Musicians' gear babble.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I recently seriously upgraded my bass rig from a Kustom 2 15" cab with a 250 watt head to a 1000 watt Carvin DCM1000 PA head, pushing an 800 watt 2 15", 2 8" cab, and I'm going back for a 3-channel guitar preamp that I'm going to run my bass through because I'm fucking nuts.

 

Use this thread to prattle on about your guitars, zithers, microphones, kazoos, and other bullshit

[rising up out of the back seat-nuh 0]

I've got a nice standard Warwick bass, but only a little Marshall to run it through. I really need to upgrade, but I'm too poor and lazy.

 

Also, I need a decent acoustic to write stuff on, but again my poor lazy arse is (metaphorically) fucked.

[B. Brian Brunzell 0]

We have a TON of musical intruments at my house right now. I have a 66 key Yamaha keyboard with more effects and sounds than I can count right now. My uncle has 2 Strats, a '65 and a '75, a '78 Les Paul, a Martin acoustic, which is BEAUTIFUL, an Ibanez classical electric, a Mesa Boogie amp that he's had for about 15 years and still sounds perfect. There's pedals galore, including a SWANK Zoom GFX-8 pedal board/processor. We've got drum pads, a mandola, a charango, a weird looking keyboard-type thing that has bellows required to get any sound. It's not an accordion, I jsut don't know what its actual name is, but it's damn cool.

 

Ay my parents home outside of Chicago, there's a nice Baldwin upright plus all of my brother's equipment. Playing music OWNS.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Warwick's some good shit. I'm using a Peavey Grindbass (not just a clever name) until I can afford something ridiculous. My bass mountain was actually pretty reasonable. Far cheaper, with more wattage than any kind of strict bass amp. Sounds way punchier, too. I had the epiphany while buying it.."Y'know, a lot of places just plug the bass straight into the PA anyhow..."

[B. Brian Brunzell 0]

Also, I need a decent acoustic to write stuff on, but again my poor lazy arse is (metaphorically) fucked.

Well, if you've got the loot, go for a Taylor, Guild or Martin. Top-notch acoustics, my man. Yamaha and Fender have decent acoustic guitars as well.

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

My guitar

 

I love this thing, fits me pretty much perfectly and plays nice. Got it for a steal aswell which helps.

 

that's the only equipment in my possession right now, however my brother owns a fairly low end peavy amp that is worn out and makes a beautifully grim metal noise when the knobs are on 10.

 

He also has a 9 piece drum kit that is basically no name brand with brutalized old heads that I don't remember the name of right now.

 

There's a pedal i should describe cuz it's very boss in terms of effects and usefullness but I also don't know the name or product number of that one right now either.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Here's my bass, only mine's the pewter gray.

 

As soon as I get my rack mount, my rig will be taller than my drummer. That's awesome.

[Red Baron 0]

Well being the total hypocrite that I am, I just bought a brand new Fender Jazz Bass, 5-String.

 

I don't have it yet, because its on layaway...so i wont get it for a few weeks.

[SpikeFayeJettEdBebop 0]

I got a Fender practice amp and a Strat just a few weeks ago. Like no one around here plays much, which sucks balls. Anyway, im tired, ill chime in later maybe.

[Red Baron 0]

Its just no one here really talks about equipment, and realy I have not much knowledge in the equipment itself. I myself prefer a lot of bass for my style of playing, while my buddy loves the trebly sound on his bass.

[The Metal Maniac 0]

I have a 9-piece Tama kit, no-name symbols and heads, except for the one that's Tama, and one which is Remo.

 

Hey fuck you, it was used and I don't play it as often as I should. Oh, and I'm missing a tom stand, so it's really only 7-piece.

 

Hell, I don't even know if I'm counting it right...I've been told that cymbals should not be counted, but I dunno if that's right or what...in any case, I didn't.

 

I like it plenty much, but with a house full of people who are always either watching TV, sleeping, or studying, it's hard to actually ENJOY playing drums, you know?

[Guest Ahhee]

I play a Jackson Sololist, Neck-thru and dual Duncan 'buckers. I plug that into an ADA MP-1, Korg Effects unit into a Fender Twin.

