Ancient Mariner

[quote name='Greggo' timestamp='1400581177' post='2455040'] Thanks for replies. Another really inexpensive guitat that has got my eye is the Epiphone Les Paul Junior, which has a single bridge humbucker and woudl be very familair to me with previously having a single humbucker SG. They are only £99 so a trade in of one of my two basses would definitely cover it and a pickup swap could make them sing from what I understand. [/quote] It looks pretty, but will be made of low quality 'nameless' woods and bargain-basement hardware. It will likely be playable and giggable with work, but you might do a lot better. If you DO want one then go along to a music shop and try 5 or 6 to see if there's one that plays better than the others. Look for un-even frets and sharp fret ends, odd twists in the neck, a poor fit where the neck fits the pocket, loose or very stiff tuners, intonation problems with the bridge at max adjustment. Hold it up from just below the headstock with one hand and tap on the back with the knuckles of the other and listen to whether the wood resonates and rings on or just gives a dull, dead thunk. Play the thing unplugged first and see if it sounds lively or dull - if it fails the unplugged test then it will be dull sounding amplified. If I were buying that then I'd budget for a new bridge, pots, cap and pickup, possibly tuners too. The cheap pots that go into guitars at this level can really kill tone, and the first job on a budget electric after strings and set up is a set of Alpha pots (all log A type) and Orange-drop caps, even if I keep the pickups. I've always maintained that there are good guitars, acceptable guitars and bad guitars, and they can be found at all price points. However the hit rate of good to bad goes down appreciably in the very low budget ranges. My cheapest guitar is a £25 melody acoustic with a plastic bowl back (I wanted a guitar that could be knocked around and loaned to people) and I've played out with it, but it needed significant work before I could do so.

For more than 15 years I used a Korg AX30G processor, but eventually went back to separate pedals a few years back because I simply couldn't get sounds I was happy with after 1 particular amp died irrepairably. The Korg does come out occasionally, and it has the best, most musical compressor I've found anywhere. I have also been known to use a Roland GR33 synth with a Godin xtSA, but not so much right now.

I had a listen - I liked Conkers, but the chords are far too clever for punk. It sounds to me like you could do with a tele-sized P90 - I think that would give you a lot more clarity, bite and string separation than a little '59, while still working well with fuzz. Try a BG Pickups T90 - Bryan is well thought of as a winder, and I've known him through Harmony Central for about 10 years. http://bg-pups.com/teles/t90-bridge/

We have some friends over from Zimbabwe right now, and they wanted to pick up a decent acoustic guitar for their son to start using a bit more seriously. They'd been looking at Washburn, Yamaha, Takamine etc in the £300-£400 range, and we wandered down to PMT in Oxford to try some. We tried a Tak around the price/level he was interested in (a bit dull and middly) then the sales chap (Dan) handed over a Faith FKN electro. Wow. I've played quite a lot of guitars over the years, and just occasionally one comes across one that comes alive in the hands. It had been set up well and the action & intonation were good, but much more than that, the whole body responded and resonated as I played it. There was a hand-built Yamaha acoustic that I played about 20 years ago that felt like this, but that was the last acoustic guitar that ever felt this good to me. If you tickled it then it would sparkle quietly back, thump it and it would push out hard, but without compression or muddiness. Brilliant. We tried another, more expensive Tak. Meh. If you're in the market for an acoustic guitar then have a look at Faith. In the mean time, if anyone wants a Heritage 'Les Paul' or JJ with mini hums then drop me a line.

In all honesty I've never played a Parker that sounded good in my hands - always thin and weak - so maybe it's an issue of technique. I also can't get on with blank fingerboards, as I get lost when looking where I'm going (which I don't always do - depends on the song). No Parker love here then.

Same happens with a Les Paul. You can contour the back, or as suggested, buy a strat (Leo Fender's answer to the problem).

I need to go look up the schema - haven't done the wiring for a while now, but I'm not sure that's it. Somewhere I have a folder of schematics for a bunch of amps I wanted to build and every guitar I ever rewired.

About a blend pot: I rewire all my strats to have the first tone as a master and the second tone to blend the neck PU with the bridge in pos 5 or with bridge + middle in pos 4. Having the tone control the bridge pickup also takes the really sharp edge out out of it, even when on max, and using the second tone control for this purpose is definitely recommended regardless of what other mods you make.

