Kiwi

Update: The JMP-1 sounds a little harsh compared to the Amptweaker so it's a pedal only gain section and I'm probably going to put the JMP-1 up for sale. As it stands, some fine tuning between the 3 signal paths on the mix can get me about 60-70% of the way there depending on how the mix is controlled with the mixer levels AND the mix settings in each pedal. I'm not getting a lot of smear yet though so the Boss RV500 settings suggested by Deep Seek aren't quite delivering yet. Maybe the pre delay needs increasing. In any case it would be a fragile balance to maintain if I were to ever gig with this set up. Over the weekend I caught a Dann Huff video where he revealed he used tri chorus into a Dimension D in his rack for the modulation stages if applying in post. Skip to 55:40 for the good good. He says most of the sound is in how the top end is handled so the Effectrode Parametric Eq is going to be pressed into service and inserted in the side chain of the Amptweaker for eq fine tuning. This revelation about the Dimension D was welcome news as it offers a potential alternative to the SPX90 symphonic patch but with no MIDI control or requirement for AC power. If I'm honest, Huff's tone sounds less cheesy too so a TC Electronic Dimension pedal is on the way to try out. The Line 6 M5 also has a Dimension patch if MIDI control is needed. However one of mine went phut last night after I fired it up for the first time in three years and now the screen just strobes when powered up. Another component replacement job for my tech...sigh. The Hot Cake has replaced the Big Muff for the time being in the Schmooboard, the Muff is great for singing solos and brutal power chords but it can lose definition with anything more complex. The Hot Cake doesn't sound quite as intense for solos but chords have more articulation so is probably a better match for my playing style.

Mine have to be big, triangular and 0.50mm. Nothing else works.

Steady on, it's not like some of them need extra reasons to slap a premium on a five quid set of parts.

Well, due to underwhelming demand, this is the finished pedalboard, got my schmo-jo working at last. I dialled in a Lexicon style reverb on the Boss RV500 this evening and the Pigtronix already has a factory patch that emulates a Lexicon PCM so I'm riding with that for the time being. Signal goes into a Big Muff which is a guest pedal and takes turns with a Hot Cake but I'll probably put the Mosky Silver Horse in most of the time for boosting the Tight Rock. The muff goes into an Amptweaker which has a side chain which I use for the Empress Para Eq to make the cleans a little cleaner. The Tight Rock goes into a Keeley C4 comp and that then goes into a TC Mimiq which does a doubling effect. The one gripe I have with it is that it drops the level when turned on. The Tri parallel mixer is being used as a splitter, on the left are the time based effects in a loop and on the right is the modulation. I was going to get a Yamaha Magicstomp and then discovered they only run off AC which is a PITA for a pedalboard. So I pressed into service the Zoom MS70CDR and set up a detune patch using three of the four slots. Two for micropitch detune (+/-) and one for ambient chorus. The Free The Tone Tri Avatar is a stunning pedal, studio quality sound and really easy to use. There's also a dry signal going straight to the mixer from the gain block of pedals to preseve some definition. At some point this week I will replace the whole gain section with a Marshall JMP-1 preamp and see which I prefer. The Marshall should be more authentic but the Tightrock is my fave gain pedal.

I can believe it. It gets just as hot as Saudi where I live although perhaps not as often. Any guitar left outside either direct in blazing sun or inside a container or case in direct sun is going to heat up to 40-50 degrees easily.

I don't want to piss on your fire but many have tried and failed. They're very niche instruments and invariably there is some compromise between convenience and adaptability. I would suggest taking a look at Michael Spalt's designs, they're beautiful in their own way and their construction was a little ahead of its time with the collapsable body bouts. In your position, and as someone with a career in design, I would probably use his ideas as an aesthetic inspiration and make them collapsible on both sides AND headless. I would also investigate whether pickup swapping was an idea as well, this has been done by other makers. You would need to design a cradle to allow standard pickups to be used. I guess you could also look at a bayonet style or latching neck attachment, especially if it was an aluminium (or carbon composite) frame dampened by wooden inserts.

Alan Murphy's legato phrasing (inspired by Holdsworth) and his Beck inspired pitch bends up to notes. Nile Rodgers for his three note chords and chord progressions based around a tonal centre.

