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Post by Lefty on May 20, 2006 13:59:53 GMT -7
You never know how they will perform until you play with them in a band situation.
I've been doing a little shoot-out with several of my OD's today, and they all have a great quality to them, and all a little different...I can't decide. Oh well, whacha gonna do?
Just my 2 centavos worth.
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Post by foxx on May 20, 2006 18:06:45 GMT -7
Another truth is that even if all your pedals are "true bypass", add enough of them up with all the connections and you got some missing tone. I like effects, but amps sound best straight in and turned up. And yet, on stage in a band, maybe no one can even tell.
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Post by real oldster on May 21, 2006 19:04:33 GMT -7
There is an essential quality to the guitar that seems absent in bands that use numerous effects. They get interesting tones but the nobility of the instrument is often lost. When playing with others I love the sound of a good guitar straight into a good amp.
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Post by BW on May 21, 2006 19:44:17 GMT -7
...And the congregation said, "Amen".
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Post by bustertheboy on May 22, 2006 1:23:53 GMT -7
i agree about straight into amps, but more so on amps that have no reverb, and in particular my ghia with 2 greenbacks some effects, often super fat ones or diffused ones- like lots of echo or reverb or even super heavy distortion disappear in a giiging situation i also agree that the average punter can't or won't hear the difference-BUT WE CAN- AND THAT MAKES AN ENORMOUS DIFFERENCE TO OUR CONFIDENCE AND PERFORMANCE old non reverb fenders sounded good straight in- yet my vibrolux '65 beautiful with reverb was a bit sad without didn't work for a clean solo sound though- always needed a little OD or turning up loud
not so with the ghia- perhaps cathode bias- it just sings even clean- you don't just get that percussive attack and the sound disappearing- mind you it wasn't a lack of sustain with the vibrolux, even with temporary cathode bias trick the ghia sounds great straight in so i built an effects bypass loop- now i have effects or complete bypass works great!
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Post by Lefty on May 22, 2006 5:42:41 GMT -7
...And the congregation said, "Amen". Well, were not all as gifted as the Rev.BW...we need a little hep from St. Overdrive
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Post by BW on May 22, 2006 6:45:38 GMT -7
Oh, PLEASE! Put some 11's on, have a sammitch and TURN IT UP!
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Post by Lefty on May 22, 2006 7:33:13 GMT -7
Oh, PLEASE! Put some 11's on, have a sammitch and TURN IT UP! I'd prefer four fried chickens and a coke. ;D
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Post by benttop (Steve) on May 22, 2006 8:05:01 GMT -7
Oh, PLEASE! Put some 11's on, have a sammitch and TURN IT UP! 11's! d'OH!
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Post by BW on May 22, 2006 8:11:20 GMT -7
...and don't wash your hands after ya eat that chicken, Lefty.
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Post by taswegian on May 22, 2006 8:39:00 GMT -7
Oh, PLEASE! Put some 11's on, have a sammitch and TURN IT UP! 11's! d'OH! Hey BW, not all of us are blessed with "tone sausages"!!! ;D I think I must have "wieners"
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Post by BW on May 22, 2006 10:00:38 GMT -7
I think I must have "wieners" Tas, reminds me of the hombre from Matamoros who was born w/ TWO... He even had names for 'em, Jose' and Hose 'B'...
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Post by billyguitar on May 22, 2006 10:47:52 GMT -7
I've been using .010 thru .052 sets for some years now and I always change the .010 for a .011. I like the .011 a lot better except for those minor third BB King bends. That takes some pushing! I've got small hands so that even makes it worse. 11s just sound so much better than 10s. If I was doing those long 8 verse solos I'd have to use thinner strings.
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Post by skydog958 on May 22, 2006 14:28:12 GMT -7
+1 karma for billyguitar, I feel the same way 'bout strings. 11s or bust! It amazes me sometimes how younger players use such light strings yet still can't control a bend :-P. I've always liked my strings heavy and my action high.
As for effects....I like to use one at a time WITH a cranked amp. My favorite tone is my KT-45 with my BSM RM booster (Rangemaster). I could play all night with that set up. Talk about cutting through the mix!
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Post by BW on May 22, 2006 16:52:45 GMT -7
Billy, if you have 8 verses of solos IN you, you got WAY more than me, I'm good for about 2, maybe 3 on a good night if its my birthday and I'm in New York or somethin'.
