I'm not sure what you mean by "learn more."

It's a modern player's-style guitar and a modern high-gain amp. Certainly not my thing, but different strokes and all that bullshit.

The JCM2000 series are fairly versatile, but because of that I find them to be rather soulless. There's not a lot of sparkle to the clean, and the versatility of the drive robs it of character. With that said, the last Marshall I really liked was the JCM800 2203, which had one channel and a ton of crunch with not much else.

The Ibanez is an Ibanez. I've had a half dozen Ibanez guitars over the years, and they're nicely put together but they all sound flat to me. *shrug*

8/6/2007 2:30:13 AM

how exactly did you end up with that sort of guitar and amp but not know what you were getting?

it's not like you bought a Squire-Strat and a Crate or something.

8/6/2007 2:40:07 AM

Quote :

"^^ You ever try flatwounds? Might be interesting to see what they do with the kind of gain you use."

i havent actually, id be interested to hear how that sounds too.

8/6/2007 7:15:14 AM

Not to steal the discussion, but I have a questions that does not warrant a new thread.

I am JUST starting to learn to play. As in bought a guitar yesterday. What songs do you recommend to start with? My brother says Nirvana is really basic and a good place to start. As well as Jet. Suggestions?

8/6/2007 8:02:33 AM

dont worry about stealing the discussion, your question is exactly the reason i created this thread, to keep guitar stuff in one place

acoustic? electric?

If its an electric the entire 'nevermind' album by nirvana is a great album to work on an introduction to 'power chords' and switching strings while playing power chords etc. very simple and its nice to play some familiar songs. 'come as you are' and 'smells like teen spirit' were the first 2 songs i learned.

theres a lot to learn with guitar tho, so i suppose it really is based on why you want to play guitar/what you plan to do with the ability to play guitar.

8/6/2007 8:13:51 AM

Quote :

"theres a lot to learn with guitar tho, so i suppose it really is based on why you want to play guitar/what you plan to do with the ability to play guitar."

It is an acoustic guitar. I don't really ever intend to join a band or strive to be the best putting in hours of work. More or less I just want to entertain small groups of friends/play with my brother a little bit.

Ideally, I want to play some STP. I started trying to play Plush last night but it was pretty hard for me.

8/6/2007 8:37:24 AM

yea, i mean their stuff isnt that hard so you will learn it soon enough, HOWEVER if youve never played before then anything can be hard for sure.

depending on the person it can take some time to get used to small things like pressing down hard enough if the action on the strings is set high (how far the strings are off the fretboard) etc. i dont know if acoustics can get 'antonated' (sp?) like electrics can but having the action as low as possible without having fret buzz can really help a new player.

overall its important to just get used to fingering one specific chord, playing it until you dont hear any muted notes that shouldnt be, and then do that with every chord in the song one at a time. Place emphasis on only that chord, ie dont worry about playing the song just playing that chord several times over until you are comfortable fingering it. after you are comfortable playing all the chords in the song, THEN get used to switching between them. others might disagree but that would be my advice

8/6/2007 8:55:20 AM

Not a bad suggestion. Thanks. Are blisters going to be a big problem at first?

8/6/2007 9:23:40 AM

i dont remember it being too bad..but i learned on an electric and mainly play an electric :/ as a result i still suck on an acoustic with bad action and ive played for awhile

8/6/2007 9:54:42 AM

I laughed aloud at the Squier/Crate comment, because prior to my set up now, that's exactly what I had purchased.

Essentially what I meant is I know very little about the inner workings of all of my stuff, how to change stuff to get a desired tone, utilize the different channels, difference in ohms, yadda yadda.

If there are any good sites that are a good resource I wouldn't mind checking them out.

I wish not to be the ignorant guitar player haha.

8/6/2007 12:28:23 PM

yea im going through a similar situation as far as cabinets go. i think i can get my cabinet fixed for like 100 bucks or i can spend 500 (getting a deal) on a mesa or marshall cab but i dont know if its worth it.

right now (if i get it fixed) i have a peavey 5150 cab. it only has one 16ohm connection.

other people have told me that going with a matching mesa, or a marshall cab and dropping down to 8ohms will increase my tone but i dont know much about that. ive also had people tell me that if i switch from this peavey, the mesas and the marshalls have less gain and less low end and that i should stay with the peavey and let our other 'lead' guitarist use his cleanier/tonier setup and let me carry the low end.

furthermore i have a good understanding of all the settings on the front of my amp and my guitar and the pickup selector and strings etc. but even this feels like the beginners version. turn the amp around and there are as many or more settings on the back of the mesas that i hardly know much about yet. id like to explore some of them more as well.

8/6/2007 12:46:48 PM

Just start with whatever you want to play (electric or acoustic). Make it as fun as possible in the beginning otherwise youll quit.

[Edited on August 6, 2007 at 12:57 PM. Reason : .]