I bought my nephew one a few years back for his birthday. Solid guitar, nothing wrong with it. The necks on Ibanezes are generally pretty good.

They don't really unless they're just playing one bands songs e.g ACDC. Nothing wrong with SS amps though, the Peavey Bandit 112 has been a long held secret find and they're still available for peanuts. The Yamaha G series designed by Paul Rivera was one attempt at including a parametric eq on a guitar amp to help emulate different responses. But perhaps something ahead of it's time as well. The UK's own Session amps were well regarded even if the owner did occasionally go on anti-valve rants. Plus...with modellers or profilers becoming more popular, pedal board amps are experiencing some popularity now with any players who want to stay with traditional cabs.

I have the Silver Horse and would recommend it for anyone wanting an alternative boost to a TS. However I'm using an old Xotic AC Booster for that function these days, there's slightly more harmonic saturation available.

This is a repost of a topic that was lost as a result of the server melt down last month. Only this time I'm going to add to it. Schmoo was the name Mike Landau had on his pedalboard for the chorusy, reverby delay clean sound he, Dann Huff and Michael Thompson made so popular in the eighties and early nineties. Landau apparently had a series of cute nicknames for his patches on his Bradshaw switching unit instead of conventional terms like distortion or delay. According to Dann Huff, Lukather had pornographic names for his patches...but anyway. The Schmoo sound is basically a series of effects that begins with compression, tri or stereo chorus from Dyatronics unit, then dual micropitch detune from the SPX90 (symphony patch), a Lexicon based delay (PCM 70 - Lukather had dual ping pongs going on) and finally reverb (also Lexicon based) The delays and modulation were parallel processed to avoid too much loss in definition and mixed at the end with a dry signal straight from the gain stages. The result is well defined stabs of plucked notes in a broad, stereo field followed by an immersive stereo wash of moderated ping pong repeats and soft reverb tails. In the case of Huff and Thompson, well timed, ambient volume swells that envelope the listener. I've also investigated pedal equivalents of rack units that Huff, Landau and Lukather were using and listed below along with some general settings that can be applied to rack or pedals. Firstly, the signal from the gain section goes into a compressor and is then split three ways. Yes compression after gain, rather than before to preserve how the guitar interacts with the amp (aye, no worthy gain pedals in them days). The first line is dry straight from the gain section. A second line is modulation only so trichorus then micropitch shift. The other line is time effects so delay followed by reverb. To recombine the three signal chains, some form of mini pedal board will be required, Chorus/trichorus - Free The Tone Tri Avatar is probably closest to the original Dytronics rack units but there are a few to choose from by Eventide and TC Electronic. Landau used a slightly defective Arion SCH1 chorus unit which has been replicated by Vertex and can be had for fairly reasonable money. General settings: Rate: 0.3 - 0.6 Hz (slow, subtle movement) Depth: 20-40% Width: 70-100% (wide stereo image) Pre-Delay: 5-15ms (helps clarity) Mix: 25-35% (Alternative pedals: Strymon Ola, TC Electronic Stereo Chorus, TC Electronic Corona, Boss CE-2W, Vertex Landau Stereo Chorus, Free The Tone Tri Avatar, Eventide Tricerasaurus) Micropitch - This is pretty much key to getting the right colouring. The SPX90 symphonic patch was used exclusively and has a distinctive yet essential colouring. The only true SPX90 equivalent is the Yamaha Magic Stomp UB99 BUT...it runs off AC only making it less than ideal for pedalboard applications. Other alternatives are available from Eventide (Micropitch and Pitchfactor pedals) and Zoom. The Zoom MS70CDR can be programmed with four effects to replicate the entire modulation signal path but I've found it can tone suck a little if the tone settings in each patch are not carefully managed. Dimension D and the TC Mimiq double tracking effect are also worth exploring for the same potential. None of the micro pitch effects are directly controllable via MIDI apart from the Pitchfactor. General settings: Detune 1: +5 to +12 cents Detune 2: -5 to -12 cents Mix: 20-30% Pre-Delay: 10-20ms (to avoid phase issues) Feedback: 0% (unless going for a thicker sound) Delay - Much like the SPX90, the Lexicon PCM delays are essential for their algorithms and distinctively nuanced modulation on the repeats. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot out there which is a direct emulation due to IP. However, Eventide offer close approximations in the Timefactor and the Pigtronix Echolution 2 can achieve similar levels of stereo immersion with some tweaking. The pedal now favoured by Lukather is the Digitech DL8 Looper/delay which supposedly has Lexicon algorithms but it's not MIDI controllable like the Time Factor. General settings: Time: 80-120ms (short, for thickening) Feedback: 1-2 repeats Mix: 10-20% High-Cut Filter: ~5kHz (to darken repeats slightly) Pre-Delay: 0-10ms Alternative pedals: Boss DD-500, Strymon El Capistan, TC Flashback, Pigtronix Echolution 2/3 Reverb - Again Lexicon provided the goods. It's rumoured that the Line 6 Verbzilla is based on a Lexicon algorithm but I can't confirm it. Next best alternative is the Boss RV500 which has a dedicated 294 patch but the Timefactor and Strymon Big Sky may offer some suitable alternatives if you want to keep MIDI implementation. General settings: Type: Plate or Hall (smooth decay) Decay Time: 1.8 - 2.5s Pre-Delay: 30-50ms (keeps clarity) Mix: 15-25% High Damping: Slightly rolled off (~8kHz) Early Reflections: Low (if adjustable) (Alternative pedals: Strymon BlueSky, Neunaber Immerse, UA Golden Reverberator) Finally, if you're recording some Post-Processing eq may add a final touch. High-Pass Filter: 80-100Hz (remove mud) Low-Pass Filter: 8-10kHz (smooth highs) Small Mid Dip: -1dB around 800Hz (if needed)