If anyone needs a bass specific tuner, it probably doesn't get any cheaper than this, if you're happy to wait while it comes from China. I've no idea whether this is a good pedal or not. http://www.donnerdeal.com/catalog/product/view/id/514/s/nux-chromatic-bass-guitar-pedal-tuner-pt-05/category/146/

Nice score. I've a couple of strats: Number 1 which is MIJ I bought in '89 new, still has the original ceramic PUs neck & middle, with a US alnico in the bridge and has a very soft, rounded tone that's very sweet despite the maple neck. Number 2 is a MIM job, and weight about 6 1/2lb like yours. This is much brighter, crisper and sharper-edged (even more so since replacing the original trem with a Wilkinson unit, but it stays in tune) and is where I ran initially the GFS with the non-RWRP pickup, then a set of GFS vintage wind Greybottoms (great pickups BTW). When it comes to strat PUs I much prefer low output (those MIJ singles are wound to around 3.7k ohms!) because they sound sweeter and more transparent to me, while higher output PUs can get a bit nasally. Hope you're really happy with the new guitar and she works well for you.

Most guitars can be used for most styles, so it's more a question of what feels, sounds and looks good to you. If you like to play at the top end of the fretboard then a Les Paul might be frustrating, and if you wanted a thick, hard rock tone then a strat might not be girthy enough without a pickup swap. Guitars are generally very well made these days, esp in the price range you're looking at, so it's more about ergonomics, aesthetics and finding something that can provide the tones you want.

What kind of musical styles do you want to use it for? I'd be very inclined to hunt ebay for an older Washburn or Ibanez, possibly a Tokai (though the non-Japanese ones didn't seem to good). *edit* - Dean and Hamer are very good value used too, although you might want to do a PU swap since some of their humbuckers had an accent on output more than tone.

[quote name='tedmanzie' timestamp='1399373066' post='2443478'] Good point. Some features of my Strat have always bugged me - the roller nut, the 'modern' lace sensor pickups, the poly finish that never wears! But it has a great neck, and plays very nicely. I play basic funk, usually very clean, a touch of overdrive sometimes - so a 'back to basics' strat appeals to me. [/quote] Poly finish does wear - you just need to drop the guitar harder. So vintage nut, trem and real single coils. Something worth looking for is a set of PUs without RWRP middle - I had a set from GFS for a while, and the clean tone with the pickups combined in either position was wonderful.

Strats vary hugely, even within the same model. You might ask yourself what features did you want especially want from a new guitar, and then try a bunch to see if one can provide that. Take along your existing instrument as a reference point too.

The gain probably won't affect tone, but the valve itself might. Some kind of EQ pedal could also help give a bit more girth.

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1399061748' post='2440682'] If you decide in favour of the JB bridge pickup, the matching neck pickup is the Jazz (SH-2). It's a marriage made in heaven. [/quote] Some also also pair the JB with the Custom Custom, though I can't tell you what that sounds like. Personally I prefer Dimarzio.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1399073275' post='2440875'] You've got the wrong guitarist. Don't be blaming Yngwie for not being able to play like Martin Carthy, and don't be blaming yourself for not being able to play like Scott Thunes. [/quote] Far be it from me to actually agree with Neil, but I do. He might be able to learn, but it's probably not his taste or natural inclination in music. Just like I could play chugga-chugga riffs for a few bars before becoming bored/embarrassed/wanting to stop, he probably feels somewhat similar but is finding it hard to put his foot down.

Indeed, I would back Skank's comments - country chickin pickin is possibly one of the most difficult techniques to pull off well. While there's a certain cross over on all 4 genres, they do require different approaches to rhythm and feel, and apart from indie (what ever that is) are not at all instinctive to many modern guitar players. 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.

Probably a little late, but have you owned a guitar with a '59? They came as stock in my Heritage H150, and were both thin AND muddy sounding - I really could not recommend them. Replaced them with a Gibson patent number in the bridge and a T top in the neck, and they provided an authentic vintage tone. Some like the '59s, but not me. There's lots of suggestions in the thread so I'll not add more, but if it's not too late…… avoid.

