Stuck at work and bored as hell...

[Heath]

So, yeah, this is an anything-goes-help-me-not-step-in-front-of-a-bus-I'm-so-bored thread.  Feel free to post whatever the hell is going on with you.  I'm at least sticking to music-related stuff (or trying to) but that's just me, I don't care what anyone else posts.

#1 This is keeping me sane at the moment:


#2 Now I want a Danelectro 56-U2.  That's one thing I love about punk; ANY guitar you get your hands on, from a Tele to a Les Paul to a freakin acoustic works just fine.

#3 I quit smoking and it's driving me up the damn wall.  Music-related?  Glad you asked.  I'm agitated feeling and as broad as my music-playing tastes are, what that really has me wanting to do right now, this very moment, is jam out some punk tunes on stage.  Jump, howl, and beat a guitar like it dry-humped my girlfriend.

#4 I've written before about how I try to be open-minded about guitar pickups.  Price and brand mean nothing if it doesn't sound right (and I've lost big $$ on some expensive brand but shitty sounding pickups).  Guitarfetish.com is one of those places that seems to divide people quite strongly. My opinion is, I've gotten some pickups there that I freakin love (Mean-90s, Mini-humbuckers (AlNICo or Ceramic), Boston Blues, Brighton Rocks to name a few I've been REALLY impressed by) and then I've gotten some that did not impress me.

However... they've got something new that is peaking my interest big-time... GFS Gold Foil Pickups.  One thing that bugs me about GFS is their hype-text.  I know they need to market this stuff, but according to the text everything they make is the best shit there is... not very informative.  I know these gold foils are not likely to sound just like the oldies, but if they offer some sort of discernibly different sound (that sounds good) I must have them.  I'm just trying to think of which guitar I'd put them in... muhahahaha.

[Vince]

I'm currently deciding on which wah pedal to get, I have a crybaby and that does me good but I NEED to buy something instrument related, The CAE wah is leading at the moment as it still retains the crybaby vibe  but with added stuff... and added stuff is always a bonus....

Pickups, I agree, brands mean nothing. Recently I bought a 'Magnum' pup from John Birch guitars and it's fantastic..really nails the 70's sabbathy tones... I also bought a Tonerider Alnico II for the neck of my SG which is also brilliant, better than the SD 59 that was in there... The Birch pup was £35 and the Tonerider was £37... pretty much two pickups for the price of a well known brander...

Music, I'm currently overdosing on 'Orchid'

[Ciaran Haslett]

Here's one.

I'm currently elbow deep in a Requisite Audio PAL preamp/comp.  The big power filtering caps leaked and the rectifier bridge completely blew apart.  The guy who owns it called Requisiten (based in L.A. I think) and asked for a price on a new Power Supply PCB.....$600!! SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS for 4 caps and a few diodes and resistors on a PCB!

So i told him I'll have a go at getting it working again.  But....he's insisting I replace any faulty parts with factory approved parts...i.e.  Whatever that make of capacitor is that blew...replace with the same make.  Studio guys

Well, needless to say he's an idiot but hey its his money.  So, the only place I can find this specific cap online comes from the US (we're in Ireland) and is $8 but $25 shipping!

He's dead set against me getting any other standard axial 100uf 450V cap.  I mean its only for power filtering!

I'm temped to bang in anything and charge him the shipping costs anyway.

Anyway, thought i'd share my frustrations.

[Heath]

Vince wrote

Pickups, I agree, brands mean nothing. Recently I bought a 'Magnum' pup from John Birch guitars and it's fantastic..really nails the 70's sabbathy tones... I also bought a Tonerider Alnico II for the neck of my SG which is also brilliant, better than the SD 59 that was in there... The Birch pup was £35 and the Tonerider was £37... pretty much two pickups for the price of a well known brander...

I've got a couple of Tonerider Rebel 90's in a mahogany Les Paul Black Beauty knock-off.  Fantastic pickups.  Easily worth three times what I paid for them.  I had tried GFS Mean90s in it, but while I LOVE Mean 90s, they don't work as well (to my ears) on warmer wood tones like mahogany.  On Maple, Ash, Alder, and especially Basswood the Mean90s sound phenomenal.  So i snagged the Rebel 90s, wired them in, and it was instant love.

