Guitar recommendations

[Sherman Krank]

Acoustic guitarists, any of you had much experience with adding a pickup in the sound hole?

I've got an electro acoustic 12-string and have just recorded it with a mic if the sound's really mattered as I don't really like the sound direct out of an electro acoustic. so I'm thinking of maybe popping a pickup in there and hooking that up to the jack out that's already there.

but are there any particular ones to check out/avoid? Does a 12 string need a specific pickup or can I get away with just whatever single coil/humbuckers are for sale?
obviously I'm not expecting it to sound like a straightforward electric or anything but anything that gets away from (in my opinion) the strangely nylon sound from an electro acoustic would be a step up.

LR Baggs and Fishman are the acoustic pickup specialists.
You don't need a specific kind of pickup for a 12 string but you'll likely need to spend around £200 to get something noticeably better than whatever piezo system is in your guitar and even then you'll probably still get better results recording by miking it up with a decent mic.

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

Cheers for the reply and yeah can't beat using a mic to record but for playing live and hoping there's a better sound to be had!

[Spiteface]

Tempted by one of these:

https://www.epiphone.com/Guitar/EPI9YL50/SG-Classic-Worn-P-90s/Worn-Cherry

Like the idea of a P90-loaded SG, so this fits the bill nicely. Torn between finishes, too.

[Ferris]

The cherry red is nice and classic, the green is vomit inducing. Only one choice there for me!

[Spiteface]

The cherry red is nice and classic, the green is vomit inducing. Only one choice there for me!

More the idea of something different, to be honest. Red is my preference of the two.

I did, however, see Gibson changing the finish options on their SG Special, rather than the Burgundy Sparkle and Pelham blue, they're now offered in more "classic" cherry and black finishes.

A twin-P90 SG is even more appealing with the smaller pickguard, ever since seeing Billy Corgan use one in 1999-2000.

https://youtu.be/efRzaHIQeOo

He probably got the idea from Tony Iommi's "Monkey" SG though, but he did get into P90s quite a bit during Machina.

[Ferris]

I was always a sucker for the pelham blue actually, bit of a shame to see it gone. I've gone back and forth on SGs in general but now I reckon they're fucking boss and I'd love one. Don't think I've ever played one before that I remember.

[drummersaredeaf]

I've been taken by a danelectro fab tone pedal lately, but am mindful they eventually fail. Other than dropping two hunner on the Stuart Braithwaite clone, is there a way to get in the ballpark with other more reliable units? I've seen the DOD grunge mentioned, but wondered if a RAT and/or a fuzz will get there too. It's the thickness and the gain I'm after rather than the fizz really.

[Ferris]

Not sure if it's what you're after but I've had an EHX Big Muff Pi for years and it's been excellent. Very full range of sounds, been using it with the gain all the way down and it's like a boost pedal.

[Sherman Krank]

Anyone looking for a dirt pedal should check out Websmurfer on ebay, he's a bloke in Wales who makes no frills clones of classic fuzz and overdrive pedals for around £30 a pop.
(The auctions usually end around 8pm ish Sunday.)

I've got his Mk1 Triangle Big Muff clone (the yellow one) and I've also got the genuine EHX reissue and they sound identical, the only difference is the colour and about £60.

I've also got (among others) his Mk2 Violet Rams Head BM (purple one) very Pumpkins/Dinosaur JR with chords and all super sustainy Gilmourish with single notes.
Like the real things, the Triangle and the Rams Head are very similar with the Rams Head maybe being just a bit darker sounding. You probably don't need both but I figured they're only thirty quid each so why not?

One thing though, being no frills they don't take a battery so you'll need a power supply (standard 9v centre neg).

[Ferris]

^superb recomendation, much appreciated. I've often thought there's not much to pedals that makes one 40 quid and one 400 quid, and I'd happily give the money to a bloke in his garage vs some shitty massive corporation.

Will have a look and see. I'm pissed up so might even buy one, who knows, need a new DD-3 clone and a reverb pedal so...

