acidlacedpenguinInstitutionalizedSafe in jail.Registered Userregular
that thing looks super fun to play with, but it also looks like the kind of thing I'd buy into for the ideal, but it would end up collecting dust when I realize I'm not creative enough to do that kind of stuff with it.
My Vox (the AC4C1) is a bit different from the AC4TV. Its got an extra preamp tube, it's a bit crunchier, and the controls are a bit different (bass and treble controls, and a master volume in place of the power selection switch).
I just wish it came in a head. It's only in combos.
Highly recommend it though. The TV was alright, but I feel like the C1 was a nice step up. It's my favorite of the low watt tube amps I've tried. Got it for just $230, new, out the door. Fucking steal.
Seriously can't pimp those Avatar cabs enough, too. Unless you're dead set on having another name on your grille, I can't think of any real reason to buy anything else.
That is indeed the one I have (the blue one right?). I just forgot what the model name was specifically. The day I bought it I actually had the intention of getting one of the ac4tv's (since I wasn't aware of this model at the time), but only saw the ac4c1 at the store. Played for 15 minutes and was convinced this was the small tube amp for me. It really is a great choice if one is looking for a portable amp that carries a nice "natural" voice for electric guitar.
Also it does indeed have very small headroom for a clean tone, but that is partly why I bought it - my bass amps are actually great for playing guitar clean (but loud).
The Tiny Terror is like 15W RMS, I'd say it's loud enough for bar-sized shows pretty easily. It can easily keep up with a drummer. It's fucking loud. I took it out to my parents house in the woods and tried to crank it...but it was too much for me. Like, I definitely needed earplugs.
That was the combo, which just had a single celestion g12h in it iirc. Hook it up to any decent 1x12 or 2x12 and you'll be good to go. Just make sure it's a tone you like, obviously.
That is kind of cool. But for the price (at least what's on the Indiegogo page) you could get something similar that has a few more "frets".
I will finally be adding a pedal to my setup. ISP Decimator II. Should be here later today. Now I shouldn't have to switch to a clean channel to clear out the "huuummmmmm" when a song is over.
mcdermott, was the Tiny Terror loud enough for a band setting? I've been looking into and contemplating getting a lunchbox amp for quite some time now. I would much rather take something that weighs 12 pounds to a show than 50 if I can help it.
What else is out there that can read frets, pick action, finger placement, etc without needing a pickup or tuning or anything?
The portability of this guy and the ease of use are really big sellers for me, but I will look at other options if they exist. I though the Jamstik was kind of unique though.
MSRP is listed higher, but amazon has this for $230. You might be able to find it for less. I thought about picking one of these up awhile back. http://www.yourockguitar.com/
I was also going to suggest the Rock Band Mustang but as those appear to be discontinued. Maybe if you found one used. I picked one up for about $50 bucks awhile back and it has been great as a MIDI instrument controller. Being able to switch note hold settings on the fly makes it a great way to lay down drums or chords.
The stuff from Sonnuus works pretty well. Still though, it is monophonic however and does require a guitar. So you are back with tuning. However, they're around $130 bucks and if you already have a guitar or another instrument it could be worth it. A little more versatile in that you can sing into the thing and it'll translate to MIDI. Or play a wind instrument into a microphone running through it. http://www.sonuus.com/products_i2m_mp.html
And I noticed that a big plus for you, was the big thing that turned me off of it. The portability. I want something where I have a larger scale range. Being limited to what looks like five frets would bother me in trying to write music. Having to lay down a chord, "move" the fret setting and then play the next chord when the loop comes back around. Not conducive to my workflow.
I really wish someone would just get a better MIDI pickup solution going. I have a GK-3 and it's fine for slow stuff, but you try to play anything really fast and the tracking just falls apart and ghost notes all over the place.
I've been searching for a great way to get MIDI from a guitar or guitar-like controller (for a somewhat reasonable price) for a long time. I've gone through at least 5 or 6 solutions and weirdly, the Rock Band Mustang has been the best one so far. I've heard the You Rock Guitar is similar but I don't have first hand experience with one. If you end up picking up the Jamstik I would love to hear what you think about it.
The Tiny Terror is like 15W RMS, I'd say it's loud enough for bar-sized shows pretty easily. It can easily keep up with a drummer. It's fucking loud. I took it out to my parents house in the woods and tried to crank it...but it was too much for me. Like, I definitely needed earplugs.
That was the combo, which just had a single celestion g12h in it iirc. Hook it up to any decent 1x12 or 2x12 and you'll be good to go. Just make sure it's a tone you like, obviously.
