I really love and hate this thing.
I was noodling around and found a few progressions I liked last night, still trying to put at least one song together or find my new groove, and ran downstairs to setup the Helix and get a sound going. With my Pod HD500 this would take 10 minutes, if that, and I'd be onto recording. 2 and a half hours later I was done writing my patch and was too tired to lay tracks... that and my ears turned to mush.
I have come up with with what I believe to be a very versatile patch. I should be able to do a lot on this and there is still some tweaking to be done. I need to adjust some EQ stages to just tweak the sound a bit to get it where I want it. But I'm pretty happy overall... and it's the power of the Helix which really showed up in these 2 hours of tinkering...
This thing is powerful, and once I made the mental disconnection with the POD HD I was really able to dig in and figure that out myself. I've done some reading of other sites but never really took notes, luckily my brain somehow retained some of this info and I was able to use it in my patch creation process... So like everything, lets start at the foundation. I plugged in my Telecaster and went to work.
I grabbed a clean amp, normally I go straight for an AC30, but today I decided to grab the Archon clean channel. For a cab I went with the Orange 412 box, because well... I need some citrus in my life. Good for a healthy life you know? I tweaked the bejesus out of it and got what I thought at the time was a nice smooth modern clean.
I wanted a good drive tone to go with it, but as I mentioned on the last blog post I wasn't thrilled with the distortion options on tap, and I'm still not overly happy with them. The Archon reacts very differently than the AC30 so I did give them a go, but still didn't really like what I was hearing. So I decided to add the Archon Lead channel to the mix. I created a second path and now my signal chain splits before the amps and the rejoined before heading out the cab.
The Archon Lead is super powerful and I really dig it! I think I may want the real thing, this is a fantastic sounding patch. Really thick and heavy. Makes my Telecaster sound like a humbucker equipped lead machine! I decided to run both amps in tandem for my lead tone and just have a foot switch take the Archon out of the signal path. At this time I put a reverb behind the clean amp only.
Ahhh... the clean Archon and the Lead Archon get pretty thick and heavy together but loosing a lot of definition... thus the heavy tweaking commences. I swapped out the clean side for a bright Fender Bassman patch and edited it until I got some nice chime in with the lead tone. Very complex and dynamic tone. I adjusted the lead tone some more and started diving into bias and sag settings to get a good feel and response. I then went clean... holy ice pick!
I played with the Bassman some more. I really like this amp, but I don't know if its idea for what I'm trying to do... So I swapped it for a blackface Fender Deluxe normal channel. I don't like how the drive control gets this amp dirty so quickly, so I have it set to 1.0 or below to get what I'm looking for. A lot more EQ tweaking to get the clean sound I wanted but still retain some top end definition. Merged with the Lead channel I was super happy.
I wanted another gain stage however, so I started to go back to the overdrive and distortion pedals. I put these in front of the Deluxe so they wouldn't affect the Archon. I don't know how long I played with the, but I never got something I overly enjoyed... I figured it was the Deluxe itself and how the pedals interact with that amp. This is where I threw out the Pod HD mentality and wondered if I could create another amp path... I was right.
I took an AC30 Essex model and threw it in behind the Deluxe along the same "clean" signal path. I setup a foot switch to hot swap between the two amps. Dialed in a chimy crunch from the AC30 and done. I added a little boost with the Exotic EP Booster and the foundation was done.
There is some bottom end flub I get from this patch that I need to go in and fine tune with some EQ patches, but overall I'm really liking the tones I'm getting from it. So it was time to fill in the rest.
I added a trem, put the speed on the expression pedal, then added my usual phaser and delay pedals. Reverb got moved to the master channel, and all done.
All of a sudden its midnight and I have to work in the morning... so it's time to pack it up and record tomorrow.
But before I do that I look at my signal chain for recording that I've fine tuned and slap myself a little bit....
My signal path is:
Guitar -> TC Electronic Hyper Gravity -> Ernie Ball Expression Overdrive -> ABY Box
ABY Box A -> TC Sub n' Up -> Maxon Ad999 delay -> Orange Rockerverb 50 -> Cabclone
ABY Box B -> Helix
The compressor was on the whole time.... oh well, it sounded fantastic.
You can download the patch from my dropbox at the link at the top of this post. I'll be updating that folder as I add patches as you come with me on this journey. Thanks for reading.
Saturday 7 July 2018
Music - upward helix
I got a little extra on my paycheck so I went and picked up a Line 6 Helix LT for a month rental from my good friends at Long & McQuade to check out... Well now I gotta figure out how to not give it back to them.
I haven't played with it much, it's actually been a very busy weekend, but it sounds amazing. Lets start with a comparison with the POD HD500.
First things first, I hate the interface on the HD500, I never edited patches on the board itself, I always used my computer to edit patches. I've always found the interface slightly cumbersome and I could just do it a lot faster through the editing software anyways. I'm very happy that the interface and ease of on board editing hype of the Helix is warranted. Without reading the manual I dived right in and setup a basic patch based on my most common live rig... an AC30 with a compressor, 2 overdrive pedals (OCD/Rat), phaser, flanger, trem, 2 delays. I had that done in about 15 minutes.
The interface is also beautiful. It really is. They really outdid themselves here on the presentation, and the interface is probably the most important thing aside from tone on a system like this. I was really impressed with after figuring out what the buttons were supposed to do how intuitive it was. I was changing effects block and scrolling like a mad man thinking "it would be nice if there was a menu with all the FX instead of scrolling through them all". Sure enough, that exists and I found it really easily as it was exactly where I would put it. Assigning foot switches, exactly the same, just really simple.
There is a lot in here, there really is. One thing that I wanted from my POD HD500 was the Orange amp expansion, but wasn't going to pay $50 USD for it. Luckily, the updates with new amps are free! Even today, Line 6 just added the clean channel from the Mesa Lonestar. I'm pretty excited to play with all of these wicked amps and the long term viability of this product due to the release cadence of new gear.
