Electric Guitar

[|Matt|]

I just insulated the battery inside the cavity with the pots and wiring with electrical tape and I swear the tone just got better...

Am I imagining it, or is there a reasonable explanation?

 

[Ham]

Thanks that helped a lot okay ill be of to dickies in the morning for bits.

 

[|Matt|]

Thanks that helped a lot okay ill be of to dickies in the morning for bits.

No worries. Make sure you get connectors that have a closed surrounding like mine, don't get ones that are just a flat clip where things can bump the terminals.

 

[Moggio]

I just insulated the battery inside the cavity with the pots and wiring with electrical tape and I swear the tone just got better...

Am I imagining it, or is there a reasonable explanation?

Covering a battery would have no effect unless the metal casing was somehow shorting something else. The electrical tape as an insulator would have no effect electromagnetically on anything.

Clutching at straws, maybe you moved some wires around in the process that are no longer running parallel to each other and causing some minimal interference.

I'd say it is most likely like when you wash and vacuum your car it seems to run better.. well at least for 10minutes.

 

[Moggio]

Ok so firstly, it was pretty awesome. We probably about 30 people standing in the audience and bunch more sitting around the joint and outside. It was slightly intimidating at first but once we did our soundcheck and I realised where I 'fit' into everything it all became really clear.

It went very well. We had a bunch of people come up afterward. There was a one section I didnt like, but apart from that it all went really well. It was noise set over an electro style beat track, with some buddhist influences as well. Some people actually started dancing which was awesome.

We probably got more of a crowd response than a someof the groups that went on after us, so thats really not bad for just being the opening act to some fairly popular local groups.

I was able to control the feedback well, and the couple times it got away from me I'd really let it and then worked the results into. It wasnt really a random noise type thing, i tried to make it sound as in tune with the backing track as I could and I think I did ok at that. I hadnt realised but id set my amp up in a way that I was mostly turning my back to the audience or standing side on. Next time I'll be facing forwards.

It might go up on youtube so ill post a link.

edit - i just realised that wasnt so well written. its 3am over here so thats m excuse

Glad it went well. A response is good... either bad or good. No response is terrible. Good response is the best obviously!.

Sounds like you really went into it knowing what you were doing which is excellent... means your making a statement.

Doing something out of the normal realm of what everyone expects is good and feeling positive out of it. Remember however it will never be very popular but it fills one's artistic side. Still its very cool to do!

 

[frostbite]

Still its very cool to do!

Yeah thats pretty much how I feel about it. Its not super fancy or anything like that (I was pretty impressed by some of the effects the other groups were using, mine was very straight forward) but it sounded good and it was just plain fun to do it. Thanks for the advice and support.

Also - I had a question about strat wiring. I just replaced the busted selector switch in my girlfriends japanese strat. It looked like it had been replaced already at some point because the soldering was very poor. I think the guitar sounds a bit better now, but probably just my ego.

My question was - is it possible or even desirable to have the middle position on the switch play all 3 pickups instead of just the middle? Ive got a feeling it probably be an easy change, but will it sound good?

 

[ajay]

Im not sure if thats possible, but, there is a mod called the Linday Fralin mod which essentially gives you a master tone control and a blend control. So you can turn the knob to blendin the other pick ups... Ive not used it myself, but sounds like a very usable mod. Rather than having a position that goes BAM and enages all 3, you can control the blend from zero to full.

That might be worth a look.

And speaking of Strats, I just took mine in to get set up. The bridge is in, the pick ups are here should be shredding by the weeks end! \m/

 

[Moggio]

My question was - is it possible or even desirable to have the middle position on the switch play all 3 pickups instead of just the middle? Ive got a feeling it probably be an easy change, but will it sound good?

Just do a quick a nasty solder link to give it a go and see whether you like it.

I'd imagine it wouldn't sound anything that "must have" but the modification ajay describes would probably be useful to play with.

I rember seeing a strat with three small pushbutton switches around '90 or so instead of the 5pos slider switch.

