Just a tip for any guitarists that might be interested. Apparently Musician's Friend is blowing out all their Bugera/Behringer stuff for a while. I have with a massive effort have been able to resist getting a 120 watt tube 2 x 12 combo for $279 or a 120 watt tube head for $249. I have no need of 120 watts for guitar. Honestly the past 2 gigs I have played, I had my 25 watt mesa on 3 on the volume at most. I rehearse sometimes with a 15 watt fender pro junior, and it would probably be fine for me to gig with - so 120 watts is ridiculous. I don't care about clean headroom. I actually thought about a 120 watt guitar head to use for bass, but I really have no need of that cause I have a great bass combo already. Anyways, what I couldn't resist was the Behringer Vintage Tube Overdrive VT911 they have for $19.99. It's pretty great. It's close to the size of standard sized big muff (I have one), and it is clear they tried to make it look a little like it with the shape of the box, switch, knobs, etc. It is different though, maybe 10% smaller, different color, super bright LED (hurts my eyes to look directly at it), no option for battery power. It comes with it's own 9 volt power supply! And it has a 12AX7 in it (not sure how much this actually is used). It does take a second or two to cut on the first time you power it up - so it is like the tube does need to warm up to work. Not sure what marketing genius came up with the name "vintage tube overdrive". That makes me think of tube screamer type sounds. I think a better name is "Makes pro junior sound like Masters of Reality Era Sabbath". Seriously, I have my pro junior on 2 and the drive on this thing on 4 and from 4 feet away with a humbucker equipped guitar - I can get effortless sustain feedback just like with the Big Muff set with sustain all the way maxed. But I would mention there is only a minor difference from drive set to 2 and set to 10. Drive set to 0 basically turns it off. Set to 4 or 5 and you are in Black Sabbath land. At 10 even more so. So really it gives you high gain, and slightly higher gain. I am going to try it though my mesa high gain channel for fun at some point. I think it is a pretty good sound through the pro junior - not exactly the same as anything I have already in a pedal, distorted but still warm - like the tube screamer but more out of control sounding. Anyways, I think it is a pretty good deal for $20. I think I am going to get another for a spare - heck, it's probably worth $20 for the tube and the power supply. I can't vouch for the quality or durability, but the box switch seem solid.
My fave cable is beginning to come apart after quite a few moon's worth of use. This is my primary cable (goes from guitar to amp or guitar to effects rig). I would like something designed to last but doesn't cost a ridiculous amount of $. I would like one end to be a straight plug and the other end to be a right angle plug. Got any suggestions? Thanks!
Depends whether you perform on a stage or your setup never leaves one's bedroom/mediaroom. The shorter the cable - the better - less tangles, which means less damage over time and also less signal loss - though that might be negligible, depending on your amp, fx daisy chains, etc. Vox Premium Vintage Coil Cable - has good design, good signal to noise - despite it being a coiled cable and the mutliconductors used are matched for their particular frequency range. Having had cables with improperly soldered plugs and the spine-creeping noise that results - this should be a good choice.
Get a local shop to make them up for you. They'll be cheaper and last longer, and I bet you won't be able to tell them from premium mass-produced cables by listening. Better yet, learn to make cables yourself.
Both David Harrison and Belltoller have good advice. Last time I bought cables (3 months or so ago), I got 7 or 8 of them at a time. I have bad luck with them being bitten through by my dogs, or going bad at various times, so I try to keep at least 1 spare at both practice spaces I use, and at home, and to take on gigs, etc. So my solution is essentially - buy several and always have a spare. Some ones I got recently that I like: ChromaCast Pro Series Cables 20' (with surf green ends!) Kirlin Cable IWB-201 20' (one in brown tweed and Olive Green Tweed) Fender 15 Feet California Instrument Cable - Candy Apple Red I also got this one: Fender Accessories 099-0820-007 Performance Series Cables 18.6 Feet - and really it is the most impressive, it is very thick and solid looking. Only disadvantage is it isn't a funky color like the 3 listed above. I like a funky color, cause that way no one confuses my cables with their plain jane black ones. I had a few from years ago, but they short out after a while - and I am too lazy to fix them. Probably would be worth doing that.
I don't know ... sounds easy on the surface but Would that include the braided copper shielding around the conductor core? vulcanising the thermoset or thermoplastic insulation at just the right temp to get a good bond without ruining the sheilding, at just the right thickness ( affects flexibility ), etc. I could see someone replacing cheap pickups with Humbuckers or given if one is very handy with the right tools and knows how to source parts and sub assemblies - building a custom valve amp - but making their own audio/patch cables from scratch....hmmm.... I had a small business a few centuries and a couple of lifetimes ago acquiring ancient, usually broken down early-era effects units ( if the terms Echoplex, Roland Space Echo, Eventide Harmonizer rings a bell then you are really old, lol ) repairing and occasionally restoring them to original specs for resale to the vintage effects market which was hot at the time...I'd not attempt making my own cables - it just wouldn't be cost effective :dunno: But I'm often wrong about things I've previously thought open/shut - I'm all ears!
Haha! I guess I should more correctly say "assemble"? No, you don't make your own materials, but it's the assembly, packaging and marketing that ramps the price up. In a previous life I used to make quite a bit of ethernet cabling. Now, this is a case of "do as I say, not as I do", as I get my cables made by a localish guy who makes DI boxes and such out of a small workshop. Better than any name brand I've used and less than half the price. Most of the studio engineers I know have cabling made up in their studio too. Here's a video of a very thorough guy. I also find the way people across the pond say "sodder" to be pretty funny. Especially in this video when the woman says "You want to wear safety goggles to protect your eyes while soddering...", it was the warning about open-toed shoes that tickled me the most, even though needing good ventilation in case of build up of noxious fumes was most appropriate... Anyway, that's enough of my prurient, scatological mind [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smg68qgJa-I"]How To Build A Better Instrument Cable - YouTube[/ame] There are way more shoddy vids out there, but why not aim for the treetops?
