Building something new…

Body shape is kind of a mini, geometric/angular Les Paul.
Top is made from mix of recycled hardwoods.

Going to have a 25.5″ scale, and probably keep it simple with just a single humbucker + volume knob. Might fit a kill switch too.
Probably have a through body hardtail bridge (think I’ve got one somewhere!)

Can’t be bothered to look back over the last 52 pages, anyone tried a Harley Benton CST 24?

Yes, I’ve got one. It’s a black P90 model and I’ve been playing it for 18 months.
Everyone who knows guitars and has tried it says it’s excellent. A couple of things have bugged me, the P90s were a bit susceptible to hum (changed for noiseless ones), the nut needed a bit of filing down on a couple of strings and the frets are very tall, which some people love; I don’t as my heavy handedness makes some notes go a bit sharp. My guitar teacher doesn’t think that’s a problem, but he likes scalloped fingerboards.
I’m spending £40 on some locking tuners and a graphite nut to get the tremolo a bit more stable. But overall it’s great.

Just got my first compressor. Blimey. They can be fun can’t they? Major clean sound sustain and just tidies up my picking dynamics a touch. Very impressed.

Can’t be bothered to look back over the last 52 pages, anyone tried a Harley Benton CST 24?

Not a CST-24 but I have a Harley Benton EX-84 Modern 🤘 and it’s really nicely put together if that helps at all. That flame top on the CST looks lovely in the pics!

Got toy money to spend. Anyone got experienced comments about Kemper Stage over a helix?

Quick one:

If you’ve got a spare £150 and would like some fun, call buy yourself a Squier Bullet Mustang, some sandpaper, 10.5 mm brass saddles from Northwest Guitars, some guitar wax and a some shorter M3 screws.

After sanding the tool marks out of the back of the neck, applying some wax and fitting brass saddles this is now my favourite guitar.
Polish the frets if you must.

eddiebaby
Full Member
Just got my first compressor. Blimey. They can be fun can’t they? Major clean sound sustain and just tidies up my picking dynamics a touch. Very impressed.

I got an Orange Kongpressor.
It makes me sound almost competent.

EB

in outs on the helix make it a no brainer for me

Eddie

Kemper is great but it is a snapshot of a signal chain. As soon as you want to go extreme on the knobs it can get awkward. You can get some amazing profiles and it is an awesome device. Great if you also have a lot of amps and want to profile them.

I had the toaster for a while a few years back before moving to the Helix floor. I liked it but ended up with an axefx which I prefer and kept.
The helix / axefx can become the central part of your setup – use it for recording, either with monitors and IRs or use a power amp and cab, or use it with a real amp in 4CM. This is how I use my axefx – I switch between using modelled amps and real amps etc.

Don’t forget there is a new kid on the block – Neural DSP (I’ve not played one so can’t comment). Looks like it needs more development but has potential.

I keep looking at the Neural Quadthingie, but only because it looks awesome… I’ve recently got a Helix Stomp and realised that it’s great for 90% of what I do (home noodling) now that the dad-rock band I was in seems to have imploded. However, when I had a TC Nova System (and then a G-System after that) I only ever had about four sounds that I ever used, so why do I need 3000 presets or whatever? 🙂

I keep saying that I’m going to go back to either a valve head with three pedals (tuner, overdrive and Strymon Flint), or just a new/reissue Fender Vibro Champ with an overdrive pedal… but never do.

a new/reissue Fender Vibro Champ

My dad had a 79 vibro champ and he sold it because it was too loud to use at home back then but it pains me that he got rid of it. I’d love to have it back and have been eyeballing the reissue

About 6-7 years ago I became enamoured of a certain Margaret Glaspy who wield a t-shape and Vibro Champ. I’ve a mate who bought a VC, new, back in ‘72 or 73 and he lent it me. I’d had a vintage ‘52 hotrod tele for a fair while by then and it had never really lived up to the promise of the reviews that had made me special order it. Until I plugged it into the VC…

But 6 years ago there was no VC reissue. After much searching the best I could come up with was the ‘68 Princeton Reverb amp. Which is 12W. And 12W is really.****.loud at home. 3.5 volume is about as high as I can stand (and that sets the storage heaters rattling!) and ideally I’d want it at 4-5 where it starts to break up how I like it… I think I’m going to have to replace it with the VC reissue (when the become available…).

This year has been a bit ridiculous as I’ve bought four guitars this year. The Epi les Paul TV spec was a definite mistake, the MIJ Jazzmaster has been eclipsed by the Pro II and I could really do with paring down the ‘collection’…

Thanks for the input guys.
Well now I’ve got a bunch of pedals, a couple of pedalboards and Gigrig power supplies to get rid of.
The Kemper Stage I picked up today is perfect for my needs. Currently obvs.
My origin effects Cali76 at the front and my Origin Revival Drive and a Flashback/APE in the loops and I am sorted.
Totally brilliant device that sounds great out of the box.
If you like an amp and pedals approach this is the way to go. I don’t think I’ll miss the options of fx routing the Helix et al offer. I will probably keep the GT1000 Core for a bit to make sure though.