So here I am dialing in my AC30 tone using the Fawn version and I decide to play with some of the other settings... like SAG and BIAS. On the POD HD500 they claimed they did something... I could never hear or feel it unless they were at the extremes, so I never bothered playing with it. But I can see myself doing it a lot with the Helix... and thats good and bad.
The idea behind the SAG is that your essentially changing the amp from a solid state rectifier to a tube rectifier and adjusting to taste wherever you want in the middle. Essentially this changes how the power amp would react and compress your tone. The lower the value in the helix the less compressed and more responsive feel while a higher value gives it much more compression and can even get a muddy, but provide a lot of sustain.
Bias changes the clean headroom and how tight the amp feels. Higher values are class A while the lower values are class A/B. You get more of that push/pull compression feel from A/B bias which gives you that tighter and more dynamic tone while a class A is a more open and warmer feeling amp.
So my AC30 Fawn preset had both the SAG and the Bias centered. My real, 1973 AC30 is a solid state rectifier class A amp. So I shoved the Sag hard left and the Bias hard right. It changed the feel quite considerably. After a few minutes of tweaking I got it right where I wanted it, improving the feel of my vintage amp slightly and getting a really warm, jangly clean tone with a lot of clarity and punch. A/Bing with my real amp it sounded very similar and reacted very similar to playing dynamics.
I wanted to see how the helix would react to putting a drive pedal in front, and I'm happy to report that shoving the Ernie Ball Expression Overdrive (my new favorite pedal!) it responded very well. Not as well as going into a real amp, but it pushed into a nice thick wooly overdriven tone that sounded a bit muffled compared to my real amp, but still very usable. To be honest, I'll probably just take the Tube Scream pedal model and assign the gain knob to the expression pedal to get a similar effect. Having the gain on the expression pedal is just flipping cool!
There isn't much I can say about the chassis or quality of life features that others haven't already said. But I'd like to just compound on them that the hype is true. Now I have two friends who owned helix and sold them because they spent too much time tweaking, not enough playing, AND that they found some tones just wouldn't work in a band mix and it was too much of a PITA to edit them to work on the fly. Luckily... I don't need to worry about that in my present situation.
I'm very impressed with this, and I can see how one can really just fall into an endless rabbit hole of tweaking. I'm lucky that with my current project that I have no one other than myself to set tones for so I can fall down that rabbit hole as deep as I want. But I know that I will probably just focus on a few different amp tones and go from there. I'm excited to fire up the PRS Archon, Fender Deluxe Reverb, and Mesa Lonestar tones. Mostly because these are amps that I normally don't play through and I'm looking to develop a new tone and a new sound, what better way than having a studio of amps at the touch of a button.
I haven't played with it much, it's actually been a very busy weekend, but it sounds amazing. Lets start with a comparison with the POD HD500.
First things first, I hate the interface on the HD500, I never edited patches on the board itself, I always used my computer to edit patches. I've always found the interface slightly cumbersome and I could just do it a lot faster through the editing software anyways. I'm very happy that the interface and ease of on board editing hype of the Helix is warranted. Without reading the manual I dived right in and setup a basic patch based on my most common live rig... an AC30 with a compressor, 2 overdrive pedals (OCD/Rat), phaser, flanger, trem, 2 delays. I had that done in about 15 minutes.
The interface is also beautiful. It really is. They really outdid themselves here on the presentation, and the interface is probably the most important thing aside from tone on a system like this. I was really impressed with after figuring out what the buttons were supposed to do how intuitive it was. I was changing effects block and scrolling like a mad man thinking "it would be nice if there was a menu with all the FX instead of scrolling through them all". Sure enough, that exists and I found it really easily as it was exactly where I would put it. Assigning foot switches, exactly the same, just really simple.
There is a lot in here, there really is. One thing that I wanted from my POD HD500 was the Orange amp expansion, but wasn't going to pay $50 USD for it. Luckily, the updates with new amps are free! Even today, Line 6 just added the clean channel from the Mesa Lonestar. I'm pretty excited to play with all of these wicked amps and the long term viability of this product due to the release cadence of new gear.
So here I am dialing in my AC30 tone using the Fawn version and I decide to play with some of the other settings... like SAG and BIAS. On the POD HD500 they claimed they did something... I could never hear or feel it unless they were at the extremes, so I never bothered playing with it. But I can see myself doing it a lot with the Helix... and thats good and bad.
The idea behind the SAG is that your essentially changing the amp from a solid state rectifier to a tube rectifier and adjusting to taste wherever you want in the middle. Essentially this changes how the power amp would react and compress your tone. The lower the value in the helix the less compressed and more responsive feel while a higher value gives it much more compression and can even get a muddy, but provide a lot of sustain.
Bias changes the clean headroom and how tight the amp feels. Higher values are class A while the lower values are class A/B. You get more of that push/pull compression feel from A/B bias which gives you that tighter and more dynamic tone while a class A is a more open and warmer feeling amp.
So my AC30 Fawn preset had both the SAG and the Bias centered. My real, 1973 AC30 is a solid state rectifier class A amp. So I shoved the Sag hard left and the Bias hard right. It changed the feel quite considerably. After a few minutes of tweaking I got it right where I wanted it, improving the feel of my vintage amp slightly and getting a really warm, jangly clean tone with a lot of clarity and punch. A/Bing with my real amp it sounded very similar and reacted very similar to playing dynamics.
I wanted to see how the helix would react to putting a drive pedal in front, and I'm happy to report that shoving the Ernie Ball Expression Overdrive (my new favorite pedal!) it responded very well. Not as well as going into a real amp, but it pushed into a nice thick wooly overdriven tone that sounded a bit muffled compared to my real amp, but still very usable. To be honest, I'll probably just take the Tube Scream pedal model and assign the gain knob to the expression pedal to get a similar effect. Having the gain on the expression pedal is just flipping cool!
There isn't much I can say about the chassis or quality of life features that others haven't already said. But I'd like to just compound on them that the hype is true. Now I have two friends who owned helix and sold them because they spent too much time tweaking, not enough playing, AND that they found some tones just wouldn't work in a band mix and it was too much of a PITA to edit them to work on the fly. Luckily... I don't need to worry about that in my present situation.
