CAA's Guitar Center: Discussion and Help For All Players

[Warrior4Christ]

Actually dude, in all honesty, the song itself is so well written that the guitar solo kind of falls out of the spotlight for me. And I mean that to say that it's really an excellently written song. You've got some real talent there.

Yeah, agreed with most of that - it's well written and well recorded for a no-budget home recording. Ripping guitar solo too! I didn't think it was as misplaced as Syreth made it seem. Did you use a metronome track or anything when you recorded? Who recorded the drums? It.. didn't really sound like it was their primary instrument. But I guess it was adequate.
It makes me want to record something now...

[Strafe]

Thanks dude. I used Live 8 which has a built in metronome.

Yeah. The drums sucked because I used the keyboard drum settings. Like I pushed one note for the kick, one for snare, and hi hat, crash, tom etc. with my fingers. I don't have a drum set, so I have to make do with what I had. It served its purpose at the very least though.

[Warrior4Christ]

Ah, that makes sense then... I can't believe I didn't pick that up the first time..

[Strafe]

Alright. So...

NEW GUITAR AGAIN WOO...

But not the PRS.... Which should come in next month. SO EXCITTTTEEEEDDDDD!!!

So My family got together for an early Christmas gathering, and my grandmother gave my Dad another guitar she got at an auction for like $10. Usually, I just refurbish them and leave them lying around because they're not very good, but this time, she brought a nice looking dreadnought by this company called Hondo. So I cleaned it like usual, and it smelled pretty bad...

But what I did that was different was oiling the fretboard. I saw PRS videos of their factory where they put boiled linseed oil on the fretboard to enhance the natural color of the wood, and I figured that I could do the same. It looks pretty good, though you can't see it in the pictures.

In any case, I put strings on it, and it sounds pretty awesome for the price.

So. Any suggestions for the name? Its japanese, so maybe I thought I could name it something Japanese...

Pics:
Front Shot

Closer Front Shot

Down the Front

Back

[TGJesusfreak]

*THREAD BUMP*

Hey guys sorry I've been gone for a while. How's everyone's guitar going? Anyone get any god guitar stuff for christmas?

[Warrior4Christ]

How's everyone's guitar going?

My tuning peg just broke!! I mean the shaft that the string wraps around just broke off... I thought at first it might screw back on, but half an hour of trying didn't lead to success....
Ebay only sells them in packs of four...
And it's not going to arrive in time for church on Sunday...

And no, nothing deity-like for Christmas either.

[Strafe]

@TG: Its going pretty good I guess. Just playing around with some high string hammer on/ pull off licks. Got some money for Christmas I guess. Nothing really special. It was what I did with the money though.

@Warrior: Lol. So you'll either have to borrow another bass or play with 3 strings? that really sucks.

Alright. So. With the money I got from Christmas, I bought a new pedal, a few cables, a new conditioned power supply, a daisy chain, and a gigbag for my acoustic.

Here's my updated pedal board:

Pedalboard update

Also, My Dad took back his sparkle drive, so I don't have that anymore. It was sort of a redundant pedal though, since my OCD can do a tubescreamer sound on one of its modes, and I already have a clean boost pedal.

[LadyRushia]

Hello, thread.

I brought my guitar home for winter break, but I've hardly played. 8( However, I discovered a new song I want to learn/a new cover I want to cover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sITqQ56MDFg

It doesn't seem too difficult except for the few speed picking parts, which I might modify anyway when I do my own version (if that ever really happens, XD). Between the tabs I downloaded and the video itself, learning it shouldn't take terribly long.

[Strafe]

Lolz. that looks like a fun medley. The guy on the left isn't too bad either. But Tuning. Or intonation. Or I dunno what.

I'm not gonna lie though. Both guitars' tones sounded terrible... especially the clean sound on the left. Sawblade tone... and crap clean. Ugh. I'm sure you'll sound much better when you play it. You're probably much better than the girl on the right anyhow.

You know, if they didn't have such a wide gap in playing style and ability, I would suspect that they were the same person. Since they both play the same guitar, and if you don't look close enough, have similar thin fingers. Of course, the guy has his picking hand's fingers spread out awkwardly, and has more confidence and style.