King Belltoller the Thick should've realised you meant assembly but even then, I didn't realise how professionally it could be done by non-pro's. You are absolutely correct, the demonstrator/tech is very thorough! This video is superb in detail - correct way to load the components into the panvise, wrapping the shielding - just lovely. The pure joy that comes out of him after he finishes the 1/4 inch - "Its sooo tight!!" lol. A master tech who loves his work. I'm gonna have to look at more of his stuff - though sadly I don't fap about with any of that stuff any longer. Makes direct to mixing console boxes ? Active ones? Whoa! You're already far, far out of my league! I can only imagine the stuff you see ( and play!) These Roger Mayer types are ... are like .... (excuse me while I genuflect) :hail::hail::hail: I have had to stop and catch my wind after that - LMAO - I know, I know. Arg-ah, arg-ah, arg-ah. You don't know. Some day I'll have to tell you about a fellow I know ( very, very well ) who was sent away from Ulster as a child and wound up in the Deep South of America - "potato mouth" still rings in his ears, lol.
Hehe... You prostrate yourself too soon! He actually makes passive DI boxes - they distort less than active DI boxes, and as long as you're not plugging a laptop into a PA, or doing cable runs the length of a stadium, you don't need a transformer. I believe he is popular with the folk crowd, who just want the most transparent attenuator possible to plug their p'upped instruments into a venue's board. My reason for getting one was not as glamorous as you think - I just needed a bit of attenuation 'cos my audio interface preamps run too hot for my guitar's p'ups, and I found this guy after getting depressed by the cost of Radial active DI boxes, and this review convinced me: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may12/articles/orchid-di-boxes.htm I've never gone straight into the board at gigs - always had a mic'd cab. In fact, just to show how uncool I am, last time I used my own amp at a gig it was a £60 15W Marshall with one 10" speaker. I kind of like taking the mick out of the stereotypical giant back-line though. My guitar is similarly unmacho (I sometimes don't think I'm a guitarist at all ):
First things first - Da freak is that??!?? (showing my age and musical relevance here) Whoa - two single-coils and a humbucker? those are active pickups, right? Never played a guitar with active circuitry - you laugh? my newest amp (which is in tatters now, the valves all broken) is circa 1970 or something, lol. Ahh Friday - my trouble n' strife at home with the chillun's - in Belltoller's hair every second - :bang:
Time to go down to the storage and dig out my old treasure-cgest of der scheiße and a few of belltoller's really nasty homemade passives - hopefully time to upload before I'm sucked back into domestic bliss
I get the sense there's an inside joke I'm missing ...what's the "proper" way to pronounce "solder"? All the welders and electricians I've ever known pronounce the 'Murican way-"sodder".
The most impressive thing about that axe is that it's made by HOHNER! :O Those guys, AFAIK, are all about harmonicas, accordians, and various other reed instruments...plus a recorder or 2. ETA: don't fret about (oops, made a pun without trying ) never trying active electronics, Mr Belltoller. I've never used them either. I don't know the difference, except that if you don't unplug the cable while you're not playing it drains the battery. ETA2- I like this explanation: [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeAVHKJXxyU"]Passive Pickups Versus Active Pickups - YouTube[/ame]
I have what is pretty much the same guitar as the one pictured, except mine is a Steinberger Spirit. Both are copies of the original Steinberger, but interestingly (as far as I know) - the Hohner is actually higher quality than the Steinberger branded copy. Mine is a fun guitar! My bandmates don't seem to like it - but I'm not sure how much of that is "listening with the eyes".
Thread had me going down and pulling out the dilapidated junk that was still packed up from our move a year ago. Mat - you were looking for a straight to 90 degree cable, right? Well, here you are, lol I've no idea how I came by this low-end Frankenstein ... I do know I recall having used it years ago when I played and it seem to have worked. You'll notice some oddities if you look carefully - first its not standard guitar cable - its probably RG 58/U coax which, I'm thinking what they used as ethernet/network cable before CAT 5, CAT 6 came along - Mr. Harrison would know . On one end is a standard, straight 1/4" jack with a reasonable fit. The other end has one of those 1/4" mono right angel adapters on it - the assembly looks a bit dodgy to me but it carries a signal. 15 ft.
Never had any exp. with Hohner electrics but it seems I recall that they made very nice acoustics - a mate's father had one when I was in my mid-teens. It seems like it was made in Japan at the time.
My very first guitar was actually a Hohner "Strat" copy. Got it for $99 at the local music store. It was an adequate guitar. The sound was decent, the construction was solid and for a 12-year old kid dreaming of being Jimi, it was just what the doctor ordered. [Side note: How the heck did I not know about this thread?!! So many of the gang from the Training Forum are here!] Rock on, Martial Arts Musicians! :banana:
Ja - 11 or 12. I thought you just plugged it in straight. Couldn't understand why it didn't sound anything like Band of Gypsies or Robin Trower. That there were this thing called a Univibe and there was a vast differences in sound that came from 100 watt marshall valve stacks and my little transistor amplifier, lol.
That's pretty funny! I think I was savvy enough to know about these magical things called "Effects Pedals" (might have read about them in an old Guitar Player mag). And my dad was an electrical engineer (who played a mean lap steel, incidentally), so he gave me a crash course in signal processing and wave clipping. But I'm glad I was much older when I heard the story about Dave Davies "inventing" distortion by taking a screwdriver to his speaker cone. Otherwise, I might have been tempted to "experiment" with my dad's Univox solid state amp...
