Winston Psmith
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Posts posted by Winston Psmith
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Taking a minute now that I have my gear in order for tonight. Not exactly a day off, even if I'm not working.
In no particular order . . .
I find that I'm dialing back the Intensity control, which allows for a lot more flexibility in how I apply the sustained tones. Once I've had time to really set up the Guitar, I expect I'll find a setting that responds the way I want. Much the same thought regarding the Tone control. I suspect it was designed that way with good reason, and once I've had some more time with this Guitar, I'll have good use for it.
Otherwise, my week has been crazy enough that I've barely had time to experiment with it, or do much of anything. Early arrival and set-up time today, which means the rest of my day is running a little tight. Tomorrow starts a whole new session of circling round to various clients' houses, tending and watering their gardens while they're away for the hottest part of our Summer. No rest for the wicked . . .
Still have things to do here, so Happy Saturn's Day, all!
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Really, I got this a week ago, but I've been too busy to really sit down with it, much less post about it.
It's a Schecter Blackjack SLS C-1 S "Hell's Gate" Guitar - I know, it sounds more like a product code than a name for a Guitar Model, but that seems to be a tendency among some builders.
It's a double-cutaway Solid-body, Mahogany body, carved Mahogany cap, 3-piece Maple neck, Ebony fretboard, 3-on-a-side Schecter locking tuners, Tonepros T.O.M.-style bridge, string-thru-body design (no accursed FR!!!!), a Duncan Full Shred in the Bridge position and a Duncan Sustainiac in the Neck position!!! It also came with a fitted Schecter HSC.
I didn't need another 6-string, at least, not another conventional 6-string, but I have been looking for a Sustainer-equipped Guitar for a lo-o-ong time. They don't turn up often, and even then, they've generally been more than I could afford at the time.
Of course, there's a story that goes with it, but let me continue with the Guitar, itself.
If someone had given me a blank sheet of paper, to write down what I'd want in a solid-body Guitar, it wouldn't have been much different from this Schecter. It's matte Black, Black being my favorite color for solid-body Electrics, just as Mahogany is my favorite tone wood. Given a choice of fretboard materials, Ebony would be my first choice, with Rosewood my second, and I've always loved the sound of Duncan PU's. I might have preferred a Fine-tuning tailpiece to the string-thru-body design, but I'll gladly take string-thru-body over a Floyd, or any Trem system, any time! Lest I forget, it has a 24-fret neck with a 25.5-inch scale.
It has one Volume and one Tone control, plus an "Intensity" control for the Sustainiac. I'm not at all certain just what the "Intensity' control is attenuating, but it can be dialed back to "Zero", with no Sustain coming through.
There's an On/Off mini-toggle switch for the Sustainiac, plus a 3-way mini-toggle that switches from the Fundamental to 2 slightly different Harmonic modes. I've read that the Sustainiac is also supposed to be an Active PU, but I didn't notice any issues playing it without a battery installed?
The Tone control is interesting, in that it goes all the way down to the muddiest, wooliest "mud-bucker" tone I have ever heard. Presumably, this is intended to tame some of the highs from the Sustainiac? In any case, it makes for a very wide range of tones from this Guitar.
I terms of feel, it's . . . I'm not sure how to describe this? It doesn't feel like a Guitar that will allow for, nor forgive, sloppy, careless playing. Maple+Ebony makes for a very stable neck, but they're also hard woods. It makes me want to pull out my Mahavishnu transcriptions, and see what I can do with it.
The neck joint is very nicely done, and feels almost like a neck-thru-body design.
The "Hell's Gate" refers to a very nicely done Skull inlay at the 12th fret, the only ornamentation anywhere on the fretboard. I think it has a sort of Art Deco feel to it, really, there's nothing particularly infernal about it, but one has to consider the target market, I suppose, which is clearly the Metal realm.
Ah, yes, the Sustainiac; it's well named, in every regard.
Have you ever seen a newbie sitting astride a motorcycle, when they grab the throttle for the first time, and the bike almost takes off without them? That's what this thing feels like. Flip that little switch, and ALL the strings start vibrating, all at once. Unlike the E-Bow technique, where you're trying to position the E-Bow in order to trigger the string you want to drive, with the Sustainiac, it's a matter of figuring out how to control, or even mute, anything but the notes you're trying to sustain. That "Intensity" control will quickly become a good friend, I can already tell.
I still have to tweak some things on it, adjusting the string height, balancing the PU's, but mainly, I need to work on a Sustainer technique. This is the closest thing to having a Guitar come alive in my hands., something with a mind of its own, and its own voice, besides. I have found that it lends itself very nicely to a two-handed technique, where the placement of my hands also serves to help mute some of the open strings. This is going to be very interesting.
