General Music Chat

Here's the thing I bought. I waited a year after their kickstarter ended, due to lack of money. Diapers! Really?! For a four year old???!!!

Anyway. I checked everywhere I could to see if these things work, if they got bad reviews. Couldn't find anything like that. So I ordered, had it installed by the same place that's been working on my stuff since I was 15. After some hiccups, I got it back. A few hours figuring out how to use it, I'm in business.

It adds a bass signal to your guitar from the pickup. Tracks better than any pedal, too. It uses a USB battery. You install it with a stereo output and can hook it up to a bass amp. This is just a 10" Peavey practice amp. Can't wait to plug it into those 15"s.

Here's a halfass demo. Didn't have time to set up FX (which I swear by) so the Vox Night Train has no reverb.

https://youtu.be/iYkvNoNOTvo

Why do this? You ask..... Because I don't like people!

**edit**
Had to take down video. Will make a better demo when I get this unit back from the manufacturer and get it reinstalled and it works.
Needless to say, I'm not too happy about this. Appears to be a problem with installation. Don't know. Just shoot me.

very cool. and as my mother-in-law loves saying..."use it in good health!"

a few yrs ago when i was playing a shitload of solo gtr gigs on the winery/restaurant/wedding scene i bought myself the BOSS OC-3 Super Octave pedal. Used it for a few gigs and decided ...."meh". (i'm decidedly NOT an FX guy and goofy as it sounds, i prefer going mano a mano w the gtr and amp, then when someone compliments me on my tone i can feel pretty good!)

after checking your vid (nice digs btw) i then checked out these two demos from the company explaining about the p/u.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjSo2ylMGV8

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

i really don't play many solo gtr gigs these days (wedding coming up this saturday) but that p/u really does appeal and has me thinking. i like the fact that you can go "mono" (only one bass note via the lowest note you're playing). that's really the only mode i'd find useful for what i do.

enjoy!

Thanks. So far both bass notes at the same time is too muddy. Same with -2 octaves. But -2 is cool when you play at a higher register. There is some warbling and some noise, as you can hear, but our house has always had pretty bad sounding electrical. The vox needs some good quality American made tubes, but that's for another day. I'll see this weekend how it does with drums and big amps.

I've got the wife to thank for the living room looking that good. I'm a slob!

I'll tell you this. With your technical abilities (that you've mentioned previously) you'll have yours in quicker than mine!
Do you have any bass amps? You can use it with just guitar amps, but bass amps are better. I'll try to do a demo of it A/B with Boss octave pedal and one with guitar + bass amp vs just guitar amp.

I loved my Boss Octave pedal when I got it, but I had an amp at the time that it actually worked great with. Almost every amp I've bought since then has built in effects and they don't seem to get along. Go test one. One thing to remember, though. I always play with my volume at 10 on my guitar. With an octave pedal, I had to turn the volume down to 2.

Haha! You got me!

Interesting, but I don't like that you have to replace your current pup. I'd also probably activate/deactivate it all the time accidentally by hitting it when strumming. $230 seems pretty high price, too.

Interesting, but I don't like that you have to replace your current pup. I'd also probably activate/deactivate it all the time accidentally by hitting it when strumming. $230 seems pretty high price, too.

All valid points, but I knew this was what I wanted the moment I learned it existed.
I'm not a strummy kind of player anyway. I learned on classical guitar and went home every day and imitated Metallica, so I'm more of a palm mute kind of picker.

See post below \/

Hi Schmedidiah and all,

Andy Alt here, founder of A Little Thunder. I saw this thread and wanted to say hello (and solve the issue you are having).

Although A Little Thunder is new (been shipping since June 2015) each unit does pass a 14-point inspection at a that ends with me; I actually test every one off the line to ensure all functions are within spec. All 2549 of them to-date and (a little background) the factory we contract has a 9001 SA certification so they can work with NASA/Boeing/Medical devices. As a result, the fail rate is less than 1%

Schmedidiah, I recall our emails and conversations. When the engineers and I got your first unit we arranged for return, we were surprised that it functioned normally and surmised tech you took Thunder to for an install may not have hooked up the ground wire. Regardless, we sent you a new unit but (I might ruin the surprise right here) if you recall, we loaded some special ‘forthcoming’ firmware on your unit and to get back to a 2-coil mode, you simply need to press both capacitive areas at once and it will no longer have the 3rd coil (D string) active. I wish I would have known there was an issue as the only way a cool musical movement can occur with Thunder is if all customers are overwhelmingly happy. If you’re interested in reconnecting, I’m available anytime at andy (at) alittlethunder (dot) com and we can quickly troubleshoot anything that may be happening.

Sorry to just jump in here. If anyone is curious, after the Kickstarter campaign, it took us 6 months to make the units and ship them. Since then, we’re actually having a very high success rate with the concept and wanted to thank you for the insights in this thread. If anyone has a question etc, I am certainly here to respond to inquiries! This Facebook page is a nice place to see the various instruments, videos and stories that accompany A Little Thunder: http://www.facebook.com/alittlethunder

Andy Alt

Thanks Andy. Im editing the previous posts. Good to hear from you.