Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

Admittedly, I have not gone over this entire topic. But, I wanted to say, I played through a $600 Epiphone at SamAsh the other day. IT SOUNDED HORRID! Lol. I put it through a 30 watt Marshall. Put some Chorus on the FX panel, and started playing. It sounded like you were playing on plastic strings, and the pickups pick up every little sound. It was just horrible, lol.

I did better playing through a $300 Ibanez, that one sounded very good. I also tried some other guitars, but the Ibanez was better. I would like to try out the Stratocaster and the PRS next time.

Peace out, GuitarAnatomy.

My wife bought me an Epiphone Casino from Guitar Center a few years ago for an anniversary present. I had wanted one for years because that model had been so intregal to the Beatles sound. Lennon, Harrison and McCartney owned/own Casino's and played them extensively. The model I received was the MIK Natural finish. The set up from the factory was great and the guitar looks exceptional. The only change I am looking at right now, is changing the existing machine heads out with Grovers. Many people have also spoke of replacing the factory P-90's, but as of right now, I will probably keep the "stock" pups that came with the guitar. I believe for the cost vs quality comparison, the Epiphone guitars are an excellent choice.

Hmmm...some interesting comments here.

I've played quite a few strats, japanese probably would be my first pick. Friend here has one, I worked on it a couple of times, basic setup and intonation, nice guitar but my Squier sounds and plays better. Played a Epiphone Casino (black) a few times years ago, nice guitar. Always did like the epiphones, except for the strat copies with the angled headstock, can't keep the thing in tune. Traded mine for my Squier Strat, glad to get rid of the Epi. That was the only thing wrong with it though, couldn't keep it in tune. Played and sounded good, well built, good pickups, just a really bad headstock design.

I'll never let got of my Squier Strat, I've played a bunch of Fenders, American and imports, none played or sounded as good as my Squier, swapped the pickguard for a psychedelic one and had to swap out the volume and tone pots, it's my favorite of my 9 playable guitars. Some great Squiers were made, but you have to be picky with them, can't just grab up any Squier and have a good guitar.

A lot of the Epiphones are good guitars, I have trouble finding one with a slim enough neck for me, especially the Les Pauls, they always feel like trying to play a baseball bat. My '70s Epiphone FT 130 acoustic was fabulous, you don't wanna know what I'd do if I found the idiot that stole it...Again be picky and you can find good ones.

Captain Scott: You made a comment about a 1970 Fender...That's CBS, they bought Fender in 1965, started adding the silver faceplates on the '67 models, used some of the existing parts as late as '69, but everything from '67 on is considered CBS. Some of the '67 models were CBS, but mostly still pre-CBS parts and schematics. Name was changed from Fender Electric Instruments to Fender Musical Instruments.

Check the Fender Amp Field Guide, click the link on left to "Fender Amp Timeline" for more detailed info.

you know pete... a lot of folks won't touch cbs era stuff... but I'll tell ya, my boss had a pre-cbs bassman... very nice... but the silver-face 70's bassman we had in our shop sounded just as nice... to me. I wouldn't throw either out of bed.
and I love the early-mid 70's strats... with that big headstock... and a real thin neck... certainly not nearly as collectible... but still nice - no doubt.

morale of the story: now that I think about it there's not much I would throw out of bed.

CBS amps (silverface) had two main problems, they put capacitors on the tubes themselves supposedly to stop oscillation, and the tone section had a cap that let the bass become over the top. Too boomy, barely controllable bass. I changed those two things, put the oscillation cap where the old 50's Bassmans had it, swapped the tone cap for one that brought the bass into good sounding and controllable range, now my '73 Silverface Super Reverb sounds great, although not quite exactly blackface. That can't be done with my amp due to the different transformer required for a 5U4 rectifier tube. Different voltage, GZ34 tube won't handle it, so it can't be totally blackfaced, but it sounds really good like it is with only a couple of minor modifications.

My Champ is a '74, and sounds great, the best practice amp I've ever played. I'm thinking about trying to swap a cap out for more bass though, it's always been a bit on the light side. Especially now that I've rebuilt my 1x12 cabinet for it, more bass sounds more like a good idea every time I think about it.

Nothing wrong with the silverface amps that a bit of soldering won't fix, but I don't even look twice at the master volume rigs, I like a straight tube amp.

'73 Silverface Super Reverb... that's a sweet amp. I'd like to start aquiring some post cbs stuff... you know it's still very affordable, will def hold it's value, sounds great, and will eventually be worth some big money. Even the seventies strats are starting to get more valuable.

'73 Silverface Super Reverb... that's a sweet amp.

You betcha..I love it, best sounding amp I've ever played, with the possible exception of a 70's Peavey Butcher that belonged to a friend, I played it many times onstage with his band for around 3 years.

Affordable? That's debatable...I was surprised when I started checking out retail prices on these things. I've always leaned toward pawn shop amps, you can get lots better prices on amps and guitars that usually need nothing more than a decent setup or much neglected maintenance.

When I got the Super, i started looking around just to see what it might be worth. I got it for 3 hours working on a relative's computer, fixing the first copy of the Sasser worm that I know of. (McAffee discovered it 8AM Saturday, she called me 6PM Friday night...) She gav3e me the amp, in need of repair, for fixing the computer. First one I found at a guitar shop was $1200...There's a Traynor 60 watt tube amp sitting in a local pawn shop now (or 3-4 weeks ago anyway), for just under $400...I've seen a dozen Peavey Classic 30's for $200-250, a couple of Classic 50's about the same. (I passed on a Classic 30 for $150, not enough bass gor me, now I know I could have just swapped out one capacitor and had a great amp)...Blackface, look for them to start at over $1500...and that's for a beat up one. My Silverface is in great condition, been sitting in a closet with a naugahide cover on it for 20 years, well taken care of before that.

