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Kinda spoilt for choice nowadays. I have a HX Stomp and an extra 2 footswitches which are set up to snapshot up and down, which leaves me one on the pedal for tap/tuner and 2 more to switch FX on/off. This is probably enough for me.
I love my HX Stomp at home but found it a bit lacking at a gig pre Xmas. Have got a first rehearsal with a potential new band tonight so will try the Stomp out in that setting as it probably just needs tweaking which as my current band don't ever rehearse never happens. I'm leaning towards the FM9 now though if I'm going to be gigging more!!!!
Sorted for home though as my IK Multimedia Axe I/O arrived so I've been playing with the bundled Tonex Max software and been blown away by the captures. Joe Bonamasa's old Dumble anyone? Don't mind if I do. Crazy times.
Sounds good mate.
I'm in a similar place with the GT1000. A Boss pedal to switch presets freeing the 3 buttons on the unit for toggling effects. I usuallly stick a drive and a compressor in front of it and then run it into a Hot Rid Deluxe or a Katana 100 (Both borrowed) for the 4 short gigs I've done in the last 4 months.. terrifying but fun.
I bought a Catalinbread RAH pedal from Reverb a few weeks back and the designer of the pedal, the delightfully batshit Howard, said you need a Herco75 Flex pick to get the Jimmy Page sound.
I just bought a 12 pack at Andertons but have discovered it hasn't helped.
Maybe the Eric Johnson Journeyman lightly reliced strat I tried would help.
I suspect not. It was stunning though and surprisingly under £3k.
I've got my finger hovering over the buy button for the Helix LT. Was hoping to see some January sale discounts on it but absolutely nothing so far. No Doubt the second I buy it'll have the price slashed
There are a couple on Reverb but the sign of how good they are us how they hold their price.
“Eric Johnson Journeyman lightly reliced strat”
Ooh! Two tone sunburst? How was the neck? I was after finding a chunky Strat neck as they’re all a bit weedy, so my pal at Fender suggested that the EJ ‘Virginia’ Strats have biggish necks.
I’ve been eyeing up a Shell Pink HSS Pro II strat (internet stalking only) and it’s only dropped by £200...
I need to be strong....
The necks on my Pro II Tele and Strat are amazing. They feel so good and the slightly sculpted heel really opens up the dusty end more than such a simple mod should. I’m a tart and went for Miami Blue / Maple.
I have a Pro II jazzmaster, if the strat is the same level I’d certainly not be disappointed.
Shell Pink would be me being a total tart. I prefer a rosewood board but shell pink is a limited colour and only maple (or full rosewood neck at several £100 more) available.
God, I can feel myself weakening...
I have 4 guitars and a bass.
Too many pedals, a modeller and a profiler.
Don't look to me for any suggestions of restraint.
😀
£1499 at Andertons
Just getting back into playing after more then a year of not bothering due to lots of bad stuff happening. Unsurprisingly I’ve now found playing my guitar helps.
Christmas Covid has let me sit and read this entire thread…big mistake as I should have known it was going to cost me money, but so much good information it’s been very useful at helping me get back up to date with the guitar world...oh, and so many youtube videos.
Lots of my enjoyment comes from trying write a song, playing, recording, and then playing with the recording tools to produce something I’m pleased with. I’ve never been good at learning other folks songs, not really very good at remembering my own to be honest and very much have used this as a way of pushing my limited ability rather than proper formal practice.
I have 30 year old Gordon Smith leftie guitar (amongst others) Fender Princeton 112plus amp and a Line 6 pod X3. Lots of other bits and pieces, 4 tracks and such like collected over the years, mostly now redundant.
So, new kit time. My GS is lovely to play, I knew nothing about them when I bought it, but something colourful and maybe semi hollow body is on the horizon. The POD effects are outdated but still work ok.
The amp though, although it’s fine, I really want something smaller and more portable but still with good tone. I know the Spark is extremely popular but I’m leaning towards the Yamaha THRs. The question is the 10 or 30? Is the extra power of the 30 a significant step up given that you also gain more bulk?
I’d love to go have a listen, but getting to any music shop is a trial from here at the best of times, but with the rail strikes and ferry disruption it’s not going to happen for a bit and I have a birthday aproaching and want to spend money now! 🙂
Oh, and any recommendations for music shops around Glasgow way to use or avoid for when I can get to one. I know Guitarguitar has a decent range but I’ve never had any dealings with them.
Welcome back to the fold!