Sounds good. I was more asking about the wattage than the amp itself. I did play a Dark Terror in a store and thought it would be "okay" for live shows tone-wise. I have been looking at just picking up a mini-rectifier or one of Carvin's V3 amps. I've at least stopped lugging a 4X12 to shows. It's just not necessary, especially with 150 watt amp. Too bad Mesa didn't start making the triple rectifiers with the 50/150 switch ten years ago.
I believe the Dark Terror is the same wattage, just different voicing (unlike the Dual Terror, which is louder). So yeah, that should be comparable.
Main problem I'd see for live shows is clean headroom. It had some, but probably not at the volumes you'd want.
Unfortunately, I think that's largely a limitation of a 15W amp...you're either gonna sacrifice headroom, or crunch potential, it's hard to get both at full band volumes at that power level.
And yeah, Kemzik, that AC4 really is the perfect small amp, isn't it? Fucking love it.
And i still haven't fixed my mustang. I'm terrible.
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jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
I played one of these the other day.
This thing is the superpoop. Superfuzzed out bass, sounds fucking sick.
It was a comedy of errors, with wiring mistakes, needing new screws (new Switchcraft switches versus the old random OEM ones had different holes), then breaking the only set of strings I had in the house last night. But today I got new strings, hooked her up, and she sounds amazing.
Nothing special, just one of the CIJ Mustang reissues (older, early 00's). Picked it up off a guy locally, had a single ding on the body, needed a setup, but otherwise tip top. Then one of the tuners went out. I ordered the wrong tuners. Then one of the switches went out. Then I decided to do a custom rewire job to repurpose the switches. Then I ruined those switches. Then then then then OH MY GOD.
But yeah, now it's fucking sweet. Top switch is a pickup selector (neck/both/bridge), bottom is a phase selector (in/in/out). So much less stupid than the original design (on/off/phase for each pickup). New switches are SOLID too, so much nicer than the old ones. Oh, and of course while I was at it I did a pickup swap to, to Lace Sensors (red in the bridge, silver in the neck). They are fucking sick.
Basically this is now my official "I have no excuses" guitar. All terribleness is my own terribleness, because this thing is primo.
Also pictured is my little Champ 600, one of the little discount models they put out until recently. 5W, nothing but a volume knob, kinda cheap, but actually sounds pretty decent with nothing more than a speaker swap. The stock 6" speaker tries to do bass, but can't so it's all BLARTBLARTBLART, but threw in a 6" Jensen (think I paid $20) that just cuts that low end out, and now it's a decent little jam box. I saw one at guitar center in good condition for less than $100 recently, they're a steal (paid $120 or so new for mine). It fits nicely in my living room. Throw pedals in front of it clean, crank it for some decent distortion, or dial it back for some nice cleans. Love it. I guess they're doing another "limited edition" run of the same fucking thing, and trying to charge $200 for it. Jerks.
Oh, also pictured are a couple pedals I have. The Korg Pitchblack tuner, which you guys surely know, and which is awesome. Then a couple of those Red Witch pedals with the rechargeable batteries. Kinda spiffy concept, hit-and-miss execution. The Scarlett is a nice overdrive, I enjoy it (even if I wish the tone pot wasn't inside the housing) but the Ivy is a fucking garbage distortion. Makes a DS-1 sound classy. In my humble opinion, of course. But the lithium ion battery pack thing works great, charge it for a few hours and it's good for, like, ever.
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jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
Dude. That pic could have been out of the 60's. I fucking love it. You got any recordings?
Ha, no. I still suck. I mostly just noodle around, and jam with a buddy about once a week. That guitar is way too good for me.
Though honestly, I'm getting to the point where I could probably start recording some stuff, and should. Got rid of my little Blackstar, though, so if I want to record I'll need a mic now (have a decent little M-Audio interface to go with it). I'll have to get on that.
Didn't even think about the fact that both the guitar and amp are classic designs, and sitting next to that old typewriter too (older than 60's, but still works). That's my blast-from-the-past corner, I guess!
And on the left-hand side of the picture, you can see a leg of my full upright piano (also about 70 or 80 years old, I think). It's the ex's, but still lives at my place until she can find a place to put it and afford to have it moved. I plink around on it every now and then, took a couple classes back in college.
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jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
And the modern speaker on the right.
Seriously. I'd pay you if you could make me a tube bass amp that looked like that... if I had the money. Its freaking awesome.