 

[Richo 18]

Just do a quick a nasty solder link to give it a go and see whether you like it.

I'd imagine it wouldn't sound anything that "must have" but the modification ajay describes would probably be useful to play with.

I rember seeing a strat with three small pushbutton switches around '90 or so instead of the 5pos slider switch.

One of the teachers at my learning studio has a rosewood sunburst tortoise strat, with HSH, a TOM bridge, which goes back to this plate thing with an attachable whammy, and the coils each have a button to turn on/off, plus I think it has some out of phase stuff.

Super usable, it's the ultimate tool, gets practically any sound out of it, sustain is great cause of the bridge setup, looks horrible but does the job.
He hooks that up to a modeling effect thing with a massive crate SS amp, and gets any sound he wants. Any guitar/bass sound, amp sound, effects, it has everything. Obviously nothing's perfect, but he gets 95% of the way to any sound you can think of. Super useble setup, not my cup of tea though.


Oh, and Ajay, can't wait to hear this thing.

 

[Moggio]

One of the teachers at my learning studio has a rosewood sunburst tortoise strat, with HSH, a TOM bridge, which goes back to this plate thing with an attachable whammy, and the coils each have a button to turn on/off, plus I think it has some out of phase stuff.

Super usable, it's the ultimate tool, gets practically any sound out of it, sustain is great cause of the bridge setup, looks horrible but does the job.
He hooks that up to a modeling effect thing with a massive crate SS amp, and gets any sound he wants. Any guitar/bass sound, amp sound, effects, it has everything. Obviously nothing's perfect, but he gets 95% of the way to any sound you can think of. Super useble setup, not my cup of tea though.

I always find the "any sound you can think of" concept a little bit unecessary... why have so many sounds on tap and be blustering around trying to find the perfect one rather than just finding a good sound or two that does exactly what you want and then get on with playing music. Acoustic guitarists have one and do amazingly.

Personally I am more interested in the colours and combinations of combining notes rather than rather pedestrian chords and notes being coloured beautifully.

Of course as well one of my favourite guitarists is Adrian Belew who has a huge sound pallette... so just me talking crap again.

 

[Richo 18]

Yeah man I agree, that's why I'll never take that road, but he really uses all of what he's got, he covers stuff for everyone, can fill in for anything, and realistically, it costs him less and earns him more.

He's a bit weird/geek, and "doesn't believe in tube amps". But whatever, each to their own, it still sounds damn good.

 

[|Matt|]

Question for Ljohn, or anyone that knows much about speakers.

I'm currently searching for a new cab and the ones that are winning at the moment are the ENGL 4x12 with V60s and the Marshall 1960A with Greenbacks. I have tried the Mesa Rectifier, the Orange PPC4x12 and the Marshall 1960AV (same quad as the other Marshall, but with V30s, hence the V).

The Greenbacks are probably my favourite because of their dark, dark sound, but they are only 25 watts a piece and my head is 120 watts tube. Is this a problem? Its a very, very loud head, at practise or gigs I have never turned it past 4.5, but call it 5 to be safe and that is EXTREMELY loud, so I doubt it will ever be played louder than that.

Would I be safe with the Greenbacks?

 

[LJohn]

I doubt you'll blow them. I will not say you will or won't because obviously you are treading boundaries here.

It's a very vague area though. The 120w rating of your amp is a ballpark. Where you play in that park is a completely different question. The safest way to do it would be to hook your amp up to a dummy load, turn it up to your highest playing level, and measure the RMS output.

I'd rather play it safe to be honest.

So I really can't say anything about the speakers until I know more about the amp.

 

[|Matt|]

I doubt you'll blow them. I will not say you will or won't because obviously you are treading boundaries here.

It's a very vague area though. The 120w rating of your amp is a ballpark. Where you play in that park is a completely different question. The safest way to do it would be to hook your amp up to a dummy load, turn it up to your highest playing level, and measure the RMS output.

I'd rather play it safe to be honest.