As I said at the outset, there's a story that goes with it, but I'll leave it for later. I figured most of us would be more interested in the Guitar. In the meantime, we have a Novparolo show tomorrow evening, so I'm pulling gear together for that. Until later . . .
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At that price, I might have to order one . . .
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Seems to me that completely rewiring a Guitar of that quality should be the last step, but that's just me . . .
Have to agree with @Caevan O’Shite regarding balanced cables. At best, you're not likely to get any improvement, at worst, you'll have spent money on cables that will be of no use at all.
Also have to agree that certain amount of noise is normal, even with HB's, and that having the noise level drop when you touch the jack or the strings, is also common. Try touching the bridge or tailpiece, you'll likely hear much the same result.
Failing everything else, I'd run the Guitar through a Parametric EQ, either into your Amp, or direct to the Mac, and see if I could identify and notch out the frequency band causing the noise. That's more of a diagnostic approach than a cure-all, but it's a start. Best of luck!
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Sorry to bring down the tone of the discussion but there is no one-size-fits-all-best-beginner-Guitar.
I say that as someone who used to sell Guitars, and selecting the right Guitar for anyone is, well, a highly personal matter. OTOH, you will get a lot of useful recommendations in here, as far as different Guitars to try out, and why different players like them
Some questions about hats. No, sorry, that's a song title . . . Some things to think about -
Does the person have small hands, or short fingers? They may find a Fender scale a little uncomfortable, for example. They should also probably look for a narrow nut width, maybe a narrow neck radius.
What kind of Music do they want to play? Sure, you can play the Blues, or even Metal, on a Nylon-string A/E Guitar, but really . . .
What feels comfortable to play, even if it's not the Guitar they may have had in mind. Les Pauls are a lot lighter than they used to be, more like Teles, but a 9-pound Guitar slung over your neck is still 9 pounds. A semi-hollow may give you some weight relief, but the bodies tend to be wider than most planks. You could easily fit an SG body inside my DOT.
How easy is it to maintain? A Guitar with a Floyd and active PU's s very different from a Tele-inspired design, or a semi-hollow, and so on. I remember a couple of students who thought they'd seriously broken their Guitars the first time they took all of the strings of off a Guitar with a T.O.M. bridge & stop-bar tailpiece, and ALL of the hardware fell off!
In short, Try-It-Before-You-Buy-It applies here. If there really were One True Universal Guitar, we'd all have it (except for a few dedicated contrarians) and there'd be no need to wonder which make, and what model.
I'm in the used camp, as far as bang-for-the-buck, but maybe a beginning player will want to start out with a brand-new Guitar, one that's completely their own. There's nothing wrong with that, and honestly, it's not a bad idea. You're not inheriting someone else's problems, or odd choices. ("Why did they put a strap button there?")
New or used, I would suggest getting the best Guitar they can reasonably afford. You can pour a lot of money into a "cheap" Guitar, trying to make it into something it isn't. Better to have a Guitar they'll grow into and keep, rather than one they'll quickly outgrow, and need to replace.
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@surfergirl- My bandmate recently picked up a Jackery brand battery box for outdoor sets, and it worked very well for a show early in June. I'll check with her later today, see what model it was.
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I'll keep this one short . . .
Not long ago, my bandmate ordered a little battery-powered Amp as a present for me. Nothing fancy, an entry-level mass-market product, under $100US.
The Amp was DOA, due to leaking batteries, so I wrote the company, to let them know. I was put in touch with a real person, who made certain that I got a working Amp, though it took more than one replacement. All this, like I said, for a product that sells for under $100US on the retail market. Some companies want to keep us happy, I guess.
That line about, "Oh, you got the White Guitar?" is really the key. More than one responsible person knew they'd shipped the wrong Guitar, and instead of getting in touch to make things right, they made it your problem to deal with. I have to wonder who's been waiting for that White Guitar, and if they've gotten a full refund, too? Hell of a way to run a custom-build shop.
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No videos, but . . .
My garden is changing, again. All the Spring blooms are long done, the Lilacs, Azaleas, and all the Spring bulbs, so the color palette is changing from Pinks, White and Purple, to cool Blues and soft Whites.
The last of this season's Raspberries are done, but Goliath, our Fig Tree, is already setting fruit, so I have a short break between picking seasons. when the Berries, or the Figs, are coming, I pick twice a day, and often get enough off the Fig Tree to bring fresh Figs to a nearby restaurant. For now, it's time to clean up the Raspberry bed.
