jimmarchi1's forum posts 8022

this music needs more... music

also, more textures, maybe some ambience or clever use of saturation/distortion so it sounds less... canned

for some introductory articles go check out the website for sound on sound magazine

it may be educational for you to also play with some easy to program analog subtractive synths... go to sam ash (or wherever) and try the current line of moogs out... program a bass patch from scratch, then try a pad, then maybe some blippy stabs... if the employees don't eject you, you will get a good hands on knowledge of what does what and hw to make classic sounds as well as weird tones that are uniquely YOU

that was really nice of you to say, thanks. I am not naturally an electronic musician so that just made my day.

the bass stab synth in the verse? Its probably a PWM or supersaw type subtractive synth... or maybe an FM synth with a low pass filter over it thru chorus...

There's something oberheim-ish about it, could be an oberheim expander like the similar sounds all over Depeche Mode's classic Violator LP

I could make that patch about 5 different ways on just about any 80s unit as long as I have my electrix filter factory and a good multi-fx unit to refine things as needed...

in soft synths I would look at using OBXD or SuperWave P8 or maybe even DEXED and then run a filter plugin after it and maybe some subtle chorus... if you're using a subtractive synth like OBXD then use a saw waveform and detune them or apply pulse width modulation if its available, if using SuperWave use the super saw... there's probably a good FM bass patch in Dexed you could use as a jumping off point to achieve your end result through FM rather than subtractive synthesis

why not make your own sounds and be an original?

Also, once you settle on a gauge, style and brand you will want to make sure that the guitar is set-up to intonate properly with your string preference. If its not set up right you may get fret buzz, fretting out when you bend and/or the guitar may sound out of tune the further up the neck you play.

http://www2.fender.com/support/articles/telecaster-setup-guide/

I usually buy bulk strings online or at the guitar shows... retail is a ripoff

aww hell, I am laughing so hard

Electric? Get a pack of Ernie Ball 10 to 46 gauge nickel wounds and see how they treat you. If they are too tiring then go down to 9's, if they are too easy to play on consider 11s or just be proud of how badass you are...

For acoustic strings? I am the wrong guy to ask... I could give a rat's ass whats on my acoustic. Whatever's cheap and doesn't bend the neck.

Yeah, pretty much any effect that you might put in the loop of a more modern amp sounds great out front of a vox of any type. That includes studio rack effects. Example? The Edge and his Korg SDD3000 rack delays.

depends on how you define an ac15. I want to say that the custom classic that is really a 1/2 power ac30 custom classic ahs an effects loop. A vintage ac15 does not (its a 50s design and effects loops, even a basic power amp out and in setup, are a 70s idea), nor do either of the handwired series or the grey panel Marshall-made 90s reissues. Unless you play high-gain stuff with something like a mesa or soldano, effects loops (even tube buffered ones) are bad for your tone and offer very little in the way of benefits to your effects. A hi-Z preamp-in and poweramp-out can be handy as it switches out of the circuit when not in use. Ampeg was big on these in the 70s as was the notorious Alexander Dumble. If you like the vintage ac15 tone and want this primitive style of effects loops, Matchless style designs like the lightning, spitfire and nighthawk offer a bulletproof take on the ac15 platform with the added convenience of a preamp-out poweramp-in jack as an upcharge option (I think most well-known cloners like Nik at Ceriatone include them free).

Anything inserted in-line between the pre and power amp of a vox style circuit will inevitably hurt the dynamics and touch sensitivity, especially a proper ac15 with a small tube rectifier. The interaction of the entire circuit with your guitar is the sound of this type of amp, even used bone clean. Effects out front are one thing (though I recommend running with only a true bypass tuner for optimal awesomeness), but interrupting the flow of electrons from the pre to the power tubes is a bad idea if you are looking for the classic vox tone. The ac15 (like its cousin, the marshall 18 watt) is a total beast with a gradual transition from clean to dirty controlled by the player's hands and a wonderful singing sustain fueled by the tube rectifiers inherent sag. A proper ac15 with an ef86 preamp has a thick, nasty voice that really is its own effect and the lack of tone shaping means that 1 stage of preamplification has a big interaction with the phase splitter tube and the 2 power tubes. Don't mess with perfection. An ac30 top boost with an added effects loop isn't as blasphemous as the more complex circuit has a little less magic in the touch/sag department (though the ac30 is a great amp that offers lots of other unique benefits and I love the ones I have).

Hope I answered your question.

holy autotune ;-) I enjoyed your use of banjo in the opening of beautiful day.

Oh hey, thanks. Umm, the dated ones are gag years based on arrangement style and synths used but are pretty old now. They were the year I got married I think, so they are 5 or 6 years old?

