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Musical gear wanking thread

Started by popcorn, September 27, 2020, 03:09:43 PM

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Ferris

Talk to me about tiny guitar amps.

I want a new tube amp to replace the old solid state amp I've been using as a placeholder for years. I think something in the 5-10w range is about right - I'll be playing in the basement after the nipper has gone to bed and I'm not going to be playing wembley any time soon.

I like the look of the orange micro terrors. Will be borrowing a friends fender blue junior for a little while also because he doesn't have space to keep it.

Anyone have such an amp? Or any recommendations?

NoSleep

Wouldn't an amp modeller plugged into the hifi be sufficient/better?

Ferris

Quote from: NoSleep on January 09, 2021, 06:54:23 PM
Wouldn't an amp modeller plugged into the hifi be sufficient/better?

Would it? I have no idea at all - I am profoundly amplifier ignorant.

Rizla

These are the small amps I own

VOX Pathfinder 15r - Very nice sounding amp, the dirty channel's a bit much for me but it can be modded easily to make it less metal. Real spring reverb is pretty nice.


Ampeg GVT5H (with a 1x12 cab) - Looks better than it sounds tbh, never had a good time trying to use it live. Has weird bass/tone system (baxandall, look it up), can be switched between 2.5 and 5 watts.


Orange Crush 35RT - 35 watt solid state amp, maybe a bit overkill for your needs but honestly the best of the 3, very easy to get a great sound, loud or quiet. Built in tuner, great dirty channel, fx loop. Have gigged loads with this, it's really flexible and looks ace imo. Also the only one still in production (there's a new version of the VOX out, don't know how good it is). Superb amp, £230 odd new, I got mine for £120 in cash converters.


My mate has one of the little Orange tiny terror jobs, he's very enamoured with it. The little speaker cab doesn't look up to much but apparently can sound great.



NoSleep

#154
Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on January 09, 2021, 07:09:26 PM
Would it? I have no idea at all - I am profoundly amplifier ignorant.

Have you never tried a Line 6 Pod or similar?

If you have a computer and an audio interface you can get software modellers too. And they would give you a lot more versatility (under strict volume control) if you just want to have some fun after the kids are asleep. Modellers will allow you to pick from a wide range of classic amp tops and then pair them up with whatever speaker cabinet you choose (I find the speaker choice is more important than the amp for a variety of sounds, once you get over the amount of overdrive or cleanness you need from the amp you are modelling). Basically most modellers will include a huge range of amps and speakers as well as pedals and rack effects.

Amplitube is a really good software one, even allowing you to choose the room and the placement of mics on the speaker cab (if you can be arsed). And works both as a plugin for DAW or as a standalone app.

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/amplitube4/

www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9854a2Nwc8

Review/Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65gYubeecac

I use it for way more than guitars or basses. The speaker choices are huge including leslie cabinets of all vintages.

I'm not so sure about the lay of the land for hardware modellers, but Line 6 used to be a leading manufacturer. But Boss and everyone else are in there nowadays.

popcorn

Hey Ferris remember when I began this brilliant thread with this brilliant post ????

Quote from: popcorn on September 27, 2020, 03:09:43 PM

I have just got one of these:



After years of failing to record my Vox AC15 amp in any way that sounds remotely non-shit I've given up and bought this amp modelling pedal. It's very highly thought of so I'm optimistic. I don't really know anything about amps or tone because I am thick, but so far I'm really pleased with it, because it's lovely and simple and small, and it's so much nicer playing through my monitors (with no Ableton lag!) instead of firing up this massive hissing fizzing box I don't understand. I've yet to do any recording with it, but it is really lovely knowing what the sound coming out of my monitors is exactly the same sound that will end up in Ableton. Goodbye fucking around with mics.

I haven't touched my amp since. It's just really nice plugging a guitar into a really tiny box and listening through my monitors or headphones instead. £400ish.

NoSleep

That reminds me. On the Thomann site there is a range of extremely cheap modeller stomp boxes in their own Harley Benton True Tone range; one for each of 4 famous amp manufacturers; Marshall, Fender, Vox & Mesa. The Vox AC30 one is different to the others inasmuch as it uses no digital modelling i.e. it's analog.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_california_truetone.htm
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_britsh_truetone.htm
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_ac_truetone.htm
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_american_truetone.htm




Ferris

Quote from: popcorn on January 09, 2021, 08:31:06 PM
Hey Ferris remember when I began this brilliant thread with this brilliant post ????

I haven't touched my amp since. It's just really nice plugging a guitar into a really tiny box and listening through my monitors or headphones instead. £400ish.

400 quid?! On yer fuckin bike you ham merchant.

Ferris

Quote from: NoSleep on January 09, 2021, 09:24:15 PM
That reminds me. On the Thomann site there is a range of extremely cheap modeller stomp boxes in their own Harley Benton True Tone range; one for each of 4 famous amp manufacturers; Marshall, Fender, Vox & Mesa. The Vox AC30 one is different to the others inasmuch as it uses no digital modelling i.e. it's analog.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_california_truetone.htm
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_britsh_truetone.htm
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_ac_truetone.htm
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_american_truetone.htm

Oh those look dead good actually, thanks!