I'm very impressed with this, and I can see how one can really just fall into an endless rabbit hole of tweaking. I'm lucky that with my current project that I have no one other than myself to set tones for so I can fall down that rabbit hole as deep as I want. But I know that I will probably just focus on a few different amp tones and go from there. I'm excited to fire up the PRS Archon, Fender Deluxe Reverb, and Mesa Lonestar tones. Mostly because these are amps that I normally don't play through and I'm looking to develop a new tone and a new sound, what better way than having a studio of amps at the touch of a button.
Monday 11 June 2018
Music - Riptire song preview & love/hate the POD
I have a bunch of stuff on the go in my computer. I have a few working tracks and songs that I've been playing with. Essentially every time I sit down I'm working on a new songs, which must mean the stuff prior isn't sticking if I don't want to play them. That said, I really like what I came up with Saturday night.
I fired up my Telecaster and AC30 at "bedroom" levels and started to play around. The wife didn't text me or anything about being too loud, so that's a very good sign. I plugged in my favorite pedal (Crowther Hot Cake) and a Vox Delay Lab and just starting jamming away. I didn't really get a feel for anything with the delay that night. I also went in wanting to do something with a slower groove to it, but came away with a bluesy hard rocky riff at 140bpm...which seems to be my average as of late.
Here is the first draft and rough track jammed out.
"Riptire" is just a working title right now as I don't have any lyrics written, and it will most likely change. The bridge is probably the part I want to change the most, as well as the solo at the end. There is a chance it will get a bit longer.
This is where it gets interesting, the stuff I have been writing is very dry crunchy tones, no real FX use. I'm a huge FX user, I love filling out the soundscape with various effects that really add to the songs. I get very inspired playing with different effects, which is why I took out my delay pedal. I'm lacking in some pedals, and I originally didn't think I'd be buying back in... but I'm starting to do some head shopping to check some stuff out. I need a tremolo for sure, as it has been one of my most used effects. I'm also looking at a polyphonic octave pedal as I got a lot of use out of my POG 2 when I had it. But I cannot justify buying another POG2 at this time.
Guitar tones are interesting tho. I'm going to be exchanging the cab-clone for a 16 ohm version as soon as possible. I'm trying to use the POD for recording guitar and I'm just not happy with it. The track I linked above is recorded with my Rockerverb 50 going into the Cab Clone and using Wall of Sound speaker emulation in Cubase. I really like it, it sounds thick and full and expressive. The rest is all POD, and I really want to use my AC30, but will need a 16ohm version to plug it in.
It's not that the POD tones are bad, they aren't. They are very use-able, but I find I am constantly fighting with it. The more I get into this writing project the more frustrated I'm getting with this thing.
The first issue is when I'm trying to use it as a recording interface. One of the things I was doing originally was having it hooked up and running it as an interface right into Cubase. This allows me to edit patches on the fly on the computer. I guess I still could if I got another USB cable for it... but I will no longer use it for recording direct. I will now be passing it through my Audiobox. The main reason is that it is constantly glitching and giving electric static jolts. I assume because it can't keep up with Cubase.
The other issue I'm having is either not having enough output to the recording desk or clipping the front end. I've tried a bunch of different tricks, but ultimately it's just frustrating to have to be digging around and messing with things all the time. I don't like it, it's annoying.
Finally the tone. It's usable, it's workable, it sounds better than the Cab Clone before adding speaker simulation. But, it's not alive like a real amp, and it isn't as defined sounding as a real amp. Overall it's kinda muffled. The distortion models are complete crap too... but then again I'm used to using pedals like the Crowther Hot Cake, Empress Multi-Drive, Xotic BB Preamp, Diamond Fireburst...etc.
Once I get the 16ohm Cab clone and can use my AC30 I'll see if I need to start going any deeper, but I may also rent a Line 6 Helix to see how much better it really is.
So in the track above, can you hear which guitar is the Orange Rockerverb 50 through the Cab Clone into Wall of Sound vs the Line6 Pod HD 500.
I fired up my Telecaster and AC30 at "bedroom" levels and started to play around. The wife didn't text me or anything about being too loud, so that's a very good sign. I plugged in my favorite pedal (Crowther Hot Cake) and a Vox Delay Lab and just starting jamming away. I didn't really get a feel for anything with the delay that night. I also went in wanting to do something with a slower groove to it, but came away with a bluesy hard rocky riff at 140bpm...which seems to be my average as of late.
Here is the first draft and rough track jammed out.
"Riptire" is just a working title right now as I don't have any lyrics written, and it will most likely change. The bridge is probably the part I want to change the most, as well as the solo at the end. There is a chance it will get a bit longer.
This is where it gets interesting, the stuff I have been writing is very dry crunchy tones, no real FX use. I'm a huge FX user, I love filling out the soundscape with various effects that really add to the songs. I get very inspired playing with different effects, which is why I took out my delay pedal. I'm lacking in some pedals, and I originally didn't think I'd be buying back in... but I'm starting to do some head shopping to check some stuff out. I need a tremolo for sure, as it has been one of my most used effects. I'm also looking at a polyphonic octave pedal as I got a lot of use out of my POG 2 when I had it. But I cannot justify buying another POG2 at this time.
Guitar tones are interesting tho. I'm going to be exchanging the cab-clone for a 16 ohm version as soon as possible. I'm trying to use the POD for recording guitar and I'm just not happy with it. The track I linked above is recorded with my Rockerverb 50 going into the Cab Clone and using Wall of Sound speaker emulation in Cubase. I really like it, it sounds thick and full and expressive. The rest is all POD, and I really want to use my AC30, but will need a 16ohm version to plug it in.
It's not that the POD tones are bad, they aren't. They are very use-able, but I find I am constantly fighting with it. The more I get into this writing project the more frustrated I'm getting with this thing.
The first issue is when I'm trying to use it as a recording interface. One of the things I was doing originally was having it hooked up and running it as an interface right into Cubase. This allows me to edit patches on the fly on the computer. I guess I still could if I got another USB cable for it... but I will no longer use it for recording direct. I will now be passing it through my Audiobox. The main reason is that it is constantly glitching and giving electric static jolts. I assume because it can't keep up with Cubase.