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

I am pimping my soundcloud mostly because it features lots of the gear on my board and that I no longer owned but have reviewed so you can hear it in action if you are thinking of investing in a piece. Also, I am a luddite with the modern interwebs, so when I go to the trouble of setting up a page like this I want people to check it out. I didn't struggle to upload good quality mp3s for nuttin', kids.

If you don't play some form of metal, what's the point of high gain amps? I was just listening to my old band's album and the highest gain amps used on that record are plexi front marshalls. The tones are almost TOO crunchy. We barely used any effects, just the occasional rangemaster treble boost or a little full range boost or fuzz. I think we used a distortion pedal for 1 part of 1 songs to get a trashy transistor sound over some harmonics.

So someone tell me, why do non-metal guys play triple rectifiers and 5150s and stuff? I am baffled. My high gain love stops with the JCM800 single channels. I mean, Soldanos sound good, but I usually set the gain channel at around 3! Its way over the top. All that preamp distortion, even voiced by a genius like Mike Soldano, sounds mushy and obscures a lot of the nuance in your playing. It seems to me that it HIDES the feeling of the song like Roger Waters' wall, getting between you and a scary audience...

Mesa guys, modern Orange players... set me straight!

Also, the Jazzmaster has the least strat-like pickups and sounds unlike a strat, but the scale makes the Jag and Mustang sound really different from the strat. And none of them have a strat bridge/trem. Strats sound a lot like strats.

Do you like short scale or full scale. Jags and Stangs are 24", the Jazzmaster has the strat/tele 25.5"

All 3 are very different.

This is from one of my reviews and the comments section below it. I thought I would throw this in the forum for folks to find easily, add to, etc...

As a die-hard Vox amplifier enthusiast I feel compelled to answer d_foster14's question, "Is the Price justified?"

Yes.

Yes the price is justified for the right model from the right year. While there are a variety of AC30 variants vintage and modern that do different spins on the vox tone (and I really dig some of the variants I've played more than the amps people view as quintessential Voxes), the AC30s to have to get 'THE top-boost sound' are (in order of tastiness) the following:

1) coppertop (AKA candy panel) JMI, early 60s (I plan to be buried with mine if my son doesn't take up the guitar)

2) grey panel JMI, mid-to-late 60s (if you are looking at a coppertop with the treb and bass controls on the faceplate then its pretty much the same amp as a grey panel so save a few beans and scout out a grey panel because only crazy collectors will care about what color the control plate is... even the grey painted speakers are pretty much the same as the blue painted ones from the coppertop period (some will argue) and even the RI blue alnicos sound fab once they break in... if the tone controls were added to the back of the amp, then your coppertop will be a little different and I have a definite preference in this regard)

3) black panel AC30HW2x Korg, current production (I would not sell mine to you, you would have to trade me something better and I already have a coppertop and don't really need a grey panel)

4) candy panel AC30/6TBx Korg, 90s (this is really a tie for 3, I only give the HW2x the edge for its reliably repairable turret contruction and spiffy 'hot mode', but if a PCB doesn't worry you and you want closer accuracy to a JMI for features and voicing get a 90s RI)

5) grey panel Dallas Arbiter, 70s (no tube rectifier, but that's why Brian May likes them, can Brian May be wrong? that's its own forum topic, right there)

6) grey panel Rose Morris, 80s (multiple PCB facsimile of the Arbiter version... these AC30s can sound quite good and seem to be pretty reliable)

But we're talking about serious scratch even for a reissue, Jim! Do I have other options if I am on a tight budget. I like Ramen noodles and all, but....

So you want the ac30 thing but you need to keep it under a grand. What is a poor guitarist to do?

1) Ceriatone Dizzy 30 - made in Malaysia, these clones of the matchless C30 amps of 90s fame are built on turrets instead of being true point-to-point, but JMI built the original voxes on turrets and terminal strips, so this isn't a bad thing. This has the matchless TB channel which is a little gainier and a little more complex due to it using a parallel triode input (Mark Samson couldn't stand wasting the second half of V1 but couldn't squeeze a 3rd channel to cop the 60s normal channel Brian May favors I guess). Channel 2 is the mighty EF86 pentode channel, a hot-rod, super-tweakable version of the original AC30/4 black panel brilliant channel. I could go on and on about how you'll never touch the TB channel, but find out for yourself! These amps are very well built, but have mediocre transformers and a weak chassis. You have to weld aluminum all over guys. However, Nik's prices reflect these downgrades and his customer service is A#1. He's a true enthusiast who will chat you up. Mine has seen a lot of gigs and sessions and I love her.

