Guitar Nerds Anonymous

In the meantime, here's my latest recording.

http://soundcloud.com/allanjbegg/three-miles-down-soup-ruff-mix

You fucking folky hippy dooks. That a banjo?
Nice groove mate ...repped

40 squid

Thanks, man but I think I'm going to pass actually. I really have no fuzz-need atm.

Can anyone recommend a soundhole pickup for an acoustic please, i don't know much about them?

I've tried a few.

Fishman Neo-D – cheap, got one for my godson, simple, discreet, really pretty good, 7/10 overall. On a tight budget, I'd say get one
Fishman Rare Earth humbucker – currently using one, a bit spendy and rather bassy but reliable and EQ-able, 8/10. Single coil is cheaper, dual-source Blend versions with internal mic not worth it IMO
LR Baggs M1 - available active or passive (needs external preamp), toppy, Stratty-sounding unit, picks up soundboard vibration but also clicks when you hit it with a pick, loved mine at first, don't anymore 6/10
DiMarzio - mostly not much cop, but the discontinued DP-139 is brilliant, 9/10. New Angel model will be worth a look
Dean Markley - pretty average, 5/10
Shadow, Seymour Duncan: haven't tried any of them
Sunrise – heavy, expensive, needs own preamp, 7/10
Fishman Blackstack, copy of Sunrise, heavy and very electric-sounding 6/10

As you likely know, well-sussed EQ is the key to getting all these to sound good live. I never trust sound engineers with acoustic, I always ask them (sweetly of course) to set the desk flat and then set my own EQ with a little preamp on the floor, usually mostly cutting a shitload of mids.

That's great information thanks for taking the time

You fucking folky hippy dooks. That a banjo?
Nice groove mate ...repped

ha. thanks man. yep that's my £100 pawnshop fender banjo played with brass fingerpicks. played the guitar and sang to a click to get the song then build up the drums from a bass drum hit with a beater and a hi-hat with a tambourine on it. then redid the guitar and banjo and added vocals, shaker and harmonies. ce'st tout. am aware that the "more is better" double track all the vocals thing isn't necessarily in keeping with the idiom... still not sure if i want to remix it or not.

I've tried a few.

Fishman Neo-D – cheap, got one for my godson, simple, discreet, really pretty good, 7/10 overall. On a tight budget, I'd say get one
Fishman Rare Earth humbucker – currently using one, a bit spendy and rather bassy but reliable and EQ-able, 8/10. Single coil is cheaper, dual-source Blend versions with internal mic not worth it IMO
LR Baggs M1 - available active or passive (needs external preamp), toppy, Stratty-sounding unit, picks up soundboard vibration but also clicks when you hit it with a pick, loved mine at first, don't anymore 6/10
DiMarzio - mostly not much cop, but the discontinued DP-139 is brilliant, 9/10. New Angel model will be worth a look
Dean Markley - pretty average, 5/10
Shadow, Seymour Duncan: haven't tried any of them
Sunrise – heavy, expensive, needs own preamp, 7/10
Fishman Blackstack, copy of Sunrise, heavy and very electric-sounding 6/10

As you likely know, well-sussed EQ is the key to getting all these to sound good live. I never trust sound engineers with acoustic, I always ask them (sweetly of course) to set the desk flat and then set my own EQ with a little preamp on the floor, usually mostly cutting a shitload of mids.

I have a dean markley "woodie" you can have for not much if you're desperate. it's good in an emergency and definitely not good for much else.

after a lot of research i got one of these for playing my acoustic live. http://www.kksound.com/acousticguitar.html love it. sounds great and it's totally invisible. highly recommended.

Anyone want to buy a marshall jackhammer overdrive/distortion pedal from me?

I have ended up with two of them. Best OD pedal I have used, has parametric scoop which will make a little amp sound like it has the resonant bottom end of a 4x12.

£25 posted in original box.

Cheers for the Catalinbread DLS Zed!

Picked it up from the PO yesterday and used it at practice last night. It sounds sweet, and stacks really well with an mxr micro amp.

Yeah. It's a really dynamic pedal. One of my favourites.