Still, Fender's always recycling these designs, just gotta keep an eye out. That or look up some schematics, and hand-wire something into one of these cabs. Which would be pretty sick, and I guess you can shoehorn an 8" speaker into that Champ 600 cab.
Personally I wish Fender didn't try to wring so much money out of those particular models, because I'd kill for a reasonably affordable version of something like this '57 reissue. They've released it again as an Eric Clapton signature (about the same price, $1000). It's not that it's a ripoff...you look at that amp and it's not hard to figure out where the price tag comes from...premium components from tubes to transformers to speaker, hand-wired, made in the USA, etc. It's no more overpriced than any guitar gear, at least.
I just feel like they could keep half that mojo for half the price (or less).
I can't really blame Fender for continually re-issuing old classics at high prices. They aren't really the same though. While safer of course, the build methods and components are a lot different. What doubly sucks is that there are boutique guys building true vintage copies, but they're even more expensive.
Still, those 600's were such a good idea; what a great little amp. There are whole communities built up around modding them into clones of vintage champ circuits.
I'll have to post a picture of the tweed deluxe I finished for my friend, vintage cool all the way. It's a total animal to play. My current project is building a new cabinet for a Fender Sidekick Reverb 20 (Rivera era Fender!). I picked it up super cheap off of ebay, but the dude who sent it to me did a crap job of packing it and it got royally messed up in transport. It's a solid state amp, and voiced like you would expect an 80's amp to be. But the reverb is outta this world.
Next big build will be a Hiwatt Custom 50 clone.
Dark_Side on
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MsAnthropyThe Lady of Pain Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the RhythmThe City of FlowersRegistered Userregular
It has been ages since I last picked up any of my guitars, but I finished studying for some work certifications and found myself with a ton of extra free time on my hands earlier this year. After selling off a bunch of gear I decided to fix up the electronics on my late-80s MIJ Strat and replace the original pick-ups with some DiMarzio Areas. I then grabbed a late-80s era Roland JC-120, bought a few Electro-Harmonix pedals (Cathedral, Stereo Memory-Man, and Clone Theory), and picked up a Devi Ever Shoegazer Fuzz. I've been happily making some shoegaze-y/post-rock noises for the past couple of months and may even start playing with a couple of friends sometime soon.
"The only real politics I knew was that if a guy liked Hitler, I’d beat the stuffing out of him and that would be it." -- Jack Kirby
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MsAnthropyThe Lady of Pain Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the RhythmThe City of FlowersRegistered Userregular
Since I apparently killed the thread last time, I figured I would raise it from the dead just to be put down again. I picked up a Squier J Mascis Jazzmaster for dirt cheap off of someone on Craigslist a month or two ago. It plays absolutely beautifully--for me it's easily as nice as the couple of AVRIs I've played before--but the finish was in a pretty bad state. So... I decided to send it off for a repaint. It just returned.
I had one of those back in the day, in blonde. I loved everything about that guitar except it had the shitty original style bridge that wouldn't hold the high e string on the saddle.
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mysticjuicer[he/him] I'm a muscle wizardand I cast P U N C HRegistered Userregular
Yay guitar and bass thread! I've been playing around with my guitar more regularly in the last little while; working on my anemic picking speed, and making really simple metal rhythm parts with single string picking and power chords. I guess you could say it's getting pretty serious.
I had one of those back in the day, in blonde. I loved everything about that guitar except it had the shitty original style bridge that wouldn't hold the high e string on the saddle.
Yeah, one of the things I like about the Mascis model is that it comes with a Adjust-O-Matic bridge which really cuts down on that. Although, I've read that the original bridges were built with the assumption that one would be playing with heavier gauge strings--like 13s or something--since that was the convention among jazz players back in the day. This model also had the tremolo tailpiece a little closer to the bridge which should also help keep strings in the saddle too.
All-in-all it's a really nice bang-for-the-buck guitar--even at its 'new in-store' price.
That's pretty beautiful. I definitely fought with the original bridge on my Jazzmaster for a while; eventually ended up swapping in a Mustang bridge. It's basically the same thing as the JM bridge, just with a single deeper groove for each string instead of a whole mess of threads.
Dehumanized on
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jungleroomxIt's never too many graves, it's always not enough shovelsRegistered Userregular
I've been jamming with my father-in-law to various rock and country tunes.
I forgot how much fun playing with others can be.
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MsAnthropyThe Lady of Pain Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the Rhythm, Breaks the RhythmThe City of FlowersRegistered Userregular
I've been jamming with my father-in-law to various rock and country tunes.
I forgot how much fun playing with others can be.
