@scapegoat there will be lots of things that will do it but the joyo amp sim pedals sound good and can be picked up on eBay for £40 or so

https://www.joyoaudio.co.uk/amplifier-simulation/

Run as last pedal on a board and plug straight into your mixer. I’m assuming your mixer has a built in power amp or sends to a separate power amp that feeds the speakers and amplifies everything you send to the mixer ( your bass, vocals etc)  You won’t need a separate power amp for the guitar

Ps. £26 on eBay right now, does a very decent impression of vox ac30 top boost if that’s your guitarists sound?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404873589627?itmmeta=01HTD0EYF52BN5E7WBYSTRP3PN&hash=item5e4458b37b:g:1ssAAOSwJIhl-zuh&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4G1z8f2MNFxVEoQjKJFNYYHes01R86B7uVkwNPLGkd4ktL3yMlUs4AKJIjm%2Fclan3pepuvDqVZyyB3vGOPzt%2Fj4Nbka1TfBptimsROb0deealEYfRftAqwh5T%2BJ23852uqtwrQpSGgTUJsKXUM6PL%2F2p7S–p%2FUpK2YbBhzz6zkrXoaH2FZ7XuP7bNRv%2FVX706bZ%2BtwwwSIUmeocIy8OL7SRLUvsdSS76kGh5g50MwitBx7%2F7DVogZwfA70CwKICukK%2BQks6Mj8Oj0GM2G0ohttIGXPR1%2B9x0Busv1B%2BYtXm%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9jnu6DTYw

Thanks very much, plenty to go at there, mainly confirming he doesn’t need a power amp pedal.  Those Joyo pedals are great vfm too. I use a few of their bits and pieces (multi-power supplies etc) and rate them.

@ceepers

The Joyo American Sound pedals are 30 quid new on Amazon! They review well as brilliant vfm, and a day spent checking out the mass of videos on Youtube show they do a great job  so we’ll get one of those and a DI box and have a play.

Perfect!! Yeah they are supposed to be very good!

I used to have one of the AC tone ones which was great but ultimately i bought a real vox valve amp so sold it on!

I know a few of us on here have PRS SE guitars. Amazon have the SE locking tuners at £81 currently, £18 cheaper than Andertons.

Dammit! I only have one SE now  (a Hollowbody) and that’s already been upgraded with locking tuners. It’s a great upgrade BTW…

I had all the Joyo pedals at one time – only kept the American tone

Bought the tech21 blonde its was based on and didnt like it at all

or its type the UA ruby is the best overall i’ve found if a little bit more expensive

I’ve just read the bit about church, youll be needing a delay as well, I’d go for strymon Dig :0)

I’ve just read the bit about church, youll be needing a delay as well, I’d go for strymon Dig :0)

you should have seen the look on the organist’s face when I played a bass intro with octave, muff  and synth pedal engaged …….. 🤟🏼

Can anyone recommend a low cost microphone that I can link to my phone (android) I am a novice and have no aspirations but do want to learn to play and sing just for my own enjoyment. I want to record myself (acoustic guitar) just to help me improve my playing and timing but just using the mic on my phone is rubbish. Don’t want to to splash out much to begin with and not after top quality sound just enough to make it clear. Thanks!

I got one of these last year, seems to do the job but I’m sure there are cheaper options that would work too.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09B3LJVFJ

Thanks @simondbarnes

Well, my brief career as a French rock guitarist hero is back on ice again. Just had an apologetic text from the singer, saying that the drummer and bassist have put the band on hold and cancelled the gig in June. Presumably, they were worried that I wouldn’t get to master all of the (complicated) tunes in time (I’m in the UK for three weeks right now, so obviously no time to rehearse with them). Boo!

Ahh well, it has, at the very least, forced me to do a great amount of playing practice, ear-learning a load of tunes and sharpening up my ‘live’ rig.
I’ll just have to get out and find my dream gig elsewhere…

Anyone want to buy some silver sparkle platform boots and some Spandex trousers? :-)

Oh that’s a shame Chipps. Hope you find another one :-)

I’m being badgered to play at an open mic on Thursday. Will see if I can find some confidence before then (or just drink a load of beer)

Where are you playing, Simon? I’m in Tod on Thursday/Friday… I can come along and cheer. Or play rhythm for you… :-)

In other news… I’m shortly going to be ebaying my TC Electronic Plethora X5 and a Victory Copper V4 preamp pedal. Anyone want me to chuck them on the Classifieds instead?