He built me a 6-string bass back in 2009 which I sold last year and two years ago I built a custom guitar body under his supervision. He works at his own pace, he prioritises quality and believes his reputation is based on the quality of his workmanship and I've generally observed that he doesn't respond to pressure. He's also been overwhelmed by orders since COVID. You could talk to Oz who runs the Owl Sanctuary guitar workshop from the floor upstairs at Jon's premises. https://ozzyowl.co.uk/ He could build you a custom guitar and he would probably go to Jon with any questions about your build. So you might end up with something not far off what Jon might have built himself

Just go for a used Boss Katana 50W, it's the do-everything amp and would be great for a beginner if the preamp out/power amp in sockets aren't needed. The 100W version is scary loud on stage as well.

They've had great reviews online so far.

Generally because either 1) You're playing too hard or; 2) There is a sharp edge somewhere on the hardware, depending on where the string is breaking.

Right, let's try that update again now the server is back up. So there have been a lot of purchases in the last five years mainly due to the sale of a business venture. It's been a lot of fun trying out different gear as you do but reality is starting to bite and I'm running out of space! Guitars: Ibanez AWD83T: In the original post above, I mentioned an Ibanez AWD82 and a few months back I snagged an AWD83T (with trem) on a japanese auction site for a couple of hundred quid plus shipping. It must have been part of an estate sale because it arrived sticky with nicotine stains and rusted strings. However after a bit of cleaning up and new strings, it's a total honey. The factory installed bridge pickup sounds tight and mean when cranked. The bridge pickup could be a little mellower but it still sounds jazzy and the neck is straight as an arrow making for low action. Can't recommend these guitars enough. Sounds better than the Yamaha SAS II I also had my eye on (basically the semi hollow version of the MSG/Image). The Clean Machine: Over the summer two years ago, I took a week out with Jon Shuker to build a body and install the electronics I had been hoarding for a guitar that is intended to satisfy a curiosity about the Aria RS Esprit that was made famous by Alan Murphy and Yngwie Malmsteen in the eighties. It featured Alembic licensed bridge and neck pickups and low pass filters plus a boost feature. I bagged a set of three genuine Alembic Activators off Reverb for 150 quid a few years back and Nuno at Lusithand deserves a huge shout out for customising a set of his DLPF circuits for guitar (and his customer service follow up is nothing short of outstanding as well). Not wanting to rest on my laurels, some Graphtec piezo saddles were installed on the Wilkinson VS100C trem and connected to a Ghost Acoustiphonic preamp. A rotary selector switch was needed to select between 5 pickup positions and the piezo. It still didn't deliver quite the sparkle I was looking for and I theorised it might be because the soft neck wood was dampening some of the higher frequencies. So more recently I had a custom graphite neck commissioned from a guy I know in China and installed it last weekend, it provides more sustain and a more pleasant bell like chime to notes, definitely gets me closer to where I wanted things to be but still lacks a certain something of the original. The really interesting thing is the impact that the filters have on the timbre of any overdrive or distortion, it's surprisingly versatile for recording at least and it's possible to get lots of interesting and not unpleasant sounds when messing about. The sensitivity of the filters make it a little impractical for live use though. Al Knight Hitmaker replica: As much as I like this guitar, it's sort of paid its dues and my tastes have moved on since. So it'll be up for sale over here at some point in the near future. Plays great and sounds exactly like Nile's guitar on the first Chic album. Yamaha MSG Deluxe #1: This was the first MSG I purchased, it's a transition model has the Mach 2 headstock but Mach 1 control locations. It's a little lighter and brighter than number three and in better condition. Not quite as smooth sounding and doesn't have quite the same depth of flame in the top but it's still nice. In a pinch, I would put it up for sale though to make room for other toys...and probably have sellers remorse as a result. Yamaha MSG Deluxe #3: Bought a long time ago, it was the third MSG purchased off Ebay (I think). Number 2 was a sunburst deluxe that was ultimately sold because it was light and bright sounding. This one by contrast is smooth sounding but with a nice midrange punch, even more so after installing my favourite Armstrong pickups so it will do rock and jazz with a flick of the pickup selector switch. Unfortunately the fine tuner screws started wearing out in the proprietary RM Pro trem and the only available replacement bridge chassis was black (off an RG). I actually prefer it in black. Yamaha MSG Standard #4: Originally I bought this because I wanted a simpler guitar and wanted to see how much of an improvement a tune-o-matic style bridge might make to the sustain. I picked it up for cheap because it was in desperate need of a refret and fingerboard dressing. So I took out the frets, carefully reradiussed the 13" radius fingerboard to a slightly flatter 12"radius and installed new frets. As it turned out, the bridge didn't make a whole lot of difference however, I installed some PRS Mira pickups in and it's an outrageous, raw rock machine when paired with