Topic: Musical gear wanking thread

[popcorn]

There are a few different threads and posts knocking about regarding guitars, pedals, synths, wanking etc so I thought we could have a go at collecting all the wanking in one spot.

I have recently gone on a purchasing bender and would like to discuss my items with you.

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 have also just got one of these - found a bargain and jumped on it:



So far I don't really get it. It's satisfying punching in buttons to sequence beats, but my god there's a lot of menu diving and I hate having to memorise combinations of button shortcuts to do various functions. So far I keep thinking I can already do everything it does in Ableton, with a proper mouse-and-screen user interface, and I'm not finding it very inspiring.

I've also got one of these on order:



My Akai Headrush is probably my most used pedal, because loopers just make any bedroom guitar session just infinitely more interesting. I think it's finally time to get something that can record more than 15 seconds of sound, and also you can sync it via midi, which I'm hoping will make my Digitakt more fun.

WOT HAVE YOU WANKED OVER RECENTLY ??

[Better Midlands]

I have also just got one of these - found a bargain and jumped on it:



So far I don't really get it. It's satisfying punching in buttons to sequence beats, but my god there's a lot of menu diving and I hate having to memorise combinations of button shortcuts to do various functions. So far I keep thinking I can already do everything it does in Ableton, with a proper mouse-and-screen user interface, and I'm not finding it very inspiring.

I picked up one for €615 a couple of months ago and I've the had the opposite experience - I found incredibly inspiring and a nice change from the Akai MPC type world I was inhabiting previously. I'm not especially musical and use mainly samples so the step sequencing works really well for me. I've found it works best for for micro samples rather than loops, especially as I can't chop and use the 16 pads but vive la difference.
I can't stay off it and have been churning out house and minimal techno like a beast.

It's the best piece of equipment I've come across in years and am impressed by the Electron workflow, quite tempted by an Octatrack or a Digitone TBH.

[hellvetica]

I frequently crack one out over my pedalboard, which took about 3 years of buying, trading, manual reading and measuring to get perfect. I then purpose built the board so that it's impossible to change anything so I'm now stuck with these forever. I'm perfectly happy with this though as it does everything I ever wanted. I often turn it on so I can watch the lights blink and pretend I'm being interviewed for a Youtube channel about why each thing is on is there. FUNCTIONAL yet VERSATILE.



My nipples are also currently erect at the thought of walking into the guitar shop round the corner and picking this up on Wednesday.



I was looking at getting a bass but now that lockdown's heating back up I've decided I wanna learn classical guitar and the idea of owning something with the word 'Taylor' on the headstock is too tempting. I'm hoping if I at least fail at the skill side, the ladies will still lean in close knowing I'm earning 'Taylor' money.

[Better Midlands]

Rubbing through my trousers as I write this, that looks incredible.

[DJ Bob Hoskins]

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.

I had kinda the opposite problem in that I've been playing & recording at home on my laptop using a Focusrite interface -> Native Instruments Guitar Rig for years now (with great results) but I began to hanker after the kind of sound I could usually only get when playing through a proper amp at the local rehearsal rooms. Having never owned a proper amp I recently found a bargain on a mint condition 2nd-hand Vox AC10C1 and I absolutely love it.

Somewhat ironically, I play it via a Boss BC-2 Combo Drive which is a Vox AC30 modelling pedal, but the end result sounds incredible. Sparkly top end aplenty but with plenty of punch and throatiness. I'm a big Peter Buck fan and this setup nails his kind of tones from Murmur to Monster and everything in between. It also looks the tits.

I've also got one of these on order:

I'm currently getting friction burns over the Electro Harmonix 1440 Looper.



I bought its predecessor (720 Looper) a year ago as a sort of compromise, because what I really wanted was a compact, affordable pedal which had MIDI sync AND could store/recall multiple loops AND had reverse/half-speed playback AND could transfer files via USB. My prayers have finally been answered with the 1440 so I'm going to sell the 720 and get me one of those bad boys.

[DJ Bob Hoskins]

I frequently crack one out over my pedalboard, which took about 3 years of buying, trading, manual reading and measuring to get perfect.

Phwooar! Nice board indeed. I've watched demos of that Infinite Jets pedal and it sounds amazing. Jealous.

