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Kiwi

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Everything posted by Kiwi

  1. I think it would make absolute commercial sense to issue TM version of the Tweed Champ given it's place in music history. I'm not familiar with the tweed twin but I believe Fender already offer the TM version of the Twin. If they released a TM version of a Rivera Stage 4 modified Princeton, I wouldn't be able to throw money at them fast enough. Especially considering how good their TM Deluxe Reverb already is.
  2. Kiwi

    New toys.

    Unfortunately the paper work took longer than expected but I did get to put the Triaxis through it's paces. It's lovely. Tight, thick, articulate, compressed, smooth...everything you would expect to hear on an eighties/nineties rock track. It's a different beast altogether compared to the JMP-1 BUT...my version of Triaxis has a 'british voiced' Lead 1/red channel which I presume is supposed to sound like a Marshall. It's definitely got a bit more midrange but nothing like the unfiltered punch of the JMP-1. For shits and giggles I thought I'd try the pedalboard planned for the Fender PRII through the Marshal 20/20 power amp as well given a couple of the pedals are supposed to be preamps. It sucked! The sound was weak and lifeless - no warmth or mids, slightly harsh top end. Maybe there was an impedance mismatch somewhere.
  3. Given they've reacquired a stash of specifications and other docs from the early 30's through to 1969, I'm expecting a heavy release of re-issue vintage amps with tenuous claims of relevance to 50's and 60's pop music.
  4. I had the chance to check out a brand new new LP Standard during a course and the fretwork on it was shocking for a three grand instrument. Sire do a much, much better job.
  5. Me, definitely me. I got to try my Fender Princeton Reverb a couple of weeks back for the first time, after having collected it from a friend who was looking after it for me. I REALLY liked what I heard, it was very fat in the mids which helps strats obviously. There have been critics of the overdrive but I found nothing to complain about whatsoever and it sounded better once I started using the channel vol control as if it was a gain. I'm really looking forward to getting to know it.
  6. Kiwi

    New toys.

    Heh, ironically the JMP-1 is solid state distortion but uses a valve to filter the sound a bit. Their 9000 series preamps sound nice too but maybe a little less sweetened. I have a bunch of paperwork to do today but I'll hopefully have some time to try the Triaxis out later.
  7. Kiwi

    New toys.

    Yes, that was the reason for acquiring it but i never realised how punchy it is. I've developed a new appreciation for it. All the recordings I've listened to don't really do it justice. Too much compression.
  8. Kiwi

    New toys.

