EliasMooseblaster

UPDATE: my Behringer SF300 has arrived. Does the job just nicely! Really useful having the three modes, too: I can see myself using the more "vintage" sound of Fuzz 1 the most, but the scuzzier tone from Fuzz 2 has been quite fun to play with so far. Popping the guitar into drop D with Fuzz 2 certainly gives a nice All Them Witches-type vibe!

Thanks again for the recommendation!

Just watched a good demo video of the SF300 - really solid recommendation, thank you! No snobbery around the ABS housings in this gaff, I'm glad to say - I've owned a couple of Behringer bass pedals in the past, and only moved them on because the tone wasn't doing it for me.

The other contender I was eyeing up was the TC Electronics Honeypot. Also sounded good from the demos, though I'm tempted to try the Behringer first as it's so cheap!

3 hours ago, randythoades said:

I don't have to use a separate preamp for my existing soundhole pickup. I think this is going to be one of those rabbit holes that you wish you had never started down, a bit like when choosing strings for the upright bass...

No problem at all; happy to help where I can! The preamp in my signal chain is really just for tone, to make it sound a bit less sterile - level-wise it's comparable to the Fishman I pop in and out of my normal acoustic.

1 hour ago, randythoades said:

It looks like most of the resonator strings are bronze like acoustic guitar, but they don't work great on magnetic pickups. Can I use heavy guage electric strings instead?

Also read some info saying that you can't really lower the action on a resoantor, so not sure if slide setups would be too high an action for me to play 'regular' guitar parts.

So I think the magnetic pickups are more like the soundhole pickups you can buy for acoustic guitars - mine has had no issues with bronze strings (other than wanting a preamp in the signal chain). Never tried putting electric string on it - though I imagine that would make it much quieter unplugged, so kind of defeating the point of it!

I don't think there's a way to adjust the action at the bridge or tailpiece (a clever guitar tech might beg to differ). However you can always take it down at the nut end - depends how much you need to use the upper frets, I guess! Might be worth asking if you can talk to a tech in Andertons or GG - I use mine almost exclusively for slide, so I'm not the best person to ask.

It's quite a long time since I bought my resonator, so I don't have a very clear memory of which types I tried out on the day! My Ozark is definitely a single cone / biscuit bridge type; I remember also trying a couple of Stagg resonators which I believe were spider bridge. I seem to recall the Staggs sounding a bit mellower, but fundamentally still like a resonator - definitely some difference, but probably not enough that you'd mistake it for a "normal" acoustic guitar.

If you are able to get to a shop to try a couple, it might be worthwhile to. But if not, I don't think the type would make too much difference - a biscuit, spider or tricone are probably all equally capable of making their presence felt against the accordion!

8 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

Some models have a piezo mic built in, but more rarely with a pre-amp, which makes amplifying a little trickier, as either the amp has a piezo input, or an external pre-amp is required.

Mine - and a few others other I've seen - has a magnetic pickup, which definitely benefits from a pre-amp on its way to the desk. On the plus side, I have found it plays very nicely with a Joyo American Sound in that role!

A resonator could be just the ticket!

My two acoustics are an Epi dreadnought and an Ozark resonator - and the latter is a lot louder! For context: when I play acoustic gigs, I pop both guitars into the PA for a bit of support, but in smaller venues I hardly need to bring up the fader at all on the resonator. (And I also play fingerstyle on these gigs.)

It is a much more "boxy" tone, but it sounds like that might be a better fit with the accordion. And if you're playing Americana, it fits a similar space sonically to a banjo.

If it's at all useful, this is the guitar I have: https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/04112612521018--ozark-3515e-resonator-black-electro-cutaway

Thank you! Sounds really good from a couple of demo videos - being small is a plus as well. I might have to go searching for a second-hand one.

I'm in the mood to start experimenting with some heavier sounds - think stoner rock, Kyuss, Samsara Blues Experiment, Moon Wizard. And I think a fuzz pedal might be the way to go. I'm also a cheap Ess-Oh-Bee, so I've been eyeing up what Andertons and GAK have south of £50. Anyone got any recommendations from the budget end of the fuzzbox species?

(Bonus points if it can also be dialled back for a Hendrix-y Fuzz Face type sound - but by no means essential, as I'm well set for bluesy overdrive tones from my existing gear.)

