lord willin'.

just keep plugging away at those last few overdubs and the work will get done and get done well!

If you want to have someone fresh to the album mix it in a great room with great gear and a chillin' vibe contact Brian McTear and Jon Low at Miner Street recording in Philly. If you talk to Jon tell him Jim from UYB sent you.

You're near Boston? Do you know Jeff from Peerless Mastering?

I don't, actually. The band I'm in has typically used Andy Vandette out in NYC. It would probably be sensible to shop around for a local engineer. Would you recommend him?

yes, highly... and I've used Andy before for other people's stuff as well as Emily Lazar, the lodge,e tc

Jeff has a better room and gear than any of them, a set of equally golden ears, a great attitude, better rates... I could go on. He is also a great guy. If I recall he is in Newton MA which is a really nice suburb to hang in while working on your masters. I really like to use Jeff when a project was mixed down to 1/2", he has a great, modified Otari deck from their heyday.

Please link me to your band!

fair enough... I am not a great pianist, but I play well enough to want the option

the finish stuff is baffling to me... unless the fame of a particular finish makes it a distinct model (goldtop or black beauty or an FMT tele) I think its superfluous

one place colors effect tone is vintage fender... solid color Fenders of the mid-50s and 60s (and some 60s sunbursts and tobacco bursts with the really distinct 'spray rings') had a primer coat that went on before the Dupont Duco acrylic lacquer was applied. These guitars just resonate and feel different than the earlier guitars that were done in straight acrylic or nitrocelulose lacquer... its not a judgement, I've played some great mid 60s strats! Just sayin'

see the following: http://www.guitarhq.com/fenderc.html

On a related note, Jim, would you be so kind as to share more about your musical background?

Oh wow. In short I was a jr high/highschool/college jazzband guy on guitar. I've played the violin, viola and cello (poorly) since grade school though I seldom do anymore. I got really into the guitar at age 10. In highschool I formed a band with a player who was really into working on his own guitars, gear and electronics and my love of physics and boyish desire to take things apart combined with his superior knowledge base got me into repairs and such. At the same time I was trying to learn to record and program synthesizers (I was finally getting good at piano), In art school I worked at a small studio/record label as the office guy and worked my way into the control room. I did some live mixing at home and on a major tour and then went freelance as a recording engineer. At this time Iw as (unsuccessfully) pitching songs in LA and Nashville and also did some soundtrack work for A&E and History channels. I failed tog et further into the LA thing because I hate it there and refused to relocate. Probably a mistake. I did a lot of live jazz and ethnic recordings at clubs all over the east coast at this time. I had a couple homebase studios for a while but as all the decent places in town closed shop so I decided to finally start my own rock band with this amazing singer my Dad had seen at an open mic and did Under Your Bed for 5 or 6 years before we had to call it quits due to an ongoing legal wrangle with our original manager that cost us more than one big deal. I was about to head out on the road with a country/adult contemporary singer, but she pissed off her booking agent and it all fell thru so I decided to quit professional music and get a serious day job. I was also working towards getting married at this time so it seemed like the sensible thing to do.

That's as brief as I can be.

But I digress, I think there should be a site that helps retired pros with families and legit 9to5 careers find eachother locally...

Agreed. Someone mentioned Bandmix.com earlier, and it's a decent site, but their filtering sucks which makes searching based on specific criteria difficult (if not impossible). I think that's the reason why users are still thin on the ground, at least in certain geographical areas--like mine. Which is odd, given my close proximity to Boston. Although, again, my difficulty finding good collaborators might come down to wanting to play neither blues nor metal.

I am so ready to start "weekendwarriormusicians.com"

You're near Boston? Do you know Jeff from Peerless Mastering?

I usually create my own strings sampling film scores or classical recordings and then blending with VSTi mellotron strings using this: http://www.elektrostudio.ovh.org/index.php?go=tapeo

This can be very labor intensive, but yields really cool results in the Portishead vein.

I recommend finding recordings of the Philadelphia orchestra performing Wagner preludes at the Kimmel Center. The Kimmel Center is a very modern, dry concert hall and because its a recent build all the recording done there are modern and have wonderful fidelity. Obviously Wagner has huge strings sustaining giant chords or even just plugging away at one note in unison. Tristan und Isolde is a good place to start. For a good quartet stab try the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby", Geoff Emerrick pioneered a dry, close miced sound for strings on that track and there's lots of quarter notes that can be nabbed in the key of E minor.