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Post by billyguitar on May 22, 2006 18:00:12 GMT -7
If I had 8 in me, that were worth hearing, I'd be something! In my jump swing band I can go for 4 but a lot of that is about improvised melody, altogether different from other blues. I could never do the Cream kind of jamming. And I'm not believing you! You're one of the best and you can go as long as you want!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by bustertheboy on May 24, 2006 2:31:57 GMT -7
i also love 11's- both for my tele and my esp xtone (hollowbody humbuckers) tone is huge and with fairly low action very easy to play don't u find that when you're fired up on stage it is easy to bend big strings- lots of adrenaline i don't have fat fingers- it is easy to build up and worth it for the tone not being a smug git here sorry if it sounds like it- i don't even need superglue for my fingertips!
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Post by fishman on May 24, 2006 19:46:49 GMT -7
I have been using delay forever...sometimes I may run 3 or more...use them in combination, or one at a time...different setups for different sounds....it may be more from force of habit than anything else but I like to hear a good sweet full delay..tape if possible, if not I like an Ibanex rack mount with the older chips...or, belive it or not a Dan Echo...korg stage echo is a winner and lots cheaper than the Rolands and better sounding to my ears....tube echoplex ain;t bad either....I have a slight delay on at all times. and use the others for solos or a quick effect, then off....I try(notice I said try) to use the effects to comliment the tones of the amp...not cover them up or change the amps voice... I used to play with a bassplayer who made his bass sound like everything BUT a bass... I had a Fender Bassman 100 w/matching cab...I brought that , plugged him into it, hit the deep switch and he was born again..... I guess I am old fashioned but a guitar should sound like a guitar, a bass like a bass , drums like drums, piano like piano and on and on...
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Post by billyguitar on May 24, 2006 19:57:10 GMT -7
Fender bass with flatwounds, that's the bass I hear in my head.
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Post by bustertheboy on May 24, 2006 23:40:59 GMT -7
i love guitar that sounds like great guitar, unfortunately what i may love may make another gag! i'll throw the cat among the pigeons and mention that i did quite a few gigs with a GR33 roland guitar synth and had a ball- one just with synth and a boomerang, the other with guitar/synth sounds mix and a band great just as long as you don't expect to sound like a guitar while i'm a died in the wool guitar freak, it doesn't hurt to be a musician first, guitarist second, just occasionally!
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Post by tjstrat on May 25, 2006 3:24:11 GMT -7
As someone who in my real life does an enormous amount of data entry, and who subsequently suffers from mild carpal tunel (along with, I suspect, some neuropathy tied to Type II diabetes), those .011s are unfortunately the kiss of death... or at least of a shortened playing career...
I have a friend with an EX who's played .008s for years and has to take two days off after a gig because his hands hurt so much...
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Post by billyguitar on May 25, 2006 5:18:16 GMT -7
That's a shame! Sorry to hear about it. If I had to play skinnies or not play at all I would do it. A light pick touch, maybe a little higher action and some knob twirling and I have no doubt a good tone can be had.
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Post by tjstrat on May 25, 2006 5:29:32 GMT -7
At least I can still play. A couple ibuprofins before and after the gig and half an hour or so of warmups before keep my hands from freezing up most nights.
Dada's guitarist drops his tuning half a step, I think with .009s or .010s, and ices after he plays; he was very nearly crippled with RSIs. There are ways to handle it if you really want to play...
Look what Les Paul did when he had that infamous accident that busted his elbow. And I guess there's always slide, if things get REALLY impossible...