I have the THR10 and it's perfect around the house but that is it. The thirty has enough oomph to be a but more versatile but crucially has amp outs so you can run it into something more powerful like a PA
@crewlie I’ve bought a fair bit from Merchant City Music (guitar.co.uk) over the years and found them decent and who I use as my main ‘internet’ based guitar shop. They’ve shipped me guitars, amps and pedals (I’m in the Black Isle). They are about 2 minutes from guitarguitar in the real world too, so not even that far out your way (if you’re out that way anyways).
Smaller than gg’s (and no Gibsons) but I like them.
I have a THR10II and I’ve really struggled with it.
I tend to spend ages searching trying to find a sound I like then when I come back, have to go through the process alll over again...
It just sits in its box now🤷🏼♀️
I actually prefer my microcube (I had a wee blackstar amp that I also struggled with that got punted pretty quickly). So I guess it’s just me...
I like my reissue vibro champ Reverb (and the ‘68 Princeton but at 12W is RFL in the house) and mostly ‘clean’...
Thanks for the advice, probably going to give the THR 30 a go and then get to Glasgow and play with some guitars when I can.
The slippery slope starts here.
Waves from Glasgow👋
Merchant City Music is a very good shop. Been using them for years. Guitar Guitar is very good too.
There are a couple of smaller independent shops doing 2nd hand gear that are really good
https://www.the-wee-guitar-company.com/
And
https://www.theguitartradecentre.co.uk/
Both down in the southside and close to each other.
Waves from Glasgow👋
Merchant City Music is a very good shop. Been using them for years. Guitar Guitar is very good too.
There are a couple of smaller independent shops doing 2nd hand gear that are really good
https://www.the-wee-guitar-company.com/
And
https://www.theguitartradecentre.co.uk/
Both down in the southside and close to each other.
Waves back from Arran.
Thanks I’ll add them to the list.
Andertons - the guitar gallery
service still really poor
Thats all I'm going to say on that one
@BoardinBob - I have a Helix LT for sale on FretBoard at the moment- just put it on this morning. Comes with a hard case. Excellent unit -I've just moved on to the Rack unit for my use case. Let me know if you're interested ?
Andertons – the guitar gallery
Ouch. I never found that. It is my local shop and I'm in there most weeks, during the week when it's quiet.
Was in there late this afternoon at the other end of scale trying a Squier Classic Vibe Tele. Brilliant a bit of a setup and maybe swap for some of my pile of Tele pickups and it would be awesomer for open G 5 string Keith fun.
I thought I'd managed to work up to playing plug in baby at a reasonable speed but then I tried to play along with the backing track and I was all over the place. I always do this. I need to make myself play along with a backing track at a slow speed right from the start and then build up from there. Have dropped back to 60% and until I can nail that I'm not going to up the speed to 70% even though playing slowly is boring 🤣
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/38-juDPJ2GI
Well that's really rather shit news 🙁
https://planetradio.co.uk/planet-rock/news/rock-news/jeff-beck-dead-meningitis/
Yep. I've been playing a lot of Beck over the last couple of years.
I have a go at Hendrix tracks and Page's stuff but Beck...? No way.
A unique force in music.
I am really depressed now in a way I don't think any other musician's death has hit me.
I've worked through 60%, 70%, 80% and 90% speed for Plug in Baby. Full speed attempt was going to be after work tomorrow but I thought I'd give it a little go this evening. Definitely quite tricky for my mediocre skills but pretty happy with the progress this week 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/r49LPgAiujY
Don’t know if many of you used to skateboard and remember Ray Barbee from the Powell peralta heyday?
His guitar playing ( & photography ) is fantastic.
working out one of his tracks was this weeks project….,
Like it. I can't play standing up 🤣
It’s just practice like everything!
( I often learn stuff sitting down first to be fair!)
It’s just practice like everything!
Well I've now practised plug in baby until my index finger bled 🤣
Going to have to have a break now
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rrrqD5TgtSc
Dedication pays off there, Simon! Very impressive.
And @ceepers - you got props from Ray Barbee himself! Very nice work there. 🙂
Ooh nice, @simondbarnes! I'm lacking a bit in live music options where I am these days...
Oh, and here's a four week warning that I'm going to be coming for my pedalboard... 🙂 Let me know if there are any pedals that you'd like to hang on to for longer, or which I could do you a swap for... Don't want to stop that creativity flowing 🙂
No worries @chipps - let me know when you're about and will arrange to meet up.
