thefruitfarmer

Ph3 will suck your tone.

Motivation is the key....thanks to all. We had it out at the rehearsal and I think he is up for learning what he needs to. Pleasant guy who fits in with the rest of the band, local, available, good attitude, no drink/drug problem just needs to go to woodshed for a while to improve his timing. Managed to get the rest of the band onside so it was all as non-confrontational as it could be.and we are all seeing the issue in a similar way so I know it is not just my imagination. Gig tomorrow, which will be filmed so any subtle problems may become evident.

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' timestamp='1399036214' post='2440296'] I wonder what the volume is like on those? I have a Tech 21 Trademark 60 which sounds nice, but isn't very loud. Hopefully things have moved on, and it sounds better than the old Sessionette 75. [/quote] I have not tried one, I am hoping to find someone who has. You would have to go to his place in Basingstoke to try one out. I use the JD-10 guitar preamp so the sound is probably similar enough and that box does everything they said it would, I spoke to them on the phone at the time. I remember those old Sessionette 75's sounding rough and they are now offering an upgrade to make them sound a bit sweeter.... The blues baby amp they say is equivalent to a Fender Blues Junior and loud enough to use on stage...

Yep, it might be pointing towards 2nd or replacement guitarist...

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' timestamp='1399050335' post='2440524'] Feel is the most important thing for a guitarist playing rhythm parts, and matters far more than the other niceties of using the 'correct' chord inversions. [/quote] That's where myself and singer and drummer are at with this..... We all feel that he is not playing some of the songs rhythm parts with the right feel to them... We may have to gang up on him ;-) It does appear sometimes that he can actually play a rhythm part with a good groove, but he can't keep that going for more than a few bars....we may be able to just tell him when he is doing it so he knows what it is.... ..could just as easily end up like the Troggs though ! All very ethereal and a minefield to deal with. It is a local band playing pubs a couple of times a month. Been playing with the drummer a couple of years, he is good and it has improved my sense of pulse and timing, and I do remember when I first started playing with him that I had to move up a level... We shall see, it could go several ways.... I reckon he has it in him so will be persevering for now.

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1399034391' post='2440252'] sausage-machine fallacy [/quote]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1399030520' post='2440154'] Hmm, yes. Try shouting, 'FOR GOD'S SAKE GET IT RIGHT!! WHAT THE F*** ARE YOU PLAYING AT!!??' I find this patient 'softly, softly' approach works wonders. [/quote] That is the drummer's role, I am the "good cop". All good stuff, thanks to all. He is not listening to enough of the type of music. MIght be worth recording him at some point, I have done that before with home recording and mixed the track to show clearly that one particular part needed playing again. Sometimes people assume the problem is with the recording rather than their playing though ! What did seem to work was getting him to play with the left hand dampening the strings for a section so he was playing the guitar more like a percussion instrument, then he could hear himself drifting away from the pulse.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1399029319' post='2440131'] This thread should be called 'Everyone, what they don't learn'. If you need to be telling someone what to play then everything takes about ten times longer than it needs to - even assuming that you're right about it. They will find it difficult, while resenting you for it. You can say 'less is more' all day and everyone will agree with you, but few are actually able to deliver on it. I found that if a song is too busy (for example), instead of telling someone else to play less it's often a good idea to lead by example and play less yourself. The penny drops eventually... and if everyone can do it, the band magically improves by about 100%. YMMV. [/quote] :-) Yes, I am trying to avoid telling him exactly what to play, then he would play like me and I want him to play like him, just tighter really. Like you say people may agree and appear to understand but won't actually deliver the goods. There is a difference between "posing and being" and the problem is that you may not know the being until you have done it, it is something experienced as well as something understood.