    I came back from the UK yesterday with an entire suitcase of stuff I'd managed to squirrel away over the last 7 years in it's own suitcase. All of it bought for less than market due to being in the right place at the right time. With the delivery of a couple of V30 loaded 1x12 cabs today, I spent a decent chunk of this afternoon, jetlag permitting, putting a couple of the preamps through the MPX G2 (which I already owned). My favourite amp is a Princeton Deluxe which is being shipped over, it nails the sound I've always wanted to hear. But I didn't expect how much I would like the Marshall JMP-1! I even preferred it to the Mesa Studio pre.
  9. Prince's After Show parties at the Indigo in the O2, after the main concert in 2007. Intimate club that held maybe 5-600 at most. I was three metres from the stage and totally in awe of his band leadership. Everyone never took their eye off him and he had a range of vocal and hand cues to drop various instruments out and bring them back in, or cue different sections of the song. They were totally on top of it and the effect was like listening to a remix in real time. There was also one moment two thirds of the way through a jam where the keyboardist wasn't getting a riff that Prince wanted him to play. Prince stops playing guitar, goes over to the keys, plays the riff, the keys player gets it. Then Prince puts his guitar down, goes over to the drums and carries on playing. A tragic loss to music.
  10. Only with a Kemper. If I'm honest, the Kemper profiles actually sounded better when they were created in a top quality setting. Less noise. My set up is pretty simple, I only use pedals in the effects loop and there's no discernable difference in quality with or without the pedal (Line 6 M5). It seems like you have a fairly specific set up and might need to dig into settings and work out what's happening through a process of elimination - if that's possible.
  11. I can't improve on what's been suggested so far but hello from Southern central China. anyway.
  12. A quick perusal of Fender, Gibson, Ibanez and PRS's product pages will reveal all. Music gear manufacturers depend on endorsements to the point where companies like Fender have purchased entire companies simply to secure a list of endorsers. Almost everyone who is anyone seems to have a signature guitar. And where they don't, they'll find one and hype it up (i.e. Nile Rodgers and his 'Hitmaker' when he actually used Tokai during most of the 80's).
  13. EMG active pickups have a fairly specific character to them. Very consistent pickups and noiseless but they lose a little of the highest and lowest frequencies. I've not played their passive ones yet.
  14. Do you have a budget? You could also probably look at a Zoom G3 unit for a hundred quid. I think you might be able to operate it through the software but can't confirm this atm. I'm wondering how you might operate a looper with hands given you would need to stop playing to push a button.
  15. Any thoughts about getting it modified? A Rivera stage IV mod would be the nuts but it's not like Rivera is likely to jump over the pond and those Stage IV mods he did for Sweetwater were USA voltage only.
  16. Great choice...the DR Tonemaster is also getting great reviews. I wonder about repairability though.
  17. Too much. Mesa Boogie Studio preamp Mesa Boogie Triaxis preamp Marshall JMP-1 preamp (technically MOSFet but with valve flavouring) Carvin Quad X preamp Burman GX3 preamp Marshall 20/20 EL84 power amp Burman Pro501 1x12 combo Fender Princeton Reverb II Fender Concert II (in NZ) Chinese made 5F2 Princeton Tweed combo (x2) The Fender Concert has to go at some point. Same for the Carvin because it's surplus. I'm not sure I need the 5F2 combos, Burman Pro501 or GX3 but...we shall see.
  18. Control is more important than speed. Slow at first is always best, only play as fast as your ability to maintain control. Goes pretty much for any instrument really, not just guitar. Also, don't push yourself to complete two hours worth of learning in two hours. Six sessions of twenty minutes over a longer period of time is likely to be far more productive because it allows you time to absorb the learning to a much greater depth and that means you'll be less likely to forget it.
  19. It's great with bass although I'm still on a learning curve. There are some classic profiles - Trace Mk V, Mesa Boogie Bass 400, SWR SM400, GK RB800 etc. but the quality can be variable. I would like very much to profile some bass cabinets but haven't figured out the way to do that yet. The reality of owning a Kemper follows one of two paths. 1) You use it as a portable portfolio of amplifiers for use in different musical situations, dropping in and out different amps as you see fit. You learn how to profile amps and become a bit of a mavern in the brands that interest you most, hoarding profiles for that one time you get to use them. 2) You use it to discover new amps and sounds that you've never experienced before and, once you've found ones you like, you generally stick with them. The Kemper becomes your chosen palette of signature or set list sounds in a highly portable format. You will probably start to question the point of owning any other kind of backline (I know I have). Mine's hooked up to a Line 6 M5 for additional effects not on the Kemper such as Dimension D and trichorus. But the M5 classic effects too like the CE1 and MXR Phase 90 are available too if there's a need for something specific. Some owners use a Helix for effects and Kemper for profiles - pretty much the best of both worlds.
  20. I suppose there could be a whiff of lag when you use the Zoom depending on what it is. I have a Zoom G3X at home which I don't use any more and it's a little noisy and it lags if I try to record and monitor direct rather than through the DAW. I think you might be ahead of the curve a little bit with your current set up. Soon many gigging guitarists are going to end up with profilers like Axe FX/Kemper etc. into an active PA cab instead of a full fat valve amp. The sound of a valve power amp can be so faithfully recreated through profiling although the convincing tech is only really accessible above a certain price point. But anyway, back to your set up. You have a bunch of requirements that AFAIA aren't necessarily supported in the budget kit that is available, much beyond what you already have. If you are affected by lag in the Zoom then the simple answer is save up for a Kemper/Axe FX etc. Your Yamaha active PA cab is probably good for gigging with this kind of modelling set up, if the cab is the one I think it might be. The Kemper also allows you to profile your favourite OD pedals as well as amps so you could conceivably include your JF14 as a patch (there's one already available to download BTW) or you could use a number of profiles from the original amps that the Joyo pedal emulates itself. And you could use a Kemper with both bass and guitar. Something I'm also thinking about at the moment but with a QSC K12.2 active PA cab rather than the Yamaha. If a Kemper/Axe FX etc. is unrealistic then any fall back options may involve compromise or some extended market research to identify a product that meets your needs. You could go down the conventional route and pick up a chinese made, handwired Tweed combo and run your Joyo pedal through it. There's also some good stuff made by Mooer but that's all I can offer in terms of my experience.
  21. I had a look at getting a pair of the Mooer Baby Bombs for use with my Kemper Stage. However using two apparently results in phasing issues! So I dunno...everything else being equal, I'm probably inclined to get a pair of QSC K12.2 active PA cabs instead if I ever gig again. Unlike your set up, they will generally benefit from speaker emulation - which the Kemper has, of course.
  22. That moment, when leafing through photos of sold gear, that you find the POS valve combo you let go for a couple of hundred quid was fitted with an Altec Lansing 417 speaker.  A speaker that you've since learned was the favourite of Alexander Dumble and is worth probably twice as much as the amp. Sigh.