You doing the lead part, rhythm part or both?

[Warrior4Christ]

@TG: Its going pretty good I guess. Just playing around with some high string hammer on/ pull off licks. Got some money for Christmas I guess. Nothing really special. It was what I did with the money though.

@Warrior: Lol. So you'll either have to borrow another bass or play with 3 strings? that really sucks.

Alright. So. With the money I got from Christmas, I bought a new pedal, a few cables, a new conditioned power supply, a daisy chain, and a gigbag for my acoustic.

Here's my updated pedal board:

Pedalboard update

Also, My Dad took back his sparkle drive, so I don't have that anymore. It was sort of a redundant pedal though, since my OCD can do a tubescreamer sound on one of its modes, and I already have a clean boost pedal.

Wrong - it was a 5-string to start with, so it's down to 4, which is not as bad.

That's still a nice pedal board setup... what does the new power supply do for you?

And Rushia, that does look like a decently fun song to learn.... but 10 mins on one continuous take! Good luck...

[TGJesusfreak]

awesome guys =D. I got a new guitar slide, metranome, Tenth avenue North Guitar book, and Wii Music (not that that has a whole lot to do with guitar other than fake guitar playing. XD).

Any advice on how to use a guitar slide guys?

[Strafe]

@Warrior: lol. Then you got more than enough string to work with. The power supply may have actually taken some of the annoying hum away, and its nice knowing that my pedals are safe from blowing out in a power surge. Other than that, it looks better than the ugly white one... lol.

@TG: YOOOO. DUDE I HAVE A VID ON ONE THING YOU CAN DO WITH A GUITAR SLIDE CHECK IT OUTTT:

Open E Slide Tuning

[LadyRushia]

Lolz. that looks like a fun medley. The guy on the left isn't too bad either. But Tuning. Or intonation. Or I dunno what.

I'm not gonna lie though. Both guitars' tones sounded terrible... especially the clean sound on the left. Sawblade tone... and crap clean. Ugh. I'm sure you'll sound much better when you play it. You're probably much better than the girl on the right anyhow.

You know, if they didn't have such a wide gap in playing style and ability, I would suspect that they were the same person. Since they both play the same guitar, and if you don't look close enough, have similar thin fingers. Of course, the guy has his picking hand's fingers spread out awkwardly, and has more confidence and style.

You doing the lead part, rhythm part or both?

Actually, I'm pretty sure it's the same person and the guy's just wearing a skirt. You can tell that they're in the same room and girls' legs just don't look like that in skirts, XD. You have to consider that they're playing two different parts and the rhythm is much easier than the lead.

I actually want to learn both parts, but for now I'm working on the lead. I'm sure I can do it, except for the speed picking parts. Good thing I have a nice video editor that lets me slow clips down and change the pitch back to normal. lol

[Strafe]

Hrm... well its kind of weird that my first impression was right... thats kind of gross actually. But er... wow. Yeah. Really. Hrm...

But actually, the rhythm part looks just as hard, if not harder than the lead in my opinion. The lead does have alternate picking and Tapping, but the rest can be played by ear if you know the songs. Just simple notes, simple rhythms... that aren't played with too much style. Meanwhile, the rhythm part has like palm muted sixteenths with an open upbeat, and several sweeping parts along with more awesome bursts of speed. Sure the rest is just power chords, but the advanced strum pattern seems pretty cool to learn. Actually, the lead part almost looks boring in comparison after the first tapping part.

So... what I think you should do is play the lead part with better rhythm, tone and style... Because the guy doesn't do anything interesting other than play the notes... and a little bit off sync too. especially later in the song, though that's probably just him getting tired. But add more bends up to the notes, and definitely stick in vibrato so the note doesn't lay there flat and boring.

[LadyRushia]

Rhythm tends to be my thing anyway, but I agree with you on the lead. It's really not difficult at all. It's just a matter piecing it together. Also, it didn't need to be so heavily distorted in the softer sections. Like I said, when I get better with this song I'm gonna do some parts differently.