the Marshall rack gear. However it may go up for sale in the medium term as the lack of a belly chamfer makes it uncomfortable to play sitting down and while it does rock really well, other guitars can fill the same niche even in a slightly different way and offer more versatility. Kleinberger: I've completely changed my mind about this guitar after trying it through the Marshall rack! While it may not have the most scintilating cleans, when it's cranked there's a real girth to the midrange that punches well above it's relatively small (but wide) size. However, I have another build with a sustainer planned so may let this one go at some point...after I've sorted out a case for it. Rig 1: Guitar rack: This will do pretty much anything from mid eighties onwards. It sounds tight, modern, smooth and well defined. It can do practice volumes as well as performance. Rocktron 300A compressor: This was my first piece of Rocktron equipment and it got broken before I had a chance to try it when a friend plugged in the wrong power supply (it takes AC not DC). So the power caps were replaced and it works fine now. I found it needed some careful dialling in and it sounds OK but not quite as clean as the DBX. However it sits ahead of the Lexicon MPXG2 in the guitar rack now so it does the job it needs to. I probably need to spend more time with it dialling it in. Lexicon MPXG2: I've had two for DECADES and I love them, especially with the R1 foot controller. The only thing on the market that comes close and then offers slightly more versatility with the extra loops is the TC Electronic G system. The MPXG2 was way ahead of its time; the effects chain and routing can be configured at will into parallel, left and right signal paths and in any order. The only limit is processing power, so loading it with compressor, detuning, wah, chorus, delay, and reverb probably isn't going to swing. I took the R1 into my tech earlier this year, and he replaced a lot of worn switch contacts and reconnected the slave power through the 7-pin DIN cable, so now it's as responsive as new. Mesa Boogie Triaxis preamp (x2): One v3 with the v1 British mod in Lead 1 red and the other is slightly older V2 and a little more worn membrane front but it has the recto board which gives recto tones in Lead 1 red. The MkIII (Lead 2 red) is the sound that has been in my head ever since I started learning guitar so both are staying put for the foreseeable future. Just amazing pieces of kit, there's not a bad sound in either of them. Rocktron Intellipitch: Given the limitations of the Intellifex XL (see brelow), I bought this purely for its modulation including 8 voice chorus. It's a fairly rare beast, not many were made - certainly not as many as the Intellifex. Again, like the Intellifex, it lacks a certain sparkle so best suited to parallel signal chains rather than in series, but I have taken all of Leon Todd and others' tri-chorus settings and manually programmed them in. Mesa Boogie Fifty Fifty power amp: I did a gig dress rehearsal with the Marshall 20/20 and it wasn't quite loud enough, so ended up getting a Mesa Boogie Fifty Fifty for about half the price of a 2:90. It almost makes the 20/20 redundant for practice due to it's high (50w) and low (15w) power settings and sounds a little smoother. But it's a lot heavier so I don't know how much of a practical improvement it actually offers. Joyo 112V cabs (x2): Currently loaded with Celestion Neo Creambacks (which aren't available in China), I'm using these with the Kemper pedalboard at the moment but I'm tempted to put the V30's back in as I'm not planning to gig them in the future since getting the Thiele cab made. So the lightweight Thiele cab will stay with the rack and the Joyos with the Kemper pedalboard but the Thiele cab will be gigged regardless of whether the Kemper or the rack comes along too. Rig 2: Vintage I like to use this for songs before the mid eighties. Eagles, Toto etc. Pedalboard Xotic XW1: I originally bought this instead of a Crybaby because it didn't produce a volume drop when disengaged and it can be tweaked to sound like other wah pedals using the tone and Q controls. After I got it, I learned it was a favourite of Paul Jackson Jr and this year, Steve Lukather has been using one with Toto. At the moment I have it set up based on Paul Jackson's settings from one of his YT videos about the pedal. Keeley C4 compressor: This has replaced the Effectrode simply because there is no power bank available on the market that I can run the Effectrode off, so it always needs to have it's own separate power supply and that's really too inconvenient for live use. I did have a Joyo Dynacomp in place before but the footswitch was too noisy and there was some crossleakage under high gain. The Keeley is well made, it fattens and squashes the signal without sounding too intrusive. There are a lot of different kinds of comps on the market designed to appeal to many different tasts but I have no regrets buying this one. Initially I had it in front of the gain pedals but I may just experiement with putting it after. Xotic AC Booster: I had been playing around with various cheap TS and Klon style pedals as boosts into the Amptweaker but while they all fattened and articulated the mids nicely, they were a little flat sounding. So I bought the AC Booster and as soon as I plugged it in, there was some extra harmonic saturation that I had never heard before. It sounds good with the Concert II but really shines when pushing the PRII, the saturation from both seems to synergise into this rich mid range with some lovely thick harmonics and the tone controls allow tweaks to taste. I know some