Here's a pic of it, sitting behind my recently modified tele copy. I put a Peavey pickup in the neck position and swapped the white pickguard for a black one. my 74 Champ is on top.



I got a deal for sure, 3 hours work...same for the Champ really, $8 at a Houston flea market, $4 for some tubes down the hall, $12 for a Radio Shack 8" speaker, later replaced with a Gorilla 8 incher for a dollar at a yard sale...I've spent less on the Champ than you would spend for the tubes to retube it...The Peavey MX cost me $60, then $120 for repairs to get it working. More recently another $120 for a replacement transformer, and $140 total for the '67 Kustom 2x12 cab it sits on top of, so both the Champ and MX cost less than half what the Super Reverb goes for...Got my Peavey Classic 212 for $150 in a New Braunfels pawn shop, add that to the mix and it's still barely over half the price of a '70's Super Reverb or Twin.

Affordable though? I'm not sure I'd say that...Even the CBS Silverface amps are getting some pretty steep prices these days. They weren't well liked by musicians, which is the #1 reason Marshall became so popular, mainly due to the two issues I mentioned earlier, too much bass and loss of the high end chimey sounds, but they are now still considered vintage amps, and that means higher prices. No way I could afford to go out and buy one...

Guitars are strange.....there is no rhyme nor reason to what makes a good one. Playing since '76 (still suck, tho ) Ive had a lot of guitars.
The LP Custom I got used in '77 was a substandard guitar. The '59 strat that fell into my hands almost my accident, sucked. Sorry collectors and knowledgeable people, but my '96 Mex-0-Caster is a better, more useable instrument. My favorite guitar of all is my first one, a '76 Tele. I put a DiMArzio Pre-Bs Tele in the bridge and a DiMarzio Super Distortion hb'er in the neck and it just sounds and plays like nothing else Ive had. Oh yeah, to stay mildly on-topic, I had an EPI -V and it was a great playing guitar with a super finish ! I didnt keep it though because the battery EMG's that were in it sounded terrible and all the push-pullery of the pots was too complicated for me to remember. As a road-hotel room guitar I just got a cheepo, Indian Jackson and although it sounds weak, it is surprising playable. A great neck !
There is no Fender or Gibson I would pay even 600.00 for, maybe a nice used Ric 620 but with such great stuff available for so cheap I just cant justify the extra $$$$ for name cache.

Oooooffff, play 100 guitars and then say that.

Affordable? That's debatable...

fixing the first copy of the Sasser worm that I know of. (McAffee discovered it 8AM Saturday, she called me 6PM Friday night...)

Here's a pic of it, sitting behind my recently modified tele copy. I put a Peavey pickup in the neck position and swapped the white pickguard for a black one. my 74 Champ is on top.

yeah I've seen late 60's early seventies bassmans for about $300 and up. That's not too bad... I have an old blue label jensen 15 - from a bassman cab... that'd make a nice combo... one of these days.

mcaffee, norton, bit defender... there is always a window of a few days before anyone submits an infected file and b4 they can get a fix out...
used to be that you were better off using a lesser known virus scanner and you'd sidestep most of the latest-greatest attacks based on different design but that really isn't the case these days. Bottom line: if you have files you want to keep - either back up every day or keep the pc they're on disconnected... otherwise there is potential for loss.

i see the tele... so did you 'basturdise' an old t-64? (that's what the pickup came out of right?) believe it or not those old things are actually sought after... mostly in new york.

classic 30 for $150... not a bad deal at all if it works ok.
anywho... always a pleasure pete.

I was thinkin' about getting an epi casino because of the Lennon connection. Their too cool looking. You guys think that would make a good first electric guitar for a begginer like myself? (got a shitty el cheapo fender 6 string that doesn't count) Whattaya think?

Get what feels and sounds good to you. Dont worry what we think.

No, it's about the sound.

I knew when I plugged in to that strat, I had found where I wanted to be.

I know I can get similar sounds from other stuff, but the v-neck slim felt 100% and I found myself playing a little on auto-pilot. it was like an old friend you haven't seen in a little while and we talked extensively.

Then I had to relearn my volume levels, as I am using that head with no master volume. Instead, I had to use the volume levels rolled up as high as possible in conjunction with the volume on the guitar as the master volume.

Thank god for power brakes, standby switches and ear plugs..

I was thinkin' about getting an epi casino because of the Lennon connection. Their too cool looking. You guys think that would make a good first electric guitar for a begginer like myself? (got a shitty el cheapo fender 6 string that doesn't count) Whattaya think?

I played the Casino at Sam Ash a couple of months ago. I own a DOT and for the most part like it (the pups are crap, but the rest of the guitar is a great player). The Casino had a slightly more natural feel than the dot and it's hard to say about the sound when you demo it in a store.. but I'm hopeful that the put decent pickups in it..

But it did have an amazing feel. I think it took me a few weeks to warm back up to my dot at home.

As far as a beginner guitar, the dot might be a more reasonable purchase, just because it's got a good feel, is half the price, and once you really learn how to play well, you would appreciate a guitar like the Casino that much more. For a beginner, it might be overkill.

afa tone... you can't beat single coils and the two sweet spots on a five way... or a cpl humbuckers with a three way... or the texas tele setup with a 4way... or mini humbuckers... or a rail... or lipsticks... or p-90's...
or the seth lovers...
or those gretch overwound jobbies...
or two humbuckers set up on a mega switch so you get all those inner coil combos...
or the prs rotary setup...
I could go on and on... (and I usually do)

I'll take one of everything please...