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Dad3353

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Everything posted by Dad3353

  1. I wouldn't recommend doing this; valve amps are a bit different to solid state, notably in their output construction. The valves drive their load (the speaker...) through a transformer, to convert volts to amps, and rely on the correct impedance to work properly (this means to not go up in smoke...). Most high-power valve amps have a multi-tapped transformer, to allow for different speaker/cab loads; it's important to respect this when connecting cabs. Your Fender doesn't have this type of transformer, and would only be comfortable (that's to say : safe...) with an 8 Ohm load. It's possible to unplug the built-in speaker and connect another cab, but it must be an 8 Ohm cab. You may change the speaker, but only for an 8 Ohm one. You should not use the amp with no speaker connected; valve amps do not like to run unloaded; the output transformer would probably 'fry'. What solutions, then..? I've a 'budget' solution and a slightly less 'budget' one. In the old days, we used 50 or 100 W amp heads, often with 4x12 cabs. These tended to be excruciatingly loud if cranked to get 'that' tone; far too loud for the safety of our ears. We would lay the cab flat on a carpeted floor; this absorbed the worst of the row. Try that, then, with your combo and see if the resulting sound is what you're after. The more technical solution is to use a 'power soak'. This is a dummy load which respects the needs of the amp, but absorbs some of the power, leaving less for the speaker. Some are fixed, others variable, and so act a bit like a volume control, whilst respecting the 'cooking' of the output valves. Here's the Thomann range; that's the 'correct' way to tame a valve amp with no risk of generating 'magic smoke'. It is important, nevertheless, to respect the impedance requirements of the amp, and only use an 8 Ohm soak. Hope this helps. Douglas Thomann Power Soaks ...
  2. @Chiliwailer: T's all your fault, for posting such a convincing ad, coupled with an equally convincing video. Long story short: I was convinced. Apologies for not taking up this offer, though; I'm in France, and the extra faff (a technical term...) and import costs put me off, just enough to have a scout around LeBonCoin (our equivalent of Gumtree..?), where I found an identical pedal, which I bought..! Received it this morning, and it fulfils its promise. Ideally suited to my, admittedly excruciating, guitar playing (I'm a drummer, so...), and fits in very well on my modest pedal board (Boss Compressor, Boss Fender Deluxe, Twin Big Muff, Akai Headrush and now Fender Santa Ana...), all into my Fender Bassman 50w valve amp. Soft, creamy, nice switching options and very useful tone controls; I'm very pleased. All this to end up with 'BUMP'..! This is a fine pedal, which I'd have been happy to buy if I was in the UK. The Seller is a very reputable member on the sister Basschat forum, so no need to hesitate. This is an Overdrive pedal; much more subtle sonic options than a mere fuzz or disto, but marries well with other pedals. 'BUMP', I say, 'BUMP'..! Douglas
  3. Good afternoon, Alan (@The Pinky...) and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.
  4. There is little in the guitar world for these issues; they are physiological and mental. There is help, however, in breathing exercises, for relaxation, yoga, for same, and wellness stuff such as thinking hard about coffee, smoking and/or alcohol consumption. Short sessions, with a complete break between (pop out for a stroll or a run between sessions..?), Use a warm-up routine, every time. Vary the exercises, so as not to concentrate on any one thing for too long. For longer pieces, break it down into shorter sections, and learn/practice them starting from the end. Once the end section is perfect (and not before...) learn/practice the preceding section, and continue through to the end, which is now familiar territory. Once these two sections are perfect (and not before...) work on the preceding section, play through to the end (already familiar...) etc. Every time, you're playing into sections that are already well rehearsed, and so relaxation, comfort and confidence are assured. The sections can be as short as you wish (Four bars..? A whole phrase..? Half a page, or a whole one..?); it depends on the piece, but small is OK. Hope some of this helps. Douglas
  5. You mention 'fast position and chord changes'. My single piece of advice would be to solve this issue by doing things slowly. Slow is the new fast. Slow is the fastest way to do fast. Whatever it is you're wanting to do, do it slowly, preferably with a metronome, or whatever you use for tempo, but set it to slow. Do whatever it is you are wanting to do, slowly, for a while (two, three weeks..? Every day, for ten-fifteen minutes..? Slowly..!). Once it can be done, slowly, well, up the tempo a little. No, just a little (60 bpm becomes 65 bpm, for example...) do this, regularly, for another 'while', and once you've become proficient at it, up the tempo a tad more (65 becomes 70..?). Repeat; if, after a 'while' it's still not smooth, clean, easy, go back down a tad with the tempo and repeat. It is useful, and recommended, to start from the original 'slow' tempo now and again, for a day or so, working back up to one's current tempo, as a refresher. Always with the metronome, or whatever you use for tempo. This is the way to obtain whatever speed one wants, and is the guaranteed fastest way. Is there a downside..? Yes, it requires a large bucketful of Patience. Those without this essential accessory will not achieve their goal, so be sure to have that bucket, and keep it well topped up. It is of no advantage to do this for hours on end, nor too many times a day, but if time permits, a couple or three sessions of 10-15 minutes (no more...) may be permitted. The key is in the regularity (every day...), in the keeping the tempo slow (hence the metronome or equivalent...) and the Patience. It cannot, and never does, fail. Douglas
  6. Dad3353