8/6/2007 12:49:42 PM

I tend to think that having huge cabinets and stacks is a waste of time and money (and physical energy). I have a Deville 410 that really is the loudest freaking think I have ever heard. Also have a NOS blues junior and pro junior (i do lovethe fenders)

but..between the DeVille and the AC15 .. I can do anything I want to do. Just my thoughts...

8/6/2007 2:03:28 PM

based on the amp you mentioned (btw tubes ftw) im going to generalize the type of music youd be playing with it and say that yea you can pull off gigging with that easily (ive seen people use those and orange combos a lot actually for all kinds of 'rock' based music) and have it sound just fine.

However, i have NEVER heard a combo amp that pushes the same thickness and low end of a mesa dual/triple rectifier and a set of 4x12s needed for the kind of music my band plays. Ive messed around with tons of combos in guitar stores etc and there is just no comparison whatsoever.

8/6/2007 2:25:50 PM

hmmmmm....youre right....i do play pretty straight ahead rock music...which I can do really well with those amps...

but you are right. If I was trying to be heavier and darker I would most assuredly play something else. Probably a straight up Marshall half-stack or dual rectifier.

I have no kept up with the thread...what kind of amp are you playing now?

8/6/2007 2:36:06 PM

my head is a dual rectifier solo head. I had a 5150 for a few years but sold that and bought this mesa a few months back. Right now ive been using the matching cab from the 5150 setup i had but ive looked into mesa and marshall cabs recently

8/6/2007 2:45:06 PM

For straight ahead rock music, it's hard to beat the JCM Marshalls. The Mesas have more depth and seem to have a pleasant hum compared to Marshall's grunt ... but when it comes to dirty raw rock, I'd go with the Marshall.

Aside from the distortion, the Marshalls sound surprisingly good clean too ... but Fender seems to be the industry standard for clean tones, and rightfully so.

8/6/2007 3:23:06 PM

The greatest amp ever made, the Fender Super Six Reverb:



100W, same chassis as that year's Twin Reverb (silverface, master volume) in a 6x10 COMBO.

8/6/2007 4:02:08 PM

haha nice

8/6/2007 4:08:47 PM

Note the two handles on the side. There are wheels on the other side because it's impossible to roll it while standing.

I had one for about a year...it was highly unnecessary.

8/6/2007 4:50:21 PM

Holy crap...a 6x10 combo.

!

8/6/2007 5:52:58 PM

vinyl: just saw that one of the guitarists from BTBAM is actually rocking an orange *head* as his new head. thought it was interesting

8/9/2007 8:52:53 AM

Very interesting indeed.

I just put some JJ Electronic EL84s into my Blues Junior, and it picked up a ton more chime and richness in the top end. I highly recommend these tubes.

8/15/2007 6:45:14 PM

What model number?

8/15/2007 6:46:41 PM

As far as I know, they only make one model of EL84.

8/15/2007 7:01:11 PM

Cool. I was about to get some JJ's for my blues junior last month

8/15/2007 7:02:43 PM

Figure this is a good place to post this in. I just picked up from my parents a Squier Stratocaster that I had about 10 years ago. The same strings have been on there for the last 10 years. I decided to change them today, but the ball on the end of the first string is stuck inside the bridge. Anyone have any tips on how to get it out?

[Edited on August 16, 2007 at 6:30 PM. Reason : .]

8/16/2007 6:20:37 PM

needlenose pliers, tweezers, anything small enough to stick in there should dislodge it

[Edited on August 16, 2007 at 6:25 PM. Reason : ]

8/16/2007 6:23:56 PM

JJ UPDATE:

After spending about six hours with these tubes today, really listening to what they can do, I have concluded that they may well be the best $25 I've ever spent on musical equipment.

8/16/2007 7:46:22 PM

wheres the closest/best music store in Raleigh?

8/21/2007 7:58:28 PM

Depends on what you want/need but Harry's rules

8/21/2007 7:59:05 PM

Harry's has everything...except Sperzels .

8/22/2007 12:04:24 AM

so i finally decided to try a new pick style tonight. ive used regular 'flat' picks since i started. im sure other people are like this too, but the longer i play guitar, the thicker my picks have gotten. when i first started in HS i liked em nice and sloppy and thin...mainly because i sucked and it made it easier to play

but the longer ive played ive kept going for thicker picks. its a similar concept with my strings i suppose. i just went to thicker zakk wylde strings because i wanted more response/wanted them to snap back faster. Now this is only because im wanting to play stuff extremely fast. anyways lately as ive been working on speed exercises ive felt uncomfortable with my normal 1.14mm flat nylons. at the suggestion of my other guitarist i picked up some of the picks he normally uses and after playing with them for just one day I absolutely LOVE them.

Got me some 2mm thick Dunlop Big Stubby picks. I just got the lexan ones for now because they only sell nylons online (but im anxiously awaiting the nylons ) but i recommend them to any guitar player out there for stuff like jazz, metal, or even acoustic guitar. IMO the TONE of my notes even increased as they seemed to be crisper/cleaner at high speeds. And, I am by no means a sweeping guru(still a noob in this area) but the ones i do know are played so much cleaner with these picks. The grip is great too.

