Thread: Guitar players out there?

This is yet another AD that I have

Im with you on satch,vai,dream theatre etc, but dont do much in the way of ubershredding anymore. Was a big malmsteen fan for a while and pretty much perfected his style of sweep picking (without the scalloped fretboard mind you - hes such a nancy needing that IMHO).

In terms of equipment, from memory I have;

Guitars

- gibsons - 57 les paul goldtop heritage, 67 heritage flying V, xplorer reissue (cant remember the year on this one)
- fenders - my late 80s black strat which was the first electric i bought, 52 tele reissue, srv signature model, i think there might be others but my brain isnt working so well
- gretsch - tennesee rose (chet atkins model) - will be getting some more in future if I can afford it - would like a white falcon.
- indie - these guys make copies of well known models that a meant for playing, and they are such good replicas I bought a few for live work. es 355 copy, prs custom 24 copy
- epiphone - zakk wylde model - actually plays better than the 57 goldtop and any les paul i have every played, a couple of other weird things like an old nighthawk custom
- ibanez - a steve vai flower guitar 77fp i think the model is, i like some of his newer models, but the components are made out of rubbish materials and i refuse to buy them, but they are nice to look at!
- ovation - a highend 6 string (cant remember model), and their doubleneck 6 and 12 string (had it custom made by ovation a couple years ago) - these are really good for recording acoustically, but live sound is a real pain due to the "quality" pickups they have.

there are also a few other things that dont come to mind right now

Amps

At some point I realised that it didnt matter what guitar I had, if the amp sucks so will the guitar's sound, so I went a bit nuts for a while, but have culled things a bit now.

- 77 fender twin reverb (cos its from my birth year otherwise i would have gone with a 60s blackface, but glad i didnt now i have the bassman)
- victoria bassman - the single best sounding amp ever - i was going to get a proper 59 bassman (10K worth) then compared with this which blew it away. the tone is unbelievable!
- victoria champ - same amp the stones record with, goes from sweet cleans to dirty with the twist of its single volume knob. probably the best recording amp I have ever come across.
- marshall tsl stack - recently sold the bottom cab as its a bit of overkill if i am not gigging
- laney 50 watt head - their top of the line one, for british blues and rock sounds (it was that or a vox, the vox has the mojo but the laney blew it away in the sound department). will probably try and pick up a cheap secondhand vox at some point.
- carvin legacy combo and extension cab - for the steve vai stuff. only problem with steve vai gear is that you always sound just like him. there isnt much depth to allow you to create your own sound, but it does what it does very well.

Studio

For my hobby/play studio I dumped all my pro tools stuff as i got sick of their lock-in with hardware. I wanted something that had high end converters in a portable device for recording singer songwriters locally in their own studios, but their portable hardware was rubbish at the time. Even their high end hardware compared with equivalent third party equipment couldnt compare dollar for dollar (this might have changed now, not sure and I am very happy i made the switch so havent been looking). I initially went with protools as I thought it would be easier to take tracks to commercial studios and have them mastered etc, however with the internet and ability to send songs overseas for mastering by well-known guys, that argument just didnt hold up anymore (all they want is a stereo mix in wav or aif and they work their magic).

Went with logic and a metric halo 2882 expanded (might get another for some additional tracks if I start doing any work for larger bands), all the sonnox plugins and others, focal sm8 monitors (probably the best investment out of all the studio gear). I do everything on a mac pro which is probably getting long in the tooth, but I can still get a good 24 or more tracks out of it (with multiple plugins per track) without any performance hit. most of what I do for local guys doesnt exceed 10 - 15 tracks.

For control surface I have a euphonix mc mix and an mc control, which integrate with logic perfectly (so far at least).

Havent really gone with much out of the box processing gear, as I seem to be able to get good results without it at this point. I leave that stuff for the mastering guys at this point.

For mobile recording, I have a macbook pro and an apogee duet, which is the sweetest sounding portable recording device I have ever heard. Its really only good for recording singer / songwriter types, but does that job well.

Only thing that lets me down at the moment are lack of really good condenser mics which I am starting to accumulate. Considering the quality I have been able to get out of some basic sm57 and beta 58s, I will probably wait until I make some serious cash before investing in anything too high end/pricey.

Biggest thing I need right now is more TIME!!!!!

I have a Fender Starcaster acoustic guitar. I was given it by my wife for my 30th birthday. It is the single best present in the world.



Or it will be, until January 10th 2010...

Originally Posted by wedwards

This is yet another AD that I have ...
Biggest thing I need right now is more TIME!!!!!

dude, you have a PROBLEM!