The other issue I'm having is either not having enough output to the recording desk or clipping the front end. I've tried a bunch of different tricks, but ultimately it's just frustrating to have to be digging around and messing with things all the time. I don't like it, it's annoying.
Finally the tone. It's usable, it's workable, it sounds better than the Cab Clone before adding speaker simulation. But, it's not alive like a real amp, and it isn't as defined sounding as a real amp. Overall it's kinda muffled. The distortion models are complete crap too... but then again I'm used to using pedals like the Crowther Hot Cake, Empress Multi-Drive, Xotic BB Preamp, Diamond Fireburst...etc.
Once I get the 16ohm Cab clone and can use my AC30 I'll see if I need to start going any deeper, but I may also rent a Line 6 Helix to see how much better it really is.
So in the track above, can you hear which guitar is the Orange Rockerverb 50 through the Cab Clone into Wall of Sound vs the Line6 Pod HD 500.
Thursday 31 May 2018
Music - Gibson RD
 |
| 1978 Gibson RD Custom |
To your left is the 1978 Gibson RD Custom. This was mine, I sold it in 2015 as we we're buying a new home and lawyer fees are a thing. I wish my Gretsch would have sold, but really out of 5 guitars listed this is the only one that got any bites. Very sad. It's a beautiful guitar, a very unique guitar, but something very cool that Gibson has fucked right up with the reissues.
The original RD series launched in 1977, and the top of line the Artist was truly a work of art. Stunning in every respect with some really cool features. Ever since I saw "Choke" use one back when I was going to punk shows in the early millennium I was fascinated and wanted one badly. The Artist had an active EQ, treble boost, bass boost, a compressor, and an expander built into it thanks to some fancy Moog electronics that took up a large part of the back of the guitar. It also had really fancy trim and beautiful inlays in the headstock. The shape was the coolest part for sure.
The Custom, which I owned, had the active EQ for treble and bass, as well as a treble boost (which was just offensive sounding). It had really short frets, a Fender scale length, and was all maple. It was a very bright, powerful sounding guitar. I ended up swapping pickups with a Gibson Dirtyfingers in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan P-Rail in the neck that lived in P90 mode just so I could get rid of the brightness. The sustain and response was incredible and this easily became one of my favorite guitars in my stable. My only issue was the wide fretboard which sometimes wouldn't cooperate with my shorter fingers. But it was awesome and I loved it. Once I got this guitar my PRS Custom 24 and this became my primary guitars.
For the last few years Gibson has been reissuing this guitar. It has received an incredible cult following and it looks like Gibson noticed.The 2018 RD Artist shares only it's shape with the original as far as I am concerned. While it's an incredibly cool shape, it only tells part of the story.
 |
| Eastwood RD Artist |
The body also went from maple to mahogany. While the maple/maple/maple!!! construction was a big part of the guitar I am mostly okay with this change from a modern updating stand point. Mostly because all that maple made the guitar stupidly bright and this really helps smooth that out.top end.
The electronics have been changed up, understandably it's been 40 years. It now has GEM Active pickups. wowie.... no boost circuit, that would have been awesome. Then the dressup is weak too, the headstock inlay just doesn't exist. Really... this reissue is pretty far from the original sharing just the body shape.
But there is good news! There are some other makes recreating this fantastic beast!!
 |
| Hagstrom Fantomen |
Hagstrom has also done an RD style guitar that they call the Fantomen. This is essentially the signature model for the guitarist from "Ghost" who at one time played a Gibson RD Artist. Spec sheet shows the 25.5" scale length that I keep harping on as being very important for this guitar. The body shape has a sharper lower horn and slightly warped shape at the back compared to the original. It has passive pickups with coil taps. So nothing fancy electronics wise. All mahogany construction. Price is around $1000. So not bad.
So it has more in common with the Gibson reissue than of the originals, but should not be overlooked.We cannot talk about RD's without talking about Epiphones signature series reissue.
This is the guitar used by Lee Malia from "Bring me the Horizon". It has a coil tap, a humbucker in the bridge and a P90 in the neck. He I like this one! The control scheme is more Gibson Les Paul than RD. It has some nice inlays, and it is a sharp looking guitar. Mahogany construction with a maple cap, and the 24.75" scale length. This maybe better than the Gibson one spec wise in my opinion, it's for sure prettier. Under $1000. So a very solid alternative to the Gibson too. Comes with a gig bag...which I never understood. Come on Gibson, these things need hard cases!
 |
| Dunable R2 |
The last RD remake I want to touch on is the Dunable R2. They took some liberties with the body design, but it has the same essence of the original. I personally don't like the sharpened lower horn, but overall the rest of it is pretty sweet. This is more of a custom build style guitar, and the price reflects that. You can choose your body work, neck woods, pickups, controls, colour, all the fun stuff. It has the longer scale length but no crazy electronics aside from the phase/coil taps that are available.
I configured it out to be $2800+ with a flame maple top, satin translucent finish, gotoh locking tuners, 2/2 control layout with the coil taps and phase push/pulls, maple/ebony neck, maple/swamp ash body, and block inlays. So it's pricey... at that price, why not get an authentic RD Artist off of Reverb?
This has to be the coolest guitar I've ever owned and will always be an old favorite of mine. I miss it, and I'll own another RD at one point in my life, that is for sure. But for right now I'll enjoy what I got. If you get a chance to play one of the originals, do it, it's fantastic!
Tuesday 29 May 2018
Music - Cab Clone part 2
Well, I got my speaker cable and fired up the Cab Clone. First impressions "well this doesn't sound terrible". I didn't have high expectations, I expected it to sound like a wet fart under a blanket due to all the negativity the Cab Clone has received. It's not that bad.
It is bad tho. But I will make it usable, I promise. For the first section here I am using my new Telecaster American Professional through my Orange Rockerverb 50 mk1, to the Cab Clone, to a Presonus USBbox into Cubase 5.
