General Gear and Tab Season IV: Can it play barre chords?

[Cider]

damn it, did youtube take down the full version of Live at Rome Olympic Stadium?

[james90]

I reckon that's quite cheeky, as far as cheeky goes

 

Side note, anyone on here got any experience with Orchard electronics? Looking at getting some DI boxes and heard good things. It's between them or Klark Technik

 

Orchard? If you mean Orchid, I looked at them a while ago - they built the amp switcher MB used on the showbiz tour. Prices seem pretty reasonable compared to most.

 

There are some extra cheeky pages in that book as well, but I haven't looked at them yet. Going to learn the globalist properly first (specifically the end of the solo on the heavier part, as I can't tell what he's playing exactly - seems almost like octaves)

 

Will be interesting to see how the reapers solo is tabbed...

 

Need a bit of advice about amps.

 

I'm probably going to buy a valve amp at some point this year (finally). Fancy either a Vox AC30C2 or an AC15C2. Don't need anything crazy loud since I only play at bedroom volume or at small gigs. I usually have my amps set up so they sound a tiny bit dirty but still fairly clean, so would the AC15 be better? But it'll compress more easily (less headroom?) than the AC30 so might end up sounding a bit less chimey if it's fairly loud won't it?

 

Hope my slightly confused rambling makes sense here...

 

 

I'd say the AC15 will be fine, as long as you use your guitar's volume control to clean up a little (depending on how the amp is set of course)

 

I like this idea - you can basically add an additional volume control inside a pedal, and set it about 7 or 8, so as soon as you hit the switch, it cleans up in the same way you turn down your guitar's volume.

 

That's just if you're lazy though.

 

 

Also

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJDBJt8SQVk

 

Brilliant. I feel like this is also a good representation of craigslist sellers

Edited May 6, 2016 by james90

[GarJov]

I would recommend the AC15C1 also, although I have to admit humbuckers make mine break up a little too early for my liking, single coils are a lot nicer I think.

[james90]

Anyone familiar with this shop in London?

 

http://www.vintageguitarboutique.com/

 

Might have to check them out next month.

[haze015]

Anyone familiar with this shop in London?

 

http://www.vintageguitarboutique.com/

 

Might have to check them out next month.

 

Been in there a bunch of times to kill time.

[james90]

Been in there a bunch of times to kill time.

 

Any good?

 

I doubt I'll actually buy anything like an old guitar or amp, but maybe a pedal or something like that (especially if they have some weird old ones that I can try)

 

Any suggestions for other shops in the area? I'm familiar enough with the ones on Denmark Street, so besides those (which I'm sure I'll go to anyway)

[nerd herd]

Thanks chaps.

 

Well sir having purchased an AC30C2 recently I can not recommend it highly enough. Its master volume makes it good to get a nice dirty tone at low volumes. But its a strictly 12 noon-7pm kinda amp in a bedroom environment

 

The tone is absolutely beautiful, and I'm yet to properly crank it outside the house other than when I was testing it from the seller. One thing is for sure though, if you ever need to it could blow the roof off most small venues. I'm very very glad I bought it, even in a bedroom setting for now.

 

Nice. I'll probably go for the AC15 to increase the 7 hour bedroom playing time

 

I would recommend the AC15C1 also, although I have to admit humbuckers make mine break up a little too early for my liking, single coils are a lot nicer I think.

 

The almost breaking up sort of sound is kind of what I'm after, so that sounds ideal.

[haze015]

Any good?

 

I doubt I'll actually buy anything like an old guitar or amp, but maybe a pedal or something like that (especially if they have some weird old ones that I can try)

 

Any suggestions for other shops in the area? I'm familiar enough with the ones on Denmark Street, so besides those (which I'm sure I'll go to anyway)

 

There aren't really, just smaller ones that are good for accessories, but definitely not worth visiting if you're travelling from the USA!

 

Its worth a visit if you're looking to head to that part of London.