I took some divisions from a favorite White Hydrangea back in the Spring of 2020, and now I have them blooming right behind a couple of Lavenders, and an odd native bush that another landscaper gave me, but which I haven't identified as yet. I was told it was a native Butterfly Bush, but? Small, pale blue flowers that look like little powderpuffs; all the pollinators love it, and so do the Hummingbirds.
Every season, my big Hardy Hibiscus is the last to return, not even showing new growth until May or so. It gets to be 3-4 feet tall, with four or five stalks that put out dinner plate-sized blooms in mid-Summer, white with red centers.
I tend to avoid bright red flowers, because IMHO, the strong reds just emphasize the often oppressive heat and humidity of a Washington area Summer. for the reason, I prefer cooler colors, blues, purples, pale pinks, or even white. The white Hydrangeas bring some light into an area where the sunniest parts of my backyard meet the shadiest parts, and form a kind of border between the two sections. I also have a simple stone pathway, dividing the two areas.
To paraphrase an ancient teaching, one can never step into the same garden twice. Change is a constant, the only constant, as it were.
Time to go dig in the dirt . . .
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10 hours ago, o0Ampy0o said:
Always have extra strings and a string winder around.
STRING WINDER!!!
The guy who sold me my first String Winder, back in the 80's, told me, "This will save you hours of useful life!" He wasn't exaggerating. I have one in every Guitar case, another in my Guitar toolbox, and at least one spare in a drawer somewhere.
One other thing I'd add to that list would be some kind of in-case Humidifier, maybe more than one per case, depending on what it's like where you live.
For our live shows, I carry a small gear bag, with the following -
Extra cables, in several lengths (3 foot, 6 foot, 10-15 foot braided cable)
Power Strip & extension cord
*Cable tester (FWIW, I test all of my cables the night before a show, but "One Never Knows, Do One?")
Small tool kit (Wire Cutters, Pliers, Philips & Flat-head screwdrivers, Hex/Allen Wrenches as needed, Flashlight)
Extra batteries, depending on what your gear may use.
*I'm often surprised by how few of my Musician friends have any kind of Cable tester, considering how dependent we are on our various cable connections?!?
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This one is pretty much for members in and around the mainland U.S., and parts of Canada. Not looking to exclude anyone, but you'll see . . .
I've been having a pretty good season of landscape work, after a perfectly lousy Winter: "The Sound Of Things Falling Apart", as Devo's old motto went. At any rate, the last few days, going out to tend to my landscaping work, the air has been pretty nasty. Yesterday was right on the line between Code Red and Code Purple, for air quality; not a good thing, overall. I don't work with a mower/blower crew, so I'm not hauling my own personal pollution engine around with me during the day, but still . . .
In every other regard, yesterday should have beeline of those rare, perfect early Summer days, mid to upper 70's, sunny, the kind of day where people should call in to work and say they're too well to waste the day indoors. Instead, we got Code Red warnings, and people wearing N95 masks to go outdoors.
Today, it's even worse. I went to let my dogs out around 6 AM, well before morning rush hour begins, and the air smelled like burning tires. I could see low-lying smoke everywhere, and the Sun was a perfectly round, red-orange ball, dim enough that I could look straight at it without any discomfort. Even now, more like 8 AM, it's pretty hazy out, and while the Sun is somewhat brighter, it still looks more like late afternoon/early evening than morning. Several people interviewed in the morning paper compared it to Mars. I'll have to take their word for it.
FWIW, D.C. doesn't really have much in the way of heavy industry. Throughout much of the Spring, the pollen count was high enough to rate a mention in the evening Weather report. I expect a lot of closures and cancellations today, and we're not in the worst of it.
So, how's the air wherever you are right now?
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Just a thought - I don't even click onto sties like that, because of the potential for malware.
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I have to say, I'd rather make the occasional contribution than anything else. All the issues previously addressed regarding credit cards, etc., but this site is valuable enough that I'd want to help keep it open. Some of the best people I know hang out in here!
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11 hours ago, Dannyalcatraz said:
Ok, Teh Interwebz et my post…
Cor-Tek have announced that, not only have they acquired the rights to DOD & Digitech pedals, etc., they’re actually rehiring the people behind several of their most highly regarded products.
Not exactly cool new pedals, but rather, the promise of things to come!
This could mean that we finally get to see some of the products that were still in the planning stages. Apparently, there were some very cool designs that never made it into production, so there may yet be some cool new pedals waiting to appear.
