thcraymer's forum posts 106

Good question, as I can think of numerous good budget short scales (having switched to short scale myself, as it fits my playing style better than long scale), but very few within that price range. However, all 3 of my short scales did roughly fall within that range!

My main bass is a fretless Harley Benton Beatbass, that cost me around $180 when I got it ($200 with a gig bag... but they may have increased the prices since then) (it's a replica of Paul McCartney's classic Höfner violin bass, and naturally they have a fretted version too). I wasn't expecting such a cheap bass to be so great, but it is! I didn't need to change a thing, it was all perfect, right down to the stock strings! It's also extremely lightweight, and maybe the only issue is neck dive (but that's easy to solve). You can also browse Thomann's website, Harley Benton makes a wide range of budget instruments, and often they are decent quality.

My other two shorties are both second-hand (one is a Jolana Kolorbas, a Czechoslovakian antique from the '60s resembling a 335-style guitar, the other is an acoustic short scale Cort). So I could also suggest looking for one second-hand, I got at least half my instruments that way!

So yeah, my suggestions would be browsing Thomann's website for Harley Benton basses, or looking for a used short scale! I've also heard great things about Ibanez, Gretsch, and Squier short scales, which also tend to be cheap.

So I have a Les Paul with a Bigsby B5 installed in it, using a Vibramate (so I didn't have to drill any holes). While the Bigsby is a classic and looks great on most guitars, its main flaw is that it's not that easy to use while you're playing (and impossible to use while strumming, if I play in a shoegaze style). On another of my guitars, I have a Jazzmaster style vibrato, which I consider to be the perfect one: easy to use while playing, and keeps in tune very well. However, such a whammy bar doesn't exist for a Les Paul (or if it does then it's very expensive), but from what I've heard the Duesenberg is the closest thing to it. I already have a Bigsby and am relatively used to it, but would like to know if anyone has experience with the Duesenberg, and how it compares with a Jazzmaster vibrato? Is it worth buying the Duesenberg, or is there not a huge difference between it and the Bigsby?

Bonus question regarding whammy bars: Naturally, I use the whammy bar on my strat as well. That one has another issue: it goes out of tune very easily, compared with the Jazzmaster or Bigsby. Is there any (cheap) solution to that? I am aware of the Vegatrem that supposedly stays in tune very well, but it's a bit out of my price range for now.

Am a bit late here, though I agree... I once had the opposite issue (bought a Jolana Kolor bass that the previous owner had removed the paint and finish of, as I wanted to customize it by painting and finishing it myself in black, rather than blue which was the original colour). It didn't help that the paints and poly I bought were terrible quality, and I have a small apartment so I can only use the wipe-on poly rather than the sprayed one. In the end I did take it to a luthier, the final product was amazing! But he did mention that if I hadn't tried painting it, it would have cost a lot less (maybe even half the price), as he needed to remove the paint and poly I had applied, and in places it was difficult to apply the new paint/poly so there are some parts that still look "worn" (not necessarily a bad thing though as the bass itself is a vintage item). So from now on, I'm definitely leaving these larger jobs to a luthier.

I only have one, a Casio CT-S100 (a simple synth that comes in at around 100 EUR, and has all the basic functions I need for recording). However, I'm quite partial to pianos rather than synths, having learnt piano since my childhood. My favourite synth I've played before is actually my mum's digital piano, a Yamaha (don't remember the exact model), with at least 500 built in instruments as well as MIDI, and many different settings and capabilities (most of which I haven't even tried). In addition, even the built in instruments, especially the pianos and organs, are extremely realistic sounding!

No problem! I'm sure you will figure out something, the inverversions with only two fingers and open strings idea sounds a good idea!

Oh wow sorry to hear, that seems a difficult situation for her to be able to play, I hope it'll be possible for her to regain the use of that finger

I have one friend who lost his middle finger on his fretting hand, however he already played guitar before it as well. Anyway, his solution was to use alternate tunings for his songs... you'd never guess that he was missing a finger!

So from that point of view, I think drop D may be your best option (or even open chord tunings), hope it helps!

Completely agree! It would certainly make it easier to upload photos of our own gear using an app, rather than having to go to the browser every time

Thanks :D I've seen this video before, also subscribed to this guy's channel, he has some great tips on recording shoegaze in general (I also found his one about recording and mixing vocals quite useful)

Also am following you now here!

