jimmarchi1's forum posts 8022

that's a bad link, it says I can play it from here but it also gives me the option to delete it and you probably don't want me to do that...

it sounds better than anything you've done prior. I would turn the vocal up personally, the piano sounds really milquetoast so I would turn that down... I think you should go through your takes and find some better chorus vocals to fly in... I would probably work on my bussing to get the song to glue together better, none of it exists in the same place, its very disconnected and that's not the spirit of the song. its a pretty sparse arrangement too, its like if Joy Division decided to do a hymn. But without changing what's there I would say to fin better chorus takes, the ones you have are a bit flat and they also don't provide any emotional lift out of the verse, they aren't conveying that god is awesome at all. No point in dickering with the vocal level or top end until you have takes that sound good and communicate the lyrics unprocessed. Decide what kind of interpretation this is and then let all the elements reflect that from the performances to the mix and if you're not going to do that, don't bother to do anything.

EDIT: When you get a good vocal take comped try using like a pultec style plugin or the popular MAAG Eq plugin to give it some 'air' at 12 to 14k... personally I like the bottom of a bass guitar sound to sit below the bottom of the ick drum unless its a thumping dance track, and even then I might have the fundamental thud of the kick more like 100hz and the bass like at 80ish but the kick could have some sub 100 energy. I think your bass might benefit from a cut somewhere around 300-800hz. There's room for a littlre more beater click on the kick, if the sample doesn't have any try layering something up that does,. Masking will gell the 2 sounds together. Compress them together using RMS compression with carefully adjusted time cosntants to get them to really gel as one sound. The sample with beater click could be heavily high passed. I would add some 300 or 400hz to the snare and maybe cut a little at 3k. I would cut a bit of 3k out of the piano unless that made it sound hollow. I would also try compressing the shit out of the piano since its so boring.... maybe distort it, then throw a mdualted echo after it into some reverb where ahrdly any dry echo hits 2bus but there's a tone into the reverb. I would hide some gated verb under the snare to extend it. Not 80s gated reverb, but still gated or a non-lin patch. I would give it enough predelay that it didn't muddy the attack. I might get some verb on the beater click, but not the low end of the kick. I would probably mute the drums at times too... I might try ADT on the vocal to smooth out the unpleasant parts. The artificial double I would autotuned since the pitch on the vocals is wobbly. I would pan them out like 15% and roll some top off the double, maybe delay it a few ms too. Izotope's free doubler is a good place to start that process. Then I would pour a glass of wine and listen to it while I did other things and see if anything I did made sense with what the song is saying. Right now you have a pitchy,lifeless vocal and a simple drum apttern consisting of a dull thud and a lifeless clicking noise. I would really work on those elements first and then think about the tonal instruments alter starting with bass.

thanks, it was pretty patchy when I got it but it had this great stonesy, bowie, graham parsons thing going with teh songwriting... a lot of 1 mic mono drum recordings though, like mixing a record in 1962

I did a little playing, string arranging, additional recording etc for these guys. I'm really proud of this.... there were more tracks, but these are my favorites

you're going to hav to supply me with the links

thanks.... yeah, everything I do with synthesizers comes out as depeche mode, they're a big part of my youth

I always thik of you as a fenderfucker

have you always had a les paul custom?

thanks.... moog treated with some tricks to really enhance the shit outta the bass, which is already hella strong

its caught on ina pretty big way already... we were on CNN a year or 2 ago!

what do you need fixed pic wise? give me URLs and I'll see if I can find rpess shots for the bands in question and fix them

Hey EB peeps, whadaya think of this? its not really that new, i just forgot I recorded it until last night.

must be a moderator thing... they don't tell me a lot, so I discover my mod priveleges by trial and error

have any pics in mind or would you like me to use my judgement?

I should be clear that depsite all the gear I own, I don't feel I need any of it apart from a guitar, an amp, a decent mono and poly synthesizer, something that makes a piano sound and maybe a rhodes sound... and that's it. I'm not very modern like that. Effects are cool, but they're not a crutch for bad playing technique just like MIDI and presets are cool but they're not a crutch for good writing and on teh fly sound design. Know how to do it bare bones is what I think. Many, many people will disagree, so balance my comments with the thoughts of big pedalboard types who make their effects into part of the performance.

I honestly have not been using anything but a guitar and amp all year, not even a little slapback or a wah wah.

The cure without a photo? blasphemy! do you have a blue link "edit group details" next to the picture? If not I'll fix them all for you when I have a sec this week, make me a list of bands that need fixing. On the other hand, if you do see the aforementioned link? well the rest should be self explanatory, but! when you get to the "edit group details" page your first option is to upload a group picture.