On 27/02/2024 at 11:25, murphybridget said:

Can you share some of your work?

I didn't actually use it on a great many recordings, but the best example I've got is probably this one: https://youtu.be/-6DjBos-Yys?si=omBOz1zfFGcrvvef - this is my MIM Tele going straight to the amp's OD channel, no pedals in between.

You mentioned the Blackstar HT5R - they also do a 1W model! I had an HT1R for a few years myself, and was a good little bit of kit for something so tiny. Played quite nicely with pedals, as I recall, and could get surprisingly loud when running flat out.

Worth noting that both HT amps are technically hybrids - think it's a tube in the preamp, and a SS power stage. Not sure how important it is for your amp to be all tube!

I can vouch for Focusrite - used a Scarlett 2i2 for years, and it was wonderfully simple to set up and use. @randythoades raises a very good point about your recording environment, though: if you're buying monitors, you could make your life harder if you don't also treat your room - ironically enough. A decent pair of headphones might be a better starting point...and when I say "decent," I don't necessarily mean "expensive." A pair of Sony MDR-ZX100 are cheap as chips, and they're surprisingly good while you're getting set up. (Studiospares also have some decent, flatter-response cans for when you're ready to upgrade.)

To second randy's point about your amp: mic placement - not to mention mic quality - can be a real minefield. If you have lots of time to experiment, don't let me stop you, but if you're happy with Katana's USB output then you'll get better results, faster, that way. That said, if you're struggling with the tone, there are plenty of affordable amp sim pedals out there - Joyo do American Sound (Fender-like), British Sound (Marshall-like), AC Tone (Vox) and California Sound (Mesa), which are all knock-offs of the Tech21 Character pedals. Companies like Caline and Donner are making their own versions as well. Fun fact - I don't even own a "normal" guitar amp these days: I just plug one of those in when I want to lay down any electric guitar tracks.

Aerosmith Greatest Hits guitar tab book, published by Hal Leonard. Song list can be seen in the photos, book is in pretty good nick. Any question, just fire away.

£5 plus postage (I'll get an estimate for that presently), or collect from KT1.

On 21/09/2023 at 10:45, EdwardMarlowe said:

If it is a more general Hendrix tone you want, though, in truth most any half-decent, Sixties-sound fuzz will do the job. The biggest challenge with fuzz I always found is taming it enough for it to be useable: less is always more. Dial it right back to basically 'clean boost' and add in from there. To my ears - ymmv - Jimi never had quite as extreme a fuzz effect going on  as we often assume. 

 

I guess it's the same approach most Blues players take with Tube Screamer-style ODs: dial the Drive right down on the pedal itself, set the amp close to break-up point, then control the level of clipping with your guitar's volume pot.

1 hour ago, Kiwi said:

Peavey Bandit 1x12 combos - the older red stripe ones, are solid state but do really nice overdrive using valve emulating transistors and they can be picked up for peanuts now.

 

See also: Vox Pathfinder. They don't have any explicit valve emulation, but they do break up quite smoothly for a SS amp, especially if you've got a good, subtle overdrive pedal to push them with.

(Also chuffing loud for a 15W SS!)

Pedals are probably the best route - tube screamer clones are available pretty cheaply these days. If that doesn't quite do it, there's a whole host of preamp pedals which you could comfortably run into the Yamaha. Joyo, Caline, and others do budget clones of the Tech21 "character" series, which I've found very serviceable for recording and/or getting vintage tones at sociable volumes!

Do you have the tube amp already? Might be worth looking at load boxes / power soaks if you want a way to run it at lower volumes (or even into headphones). Thomann do a pretty good one in their Harley Benton range.

I mostly play Blues, but every so often I put on one of the early Danzig records, and I remember how good the original lineup were - not least of all John Christ's superbly evil guitar tone. From this article, I've gleaned that he put some PRS pickups into his BC Rich guitar, and it was mostly a mix-and-match of Marshall and Laney amps and cabs on the receiving end.

So far, so good...but PRS make a lot of different pickups. Anyone reckon they can narrow it down any further for me? (Or have you had good results taking a different route?)

23 hours ago, Col the Plunker said:

Wilkinson pickups are decent, and won't break the bank. I used them on my H.Benton homebuild SG. The Wilkinson mini humbucker may possibly fit a P90 route. That would be interesting.