Edit. When I am getting ready to play live (very rarely) the sound is a long way back behind the sound and effects I am practising. I feel envious of guitarists gigging regularly. Before buying more kit I intend to play more live even if it is just a pub jam night. And there is one every Thursday just up road…

Very jealous @eddiebaby, would love a Kemper. Can’t shake the feeling I should have got one when I got the Boss Waza tube amp expander. For recording it sounds amazing using my Blackstart Artisan head as a source but not very every day friendly. I ended up getting a HX Stomp which I use all the time while the Waza is an expensive ornament. Be interested to hear how the Kemper is as a ‘daily driver’ (borrowed form the lifetime ban thread)

I can’t get over how relatively light and small it is. Not having a built in pedal helps. Luckily I have one if needed.

I’ve been reassessing my needs as we’re moving to Canada in a couple of weeks and my amp and stuff won’t run on their mains.

So, my plan is replace the Blackstar with something like a Katana, for versatility and gigability, a small wee valve amp, for practice and amusement, and maybe a HX Stomp or GT1000 Core for filling the gaps.

Was looking at PG Sparks and those wee desktop Yamahas, but I reckon the Katana fills the versatility AND gigability box.

A lot more playing of the Kemper and I’m getting my head around it. I think much of the appeal to me is how good it sounds through headphones. In much of my playing now that is my situation, cans on or volume super low. In that situation the Kemper really really shines. A lot of people describe it a sounding like a very well recorded great guitar amp. As opposed to a great guitar amp. There is nothing like playing an amp with appropriate (or louder) volumes but that is getting harder to de even at many gigs. The Kemper gets around that. Next weekend I hope to bang it through my Soundsource at volume an gear what happens.
Thoroughly delighted with it and not even one reservation to date. Apart from my Cali76, Revival Drive and A.P.E. I won’t be keeping any pedals. There’ll be a for sale post soon.

That pile of alder, maple and a square of 3-ply acrylic:

After a bit of shaping:

Is now this:

All by my own hands (now lacking fingerprints because of all the sandpapering) but under the eagle eye of Martin Dixon from MD Guitars. It sounds like a real tele and plays just right. How he got me to make something so good is nothing short of amazing.

VERY nice work.

Been a busy few weeks treating myself to some new gear.

An Epiphone Slash Les Paul “Victoria” Gold Top. I went in with the plan of buying the full on Gibson model but ended up liking the Epiphone way more. The Gibson neck felt a bit “sticky” and wasn’t as playable.

Next up was a valve amp in the shape of the Marshall Origin 20. An absolute joy. The tone from it is unreal and fits my taste perfectly.

Finally, I’ve always used multi effects or the onboard stuff in my amps but I want to build up a pedalboard. Got a Whiskey distortion pedal from Landlord FX for Xmas and was hugely impressed so bought a pedalboard and a reverb, chorus and delay from the Landlord lineup. Loads of tones and sounds for very little outlay.

Tasty. Looks like it should sound amazing.

Has anyone on here used Richards Guitars? I’m popping up to see them in a couple of weeks.

Very helpful and not pushy IME.

Have spoken to them on the phone several times re a Gordon Smith build and they’ve been very helpful.

Also talked me out of ‘upgrading’ my acoustic.

Up there with Sound Affects in Ormskirk and Pro Solo in Burnley as people I trust when it comes to buying an instrument.

What’s your current, acoustic, Rusty? A Gibson J45 or something equally difficult to ‘upgrade’.

Edit to add: 😉

Very helpful and not pushy IME.

Nice to know, thanks. My budget is not big enough for a Gordon Smith. 😀

I’m looking at the Cort Core acoustic range in the different woods, and they have all three in stock at the moment. If they can suggest anything instead of those, then that would be interesting, but pretty much everything else at this price range is a laminate back and sides. I’m not ruling that out, if the guitar is decent, and am certainly interested in trying the Eastmans at around £4-500. And the LAGs look very pretty, but don’t get reviews anywhere near as good as the Corts, but then they get very few reviews anyway. (Thinking out loud, here!)

I was on a mission to buy an upgrade my old laminate Sigma martin for years and failed. There often seemed to be a deal breaker. The objective was a dreadnought with a strong mellow mid range that could be strummed hard without going muddy. I liked the way Dowinas sounded but the neck was far too fat for my taste and for a solid wood they aren’t particularly loud. The Martin D18/28 played well but didn’t sound a couple of thousand pounds better than a solid wood Epiphone in the shop. I’ve played a lot of LAGs, they sit in the corner of many friends’ living rooms and always disappoint – unplugged they sound like the cheap laminates they are with poor separation of the strings.