First things first, lets go through the Cab Clone itself. There are three modes and a volume dial. I left the dial at 12:00 for my initial tests here. Starting in "closed back" mode which is supposed to replicate a Mesa Boogie 4x12 cabinet. Spoiler alert... it fucking doesn't. My Telecaster had very little top end resonance and the bottom end was there..but it was confused and didn't know if it should be tight or loose. A very compressed and closed sounding signal. Had no body to it. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good. It was what I expected.
The second setting is "open" and this was a bit better, seems to boost the mid range frequencies a bit. But there are strange harmonic overtones going on here when using my Telecaster that I found the tone offensive. It was odd sounding more than anything... for sure it wasn't good.
Disappointment started to set in. I switched to the Vintage Cabinet mode, and this was okay. The frequency response was the most open sounding of the three. My Tele could breathe a bit more, but still sounded kinda fat, almost like humbuckers with tele twang. THIS I can work with. I adjusted the EQ a bit, cranked the power amp stage to get a more oomph and it helped thicken the bottom and get some more tele twang. It still felt very closed off, kind of like a blanket over a speaker cabinet but the mic behind the cab and not under said blanket... usable... or so I thought.
I started putting together some riffs for a new song. I got a lot of tweaking on said song still, but it's coming together. I laid down my primary guitar tracks, programmed some drums and then swapped over to my POD HD500 to do some bass work and a secondary guitar track.
The bass part went down nicely using the modeler and an octaver to fake a bass using my Telecaster. Then I moved onto second guitar territory. I booted up my AC30 tone I built as a base tone earlier and plugged in my ES-335. Blah. It sounded so gainy and brutal compared to what I got from the Orange which was rounder and thicker...but it was also more open sounding and more responsive feeling... how strange.
I tweaked the tone and recorded my parts. Still too much gain, but this song is far from final, so whatever. I then listened back and the difference between the Cab Clone and the Pod was criminal. The difference is so drastic that it's almost hard to believe. I promise I'll update with some audio clips soon.
The POD track was more dynamic sounding in a lot of ways. It felt more open, it felt more like a real amp in a room than the Rockerverb through the Cab Clone...which is not what I expected at all. I expected the REAL amp to sound more real than the POD. Granted I was using an AC30 on the POD, but still, very strange to me. I plugged in my original AC30 at this point in time and put it at as low a volume as possible to compare to the POD, it's off, quite a bit, but I tweaked it to match and it's
pretty damn close...
So now I have this fully digital tone from a POD that is 8 years old technology wise (which is eons in the digital world) and it's out performing a real, professional grade, amazing guitar amp and a cab clone... So now I'm wondering if I should just return the cab clone and get me a Helix (I wont, it's too expensive right now!)
I brooded over this all day. I was recommended by a forum user on the Orange Amps page to try "Wall of Sound" by Two-Notes. It comes as a 30 day trial with a 412 box and 212 box. I just took the default 412 setting and put it over my Cab Clone track in Cubase... wow. just wow.
Suddenly the amp opened up, the tone was bigger, fatter, more open sounding, with all the dynamic range that I remember from plugging this amp and letting it rip! I am impressed. I will have to do more digging into this software. The cabs are pretty cheap too and you just need to buy what you want to use. Sounds like we got a winner.
I'm going to burn through this over the week and then possibly return the Mesa Cab Clone and get a 16ohm version so I can use it with my AC30 as well.
check out: Elise Trouw
It is bad tho. But I will make it usable, I promise. For the first section here I am using my new Telecaster American Professional through my Orange Rockerverb 50 mk1, to the Cab Clone, to a Presonus USBbox into Cubase 5.
First things first, lets go through the Cab Clone itself. There are three modes and a volume dial. I left the dial at 12:00 for my initial tests here. Starting in "closed back" mode which is supposed to replicate a Mesa Boogie 4x12 cabinet. Spoiler alert... it fucking doesn't. My Telecaster had very little top end resonance and the bottom end was there..but it was confused and didn't know if it should be tight or loose. A very compressed and closed sounding signal. Had no body to it. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good. It was what I expected.The second setting is "open" and this was a bit better, seems to boost the mid range frequencies a bit. But there are strange harmonic overtones going on here when using my Telecaster that I found the tone offensive. It was odd sounding more than anything... for sure it wasn't good.
Disappointment started to set in. I switched to the Vintage Cabinet mode, and this was okay. The frequency response was the most open sounding of the three. My Tele could breathe a bit more, but still sounded kinda fat, almost like humbuckers with tele twang. THIS I can work with. I adjusted the EQ a bit, cranked the power amp stage to get a more oomph and it helped thicken the bottom and get some more tele twang. It still felt very closed off, kind of like a blanket over a speaker cabinet but the mic behind the cab and not under said blanket... usable... or so I thought.
I started putting together some riffs for a new song. I got a lot of tweaking on said song still, but it's coming together. I laid down my primary guitar tracks, programmed some drums and then swapped over to my POD HD500 to do some bass work and a secondary guitar track.
The bass part went down nicely using the modeler and an octaver to fake a bass using my Telecaster. Then I moved onto second guitar territory. I booted up my AC30 tone I built as a base tone earlier and plugged in my ES-335. Blah. It sounded so gainy and brutal compared to what I got from the Orange which was rounder and thicker...but it was also more open sounding and more responsive feeling... how strange.
I tweaked the tone and recorded my parts. Still too much gain, but this song is far from final, so whatever. I then listened back and the difference between the Cab Clone and the Pod was criminal. The difference is so drastic that it's almost hard to believe. I promise I'll update with some audio clips soon.
The POD track was more dynamic sounding in a lot of ways. It felt more open, it felt more like a real amp in a room than the Rockerverb through the Cab Clone...which is not what I expected at all. I expected the REAL amp to sound more real than the POD. Granted I was using an AC30 on the POD, but still, very strange to me. I plugged in my original AC30 at this point in time and put it at as low a volume as possible to compare to the POD, it's off, quite a bit, but I tweaked it to match and it's pretty damn close...