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Post by jatmosphere on May 25, 2006 7:15:30 GMT -7
hey tjstrat, i hear you, as i also have type II (since i was 12). put a set of 12's on my silvertone a few years ago, did a rockin' halloween gig (the guitar tone that night was AMAZING, so i played twice as hard!!!!), and then got a bad case of frozen shoulder on my left side... ouch! just getting over it these days (streching/yoga helped tons, and a couple ibuprofins before gigs too). that said, i still only been using 11's on all electrics and 12's on my acoustics (for the last 15+ years). can't play well w/ anything lighter. intonation goes to crap and the tone suffers way too much! i tend to dig in pretty hard @ times, play alot of slide, and just love the tone way too much! also have a cheap washburn hb32 guit w/12's tuned down a 1/2 step for the hendrixian vibe and lower chunky stuff. ======================================================== as for fx - delay's ( as the thread was started w/... the (blue analog) sib echodrive is king in my book. hard to turn off, cause it just sounds so sweeeeeet and warms up the tone so much. on the economy tip; can't beat a dano dan-echo. roll off the hi-cut and it sounds quite warm. some folks complain about the tone sucking factor, doesn't really bother me, but if that's an issue, just put it threw a loop. ============================= tj, please contact me if you want to talk more health stuff. keep on rockin' in the free world...! peace JC %^)>
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Post by Telemanic on May 25, 2006 12:17:59 GMT -7
Ditto on the big wires, as big as ya can ! On my Tele i like what billys usin, 10-52, w/ an .11 instead of the .10 E. Its funny on my strat the bigger the string the better it sounds, but i have to be careful as well of rippin up the paws. More often than not i'll use the same 10-52, but maybe a .12 for the E. It just seems on my RELIC that the E is a little weak. I'm always worried about developing arthritus or carpal. Who was the 12 string monster, that had to abandon his playing style, due to damage from his technique? Hedges, ?. I like what oldster said about the "nobility of the guitar" There is something about the purity of it. I prefer to use only 1 or 2 pedals in my chain. And i totaly agree with whoever said that even tho pedals are true by-pass, they do start to degrade the punch and that "live" immediacy you get straight in. Ive never liked buffers whether in the effect itself or stand alone, as i have always heard this kind of high end thing there that wasnt prior. I suppose if you had a pedal board like Gilmore it might be essential to use them, to get enough signal to the amp input. I am going to be trying a tonebone switchbone a/b/y, It has a buffer but it is supposedly adjustable to match the original impedance better. Im hoping it will work for me when i want to run a dual amp rig.
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Post by billyguitar on May 25, 2006 12:47:21 GMT -7
It was Leo Kotke who had to quit using finger picks and go to lighter strings.
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Post by skydog958 on May 25, 2006 14:11:44 GMT -7
I'm more worried about my hearing than my hands. I've noticed there is a low ringing noise all the time, and I'm the only player I know who wears ear plugs when I play. And I can't even vote yet :-P. I need an airbrake.
I've heard Tony Iommi played .008s, tuned down to C#, because of the accident he had at the steel mill the day he quit to join Black Sabbath full time.
As for .012 stringers, there was Paul Kossoff of Free. He had the nastiest finger vibrato, even with those wires. I bet he would have gotten Carpal Tunnel if he was around longer.
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Post by bustertheboy on May 25, 2006 14:32:54 GMT -7
i had fibromyalgia- lots of joint and muscle pain after chronic fatigue syndrome and went back to using 10s for a year or two comparing my guitars with other people's is would still maintain that there's probably more in the set up than in the string gauge- my guitars with 11's felt like others with 10's and friends agreed- man i thought they'd be harder to play on the other side there are people with big strings with wheedly tone and guys playing on 8s and 9s who sound so phat!
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Post by real oldster on May 25, 2006 23:24:52 GMT -7
Another DM II here. I use 12s on both acoustic and electric. I'm looking for a bigger rhythm sound and less bluesy, more jazzy soloing. My hands hurt all the time, except when I'm playing. It's probably due to the number of hours I practice and the number of years I've been breathing. ;D
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Post by tjstrat on May 26, 2006 2:13:55 GMT -7
My diabetes is under control due to finally getting off my a$$ and exercising regularly, as well as losing a bunch of weight. Not so much the neuropathy for me as it is years of ergonomically hostile keyboarding in my day job.
I didn't mean any dish on .011s or .012s... There's definitely a tonal consideration with them. I really tend to attack my guitar, and since it's been years since I worked in a railroad or a steelmill, I don't have the Popeye arms that used to make that effortless. I find that the morning after my hands are stiff, if not sore, just from my usual .009s. Even though I FEAR .011s and what I'd do to myself with them, there are plenty of people who have warmups and various other regimens that make them very useful. Loads of props. For me, I'd destroy myself with 'em...
Small thread hijack: I'd be interested in hearing how fellow Type IIs, or even full blown insulin dependent Is, handle gigging, touring, road diet, and exercise in their lives on and off the road? Different thread, maybe?
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