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Post by benttop (Steve) on Mar 22, 2006 12:57:15 GMT -7
All of this is found at the bottom of the page at www.strayca.com/gear/mazerati.htmThe audio ranges in size from 667K bytes (clip one) to 3.2 Megabytes (clip five). This is all senseless noodling, but gives a bit of a representation of the gear involved. Conclusions? I wish I had turned the Atom Smasher sustain up a notch - I think I like it better at about 2 o'clock. Also I like the BB preamp way better with the bridge pickup - it loves humbuckers! Both the Compulator and Atom Smasher are great comps, but the Atom Smasher is quieter, more flexible and a lot cheaper. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Three stomp boxes to test today: Demeter Compulator; Humphrey Audio Atom Smasher; Xotic BB Preamp. Setup: Grosh Bent Top Custom > Lehle 3 @ 1 > Atom Smasher > Compulator > BB Preamp > Voodoo Labs Tremolo > Boss EQ > Radial JX-2 > Mazerati (Airbrake at -6db) > Rode NT-1 (5" from front of Mazerati) > Alesis Studio 32 > Layla > Sound Forge 5.0 The Mazerati is equipped with Weber ceramic Blue Dogs and Weber Beam Blockers. Compulator set both knobs at 2 o'clock Atom Smasher set Volume 12 o'clock, Tone set 12 o'clock, Attack minimum, Sustain 12 o'clock BB Preamp set Gain at about 8:30 o'clock, Treble and Bass both at 12 o'clock, Volume to taste Boss EQ set with top frequency (6.4K) at +3db Mazerati Volume at 12 o'clock, Tone at 2 o'clock All other devices set to "thru" All audio left at relative levels, i.e., clip one is quieter than clip two etc. so that you can gauge what I heard as I played. Clips were normalized to the highest level peak across all five clips. First Audio: Neck > EQ > Mazerati Clip One Necki_EQ_Mazerati.mp3Second Audio: Neck > Compulator > EQ > Mazerati Clip Two Neck_Compulator_EQ_Mazerati.mp3Third Audio: Neck > Atom Smasher > EQ > Mazerati Clip Three Neck_AtomSmasher_EQ_Mazerati.mp3Fourth Audio: Neck > BB > EQ > Mazerati Clip Four Neck_BB_EQ_Mazerati.mp3Fifth Audio: Bridge > BB > Mazerati Clip Five Bridge_BB_Mazerati.mp3Went back and took a pic of the pedal board:
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2006 13:10:22 GMT -7
Steve! Great playing man! You know I thought that the BB sounded great with both the neck and bridge pickups. You were getting some fat, singing, woman tone from that neck pickup. You could almost smell the smoke from your guitar burnin up man! That deserves some Karma for 'testifying' so well. ;D
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Mar 22, 2006 13:27:51 GMT -7
Steve! Great playing man! You know I thought that the BB sounded great with both the neck and bridge pickups. You were getting some fat, singing, woman tone from that neck pickup. You could almost smell the smoke from your guitar burnin up man! That deserves some Karma for 'testifying' so well. ;D Thanks! I tend to like the neck with just the comp - seems more articulate to me. But that isn't to say I'll never turn on the BB with the neck pickup - the more tones available the better if you ask me. All of this testing was to discover if I can haul out just the Mazerati for my cover band gig, or if I have to keep hauling out two amps. Well I think that question has been answered. With the BB, I can get some pretty smoking tones, so the next time I play with the cover band, I'm doing it with JUST the Mazerati. And I think I could take out either of the comps for that gig as well. I still need to decide which one though... But taking out just one amp will significanly lighten my load in and setup time. Cool! ;D
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Post by zdogma on Mar 22, 2006 15:42:09 GMT -7
Your playing is excellent, as usual. +1 karma for posting more great clips.
I think I prefer the raw, unadulterated guitar. You are a pretty dynamic player (I like that) and the compressor makes it a bit too...compressed (for lack of a better word). Seems to suit the country guys better, somehow.
Both compressors are good, but set a bit gainy for my taste, I preferred the atom smasher, maybe because of the settings. The BB is a good boost as well, I hadn't heard it before.
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Mar 22, 2006 15:55:26 GMT -7
Your playing is excellent, as usual. +1 karma for posting more great clips. I think I prefer the raw, unadulterated guitar. You are a pretty dynamic player (I like that) and the compressor makes it a bit too...compressed (for lack of a better word). Seems to suit the country guys better, somehow. Both compressors are good, but set a bit gainy for my taste, I preferred the atom smasher, maybe because of the settings. The BB is a good boost as well, I hadn't heard it before. Thanks - fascinating comments! I appreciate your feedback. Yeah, the comps do squish the dynamics up a bit don't they?
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Post by garyh on Mar 22, 2006 18:36:46 GMT -7
I can't make up my mind which I like the best. I've wanted to hear the BB so thanks. Karma for you Steve. Great playing by the way. I liked the BB bridge more than the neck and I loved both compressors boosting the gain like that. I do that with my HBE. The atom smasher sounded a little cleaner. Awesome tones though with both compressors.