I haven't watch wrestling routinely in years but every year or so I get curious how things are going and try to catch an episode. I'm always angered and disappointed with what I see.

I can't eal with it anymore. One of my band's managers had a personal assistant who's stepdad was a pro-wrestling trainer/choreographer. She also dated a small-time wrestler who got onmy nerves. All they talked about was wrestling. Nice enough girl, she just killed the whole thing for me.

Dang, that thing's expensive, though. I'm sure that because you got a higher-end guitar, some of those nitpicks about date of production will start falling.

Huh, I thought I had a low end LP. Not the lowest, but way on the low end of the scale... It was all about the silver paint for me... also, I am not a big LP guy so I didn't wanna pay 4 figures for one.

I would stick with good years. The term vintage guitar comes from vintage wine. Not all years are good, older is not always better. Some years Gibson got nice wood, it dried out well and the staff did a good job building the guitars... other years less so. I would take a late 80s or 90sGibson over any Gibson made in the 70s for instance!

A little late to the party, but here's a gripe I'd like to share. It's really a complaint about other musicians--finding you fuckers is a real challenge. Especially if you're searching for someone local, and even moreso if you want to work with someone who is musically compatible.

I feel your pain. I am short on time to go to shows and meet new folks these days. Boom's suggestion worked for me as a 25 year-old recording engineer, but as a 35 year-old dad its not great. Even when I do get out, the people I meet are impossibly young and have no responsibilities and can be very intolerant of my weekend warrior aesthetic even if we manage to have a musical meeting of the minds! When I lived in MD it was really ugly. While Philly has the typical blues or metal syndrome of all second cities, there are a lot more good musicians with diverse taste lurking around than the Baltimore/DC axis had. I have never played with such a gaggle of losers in my life. These folks were my age or odler but apparently had never learned a damn thing about making music or even the basics of their isntruments. I had to change the strings on the rhythm guitarist's strat for her. She wrapped them on backwards when she did it herself.

But I digress, I think there should be a site that helps retired pros with families and legit 9to5 careers find eachother locally...

This isn't exclusive to music, but it bugs the hell out of me when someone lists something for sale and classifies it as "MINT", then continues to describe the various problems with what they're selling. For example:

"MINT Roland SH-101 – one of the keys is broken, it's missing the battery cover, and the filter doesn't always work. Aside from those issues, it's in MINT condition."

NO.

Tell me about it. I recently looked at an ad for a "mint" 81 es335 reissue that was really cheap.... it was mint other than the inexpertly repaired headstock break.

inb4 My Chemical Romance... that last album... AND THEY WERE DOING SO WELL

the guys from MCR are very nice people, particularly the guitarist... shame about the music though

or at least they were, its been a while... they were supporting that irritating parade album last time I spoke with any of them

By the 2000s the only consistently good studios are special edition models that are no longer a great steal. If its dated after, say, '97, try before you buy.

I just picked up my Gibson LP studio 'platinum edition' today for the first time in a while.... I bought it online strictly for the sexy cosmetics (I am not usually an LP guy, but the platinum SG isn't as pretty and I might cut anther album with some friends soon and want to be photographed with a 100% silver guitar just to be a tool) but its a damned good playing guitar, really resonant and acoustically loud for a solid body. I played a studio platinum over a year ago in MD that I didn't wind up purchasing that was similarly well-made. I paid $700 for mine, free shipping... scout ebay and reverb, you may be able to get one for 600 to 700. Les Paul Studio Platinum. A recent LP that is relatively cheap, pretty unpopular, is really well made, has lots of upgrade parts and features from even a standard or traditional AND looks dead sexy!

Nevertheless, eBay should really discriminate.

I guess. A Chinese Fender and a Chinese squire are virtually the same... Indonesian squiers and Indonesian fender? equally crappy.... Korean not so much, the Korean fender is a distinct cut above the old Korean squiers... also, a JV or A serial squire branded tele made in japan will outplay a lot of usa fenders... and the JV will sound better stock usually

When you're on eBay....

and Mike Campbell's wife outbids you on every beater vintage guitar you try to score! The Heartbreakers have plenty of guitars, give it a rest Mrs Campbell.