Try it with the cure and if it doesn't work we'll take it from there. Now a question with the cure is what era cure should one picture?

was that a typo? "Creye" doesn't pull anything in our search

you can use it as an effect if that's soemthing you like, but a properly set compressor shouldn't be very noticable

I say Volume Pedal, if you want one, then Flanger, chorus, Overdrive (for leads), Delay, Wah, Amp. This is for me, because I switch from clean to Dis. by switching between channels and pickups.

why put a volume pedal first when you have volume pots on the guitar you,re playing? putting a volume post-effects is more sensible

or you can just use your hands and play into your gear appropriately

okay, or don't provide an example, sure... my 5 year old acts like this

I'm pretty sure you should be able to click 'edit' somewhere on the band's page and add a photo... ummm, give me an example and I'll take a look later on

jim-watt

how many songs did you do?

and hey, FINISH RECORDING YOUR RECORD ALREADY, make it good, gooder than the first attempt, then give it to me and I'll mix it for free, I just switched to ahrrison mixbus32C for mixing and need a guinea pig record before I try it on a paying project :-)

try $50 locally, look at craigslist and eb competitive.... if you don't sue it every day and it might buy you another amplifier you want? sell it! This is how I got so much cool stuff. I'm still ruthless like this. Don't get sentimental unless soemthign really has sentimental value. These are tools. If you have a dull knif and you cna sell it for sharper one? you would do it.

Also, keep in mind your sivlertone may need service. It'll probably workw ell enough, tehse amps are troopers, but manya re still on the original fitler caps and many still have the original 6AU6 tubes, you'll wanna replace that shit if it makes any weird noises... if you feel bold and I am in no way recommending people poke around in high voltage amps themselves, its so unsafe never do it, but if you feel bold you can replace the filter caps yourself and save the labor cost. You'll wanna pad out your budget for parts like tubes and electrolytic fitler caps, okay? A lot of the good deals have enver been serviced. They work but dn't exactly have a clean bill of health and could sue another 100 bucks in parts. Don't hesitate to buy deoxit and clean out all the jacks and sockets....

you can probably get a silvertone fo as little as $350, that's not a lot for a guy with no children or spouse. Just sell some pedals, and put away 100 bucks a pay check and you'll be there in 2 checks. A boutique pedal is a good third of that. maybe more.

https://reverb.com/item/12637843-1963-airline-62-9015a-2x12-amplifier-amp-by-danelectro

basically a guitar version of the 1483 silvertone circuit built for montgomery wards.... really great price for a combo even with non-original speakers

this is my favorite harmony model:

https://reverb.com/item/23202858-harmony-h-415-faux-ostrich-tolex

they're getting popular, price might be fair these days... excellent amp

here's the silvertone, price is FAIR:

https://reverb.com/item/18702768-silvertone-1483-bass-guitar-head-serviced-excellent

https://reverb.com/item/23147876-silvertone-1483-bass-guitar-amp

this sits between the thudnerbolt and the 1484 in tone, my best friend still owns one and Iw as just using it the last week in aprila nd its righteoush with a gibson.

ah here's the other one that's like a thudnerbolt and silvetone bass amp:

https://reverb.com/item/23149587-vintage-harmony-525-bass-combo-amplifier-1968-usa

tis is the harmony 420, kind've a supro thunderbolt with the silvertone 1483's treble nd bass circuit

https://reverb.com/item/360081-1965-harmony-h420-vintage-valco-made-tube-amp-supro-thunderbolt-variant

this guy's asking price was crazy but I don't think he got that much

from $200 to $500 on all of them, no more

there's a harmony 15" bass combo that's worth looking into, its right between the supro thunderbolt and silvertone 1483 in design, it flies way udner the radar and sounds great. Another way to go is the Dano DM25, fairly unpopular but soudns great, very stereotypical dano sound, terrible reverb if it works, isnanely cool 3x10 or 3x12 cab I forget, but its neat. SIlvertone was made by dano. Stay away from Kay amps, they're very usnafe designs electrocution-wise and tend to need a fullr ebuild. If you want a more spro sound like the 2 small pwoer tube ones, the jimmy page thing, look at airline, national and gretsch. Valco also made a very ac15ish circuit in a 2x12, forget the name but it has a very vox meets supro sound too, gives up the goods at a pretty tolerable volume and ahs a swampy Americana clean sound.

the supro had some of the supro vibe cranked up, not terrible.... I eman, if you looka round find a 1483, th 'bass' amp... it doesn't have the jack white conenction and it actuallysoudns better clena or dirty. My best friend still owns one. Its a really great design, it ahs one odd tube in the pahse ivnerter but they're readily available and can be rewired tot ake a regular 12__7

anyway, if you want to play guitar through a 60s department store amp just get a 60s department store amp, stay away from the handful of famous models though, all of them sound very similar assuming they sue the same power tubes

I've tried the supro pedal and wasn't impressed. I'll ebt the sears pedal is similar with a tweaked voicing. For dirt its int ehr ight ballpark, but the alrger supros and the 1483 and 1484 they actually have a lot of ehadroom. Not lie a fender of the era, but you cna turn even a 1483 up rpetty damn sound before it does more than growl a little.