I've definitely heard good things about their AlNiCo II pickups, particular.

Vince wrote

Music, I'm currently overdosing on 'Orchid'

Wow, not what I was expecting.  I dig the lo-fi guitar sound and the prominent bass.  I was expecting some dude trying to riff my head off or something.  Aight, man, I'm checking out some more by them.

Ciaran Haslett wrote

Well, needless to say he's an idiot but hey its his money.  So, the only place I can find this specific cap online comes from the US (we're in Ireland) and is $8 but $25 shipping!

That feckin ridiculous.  Hell $8 for a cap is ridiculous by itself.  $25 for shipping a stinkin cap?  Jeez...!

I try to be very careful about buying into hype like that.  I used to get taken in and bought the bullshit.  Thankfully I grew up and learned better. Some people, like that studio guy, will continue to blissfully toss their money in the bullshit bin.  

Whatever you do, don't use other perfectly good caps and then tell him.  If he's anything like some people I know, he'll look for the first excuse to blame you for "not using the right parts" at even the slightest imagined imperfection.

[Beaker]

Heath - love the Hives, and yes you NEED a Danelectro. I've got a couple, and love them. But then I'm one of those odd guys that if someone gave me two grand to spend on a guitar, I would come home with eight or ten "pawn shop specials" rather than one big name guitar.

And yes those gold foils look the part - hope they sound as good, as they are supposed to be just another generic design under a fancy cover. However check these out - original specs, and handmade in England - he will wind them to suit too. AND he does Dano style lipsticks for your Strat or Tele.

http://www.mojopickups.co.uk/pickups.php

I agree though, some of those GFS pickups are great for the money. I've used Toneriders too and the same applies.

Vince I did not know that anyone was making pickups under the old John Birch name, so thanks for that. The originals could peel paint off walls, and were used by Tony Iommi and Slade among others.

[rocket88]

I hear you Heath. I quit smoking like 3 years ago, and for some reason I've been really jonesing for one lately so I bought one of those e cig things. I've been annoid and agitated as hell all week.

Can't agree more about pickups. I have the gfs surf 90's in that random mij guitar and they sound great. I also put a set of their lipsticks into a guitar for a friend of mind that sound awsome, it's painted like a 60's surf green and is his "surf rock guitar." But, I also have some more expensive ones, in preticular the custom ones from SD that match the ones made for jaco, made by MJ who wound the same pickups for him back in the day. Cost was like $200 or so, so not super expensive, but not cheap. They are incredible, but since they are on a fret less Jazz they don't get a tone of play time, but they are the warmest smoothest pickups I ever played. Also, I've been looking for a danelectro U2 in commi red for years, people just want too damn much for them whenever I find them.

Currently I'm in study hall listening to students talk, and it's insane. No joke, the highlight of some of their day is that on snapchat they can take videos and have music on. I swear it's listening to this shit that makes me really afraid for the future.

Can't play any of the videos, but I love orchid. I hope I get to see them. I've really been listening to a lot iof monstermagent, graveyard, and a bunch of other psych bands. I also came across this crazy psych band from Russia called kamni, and can't stop listening to their song thc shiva. I'll post the video, but can't grab the code or link on my iPad. Got one and a half periods left, then I can go home, lift and start my next build. Thank god.

[dbat69]

Heath - when I get wound up I tend to listen to Motorhead and Hawkwind and maybe a little old Maiden - it just seems to get my brain cells detached from reality for long enough to settle down   Ohh and play it LOUD with a good bit of bass

For pups - I've been using the Ironstone brand for a little while now and love them - and best of all they are not expensive £35 for a set of 3 strat singles  (lots of pennies left for beer)

[Silver Blues]

Hey that Orchid track is pretty sick. Thanks for giving me something else to check out

I haven't really played or built in a while, which kind of sucks. I'm thankfully going to start on my Blueberry this weekend as my order finally came in last week, and I need to find a moment to get everything with my Poinsettia sorted. This week was my study break so I kind of just binged on League with my friends and did lab reports, lol.