Very cool!
I haven't played with other people in any kind of serious way since the late-90s/early-00s when my band at the time disintegrated. I should be getting together with a couple of pals either next week or the week after to play some tunes. The prospect is a strange combination of exciting and frightening.
Posts
That is indeed the one I have (the blue one right?). I just forgot what the model name was specifically. The day I bought it I actually had the intention of getting one of the ac4tv's (since I wasn't aware of this model at the time), but only saw the ac4c1 at the store. Played for 15 minutes and was convinced this was the small tube amp for me. It really is a great choice if one is looking for a portable amp that carries a nice "natural" voice for electric guitar.
Also it does indeed have very small headroom for a clean tone, but that is partly why I bought it - my bass amps are actually great for playing guitar clean (but loud).
That was the combo, which just had a single celestion g12h in it iirc. Hook it up to any decent 1x12 or 2x12 and you'll be good to go. Just make sure it's a tone you like, obviously.
MSRP is listed higher, but amazon has this for $230. You might be able to find it for less. I thought about picking one of these up awhile back.
http://www.yourockguitar.com/
I was also going to suggest the Rock Band Mustang but as those appear to be discontinued. Maybe if you found one used. I picked one up for about $50 bucks awhile back and it has been great as a MIDI instrument controller. Being able to switch note hold settings on the fly makes it a great way to lay down drums or chords.
The stuff from Sonnuus works pretty well. Still though, it is monophonic however and does require a guitar. So you are back with tuning. However, they're around $130 bucks and if you already have a guitar or another instrument it could be worth it. A little more versatile in that you can sing into the thing and it'll translate to MIDI. Or play a wind instrument into a microphone running through it.
http://www.sonuus.com/products_i2m_mp.html
And I noticed that a big plus for you, was the big thing that turned me off of it. The portability. I want something where I have a larger scale range. Being limited to what looks like five frets would bother me in trying to write music. Having to lay down a chord, "move" the fret setting and then play the next chord when the loop comes back around. Not conducive to my workflow.
I really wish someone would just get a better MIDI pickup solution going. I have a GK-3 and it's fine for slow stuff, but you try to play anything really fast and the tracking just falls apart and ghost notes all over the place.
I've been searching for a great way to get MIDI from a guitar or guitar-like controller (for a somewhat reasonable price) for a long time. I've gone through at least 5 or 6 solutions and weirdly, the Rock Band Mustang has been the best one so far. I've heard the You Rock Guitar is similar but I don't have first hand experience with one. If you end up picking up the Jamstik I would love to hear what you think about it.
Sounds good. I was more asking about the wattage than the amp itself. I did play a Dark Terror in a store and thought it would be "okay" for live shows tone-wise. I have been looking at just picking up a mini-rectifier or one of Carvin's V3 amps. I've at least stopped lugging a 4X12 to shows. It's just not necessary, especially with 150 watt amp. Too bad Mesa didn't start making the triple rectifiers with the 50/150 switch ten years ago.
PSN : Bolthorn
Main problem I'd see for live shows is clean headroom. It had some, but probably not at the volumes you'd want.
Unfortunately, I think that's largely a limitation of a 15W amp...you're either gonna sacrifice headroom, or crunch potential, it's hard to get both at full band volumes at that power level.
And yeah, Kemzik, that AC4 really is the perfect small amp, isn't it? Fucking love it.
And i still haven't fixed my mustang. I'm terrible.
This thing is the superpoop. Superfuzzed out bass, sounds fucking sick.
I've been so lazy. But she's up and running now.
It was a comedy of errors, with wiring mistakes, needing new screws (new Switchcraft switches versus the old random OEM ones had different holes), then breaking the only set of strings I had in the house last night. But today I got new strings, hooked her up, and she sounds amazing.
Nothing special, just one of the CIJ Mustang reissues (older, early 00's). Picked it up off a guy locally, had a single ding on the body, needed a setup, but otherwise tip top. Then one of the tuners went out. I ordered the wrong tuners. Then one of the switches went out. Then I decided to do a custom rewire job to repurpose the switches. Then I ruined those switches. Then then then then OH MY GOD.
But yeah, now it's fucking sweet. Top switch is a pickup selector (neck/both/bridge), bottom is a phase selector (in/in/out). So much less stupid than the original design (on/off/phase for each pickup). New switches are SOLID too, so much nicer than the old ones. Oh, and of course while I was at it I did a pickup swap to, to Lace Sensors (red in the bridge, silver in the neck). They are fucking sick.