Also: Jaguars FTW

[NoSleep]

Still diving into microtonal music here (and the playing of it), so I bought myself a super-accurate strobo tuner that can be loaded with my custom microtonal tunings. Cost a lot more than standard tuners but well worth it. You'll find these are the standard tuners found in luthier workshops:

https://www.petersontuners.com/products/stroboplus/



I don't know if I posted this before (I've had this for a while whilst the rest have all been bought in the last 6 months) but I bought this box, which completely retunes each note on a MIDI keyboard individually, so I can use tunings like Harry Partch's 43-notes-to-the-octave scale on an ordinary MIDI piano keyboard. They're very limited edition so I grabbed one up as soon as I had the free cash to spare (sod the leccy and council tax bills).

https://hpi.zentral.zone/tbx2



Got a bunch of bottlenecks I had cut myself finished professionally by Diamond Bottlenecks (and have one of their fully customisable "Ultimate" lead crystal bottlenecks on its way, too). These are beautiful to play with. The strange-shaped one at the front is the first one I ever cut but the glass it's made of is nice and old so, it's still the sweetest sounding of the bunch.



And after all the above expense I bought a couple of cheap guitars and did a bit of setting up (new nuts, saddle, etc) on them to make them sound a whole lot more. Both have become surprisingly firm favourites in my collection that get played way more than others.

The one on the left is Thomann's own brand fretless bass that I got for about £100 (as B-stock, albeit I stuck a £40 set of Thomastik-Infeld flatwounds on it with the money I saved) and on the right is an £80 Parlour guitar, which has a more biting midrange sound compared to the standard sized dreadnought style acoustic. Being smaller it's also far more comfortable to play, feeling more like an electric sat in your lap; you don't have sit in a special position like I find you have to with a dreadnought monster to hand.

Oh, and another bargain (£100); an Aslin Dane Stingray:



And let me (re)introduce you to my new drummer (the RD-8; an 808 clone):

[NoSleep]

So far I don't really get it. It's satisfying punching in buttons to sequence beats, but my god there's a lot of menu diving and I hate having to memorise combinations of button shortcuts to do various functions. So far I keep thinking I can already do everything it does in Ableton, with a proper mouse-and-screen user interface, and I'm not finding it very inspiring.

I've played around with one of these too and didn't find it very intuitive or enticing to work with.

[FerriswheelBueller]

My pedalboard power unit is made by strymon, seems very solid. I also have one of the TC Electronics micro loopers but I am too stupid and busy to work it yet.

Really enamoured by these fuzz pedals - made by an Indonesian outfit called Sehat out of old telephones

[NoSleep]

Can you sing into it?

[FerriswheelBueller]

Can you sing into it?

I think so? Their website is complete shite.

Either way, I’m going to try and source one.

[kalowski]

I frequently crack one out over my pedalboard, which took about 3 years of buying, trading, manual reading and measuring to get perfect. I then purpose built the board so that it's impossible to change anything so I'm now stuck with these forever. I'm perfectly happy with this though as it does everything I ever wanted. I often turn it on so I can watch the lights blink and pretend I'm being interviewed for a Youtube channel about why each thing is on is there. FUNCTIONAL yet VERSATILE.

More importantly, is that a Jaguar?

[kalowski]

Oh baby!

[FerriswheelBueller]

More importantly, is that a Jaguar?

I sold my MIJ Jag because the pickups were complete shit and I had a gas bill to pay. Putting humbuckers in like that is definitely the way to go.

[buzby]

Really enamoured by these fuzz pedals - made by an Indonesian outfit called Sehat out of old telephones

<sobs>

[studpuppet]

I know, you're thinking, "Where's everything else?". Well, that's it at present. Decided (with no musical experience) to learn the bass at 49 years of age, off free YouTube videos. I've got one of those Vox amplug thingies coming so I can practice while the family are asleep. My daughter is pretty proficient on her Squier Strat so I'm wistfully dreaming about playing along with her without embarrassing myself in the not too distant future.

And like most wanks, it's more fun doing it than letting other people know you're doing it.

Ps. It's a Rocktile copy, not a Hofner. I'm not completely mad...

[buzby]

Can you sing into it?

Yes you can - demo here. He also makes the 'Moisture Fuzz' expression pedal out of old keyboard pedals.