[Fish Luke]

Just got a Marshall SL5 to replace the Vox AC4C1-12.

 

Managed to get dial in some good Matt-ish tones using Fuzz Head (and FF) through clean channel but couldn't manage to get the overdrive channel to sound good (with or without pedals). The amp has proper channel EQ, prescence and reverb unlike the Vox.

 

Anybody know if Matt uses Fuzz Head much as a general distortion or if he just relies on amp distortion still? I'm talking about chords as well as riffs.

 

I know he at least used to use a cranked DSL 100 which perhaps I could get something similar out of the SL5. Same for the Diezel but I imagine I wouldn't be able to get near that.

[james90]

Just got a Marshall SL5 to replace the Vox AC4C1-12.

 

Managed to get dial in some good Matt-ish tones using Fuzz Head (and FF) through clean channel but couldn't manage to get the overdrive channel to sound good (with or without pedals). The amp has proper channel EQ, prescence and reverb unlike the Vox.

 

Anybody know if Matt uses Fuzz Head much as a general distortion or if he just relies on amp distortion still? I'm talking about chords as well as riffs.

 

I know he at least used to use a cranked DSL 100 which perhaps I could get something similar out of the SL5. Same for the Diezel but I imagine I wouldn't be able to get near that.

 

Does it actually sound bad on its own? If the SL5 is anything like Slash's tone, then it's a bit different from your usual Marshall type sound.

 

I don't think he ever used the fuzz head for guitar, but as a distortion for the synths on the kaoss pad rather. I've had one in the past, and with the KP2, it sounds identical to his synth effects... with guitar, it's much more of a vintage fuzz tone.

 

It's always been amp distortion as far as I'm aware, except for SMBH and a few other bits, which are DI'd fuzz factory...there's plug in baby as well, which is mostly fuzz factory, but the one in his guitar.

 

Right now I think his main sound is some of his favorite amps profiled onto the kemper - either channel 3 of the Diezel VH4, or his Marshall 1959HW (or both)... there's probably an AC30 in there somewhere too.

 

You might be able to get close to the DSL sound I guess. I know Jaicen likes his DSL15 (so much that he's selling it for someone else to enjoy the Muse tone)

 

And for what it's worth, I think a lot of his recorded tone is AC30.

[Fish Luke]

Does it actually sound bad on its own? If the SL5 is anything like Slash's tone, then it's a bit different from your usual Marshall type sound.

 

I don't think he ever used the fuzz head for guitar, but as a distortion for the synths on the kaoss pad rather. I've had one in the past, and with the KP2, it sounds identical to his synth effects... with guitar, it's much more of a vintage fuzz tone.

 

It's always been amp distortion as far as I'm aware, except for SMBH and a few other bits, which are DI'd fuzz factory...there's plug in baby as well, which is mostly fuzz factory, but the one in his guitar.

 

Right now I think his main sound is some of his favorite amps profiled onto the kemper - either channel 3 of the Diezel VH4, or his Marshall 1959HW (or both)... there's probably an AC30 in there somewhere too.

 

You might be able to get close to the DSL sound I guess. I know Jaicen likes his DSL15 (so much that he's selling it for someone else to enjoy the Muse tone)

 

And for what it's worth, I think a lot of his recorded tone is AC30.

 

A lot of people seem to get something that I think sounds like Slash in their YouTube videos but they're always using a Les Paul. I'm using the Cort and to me it sounds more like what I thought an average Marshall would sound like which is what I wanted.

 

Just had another go on the overdrive channel and got fairly near now I think. Gain on max, volume 1/3, treble, prescence and mids max and bass on 1/2. Funnily enough the opposite EQ settings to what people say on Marshall forums but I guess they were using Les Pauls or something. However this is on the 1 watt mode as OD channel is too loud and I expect the other people were using 5 watt mode which you have to dial in different.