So now I have this fully digital tone from a POD that is 8 years old technology wise (which is eons in the digital world) and it's out performing a real, professional grade, amazing guitar amp and a cab clone... So now I'm wondering if I should just return the cab clone and get me a Helix (I wont, it's too expensive right now!)
I brooded over this all day. I was recommended by a forum user on the Orange Amps page to try "Wall of Sound" by Two-Notes. It comes as a 30 day trial with a 412 box and 212 box. I just took the default 412 setting and put it over my Cab Clone track in Cubase... wow. just wow.
Suddenly the amp opened up, the tone was bigger, fatter, more open sounding, with all the dynamic range that I remember from plugging this amp and letting it rip! I am impressed. I will have to do more digging into this software. The cabs are pretty cheap too and you just need to buy what you want to use. Sounds like we got a winner.
I'm going to burn through this over the week and then possibly return the Mesa Cab Clone and get a 16ohm version so I can use it with my AC30 as well.
check out: Elise Trouw
Music - CLONE IT! part 1
Well I did it. I went to the place where the majority of my gear was stored and took my Marshall 412 box, a few pedals I got no use for, and an old bass to L&M for trades. I was treated with almost double of what I was expecting to get...which grabbed me some nice toys... two in fact.So I brought home that American Pro Telecaster I mentioned in my last post, and I'm going to focus on that primarily here for reasons I'll explain later.
The factory strings, or I am sure they are factory because they were a bit rusty and gross feeling came off right away and I tossed on some D'Addario NYXL 11-49 gauge on. After letting it settle overnight I came back to it and just had some minor adjustments to make for intonation and returning. It's plays beautifully, no height adjustment needed as I got very little if any buzz, even when really digging in. It's a just a joy to play.
I booted up my POD 500HD and built something as close as I could to my optimum stage rig. Unfortunately Line 6 does not have a Emma Reezafratzitz distortion, Crowther Hot Cake, or Xotic BB/RC/AC preamps in their modeling lineup, so I had to figure something else out. I took a standard AC30, tweaked the EQ for taste and started adding pedals. I took a Proco Rat Distortion model and cranked the output and lowered the gain just to get a feel of tube drive from the amp model which was mostly successful. I actually really liked it for a low gain tone with some crunch. Then I took the tube driver model and made a big fat high gain tone out of it. Distortion done.
I hate Line 6's delays. I don't know why, I just haven't enjoyed them much if at all. I did put an analog delay together as a generic delay. I'm not happy with it currently, but will tweak. A script Phaser was added, easy done. MXR Flanger, easy done. A seek trem, and an opto trem we're also easily added. Finally a '63 Spring reverb for taste.
With the Telecaster I got some very versatile tones and some inspiration flowing right away. I need to actually finish a song, but I'm going to figure out which one of all the different riffs I've been jamming on will come together first. The Tele will probably be featured a lot in this rejuvenation of song writing for me as it will contrast nicely with my other guitars. Right now I'm feeling my ES-335 and the Telecaster will be my primaries for most of this project.
Speaking of the project, I'm finding a lot of inspiration from different sources... but not really feeling like I'm getting out of my "box". I'm wanting to push my musical envelope here. A lot of what I've been writing has been very generic for what I've done in the past, not really coming up with anything "new". I'm on the hunt for a few of my old theory books (Guitar Grimoire) to see if I can find anything tasty.
Devices like the Cab Clone, which is a speaker simulator that gives you a direct in to your PA or recording system without having to use a speaker cabinet safely. Normally running a guitar amp without a speaker cabinet is not healthy for the amp. This is perfect for me as I'm doing most of my writing and playing late at night. However, it does have limitations that I am very well aware of going into this phase of my creative journey.
The Cab Clone specifically is a passive box that has a bunch of circuitry in it to simulate the sound of micing up your guitar cabinet. The problem is, it's just a bunch of resistors that are putting a load on the amp head and changing the output signal into something safe that can be run into your computer. This is very much like a passive DI for bass, which has been a standard way of running bass live for years. so what's the problem?
First off, you loose the sound of the room. Even if you are close micing the cabinet you will find that if you move the cab/mic around the room it will change the tones. A live mic will always sound more open compared to a DI. Then there is the fact that all those analog resistors will suck the top end out of your tone. I am expecting a major drop in thump, top end response, and mid range openness from my amp. I am not expecting to be overwhelmed here, in fact I plan on "fixing" as much as possible in post with EQ.
Anyways, I mentioned my music inspirations as of late... here is where I'm drawing ideas from:
Thrice - The Weight
Mary Spender - Melancholy Parade
Dinosaur Pile-Up - 11:11
Closure in Moscow - Sweet#hart
Protest the Hero - Drumhead Trial
Rx Bandits - Wide Open
Wednesday 16 May 2018
Music - Tele hunting and Music Man guitars are amazing
I promise I'll do some photography stuff in the near future.
I went to go pickup some strings yesterday for two of my guitars and spent some time trying some of the pretty instruments before taking off. Since I have no real need for my 412 Marshall cab right now, and don't really want a 412 anymore for gigging when/if I get back to it, I decided I'm going to trade it in. I also have a few other items too that I plan on dropping off. I got a sight unseen estimate and started checking some stuff out.
I'm really disappointed in the quality of guitars that have hit the shelves lately. I've been out of the game for 5 years or so, and even then I was kind of choked that I had to look at three Les Pauls before I found one I thought was acceptable enough to spend they money on. Even then that one was missing a pickup height spring. Guitars have gotten a lot more expensive (everything kind of has). I was going to checkout the replacement for the Telecaster "deluxe" model, now called the elite, but they are upto $2500 Canadian, which is almost $1000 more expensive than 5-7 years ago. That's a pretty big jump. Granted, that guitar does play like butter.
One of the salespeople recommended I check out the Ernie Ball Music Man guitars as an alternative. They are way out of my price range, but I decided to take a peak anyways. I'm really impressed. Fit and finish across the line was immaculate. Setups and tuning stability was nothing short of perfect.