That's why I downloaded the video and slowed it down in my video editor. I just need to know where things are, XD.

[kairo14]

*THREAD BUMP*

Hey guys sorry I've been gone for a while. How's everyone's guitar going? Anyone get any god guitar stuff for christmas?

I didn't get it for Christmas but. I've been playing for about 15 years. Last year I bought myself a Badcat amp (hotcat 15). It is like a Vox AC15 but wired so the overdrive is much stronger. It is the sickest amp I have ever heard. Goo Goo dolls, Led Zeppelin and many others use this amp. It's great.

Here's me playing a rock solo on it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrI8zf8zoJc

[Strafe]

Hey Kairo! Welcome to the thread.

And wow! What great timing, I've been looking for a vid of the Hot Cat 15, since I could only find vids of the Hot Cat 30. I was wondering how different the EL84s sounded from the EL34s in the Hot Cat 30. But man. Thats some great tone right there. Creamy and tight. I was thinking of one day upgrading to The Hot Cat in the future. Not that anything's wrong with my AC15 right now, but that tone man... that tone... It was either Bad Cat or Matchless, and now it looks like I might be turning over to Bad Cat.

Thinking of recording an actual demo vid of the amp? That would be really cool.

And I heard your band's recordings. You have a pretty cool ambient sound going on. Very U2/ The Edge Atmospheric with the delay and reverb. And then the Syncopated strumming sounds very nice.

So What other gear do you play? I see a strat in that pic, so that's that. Any cool pedals to go along with that?

[kairo14]

Hey Kairo! Welcome to the thread.

And wow! What great timing, I've been looking for a vid of the Hot Cat 15, since I could only find vids of the Hot Cat 30. I was wondering how different the EL84s sounded from the EL34s in the Hot Cat 30. But man. Thats some great tone right there. Creamy and tight. I was thinking of one day upgrading to The Hot Cat in the future. Not that anything's wrong with my AC15 right now, but that tone man... that tone... It was either Bad Cat or Matchless, and now it looks like I might be turning over to Bad Cat.

Thinking of recording an actual demo vid of the amp? That would be really cool.

And I heard your band's recordings. You have a pretty cool ambient sound going on. Very U2/ The Edge Atmospheric with the delay and reverb. And then the Syncopated strumming sounds very nice.

So What other gear do you play? I see a strat in that pic, so that's that. Any cool pedals to go along with that?

Thanks.
Most 15 watt (AC.15) amps whether is Vox, Matchless or badCat are the EL84 and the (30watt) EL34. The EL34 is a bigger tube, which is why gets more watts. It also is able to get bass-ier on the tone.

Typically people use the (AC30) or EL34 for rhythm, or full chords on the lower side, because it gets bass-ier.
Likewise, people use the (AC15) or EL84 versions for more lead stuff, or higher sounding (tonally) rhythm stuff.

My advice for the BadCats, is that if you can only get one amp (they are pricey) then go with the AC15 because it is more versatile. You can always turn up the bass in the eq in a recording later. When I personally record rhythm with my AC15 and i have never had to turn the bass up. Also BadCat has the AC15 wired so hot that it sound more like the AC30 in its power. And for only 15watts its loud! My favorite thing about the amp is that it gets that awesome tone from practically volume 1. Its great.

For effects, ever since I got the badcat I don't use as much. lol Particularity when I record I use no effects for the rhythm parts, its all Badcat. Yet, for lead stuff had a Roland GP-100. Its a rack unit that has all the boss pedals in it. For slower stuff I use a plate reverb and some delay, maybe some compression. For solo stuff I use the same plate reverd, compression, and a delay with a fedbacker. And for U2 stuff I use alot of compression and a weird four tap digital delay and/or just a regular delay.

Oh, here is a recording of just the amp and a drum track.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUJ92fHRwFA

[Strafe]

I always thought that the bassiness of the AC30 came from the fact that it had 2 speakers and that the wattage difference affected headroom, not necessarily the bass response, though the increased clean capacity would provide more volume, and then more bass because of the volume during the clean. Though the EL34 vs 84 does make sense, since el84s are called things like "bright" and "trebly/ sparkly." Its what I liked best when I went amp shopping and took home the AC15 over the 6L6 Mesa Lonestar.