 

I had my clean mode with pedals dialled in differently and on the full 5 watts as it is quieter than the other channel so may well have to have another tinker or see how it sounds on the OD settings I have.

 

As for the Vox I couldn't really get anywhere near what the Marshall is doing, probably because the Marshall is so much bigger than the Vox and probably just better thought out overall. Possibly the Vintage 30 in the Marshall may help as well since in the tour rig video Matt was using those. The Vox seemed to go from no volume to way too loud easily and was so hard to dial in with fuzz (too trebly) or built in gain (not enough treble) even though I upgraded the speaker to a Greenback. I don't think Vox do a low watt amp that would do any better so I looked elsewhere.

 

As for Matt's distortion sound are you sure he doesn't used the Fuzz Head more widely? It seems to appear so much in limited pictures and videos of his setup and I feel like I can get it to sound like Knights, basic chords like PIB/Mercy and even like Handler/Psycho on the D string. I've also seen a fair few covers on YouTube sound really similar to Matt using it too.

 

I've changed the capacitor in my Fuzz Head to the treble one and adjusted the internal trim pots to max settings so Matt may well have had some funny things done to his anyway. Before I did this I didn't think it had enough treble or drive for what I wanted.

 

I'll have to compare my new setting on the OD channel to what I got before with the Fuzz Head on the clean channel.

Edited May 6, 2016 by Fish Luke

[Jaicen]

I'm only selling the DSL15C because I bought a DSL40C

 

I do prefer the clean channel on the DSL15 though, I think the 6v6's are a bit sweeter, but the headroom of the 40w is necessary.

[nerd herd]

As for Matt's distortion sound are you sure he doesn't used the Fuzz Head more widely? It seems to appear so much in limited pictures and videos of his setup and I feel like I can get it to sound like Knights, basic chords like PIB/Mercy and even like Handler/Psycho on the D string. I've also seen a fair few covers on YouTube sound really similar to Matt using it too.

 

Not sure about the fuzz head, but http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct15/articles/inside-track-1015.htm is decent for knowing which fuzz pedals are on drones. Interesting that he used a colour box.

[Fish Luke]

Not sure about the fuzz head, but http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/oct15/articles/inside-track-1015.htm is decent for knowing which fuzz pedals are on drones. Interesting that he used a colour box.

 

Another interesting point on there is that he used the Fuzz Factory a lot on drones supposedly then. If anything I thought the distortion on Drones was more from amps or something like Fuzz Head. Maybe the Fuzz Head is used less on the guitar then otherwise it would have appeared in the article for sure.

[james90]

 

As for Matt's distortion sound are you sure he doesn't used the Fuzz Head more widely? It seems to appear so much in limited pictures and videos of his setup and I feel like I can get it to sound like Knights, basic chords like PIB/Mercy and even like Handler/Psycho on the D string. I've also seen a fair few covers on YouTube sound really similar to Matt using it too.

 

I've changed the capacitor in my Fuzz Head to the treble one and adjusted the internal trim pots to max settings so Matt may well have had some funny things done to his anyway. Before I did this I didn't think it had enough treble or drive for what I wanted.

 

I'll have to compare my new setting on the OD channel to what I got before with the Fuzz Head on the clean channel.

 

I'm not sure really, but the one I had just sounded like a really good fuzz face type pedal.

 

And are we talking live or studio? Studio version of Psycho for example has lots of AC30 from what I can hear, especially in the verses. Can get really close with the AC30HW I have. Here's an AC15HW combo - you can sort of hear the similarities. Almost a fuzzy sort of tone, but not really.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niT_UlFMBlw

 

 

Live sounds more like the VH4 channel 3, possibly mixed with something else. Not sure about the fuzz tones he currently has though. Those could be profiled as well for all I know.

 

Oh and as for the colour box, I've tried one of those, and it doesn't get you the sound alone. He's running some fuzz pedals (I think I saw some Cornish fuzz pedals in one of the studio videos?) into it, and using the colour box to emulate the sound of the pedal running into one of those old consoles. Or at least I think that's what he was doing...