The first one I picked up was the St. Vincent model. I've been watching a lot of Mary Spender on YouTube lately and she has gotten a hold of a really pretty one. I wasn't sure about it at first but I keep on liking it more and more whenever I look at it, so I had to give it a rip. It's a very light guitar, lighter than expected, and that rosewood neck was an absolute dream to play on. Thin, but not too thin, a really comfortable feel. Plugging into an Orange Rocker 15 combo I found the tone really fat,
but defined through all the pickup selections. It's a very round tone that brings visuals of a woolly mammoth to mind. It's cool! But very different from what I'm looking for tonally. A guitar one should really check out for later tho...
I then picked up the Valentine. This had a thin neck as well, a bit chunkier and rounder than the St. Vincent, but maybe a bit thinner than a 60's neck Gibson. Very comfortable. A bit heavier than the other guitar too, but still very light. Finish was flawless, but boring, actually the whole guitar is kind of boring looking to me. It's kind of like a Les Paul Special that is trying to pretend to be a Telecaster. So it's got a humbucker in the neck, which is coil tappable, and a slanted pickup in the bridge to try and produce telecaster twang. It also has a built in preamp to give some boost. It was a very versatile guitar to play, but not at all Telecaster like. Too smooth on the top end. Wicked playing guitar tho. One I would love to add to my collection, but at almost $3000 CAD I felt it was overpriced. Sure it plays brilliantly, but it seems like it's an "almost there" guitar.
The Music Man Stingray RS tho, that was a wicked guitar. Still pricey, but cheaper than the first two I tried. The neck is huge, very thick D shape. I'd almost say too thick. I'm no shredder, but I play a lot
of big stretchy chords and it was a little crampy. It sounded and played fantastic tho. Finishes we're cool, modern styling. I really like this guitar! I would like more pickup switching options tho. I think with the neck, push/push boost and push/push coil taps from the Valentine on the RS would be an absolutely brilliant guitar. I would seriously consider this guitar if I started gigging again as those options are easy enough to add. I would even consider parting with my Gretsch Firejet Pro for it if I could get it in a thinner neck.
But, back to Telecasters!
Man do I love Telecasters. I've gone through them like water, but they are always like a nice pair of jeans, a no frills, no gimmicks, nice and basic guitar. But they have gone up in price... I remember when an American Telecaster could be had for around $1200 or so Canadian Dollars for a "standard" model. Deluxe models got close to $2000, but to crest that price point you we're often looking at reissues or custom shop guitars. Now, a Standard starts just under $2000 Canadian. Out of my price point.
There are three major levels of American "standard" telecaster in the lineup, as far as I can tell, right now. The Special for around $1300. The Professional for just under $2000, and the Elite for $2500. I played all three and a mexi.
The special is the entry level American. They used to be HWY1's before my hiatus, but had a matte finish, now glossy. The frets are a bit taller and wider than the others, but the neck familiar. Americna hardware, including a 3 brass saddle bridge, which I like. The texas special pickups are brash sounding, and on the verge of ice pick offensive. The fit and finish of this guitar was...well lacking. You could saw a tree down with the frets poking out of the neck for starters. The action was good, but intonation was way out. Whomever strung it wasn't pay attention and the winds were stacked at least two deep. It wouldn't stay in tune at all. I tried doing some adjustments to it myself and stretched out the strings, but no, it just wasn't cooperating. I know this is easily fixed stuff tho. It wasn't wowing me with it's play-ability, but it felt like the work horse it is.
The Professional ups the game with compensated brass saddles and V-mod pickups. Frets are a bit smaller and more familiar to what I had on telecasters 5-10 years ago. The neck has a similar shape but felt a bit different. It is very comfortable and more inviting to play for sure. Stretchy chords are easy to play and single note runs are effortless. The setup was a lot better, but still had tuning stability issues, so I'm wondering about the standard tuning heads now. I stretched out the strings and it got a bit better, but still kept pulling slightly out of tune. Maybe it's the 9 gauge strings, I'm an 11-50 guy myself, and like a wound third as well.
The pickups are much calmer than the Special. The neck pickup is a bit rounder, smoother, and generally more flute like in it's tone. Sounds beautiful. Still has some top end definition, but also has that tele spank we have grown to know and love. The bridge pickup gets rid of some of that ice pick cutting, but has that growly clashing twang that just screams telecaster. It's great, it really is.
I then picked up the Elite, the best playing guitar of the bunch. The fit and finish we're nearly flawless, setup needed a bit of adjustment, but it stayed in tune very nice. Very light, felt like air, a guitar you could play all night for sure. The only big play-ability issue I could feel is that the finish on the neck may get sticky once you start sweating... Through the Rocker 15 Combo the tone was warm and full but still retained some Fender charm. Notice I said Fender charm, not Telecaster... that's because it sounded more like a strat to me than a Tele. It could still twang if I messed with the amp EQ, but just hot swapping between the three Tele's it was quite warmer and rounder in it's tone. I actually like it a lot, but admittedly not what I'm looking for. That being said I'm playing these in a vacuum and not on my usual Rockerverb 50 or AC30 rig. maybe the guitar would sound more tele like with my regular setup and EQ's set for my other guitars.
Finally the mexi. action was skirting low and just buzzy, but the neck felt good, nice and chunky. I'd argue it felt better than the American Special I played earlier. The pickups were abrasive and bright, but growly and full as far as single pickups go. You could really work this thing into a solid players guitar on a budget for sure.
Overall I preferred the Professional for sure, which means I'm going to hold out for a used version I think. The pickups are more balanced than the others and retain that telecaster tone, but are easily changed with the standard control layout. The compensated brass bridge is vintage/modern beauty and very comfortable. The neck feels comfortable like and old pair of worn jeans. It's just a really well designed guitar.
I went to go pickup some strings yesterday for two of my guitars and spent some time trying some of the pretty instruments before taking off. Since I have no real need for my 412 Marshall cab right now, and don't really want a 412 anymore for gigging when/if I get back to it, I decided I'm going to trade it in. I also have a few other items too that I plan on dropping off. I got a sight unseen estimate and started checking some stuff out.