I wouldn't know about the generalization about the lead/ rhythm though. Its probably all a matter of player over equipment anyhow. Like Brian May doesn't play an AC15, but an AC30 and he's awesome. One of my Favorite lead tones when he uses the treble booster.

But Yeah. For now I'll probably wait on another amp. I actually really like my set up right now. And my PRS is coming in a few weeks (YYYYAAAAAYYYYY I"M SOOOO EXCIITTTTEEEEDDDD).

Anyways, I just want to say, that I really admire the stuff you're doing, recording and everything. Its really cool. It's been my dream to be in a band for like the past 3 years, and being able to talk to someone doing that is awesome. Of course, in a Christian band, all praise to God above all talents and human efforts, but I still think you're pretty awesome. Maybe i'll be where you are in 11 years.

[kairo14]

I always thought that the bassiness of the AC30 came from the fact that it had 2 speakers and that the wattage difference affected headroom, not necessarily the bass response, though the increased clean capacity would provide more volume, and then more bass because of the volume during the clean. Though the EL34 vs 84 does make sense, since el84s are called things like "bright" and "trebly/ sparkly." Its what I liked best when I went amp shopping and took home the AC15 over the 6L6 Mesa Lonestar..

Your very kind with your words. Thanks

Hmm.. Not all AC30's are two speakers; the Badcat version isn't. Also Headroom does increase with tube size, but its not the only thing. How it is wired and how hot the signal is when it first hits the tube effects that to. But for best headroom more tubes is the best thing. I have 4x EL84 mesa rack head and the Headroom is insane because of there being 4 tubes.

PRS, ae' That is wayyy cool. What kind? post a link!

The one pic had me playing a strat, but mostly like (98%) of the time I use my Gibson NightHawk. I love that guitar. It can sound like a Les or a strat; its a great versatile hybrid. P.R.S has some models that are hybrids, hmmmm....like the swamp-ash edition.

[Strafe]

I never really play super clean though, so I don't mind the lower headroom on the AC15. I always have a little dirt when I play "clean." If I really wanted super clean, I'm sure my Dad would let me borrow his fender hot rod deville... But neither of us like that amp very much, so he lends it to other people in the Worship band and uses, believe it or not, an AC4 that I got him for his birthday. 4 watts, just one tube, but sounds great.

Yeah. I've been saving up for a PRS Custom 24 for the past few years, and now its finally close to coming. I ordered the 25th Anniversary Edition a couple months back. It costs the same as a regular custom 24, but has all these extra features. Most of them are cosmetic, but the coolest thing is that the pickups it comes with are made with the same pickup wire that made the Original Gibson les Paul PAF pickups. They sound incredible, and have a really cool pickup switching system. Aside from that, it feels incredible too. Least importantly, its beautiful, but well, to see that, here's a pic I posted earlier in the thread: http://platinum.guitarcenter.com/platinum_images/products/large/17_159866_e_lg.jpg

Now the Nighthawk looks... like a ridiculously versatile tone machine. Like a HSH super strat pickup config on a slimmer les paul style body. AND a push pull pot. Exactly how many tones can you get out of it? The 5 pickup combined with the push pull (Does it split coils, change phasing, or what?). I know the PRS Special series has the same configuration with a coil split and gets like 9 different tones. Crazy. I'm sure its probably the only guitar you really need with all those tones.

[kairo14]

sweet guitar! Gotta love PRS.

I do play some rather clean sounds for church sometimes, but the vast majority is overdrive, which is why I got the Badcat.

"the same pickup wire that made the Original Gibson les Paul PAF pickups" That's nice.

yea, the nighthawk can split coils, which why it is able to sound so much like a stratacastor. My favoirte aspect about is the slanted bridge pickups, which get wicked sustain, like I've never heard before. I find it very useful for U2 delay stuff and solo stuff.

[S.M.O.G.]