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It looks a lot like a South American/Andean Instrument called a Charango, but that would be an odd choice.
Next closest thing is an antique cousin of the Guitar, called a Cittern, but that's more of a Northern European Instrument?
Got it! Allow me to introduce . . . the Cuarto!
The first two I pulled out of memory - I used to work in a Music store that featured Folk, World, and Exotic Instruments. The Cuarto I found by searching on "10-string Cittern."
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I would definitely wear that onstage . . .
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If you have that, who needs a Pedalboard?
It's almost as if someone designed an FX module inspired by one of the ARP 2600 RI's!?!?! All those sliders . . .
Seriously, if $$$ were no object, I'd order the damned thing.
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Therein lies madness . . .
Couple of thoughts, watching this - First off, the website describes it as a DIY kit, but there are number of sites selling what appear to be completed units? I'd want to be sure which I was ordering, especially as they're not cheap.
Second, it really wants to be part of a Modular Synth rig. All those CV I/O's on the top panel want to connect to something, and some functions are only available by patching in other CV devices; your Guitar won't do anything useful with those jacks.
There are a number of true Analog and Virtual Analog Synths that feature Audio In jacks, which will allow you to process your Guitar through some of the Synth's functions, particularly the Filter Section, and any onboard effects. In that regard, you're not turning your Guitar into a Synth, you're just using parts of the Synth as an effects Processor.
If you're curious about the Roland TB-303 he keeps referring to, check out the Behringer TD-3-SR. It's a clone of the original, at a fraction of the absurd prices for an original, vintage model. ($129.99 for the Behringer at Sweetwater, versus $2,500+, wherever one turns up.) BTW, you CAN'T patch your Guitar through the TD-3-SR. The original TB-303 was a Groovebox, arguably the UR-Groovebox, but IMHO, $130 is a fair price for how it sounds.
Final note - Banana plugs allow you to stack plugs, so you can have one CV Out, say an LFO Out, controlling more than one CV In, let's say Osc1 Pitch, and Filter Frequency, so you get Pitch Vibrato and Filter Sweep clocked to the same LFO Waveform and Rate. The trade-off can be that there's only so much Voltage to go around.
Yes, I've been doing this far too long . . .
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9 hours ago, Afatnuglybloke said:
Hi all....Does anyone know what the (OR) stands for in the model EF261S(OR)?
Thanks...Fatso.
Very likely it has something to do with the color, or stain. There's a demo video of a black model, which the video calls an EF261S-BL.
That's one of the mid-sized bodies, in what they called the Santa Fe series, back when I was selling Takamine Guitars. Very nice model.
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@Scott Fraser- Well understood; I still have an old Digitech RDS 1900 in my FX rack.
I'm also fond of long Delay Times, and I have a few boxes just for that effect. FWIW, the max Delay Time on the DD-500 is supposed to be 10 seconds, but if the DSP is much like the DD-200, I suspect that some of the Delay types, especially the DSP-intensive ones, will offer shorter Delay Times. Haven't gotten to try one yet . . .
My old DD-20 offers 23 seconds of Delay Time, and easy access tweaking. Used ones show up for around $120+/-. Not exactly pristine sound quality, but they're not bad, AND you can store up to 4 favorite Delay sounds in User Memory. Not really flashy, but functional. If you want Delay Time, well worth the footprint.
The Pigtronix Filter Pro only offers 10 seconds of Delay, but it has some functions that make it worth deep diving. Another casualty of Pigtronix' aggressive efforts to put out new gear before people are through with their old gear. Lot of discontinued products . . .
Either version of the Akai Headrush, the silver E1 or blue E2, will give you just over 23 seconds of Delay Time, or Looping, but you're stuck with a Mono In jack. I have the blue one, which offers nearly 36 seconds of Looping in Extended Mode; you can't, however, extend the Delay Time.
I also have an expanded Lexicon JamMan with 32 seconds of Delay, Sampling, and Looping. Not the most intuitive device, but I'm not likely to give it up anytime soon.
Surprisingly, the discontinued Boss ME-25 had a 6 second Delay onboard. Kind of an entry-level device, but it had some useful features. Mono In, like most Guitar MFX.
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@Caevan O’Shiteand @KuruPrionz - The DD-200 really lets me shape the Reverse Delay in a way that other boxes haven't. The only drawback is the 2.5 second Delay Time.
I have to admit, I got the DD-200 for the oddball effects. I have plenty of Delay effects available, but this one is a lot of fun, and different enough to justify adding it to the collection.