<3

8/31/2007 8:46:14 PM

I've used the green (.88mm) Tortex picks since I was 12 and I think I'll use them until I die, but I do keep increasing string gauge as time goes on...I just moved up to .011-.049 on my Junior and I might jump straight to .012s on my Esquire.

8/31/2007 9:33:28 PM

<-- Orange Tortex (or, more often than not, white hands) right here.

9s on the strat, 11s on the Les.

[Edited on September 1, 2007 at 6:35 PM. Reason : asd]

9/1/2007 6:34:08 PM

atm im using 17-13-10's for my 3 highest strings with 3 very thick low strings (the zakk wylde ones i talked about before).

and i play in C-Standard tuning (not drop C). i think im finally starting to get to a speed where the 'regular' size on those first 3 strings are too thin for the tuning im using. guess i'll never know if i dont try

btw its cool to get different perspectives on these types of things like what you and vinyl and others present, because for the most part i already know exactly what strings and amps and guitars and pedals to use to sound like such and such metal band but not as much on the other side of things. gives me some ideas to even implement in my style of music for the future as well. (IE messing with using an orange combo on an A-B switch with my mesa head for certain parts.

[Edited on September 1, 2007 at 10:00 PM. Reason : ]

9/1/2007 9:58:05 PM

i've been using the same 3 orange tortex for about 5 years now. i've amazingly managed not to lose them.

thinking about switching to flat wound strings for a mellower jazzy sound. any recommendations?

9/1/2007 10:59:23 PM

A year or so ago I saw a Gibson acoustic guitar in a Musicians Friend, it was a tribute to a Gibson shop in California that was nearly lost to a wildfire and was styled similar to a Dove. Anybody else see this and maybe have a link?

9/3/2007 5:48:40 AM

got the nylons in the mail today and i <3 them. they play a lot better than the lexans even did.

9/10/2007 9:16:00 PM

I'm glad I saw this thread. I primarily play acoustics right now, a martin d-35, washburn d-10, yamaha classical (i forget the model), and a beat up franciscan - all of which are used for song writing and live play. I havent touched the electrics in awhile but I have in my arsenal a gibson sg standard and a les paul custom through a fender 2x12 ultimate chorus amp with various effects such as boss pitch shifter, boss blues driver, vox wah, and a few other ones i forget. I hardly play those things any more, but whenever people are up to play I am always ready. I also have a line-6 delay which is capable of looping, and another looping pedal I hardly ever use. Funny sometimes how you wish to buy gear to enhance playing and playback, but it ends up sitting there collecting dust!

Lately Ive been trying to get into recording via laptop and use an audiobuddy and acid pro software. Its still a work in progress. Also, I have some great websites to provide for this thread... for players of all levels. I will repost, but I've thoroughly enjoyed reading what everyone's setup is like. I'm also looking for free websites for music that are actually credible. I am often reading tabs that are so far off the mark, Im wondering if they are playing the same song. In any event, great thread, I look forward to future posts!

9/10/2007 9:42:22 PM

boo humbuckers

yay p-90s

9/10/2007 11:25:56 PM

you would!

[Edited on September 10, 2007 at 11:54 PM. Reason : ]

9/10/2007 11:49:05 PM

MORE LIKE HOMOBUCKERS AMIRITE

9/10/2007 11:53:35 PM

4 lyfe!

9/10/2007 11:55:31 PM

wrong.

for pros.

but... mine are sill sitting in my desk waiting to go into my guitar haha.

9/11/2007 12:44:40 AM

hehe personal preference. i havent found any pickups that give me a better sound than those 81/85 actives

9/11/2007 7:02:25 AM

Quote :

"Funny sometimes how you wish to buy gear to enhance playing and playback, but it ends up sitting there collecting dust!"

haha yea. we just finally got the type of synth we've wanted for a long time so we're hoping we can use that for a lot of stuff live like a loop station for extra things on our albums we cant otherwise produce live.

9/11/2007 1:00:44 PM

assuming i don't have a car, and i wanted to use the bus system, whats the best place for me to go to get someone else to install those pickups. I could try to solder it myself, but would rather not fuck it up/do a messy job also the wiring diagrams i have aren't amazing to say the least.



::edit::
slash who wants to give me a ride to some guitar store.

[Edited on September 11, 2007 at 1:16 PM. Reason : cuz pro]

9/11/2007 1:16:25 PM

harry's or mad science altho i dono about getting there

[Edited on September 11, 2007 at 1:19 PM. Reason : ]

9/11/2007 1:18:53 PM

^ Yontz lives in the middle of fucking nowhere, a.k.a. Norf-ass Raleigh. It's tiring enough going there WITH a car.

I'd take it to Harry's, they could do it on the table real quick-like, I'd imagine. Just steal a bike or something.

[Edited on September 11, 2007 at 1:27 PM. Reason : ]

9/11/2007 1:27:21 PM