I'm back to CAA, and think I'll be hanging around this thread. ^_^

Anyways,I've been wondering about gear. I run my guitar into a Crybaby > MXR 6-band EQ (for boost) > Rocktron Rampage distortion > Digitech RP155 (I used it before I had many pedals, now just for various effect until I can get my hands on the real ones) > Rocktron Reaction Delay > Marshall MG 50 FX. I can't afford a better amp right now, so I mostly use pedals clean into the amp.

I'm looking at getting an overdrive to put before the distortion. I'm thinking about the Ice 9 from Vox. Since that has a tube in it, how well will it actually emulate the sound of a tube amp? Would I be better off getting somthing cheaper like a Bad Monkey or TS7?

Also, I was looking at the Ibanez Airplane Flanger, mainly because of the whammy like effect from the takeoff mode. Could I get the same effect from a cheaper flanger?

[Strafe]

So... No news on the PRS yet. Or my ABY pedal. Oh well. I'm having alot of fun with the Boss PS-6. Droptunings, Bass Simulations, and of course Whammy. Its pretty great.

I think the next pedal I'll need is a Noise gate though. Since it gets really hummy when I turn on a bunch of gain stages. And I have feedback issues too. Lots of them.

@S.M.O.G.

To my memory, the Ice 9 doesn't have a tube in it. Then looking at the Vox website on the product, there is no mention of any tube circuitry. Also, I don't really care for the Ice 9 tone that I hear in the vids. I think Ice 9 is just typical analog OD. Nothing wrong with that, though. While there are tube driven OD pedals, and FET based, Optical transistor whatever, I don't think any specific one is necessarily better than the other. They can say what they want about the circuits, but it lies in the tone. I don't think they'll magically make your solid state amp sound and respond like a tube though. Just get what sounds good.

That said, you can't really go wrong with a classic tube screamer. I don't care for the sound personally, but its a very standard OD that tons and TONS of people use. If you ask me though, I would recommend the Fulltone OCD or Fulldrive 2. Both Incredible sounding pedals with real nice grit. I have the OCD, and its my bread and butter for rhythm crunch because of its Marshall-like tone. I have a preference for British sounds anyways.

For flanger... I couldn't tell you. I don't really ever plan on using it. It seems to be a little bit of a side side effect. And the Ibanez seems to take up a lot of pedal board space, so I personally don't think it looks too hot for what it does. But thats me. You could go ahead and try it, see if its useful for your sound.

[S.M.O.G.]

Thanks. I thought both the Satchurator and Ice 9 had a tube, but I guess it was just the Satchurator. I ust got the same answer on another forum too.

I almost got the Satchurator, sounded amazing in the demos, but the when I tried it in the store it didn't get what I was looking for at all and ended up getting the rampage. I later realized it was probably the amp setting in the store, but I made my choice and i'm happy with it. I don't want to dwell on what I could have had, and I can always get it later when I have more money.

But like i said, I like what I have and would rather focus on effects I don't have before I end up with 7 distortion pedals and no modulation. That would be more useless than the amp I have now, lol. (Yeah, I know, cool story bro.)


I guess I should have explained what I'm looking to to with an OD. I'm wanting something that will sound good on it's own, but can also blend well with my distortion for a more unique tone, or work as a solo boost, depending on what I need at the time. One reason I'm looking at the Ice 9 is for the more switch. That way I can use it for both boost and blend, and use my EQ for fine-tuning me tone.

[Strafe]

I was considering the satchurator at one point, since it did sound very good. But after hearing the combined gainstages of the OCD and Vox Top Boost channel maxed out, I don't think I want anything else.

But I don't think the satchurator has a tube either lol. Examples of tube driven ods/ preamps: Blackstar HT pedals, Bad Cat 2 tone, Ibanez tube king etc. Usually, the tube will be visible or evidenced upon sight.

But you know what? What you're looking for sounds to me like the Voodoo Labs Sparkle drive. It doubles as an Overdrive circuit and signal Boost. I used it for a little while, and really liked it. It has a good sounding tube screamer type drive, and a very transparent boost. Sounds good on its own, sounds good mixed in with other drives, and works great as a solo boost. Only problem is that it only has one switch which turns it on and off.