In Macc. I wouldn’t recommend it Chipps 😅

I’m unsure if this has been asked here before, so I’ll ask in case. Do you attach your strap to your guitar with the ladder lock facing out or facing backward?
I’m facing backward camp, so I, of course, think that is correct. It’s deviant behavior to have it forwards :)

Alway back for me but I’ve seen so many permutation its what feel natural I guess

Having never considered this it’s not surprising that on the first two guitars I checked out of curiosity provoked by you people one is forward and one back.

I’m going through an acoustic phase at present so don’t have much to contribute here. Pick up, tune and play. I need a new bottle neck, having learned to play a tune with three fingers I need one for the pinky that doesn’t flop around.

That was a tongue-in-cheek post. I don’t care how straps are worn! But I’ve always worn it at the back because at the front, it tended to rub on my shoulder.

I’m in the final stages of a jag partscaster. The process has helped me learn a lot more than I expected. It’s taken longer than I expected. And I don’t think I’ll try and make a pickguard again without a router. But even with the process yet to be finished, I’m keen to do another building project. It’s been fun.

Been playinga lot but a change of role at work has meant I’ve moved onto the same work schedule of a fixed day off every week (Wednesdays for me) and alternate weekends off. Makes it hard to keep regular sessions with mates.

Been selling loads of gear that has been laying around unused and have really refined my gear to two pedal boards – the small one that actually gets jammed with and the occasional gig, and the enormoboard that never leaves the house.

I think I’m going to sell the Telecaster. It doesn’t get played much since getting the PRS SE DGT and the final nail in the coffin was getting this

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53707603524_c00711eaae_k.jpg

its a Strandberg Boden NX Standard.

Light, versatile, plays great and works for everything except judgemental blues gigs. Thats when the Goldtop comes out.

In the wilds by John Stanley[/url], on Flickr

Back at the other end of the virtuousity spectrum, my guitar tutor suggested I replace the £4 G4M clip on tuner with a decent Korg one.

Roughly £16 later I was stunned by the difference between a guitar I thought was in tune and one the Korg thought was in tune.

Either I improved significantly or the sound of a reasonably priced 20 year old Yamaha acoustic did (ok it’s the sound of the guitar).

What’s the idea of the guitar with the tuners by the bridge? I can see it’s more compact (and looks cool!) but is there another reason?

When you do a bend the string slides in the nut and hopefully slides back to where it was when you release. On some guitares, notably Gibsons with high angle neck heads the strings stick and the things never stay in tune. The answer is a locking nut but that means you can’t tune without releasing which is a pain on guitars which are sensitive to temperature change – anything without a balanced floating bridge. So put the tuners at the bridge.

You lose a lot of weight with a long moment around the co of g, so you can chop even more weight out of the body and still have it balance.

It weighs exactly 5 pounds.

The balance might be good but that long horn with the strap at fret 11 or there abouts feels cramped to me. the Tele strap is at about fret 16 which means a lot of neck sticking out that’s comfortable to play without straining the wrist or bumping into the tummy, and I ain’t fat.

A thinline Tele is pretty light with a heavy head and I don’t find balance an issue.

Edit: I see you’ve removed the pic of the Renault Five green guitar so nobody knows what we’re talking about.

Edit: pic’s back, a glitch, not you

@tomparkin re flat wound strings. I use flatwounds on all my six string electrics. I play in a twangy alt. country, Dinosaur Jr , Neil Youngy Bigsby Tremolo style.

I usually replace the wound g with a plain though.

Olympia are good value and a good introduction if you want to give flats a try.

I also like Rotosound Top Tapes.

D’addario Chromes are okay but overpriced

Thomastik Infeld are my favourites but pricey. Low tension too.