 

Another pedal that was used is the custom made turkish pedal from istanbul (machsonic thrust drive)

 

In the demo videos I've seen, it really doesn't sound good at all, but remember he was running it into an ampeg V4B. Not only is that a bass amp, but it has some extreme midrange shaping options.

[Fish Luke]

I'm not sure really, but the one I had just sounded like a really good fuzz face type pedal.

 

And are we talking live or studio? Studio version of Psycho for example has lots of AC30 from what I can hear, especially in the verses. Can get really close with the AC30HW I have. Here's an AC15HW combo - you can sort of hear the similarities. Almost a fuzzy sort of tone, but not really.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niT_UlFMBlw

 

 

Live sounds more like the VH4 channel 3, possibly mixed with something else. Not sure about the fuzz tones he currently has though. Those could be profiled as well for all I know.

 

Oh and as for the colour box, I've tried one of those, and it doesn't get you the sound alone. He's running some fuzz pedals (I think I saw some Cornish fuzz pedals in one of the studio videos?) into it, and using the colour box to emulate the sound of the pedal running into one of those old consoles. Or at least I think that's what he was doing...

 

Another pedal that was used is the custom made turkish pedal from istanbul (machsonic thrust drive)

 

In the demo videos I've seen, it really doesn't sound good at all, but remember he was running it into an ampeg V4B. Not only is that a bass amp, but it has some extreme midrange shaping options.

 

See the AC4 I have really distorts my view of what a Vox sounds like since I couldn't get it to sound remotely similar to that or muse even though I upgraded it to JJ tubes and Greenback which the AC4HW have. Sounded nice clean but fuzz was too treblely and distortion too boxy and it was a loud amp that didn't sound great with the volume down. All of the controls seemed to have sharp thresholds rather than acting linear as well.

 

Does sound like the amp in the video could be a core muse sound but couldn't get anything like it out of my AC4.

[james90]

See the AC4 I have really distorts my view of what a Vox sounds like since I couldn't get it to sound remotely similar to that or muse even though I upgraded it to JJ tubes and Greenback which the AC4HW have. Sounded nice clean but fuzz was too treblely and distortion too boxy and it was a loud amp that didn't sound great with the volume down. All of the controls seemed to have sharp thresholds rather than acting linear as well.

 

Does sound like the amp in the video could be a core muse sound but couldn't get anything like it out of my AC4.

 

I haven't tried the AC4. What size speaker does it have? I can understand that anyway - even though it's still in the AC series, I wouldn't expect it to sound quite like an AC30. Some will have to do with the cabinet design, speaker size, lower wattage, smaller transformers, etc...

 

I didn't do any upgrades to my AC HW, even though there are SEVERAL suggested ones. It's a well built amp, but even though it's one of the more expensive ones, some of the components aren't quite as good as you'd expect.

 

Does the AC4 have a master volume? I can still get a relatively close sound with the master engaged and top boost channel volume turned up, so you don't necessarily need to have the power amp working hard.

[nerd herd]

Another pedal that was used is the custom made turkish pedal from istanbul (machsonic thrust drive)

 

In the demo videos I've seen, it really doesn't sound good at all, but remember he was running it into an ampeg V4B. Not only is that a bass amp, but it has some extreme midrange shaping options.

 

Is that the wooden one someone on here (was it you?) bought a while ago and it turned out to be pretty useless?

[james90]

Is that the wooden one someone on here (was it you?) bought a while ago and it turned out to be pretty useless?

 

That was me, but it turned out that I bought the wrong pedal (blame Niel)

[Cider]

My old AC4 had a 10 inch speaker. I never got around trying it at a loud setting, because neighbors. :/

 

 

I kind of wish I had a good amp, but I see apartment living inevitable in the next few years so I've just been using headphones out of the Line6.