    Lowdon advice

    If it's sound, with only minor 'playing' wear, searches show prices between 1000-2000€. Any repairs might knock a few hundred off, and pristine condition and/or a hard case might add the same. No guarantee of accuracy, but I hope this helps; meanwhile... Have a great day. Douglas
  7. I'm not sure how a p/u, on its own, can produce anything but a 'clean' sound. I can understand high output, and differing tone, but there's nothing in a p/u that can do anything but capture the string. Any grit, or crunch, or whatever must surely come from the pre-amp or pedals..? Am I wrong..? Have I always just been lucky..?
  8. It certainly puts the kibosh on the 'tone wood' debate. I will never understand why anyone would want a sound like that. Not a fan, obviously.
  9. Dad3353

    Amp Set up

    There are venues and bands that adopt the amps in front of the players, in the manner of foldback cabs. Obviously not stacks of 4x12's, but combos or one-cab rigs can give sufficient volume and clarity both for the player, the other band members and the audience when placed this way. It's a good way of setting up rehearsal space, too, and makes rehearsal more like a venue stage. Worth considering..?
  10. Good afternoon, Neil... In your shoes I think I would go with the first on the list (the bundled amp etc...); you will notice no difference whatsoever between '63', '70', '40th Anniversary' etc when learning, and many experienced guitarists would not care either which is which. Any difference in cost, as long as budget will support it, would be better spent on at least one or two lessons from a local, reputable, guitar tutor, who will be able to show you how to start off without taking on beginner's bad habits which could bite you later on. A tuner pedal, or clip-on tuner, is a Good Idea from the start; new strings can wait for a few months. If you go to a tutor, he/she will be able to recommend a method for whatever goals you set yourself (depending on what you want to learn to play...). One may learn 'by ear', or from Tablature, or get stuck into reading Music Notation from the outset; all are valuable, Be aware, though, that the fastest way to learn is to go slowly, and this includes the 'theory' side and reading music from a score. Hope this helps; I'll give my usual encouraging catch-phrase, which applies to many situations... 'It's the first forty years that are the hardest, after which things sometimes tend to get slightly easier.
  11. Disclaimer : I'm a drummer... The ads I've seen would suggest a price ranging from £450 to £550. The original p/us are rather highly praised; if you still have them, and could include them in the deal, maybe a tad more..? Do you have a hard case for it..? That, too, will add some interest for a faster sale. You've not disclosed your location, and whether it could be posted; these factors will also affect the value a buyer would take into account. A very nice guitar; good luck with the sale.
  12. Is that what's meant by 'air guitar'..?
  13. Good afternoon, @Soledad, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share. Douglas
  14. Dad3353

