GregP

Yup, it'll be better-looking fasheezy. The tuners will have to be repositioned so that you get clearance to turn them, but the overall shape is looking good. Greg

Yup. There may not be delay/echo, but there's an incredible amount of gain going on there. Yuk. Greg

Hi there, With the recent addition of the GDI21 amp sim pedal to my recording rig, I find myself missing the ability to record a clean signal for later modification. I know that there are active splitter boxes available, and that they're fairly cheap to begin with. I wouldn't mind saving a buck or two, but considering the amount of money I spend on movies, etc., $10 saved isn't really the issue, and I'd be fine with breaking even. I'm more interested in trying my hand at making a butt-simple piece of equipment just for the sake of seeing if it can be done. Ideally, I'd like it to be powered by 9V or 6V AC because I already have 2 spare wall-warts that I don't mind cutting the plug from, etc.. Is this doable? Easy? Futile? Passive solutions are fine, too, but I don't imagine there being a passive solution that would be any better than simply using a Y-cable Could be wrong about that one, too. Ideas? Pointers? Thanks!

Political correctness isn't always bad. The proliferation of "gay" as a synonym of "crap, horrible" is NOT the kind of statement some people are comfortable with. I have to admit, I have no personal beef with it (and I was quite fine with the way it was handled, with a sense of humour, hence my not reporting the thread) but I have a gay friend, and after she explained to me why using "gay" that way is still hurtful to the homosexual community, I decided to always be consistent in my attitude toward that word. Think about it. We're desensitized because it's so common, but once upon a time in my youth, we also used "Don't be such a Jew" to mean "don't be cheap," without even knowing what a Jew was. You'd be pretty hard pressed to find people using that phrase as an adult without knowing its implication. You wouldn't swap any other minority group for the word "gay" (ie. "That's so Indian" or "That's so Chinese"). 'Nuff said. Just in case it's been forgotten since the beginning of this post, my 'issues' with the word are more out of respect for my friends and other members of the gay community than out of any sort of personal injury, and for what it's worth I think the original poster of this thread seems like a good guy and a great new addition to the community, so no harm done and no offence taken. Greg

You just glue the body "wings" at an angle, and then plane the middle part (the "neck-through" portion) to match the body. Ideally, your neck-through portion will be thick enough that you then plane the entire back to be level. I'm about to eat, or I'd whip up a diagram for you. I know I've seen one around.... Greg

We're obviously not looking at the same clip, or you're using the wrong terminology. When he stops playing, there are absolutely no repeated notes. With an echo/delay, you would still hear his last notes repeating at least once more. :?

Oh, he's pretty fast all right. Watch the website videos again. Not a delay/repeat to be had. Nothing but fast-moving fingers. I still agree with the statement that his solos in songs sound like practice exercises all strung together, though.

Thanks for the contrasting opinion, Mike. It's always good to hear both sides of the story so that people can make informed choices. Greg

Grimace would never do such a thing. Just a coincidence of the way the pixels turned out when I resized him.

That upper horn not going to get in the way? Seems close to the neck. Other than that, it looks great. PS, I hope you'll believe me that I don't mean to be confrontational with this, and I'm not trying to provoke a fight or anything-- but I'd appreciate you not using the term "gay" in that manner in the future. Not sure if you can edit a thread title once it's been posted, as I've never tried. Greg

Grrrr.... So yesterday I was testing with a battery. Today I figured I'd buy an adapter for it, so I grabbed one at Radio Shack. Got home, plugged'er in, pressed the switch and.... nothing. I had the polarity aligned correctly or so I thought, but the way it was explained was poor and the diagram wasn't detailed enough. So, I figured, nothing to lose, reversed the polarity, tried again and still nothing. Tried a few different sizes of plugs, but to no avail. Tried the battery again (since it worked yesterday) and still nothing. So I was thinking, "great, my unit's ****ed already". Did the old tongue-test and realized that the battery had no more jooo--ooo---ooos, so it was no help telling me if I had crapped out the unit or not. But as I'm pondering things over, of course I'm looking at the interchangeable plugs for the adapter. Even though 2 of them seemed to fit, neither of them gave me a total feeling of, "yeah, that fit like a glove". So I find some wire, shove 2 pieces into the little holes where the adapter would normally go, and touched the other ends to the battery clip. LED comes on. So, I'm pretty sure it's just that the adapter plug didn't fit properly. I had an old adapter ages ago that had a similar system of interchangeable plugs, but I haven't been able to find the adapter for ages. I DID, however, know where the extra plugs were. Sure enough, they fit the new adapter. HOWEVER, there was one missing... the one that I formerly used with my Boss pedals. I suspect that's the one I needed. Now I have to go all the way into town again, which is a real PITA just to exchange this stupid adapter. When I bought the GDI21, I had the opportunity to just get a Boss adapter for $25, but I figured they've GOT to be cheaper elsewhere. The one I grabbed today is more flexible and was only $3 cheaper. I don't need flexibility, so I'm going to take it back and just get the stupid Boss adapter I should've gotten in the first place. <rolls eyes at himself> Greg

Very good advice. I bit off a bit too much for my first project and I'm wishing I had done one more like that Axis. In fact, I love the look of the Axis and that would have made a perfect project. D'oh! My next project(s) will be simpler, for sure. Greg

I can imagine few worse hells than carrying a double-necked anything around on my back for a gig. <shudder> That Ric LOOKS awesome, though, and a strat/precision would be cool, too. Greg

Then your 12th fret has to be 12.5" away from the bridge (since bridges are compensated, 12.5" away from the high 'e' saddle, really). Period. Greg

Double sweet! I don't know why 'double'... but... double! Greg

Ah yes, but how many of those artists STILL live there? Hmmmm.... Duluth, Minnesota, or Duluth, Georgia? I tried looking it up. Greg

That headstock is absolutely awesome so far.