  23. It IS, isn't it? Also easy to amend if I fancy a bit more pink or I decide to have less lumps.
  24. Ermighad. Time for an update I think - Jon Shuker once told me that fifty percent of the effort that goes into building a guitar is spend on solving problems. I'd say probably 70% of that was the case with this build. At every single stage something went wrong. I also ended up commissioning a neck with a 57mm heel in flame maple from a company I discovered on one of the shopping apps. I also asked them to do a 44mm nut as I like the extra space between strings. So that arrived and it was pretty good (on the second attempt). The first attempt was made by a new employee and it was a bodge job. But the company took responsibility and provided a neck that met the requirements we had agreed. So the neck was painstakingly finished (and patch refinished) in super glue. The quality is very good and I like how easy it is to repair dents or other imperfections with nothing more than a bottle of glue and a nail buffing pad. But still it took a long time to apply, let dry and sand back. I was also thrilled to discover that the new neck lined up almost perfectly in the adjusted neck pocket. So after checking, double checking and triple checking the scale length (25.5") I installed the bridge anchor post ferrules. Double checking the alignment showed that, against all odds, the bridge studs are actually at ninety degrees to the centre line. I checked the trem movement against the cavity and there was some blocking and rubbing in places so I got out the rasp and provided a bit more clearance around the front edge where the CNC machine that carved the body hadn't removed enough wood. At that point major milestone completed. I test fitted the pickguard and after quite a bit of readjustment, it fits snugly which meant it was time to paint things. I decided to stick with the fairly obnoxious spray bomb flourescent paint scheme and something of a rough and ready almost punk attitude. I did trial some newpaper cut out lettering stencils but while the lettering looked good I realised I needed to think about things a bit more if I didn't want it looking like a high school A level exam. So I turned to the electronics instead and meeting an aspiration of quick fit electronics and pickguard using connectors to the jack socket. I ordered a pair of Dimarzio Joe Satriani signature pickups as I thought they might be a nice match given how the guitar was fairly light weight. They're currently fitted to my Yamaha so I can get familiar with them while I work on the electronics. So the main goal for the wiring was the following 1) Bridge (splittable) 2) bridge coil + mid single coil 3) Bridge and neck (splittable) 4) Mid single coil + neck coil 5) Neck (splittable) I found a half-super switch (identical to those offered by Seymour Duncan), a B500K push pull pot and a prewired harness and then set about doing some research on wiring diagrams. After quite a lot of planning and adjusting and asking people I knew (like Aaron Armstrong) for advice I settled on the following diagram as a starting point because it was basically cobbled together out of other diagrams and I really don't know at this point which coils are activated in the split mode (and neither did anyone I asked). I think it might be the outside coils? By far the biggest head scratcher has been in figuring out where to put the connectors. I installed the two dimarzio pickups temporarily in my Yamaha, which has three pole quick connect switches. Originally I wanted to use two pole because it allowed a bit more flexibility with the connections but now I've decided to go the three pole route so I can straight swap between the Yamaha and the new guitar. Last night I installed chrome tuners on the headstock and installed the half complete electronics, pending the arrival of 3 pole female connectors. So that's where I'm at right now. I will also buy a locally made, improved version of a Fender mid boost circuit and figure out how to fit that into the diagram. Or, possibly it might involve gutting and restarting a new diagram if the circuit is fully integrated. Not sure. But hopefully it will involve much less ballache than has been the case so far. Speaking of ballache, a list of the issues so far is below for entertainment value 1) Square up neck pocket by shaving the sides with sanding block and file. 2) Remove excess wood blocking the trem movement. 3) Refinish and re-sand from 120 to 800 grit portions of the super glue finish on the neck. 4) Plug and redrill pickguard holes (because the original HSS pickguard I installed wasn't fender standard 11 hole). 5) Sand and repaint body after changing mind about lettering and stencil graphics. 6) Drill holes for bridge using slightly bent drill bit and drill shaft. 7) Clamp and glue the split underside of the trem cavity after trying to hammer in a bridge anchor ferrule into a hole that was 1mm too short (I measured it twice as well!) Figure out a circuit diagram cobbled together from other circuit diagrams for using the super switch, push pull post for two humbuckers and improvised quickfit connectors to allow the pickguard to be completely replaced without soldering.
  25. First thoughts are whether the coils in the new pickups are wired in series or parallel. Parallel can sound a bit bright if the guitar is made from something like maple and ash or alder. Second thoughts are comparing the woods in the neck between guitars. Mahogany normally gives a nice mellow sound with warmth in semi hollows. Third thought is a connection issue in the wiring harness or maybe even a short somewhere. I've just swapped out some favourite Armstrong PAF's from my Yamaha (see profile pic) and replaced them with Dimarzio Mo Joe and PAF Joe pickups. I was expecting a bright lively sounding guitar with plenty of harmonics but found the clarity in the Dimarzios had been blunted quite a bit in order to make the harmonics jump. So I will eventually go back to my faves because the neck pickup is lucious. The Armstrongs also went previously into another, near identical Yammie, that was about 400g lighter and brighter sounding. It was very harsh by comparison. That was mostly due to the differences in mass not the pickups as they were fitted with quick fit connectors.
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