[Spiteface]

Somewhat ironically, I play it via a Boss BC-2 Combo Drive which is a Vox AC30 modelling pedal, but the end result sounds incredible. Sparkly top end aplenty but with plenty of punch and throatiness. I'm a big Peter Buck fan and this setup nails his kind of tones from Murmur to Monster and everything in between. It also looks the tits.

To be fair, the Jag also looks the tits as well. Vintera, innit?

 Matching headstocks should be compulsory on ALL Fender offsets. Got a battered CIJ Jag in Candy Apple Red, with matching headstock and I love that.

[thugler]

Ohh, this thread is making me want to start playing bass and guitar again. Only issue is I have no amp/cabs and can't really play out loud here anyway. What's the best and cheapest solution to plug straight into my laptop? (no firewire ports). Doesn't need to be particularly good, I was thinking some behringer shitass thing?

[DJ Bob Hoskins]

To be fair, the Jag also looks the tits as well. Vintera, innit?

 Matching headstocks should be compulsory on ALL Fender offsets. Got a battered CIJ Jag in Candy Apple Red, with matching headstock and I love that.

Cheers! It is indeed a Vintera, although it’s had some work done: I swapped the stock bridge for a Staytrem and the tremolo with a Fender US/AVRI unit (with Staytrem arm). I also had a luthier cut a new Tusq nut for it and give it a proper setup. The neck, pickups etc are terrific so I’m done tinkering with it now, it’s pretty much my perfect dream guitar.

Never been a fan of matching headstocks (or tortoise-shell pickguards for that matter) but with this particular model it was love at first sight. I reckon your CIJ also has a 7.25” radius fingerboard? I find it much nicer to play compared to the 9.25” neck that a lot of recent Jag models have.

[DJ Bob Hoskins]

Ohh, this thread is making me want to start playing bass and guitar again. Only issue is I have no amp/cabs and can't really play out loud here anyway. What's the best and cheapest solution to plug straight into my laptop? (no firewire ports). Doesn't need to be particularly good, I was thinking some behringer shitass thing?

I reckon you can’t go wrong with a Focusrite Scarlett USB interface. If you only need one input you can get one for about €100. Goes up to €150 for a 2 input model. There are cheaper solutions but the price:quality ratio is hard to beat.

There are also loads of software FX/cab emulations out there which you can use in addition to the above but they range from free to pricey depending on how fancy/good they are. Most DAWs have some built-in FX / plugins which might serve well enough.

[popcorn]

I reckon you can’t go wrong with a Focusrite Scarlett USB interface. If you only need one input you can get one for about €100. Goes up to €150 for a 2 input model. There are cheaper solutions but the price:quality ratio is hard to beat.

I just got a two-input one of these and really love it. Just a really nice simple box that works.

[Spiteface]

Never been a fan of matching headstocks (or tortoise-shell pickguards for that matter) but with this particular model it was love at first sight. I reckon your CIJ also has a 7.25” radius fingerboard? I find it much nicer to play compared to the 9.25” neck that a lot of recent Jag models have.

Yeah, my CIJ has a 7.25" radius. It's a 1997-ish one, stock except for a mustang bridge. Want to get a staytrem bridge & trem for mine, as well.

As far as radius goes, I am fine with either one, as I also have a Squier J Mascis Jazzmaster that has the slightly flatter radius. They're essentially Squier versions of the Classic Player JM, down to the P90-ish pickups.

I should get some pics od my gear in here later this week.

[FerriswheelBueller]

I didn’t even know fender made a 7.25” radius. Been using the 9.25” ones like a CHUMP.

[DJ Bob Hoskins]

As far as I know all or most Japanese Jaguars have the 7.25" radius (same as the original 1960s models), but most of the recent Mexican and Squier ones have 9.5" (not 9.25" as I said earlier - that was a typo on my part).

Anyway it's all down to personal preference really. One isn't better than the other. I have long spindly fingers and am used to playing a Strat with a flatter 12" fingerboard, but with a short-scale guitar like a Jag I think the extra curvature helps me wrap my hand around it better, which in turn allows me to pull things off just the way I like it when I make beautiful music alone in my room.*

*Just thought I should keep up the wanking content in the spirit of the thread title.

[FerriswheelBueller]

My old CIJ jag was ‘97 I think, I’d assumed it was the 9.5” radius but maybe it was super comfortable cos it was the reduced radius. I don’t know.

