General Music Chat

Well.. I want to play prog, rock, alt, and metal.. but alas, my two main groups play folk-pop and acoustic lol...

So here's what I'm using (nowhere NEAR pro gear hahaha)

Folk-pop-rock band:

Kramer Focus 3000 & Epiphone Dot Studio (cheapest model of Dot)
GNX3000 modeling pedal straight into PA and a Boss Blues Driver pedal.
That's it.

I also have a marshall valvestate half stack (for sale / trade) I used with my previous alt-rock / metal band. I also used a boss EQ pedal and crybaby wah.

Pretty much most of my gear is cheap junk, with exception to the kramer, which even my current model is a cheaper one for a vintage guitar. I know guys who have ONE LP that is worth more by itself than all my gear combined lol. I need better gear, but also need better paying gigs to get it pfffft.

Oh yah.. specifics...

I used on all guitars - GHS Boomers 9's.
Kramer uses all Seymour Duncan pups, JBJ on the saddle, and custom single coils in the middle and neck slots.
My Other guitars all use stock pups except my douglass (ibanez clone) which I installed a Dimarzio "Steve's special" in.. and if steve's special was designed to sound like shite, then it was successful. The 10 cent china pup sounded no worse.

I also use in no particular order:

Agile AL-2000 electric guitar
cheap Ibanez Acoustic
Digitech GNX3000 modeling pedal
Boss BD-2 Blues driver
Marshall Valvestate 1/2 stack
Fender squier Bass Guitar
Tascam Digital 8-track recorder
SM-57 Microphone

oh .. and as an added note.

I used to think that better gear was the key to everything... and found out the crowd doesn't give a rats ass how good you sound, so long as you play Sweet home alabama and other standards all night. They don't even care if you're good, so long as they can recognize the song... Sad, but true.

Kramerguy, that brings up an interesting point.
I didnt know this myself becuase my bands, and my friend's bands have never done this, but some musiciains are playing free show for publicity...
when i heard this i nearly crapped myself.
Thats the same as a mechanic giving away his services to get his name out there. When is the last time a mechanic did your car and only asked for publicity?

An epidimic that is happening is a lot of no talent, not going anywhere bands are playing free shows at venues and that becomes the norm. Leaving talented players like all of us on this wepsite, to look for underpaying gigs or rude shotty service. This post has trailed far from its original post hahaha.

And on your side note thats another good point, i guess its personal for me, i have to do my best to feel like i have earned my gratitude i guess.

As soon as anyone learns it is all bullshit the sooner we can all move on. Would you trust a Lion to your hand, A capsizing sea vessel to the wind? What people say and what they do ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

Sorry about the CAPS!

hey thanks for the info guys
PocketGroovesGSO you have some nice basses, and i know all of them you are talking about, all fine quality gear.

Actually everyone here has pro gear. But alas, I was kind expecting more activity here. Once again the metal head has no idea what appeals to people hahaha. nah, but thanks for going along with this natural loner.
its interesting to see what other people use and what they use it for.

It is interesting, isn't it?!?! I always check out what other cats are using when I go to a local show or festival (the bassist in particular, of course), and I try to pay attention to HOW they are playing it as well. (after writing this and previewing it, I realized that I directed my post more toward technique... still relevant though )

I've learned a lot by listening to players play their stuff, and more by watching their technique. How you play has as much to do with the tone of you instrument as the instrument itself.

For example, I could attack the strings of my bass around the 20th-22nd fret (yes, on the neck) with my pickup pan dead center and onboard preamp set flat, and have a big, boomy, woofy sound because the strings "give" more here than over the pickups. I've done this on recordings to get an almost "upright bass" tone out of my electric bass by dialing the EQ on the bass in combination with the plucking technique. On the other extreme, I could attack the strings really close to the bridge (all controls still flat) for a crisper, clearer, brighter tone because the strings "give" less the closer to the bridge you get. I like changing my picking hand position throughout songs to get different tones for different parts without touching any EQ or other processing units. Take advantage of you string tension.

Sorry to harp on about that, but it was to prove another point about gear. I could come up to Alaska with any of my basses and play a metal set with you tonight, then come back home tomorrow and record a southern gospel track with the same bass, same strings, same set-up. This is in part to the gear, of course, but more so the different techniques used playing metal vs pop, vs rock, vs anything else. I can pick up a cheapo Squire Jazz bass and make it sound good solely from the technique that I use.

See what I getting at? Technique will almost always trump gear. If I lost all my gear today, I would save my money to get a standard Fender Jazz bass and be done with it. I can recreate many tones with just that one bass and technique. Its not always about the gear.

BTW, you've got a nice rock rig! I checked out your pics on your profile. I LOVE the Iceman bass for rock stuff!!

BTW, you've got a nice rock rig! I checked out your pics on your profile. I LOVE the Iceman bass for rock stuff!!

Thanks man, its really unbalanced which ironically is my beef with fender hahaha. And good point about technique. I wouldnt use my Iceman for church, but for a metalfest oh yeah. My six stringer I would use for about anything it sounds like angels singing.