Basically this is now my official "I have no excuses" guitar. All terribleness is my own terribleness, because this thing is primo.
Also pictured is my little Champ 600, one of the little discount models they put out until recently. 5W, nothing but a volume knob, kinda cheap, but actually sounds pretty decent with nothing more than a speaker swap. The stock 6" speaker tries to do bass, but can't so it's all BLARTBLARTBLART, but threw in a 6" Jensen (think I paid $20) that just cuts that low end out, and now it's a decent little jam box. I saw one at guitar center in good condition for less than $100 recently, they're a steal (paid $120 or so new for mine). It fits nicely in my living room. Throw pedals in front of it clean, crank it for some decent distortion, or dial it back for some nice cleans. Love it. I guess they're doing another "limited edition" run of the same fucking thing, and trying to charge $200 for it. Jerks.
Though honestly, I'm getting to the point where I could probably start recording some stuff, and should. Got rid of my little Blackstar, though, so if I want to record I'll need a mic now (have a decent little M-Audio interface to go with it). I'll have to get on that.
Didn't even think about the fact that both the guitar and amp are classic designs, and sitting next to that old typewriter too (older than 60's, but still works). That's my blast-from-the-past corner, I guess!
And on the left-hand side of the picture, you can see a leg of my full upright piano (also about 70 or 80 years old, I think). It's the ex's, but still lives at my place until she can find a place to put it and afford to have it moved. I plink around on it every now and then, took a couple classes back in college.
Seriously. I'd pay you if you could make me a tube bass amp that looked like that... if I had the money. Its freaking awesome.
So purty.
They weren't cheap, though.
Still, Fender's always recycling these designs, just gotta keep an eye out. That or look up some schematics, and hand-wire something into one of these cabs. Which would be pretty sick, and I guess you can shoehorn an 8" speaker into that Champ 600 cab.
I just feel like they could keep half that mojo for half the price (or less).
Still, those 600's were such a good idea; what a great little amp. There are whole communities built up around modding them into clones of vintage champ circuits.
I'll have to post a picture of the tweed deluxe I finished for my friend, vintage cool all the way. It's a total animal to play. My current project is building a new cabinet for a Fender Sidekick Reverb 20 (Rivera era Fender!). I picked it up super cheap off of ebay, but the dude who sent it to me did a crap job of packing it and it got royally messed up in transport. It's a solid state amp, and voiced like you would expect an 80's amp to be. But the reverb is outta this world.
Next big build will be a Hiwatt Custom 50 clone.
It has been ages since I last picked up any of my guitars, but I finished studying for some work certifications and found myself with a ton of extra free time on my hands earlier this year. After selling off a bunch of gear I decided to fix up the electronics on my late-80s MIJ Strat and replace the original pick-ups with some DiMarzio Areas. I then grabbed a late-80s era Roland JC-120, bought a few Electro-Harmonix pedals (Cathedral, Stereo Memory-Man, and Clone Theory), and picked up a Devi Ever Shoegazer Fuzz. I've been happily making some shoegaze-y/post-rock noises for the past couple of months and may even start playing with a couple of friends sometime soon.
"The only real politics I knew was that if a guy liked Hitler, I’d beat the stuffing out of him and that would be it." -- Jack Kirby
WARNING: Bling Below.
"The only real politics I knew was that if a guy liked Hitler, I’d beat the stuffing out of him and that would be it." -- Jack Kirby
I had one of those back in the day, in blonde. I loved everything about that guitar except it had the shitty original style bridge that wouldn't hold the high e string on the saddle.
Yeah, one of the things I like about the Mascis model is that it comes with a Adjust-O-Matic bridge which really cuts down on that. Although, I've read that the original bridges were built with the assumption that one would be playing with heavier gauge strings--like 13s or something--since that was the convention among jazz players back in the day. This model also had the tremolo tailpiece a little closer to the bridge which should also help keep strings in the saddle too.
All-in-all it's a really nice bang-for-the-buck guitar--even at its 'new in-store' price.
"The only real politics I knew was that if a guy liked Hitler, I’d beat the stuffing out of him and that would be it." -- Jack Kirby
I forgot how much fun playing with others can be.
Very cool!
I haven't played with other people in any kind of serious way since the late-90s/early-00s when my band at the time disintegrated. I should be getting together with a couple of pals either next week or the week after to play some tunes. The prospect is a strange combination of exciting and frightening.
"The only real politics I knew was that if a guy liked Hitler, I’d beat the stuffing out of him and that would be it." -- Jack Kirby