 

 

Do you guys know of any amp/ amp sim that actually sounds good with headphones?

[nerd herd]

it turned out that I bought the wrong pedal

 

I know that feeling

[Dominic.]

Orchard? If you mean Orchid, I looked at them a while ago - they built the amp switcher MB used on the showbiz tour. Prices seem pretty reasonable compared to most.

 

There are some extra cheeky pages in that book as well, but I haven't looked at them yet. Going to learn the globalist properly first (specifically the end of the solo on the heavier part, as I can't tell what he's playing exactly - seems almost like octaves)

 

I may have...

 

Can you send some cheeky snaps of the end of Dead Inside?

 

Also, most stuff seems to be cheaper in the States, is that the same for microphones?

[haze015]

Do you guys know of any amp/ amp sim that actually sounds good with headphones?

 

Softube VAR is what I tend to use most. Bit limited compared to other software, but all the better for it.

 

Otherwise Amplitube. Hate Guitar Rig and don't see the point in hardware amp sims unless in a covers band. Good headphones make a big difference though.

[Fish Luke]

I haven't tried the AC4. What size speaker does it have? I can understand that anyway - even though it's still in the AC series, I wouldn't expect it to sound quite like an AC30. Some will have to do with the cabinet design, speaker size, lower wattage, smaller transformers, etc...

 

I didn't do any upgrades to my AC HW, even though there are SEVERAL suggested ones. It's a well built amp, but even though it's one of the more expensive ones, some of the components aren't quite as good as you'd expect.

 

Does the AC4 have a master volume? I can still get a relatively close sound with the master engaged and top boost channel volume turned up, so you don't necessarily need to have the power amp working hard.

 

There's three versions of the amp, one with a 10" speaker, one with 12" and the HW with 12". I just have the regular 12" one.

 

"All-Valve, the legendary VOX AC30 Top-Boost sound, now in a compact, portable amplifier!" http://www.voxamps.com/ac4c1-12

 

It does have a master volume but overall it was no good for me. I think the fact it is a tiny amp for a 12" speaker has a lot to do with it as well as the poor amp controls. The cabinet was almost closed back but had a small slit at the bottom and there was no division between the amp PCB and the speaker it was all in the same space.

 

For example I originally bought a G12H to replace the Celestion Seventy 80 but it was too big and hit the transformer. The Greenback G12M only just fits.

[james90]

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/rockers-who-need-pristine-virginal-cleans.1702576/

 

Really? That's the first time I've heard that one...

 

I know that feeling

 

Those feels.

 

I may have...

 

Can you send some cheeky snaps of the end of Dead Inside?

 

Also, most stuff seems to be cheaper in the States, is that the same for microphones?

 

Not sure, I haven't bought any mics in a while. And that is quite cheeky. You should have a nando's with me - just found out I'll actually be there an extra two days, for ten days total

 

edit: referring to the UK itself, not just nando's

 

There's three versions of the amp, one with a 10" speaker, one with 12" and the HW with 12". I just have the regular 12" one.

 

"All-Valve, the legendary VOX AC30 Top-Boost sound, now in a compact, portable amplifier!" http://www.voxamps.com/ac4c1-12

 

It does have a master volume but overall it was no good for me. I think the fact it is a tiny amp for a 12" speaker has a lot to do with it as well as the poor amp controls. The cabinet was almost closed back but had a small slit at the bottom and there was no division between the amp PCB and the speaker it was all in the same space.

 

For example I originally bought a G12H to replace the Celestion Seventy 80 but it was too big and hit the transformer. The Greenback G12M only just fits.

 

The controls can be a little tricky at times. Are these the ones that work in reverse?

 

Also, since it has an external speaker output, you could try it with a different cabinet to see if it sounds any better. I wouldn't really expect it to sound like a top boost AC30 without the usual tone control setup though (do these controls work in reverse?)

Edited May 7, 2016 by james90