General Music Chat

In that "heart " flange thing, you want a slow modulation so that you don't have to go deep causing that airy sound such as White Wedding intro.

Haley I actually just plugged straight into the EVH Phasor and it didnt sound much better to me than in my board, I guess its cleaner cause its not going thru as many effects.

Ive actually been experimenting with my amp tones again. On my Triple rec I had set up my 3rd channel for the modern setting, but it just hasnt been cutting it live so I started over.

Channel 1 back to a cleaner setting, for clean guitar parts, plus I can kick in the TS and liven it up.

Channel 2 Ive set for the raw setting, think of the guitar tone on Its Only Rock n Roll, just a crisp sound with a little breakup, I found that this setting really works with the TS for a AC/DC type tone. Works great for Skynyrd type guitar tones as well, plus some of the dance type music we play, just less bite than Ive used in the past.

Channel 3 vintage recto tone, this has that JCM 800 sound that I love, works great for the Van Halen Ive been messing with lately, gets all the squeals and pinch harmonics. Ive been working Panama up and its working great for that.

That modern setting is so over the top that Ive found I was only using it for a couple of songs, so Im going for a little more middle ground with my distortion tones. I find the brighter settings work on my ears over time, maybe it will give our audience a little ear relief.

Of course all of this is subject to be thrown out the window at any time, but I have really been enjoying rediscovering my amp tone, plus playing with the effects. I had forgotten a couple of settings with the Whammy II Pedal, it has a great chorus setting that i had forgotten about, since I ditched my chorus pedal for the phasor, I might use it occasionally.

John those Mesa amps really are the best sounding amps out there! I have my V3M set up exactly the same way. Channel 1 as clean as possible, channel 2, gives me a great slightly distorted sound for the Beatles and when I use the BB Preamp with channel 2 it gives me that AC DC Sound, Channel 3 for the Van Halen when I use the BB Preamp with channel 3 I get that over the top sound as in Alice In Chains. I think you explained it best about the phase 90 putting it first cleans it up. I really discovered the perfect sound for Van Halen last Sat. I will probably use that sound for a few more solo's as well!

Yeah Haley Im going to use the Phase 90 for a few solos myself, just to spice it up a bit.

I love my two distortion channels, but I still have a hard time getting a good clean sound, when I set the treble where I want it, it tends to get a little ice picky sounding if that makes sense, plus trying to balance the channels so I have plenty of clean headroom is an issue, I like to really roll down the volume on my guitar for the clean tones, but it loses a lot of overall volume when I do that, but fortunately I hardly ever use clean anyway! LOL

If youve never used a Whammy Pedal I recomend if you get a chance to just plug one up sometime, its a very useful pedal.

The II model has a couple of presets and I leave those set for a 5th harmony, and a dive bomb drop setting, since I use a fixed bridge guitar.

But it has a very usable chrus, its called detune and the level of the pedal controls the depth of the chorus, you roll the pedal back and its totally gone, but then you can dial in the amount of chorus on the fly.

I had forgotten one setting that has an octave up or down of your signal note, all the way back and you have one ocatave down, all the way down and you have a full octave up, kind of an octavia sound without the extra fuzz.

Of course for RATM Killing In The Name, the only way to cop that solo is the 2 octave up setting, that is mainly why I put it back on my board a couple of years ago, was for that one song, but its turning into a very useful pedal for me.

Haley another issue Im having is technique, since Ive been rediscovering Van Halen, Ive had to raise my guitar higher than I like, Ive always played it real low ala Page/Slash, but if Im doing harmonics or tapping it doesnt work for me, which raising my LP is also making it feel a lot heavier. Also trying to tap mid fret board with the guitar lower my arm tends to bump the pickup switch, so Im trying to get the feel for a whole different way of wearing my guitar. DUH!

LOL, I need one of those straps like Bucket Head uses that you can stretch up and down. LOL

John, I have a PS5 Boss harmonizer pedal that has those same functions you described on your whammy pedal for the dive bombs, detune, as well as any harmony you can imagine. I actually use it a lot!
One thing I have noticed about the length of a guitar neck is the reason I prefer playing Strats. The scale lenght of a Strat neck is 25.5 inches and the Les Pauls are 24.75 that 3/4" makes a huge difference in what a guitar can and cannot do. The shorter neck (les paul) has a warmer grittier sound and a Strat with the longer neck has a brighter not as warm sound. I have both types of necks. We play Vertigo by U2 and I tried playing it with my Schecter 24.75 scale neck and the harmonics in that song are harder to get and don't sound as good as the Strat 25.5 scale neck.

In other words there are trade offs that you have to sacrifice with 24.75 vs. 25.5. I use the Schecter for AIC, REO and the heavier music but I use the strat for almost everything else. I notice that on the Strat the Harmonics are easier and sound better! this is been my experience and is my opinion!

Ray was having issues bumping is switch. I told him to just screw off the tip to shorten it some.

Worked like a charm.

I've been holding my guitar quite a bit lower than I used to. Seems necessary for me to make my right hand do the light, fast picking required for things like 'gallops.'

Talbot

Mike playing my guitar higher has brought out the shredder in me! LOL

The last couple of nights Ive been having a blast.

Basically resetting all my base tones some, got a gig sat so I cant wait to pull some hew stuff out of the hat, I guess listening to Eddie the last couple of weeks, has awakened the guitar slinger in m again.

Mike Im playing my guitar at about the heighth of the profile picture you have, basically allowing me to run the neck without putting the guitar on my knee, LOL.

Ive always played my guitar way low for proper technique, of course when I would practice a lot I would sit down, then when I stood the angles made it hard to do what I could sitting, this is a good medium ground for me, but Im sure at the end of the night i will pull the guitar way down, thats the poser in my wanting to look like Page! LOL

Jw

I hold my guitar about the same place as in your picture. I never could hold it around my knees - hurt my wrists!

I actually hold my bass a bit higher but often play with my fingers so it's different.

Even when sitting down, I let my guitar swing by the strap so I don't end up practicing one way and playing it another when it's time to stand up.

I watch a lot of guitar videos on youtube and the ones that stand out are the guitarists whose hands seem like metronomes and who play as if they have all the time in the world no matter how wacky or fast the lick they are doing. Their picking hands seem like machines.

I've been watching my hands in a mirror and I'm not there yet...

Talbot

My biggest issue with distortion pedals is the volume gained. When I step on it, it gains volume over clean, and- out of control. Instead of my dedicated fuzz switch, it is easier for me to use the amp foot switch which remains in controlled volume by using channel volume and gain controls.