[TheMonk]

Mike Rutherford is playing the cheap and cheerful Squire Bullet on the current Genesis tour.
https://www.guitarworld.com/news/mike-rutherford-genesis-squier-bullet-strat

[Huxleys Babkins]

Mike Rutherford is playing the cheap and cheerful Squire Bullet on the current Genesis tour.
https://www.guitarworld.com/news/mike-rutherford-genesis-squier-bullet-strat

Tim Butler from Psychedelic Furs used a Squier Affinity bass on their last tour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJyj40K7lMQ

[chutnut]

Well I'm currently waiting for my 2nd replacement Jazzmaster to arrive, the last one had 2 volume dials on the rhythm circuit and no tone control. Hopefully someone's fully checking this next one over so I don't have to go for a 3rd replacement!
At least I have actually had a guitar to play for most of this time, but 2 faulty ones in a row have kind of killed my buzz a bit I'll be honest. To be fair the shop have been pretty good at collecting them and sending out a new one straight away.
At least in a couple of weeks I should have one fully working and set up!

[DJ Bob Hoskins]

Mike Rutherford is playing the cheap and cheerful Squire Bullet on the current Genesis tour.
https://www.guitarworld.com/news/mike-rutherford-genesis-squier-bullet-strat

Tim Butler from Psychedelic Furs used a Squier Affinity bass on their last tour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJyj40K7lMQ

I went to see Placebo a few years ago and their bassist played a Squier Bass VI.

We really are living in an era of great cheap gear and Squier in particular are knocking it out of the park. Though it is worth noting that Mike Rutherford's guitar tech says in that article that he upgraded the bridge, nut, tuners and pickups of those guitars. By the time you've done that you've spent enough money to buy an entry-level Mexican Fender.

Not that I would discourage anyone from buying them as a modding platform. I had a Squier Jaguar which I upgraded with a better tremolo and bridge, and that was pretty great. I also have a Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Bass, and while I appreciate there is a difference in overall quality compared to a more expensive instrument, I cannot convince myself that it would be worth spending an extra grand to get a US Fender and gain a slightly nicer-feeling slab of wood with fancier pickups (pickups which I could buy separately anyway for about €150).

Speaking of budget gear: I recently bought a Cuvave Fuzz pedal off AliExpress for about €20, and it is hands-down the most face-meltingly great fuzz pedal I've used. I have a Boss FZ-2 (first pedal I ever bought back in the mid 90s, now discontinued and much sought-after) which now fetches €300-€500 and for the specific sputtery fuzz sound I want, the €20 AliExpress effort beats it hands down

[Sherman Krank]

Mike Rutherford's guitar tech says in that article that he upgraded the bridge, nut, tuners and pickups of those guitars.

Rutherford's broom.



I just went and bought (won an ebay auction) another wee Hotone Nano Legacy amp.
This one is the Freeze B which is apparently based on the Friedman Brown Eye 100 (which I think is itself based on a Marshall JTM 45 which itself was pretty much just a copy of a Fender Bassman).
These little 5w amp heads are a lot of fun, they only really do one thing but they do it pretty well for not a lot of money. I've also got the Mojo Diamond (Fender Tweed) which only does clean and very mild gain and the Heart Attack (Mesa Boogie Dual Rec) which doesn't do clean at all, it just goes from Slash up to Hetfield (it's basically eighties metal in a little pedal sized box). So this one should slot in nicely between them.

[drummersaredeaf]

Not sure if it's what you're after but I've had an EHX Big Muff Pi for years and it's been excellent. Very full range of sounds, been using it with the gain all the way down and it's like a boost pedal.

I'm looking at picking one of these up, and having watched a comparison of the nano pedals on youtube, I seem to have a preference for the vanilla nano one (NYC?). I've read a few things about the mids and highs being cut and losing it in a mix. Is it worth dropping another 15 quid on a triangle/Russian/ram's head/op amp? I've heard some of these sounding astonishing for Gilmour style leads, but I did like the oomph from the straight ahead basic box. I do have a band of sorts on the go at the minute though, so the last thing I want is stamp on the noise maker and vanish with it.

