Guitar Nerds Anonymous

I need to see some video of that... Lovely to see Peter playing there...

I’ve been learning Nick Drake stuff the last couple of months. The left hand is easier than the right - a lot of it is his tunings, particularly BEBEBE (eg Fly and From the Morning). I’ve rarely enjoyed playing guitar as much as when I can get a previously impossible-sounding Nick Drake song going.

There is some I think, I need to uh review it. Peter was great, he had rather hit the wine...

No change there then... I'm off to YouTube for evidenzz!!!

dont suppose theres anyone out there who has a tascam 424 or 464 mk1 they want to sell? or even better, a Sansui ws x1?

just looking for an old tape multi tracker, something wacky would be good

I have a ratty old 4 Tascam but I ain't selling. Soz!

I had an hour to kill in central London yesterday and went over to what is left of Denmark St. It's still there, surrounded by towers of steel and glass. Hadn't been for years. Regent is still there, Hanks is now in Andy's and has some nice stuff, Vintage and Rare has just changed hands but is still as cool as ever and Wunjo has two shops now. There's a new Gibson stockist place on the corner with some amazing vintage stuff ('53 Tele, two 50s Goldtops) and a really affordable fun new Epi and Gibson stuff. Nearly bought a a/h Epi SG for £90. Anyway, was on the prowl for a classic fuzz and was totally overwhelmed by choice. Wunjo has pretty much the full range of JHS stuff, Earthquaker devices and a load of weird boutique stuff. Regent had loads too but no-one stocked Fuzz Faces though which is what I had my heart set on. Bought a couple of wall hangers and decided to go back when I've got time to try a few things.

Weird that after all these years I still get nervous and slightly intimidated in guitar shops. Why?!

Must be an age thing... I used to feel intimidated in Pret!! 😂😂😂

I'll PM you if you like - probably should wait to see what the replacement looks like. I was pretty surprised they'd let something out the door that sloppy. Looked like they'd left it for the YTS trainee after a couple of pints at lunch....

Did you get this sorted out? Would be keen to know who it was, I’m in the middle of speccing a partscaster at the moment, and could do without that kind of heartbreak!

In fact, on that subject - all rosewood necks. Anyone have experience of these? I’m thinking of putting one on a custom Tele partscaster. They can look daft, but I think it could look alright with the body I’ve got in mind.

The replacement is much better but still has a couple of annoying flaws (skunk stripe needs sanding, chipped marker at the 12th fret) - I guess the tip will be how it plays and I haven’t got the rest of the bits yet. It was from USACG - maybe try one of the others...

That’s a shame, I like using the virtual guitar builder on their website, but I’ll probably go to Warmoth for my neck.

Yes indeed. I must get back to the finger pickery, just been wrapped up in rawk lately. Set a mate’s guitar today, a horrible knock off PRS type thing. Sorted the action and intonation and then plugged in the RAT, the Klone and the Fizz factory and spend a while annoying the neighbours with it. Hehe

Check out musikraft and allparts too.

Will do.

Anyone got pictures of their parts builds? What are your reasons for building a partscaster?

Saw Neil Young last night. I can die happy now. I also may want a Bigsby/ P90 Les Paul...

Man has more energy than an offshore wind farm at the age of 73 and sick guitar chops! I was and still am awestruck!

Lucky man. I've never seen him which is a huge oversight. One of my all time heroes.

Been listening to On the Beach loads lately for some reason.

Came incredibly close to buying this yesterday after a few glasses of wine.

https://www.peachguitars.com/namm2018/marshall-origin-50w-combo.htm?gclid=Cj0KCQjwyLDpBRCxARIsAEENsrKES5UAYq-sYx9krHJuSOP8mGptGqnetYcgzsxan3FHm-KvipQvpNsaAnnqEALw_wcB

On the face of it seems to be perfect for my needs and is a crazy bargain. But several reviews cite valve bases mounted directly in PCBs failing so I walked away. Listening to demos again today and I'm glad I didn't impulse buy.

Now i've found a used 1x12 50w JCM800 combo for £550...

It's in Leeds tho.

Help me out dudes. I want a giggable workhorse all valve 30 to 50w 1x12 or 2x12 combo. Preferably original handwired rather than modern reissue. Budget under a grand. Thinking SF Fender, 80s or 90s Marshall, maybe an Ampeg Jet? Doubt I'll find a Vox in budget.

I've had Peavey Classic 30s, SF Fender Twins and Pro Reverbs, Vibroverb reissues in the past but, have nothing giggable at the moment which is hampering my desire to rockthefuckout.

Not a bad price for the JCM especially if it's a 2 x 12 combo. Pretty sure they're PCB wired though.

Easy and cheap to convert SF Fender to Blackface Fender specs which I think sounds nicer. SF Twins are cheap (here at least) as they're so frigging heavy and loud no one wants them anymore. Bandmasters are worth a look - you can swap the solid state rectifier for valve simply to get that deluxe (reverb) sound. They're good value too.

Got to be some nice hand-wired tweed deluxe clones available under a grand secondhand too right? Loads of people make them. Dead simple, sound great. I know a fellow here with one set up with 2 x 10 instead of the 1 x 12 and it sounds fucking aces.

Vise Amps will show you how to make them. Brilliant course.

But those 50w 1x12 JCM 800 combos are incredible. You can push them to heavy metal distortion but the sweet spot is super wide crunch. Take pedals like a dream too.

If I was in Sheffield I'd be tempted by this...

https://www.richtonemusic.co.uk/product/rivera-clubster-45-combo-amp-2nd-hand-yother58897/

There were a couple of really nice looking Music Man amps on FB marketplace last week, needed new transformers so really cheap. I’d have been tempted if I wasn’t up to my eyeballs in ‘projects’ already.

They’re gone now, but there are a few nice MM combos around in the £500 area, if you were looking for a point to this post.

Speaking of amps, has anyone tried a Boss Katana? They're the talk of the town on Guitarist Ireland FB page?

Early Riveras seem pretty cheap, I've seen them out here for even less than that...

Good transformers are fecking expensive. I blew the output transformer on my JCM800 and a new decent one was over 200 quid on it's own - that's like 20yrs ago too and they haven't got any cheaper. Size definitely matters - you can run a pretty dinky one with just a pair of 6v6s. But any of the 40/50w big tube amps need some muscle.

@BleakRefs - yeah, I loved my JCM800. I had the 50w, 2 x 12 with the footswitch. Loads of great, pinch harmonic hair tones but also a really sweet crunch running with the master volume around 5 o clock and the pre-amp sizzle turned down. I just ran a boss super overdrive and a cry baby into it in the end.