keep the drive below 12 o'clock but I've found that around 1-2 oclock delivers more saturation. Nobels ODR1: I got this pedal to trial but fell in love with how articulate it stayed even with higher gain settings. No wonder it's the favourite of producer/guitarist John Shanks. It also has very juicy levels of harmonic saturation which is enhanced when boosted with the Xotic AC booster. I almost prefer the combination to the sound of the Tight Rock. And into the PRII this combination sounds even better. Amptweaker Tight Rock: See above. Still my favourite high gain pedal. It's not subtle but does plexi and 6505 with almost no noise. Crowther Hot Cake: This was inexpensive and I was really curious about how it sounded after seeing PRS use one. It's sort of half way between fuzz and distortion with a really grungy character if you push the gain into meltdown terrirtory. But back off and it's a very thick and warm fuzz/overdrive. Mine is from the mid noughties so has all the blueberry switch and different options for selecting different versions in previous runs. This one tends to swap places with the Joyo. Joyo American Sound JF14: I mentioned above how good this pedal is and I ended up with two but only really use one. I keep coming back to this one, there isn't a lot out there to beat it apart from the pedal it copied - Tech 21 Blonde. It can do astoundingly god versions of Twin and Deluxe amps and when the mids are pushed using the character, mid eq and drive it will get near Super Champ. Just a great pedal but the components aren't as durable as they could be. TC Electronic MImiq: This is a recent purchase with a view to starting the yacht rock board. Basically it replicates the sound of double tracking using two signal paths with one subtly affected by variations in delay and microtuning. I haven't played around with it much yet so don't have a lot to say about it yet. Zoom MDC70: This was a cheap way to access a trichorus sound. It has a patch that copies a TC Electronic Corona tri chorus setting. It's possible to add two more patches for a total of three accessed with a single button press. I don't have a lot more to say about it at this moment but I'm temped to see how well it can cover the trichorus+micro detune that was made popular by Mike Landau and his frdge of rack effects in the eighties. Mooer Ocean Machine mk 1: There's not a lot out there which can compete with this in bang for buck. The delays are pretty good, the reverb has an artificial sounding presence and I generally turn the shimmer control to zero which kind of reduces the transparency as well. Still, it's not likely to be noticed in live settings. A mark 2 version has been released which updates the algorithm and improves the effects quality but I haven't checked out whether the shimmer is better. Once finances permit, I have plans to overhaul the pedal board and make it more schmoo focussed. So the drive pedals will probably stay but the delay and reverb will be handled in one signal chain by an Eventide Time Factor and Strymon Big Sky, and modulation in another a Free The Tone Triavatar and a Yamaha Magicstomp for SPX90 style detune. Fender Concert II + 1x12 extension cab: Originally in an earlier post, I had planned to let this one go but it's found a purpose in supplying high volume Fender cleans. This was my first Fender and it took eight years to bring it over to China. Cleans are classic blackface, David Gilmour used a bank of them for Live Aid. There are some critics of the distortion but I like the overdrive on mine. It's got tweedy bite to the midrange but sounds smoother and warmer. It's also loud for 60W and, to make it push even more air, I commissioned a custom matching cabinet if I ever want to gig it. Originally the combo came with an Eminence Red White and Blues speaker but I've put Jensen N12Ks from a Tonemaster Twin instead for yet even more midrange articulation. The extension cab is from lightweight birch ply and even with the Jensen installed, it's a two finger lift. Can't say that about the Concert itself though. Fender Princeton Reverb II: I've said a bit about it in the original post. It sounds slightly richer and more saturated than the Concert II but doesn't get gigged due to its lack of power. It's also in fabulous condition and I wouldn't want to risk any road rash. Rig 3: Kemper Profiler pedalboard This was set up for portability (despite weighing at just over 10kg) and is essentially self contained from wireless to power amp. Guitar on back, Thiele cab (with neo cones) in one hand and this in the other makes for a single (just about manageable) load out. I also use this for practice due to it's versatility. First in the signal chain is a standard Shure GLX16 wireless. I've been impressed by the range, and have been able to go walkabout in a 600 seat venue already with no drop outs. Battery life seems pretty good too. Next is a Digitech Freq Out - mentioned in earlier posts, it's essentially a pedal for creating artificial feedback. The onset control is a little twitchy and the effect is unnaturally sensitive to disturbance from incidental noises and changes in volume, but for sustained and undisturbed power chords it does the trick. Then the signal goes into the Kemper which is set up with a bunch of amp profiles in song related 'performances' - basically scene shifts in different parts of the song, or a single setting for one song. I tend to have a bunch of classic amps and then some profiles from the preamps. I've found the profiling process adds a certain sweetness and extra midrange during the profiling process which has led to some profiles sounding better than the real