I was handed a CORT AS E5 NATUREL BRILLANT by my local music shop (I’ve just checked their web site, they still have it): “try this, sounds great”. It didn’t really, tinny bright rather than mellow.

My final short list was two guitars, a Frampton Epiphone Solid wood Texan made in Indonesia (the one that put me off the D18/28 by being so good )and Gibson j45. I bought the Texan and will probably buy a j45 one day, the j45 is a lot of money for something that will get bashed and dinged. I’m not recommending the Texan for everyone, it has a really skinny neck and not much bottom end, the mellow well-defined mids are just what I was listening for.

Has anyone on here used Richards Guitars? I’m popping up to see them in a couple of weeks.

He offered me £500 for my 70s Tele 🙂 – followed me all the way to my car trying to get me to ‘see it his way’

other than that hes lovely chap

I’ve booked a practice room for the first time in 5 years!

Looking forward to playing at a reasonable volume 🙂

Last time I was in the practice rooms I was on bass, this time it’s guitar 🙂

I audition for a band on Monday evening – just so I could turn up my amp

I’ve messaged an ad on gumtree from a guy looking for a jam!

Actually, if there’s anyone near glasgow that ever fancies a jam then let me know!

@plumber Both Stagesources and your Helix? Nice.
I’m using my Stagesource (and at home in the evenings my THR10) with the Kemper but really like the Kemper Power Kabinet I tried.
A few more extra shifts at work and I’ll get one at the end of the month.

And that reminds me that I have to sell some pedals and pedalboards I no longer need.

Boo! Jam night cancelled as house band has a Covid infected member.
Yay! Wood fired pizza van in the car park has a deal to let’s us eat inside the pub and they gave me an NHS discount.

And the LAGs look very pretty, but don’t get reviews anywhere near as good as the Corts, but then they get very few reviews anyway. (Thinking out loud, here!)

My local shop stocks Cort and they are very, very nice guitars.

How about Faith? You can get one of the all solid ‘Naked’ series for £500. My wife has a gloss finished Venus and it’s a brilliant guitar…..they seem to be very consistent too.

And for what it’s worth, I rather like LAG. Mine has a solid mahogany top and laminated sides, love it.
No rush to ‘upgrade’, it suits me.

Both Stagesources and your Helix?

I just took my 65 amps ventura and brigidier delay – quick in out as another contestant to come after me

Weirdly I was offered the gig – crazy fools 🙂

Sweet!

I’ve messaged an ad on gumtree from a guy looking for a jam!

I was wondering about this recently.

At the risk of sounding like some kind of social inadequate 😀 how does one go about finding people to play with in the Modern Era?

Since getting somewhat back into electric guitar I can really see the appeal of having a regular jam with folk local to me, but I’ve no idea how to track such people down to be honest.

Is an ad in Gumtree worth a shot? Any other ideas?

How about Faith? You can get one of the all solid ‘Naked’ series for £500. My wife has a gloss finished Venus and it’s a brilliant guitar…..they seem to be very consistent too.

I’ve already tried a Naked Venus and absolutely loved it, but want to check out a few others in the same sort of price range to compare.

how does one go about finding people to play with in the Modern Era?

Back in my day, we told our school friends what instruments were available, when we were playing and in whose bedroom. Presumably things work very much the same in an office? (I’ve got a guitar for myself, Bob can have the slightly warped mandolin, Rob is bringing a mouth organ, and Bill has a pair of bongos from a trip to Benidorm. We’re called Eggs, Eggs, Eggs, Eggs, Eggs, Eggs, Eggs. 😀 )

I was wondering about this recently.

At the risk of sounding like some kind of social inadequate 😀 how does one go about finding people to play with in the Modern Era?

Since getting somewhat back into electric guitar I can really see the appeal of having a regular jam with folk local to me, but I’ve no idea how to track such people down to be honest.

Is an ad in Gumtree worth a shot? Any other ideas?

I’m finding it very difficult. It’s either well established bands looking for pro-level players, or youngsters starting out.

There’s a huge gap in the market for rusty 40 something guys and girls to get together for some informal stuff

Presumably things work very much the same in an office?

That’s a good idea. In my office alone we’ve got a bloke called Tom who plays guitar, another geezer Tom who also plays guitar, and I think there’s that fellow Tom who plays something, guitar if I recall correctly.

🙂

I do remember with fondness those good old days of yore where you basically chipped up with your mates to see who was playing what and got on with it!

There’s a huge gap in the market for rusty 40 something guys and girls to get together for some informal stuff

Oh dear, that doesn’t sound overwhelmingly positive.

I’ve a (40-something) mate who has been learning guitar for a few years, and his teacher essentially runs a band for his students as a kind of adjunct to their lessons. Finding that sort of setup probably takes a bit of doing (and luck) though.

There’s a huge gap in the market for rusty 40 something guys and girls to get together for some informal stuff

Tinder?