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The Chaos pedal had some serious issues, so I returned it in exchange for a nice used Boss DD-200 Delay. It happens . . .
The DD-200 is a little different. It's not so much trying to model specific vintage Delay devices, as it is trying to present a variety of Delay effects, including some classics. The real fun, at least for me, is in the outliers.
Briefly, you get the usual Time, Repeats, and Effect Level knobs. There's a Tone control, a Parameter control, which varies depending on which Delay algorithm you've selected, and a Mod Depth control. The Mod Rate is fixed - Boss claims to have selected the "perfect" Mod Rate setting, so you can only control the Depth, or intensity of the Mod effect, and Modulation is available with all of the different Delay types.
Before I go on, there are two serious misrepresentations of the the DD-200 that I've caught online, and that I'd like to correct here.
First up, Maximum Delay Time: I keep seeing info claiming the Max Delay Time is 60 Seconds, because there's an onboard Looper that will capture up to a 60-second Loop. The real Max Delay Time varies, depending on which Delay type you've selected, but NONE of them reach anywhere near 60 seconds. 3-5 seconds is the longest Delay Time for any of the Delay types, and some are even shorter. Reverse Delay only goes to 2.5 seconds, and the Tera Echo effect only goes to 700ms. (FWIW, the older DD-20 offered 23 seconds of Delay for all of the Delay Types.)
That's the second misrepresentation I've often encountered; it's NOT simply a jacked-up DD-20. I have the DD-20, and like it very much, but they're not the same thing, at all.
Back on track. There are the usual suspects - an Analog Delay, a Drum Echo (think "Oil Can" Delays like the Binson Echorec), Tape Delay, a Standard Digital Delay, Dual Delay, Lo-Fi (not very impressive), and a very nice Reverse Delay.
There's the now-obligatory "Shimmer" Delay (really, you can hardly find a Reverb effect without it), which adds an Octave-up effect. This seems to be a "love-it-or-hate-it" effect for a lot of users. IME, it's not as obnoxious as some of the Shimmer effects I've heard in other devices, and you can dial it back with the Parameter control. YEMV, of course.
Boss' Tera Echo effect is intriguing, to say the least. It sounds a lot like the choppy, Filtered sound The Edge gets at the beginning of U2's "Mysterious Ways." Run one of your favorite Delay pedals into a thick, chewy Phaser sound, and you're close. It's a lot of fun for Guitar, but it works MAGIC on Synth sounds!
Pad Echo has the echoes fade in and swell behind your playing. It's not a Ducking Delay, it's contouring the Attack Envelope of the Delay Repeats, without compromising you direct signal. Very nice for textures and well, Pads. This effect was made for Ambient Guitar.
Pattern Delay is a not-too-distant cousin of the Slicer effect. It claims to be 16 Delays, which would be a hell of a lot of DSP?!? I think it more likely it's a form of Multi-Tap Delay, with fixed Taps. Strum a quick chord, or just pluck one note, and you'll hear a pattern of echoes. You can't really do anything to change the pattern. Longer Delay Times stretch it out so you can better hear what's happening, but that's all. The larger, more expensive DD-500 allows you to dive in somewhat more.
The Reverse Delay is possibly the sweetest Reverse Delay I've ever used! The Parameter control lets you contour the Attack Envelope of the Reverse Echoes, which smooths out the Reverse sounds in a way you have to hear to fully appreciate. Hendrix and Adrian Belew fans, take note!
The best things about it, for me, are the Tera Echo, Pad Echo, and Reverse Delay. I got this thing a couple of days ago, and I've spent hours sitting on the floor with it, chained in with other Delay effects, when I haven't been at work. The worst thing - it makes me want to dive in to the DD-500, which has MUCH more programming depth.
Ah, well, time to get to useful things for the day.
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Glad everyone seems to be enjoying their knock-off Klon . . . I mean Clone.
I'd seen a video a while back with one of those, and the person doing the demo was very surprised at how much he liked the sound of the clone.
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35 minutes ago, Caevan O’Shite said:
🤔 Hmmm... =IF= the used specimen comes with a case, and =IF= the brand-new open-box offering does NOT, I'd change my verdict...@Caevan O’Shite- It's the used The Heritage that comes with a case. Like I said, if I had $1300 to spend, it would be on its way here.
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Fedex has apparently misplaced my pedal.
in Guitar Forum
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Glad they found it, @surfergirl, let us know when it gets there!
I've had the experience where a package disappeared from one tracking site because it had been transferred to another shipper. It was some arrangement between USPS and FedEx, IIRC, but it meant that I had no tracking info for several days.