I'm no good at this so here's a stupid question - can I get one of those, use it as a stompbox and play through my fairly neutral acoustic amp and achieve a similar fender/ vox tone without the need for monitors/computers? I don't like playing with headphones on because I'm a fucking prima donna

NoSleep

I think that's the general idea. If you use a fairly clean amp setting you should be good to go. They have speaker modelling incorporated too so they should sound pretty good DI'd and sent to your monitors too.

Ferris

Quote from: NoSleep on January 09, 2021, 09:48:07 PM
I think that's the general idea. If you use a fairly clean amp setting you should be good to go. They have speaker modelling incorporated too so they should sound pretty good DI'd and sent to your monitors too.

Oh right, nice one! Thanks for that, appreciate the info.

popcorn


Ferris

Quote from: popcorn on January 09, 2021, 10:26:36 PM
what about my info. ?

Not worth the paper it was written on, and it wasn't written on any paper.

popcorn

I do actually write all my posts down on paper by hand in addition to writing them "virtually" on the www so that's bad news for me.

I have the Joyo thing that looks a lot like the Harley Benton pedal above - Fender clone. Assuming it's the same circuit, and it's certainly the same case, then they are rips of the Tech 21 amp sims. Really happy with mine. Used it as a means of getting some consistency in practice rooms with crap amps and for mucking about at home. Increasingly they work in lieu of a plugin into the PC too.

Here's a comparison with the amp it's modelling - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwoTIRPkfhE&ab_channel=intheblues

Definitely worth £22.

NoSleep

I see, they are just clones of the Joyo range for a few quid less. As I tried to place an order with Thomann this week and discovered they no longer include VAT and there'll now be customs charges and leave the delivery company to hold you hostage with these (and probably add a "handling" charge) I've cancelled the order today. It's probably swings and roundabouts price-wise.

easytarget

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on January 09, 2021, 06:51:36 PM
Talk to me about tiny guitar amps.
I just got a Revv D20, generally thought of as a pedal platform because it doesn't have much gain and it's pretty fucking clean. It's tubes*, 20W switchable to 4W, headphone out, XLR out for yer DAW, cab simulation for them AND real, fucking speaker out which can get loudish depending on what you plug into it (I reckon you could get a nice broken up tone from a 1x12 or 1x10 on the 4W setting, 20W into a 2x12 can rattle windows). I like it.

by day


by night


*valves in standard RP EEnglish.

NoSleep

Quote from: drummersaredeaf on January 10, 2021, 12:46:39 AM
I have the Joyo thing that looks a lot like the Harley Benton pedal above - Fender clone. Assuming it's the same circuit, and it's certainly the same case, then they are rips of the Tech 21 amp sims. Really happy with mine. Used it as a means of getting some consistency in practice rooms with crap amps and for mucking about at home. Increasingly they work in lieu of a plugin into the PC too.

Here's a comparison with the amp it's modelling - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwoTIRPkfhE&ab_channel=intheblues

Definitely worth £22.

Looks like the Joyo and Thomann ones, as well as the Caline ones are all clones of the Tech-21 Sans Amp range.

Anyway I bought one the Joyo AC Tone, the only one in the series that is all analog (which is interesting for an amp modeller) and it's a really versatile tone-shaper, from super clean to full blast distortion. First off it just makes your guitar sound better going through it; it's a guitar conditioner! I found a some people online giving advice on how to make it sound like a lot of different models of AC30 (the "voice" is all important here; full anticlockwise to full clockwise takes you through a history of the AC30, then you have to tweak the tone controls to tune in further). But just playing around with the controls looking for sounds is what it's about. Apparently Joe Walsh uses the Tech 21 Liverpool, which this is based on, in front of his amp and calls it his secret weapon.

Also bought the Behringer BDI21; a clone of the Tech-21 bass DI/amp emulator box , which is OK-ish but sounds better if I go through the AC Tone first and introduce some dirt into the sound (a bit too midrangy to use on its own for bass), then the bass amp emulator brings back the warmth. Instant Tim Bogert/Jannick Top drive.

Also got myself a Caline Pegasus (another Klon Centaur clone) which also sounds nice on bass in front of the BD121. Sounds good in front of the AC Tone too.

And what got me into a pedal frenzy in the first place was my need for a wah pedal. I wanted something with control over the sweep and saw that there's Cry Baby model that would do the trick for around £140 but for £40 the Behringer copy of the same pedal (the Hellbabe) was hard to resist. It's even got an optical controller for the pedal movement, so it'll never start crackling.

Ferris

I have a Morley fuzz wah which I quite like - the treble gets a bit tinny if you leave it all the way forward but it was a very big sweep.

I'm shit at wah pedals though.