[Guest JebusNassedar]

Currently, I have a piddly amp from Fender, and a five string Brawley bass which is more beaten up than you could imagine. Two of the knobs just arent there. I also have my eyes on two other basses: one being a fretless foursting, and the other being a mini four stringed bass. Good for hitting with.

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

Remo.

 

 

This the the brand of heads on the drumkit I mentioned.

 

 

and when counting pieces on a kit, just count the drums themselves.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I got my Hughes and Kettner ATTAX preamp to go with the huge PA I'm using as a bass amp. It absolutely SCREAMS distortion, and is so loud I literally could not stand in the same room. Fucking insane. It does everything I want it to and more, and I'm probably going to end up buying a massive 18 inch sub, so I can cross it over and be even louder. It's already to the point of "You're never ever going to have to be that loud," and I'm taking it as far as I can go. It sounds totally professional, and I've spent less than two grand on my entire rig. Bass, amp, effects, accessories, the whole thing. Awesome.

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

and on the opposite end of that spectrum. when doing rehearsal tapes I would use a Sears type brand guitar with peavy practice amp recorded by a mono tape deck that is over 10 years old. I would get the best black metal tone ever. So grim and crusty

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Mine sounds full and rich and pristine. Enough low end to produce a tangible tremor in the air and structure of the room. It makes the entire drum kit resonate, and the snare goes off every time I pick a note. It also has enough shrieking gain to make everyone's ears ring, and that's turned up to about..6. It's like having an enormous dick, I just can't stop playing with it and bragging about it.

 

I cranked it up once, without even crossing it over or getting my EQ set or anything, and I had to shut my eyes it was so loud.

 

I dealt with shitty gear for YEARS, playing on the same Korean Epiphone McBass that I learned on and a Trace Elliot 65 watt shoebox, with one paltry 12" woofer. This however was an upgrade from the gaytime starter set Epiphone walkie-talkie speaker with dials. I then accquired the fabled Five Dollar Bass, which is the exact same bass I had, only with the black body and white pickguard, which has been passed from slacker hoosier bass player to slacker hoosier bass player since 1996.

 

This rich kid from up around Michigan City decided he wanted to play bass one day, and got the thing, tired of it after about a month, and traded it to some other kid for some random crap and five dollars. Then someone else stole it, and traded it to another guy for weed. This guy got smart and carved his initials in it, but ended up selling it for practically nothing, and then THAT guy left it in his girlfriend's car, who then went out with my buddy Sam, who gave it to me for five dollars. That's as far back as the history can be traced, or else Sam was bullshitting me bigtime. Either way, it makes for a good story if you're into frequently stolen and sold four strings with many flaws, and the same strings as were on it when purchased. It's more of a prestige item than something I actually play. Someday, I'll find the right person to bequeath the bass to, but for now I'm enjoying being the curator.

 

Anyway, then I got a decent job and bought some good shit. The end.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Bump.

 

Yesterday, I was driving around and stumbled across a garage sale, where this old man was getting rid of an old-timey looking electric piano. It's all out of tune, and the monitor speaker is totally blown, but it still works like a champ, has a spring reverb, and none of the keys are missing or anything (though a few stick.)

 

Total price: Five Dollars. I was so happy I could shit.

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

I have lost my mono tape recorder that I used for my incredible grindblacknoise band's recordings. I can only assume that it has been lost and didn't survive long enough to make it's way back to me. I'm not really sure how I'm going to proceed when it comes time to do it again.

 

RIP

 

1987 - 2004

[Guest macheteofodin]

Here it goes...my relatively long (winded) list of musical gear.

 

Guitar Gear:

I've been playing guitar for 8 years so I think I deserve better than what I have, but at least I have stuff that works...so meh.

 

Guitar - Peavey Tracer - It's all beat up. I'm pretty sure it needs a new neck or fretboard because I have a chunk taken out near one of the frets and I need a new nut. I switched the stock pickups for a single EMG 81. The jack is all fucked. If I move a lot a loud, ear shattering thud is produced.