Holy sh** that's a great-looking bass. Howz she play? Those EMG HZs doing it justice? Nice-looking axe like that I'd expect to see Bartolinis or something (though I confess, I still haven't actually HEARD Barts, they just seem to be on top-notch instruments). Unbelievable. Whenever I get around to making a bass, I hope it turns out as well as that. Greg

Love the Lightfoot version, but I'm a bigger fan of the Rheostatics cover (bonus track on their album Melville). If anyone feels like being a buck poorer, you can buy the track at maplemusic.ca. The lead guitars are by my favourite guitarist, Martin Tielli. Regarding "Life By the Drop" -- SRV was indeed a master, but this is one heckuva easy song to learn. There are only 2 semi-tricky parts that might throw beginners off (fills), but you can always skip those and just play the base chords. Now SINGING it is trickier... it's higher-pitched than you would first think! Greg

Could be worse. I'd rather be 30 minutes from anywhere (wait... I basically AM, as I don't live in Ottawa proper) than 3 minutes from somewhere in downtown Winnipeg. Ugh. Or worse, Brandon. Or even worse, Portage La Prairie. I guess what I'm saying is that I don't like Manitoban "cities" (emphasis on the quotation marks used). Is one of those sheds your shop? If so, that's way cooler than living in the city. Greg

Also worth mentioning: the $50 CDN did not include the power supply. I could've grabbed a Boss one for $25, but I thought I'd look around first, and maybe pick something different up from Radio Shack/Tandy or what not. Would a cheap power supply be a potential source of noise? I don't really know about such things. Regarding the bypass loop -- great idea. I've never made a complete electronics project before (my guitar's wiring will be my first!) though I've done plenty of 'utility' soldering that it doesn't intimidate me. I just don't know where to get started. For example: what's a Hammond box? Greg

I've been debating about what to use for my guitar, and I keep thinking of using Shellac. It's an easy call for the natural finish guitar I intend to make, but I'm not sure about a solid black electric...hmm... Greg

So the first products from Behringer's new stomp box line have shipped, including the 3 SansAmp rip-offs. I got the GDI21, which is a copy of the Tech21 SansAmp G2. I'll post some soundclips once I've gotten a bit more familiar with it, but here are some first impressions and thoughts: 1. Initially, the unit seemed quite sturdy (in the package) and since it's hefty, I figured it must be die-cast. However, upon opening the package, I discovered that it's simply heavy-duty plastic. It's not likely to crack or break, but it's still not a tank, you know? You'd think they'd at LEAST make the switch heavy-duty for stomping activity, but the switch is even flimsier-feeling than the rest. Odd place to skimp, where it's most likely to break. So, yes, it's durable enough to use on stage for some people; however, if you are heavy-footed you are doomed. 2. When not engaged, the level is not high enough, so using it as an effect to turn on and off seems 'out'. I have to explore more, but it seems to me that there's no way to match the 'clean' level with the 'engaged' level. Naturally, you don't usually adjust the clean level of a pedal, but a clean enough signal should usually pass through. Initial tests seem to indicate that the level is being significantly attenuated when not engaged. 3. The amp sounds are quite good. There's still something 'missing' much of the time, but for $50 CDN, compared to a $2,000 amp, you shouldn't expect a miracle. I was pleasantly surprised! 4. The 2-band EQ isn't flexible enough. In order to get the heavy sounds to sound... well... heavy! I had to scoop a wee bit of the mids. I'm actually a big fan of mid BOOST pre-distortion, and THEN a bit of mid scoop at the end, for heavy sounds. I don't actually like to cut my mids out, I just like to change the way they interact with the distortion. I don't have an EQ pedal, so I had to settle for a cut post-distortion, and it worked fairly well. 5. The drive knob doesn't provide a wide enough range. It gets dirty too quickly (at like, "1", "2" at best) to provide a very broad range of mildly overdriven tones. However, with a bit of finesse I was getting some lovely driven Twin sounds. 6. This is something I should have known, but just didn't-- as a DI box (it is capable of being a neutral DI with ground lift) it is only effective when using the balanced XLR line out. While there's a 1/4" mono out, this is only suitable for chaining it as an effect, not for DI duty. I found I got best results by going guitar-->GDI21-->StudioV3 preamp-->soundcard. Ideally, you'd want to cut the additional pre-amp out of the equation. :? Weird. Again, I can't help but wonder if I'm doing something else wrong, but it's not like there are a lot of controls to screw up. Also, my soundcard is partly to blame because it only accepts unbalanced RCA input. If it had a balanced line in, I might have had a proper match and been able to eliminate the extra node in the signal path. In summary: - construction: adequate for the studio but not up to 'real' or 'enthusiastic' stage work - sounds: surprisingly good, especially with a bit of work! Changing the gain stage models and mic placement models actually had a pleasant (and predictable, meant in a good way!) impact on the tone. Curtis P would be in pinch harmonic heaven with even a half-driven high-gain "brit" sound with centre mic. - as a DI box: don't think my setup allowed me to properly test it - value-for-money: exceptional, so far. I'll get back to you after a few days. I need to A/B some GDI21 vs. virtual amp to see if I'm actually getting some worthwhile tone out of it. For people not using or not comfortable with virtual amps, this had GOT to be good VFM. Greg

If the customer doesn't ever use the trem, you could even consider blocking it completely. I wonder if a Tremol-No would fit on it? Greg