thing. Inserted into a loop in the Kemper is a Line 6 M5 for any effects that the Kemper doesn't have, Dimension D for example, and it's connected via MIDI so specific effects are selected with specific 'performances'. Lastly, there are two Roland EV5 pedals connected for volume and wah and the outputs from the Kemper go to a pair of Hotone Loudster Class D pedal amps that put out 85w a side. They are fairly modern sounding as you might imagine but that's a good thing on a crowded stage, less volume is needed due to the extra articulation in the mids and highs that the Class D circuitry offers. The pedalboard then goes into a Custom 2x12 Thiele designed cab which was optimised and loaded with Celestion V30s which are chunky, heavy things. If I need to gig it in the future, I may just replace the V30s with Celestion Neo Creambacks because of lighter weight and extra articulation from neo magnets. The optimisation of the Thiele port might be a little off but I'll live with it. Other stuff: Ibanez TSA5 combos: One failed on me completely after a power cap exploded and burned the PCB beyond repair. So it got basically tossed out. The other one was getting quieter - maybe also the power caps were on their way out. So I gave it to a colleague at work and it sat under his desk for a solid 7 months. Grand Princeton Tweed combos: These replaced the TSA5s and were made by the company who supplies Peavey with its Classic line of amplifiers. Hand built and point-to-point wired. Pretty loud for 5W and well constructed but I don't really need them any more so they are up for sale. Carvin Quad X preamp (sold): Leon Todd wasn't particularly impressed by it's nine valves but I quite liked it for versatility and organic sound - sort of half way between the rawness of a Mesa Studio and the punch of a JMP-1 but not sounding like either. I discovered a lot comes down to valve choice and EHX 12AX7s sounded great in gain positions. However I kept gravitating to other preamps not because the Carvin was bad but because it wasn't quite the sound that was in my head. Burman GX3 preamp: Mentioned above, I still haven't tried it with the Pro501 (which is for sale in the UK) This does a lovely, almost fuzzy overdrive, almost with the midrange of a Tweed but with more bass. I haven't yet tried it with a rack-mounted power amp either and that could get interesting. Marshall JMP-1 + 20/20 EL84 power amp: Currently up for sale where I am. It's a great sounding preamp by itself but when paired with the 20/20 power amp, together they deliver that classic Marshall roar heard on thousands of rock albums. The nostalgia hit when listening to it being played is almost overwhelming and the JMP1 can do any Marshall amp made before the early ninties from JTM to Plexi to JCM800. Mesa Boogie Studio preamp: was my first purchase and originally it was intended to nix my lust for a (heavy) Mark III. I had the studio preamp in a rack and really didn't like the sound of it when recording. But paired with a rack power amp, it sounds much tighter and less brittle. As nice as it is, I still preferred the versatility and slightly tighter sound of the Triaxis so it's currently up for sale. DBX 266XL compressor: I read online reviews about how coloured this compressor was but when I actually tried it, the warmth and smoothness was surprising. Lexicon MPXG2 seemed to play nice with it as well so it got transferred over to the studio rack where it has been ever since. Really like this one, highly recommended. It may get transferred back to the guitar rack at some point. DBX 215 graphic eq: I don't have much to offer on this. I generally use it for enhancing the sound I get out of the studio monitors, not much more than that. The Yamaha HS5s I have are fairly honest sounding so while they're great for mastering (which I never do) they lack a little sweetness and punch. Rocktron Intellifex XL: I got this for schmoo - a name for that chorusy, reverb-drenched, clean eighties strat sound made famous by Michael Thompson, Dann Huff and Mike Landau. Have to be honest I was a little disappointed by the sound quality, it's not as hifi as the Lexicon MPXG2 and the settings are more limited than the earlier 'Intellifex Online' version. I can only detune in increments of five on the XL where the Online allows detuning in increments of 1. The lack of subtle detuning makes tri-chorus difficult to achieve. Apparently this was done to provide more ROM memory for a more variety of patches. I'm currently troubleshooting the new studio rack, which has been set up for parallel effects so I will see what kind of improvement there is in sound quality in the short term but I get better reverb and crisper delay from the MPXG2 so the Intellifex is currently up for sale. Lexicon MX200 multi effects: This was only 45 quid and I had it in my studio rack for a while until it was time to reconfigure for parallel processing and then it stopped detecting input signal. I have no idea why, and it needs looking at. But basically, it offers Lexicon quality delay and reverb for relatively little money on the used market because there are so many of them around. A bit of a secret. Behringer Virtualiser: I bagged this after seeing it pop up in a number of online reviews and have to say it's quite impressive for the price. There's a transparency and fidelity to the reverb that is almost immersive. It's used in the studio rack for sweetening. There is a whole bunch of other stuff not included because it's not in use, for example an Empress Parametric Eq, Adrenalinn III, Digitech Bad Monkey, Mosky Silver Horse, Joyo Dynacomp etc. All currently up for sale and not significant enough to discuss.