 

Amp - Randall RG100SC - Craptastic Solid State 2X12 combo. The clean is pretty sweet. The distortion is kind of bad. It works... haha

 

Cabinet - Carvin - it's their standard cab... I like it...too bad I don't have a good enough amp to test it out.

 

Pedals - Original Crybaby, DOD EQ pedal and Digitech Whammy Reissue - I rarely use the Digitech. I like the EQ when playing clean because it adds some bottom end missing in the amp. I use the Crybaby sometimes...but not as much as I thought I would.

 

Drum Gear:

Drums - 9 piece "Thor" drums. I have 5 set up due to space. They sound like shit but are good enough for practicing on and as a starter kit. Tuning drums fucking sucks.

 

Hardware - Pearl standard hardware.

 

Skins - Mostly Aquarians. Double thins on top of toms, classic clears on bottom of toms and snare, texture coated on snare top, and a Remo of some sort on the bass. I changed the toms and snare skins, but kept the one on the bass.

 

Cymbals - Saluda - 16 and 18 inch crashes, 14 inch hats, 20 inch ride, 12 inch China. See drums for sound info, haha.

 

Recording Gear:

Mics - Shure SM58 and 57 - standard stuff...I'm not looking to lay down soothing vocals, so the harsher the better.

 

Mic Preamp - Studio Projects Tube Blend - just ordered it the other day because I needed a preamp for my new sound card...

 

Sound Card - M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 - heard good things about it. A BIG step up from my Soundblaster Live.

 

Midi Controller - Edirol PCR-30 - couple that with sonar and a good drum sample...no need to record my shitty sounding drums (I suck at drumming anyways, haha).

 

Software - Sonar 3 - Does the job...so far.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

You could get a cassette 4-track for around fifty bucks, probably. Use one channel, and you've got mono sound.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

OR you could move out of the stone age and get something like what that guy's got^.

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

I have a Korg 4 track digital mini studio at my disposal that is pretty ace for something the size of 2 discmans stacked.

 

But spending money on fancy equipment is faggily untr00 to the integrity of black metal, so I was hoping to use that tape deck forever.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Yeah..Emperor uses a bare-bones studio setup..

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

Ack, Ihsahn used a ProTools type studio, that's almost worse.

 

Anywho, I may be returning to the civilized work world after a long hitch on disability, so I want some gab about guitar equipment. Specifically amplifier set ups for studio and possible live usage. If I get recommendations, keep the price fairly reasonable and all that. I want loud shit that sounds good.

 

I may also pick up a drum machine, and I also know quite little about those. If anyone can hook me up with some good ideas for this, I'd be most grateful.

[Murmuring Beast 0]

Acoustic Guitar: Stagg - cheapest thing on the market, which I used to learn how to play. Tone is pretty bad, but it's not terrible or anything.

 

Electric Guitar: Yamaha Pacifica 112 - I love this thing. Doesn't go out of tune very often and is a solid rhythm guitar.

 

Electric Piano: Yamaha DGX500 - Features disk drive, pedal, etc. 88 keys and more sounds than I'll ever use. Sound is a bit low. For example if you were playing at a venue, you'd need to use an amp to pump it up. For a piano sound, you can't actually beat a piano. The keys on this are plastic and semi-weighted. But it's still an easy play and I like the organ tones on it. It cost me quite a bit but it's been worth it so far.

 

Oh, and a Hohner harmonica in the key of C, which I can't play, but occasionally try to...

 

In the future, I'd like to pick up a bass guitar. And if I got a nice big house and had a few bob to spare (as if ), I'd buy a real piano and a drumkit.

[Slayer 0]

Between Agent, Tack and Maniac, TSM could have its own metal band

 

...except all three have distinctly different tastes in the genre

 

Speaking of musical "equipment", I need to get my voice back in shape

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

Maniac would leave due to Agent and I fighting over creative control, leaving Laz to fill in for the midwest tourdates and eventually become so miserable, he is found at the bottom of a river with 3 shows left in the loop.

[The Metal Maniac 0]

Maniac would leave due to Agent and I fighting over creative control

 

That's band talk for "who the fuck listens to power metal? Get lost, fag."

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

Yeah, you'd only be there as eye candy anyway. Most definitely expendable.