Oh wow, now I do need to get one, the Zoom sounds perfect, this is what I need!

I went for the Marshall in the end... I've played a Vox Pathfinder before (my brother has one but for guitar rather than bass), but just went for the Marshall as I loved it as soon as I heard it, and all the settings it has :D my style really varies between completely clean or complete distortion and fuzz, but lately more distortion as I'm shifting into a sort of shoegaze style (which is also why I need to upgrade my reverb and delay, not just the amp, even needed to sell some of my less used guitars for new pedals to accomodate my new sound)

Also checking out the link you sent, awesome! Some of the amp sims themselves look pretty interesting (and could be useful if I'm plugging directly into the interface to record). Certainly agree that less is more! With regard to drive, I only have two drive/distortion pedals (only one of which I really use more, and may give or sell the other), and one fuzz, and don't need any more as far as drive etc. goes. The HiFi speaker sounds pretty cool! I'd imagine it sounds great clean too

Still deciding on which amp, the Marshall or the Vox, both are such great deals! I'll wait till Black Friday for the pedal (as I'll most likely order it online, and the online stores I buy from usually offer discounts at that time).

Thanks :D I'll let you know, am excited about getting this pedal!

Incidentally, I'm also thinking of upgrading my amp! At the moment I have a 20 watt Harley Benton bass amp (I use bass amp for both bass and guitar, I find guitars also sound better on bass amps, at least to me). I'm torn between a Marshall MB15 or a Vox Pathfinder (both for bass), both of which are going for cheap second hand at the moment! Can't decide haha

Hope it's not too late... but some pickup companies such as Tonerider or Guitarfetish offer coil split options for all their humbuckers as far as I know, they also have a wide variety, and are pretty budget friendly! I got Tonerider Alnico ii humbuckers which were able to coil split, something pretty rare as Alnico ii-s in general are rarely able to do that, the tone was actually much better than what I expected, and the low price was amazing!

Thanks :D yeah the CDR is the one I've finally decided on. Locally it's going for the same price as the MS-50G, and the stereo is quite a big advantage for recording reverb/delay effects! Some of the amp/drive effects seem interesting too so I may put those in with the software too. Can't wait!

Yeah I've heard great things about those pedals! Well I already have a good drive, distortion, and fuzz, as well as a few others, but it's mostly the reverb and delay I'm interested in (I just have a simple analog delay pedal for now, and just use reverb from the amp, or DAW if I'm recording). I'm likely to keep most of my standalone pedals (especially ones like wah, volume, or sitar pedals that aren't included in the Zoom), but otherwise the Zoom will be a great way to get pretty much any reverb or delay I want!

Oh thanks, I'll also check out the links you sent! My musical style is shifting more towards shoegaze, and so having different types of reverb (especially reverse and shimmer, but also stuff like swells and hall reverb) are becoming more important... the Zoom looks by far the cheapest option, also I'll likely sell a couple of my standalone pedals that are already included on it so it works out even cheaper (and with Black Friday coming up, hopefully I'll barely need to pay anything for it!)

Yeah, some of my instruments and pedals are pretty rare ones, occasionally listed on Reverb but not in the right format... I think this is a common issue :/ I also posted 2 of my rare basses to the chat but no reply yet, the last mod reply I've seen there was a few months old

Mods can you please add

Name: Cort AB 590 OP

Image: https://reverb.com/item/50001265-cort-basse-cort-ab590mf-naturel-pores-ouverts

A short scale Cort acoustic bass, with a full mahogany body.

Mods can you please add

Name: Jolana Kolorbas

Image: https://reverb.com/item/25361580-jolana-kolorbass-vintage-e-bass-1968-thinline-hollow-bass-guitar-blue-4-string-selten-kolor-bass

These basses came out in '68 in Czechoslovakia, and are pretty rare and difficult to find nowadays, there are a few going on Reverb and Ebay sometimes but that's about it. The sound somewhat resembles a Höfner violin bass, except with single coils so with more bite, and it has an interesting 8 way selector switch.

Oh wow that's really nice! Seems a very versatile pedal, and the sound quality is excellent, I'll definitely consider getting one for the future then!