+1 - I have also had good experience with Wilkinsons! See also: Vanson, and Tonerider. I recently put a pair of Vanson's PAF clones into my SG copy, and I'm very pleased with the results.

It depends on your budget - and the size of your bedroom! - but you could do a lot worse than a Blackstar HT1. It's only 1W, but that lone watt can go a surprisingly long way, and the valve preamp produces a range of nice tones. Also has a headphone socket.

On 07/01/2021 at 01:45, Kiwi said:

It's not bad, you can definitely get Richie Blackmore sounds out of it.  I wouldn't say it's high gain either - more medium gain with fuzzy tendencies.  The voice control will take you into more modern territory as well (which is what I'm after) but it really needs a TS type pedal (I'm using the Mosky Silver Horse) in front of it to kick things squarely into the 80's.  I got it to see whether I could get the Def Leppard thing happening, which it does after a boost from the Mosky.

BTW my first JF14, which I've had for about 6 years, has developed a persistent scream at extreme settings.  So there may be a shelf life to the op amps they use but I'm far away from anyone who could tell me for sure.  It was actually cheaper (given they're 13 quid each where I am) for me to get another.

So I went and got myself a British Sound as well. Rather nice, isn't it? Whilst I'm mostly interested in coaxing a '60s Bluesbreaker-type tone out of it, I can see how the right twiddle of the knobs could start to take you towards "Hair Metal" territory!

On the note, does anyone know what the Voice control actually does on this pedal? From a bit of judicial googling, I see it's basically a mid-shape control on the American Sound, allowing you to move between Blackface (mid-scoop) and Tweed (mid-boost) tones. Is it doing something similar on the British Sound, or is it more like a Presence control?

22 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

Anything here to tempt you..? ...

Lesley Rotary Fx ...

An important point to note would be the simulation, not only of the speed, but of the acceleration/deceleration, too, which add much to the Lesley panoply of sounds. Just sayin'. 

Oh, quite a lot to tempt me - thank you for digging that up!

I'm also kicking myself for not guessing why the two version of the EHX pedal were so named - of course, "K" denoted keyboards, and "G" guitars. (I blame it being Friday when I first started looking...) Quite encouraged to see that a lot of the others claim to be equally suitable for keys and guitars: if I'm going to invest in a pedal then that versatility is a definite plus!

I apologise for asking a keyboard-related question on a guitar forum...but it does involve guitar pedals!

I recently found, to my delight, that I could make my not-very-fancy keyboard produce a more convincing Electric Organ sound by running the output through a Joyo British Sound (basically a Marshall-esque preamp pedal). Whilst I'm very pleased with this discovery, it's a bit limited if I want to sound like anyone other than Jon Lord.

Now, I'm aware there's a range of pedals designed to simulate a Leslie speaker for guitarists. Just wondering - before I get tempted to spend a not-insignificant amount of money - whether anyone's tried running a keyboard through one of these, and how good/terrible did it sound?

On 11/12/2020 at 10:38, EdwardMarlowe said:

Could be snobbery, could be the 'right look'.... I wonder if it's also an endorsement thing. I remember hearing tell of how BB King would politely decline when invited to autograph Fender guitars because of his endorsement deal with Gibson.  Some endorsement deals are more exclusive than others. 

I suspect it was down to snobbery / the right look, as you suggest!

4 hours ago, EdwardMarlowe said:

Possible. He's always seemed pleasant enough, but he *is* pally with Prince Charles. Never trust anyone keen to hang out with royalty. 

Well, quite - I'm certainly in no hurry to dine in the Pizza Express next time I pass through Woking!

The proof of the pudding is in the stealing of it?

16 hours ago, EdwardMarlowe said:

A friend and I went sopping for a dirt pedal for her years ago. In the end it came down to the Coloursound fuzz, the Boss Blues Driver, and the Marshall Bluesbreaker II. All sounded good, but we agreed the best of the bunch was number 3 -which also turned out to be the cheapest.

Oh, good shout - I've had a BB-2 for something like ten years now, and it's a great pedal. The 'Blues' tone is a stonking good overdrive (pure Gary Moore!) and the Boost mode makes it that bit more versatile. Just a shame you can't switch between the two with a second footswitch, but back in 2010-ish I certainly felt like I couldn't grumble at that price point!