So I really can't say anything about the speakers until I know more about the amp.

Hmm alright cool. Maybe I'll get a Marshall 1960A with V30s and put 2 greenbacks in? I HATE 4 V30s, sounds fucking disgusting in my opinion, and because V30s are a very midrange speaker, and the 6505 is a very midranged head I have to run the mids on pretty much 0 when I play with V30s. Running 2x V30s and 2x Greenbacks in an X pattern apparently sounds very nice?

 

[LJohn]

It does.... But. You still have power handling issues. If you run half g12m and half v30 in each half, you are still delivering, say, 30 watts to the greenback at the rated 120w. Now I really do doubt it will blow the speaker, but it's more a precaution.

If you run 4 speakers in a configuration where they will all receive the same power, you will need 30w each to meet the expected.

BUT I can guarantee your amp will not produce 120w for a lot of it's volume range. I'd suggest measuring it. Ratings, especially from britain, are traditionally to the clean limit of the power amp. Cranked plexis put out MUCH more than their rated. This is what makes achieving plexi crankedness so difficult. They are just so damn loud. This is what makes me think you'd be fine. These are power amp distortion centric circuits. Yours is designed to run with a clean power amp and distorted pre. I'd be curious to know what it's actually putting out.

Also, have you tried the G12H-30s?

 

[|Matt|]

It does.... But. You still have power handling issues. If you run half g12m and half v30 in each half, you are still delivering, say, 30 watts to the greenback at the rated 120w. Now I really do doubt it will blow the speaker, but it's more a precaution.

If you run 4 speakers in a configuration where they will all receive the same power, you will need 30w each to meet the expected.

BUT I can guarantee your amp will not produce 120w for a lot of it's volume range. I'd suggest measuring it. Ratings, especially from britain, are traditionally to the clean limit of the power amp. Cranked plexis put out MUCH more than their rated. This is what makes achieving plexi crankedness so difficult. They are just so damn loud. This is what makes me think you'd be fine. These are power amp distortion centric circuits. Yours is designed to run with a clean power amp and distorted pre. I'd be curious to know what it's actually putting out.

Also, have you tried the G12H-30s?

I don't think so, what cabs run them? If my local has a cab with the G12H-30s I'll give them a fang.

 

[LJohn]

You'd have to ask. I'm more of the 'stock gear? WTF is that?' guy. Tinker with everything.

But they are essentially designed to be a greenback with a tougher motor. The h and m designate heavy and medium magnets. Theoretically, this gives better low end response too.

 

[|Matt|]

You'd have to ask. I'm more of the 'stock gear? WTF is that?' guy. Tinker with everything.

But they are essentially designed to be a greenback with a tougher motor. The h and m designate heavy and medium magnets. Theoretically, this gives better low end response too.

Ahh okay cool I'll sus them out then.

Also, just for the lulz:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F9RrLlJVWc

 

[rayza]

My question was - is it possible or even desirable to have the middle position on the switch play all 3 pickups instead of just the middle? Ive got a feeling it probably be an easy change, but will it sound good?

you can have 7 way switching, which is a standard 5 pos selector switch aswell as a push/pull volume knob, which acts as a master on/off for the bridge pickup, so you can have all 3pickups on, or neck & bridge combo. the tonerider loaded pickgaurd i put in my formentin strat is wired like this. Theres actually some pretty usable tones from these combinations. OR for some series/paralell combo's try a google search for fender S-1 switching. if you are ok with a soldering iron and like to tinker (Ljohn) it would be possible to make a hybrid of the 2 with a couple push/pull pots or mini toggles.

 

[LJohn]

I reckon the easiest way would be the master tone control + blend pot direction. Basically the Fralin mod.

You shouldn't need 2 tone controls. Just pilfer the available pot and connect either neck or bridge direct to the pot, direct to 'volume'. Heck, if you didn't want a tone control you could just hook each pickup to a pot then to output. It would be like infinite switching.

But I'd stick with something simple.