For now though I think I'll stick with one of the cheaper ones (most likely the Zoom), I've managed to save up $100 but it'll take me a long time to save an extra $400 on top of that (living in Hungary, salaries are relatively low here so even a $100 pedal will put a huge hole in my pocket). Plus there are several other things I'm saving up to (for example the Digitech Whammy which is also on my wishlist, also considering upgrading my 12 string guitar someday)... I'm thinking once I'm able to buy more pricey but better quality gear I will though!

Was just checking out more reviews, apparently there's no reverse reverb, but a "Dark Swell" tone print which is pretty close! I'll definitely consider this one, I saw a used mini one going for cheap (roughly 50 pounds), though according to reviews the mini doesn't have access to as many effects as the full size one. As long as it does have the particular reverbs I need though, I might go for this one instead!

Thanks, just checked them out! The TC Electronic HoF looks pretty good, apparetly as well as the reverbs it already has, it has 3 empty slots that you can use to add reverbs of your choice to the pedal, from the TC Electronic website (not sure though if this is true for the mini as well though, or just the full size, the mini is roughly the same price as the Zoom pedal I was looking at). I'll definitely consider this one!

Thanks! For now, I will certainly need a budget pedal (in fact I might even need to sell off one or two of my cheaper pedals to buy it), I might save up to a Strymon Bigsky in the distant future though, when I have more cash for it. Also, reverse reverb is just as important as shimmer reverb (if not more so), I'm looking for a pedal with both. As most of my other gear is budget too (guitars, pedals, and amp), it probably won't make a huge difference for now whether I use a budget or a top quality reverb. I've heard great things about the Bigsky though, some great reviews!

That said, you mentioned that I should route my guitar rig in stereo, which the Zoom MS-70CDR is capable of, so from the three budget pedals I mentioned that one seems the best option.

I'm looking to get a reverb pedal that has reverse reverb and shimmer reverb effects. I'm on a tight budget (maximum I can spend is around 100 USD/EUR). So far I have found three that fit the criteria: the Zoom MS-50G, Zoom MS-70CDR, and Joyo Atmosphere. Which one would you suggest?

Advantages of either Zoom pedal: I also get much more effects, as well as the two I need

Advantages of the Joyo pedal: Slightly cheaper and looks much easier to use

Please let me know your opinions on this, especially if you have either (or both) pedals, or any other suggestions!

Edit: There is also the option of getting the Marshall Reflector (cheapest option I've seen so far, it only has reverse reverb, but because it's significantly cheaper then the other two, I can get it immediately, and save up to a shimmer pedal later if needed).

Not really sure, but for various medieval instruments such as the Arabic oud, the lowest string is C and not E (the tuning also varied between different regions and cultural groups, but the "standard" tuning is C, F, A, D, G, c).

In rock music, the earliest example I can think of who used multiple different and unconventional tunings is folk artist Nick Drake, whose sound pretty much revolved around them, I'm pretty sure some of them were drop tunings at least. There is also Keith Richards, but as far as I know he stuck with open G tuning on 5 strings, with the low E string removed, so it wasn't really a drop tuning.

Great guitars at really cheap prices! I got a fretless Beatbass (violin bass much like the iconic Höfner Paul McCartney used, but a fretless version), and it has become my main bass both for live and recording, standing out among my numerous basses as my go-to bass!

However, it's not always the case, as I also got a 12-string acoustic from Harley Benton, which had several issues such as the string pairs being too far apart, and extremely terrible quality bridge pins (these were both fairly easy and cheap to fix though).

I honestly have no idea how ethically they are made, I'd imagine it's fairly ethical though as it's Europe's biggest guitar supplier and something would have come up by now if it wasn't(?). However, these days I tend to buy used guitars locally, which often works out even cheaper.

They're my first choice for long scale basses, to be precise, the '88 black nylon coated Rotosound strings. On the right bass, they turn it into a monster, with their low heavy thumping sound, while being much more playable than most other bass strings as well. For 6-string guitars I've never tried Rotos, so not sure how they compare, but for bass they are certainly one of the best (if not the best) brands.

Apples and oranges, I've used both and each have their strengths and weaknesses. Generally on electric guitars I veer more towards Ernie Ball strings, as they keep in tune better, are easier to fret/bend, and can last longer (especially the titanium coated ones). On acoustic instruments (both basses and guitars) I veer more towards D'Addarios for their fuller sound and sustain, after Elexirs. On electric basses, neither of the above, rather Rotosound (for long scale) or Höfner (for short scale) strings. Also curious about Pyramid strings, if anyone has used those before?