Unhappy with my rig

G

Grandor

New member
Ok...
I'm a bit of a gear hoe. Every 6 months or so I've had a completely different rig up till now...

At the moment I'm running:
Peavey wolfgang special -> spina vox 847 -> spina sd-1 -> boss tu-2 -> m/b dual rectifier (boss dd-6 in fx loop) series 2 -> Avatar G212Custom (v30/g12h30).

In the past I've had an m/b Mark IV, a heavily modded epiphone lp custom, some behringer stuff.. yeah.. yuck. lol

Firstly, my wolfie, Its a top guitar, but I just find other guitars are just more suited to me. and lately I've been getting sick of the Floyd and one of my strapbuttons is coming really loose, and today my volume knob fell off. Ok now- I know a few toothpicks and some glue would help my problems. but all the same..
I think the frets are too high on it too. And id rather try to upgrade instead of spending the money on getting it fixed up right. in the end, its the EXP model, so its only gonna be so good...

The wah pedal. I never use it. Its a great wah pedal, but I have seen no practical application for it whatsoever. I tire of having to press heaps of buttons on the ground, and i hate having to be ontop of the wah while using it.

The SD-1 , I love it, and John did a great job on this too. I wont part with it any time soon!

The tu-2, meh - its a tuner . it works.

The boss dd-6 goes well, but when I turn the FX loop on, on the DR it looses level and drops a few Db. which is an inconvinience.

The Dual Recto... I'm just not digging the tones anymore. I dont know if its the tubes or me or what. I just havent been getting the sustain im after.
I need an amp that provides that full on heaviness but also I'm after that mid-range VOX type crunch.
I dont really know, i guess its gonna be the best thing for now.
I'm thinking of throwing 2 EL34's in the outer sockets and seeing how that runs and getting a full retube from EuroTubes.

The Avatar cab. Its a decent cab. But I am sick of the 2 speaker deal.
First, it sucks to have to mic one and not the other and not have what I have heard and dialed it in for come out at the crowd.
Secondly, I ultimately want 2 cabs. A 4x12 and a 2x12, but all with v30's. None of this, one of each crap..

What also sucks is i havent been practicing much of late, so my playing is lacking a bit.
The worst thing is that if i decided to change my rig, I already have a pedalboard case and a snake (fx loop send/return, amp signal and midi cable) custom fitted for my current rig...
Agggggh Why must I be a guitarist!


anyway.. sorry guys.

/rant
 
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Re: Unhappy with my rig

I couldnt dial in anything that I considered to be a good sound other than a V shaped Master of puppets tone.
LoL. For all other intents and purposes it sounded ,, not good.
 
Re: Unhappy with my rig

Grandor said:
What also sucks is i havent been practicing much of late, so my playing is lacking a bit.
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To me it sounds more like some fairly general malaise than anything else.

You may very well find that all the gear-switching in the world isn't going to help you; you're just in a rut.

As guitar players with easy access to music that is so guitar-prone it's easy to get burnt out on it. And with it, our playing.

I would suggest stepping back for a few days, maybe even weeks, months or, in some cases, years and wait until you're good and ready to approach the instrument again. You play for fun; when it stops being fun you need to not be playing.

From 1996-1999 I barely touched a guitar. I toted them from residence to residence and always had them nearby, but I was just bored with playing and what I was listening to and that three-year hiatus was the healthies thing I could have ever done. I listened to a ton of music that had no discernable guitar in it anywhere (alot of jazz, alot of industrial, alot of ambient Goth) and when I came back to WANTING to play the instrument again it meant that it was fun...all over again!
 
Re: Unhappy with my rig

Sounds good.

But I actually enjoy work I do in bands and such, and for me I think I just need to hit it up again with some serious tech-practice.

I soo know what you mean with the guitar-prone music. All I listen to is solo guitarist stuff and things like Metallica, Pantera, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, Dream Theater, etc.
 
Re: Unhappy with my rig

I know what you man! But seing as I am seriously monetarily limited at the moment, I just resort to hours of tinkering with my digitech multiFX! I also skateboard too, which is great because if I get sick of one, I go do the other for a few days. It is really hard to keep fresh and write new/different things if all I do is play guitar 24/7.

BTW, where in Australia are you from? Wollongong boy here.:wave:
 
Re: Unhappy with my rig

I'm in Newcastle mate.
I do weights a few times a week and spend some time at the beach too.
 
Re: Unhappy with my rig

It strikes me that you either like the Mesa tone or you don't. I'm of the belief that you can find just about any tone of the Mesa type in a Mark IV. Some people don't have the patience to deal with it, and I completely understand it. That being said, I think that the Rectos are far more versatile than most people realize. Go back and seriously play with the settings of your Recto, replace the tubes, and see what you think about it. When the tubes start to fade in a Boogie, it gets ugly in a hurry, IMO. More so than in most other amps.

I could be wrong, but I think that you're a Boogie kind of guy, you're just bored.
 
Re: Unhappy with my rig

in addition to what hamerplyr said, i strongly encourage to give the EL34's a shot in the dual rectifier before you completely dismiss it. it's really a whole different world (and a much better one, IMO ;) )
 
Re: Unhappy with my rig

I can mix and match, bob said so. Why do u say dont mix and match?


BTW- all i just plugged in again. And yes. I love it to death.
I have no idea why this afternoon was different..
I think it was probably power problems combined with my bad playing...

Now its shred zone... thx to all the replies...

BTW-
I'm still thinking about tube options so that still open for discussion.
 
Re: Unhappy with my rig

I have a love hate thing with all my gear! Oneday i want rid of it and the next i like it! That is part of the reason i have so much stuff.... I get sick of something i just pick up another and carry on....
 
Re: Unhappy with my rig

get paul weller - days of speed.. it's a great album if you're stuck in a rut! i used to really drop the guitar for a month or so at a time.. now, i just pick up a new style and change to that.. it's much better for you as a player :)

note - days of speed is what i use.. any album in the same vein can work :)

tom
 
Re: Unhappy with my rig

Grandor said:
Ok...
I'm a bit of a gear hoe
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uhm yeah :rolleyes: ..your a SD user group member right? whats so special about YOU!:gurmpy:

we are ALL gear hoes yeesh :rolleyes:


:laugh2: ;) :D
 
Re: Unhappy with my rig

Grandor said:
Do you run 2 6l6 and 2 EL34's or all EL34's?
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i run all EL34's. actually just the outer two, the inner two power tube sockets are empty because i have it running at 50 watts. i've gotten the best sound out of this amp by using this configuration.

how do you have your amp set up on the rear panel? to you have the variac switch set at bold or spongy? how about the tube/SS rectifier?
these are the things i find myself fiddling with most, but i find that more often than not, i have the variac set on bold, and the rectifier on SS. but the tube rectifier mode sounds AWESOME for single note lead stuff, i just find that it muds up a little too much for chording and palm muting.
 
Re: Unhappy with my rig

Grandor said:
I can mix and match, bob said so. Why do u say dont mix and match?
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that the two tube types pulled different plate voltages, and that mixing the two could damage your OT. Hence the bias switch for one or the other...
 
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