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Mar 22, 2006 23:56:06 GMT -7
I can't make up my mind which I like the best. I've wanted to hear the BB so thanks. Karma for you Steve. Great playing by the way. I liked the BB bridge more than the neck and I loved both compressors boosting the gain like that. I do that with my HBE. The atom smasher sounded a little cleaner. Awesome tones though with both compressors. Thanks garyh. I'm thinking the BB would like the neck pup on my PRS Singlecut a lot better than the Blues Special in my Grosh. Gotta try that tomorrow I think. It's funny, people are running about 50/50 on the Compulator vs the Atom Smasher. Maybe I'll leave them both on there!
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Post by rcrecelius on Mar 23, 2006 7:38:23 GMT -7
Sounds good to me Steve! I especially enjoyed hearing the BB as Ive been looking to add another Xotic pedal to my lineup (currently have the RC)...although youve probably made my decision harder instead of easier Killer bridge pup tone! Compressors - I stopped using compressors a while back...I still consider them to be a useful tool, I just choose to do without...for now anyway. Of the clips here, I think I like the Compulator the best. BTW - you stated that you normally use 2 amps...what other amp do you use for your 2 amp setup?
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Post by UnclePat on Mar 23, 2006 7:42:42 GMT -7
That Atom Smasher sound is sooooo "me"....I will definitely look into one of these. I love my Route 66 pedal's compressor side, but this A.S. sound is real nice. Very nice clips, too....+1 karma for you!
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Mar 23, 2006 9:14:52 GMT -7
Sounds good to me Steve! I especially enjoyed hearing the BB as Ive been looking to add another Xotic pedal to my lineup (currently have the RC)...although youve probably made my decision harder instead of easier Killer bridge pup tone! Compressors - I stopped using compressors a while back...I still consider them to be a useful tool, I just choose to do without...for now anyway. Of the clips here, I think I like the Compulator the best. BTW - you stated that you normally use 2 amps...what other amp do you use for your 2 amp setup? Yeah, five guitars, two amps, and three bands... I have two THD Flexi-50's here that get a fair bit of use with the blues band (see cdbaby.com/cd/bluesalliance - especially tracks 1 and 5 - this is all Flexi-50). That amp seems to really work for that band. The covers band seems to want a bit cleaner sound, and the Mazerati is working really nice there. But it needs a bit of help if I'm to go out with JUST the Mazerati. Right now I've been A/B'ing between the 'rati and the Flexi. That works great, but that's a load of gear to hump. So the pedal tests are to see if I can get to where I can show up for covers work with just the Mazerati and a pedal board. I think this is going to work, especially with the BB preamp. I still plan to haul them both out at times, depending on the gig. You can't beat the tone I'm getting from the Flexi - and it's not a tone you can get with a pedal and the 'rati. But the Mazerati's tone cannot be had from the Flexi either. Both really great amps if you ask me.
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Mar 23, 2006 9:17:02 GMT -7
That Atom Smasher sound is sooooo "me"....I will definitely look into one of these. I love my Route 66 pedal's compressor side, but this A.S. sound is real nice. Very nice clips, too....+1 karma for you! Thanks unc! I bought the Atom Smasher sight unseen based on comments on one particular forum, and the reviews on Harmony Central. BTW Humphrey Audio is on this forum, and plays a Maz 18. You can see some of his posts over on the Maz 18 forum.
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Post by rcrecelius on Mar 27, 2006 9:49:08 GMT -7
Sounds good to me Steve! I especially enjoyed hearing the BB as Ive been looking to add another Xotic pedal to my lineup (currently have the RC)...although youve probably made my decision harder instead of easier Killer bridge pup tone! Compressors - I stopped using compressors a while back...I still consider them to be a useful tool, I just choose to do without...for now anyway. Of the clips here, I think I like the Compulator the best. BTW - you stated that you normally use 2 amps...what other amp do you use for your 2 amp setup? Yeah, five guitars, two amps, and three bands... I have two THD Flexi-50's here that get a fair bit of use with the blues band (see cdbaby.com/cd/bluesalliance - especially tracks 1 and 5 - this is all Flexi-50). That amp seems to really work for that band. The covers band seems to want a bit cleaner sound, and the Mazerati is working really nice there. But it needs a bit of help if I'm to go out with JUST the Mazerati. Right now I've been A/B'ing between the 'rati and the Flexi. That works great, but that's a load of gear to hump. So the pedal tests are to see if I can get to where I can show up for covers work with just the Mazerati and a pedal board. I think this is going to work, especially with the BB preamp. I still plan to haul them both out at times, depending on the gig. You can't beat the tone I'm getting from the Flexi - and it's not a tone you can get with a pedal and the 'rati. But the Mazerati's tone cannot be had from the Flexi either. Both really great amps if you ask me. I checked out the clips on the Blues Alliance site...youre getting some pretty good tones outta that Flexi too Good stuff!
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Mar 27, 2006 12:07:47 GMT -7
Thank you! Yeah, the Flexi has changed my life! But that CD was recorded before the Mazerati came to live here. They are SO different, I'm struggling with how to make them behave together.
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