Loving the tonebender zed.It's rather badass and rocks out in a very satisfying way. Cleans up nicely too (although it has highlighted a very notchy on/off "curve" on my volume knob). b

For all that I have say hasn't quite scratched my itch for really saturated, compressed, farty lo-fi fuzz. anyone know what i should be looking for for this kind of fuzz?

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

Other friends of Japanese guitars?

Both of my electrics are Japanese, as is my bass. The other one of the guitars and the bass are from the turn of 70's and 80's, double cutaway, double humbucker neck-through models. They look somewhat dated, but play really nicely, and you can kind of feel the handcraft in them. From the few samples I've seen, the pickups are a bit of a weak spot even with higher end models, but update them, and there's a chance of a good instrument at a bargain price.

I got the second guitar new a few years back, a tele, with an apparently single piece ash body (I've tried to look for any seams or bookmatch mirroring, but it just isn't there). Love that one too, and I currently think that tele is the perfect electric, but it's lacking a bit soul compared to the other two. I've been meaning to update it a bit, a bakelite pickguard and bare knuckle pickups, but I've had so little chance to play lately I haven't been able to justify it.

^^ Dooks - Burns Buzzaround? Mosrite Fuzzrite?

Dooks - you need to check out this site.

David Main builds THE BEST fuzz pedals in the UK right now.

He is also a super nice dude.

Thanks dude, looks great. I'll give it a go.

Darren Hayman swears by this fella. might drop him a line too.

http://www.madebymike.co.uk/

Other friends of Japanese guitars?

Both of my electrics are Japanese, as is my bass. The other one of the guitars and the bass are from the turn of 70's and 80's, double cutaway, double humbucker neck-through models. They look somewhat dated, but play really nicely, and you can kind of feel the handcraft in them. From the few samples I've seen, the pickups are a bit of a weak spot even with higher end models, but update them, and there's a chance of a good instrument at a bargain price.

I got the second guitar new a few years back, a tele, with an apparently single piece ash body (I've tried to look for any seams or bookmatch mirroring, but it just isn't there). Love that one too, and I currently think that tele is the perfect electric, but it's lacking a bit soul compared to the other two. I've been meaning to update it a bit, a bakelite pickguard and bare knuckle pickups, but I've had so little chance to play lately I haven't been able to justify it.

Can't see if there any pics with this at work but it sounds intruguing dude. I love 70s and 80s Jap Fenders. Mate of mine just bought a late 80s Jap P bass and it's fantastic. The Jap stuff beats the hell out o fthe US CBS stuff from the same era.

Defo, I have got 2 80's Jap strats, and they are both better than my (now sold) 80's American standard one.

Re. fuzz... Zed's DAM recommendation is tip-top, and also check out Stuart Castledine at http://www.wah-wah.co.uk/ .The website doesn't show much but he makes crazy authentic Mk1's, Mk1.5's, Mk 2/3's, Park fuzzes and more... and a great guy.

Thanks rickster. Will check out some demos tonight.

I think Dave and Stuart are mates. Have seen them both on their forum before.

Can't see if there any pics with this at work but it sounds intruguing dude. I love 70s and 80s Jap Fenders. Mate of mine just bought a late 80s Jap P bass and it's fantastic. The Jap stuff beats the hell out o fthe US CBS stuff from the same era.

Took 'em out for some air, picture attached.

The older ones are both Vantages, made by Matsumoku, and the tele is officially a Fender. I think I've read that Fender has used different subcontractors at different times.

I guess the different Matsumoku brands are a bit less known compared to the likes of Yamaha and Ibanez, but for some reason I've bumped into them - could depend on where you live, active importer at some point or whatever.

Oh and come to think of it, I'm not sure whether the P-bass style pickups are considered humbuckers?

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I want an amp, bedroom practice size but with enough poke for small gig backline at a push. Something with a great clean sound which can also make ears bleed when I want to go metal.
A knowledgable friend has suggested Fender juniors, I guess I'm limited to second hand as they seem pricey (for my budget, not overall).
Any recs from you geeks?

I have a Line Six Micro Spider - probably one of the few things that can do bedroom as well as metal, tho it doesn't do either particularly well. I'm flogging mine for £50 if you want a bash, I'm going to pick up something which is a bit better at acoustic reproduction.

Looks like I might have something with tubes in the pipeline...

I'd definitely go down that route if you have the option. Valves make feel nice.