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1399031130' post='2440174'] Have you actually tried one of these yet? [url="http://www.award-session.com/bluesbaby.html"]http://www.award-ses.../bluesbaby.html[/url] [/quote] 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.

It might also be about speaker design, but is just as likely to be about how the output stages handle bass frequencies. I've found smaller amps around, say, 5watts or so simply can't deliver the energy needed to generate a bit of a thump from a speaker capable of delivering it. Get up to the 12-18 watt level and with the right speaker the thump & rich mids can be there, but they tend to drop away as volume goes up and saturation increases. It's only really 50watts + (and some would say 200watts+) that things really fatten out, even if you don't use the volume. As for the BJ you're using, does it have a Jensen-type speaker (eminence 105?)? That might be a big part of the thin tone, and I've found them particularly lacking in bass response. Last year I migrated from a 45 watt amp using a 10" Ragin Cajun (really efficient and LOUD) to a 30 watt amp using a softer and less efficient 12" speaker in order to get a 'bigger' sound instead of cutting through. Generally I like a softer-toned speaker, and all my favourites are well played in.

[quote name='Oopsdabassist' timestamp='1398840092' post='2438030'] Only on a bass forum, could you find guitarists asking is 15w too much, no chance of that on a guitarists forum I fancy! [/quote] Which only goes to show that you are a bass player! For many guitar players the power rating of an amp isn't about volume at all, but getting the right tone.

OK, another AC30 owner here, having bought mine slightly used in '79 fitted with greenbacks. GBs were an attempt to produce a similar sound to the blue as far as I can tell, but with much cheaper ceramic magnets - if you try a blue and a GB back to back (Matamp have a wonderful wall of cabs containing lots of different speakers, fed through a rotary selector switch) then you can hear this quite clearly. The key differences are that the GB is harsher in the top end while having more prominent lower-mids, giving it a 'warm thunder' tone for rhythm work. By comparison the Blue has a wonderful raspy upper-mids tone that doesn't hurt the ears like GB tone can, giving that 'tearing up a shirt' sound or the classic Bryn May sound with a treble booster, and it's substantially louder. Both have a similar loose bass. Which one to get? Both will do bright jangle very well (one of the classic AC30 tones) with the GB having a sharper, more stinging edge and the blue being a little softer. The GB starts to break up VERY early - starting at a couple of watts - but doesn't really roar until pushed hard, while the Blue will give you more clean(ish) headroom and goes even louder. Personally I'd probably choose the Blue version, because they really do sound quite glorious, clean or driven. Alternative speakers for retrofit? I like the Eminence Redfang clone: a little softer in the top end than a blue, but still with the same raspy overdrive sound, loose bass, thundery mids and even louder. I owned a Gold for a while, sold it to buy the RF and consider it a very good swap indeed.

For small amps, speakers will make the biggest difference to volume and clean/dirty characteristics. To wring maximum volume out you will need something like a celestion G12H, Blue, V30, Eminence Red Fang, Cannabis Rex or Ragin Cajun. They are all very efficient, though each with different characteristics that you should match to the kind of tones you need. The G12H will give a big, tight bass and sharp-edged treble, while the blue will sound like tearing up a shirt. The Redfang - supposed to be a blue copy - will give a softer edge to the treble, while for me, the Cannabis rex is a bit dull with a nasty upper-mids spike. At the other end of the spectrum, the Jensen C & P series speakers are very inefficient, which is handy if you want to really crank the amp, but you may run out of headroom too soon (I had a Jensen P10R for a while in a 20W SE amp I built, and max volume was woeful, though it could produce some good tones). As Bassnut says, changing valves around also helps, and if you want a bit more clean headroom then something like a 12AT7 or 12AY7 in the first position will tame fizziness. Good output tubes help too, but they make less difference to the fizz and affect more the richness of the tone. Swapping valve types around can also be good if you run single-ended, and it's well worth experimenting with EL34s, 5881/6L6s, 6CA7s, KT77s and even 6550s. My fave was a 6CA7, which combined the best of both EL34 and 6L6 valves, but a 6550 run single ended could give a HUGE bass tone for a small amp..