I have been working with our new guitarist to get the indie rock and the more skiffle/rockabilly/country stuff up to speed. I think the problem is not so much that there is something not right with the amp or pedal sound (although that does make a difference) it is the way he is playing it..... For the last few weeks I have been trying to work out what it is, the chords are right and in the right place, it just sounds "wrong" somehow. In fairness, he is getting better and working at it. I am now thinking that the issue is one lots of guitarists probably have. I suspect he has mainly practiced lead chops, more interesting picking and the slightly more flowery rhythm playing. What he has trouble doing is playing a solid rhythm guitar part.....something that is dead easy to sing over or will make my bass chops sound better... Same sort of thing as the previous guitard. I need to teach him about pulse, accurate timing, and the need for stamina too. The kind of things bass players and drummers have to do but guitarist can sometimes avoid. I want to get him to the point where he is actually providing the groove, rather than just doing something over the bass and drums groove... Kid Gloves though.... Must be a really hard job being a good professional teacher. I want him to up his game and I know he has got the technique, he just needs to tighten up the rhythm playing really. He can keep time but I think it does reach a point after maybe 8 bars where he needs a reference point. Quite hard to tell someone this, I have to work out what I think he needs to do (and I get that wrong sometimes) and then convince him that he needs to do it without shrinking his ego in the process. Anyone know what I am talking about here and any tips as to deal with it?

That Laney VC30 is pretty good as an affordable valve combo, a previous guitarist had one and it was fine. Just sounded a bit "small" on occasion but that would probably be solved with different speakers... Valves are subjectively better of course but..........there a few good tranny amps out there still. [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/amplifiers_for_electric_guitars.html"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/amplifiers_for_electric_guitars.html[/url] Distortion is a personal thing but I like the sound of the Orange Crush. I would avoid the MArshal MG's, Line 6, Fender Mustang and pretty much all the affordable modellers, they all sound thin and weedy next a good tranny amp. I am not convinced by the Blackstar ID either, the vids sound weedy to my ear but I would like to hear how peeps find them in practice. I use a Peavey Bandit for guitar, cost me £80, it is loud enough and built like a tank. I do use a couple of good pedals for a crunch and a distortion. Real spring reverb, which I prefer next to any pedal I have heard. The Bandit's own distortion is brutal and I think puts a lot of people off them. However, if you need to do it on the cheap then that is one of the best ways to do it. I am looking at getting a good quality transistor amp eventually. It does surprise me that there are not more being made at the moment, for a weekend warrior type player it is just what you need, a workhorse amp. Don't get me wrong, valve amps sound great but sometimes the problems outweigh the benefits when you can get a great sound (never quite valves) with a well voiced transistor amp with analogue distortion circuitry, in pedals or in the amp itself. I mean, Sansamp pedals have been doing this for years... It does surprise me that there seem to be so few gig worthy transistor amps about, something with a decent distortion on it. The most promising I have found is this [url="http://www.award-session.com/bluesbaby.html"]http://www.award-session.com/bluesbaby.html[/url]

[quote name='danny-79' timestamp='1385072667' post='2284282'] Is the tube a serviceable item ?(i.e will it need replacing now and again, sounds simple enough to change 6x screws) [/quote] The tube is an [url="http://www.markbass.it/product_detail.php?id=121"]ECC81 [/url] and they are easily available. I expect different ones would give a slightly different tone and respond differently too. If it is like rack valve gear then it should be quite easy to change the valve. I thought the compressore has a nice valve rasp to it on the utoob vids. With compressors I think it is like distortion pedals, in that it is a personal thing which one you prefer.There are some that give a clean volume reduction and some like the compressore that put some character in it as well. I want to play with that compressore to see how responsive it is to my playing.

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1341839737' post='1724881'] I love it when I hear people site how they use no fx at all because they like the sound of bass, and then turn out to be the kind of people who favour a tube amp driven hard over a solid state amp or a DI. Chuckles abound at the (oxy)moronic nature of that..... [/quote] Well yeah, I have a Carlsboro Reactor 400, solid state workhorse amp, and it really only starts to sound good with a couple of pedals in front of it. I have a Boss CE-5 Chorus and a Boss CS-3 compressor, to add a bit of colour to the sound and to even out all the peaks smoothly. I am thinking of adding a dirt box as well and getting a less brutal compressor. In effect my pedal board is adding the features to my tranny amp that a good valve amp would have anyway. I like the sound of bass, but you can mould your sound with pedals just as you can with a good valve amp. I am not using any freaky effects on bass, it would not suit the band and I think they usually sound better on guitar anyway. Despite saying that though effects on bass can work in some styles but definately not in others!

I assume you have it set up like this? You could mod it I suppose but given the time and effort to do that you would probably do better to get another pedal with the LED's already in situ... Alternatively you could put the Big Shot in strategic position on your pedal board (away from the sides of it) so other band members would find it tricky to switch it by accident.