[Ferris]

You've gone way beyond what I can tell you about my 15w setup in the basement. I've used the pedal a few times at shows and things ("you play guitar - come and do Christmas carols/play a family function!" etc)

I don't think it has scooped mids (in fact it's the reason I like it - the bass and treble seem nicely balanced) but I'd look for more advice than mine.

For whatever my opinion is worth (zero) it is an excellent drive/boost pedal. I certainly wouldn't look to replace it and I've never noticed issues with the mids. Considering I use it to do all sorts (including lots of muted chords while I wail about how much I wish it could be Christmas) I reckon it's a winner but check around first.

[PaulTMA]

We really are living in an era of great cheap gear and Squier in particular are knocking it out of the park. Though it is worth noting that Mike Rutherford's guitar tech says in that article that he upgraded the bridge, nut, tuners and pickups of those guitars. By the time you've done that you've spent enough money to buy an entry-level Mexican Fender.

True, but the tech's job includes ensuring the guitars are robust for touring at a Genesis-level - Mike may love the guitar but he upgraded the parts which were most likely to be problematic
on tour, plus I'm sure I read only the bridge pick-up was upgraded as their lights were interfering with it.  From what I've gathered, he likes the pickups and the ultra light feel of the guitar.  Fundamentally it appears to have remained the same from that perspective.

I do wish more pro players would show off their Squires with pride, the posher the player the better.  Someone get Tony Banks a Behringer synth.

[NoSleep]

I'm looking at picking one of these up, and having watched a comparison of the nano pedals on youtube, I seem to have a preference for the vanilla nano one (NYC?). I've read a few things about the mids and highs being cut and losing it in a mix. Is it worth dropping another 15 quid on a triangle/Russian/ram's head/op amp? I've heard some of these sounding astonishing for Gilmour style leads, but I did like the oomph from the straight ahead basic box. I do have a band of sorts on the go at the minute though, so the last thing I want is stamp on the noise maker and vanish with it.

Big Muffs famously have a "scooped" sound, i.e. the mids are reduced in comparison to the bass and tops. Probably perfect to sit behind a vocalist (or another guitarist playing lead), but might not work if you want the guitar to be prominent. Lots of cheap alternatives (£20-£35) that are virtually clones of the original pedals, so it shouldn't be too expensive to experiment. A lot of these cheapies give you a choice of scooped or non-scooped at the flick of a switch or the turn of a knob on the same pedal.

[Ferris]

Ah well there you go, I'd take NoSleep's advice over mine. I don't use it with a heavy overdrive so I've never noticed an issue with the mids but that may well be because of my cloth ears.

[Spiteface]

Yeah, it's a known issue with Big Muffs and clones.

Some actually incorporate a mids knob into the circuit to help with this and to broaden the tonal pallette of the pedal, but then you're drifting away from that sound.

I know Billy Corgan made extensive use of a Big Muff on Siamese Dream, but ditched it by the time the Smashing Pumpkins toured the album. I'd assume the lack of mids was a factor there.

[Ferris]

Mine has a tone knob and wicking knob (that frankly I don't think do anything beside volume cut/boost), presumably these are attempts to address the mids (and charge an extra $25)?

[kalowski]

Whilst I'd love a Jaguar, I can't afford one, so I am very interested in this Squier Jaguar. Does anyone know what the quality is like?
https://www.andertons.co.uk/squier-classic-vibe-70s-jaguar-laurel-fingerboard-surf-green-0374090557

[DJ Bob Hoskins]

Whilst I'd love a Jaguar, I can't afford one, so I am very interested in this Squier Jaguar. Does anyone know what the quality is like?
https://www.andertons.co.uk/squier-classic-vibe-70s-jaguar-laurel-fingerboard-surf-green-0374090557

I've not played the Classic Vibe model but I did own its predecessor (Squier Vintage Modified) and loved it: https://www.keymusic.com/item/squier-vintage-modified-jaguar-surf-green/ In fact it was my main guitar for about 4 years.