Kira, what's up man? I think like if you're going to mix in mono that aleviates SOME of the problems of mixing on headphones, but still...

y'know, Mike, if you're going to have an amp made for you I can make you soemthing that'll probably do exactly what you want... I need to know your price range. I don't have my design fully costed out for production but I can build a riff off a hiwatt on the back of the ceriatone heywhat 50 watt kit and set it up to take JJ's excellent 6V6es to reduce the output to 20 watts but still have that big poweful hiwatty sunn, hifi amp on the edge of meltdown tone. I can give you like a meaner pete townshend hiwatt with only 2 channels and a midrange control, Ic an give it a more useful master volume too. If you want like a jcm800 stage tosed in i can swing that as well so it'll be all dirt. The jim watt design uses an extra 'transformer' though, I could build one of those on a marshall chassis but the ehavy duty fitler choke that gives it a mroe amrshally feel definitely runs the price up, probably 50 to 100 bucks for the quality iron that's in the prototype. But look at ceriatone.com, if you order one of their heywhat kits I can build it and tweak it to be a little elss polite than the stock kit by puling in some of those earlier sound city, the who type refinements. Basically buy the kit, send it to me, I'll build it for like 200 bucks plus shipping back to you. We cna discuss what you want out of it and I'll put the time into voicing it up right and I'll bias it up with whatever tubes you want, 6V6 or EL34. Just if you want the 6V6 tubes with the ability to go back to 34s they have a different impedance relationship so you have to remember to run it at half the cab's rated impedance for 6V6. I cna also wire it for permanent 6V6 use' although with the stock transformer you'll lose the 4 ohm setting. But it can be done. I cna build you an orange too, like a CLASSIC orange, they're really siple amps, it would only take me a couple weeks if that.

someone already tagged him

they don't really make legit hiwatts anymore, even those reeves ampsa re a bit sterile and stiff... hi-tone is rpetty much it and they're made to roder.... although my amp design has a lot of hiwatt Who model DNA, its a little meaner

if the OP can decode it, Iw s really n a hurry when I typed the second bit and it makes no sense

jaguars are cool but they're just castrated strats. much prefer jazzmasters. interesting take on a tele over strat. they're too heavy for me but the tone is fantastic so i see where you're coming from.

yeah, jags and mustangs aren't even the same scale as a strat, and although the stang and jaguar have very strat lie pickups stock they are their own sound just due to the differing string tension. If the OP asked for strats its not fair to emntion fenders ina short scale. Personally I can't hardly get my fingers in the upper frets on those guitars. I really like them but they're too small for me. There may be a hand size reason the OP asked about strats. I have a friend with such large hands he can't really play gibson scale (24 3/4")

yes, as dude says its easy if yiu know how to solder and have the proper iron and solder. youll want veryfine solder, flux core and a low watt iron, 15 or so watts, not more than 25 w. its easy, but also easy to eff up. a preset pickguard shouldcbe doable even forca first timer and should be very cheap to have done. i recently modded an old ibanez beater r. with new pups, a push pull wired for bridge pup always on when pulled on, new five way switch and new tone pot along with all new vinatge wiring and since i tend to struggle with push pull wiring because i have bear paws for hands, i took it in to a local shop for the work. a higg end shop at that that specializes in vintage instruments and amps, boutique pedals and that has a tech/owner whos highly thought of. $90 for all the work plus a setup on the bridge saddles, truss and im pretty sure he tweaked the intonation back to near perfect i expected to be paying double when i went to pick it up. the Giant Chain guys wouldve charged more for less, taken longer and prob effed up my guitar.

@baileyturner031204

you want more wattage than he's saying, go hot and go fast, low temp is ore likely to burn out parts if the person sodlering is new at it.... get like a 30 watt tmep controlled, like a basic Weller

any old electrical sodler will do, preferrably lead based, rosin core, most stuff at home depot will also have some elctrical flux built into it

don't buy flux unless its actually electrical flux, plumbing flux is acidic and will slowly eat up yor parts unelss you clean it off REALLY well... I'mt alking gobs of rubbing acohol and even then thee will be some elf tint eh joint and it'll go cold eventually as the flux eats up the tin... anyway, you don't need flux to sodler a couple pots and caps, seriously... you son't even need to know how to sodler correctly. Just make sure you turn the pots down ebfore you ground the bcks and do it really hot, really fast toa void emtlting the the carbon and burning them out. rank that 30 watt iron to max and sodler FAST to the abck. In fact, do everything nice and hot ad go fast. Form a strong mechanical conenction first. Tie the wire and the parts to those terminals.

I agree, I would not let a guitar center employee touch my guitar setup, they have no diea what they're doing and I actually had a friend who took his acoustic to GC and their 'tech' overtightened and broke the truss rod... if you just go toa chain for a setup and electronics mod go to Sam Ash. They don't hire incompetents. I briefly worked for a Sam Ash in NJ doing repairs. they definitely made sure I knew what I was doing before they hired me. Now they're a terrible employer, that's another story, but everyone there who isn't in sales knows what they're talking about. Prefferrably f you really must have someone else do your soldering and setup take it to the nearest vintage store with a amp repair guy and luthier on site. This is a time when its worth driving hours. But I suggest you dive in and learn. This is basic guitar maintenance. If you're on tour ina van you won't have a guitar tech. They cost money and take up an extra seat. You'll need to bail your guitar out yourself on many occasions. You won't have time to drop it at the guitar shop for work and wait around all week, you'll need tog et back in the van and drive to the next show. Learn this.