    Selmer 222

    Here's a page from the Selmer catalogue of the period; you can see that, for a cost of 6 guinées, it came factory-fitted with light-gauge steel strings, making it excellent for cutting cheese..! My very first guitar, mid '60s, was similar, but Russian-built, full size, and a neck fixed to the body by a bolt. I moved on from there with a Hofner President (I regret its loss...). There are often Selmer 222 guitars offered second-hand, usually priced between £15 and £25. Popular at the time, mainly for their attractive relatively low price. By 'Concert' size, they mean '3/4' size, or 'Parlour' guitar...
  15. Quite the opposite, for me. I find myself humming a melody, then wondering what it is, only to realise later that it's something I composed myself years ago.
  16. An excellent question. Here's a couple of answers (Disclaimer : Patience is needed, but does pay out handsomely...). Go Slowly..! ... ... and ... The 12 Most Important Fingerpicking Guitar Exercises you Must Learn ... When you've mastered those, come back and we'll give you more.
  17. That looks to be an ideal set-up that even Gilmour would appreciate. My recollection of valve amps (I used a Watkins Westminster at first,, and a Linear Conchord, then Hiwatt 50, and now have several valve amps, Hiwatt, Fender, Mesa and more...) tell me that you have the potential for that tone, right there. 'How loud is the band..?' would be the next question. You'll be able to crank up the volume, but risk losing that delicate subtlety that's required. If your drummer is a 'shed-builder', you may get away with doubling the cab (or adding a cab if it's a combo...), but the way forward for integrating that tone at venue level would be mic'ing up the cab (SM57 aimed at the sweet spot of the cone...) into the FOH desk, and let a quality PA do the heavy lifting. It's not decibel volume per se that you will need, it's volume of air being shifted, and more speakers will do that better than cranking up the amp. You've already got a top-notch rig; improvement will need top-notch solutions, I'm afraid. How deep are your pockets..?
  18. Up against 'The Wall'..? ... No, OK; seriously, then... What guitar (Strat or similar..?). What p/u's (stacked doubles, like DG or standard single coils..?). What gauge strings..? DG has muscles in his fingers fatter than many people's biceps, and can bend, with ease, 12's or 13's. The tone from 9's won't cut the mustard. What amp/cab..? I would suspect that, at home, you're able to face the cab. In a venue, the cab may be beaming to your calves. What does it sound like 'out front'..? Remember, of course, that The Master has an enormous PA helping him out, and, not one, but several AC30 combos stacked up. The input from The Fingers is not to be neglected; several decades have honed his skills to that perfection; it's not yet been tinned. Sheer volume won't bring about The Tone unless there's some serious hardware able to project. Does any of this ring a (division...) bell..? (Usual disclaimer : I'm a drummer...).
  19. Off topic, and just for 'fun', a short anecdote entitled 'The Stupidity of Youth'... My very first guitar was a steel-strung Russian horror of a classical guitar; wide, flat fingerboard, high action... A real cheese-wire trap for unwary fingers. A visit to the 'shop' (really just the front room of their house...), Mrs Nicholls, Hampton Hill had a sort of 'junk-yard' of guitars, basses, amps piles up all around. I was an apprentice, on apprentice wages, but on one visit there, I found a splendid guitar that it seemed I could afford : a Hofner Thin President, florentine cutaway. I broke the bank and bought it, with its case; I don't remember the sum, but it must have been less than £50, which would have been a fortune to me at the time. All well and good; I now had a guitar that was actually playable (albeit in need of an amp, but that would come later...). With the Russian guitar, I had bought the Mickey Baker Jazz Guitar method (excellent, by the way; highly recommended, and still available at a very low cost...). I could now practice the chords in there without risking losing a finger or two. Happy daze. In fact, I played the Hofner at my very first gig with the Martin Spicer Band, at a pub in Hounslow, playing the bass part on just the lower four strings. Now for the sad part... I have a younger brother (in fact I have several; we're a large family...) who, despite being a hard 'lefty', had acquired a Hofner Verithin, on which he became rapidly highly proficient. Not wishing to go down the Mickey Baker rabbit hole, he just played along to whatever he fancied, and made stuff up with a unique picking and fingering style, in my opinion thanks to his 'lefty' 'handicap'. With the music we were listening to, and the direction that the Band was heading, I thought it better to have a guitar lending itself more to a 'lead' role than the Hofner. In a music shop somewhere (no idea where...), I came across a Burns Bison which the shopkeeper was willing to exchange for my Hofner. The deal was done, and I refinished the