2) Orange double terror - Okay, it doesn't have the top boost active tone circuit really, but it IS very much in the ac30 camp and sounds great for the scratch. Add an open-back 2x12 with blues? You're the Queen of May! Though this is a PCB amp it is extremely well ventilated (voxes get really hot, so PCBs in this circuit are scary). Anyway, over some of the other maintenance whores in this rundown I will trust a current production orange with a good warranty any day of the week and twice on sunday.

3) AC30 custom classic 1st series - The original Custom Classics were better amps than the current ones. They were voiced a little better and the cabinets were built better. Add a pair of blue alnico speakers (or mix a blue with the stock wharfdale G12H30 clone) and you can get in the right ballpark. These seem to be built adequately well, especially for a Chinese product, but the traditional Vox lack of ventilation scares the bejeezus outta me. The bigger vents are nice, but they only make me feel better on the HW series. A PCB vox needs more air flow guys. I've seen 60s JMI AC30s burst into flames. Straight up, dude... smoke, then fire.

4) Gibson Goldtone GA30RVT 90s - these are Trace Elliots by a different name. There's an equivalent Trace model with a simple tonestack that this amp is based on (the Trace Elliot Velocet is their ac15/matchless spitfire interpretation and it sounds pretty good and the 30 watt Trace may also be a Velocet but it has a fender deluxe style tone knob like the orange terror so I'll stick to the Gibson version with the full cathode follower tone section that's closer to a top-boost circuit). The Trace made Gibbies are pretty well made, really voxy and only fall down in their oddball 12"+10" speaker cab which is a nod to the original GA20s and 30s of the 50s that had a 12" and an 8"... but those amps had little to do with a vox apart from cathode bias. Okay, they maybe had some influence on vox in later series like the 2 tones, but by then the speaker configuration had changed and.... I digress. Sorry. This amp will get you close if you put a blue in the 12" slot. I hear they made a head version, but I've never seen one. This amp is a good bet as I've never seen a broken one. Just a heads up, around the time Gibson bought Trace they also bought Orange. Many of you will not recall Gibson's attempt to revive the Orange brand in the early 90s because they rapidly switched dears to rebranding Trace amps as Gibson Goldtones, but I think the current Orange staff with their many Vox influenced offerings might containin more than a few former Trace engineers since the whole Trace line was super Voxy. So yeah, this one is a good start.

5) 90s Laney VC30 - It has too many of the wrong features, but under the hood its still basically an AC30. It sounds like Ken Bran of 60s Marshall's take on the vox thing. Once again, add the right speakers and you are getting in the right territory. These are PCB but well ventilated and I thin they were built in the UK by people who sort of care. They're from the period of the GH50L so they're not as bullet-proof as an 80s Marshall, but better than a lot of the far east dreck out there today.

6) Crate Vintage Club 30 90s - These sound REALLY AC30ish. The cabs are crappy, the PCBs are flimsy, they need more ventilation and pretty much everything is under-spec in typical St Louis Music fashion (hell, these are the folks who resurrected Ampeg by making bastardized reissues that crap out every week and putting out a ton of solid state 'SVT' amps... WHAT?! humph)... all that said, the Crate will get you there with a good pair of speakers installed (good=blue). Don't rely on this as your main gig amp unless you have 2... or 3. If you can find more than 1 that still works....

7) Bugera V22 current production - this amp was just brought to my attention by another EB member.... she appears to be a PCB based Chinese knockoff of a modern classic, Bad Cat's Hot Cat 30R. That's a good circuit! A little true top-boost, a cascaded triode hi-gain channel and a matchless power amp. I have no personal experience of this amp, but on paper it should do a pretty good vox impression with proper speakers installed. Its made in china, but so is the dual terror and the Custom Classic. If you're on a budget you're stuck with china sadly. And if you don't care about your amp having a famous British name badge (the thing ain't made in the UK, you may fool some, but not me)... well, if you don't want brand recognition, this Is probably a good bang for buck Chinese voxer.

That's my whole jam, right there. Please Add-to, debate or whatever. This is by no means a comprehensive history of vox or a complete guide to all the budget wanna-be-AC's and its all one man's opinion. But its based on extensive experience with the amps referenced, historical knowledge and (for the most part) electronics expertise. But YMMV!

EXCELSIOR!

that sounds mostly right, though some of the stuff on that tune sounds more like a fender showman to me... JH had one as well as a sound city 100 watter, essentially the pete twonshend model Hiwatt circuit... not sure about the reverb as there wasn't a 60s marshall with reverb that I can think of (definitely no verb on a 60s superlead, trust me) and I'm not sure about the Binson echo-rec either

what? the slide stuff?

my air conditioner

3 word answer:

I hope not.

335 was also the price when it was released. 335 post-war clams.... sounds cheap until you factor the rate of inflation and realize that 3500 bucks for a new es335 from Memphis ain't too far off.