Premier Rock Forum

Benny wrote:J. Burns wrote:Update on the Surf 90s: Holy balls, these shits sound incredible. Shitcanned the shitty stainless strings, and now this guitar with these pickups kicks fucking ass. Best HB-sized single coil I've ever heard, and I've heard most of 'em.how do they sound exactly? like a more single coily p90s? like a jazzmaster? like a strat?Equal parts Gibson P-90/Gretsch/Mosrite. Maybe a little Tele and Dan Armstrong in there too. It's got it's own thing, and it's thing is a strong single-coil sound that overdrives really well.

Agreed. I've had two guitars with GFS NYIIs in them. I think I saw someone on here call them characterless the other day, in regard to that Eastwood Saturn that uses them, but I think they're great. They're much like the Ric Hi-Gains, albeit a bit bitier like Gretsch single-coils. Throw some compression on it, roll your tone back a little, boom, The Kids Are Alright/Gold Soundz.

J. Burns wrote:Benny wrote:J. Burns wrote:Update on the Surf 90s: Holy balls, these shits sound incredible. Shitcanned the shitty stainless strings, and now this guitar with these pickups kicks fucking ass. Best HB-sized single coil I've ever heard, and I've heard most of 'em.how do they sound exactly? like a more single coily p90s? like a jazzmaster? like a strat?Equal parts Gibson P-90/Gretsch/Mosrite. Maybe a little Tele and Dan Armstrong in there too. It's got it's own thing, and it's thing is a strong single-coil sound that overdrives really well.Agreed! I've got a pair of em and I like em. Actually I have several different GFS pickups and they are all awesome bang for buck

2011 Gibson Melody Maker, Manlius Hot Howlin' Goat P-90.So, there is a local institution of a music shop that is, sadly, closing shop this week. I went in for a final look a few weeks ago and ended up walking out with a Melody Maker reissue. Tobacco sunburst, single cutaway, mahogany one piece body and neck, one single coil pickup, wraparound tailpiece, pretty solid Les Paul hard case, for $300 flat. It played really well at the store, so I couldn't pass it up. When I plugged it into my amp, I quickly discovered its shortcomings. For starters, the pickup fucking sucked. Sounded like the worst, most shrill Strat you can imagine, and it hummed like crazy. Just awful. The tuners were Kluson Deluxes, and had the white plastic keys. I didn't like the look of these right off the bat, but soon discovered they didn't hold tune too well either. Additionally, the volume and tone pots were crackly and didn't seem to function that great. But, I figured the neck was awesome and the body seemed solid and was comfortable, might as well just have fun and mod it to my preferences. First I replaced the Klusons with a new set of Grover Deluxes, with the greenish keys. Right away, this made the guitar appear less like a kid's toy and more like a real instrument. They also held tune great. Felt way more sturdy. Next up was replacing the electronics. I picked up two CTS 500K pots for the volume and tone controls, and a friend who helped install them also threw in a new capacitor. I also took off the original black knobs which seemed loose and put two gold speed knobs from my '75 Les Paul on in their place (the LP has black reflector knobs, so the speed knobs were just sitting in a box). Finally, that shitty fucking pickup had to go. My aforementioned friend routed the body ever so slightly to accommodate a P-90, and we put in a new Manlius Hot Howlin' Goat dogear P-90.The verdict: This guitar just kills now. Stays in tune, the volume and tone controls actually WORK, and the P-90 is nuts. For a super hot P-90, it's really quiet. I fully expected tons of hum, but it's barely noticeable. Some of my favorite guitar tones ever are a Les Paul Junior with a single P-90 (Johnny Thunders, Leslie West of Mountain), and this guitar nails it. I'm currently making a new pickguard which will more closely mimic the shape of a Junior pickguard in the space between the neck and the pickup. Total cost: just under $500, for a goddamn awesome no frills guitar.I guess that wasn't exactly brief. Sorry.

Fostex 3050 Digital Delay:The bad: All of the jacks are RCAThe good: Sounds are squarely in the realm of Deltalab Effectron crossed with Ibanez HD1500. Both normal delays and sea sick pitch shifted warbles that make everything sound like the album version of Horton Heat's Gin and Tonic Blues are easily achievable. I salute you my new budget priced friend!Oh yeah: you can also do straight up flange or chorus.

Ross Distortion: (On bass) Really didn't like it going into a super-clean Fender combo. Really liked it going into a Traynor TS-25B.

Chandler LTD2. Compressor based on the Neve 33609.No ratio control, but threshold, attack, release and makeup gain.Sounds fast, "smacky", clear, makes drums sound more aggressive. You can do a lot of reduction with it before it sounds crazy. Really liking it on room mics too, but it held up for bass, and vocals.

Karma Audio Silver Bullet MicsGreat depending on the application. Tend to be pretty loud and prone to overloading, so keep your hand near the trim knob. Other than that, fantastic. 7 little dudes for $99. Well worth it.Just got a pair of these last month... I set them up in a haphazard wide stereo placement around the drum kit (around 5 ft up, just sort of hanging around on either side of the kit) and have been just leaving them there to track quick demos of things I send back and forth to a fella out of town. Strangely, these tracks have been a lil harsh, but actually really workable, and with eq/compression, pretty reasonable!. For $30, it was worth it to have a permanent stereo pair of mics on the kit whenever I need them with no fussing about setting up "proper" mics.

Yes, but I meant it was strange they actually work as well as they do... But your smiley smile emoticon lets me know you mean no harm!

DefinitelyNOTtheSWEDE wrote:Strangely, these tracks have been a lil harshI don't think there's anything strange about 15 dollar mics being harsh.