@Edukator

This is the best access guitar I’ve ever played. The neck heel is practically nonexistent flowing into the body and combined with the endurneck it is stunningly comfortable.

Checkout the Strandberg website for a better description. And if you see one just grab a feel of the neck.

I tried one for half an hour, reserved it and sold a bunch of pedals to pay for it, it spoke to me that clearly.

@lambchop

Ah, thanks! I’d forgotten I’d asked about this to be honest :-D

I not long since put a fresh set of strings on my main doom guitar, I seem to recall when looking before on places like Strings Direct that flatwounds were pretty dear, especially for heavier-gauge sets. The Olympia brand look like a good steer though, for around a tenner it’s something worth taking a punt on!

You’ve got me interested in that Strandberg, Eddie. Having Googled it I realise you can screw the strap on wherever you want as it’s on the back. The fan frets would make thumb over chords easier, neck shape looks odd but I see the logic. I’m beginning to think it’s the perfect modern guitar. Next time I’m in Paris or Bordeaux (not many dealers) I’ll have something to do. Given it’s different in so many ways it’s definitely try before you buy and make sure there’s enough left on the credit card to buy before walking into the shop.

Another Strandberg (er, actually two of them…) owner here. To be honest, the neck shape and the fan frets are super easy to get used to – and I can swap back and forth with my other guitars without issue. Although I do notice the extra weight of even guitars I considered to be light…

I do a lot of sat down (on the sofa or at my desk) noodling and the lack of size and choice of knee-rests is great. It’s also small overall, which makes it a no-brainer when driving somewhere – I can just chuck it in the boot in its gig bag.

@Edukator I was won over in a couple of minutes. Well worth a try.

@Chipps I remember your first Boden what is the second?

@eddiebaby – it was one of Strandberg’s ResQ models – basically paint/finish flaw models that get repainted in a limited edition colour and sold off cheap (a great idea, by the way) – I justified it by the fact that it’s a trem model, and SSH, so completely different, right? ;-)

An essential purchase in my view.

I think there’s a new Res:Q drop coming soon. Hmm….

From experience, the tasty ones sell very quickly, so don’t dither if you’re tempted. The ‘would have been a Plini’ models and similar swamp ash jobs. Same with the 7-string (I just wrote ‘7 speeds…’) trem models. The ‘would have been a regular Boden NX’ models stick around a little longer, but it soon gets into single figures and then gone – apart from the misjudged colourways with oddball spec… Anyway, as you know, great guitars! And I need to remember to write a story for this site about the fold-up one they’ve made, welded by Italian bike makers!

I’m off on holiday next month and was thinking (obvs) of taking a guitar. I realised that I don’t have an amp that’s either small or quiet. I can rig up something with a Helix Stomp and a Bose speaker, but I was wondering about the Spark Go amp thing, or the Blackstar Fly or something. Any suggestions?

I can recommend a fender mustang micro.

The Spark Go is pretty cool (but you need an iPhone as it doesn’t work with android) – there is nothing that comes close to the modelling aspect of it apart from perhaps the Yamaha THR5 (which also runs on batteries but not an internal rechargeable like the Go) but is physically a lot bigger and more expensive. I’m not sure if you can use a phone with it either, maybe just a laptop – my THR5A acoustic amp only works on its own or with a laptop for more complex patches (which you basically don’t need with an acoustic!) Beautiful amp though – sounds excellent.

My work colleague bought the Blackstar Fly for his son and it looked like a toy in comparison to the two above, very plasticky. Not sure what it sounded like though….

I can do headphone stuff already, but I was thinking that if I wanted to play along to tunes or even, gasp, play with someone else, I’m going to need a speaker. Or I could just take an acoustic, I guess :-)

Change of topic now…
Oh lordy… The next Gardner Houlgate auction catalogue is out. 1500 lots! And if you can’t find something that you like there, you’re a liar :-)
There’s everything from ’50s Gibsons, through JEMs and PRSs to Bernie Marsden’s guitar and amp collection… Luckily the auctions are on in the daytime, so accidental drunk bidding is unlikely. Well worth a browse though…
https://www.guitar-auctions.co.uk/auctions