What do you think? Harley Benton? Tanglewood? Ibanez? There are always trade offs, I know Ibanez do a good job of the woodwork but compromise on the hardware and electronics. But that does make them good for upgrades so long as a better trem can fit. I have a soft spot for Yamaha as well and some of the older Mexi Fender Strats (from the early noughties) have surprised me with how good the necks are. Any others?

What a palava. OK so GC has been offline for a few days due to a mix-up in transfer of content from the old server (which was upgraded due to email notification issues on BC) to the new server. The old server subscription cancelled last week taking GC down with it. Then we had issues trying to get things set up on the new server. As you can see, we have managed to restore GC but the only back up on the old server was from January. Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry to any of you who had made the effort to post detailed or lengthy replies during that time, I've personally lost at least one lengthy post as well. If you need to flame, go ahead. We had to unravel a whole load of secondary issues to do with databases not working quite right, upgrades not installing quite correctly, DNS and nameservers not being what they should be. However, thankfully, we have made it through the other side and GC is faster and more stable than ever. I don't expect this perfect storm to happen again and thanks in advance for your patience and understanding.

Not me, I've played right handed from day one. Mainly because my drum teacher made me play the skins right handed two years before I took up bass. I've never really learned to play left handed and there's not a lot of motivation to learn given Mark King is left handed too. I can play drums ambidextrously more or less, but need the kit set up Phil Collins style.