The Classic Vibe has a couple of differences. Most notably the bridge is a Mustang-style one (this is a good thing, as the vintage style bridge on mine was shonky and I replaced it with a Staytrem). The Classic Vibe has a bone nut (also an improvement) and a laurel fretboard instead of rosewood (some see this as a downside, but aesthetics aside I wouldn't really care about that, personally).

Anyway, if it's anything like my Squier I'd expect it to arrive in nowhere-near set-up condition, and strung with 9s which are far too light for a short-scale guitar. Once it's strung with 11s or heavier, and properly set up, it's an amazing guitar.

So in short, I'd say: buy the hell out of it, but also factor in another 50-60 quid to have it professionally set up. Yes, you can learn how to set up a Jaguar from YouTube, but unless you have some nut files (expensive) handy, you just won't be able to dial it in as nicely. And a well set-up Squier Jaguar can go toe-to-toe with an expensive Fender, I reckon.

[kalowski]

Great reply, thanks a lot. Really helpful.

[DJ Bob Hoskins]

You're most welcome. Not to be patronising as you prolly know this already, but Jaguars can be fiddly, pernickety instruments and they can be a bit intimidating if you're not used to them. I don't mean the switches as those are not complicated; I mean the general way the guitar is constructed with the separate bridge and vibrato, shorter scale etc. Minor details in the setup can really affect the sound and playability / stability more dramatically than with, say a Telecaster. But if it's set up just right.....  *chef's kiss* ...there's no other electric guitar quite like it.

[Ferris]

I loved the idea of mine, but ultimately hated it and sold it (at a loss because I was a mug). It was thoroughly unsuited for live stuff at all because I wasn't putting enough effort in to make it work and got frustrated with it and that was sort of it.

Ironically I'd love one now because I'm a guitar bore but can't justify the cost of buying one so that's the end of that really.

To echo what DJBH said - they're lovely things and once you have them the way you'd like they're brilliant bits of kit.

[DJ Bob Hoskins]

Ironically I'd love one now because I'm a guitar bore but can't justify the cost of buying one so that's the end of that really.

Ah, but if you trade something you already own for one - e.g. old guitars, engagement/wedding ring, children's toys/college fund, humiliating photos etc. - it won't really cost you anything at all!

[Ascent]

Anyone looking for a dirt pedal should check out Websmurfer on ebay, he's a bloke in Wales who makes no frills clones of classic fuzz and overdrive pedals for around £30 a pop.
(The auctions usually end around 8pm ish Sunday.)

I've got his Mk1 Triangle Big Muff clone (the yellow one) and I've also got the genuine EHX reissue and they sound identical, the only difference is the colour and about £60.

I've also got (among others) his Mk2 Violet Rams Head BM (purple one) very Pumpkins/Dinosaur JR with chords and all super sustainy Gilmourish with single notes.
Like the real things, the Triangle and the Rams Head are very similar with the Rams Head maybe being just a bit darker sounding. You probably don't need both but I figured they're only thirty quid each so why not?

One thing though, being no frills they don't take a battery so you'll need a power supply (standard 9v centre neg).

Thanks for the heads up. I bought one of his Rangemaster Treble Booster Germanium clones - it sounds fantastic!

[Spiteface]

Inspired by Big Muff talk in here, I've been on one of my regular Smashing Pumpkins binges lately and watching/listening to some live bootlegs has made me want to get back into strats, wanting one like what that Billy Corgan fella plays.

I do still have the 90s Affinity Strat that was my first-ever guitar, but by the time I mod that to what I want it'd be basically Trigger's Broom. So I'm going to get something that would be a solid platform. Given I'm going for a Billy Corgan-style affair, the obvious choices are a Squier Classic Vibe 50s Strat in Sunburst with the Lace Sensor Red/Silver/Blue set:





Last seen on stage in 2010:




There's pics & footage of it pre-paintjob, which may come at a later date.

I've also debated whether to go for the DiMarzio Billy Corgan pickup set, as I do like his latter-day strat sounds (although some of that might be his amps as well), but they're getting hard to find, so Siamese Dream/Mellon Collie spec it is...