I'm really disappointed in the quality of guitars that have hit the shelves lately. I've been out of the game for 5 years or so, and even then I was kind of choked that I had to look at three Les Pauls before I found one I thought was acceptable enough to spend they money on. Even then that one was missing a pickup height spring. Guitars have gotten a lot more expensive (everything kind of has). I was going to checkout the replacement for the Telecaster "deluxe" model, now called the elite, but they are upto $2500 Canadian, which is almost $1000 more expensive than 5-7 years ago. That's a pretty big jump. Granted, that guitar does play like butter.
 |
| Music Man St. Vincent |
The first one I picked up was the St. Vincent model. I've been watching a lot of Mary Spender on YouTube lately and she has gotten a hold of a really pretty one. I wasn't sure about it at first but I keep on liking it more and more whenever I look at it, so I had to give it a rip. It's a very light guitar, lighter than expected, and that rosewood neck was an absolute dream to play on. Thin, but not too thin, a really comfortable feel. Plugging into an Orange Rocker 15 combo I found the tone really fat,
but defined through all the pickup selections. It's a very round tone that brings visuals of a woolly mammoth to mind. It's cool! But very different from what I'm looking for tonally. A guitar one should really check out for later tho...
I then picked up the Valentine. This had a thin neck as well, a bit chunkier and rounder than the St. Vincent, but maybe a bit thinner than a 60's neck Gibson. Very comfortable. A bit heavier than the other guitar too, but still very light. Finish was flawless, but boring, actually the whole guitar is kind of boring looking to me. It's kind of like a Les Paul Special that is trying to pretend to be a Telecaster. So it's got a humbucker in the neck, which is coil tappable, and a slanted pickup in the bridge to try and produce telecaster twang. It also has a built in preamp to give some boost. It was a very versatile guitar to play, but not at all Telecaster like. Too smooth on the top end. Wicked playing guitar tho. One I would love to add to my collection, but at almost $3000 CAD I felt it was overpriced. Sure it plays brilliantly, but it seems like it's an "almost there" guitar.
 |
| Music Man Valentine |
The Music Man Stingray RS tho, that was a wicked guitar. Still pricey, but cheaper than the first two I tried. The neck is huge, very thick D shape. I'd almost say too thick. I'm no shredder, but I play a lot
of big stretchy chords and it was a little crampy. It sounded and played fantastic tho. Finishes we're cool, modern styling. I really like this guitar! I would like more pickup switching options tho. I think with the neck, push/push boost and push/push coil taps from the Valentine on the RS would be an absolutely brilliant guitar. I would seriously consider this guitar if I started gigging again as those options are easy enough to add. I would even consider parting with my Gretsch Firejet Pro for it if I could get it in a thinner neck.
But, back to Telecasters!
Man do I love Telecasters. I've gone through them like water, but they are always like a nice pair of jeans, a no frills, no gimmicks, nice and basic guitar. But they have gone up in price... I remember when an American Telecaster could be had for around $1200 or so Canadian Dollars for a "standard" model. Deluxe models got close to $2000, but to crest that price point you we're often looking at reissues or custom shop guitars. Now, a Standard starts just under $2000 Canadian. Out of my price point.
There are three major levels of American "standard" telecaster in the lineup, as far as I can tell, right now. The Special for around $1300. The Professional for just under $2000, and the Elite for $2500. I played all three and a mexi.
The special is the entry level American. They used to be HWY1's before my hiatus, but had a matte finish, now glossy. The frets are a bit taller and wider than the others, but the neck familiar. Americna hardware, including a 3 brass saddle bridge, which I like. The texas special pickups are brash sounding, and on the verge of ice pick offensive. The fit and finish of this guitar was...well lacking. You could saw a tree down with the frets poking out of the neck for starters. The action was good, but intonation was way out. Whomever strung it wasn't pay attention and the winds were stacked at least two deep. It wouldn't stay in tune at all. I tried doing some adjustments to it myself and stretched out the strings, but no, it just wasn't cooperating. I know this is easily fixed stuff tho. It wasn't wowing me with it's play-ability, but it felt like the work horse it is.
The Professional ups the game with compensated brass saddles and V-mod pickups. Frets are a bit smaller and more familiar to what I had on telecasters 5-10 years ago. The neck has a similar shape but felt a bit different. It is very comfortable and more inviting to play for sure. Stretchy chords are easy to play and single note runs are effortless. The setup was a lot better, but still had tuning stability issues, so I'm wondering about the standard tuning heads now. I stretched out the strings and it got a bit better, but still kept pulling slightly out of tune. Maybe it's the 9 gauge strings, I'm an 11-50 guy myself, and like a wound third as well.
 |
| Fender Telecaster American Professional |
I then picked up the Elite, the best playing guitar of the bunch. The fit and finish we're nearly flawless, setup needed a bit of adjustment, but it stayed in tune very nice. Very light, felt like air, a guitar you could play all night for sure. The only big play-ability issue I could feel is that the finish on the neck may get sticky once you start sweating... Through the Rocker 15 Combo the tone was warm and full but still retained some Fender charm. Notice I said Fender charm, not Telecaster... that's because it sounded more like a strat to me than a Tele. It could still twang if I messed with the amp EQ, but just hot swapping between the three Tele's it was quite warmer and rounder in it's tone. I actually like it a lot, but admittedly not what I'm looking for. That being said I'm playing these in a vacuum and not on my usual Rockerverb 50 or AC30 rig. maybe the guitar would sound more tele like with my regular setup and EQ's set for my other guitars.
Finally the mexi. action was skirting low and just buzzy, but the neck felt good, nice and chunky. I'd argue it felt better than the American Special I played earlier. The pickups were abrasive and bright, but growly and full as far as single pickups go. You could really work this thing into a solid players guitar on a budget for sure.
Overall I preferred the Professional for sure, which means I'm going to hold out for a used version I think. The pickups are more balanced than the others and retain that telecaster tone, but are easily changed with the standard control layout. The compensated brass bridge is vintage/modern beauty and very comfortable. The neck feels comfortable like and old pair of worn jeans. It's just a really well designed guitar.
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