I use my Martin acoustic to jam the cords and notes with my kids so they can have some fun in the sing alongs. My favorite guitar music is Classical Spanish Guitar.

When I am at my brother's, who played professional bass, I break out his electric guitar and foot petals and go crazy jamming with him. I just love the sounds I can get out of the electric guitar.

If I won millions of dollars in the lottery, I would just play guitar(s) all day!

Pabster

Originally Posted by Pabster

If I won millions of dollars in the lottery, I would just play guitar(s) all day!

Totally! When I lived in Oz I was in a Brissie based heavy metal band and I played lead guitar. I could quite easily rack up 10 - 15 hours of playing a day and I got really good really fast..!

Now I've had to join the adult world and get a job I dont get much time to play any more, probably on 15 minutes a day which really isnt enough.

Oooo someone pointed me in this direction . I don't get the chance to play much these days and somewhere along the line I've lost all confidence playing in front of people ..
Been playing since I was 15 and round about when I was 17-18 I was being chased by a couple of known bands in the Uk . 1 in particular wanted me to quit I job and fly to Japan to complete there album ( how could I have been so good back then and play like s*it now I'll never know ) . I've ventured in and out of styles from Goth melodic rock stuff to the usual Metallica , Sabbath , Satch , Via .. At the mo I'm loving Mick Thomson from Slipknot , higlhy underrated IMHO ..
My gear has came and went -- My lost JCM 800 & 59 Marshall 100W Super lead bring the most drastic . Just now I'm messing with -
SGX 2000 express
ADA Bi polar 200w power amp
Lanely Pro Linebacker 100 ( 4x10cab )
Roland Cube 30

Guitars :-
ESP Mirage Custom
ESP NII Horizon
Ibanez RG550ex
Ibanez RG7420
Jackson Professional
Shine 7
PRS SE EG
Chibanez CJem777
Shaftsbury ( old uk les paul copy )
unnamed les paul copy
Gibson Epiphone super strat

Acoustics ..
Giannini 7 string Classical
Tanglewood studio classical
Tanglewood 6 string electro acoustic
K Suzuki 12 string
Yamaha Guitalele
Mallow Guitalele


good to see to other players around

Cheers Garry

Guitarplayer here! Been playing since 15 (I'm 31 now) and I have a couple of fine instruments:

-Gibson '57 Les Paul Junior Historic Collection (Custom Shop), is my main axe now.

-Gibson Les Paul Classic (with Seymour Duncan PUs). Rocks properly.

-Fender '61 Jaguar American Vintage, really nice in white finish.

-Gibson WM45 acoustic, this one is really amazing!

In the past, I had others, like Gibson ES335, Fender Telecaster, etc.. I use a british Class A tube amp, (Laney VC30) and a lot of pedals, such as Ibanez Tube Screamer, Big Muff, Small Clone, etc, etc,.... I play some american music, rock, blues, country, etc,....

Sounds like prices are inflated where you are.. My Taylor was $1300 and is among their best (the 810 was their "flagship" for years), and among the cheapest solid rosewood and spruce guitars I've found (martin has one for $1k, but has cheaper finish, and less little details).

FWIW I use to totally agree with you. my first guitar was a Washburn D10 cost about $350 and I noticed the only guitars I liked better cost at least $2500. After having the Taylor for a few months now though when I play the Washburn it feels like a cheap piece of junk. the tone is very good, but the sustain is much worse, the fingerboard is not as good, action is not as good and overall fit and finish is much less. And the big kicker.. Taylor uses a bolt on neck (basically everyone else is dovetail including Martin and Washburn). When I got the action set-up on both the Washburn and the Taylor the Luthier was telling me how eventually all guitars will need a neck re-set and since both mine are a few years old (8 or so on the Washburn and about 10 on the Taylor) it's something they will need in a few years to stay in top form. Neck re-set on the $350 Washburn? $1,000+ (no thanks) Neck re-set on the taylor? $200ish and that's because I have the older style neck. Apparently their new neck is literally a matter of removing some bolts and changing a shim.

Originally Posted by MisterDavid

it's probably worth a mention that Martin and Taylor guitars are the most overpriced guitars ever. it's unbelievable. they charge about £2500 ($5000) for guitars that should really be retailing at around £600 ($1000) i tried a few of the medium end Taylors (£2500) a few months back and some of them have tone and playability that is equal to about a £400 Alvarez. it's ridiculous what people will pay for a factory made mass produced brand.

Oh my goodness! I just found out that Les Paul has died at the age of 94:

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Obituary: Les Paul

Originally Posted by sidneykidney

Oh my goodness! I just found out that Les Paul has died at the age of 94:

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Obituary: Les Paul

A legend & master of the instrument , he'll be remembered forever ..