[NoSleep]

Ohh, this thread is making me want to start playing bass and guitar again. Only issue is I have no amp/cabs and can't really play out loud here anyway. What's the best and cheapest solution to plug straight into my laptop? (no firewire ports). Doesn't need to be particularly good, I was thinking some behringer shitass thing?

This would do the trick (£32.99):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Behringer-U-PHORIA-UM2-Computer-Interface/dp/B00EK1OTZC/cab-21

Or get a Lexicon Alpha if you can find one; they're not sold anymore but you should pick one up for less than £50.

[thugler]

This would do the trick (£32.99):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Behringer-U-PHORIA-UM2-Computer-Interface/dp/B00EK1OTZC/cab-21

Or get a Lexicon Alpha if you can find one; they're not sold anymore but you should pick one up for less than £50.

That's more like the cheapness I require, thanks! I did have a fairly decent one tc electronic interface/mixer, but it's firewire and I can't be arsed getting my PC out of retirement just to noodle around once I've liberated bass and gear from storage.

[Spiteface]

My old CIJ jag was ‘97 I think, I’d assumed it was the 9.5” radius but maybe it was super comfortable cos it was the reduced radius. I don’t know.

Some people prefer the rounder 7.25, others like a flatter one. Typically the rounder ones are more comfy for chords, flatter if you do leads. Hence why compound radius necks are also a thing. Best of both worlds.

Then again, Billy Corgan's a bit of a shredder and when he had a signature strat from Fender around the time of the Zeitgeist album, which stock came with a 70-style head, and 9.5" radius. A few years later, when he was touring Oceania, he'd switched the necks out on his live guitars with 57 reissues. He said at the time as the Smashing Pumpkins were playing a lot of old material, he found those necks better for it. then he was bringing out his blue Mellon Collie 70s strat on tour again.

Here's some terrible photos of my guitars, starting with my Jag:



Stock except for a taped-up Mustang bridge. I know the Jaguar bridge is meant to rock back & forth with the strings, but I've found I get on better with a static Tune-O-Matic like my J Mascis Jazzmaster has. Want to get some fuzz & reverb pedals and play some shoegazey stuff on this one.


My most recent one, a Gordon Smith GS-1 60:



I really wanted a Les Paul Junior-style guitar, and Gibsons were either too expensive, or 2nd hand 2015 models (the ones with the weird necks & robo tuners). Epiphone hadn't unveiled their "Inspired by Gibson" line either, which has a proper set-neck Junior in it. This was £569, which for a hand-made UK guitar, is really good. Great punky machine, this one. Nicknamed "Maiko-chan" because I'm a wanker that named his guitar, after the sticker I got while in Japan earlier this year.


And if course, my pride & Joy, my Edwards Les Paul:


Swapped the pickups out a couple of years ago for Bare Knuckle Emeralds, and it became my favourite-sounding guitar. Absolutely nails the Manic Street Preachers & Sex Pistols tones I got it for, plugged into my Tiny Terror (an amp Orange should never have discontinued). Took the pickguard off, have since lost the screws, kinda like it this way.

[Rizla]

I think I've got just enough gear to give me constant nagging anxiety about it all, how much room it takes up divided by how much I actually use it times the potential for liquidating it minus the hassle of keeping it all in working order. Amps mainly, several big valve vintage bastards that I'll never again gig with( now I have this little orange boy) but not in good enough nick to sell, were I even able to contemplate such an action. Guitars, same thing. I own about 18 but I only really use 3 or 4 and the rest aren't really worth selling without overhauling them, also I would be sad. Synths etc I'm not too bad on, Juno106, Moog Rogue, Korg Poly800 and a few other bits and pieces, they all have their uses. Then there's pedals, must have over 70 by now, keep finding ones I forgot I had. Boss ones you just end up collecting like corgi cars. Pretty colours. Barely use any except the tuner though.

Funnily enough the most useful effect is probably the one I built myself, a Dallas Rangemaster clone in a tobacco tin. Ordered the antique transistor off ebay for about £7, other parts were pennies. As many will know it's the secret sauce in Iommi, Beck, May, Gallagher etc's sound. It's just a treble booster but it has an extraordinary effect both on the sound and the way you play. Very responsive thing.