Bison in bright Canary Yellow over its original colour of Dull Green. Ignorance..? Here's one tell-tale sign, at least : I strung it with a '7' gauge set, so as to be able to 'bend' like the masters on the radio. Don't try this at home; trust me when I tell you that '7' gauge strings are as useful on an electric guitar as cobwebs. They will not stay in tune, they break like buggery and have no 'feel' to them whatever. As cherry on the cake, I turned out to be a less-than-competent lead guitarist in any case. My musical career switched to higher grounds when this became evident, even to me, and I turned to drums (handy, as that was what the Band lacked, too...). I used the Burns for another deal, to get a lowly set of disparate drums (Edgeware, Beverly, Ajax and whatever...) and Life took on a new meaning. Why the Stupidity..? I have been on the look-out since for a Hofner Thin President, florentine cutaway. They are quite (or even very...) rare, and, although I now have several excellent Hofners, guitars and bass, that President was a Cracker, a Doozy, a Gem that I didn't recognise at the time, and let slip away. What little style of play I now have on guitar is so far from the Burns Bison ethic, and so aligned to the 'jazz box' stuff, but the guitar that should have stayed with me is now elsewhere. If only I could wind back the tape, borrow a DeLorean, visit myself, just for a few minutes to explain to myself what a mistake I was making... Alas, no, I can't (well, not until I finish building my Time Machine and clear any flies from the room...). If anyone reading this tale of woe comes across a tobacco-burst Hofner Thin President, florentine cutaway, I'd like to know. Thanks in advance. Here's a picture of one, as illustration, and a turn of the knife in the wound...
  20. This is certainly true, with the proviso that one knows what to look for in a guitar, or are willing to 'take a punt'. Second-hand from a reliable source (family, friends, forum members...) can help boost confidence.
  21. One pf the most popular guitars, world-wide, in its range, and rightly so. Yamaha excel in whatever field they are present; they don't make duff stuff. The Pacifica (there are several variants...) is an excellent guitar, for starting and far beyond. They extend in price from just over £200 to just under £800; all are excellent, and not just 'for their price'. The '112' range' is worth the difference compared to the '012' range, in my opinion. Buying second-hand can be a good option if one is already experienced in choosing and playing, or if there's a buddy able to offer his/her help. On my part, I'd have no qualms about used gear, but I've been playing for well over half a century, and hope I could spot a lemon by now..! If in doubt, go for new (yes, they are all light years ahead of what was available in the budget range 'back then'...). At worst, it can be returned, if bought online, and would in any case carry a guarantee. Hope this helps. Douglas
  22. Good evening, @Rabb, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share. As I have mentioned before in similar topics, one prerequisite for learning the guitar, and many other instruments, is Patience. Have a big bucketful ready whenever you're practising. Be aware that the fastest way to learn is to go slowly. A few short (10-15 minute...) sessions per day, every day, is far more beneficial than practising for longer. Sessions of an hour or more are too long, especially when beginning. Little and often, and, most importantly, regular. As for chords : as above, don't press down too hard. A light touch, with just the barest pressure on the fingertips is all that's required. When going from one chord to another, vary the permutations (it's not the most musical of exercises, but gets the fingers used to obeying the brain...). Play 'C', 'F', 'E', 'A', 'D', 'G' or whatever (slowly, no rush...), just forming each chord, playing each string individually and together, and mix them up. A few minutes of this type of exercise each and every day will bring rapid results if you do it slowly enough. Don't expect perfection each and every time, though; if it sounds a bit 'off', and strings get muffled, carry on regardless, but more slowly still. In time (and quite quickly...), the fingers will start to understand what to do when your brain wants such-and-such a chord, and will find the way to get there. When learning to drive a car or motorbike, one pays attention to the synchronising of the feet and hands; after a while it becomes natural. Most learning of mechanical skill is the same. Do it often and slowly and it will come all the quicker. Have fun, of course, though..! Hope this helps. Douglas
  23. Good afternoon, @Thumb pick, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share. I would like to share a few words of encouragement with you (I'll be 73 this summer, if all goes well...)... 'It's the first forty years that are the hardest, after which things sometimes tend to get a just a little easier.' Hope this helps.
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