As far as music goes, I don't know how much you guys like instrumental prog metal, but it's one of my favorite things, and I discovered these guys yesterday and now that album (minus the gimmicky intro track) has been on repeat since.

[dbat69]

Hey Silver they sound really good - bit like Cream (remember them?) on steroids
I might have to invest in this

[rocket88]

Love prog. You should check out the last 2 opeth albums. Absolutely incredible, and really shows their range and talent. Also, for heavier prog rock, the new mastodon album is amazing, but then again I can never get enough of them.

[Frank_NH]

Wow cool tracks all...thanks for posting.  I'm thinking I need a subwoofer for my guitar to get that low thump!

Actually, though I just got a new amp!  My main gigging amp is a Roland Blues Cube BC-60, and I kept thinking I needed something a little lighter.  So I saw a clean BC-30 on eBay and pulled the trigger.  Same great sound (12" speaker) but in a slightly smaller, lighter package and few less bells and whistles (e.g. no reverb).  So now I have a matching pair!  

But here's the cool thing - I can use the effects send on the BC-60 to send the post preamp signal to the BC-30 and have two amps going at once.  Now, put a small delay pedal before the BC-30 and you get a massively wide sound!  I'm going to have fun experimenting with this setup...

[Silver Blues]

rocket88 wrote

Love prog. You should check out the last 2 opeth albums. Absolutely incredible, and really shows their range and talent. Also, for heavier prog rock, the new mastodon album is amazing, but then again I can never get enough of them.

I've heard the new Mastodon, it is really good. I've been meaning to buy it.

[Beaker]

 AWESOME psych scene in turkey in the late 60's and 70's ;)

Here's a some gems.

3 Hurel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=8QL1JzeAjAs


Erkin Koray
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=bRRBe_Rir1c&list=PL7P_9oYhSX50JwjJnoQM9CnV14QaDWk1y

[rocket88]

OMG Beeker. I can't believe that someone else is into those psych bands from the 60's & 70's. We have way too much in common.

[skeletonghost]

Bored as hell at work. Pretty proud of my last build, it was a dual hyperion 2/Escobedo PWM. My friend loves it, nice combo for some glitchy lofi fuzz. The Mobius Trip Looper layout is still on the top of my list for pedals to build for myself, I even have the  ISD1420P's ready to go. That huge layout keeps staring me down though  Also got a Marshal 100w solidstate, very cheap used. Anyone have an opinion on the mg100hdfx or solid state heads in general (I did score it for under a hundred...)?  

Does anyone else build any electronics other than pedals? Synths, or amps? I'm currently building a lunetta CMOS synth, also putting together a delta 3D printer.

Been really into some new atmospheric death bands like Swallowed, Death Karma, Urfaust, and Bolzer recently.

[Freppo]

Thanks Beeker for the links. Great stuff!

Here's a song from a album I recently picked up on vinyl

[Muadzin]

It's monday and another week of pining till its weekend again. Work beckons and yet all I can think of is some glorious filter tones.

I've rediscovered U2 again and now I'm GAS'ing for something that will help me nail that Mysterious Ways tone. Which is of course the Korg A3. Which is of course an old rack unit, like all the good stuff no longer in production so one has to run the gauntlet on eBay, and since its getting old known to be a bit finicky.  



I hear the Pigtronix EP-2 can come close though.



Naturally there's no schematic or vero for this thing!  \

Another filter tone that has me salivating is the one from Zooropa.

[Surgeon]

I've finished my hiwatt amp build a week ago and I'm really bummed. I love that thing. I just wish I had another amp to build (or money to get the parts to build another). That's the good thing with pedals, they're cheap and you can build a bunch of them before it starts being "expensive" (of course this is dépendent on one's definition of expensive).
I'll have to get back to building pedals just as a "building patch"...

I have to finish recording a bunch of new songs too and master them too but my kids have been really sick and some of their bugs got to me in the end so my voice has been shot for 2 weeks...

Been listening to a lot of good stuff but the #1 album that I've listened to almost everyday since its release is the latest lagwagon "hang"...amazing.
Other noteworthy albums and bands:
- Counterparts (difference between hell and home)
- Doomriders (darkness come alive)
-Everytime I die (from parts unknown)