Edit: I've got that Joyo AC Tone pedal in my sights on the basis of your review NS. Might go for it, never got round to picking up a modelling pedal earlier.

NoSleep

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on February 11, 2021, 06:38:31 PM
I'm shit at wah pedals though.

So was I, but my main problem is controlling it to stay around the frequencies that I want. That's what's so good about the Hellbabe as you can zero in on the area you want to use (one control for the bottome of the sweep and another for the top) and how wide/narrow and how shallow/deep is the frequency you're on. After playing with the controls I can just happily move my foot up and down on the pedal and it all sounds good, never goes past the sweet spot I've tuned into.

I actually bought it for my Yamaha CP33 Stage Piano, which has an excellent Hohner Clav sound but without some wah it was too static. So I put it through the Hellbabe and then add some dirt through the Joyo AC Tone; perfect.

Quote
Edit: I've got that Joyo AC Tone pedal in my sights on the basis of your review NS. Might go for it, never got round to picking up a modelling pedal earlier.

It sounds good going direct into my audio interface and I see people online talking about using it instead of an amp onstage by tapping straight into the PA. And it sounds good through an amp set on a clean setting (probably a whole lot more sounds to be had from it through a driven amp, too).


ArtParrott

Has anyone ever used a zoom h6 or similar as an audio interface? I've been looking at the Tascam model 12 mixer/interface/recorder as I've been doing a lot of live sequenced stuff recently and need more inputs and a way of recording music without turning on the computer. 

The tascam seems like overkill though and while not massive is still going to take up a big chunk of available space. There's also the zoom L-12 and R series digital recorders but the latter seem quite overpriced considering they're 10 years old now.

I'd thought that given the explosion in podcasting that there would be plenty of used zoom recorders out there, and there are, but the used prices are all over the place and I'm not really sure why.

popcorn

Focusrite have bought Sequential. Weird!

Ferris

Quote from: popcorn on April 27, 2021, 11:45:46 AM
Focusrite have bought Sequential. Weird!

Where will I buy discount carpets now?

popcorn

Oh Ferris you don't understand synthesisers at all !!

popcorn

#174
I have bought this.



I've long dismissed digital kits - they seem to be the domain of crap YouTube drum covers, DIY metal videos and church bands. But I've always wanted to learn to play drums and I thought this would be kinder on the neighbours.

Observations:

- Took absolutely ages to unpack and assemble. Never had so many boxes.

- Really like the simple set of sounds and how the interface doesn't invite me to spend hours adjusting the level of room ambience etc. I know I'd waste hours on that otherwise.

- Having the ability to pipe in audio from a laptop or whatever makes practicing nice and easy.

- The more I play it, the more I'm impressed with the design and build quality. It's all plastic and mesh, but as soon as you put the headphones on, it feels convincingly real - especially the hihat and pedal, your brain really does forget there's no physical mechanism involved.

- It's not actually that quiet - you're still smacking plastic boxes with sticks, which isn't exactly silent. The neighbour below me complained, so I've pushed it into the corner of the bedroom (with a hallway below instead of a living room). I think that's less likely to annoy people, plus it now doubles as somewhere to throw pants and t-shirts, rock and roll.

So far I'm very satisfied with it as a practice instrument, which is exactly what I wanted from it. I doubt I'll be doing any recording with it. Maybe some demos?!

NoSleep

Do you think your neighbours below could actually hear you hitting all the pads or could it just be the kick and hihat foot pedals making it sound like you're keeping time on the floor (ask them what it sounded like)? Maybe you could make a riser to isolate you from the floor. Perhaps a couple of self-inflating mats[nb]Tesco's were selling these off for £3 because their camping gear wasn't selling anymore[/nb] with a sheet of plywood on top.

popcorn

I suspect it was likely the pedals, yeah. I did look into risers/mats/etc but moving them into another room is a cheaper solution for now. If they complain again I'll do some more forensics. edit: on the corpses of my neighbours.

popcorn

I'm so fucking good at drums. I can do it so my right arm is going 1-and-2-and-3-and-4 but my left arm is going 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3. Never been done before.

Ferris

Quote from: popcorn on May 01, 2021, 07:48:57 PM
I'm so fucking good at drums. I can do it so my right arm is going 1-and-2-and-3-and-4 but my left arm is going 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3. Never been done before.

Where will I buy discount carpets now?

Ferris

My Boss DD-3 has been slowly decaying for about 5 years. How feasible is it for an idiot (me) to fix it?

It powers on fine but only works in "hold" mode. It used to only impact the highest delay setting (so hold the pedal down and it seems alright), but it's been creeping along one notch at a time and this afternoon I could only use the very close echo-type setting - anything else requires me to hold the pedal down with my foot. It works as a "hold", so it's not a case of holding the pedal down and carrying on as normal because the sound doesn't decay.

Anyone else heard of this, or any ideas on what's gone wrong and how easy it would be for a simpleton to fix? I don't really want to buy another delay pedal.