I've actually pretty much stopped using the pedals and have decided to spend my time learning to play rather than just playing around with different tones 🤣
But you're doing it wrong, surely? Better playing comes with buying more stuff, right? Same as you'll be faster on a bike if you have more bikes and shinier handlebars, eh? 😉
I've had a fun year of following 'Bontrager's Three Laws of getting better on a bike' - 1. Ride your bike more 2. Ride your bike even more 3. Ride your bike extra even more... I should probably follow that for guitar.
What's a bike? 🤣
I’m lacking a bit in live music options where I am these days…
One of the few things I miss about living in a UK university town, lots of live music. Even when there is live music here the audience is less than enthusisiatic except for well-known acts when the crowd is big enough for a collective enthusiasm to develop. I've felt quite sorry for most small bands I've watched locally, absolutely **** all audience interest/participation.
On a personal level I've learned that you need an audience favourable to your cause which means the band members having family/friends in the audience, even then it's not guaranteed. I rehearsed with a band a couple of times but feared the public would be less than enthusiastic about their original material so dropped out. The local venue with the best regular audience got shut down for noise and public order reasons, the ones that remain rely on a house band to provide atmosphere while people sit and eat/drink rather than providing a platform for other bands.
Still I'm rehearing again with a band, once again they're not into covers so I've been given the job of writing the lyrics and singing. What could possibly go wrong?
I occasionally sit in with my exes band and that is all covers as that is all the local pub scene wants in general.
We do have a couple of bands in the area that have their own thing going on and they have struggled enough to make it through the pain and are now reaping the 'rewards'. The main ones being able to write their own stuff and sell merch.
We have a pub in Tod that only wants 80s/90s rock covers - as it appeals to a distinctly uniform crowd, all in their 50s/60s. If you try to sneak in an original tune, the volume gets lowered. You don't get a second warning...
Personally, I've wanted nothing more than to be in a band that plays dull-old, by the record, rock covers... Unfortunately, the band I was in, disbanded after 18 months (of rehearsing through covid times) without ever playing out...
Spinal Tap is on iPlayer at the moment. Worth a look if you haven't seen it in ages.
My ex who was a singer for much of her life couldn't watch bits of it as it triggered flashbacks.
The US base gig was the worst memory for her as the band used to pop over and tour the USAF NATO bases in Europe, do a few weeks residency at clubs in Hamburg and then go and repeat the base tour before returning home.
She did so many gigs at officers club dances despite being a blues rock act.
NGD!
Sorry for the crappy photo / toysplosion. I would ideally like a better camera on my phone and more light and fewer toys, but we all have to work with what the Universe has granted us, right?
And it has granted me a new-to-me Epiphone Les Paul Standard, a 2022 "Inspired By Gibson" one.
I actually got it on Monday, but haven't played it in anger yet as I need to get it set up for stoopid downtuning for taking to band practice.
But even playing it just through headphones has me really excited to play it loud. It has a lot more clarity and definition than my old Squier Strat. It seems affordable guitars have come on a lot since 1994 😀
It seems affordable guitars have come on a lot since 1994
I went into Guitar Guitar with £2.5k in my pocket and the aim of buying a Gibson 60s Standard Les Paul. Hated the feel of every one i tried. Horrible sticky necks.
Ended up with the Slash Epiphone Gold Top for £799 which played a hundred times nicer than the expensive Gibson.
Great looking Les Paul mate.
I've found the build quality of things like the Epiphones and PRS SE guitars to be so good that I couldn't imagine buying the US made models.
My JTV59 Variax was built in South Korea and is stunning build and feelwise. Basically SE quality with extra bits inside, the higher price was only due to the electronics. Its what I've been playing this morning as its my only humbucker guitar other than the bari.
Aye, Gibson seem to have been through some rough patches of late. Anecdata I know, but a mate of mine bought a new Gibson SG in recent times and it had a whole stack of issues out the box in terms of fret finishing. He had to get it sorted by a luthier before it was right 😐 It's the sort of thing you could *possibly* forgive on a budget guitar, but when you're spending > 1k it's a bit hard to swallow.
So far this Epi seems well put together: the chunks of wood are nicely matched, and everything in terms of the general construction seems good so far as I can see. The only things that really let it down are the nut is a little messy and binding on the G string, the scratchplate had a bit of stray plastic swarf still hanging on to it, and some of the fret ends feel a little scratchy (not sprouting, just want a tad more rounding IMO). Minor stuff really. It's maybe not quite as visually blingy as a nice Gibson LP but that's fine by me.
I've yet to play it loud as I say so it's hard to know how the pickups will work out, but so far I am very happy with it!