Another option is like I said, the Fulldrive 2 by Fulltone. It has a separate switch which controls a signal booster. Its a OD and Boost in one. Very great sounding OD, though it is a stronger, grittier sound than the sparkle drive. I like it alot. And the signal boost is independent of the OD, so you can run one or the other or both at the same time. Highly recommended because it is a VERY high quality pedal in terms of build and sound.

And then with a similar layout to the fulldrive are the Carl Martin pedals like the Plexitone and AC Tone. These ODs are a little bit more flavored and stronger and might not blend in as well, but alone, they are very very good sounding. Depends on how much gain you want. Again, it has two switches, one for the OD section, and one for the boost.

I think those pedals are a great place to start, though they are more expensive since they are high quality.

I feel like Delay is one of the effects you REALLY need. Things like Chorus, Tremolo, Phaser, Flanger, etc. are nice, but aren't always usable. Those things are more specialized. So maybe you should tell us a bit more about yourself. For example:

What guitar do you play?
What genre do you actually play? (don't say a little bit of everything)
Who is your favorite guitarist(s)?

things like that. Otherwise, we wouldn't know enough about you to say anything useful

[S.M.O.G.]

What guitar do you play? My main guitar is my Epi LP, and I have my old Cort X2, which I've been using more lately, since I got it fixed up and back into usible condition (Somthing with the wiring or jack was messed up). I'm also planning on building a stat soon, which is why can't afford a new amp, or really high end pedals.

And I do have a delay that I like, but I wan't to get something with tap tempo at some point.


What genre do you actually play? Rock/Metal. Pretty much everything from some bluesy stuff to a little bit of hardcore type stuff. My favorite band is The Black Mages, and since I'm not in a band and don't sing, I lean more towards instrumental stuff, like Joe Satriani and the like.
Who is your favorite guitarist(s)? Hendrix, Slash, Satriani, TBM's guitarists, cant remember thier names off the top of my head, Hizaki, Hide, Synester Gates/Zacky Vengance ect.

[Warrior4Christ]

I think this thread needs more pics.




So whether you eat or drink (or break guitar strings) or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. -- 1 Cor 10:31

[Strafe]

@S.M.O.G. It seems like you might lean more towards the Fulldrive 2 or Carl Martin pedals. They are the OD plus boosts, and sound really good. highly recommended as a good strong rhythm ODs with lead capabilities.

@Warrior heh. I like those strings. Maybe you should wear them around your neck, like how some people wear guitar picks. Just watch out if they unravel and spring open.

So... ironically, since my PRS could arrive any day now, I decided to go back to my roots and play my first guitar and first amp ever, the Squier mini guitar and sidekick amplifier. The squier is probably the easiest guitar to play in the history of ever. The slinkiness in the strings is ridiculous. Of course, the tone is the worst ever, but at least it feels nice. The amp is a piece of trash, but it was fun doing the vids:

Squier Mini Strat Jam

Squier Mini Strat Demo

[TGJesusfreak]

Hello, thread.

I brought my guitar home for winter break, but I've hardly played. 8( However, I discovered a new song I want to learn/a new cover I want to cover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sITqQ56MDFg

It doesn't seem too difficult except for the few speed picking parts, which I might modify anyway when I do my own version (if that ever really happens, XD). Between the tabs I downloaded and the video itself, learning it shouldn't take terribly long.

That's a really really nice medly. How's it going with learning that Rushia?

@TG: YOOOO. DUDE I HAVE A VID ON ONE THING YOU CAN DO WITH A GUITAR SLIDE CHECK IT OUTTT:

Open E Slide Tuning

awesome dude! Man, as soon as I can get a video camera, I'm gonna post up some stuff on youtube. lol.

I think this thread needs more pics.




So whether you eat or drink (or break guitar strings) or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. -- 1 Cor 10:31

XD I want one. I broke my G string at camp. Luckly a friend let me use his new one. I shoulda made one of these out of the old string. XD

*edit* (I love how weird that sounded. I meant string in the key of G. that was akward sounding! XD)



The song I am learning now is this one:
If Everyone Cared by Nickelback. It's a really run song to play along with, plus, i love the message of the song.