Pretty much every UK luthier can make a tele. They are the simplest popular guitar to construct. Most of the sound comes from the pickups so body woods can be anything from pine to ash. Just choose one closest to you, pre-purchase the neck and pickups and get him to make a body to suit.

On Saturday we had a work party where we provided the entertainment. About six weeks ago I rounded up a bunch of colleagues and proposed we do a song together. Below is the result: 52fb7b34b4790dbaf517c3d5cce802d3.mp4 It was my first time performing on guitar and I used the instrument mentioned here: All sorts of technical issues that I won't bore everyone with but the band had no right sounding as good as this recording suggests. I originally rehearsed with a 4U rack containing my beloved Triaxis and MPXG2 into a Marshall 20/20. But there were 60Hz hum and phasing issues so I swapped the rack for a Kemper and used a profile of the Triaxis instead with only marginal improvement (no more phasing). The Kemper went into two Hotone Loudster Class D power amps sat on a pair of Joyo 1x12 cabs loaded with Celestion Neo Creambacks. The speakers struggled to disperse, but this shouldn't have been too much of an issue if we had been given PA support. Unfortunately the video stops just before I move up front for the solo guitar breaks. I did the thing though - one foot on the monitor. No hair in the wind unfortunately.

There is a Chinese amp maker called Grand who ghost built the Classic series for Peavey at one point. I have a couple of their handwired 5W Princeton Tweed amps for home use. They're sold under various other brand names by resellers on Ebay but they would fit your needs perfectly. Or...you could look for a used Peavey Classic 20.

I picked up a super cheap Ibanez S670 with a fake body for 1500RMB ten days ago and went about upgrading, fixing and customising it with chrome Gotoh hardware and Dimarzio Satriani signature pickups. I wanted to do a Chromeboy painted finish but it's not possible to do it well on wood bodies. The original Chromeboys had finish cracking and bubbling issues do to wood expanding and contracting with seasonal changes, the follow ups had bodies made of lucite not wood. So I did the next best thing - bought a load of mirror vinyl wrap online and found a friendly auto wrapping firm to do it for me after my own attempt failed miserably. The reflection isn't 100% sharp but only really noticable when you are standing closer than 5 meters. I'm planning on using the guitar for a show coming up on Jan 11. The good thing of vinyl over paint is that I can get it re wrapped if it starts to look a little worn.

Looking forward to some bass guitar related content...

Checking frets with with a fret rocker would be the second thing to do after checking the neck relief and string height.