Kiwi

Apologies if this a bit late but I keep getting caught by cable issues when testing my rig. I have a habit of chopping up unreliable cables into shorter leads and then ultimately to patch cables but without ever chasing the location. I've changed that tactic now but with old leads I still get caught out sometimes.

I shared a stage with another guitarist who was going through a Katana 100. He was absolutely deafening, I had to turn him down to 50w setting just to balance us out a bit (I was playing through a pair of 85w Class D floor amps at the time). Great cleans but it kind of sounded like an profiled amp through a computer plug in. But at the time it didn't matter so much as we were playing without PA support for the backline.

Hi DecepticonVibez glad to have you onboard.

It's been five years and I managed to come into a bit of disposable income after cashing in a business venture and I discovered an popular app for selling second hand stuff. I kept finding really interesting gear at very attractive prices so resistance was futile for stuff that was within my reach. Number 1 (mentioned above): My favourite Yamaha MSG Deluxe is smooth sounding yet offers some girthy bite when needed. Think of the rhythm guitar on Rosanna by Toto. Yes, really. It plays like a dream - as good as any PRS but warmer. The bridge had a stripped thread in a fine tuner hole about a year ago and I was faced with a choice of either trying to tap a new thread in all the tuners for Floyd Rose tuner screws (which are larger in diameter) or looking for a second hand replacement. I ended up scoring a cheap black replacement trem and fitted it with no further issues than the need to replace all the hardware and pickups to match. I prefer the chrome pickups which had to be transferred to number two, the black ones are nice but don't have quite the same synergy. Number 2: The second Yamaha MSG Deluxe is lighter than number 1, has a less figured top and sounds a smidge brighter, it's also a transition model between the v1 and v2 MSG but now has the pickups that were in Number 1. Absolutely glorious neck pickup tone that reminds me of the solo on Wuthering Heights. Yamaha MSG Standard: This came to me in a right state but I bought it because I thought it might have a little more sustain. Thoroughly worn fingerboard and frets and I think it might have had a clear overspray at some point to make it more attractive for sale. After removing all the frets, I discovered the fingerboard was a weird 13" radius. So it was re profiled to 14" and the frets were replaced, levelled and dressed. I also installed some PRS Mira pickups which gave it a bit of midrange bite. It's used for classic rock, most often with the Marshall rack mentioned below. Chandler Custom Strat (mentioned above): My faithful workhorse is still going strong. I made and fitted a new neck from flamed maple with an ebony fingerboard and a nut width that matches the MSGs. I finished it in superglue and the whole guitar is pretty much now Valley Arts spec. I also added a semi super switch so position 3 is neck and bridge pickups, for funky tele chords. The neck is a little more sensitive to climate changes than the original but it feels much easier to play without getting cramped. This and Deluxe NUmber 1 are my two go to guitars. Al Knight Hitmaker (mentioned above): Still have it but it will probably go up for sale soon as I hardly ever play it now. I did toy with fitting a Stratoblaster circuit but after three breadboard prototypes worked fine on the bench, I couldn't get them to work after installation. Probably a short somewhere but I lost patience and shelved the modification. Super low action on this machine and it sounds identical to the guitar on the Chic albums - quite tight and thin. Kleinberger (mentioned above): I accrued the parts and then made a body for it in 2011 while living in NZ. For a while I thought it was a bit dull sounding but I fell in love with it after playing it through the JMP1 preamp. The body wood is from a NZ native tree and is a cross between cherry and mahogany. It filters out enough of the highs from the neck to give it a huge amount of girth but still leave it articulate or woofy. For a tiny guitar, it sounds like a beast and although not my thing, it really djents. A member of my team at work has his eye on it so it may not be here this time next year. The Clean Machine: I built this one Summer 2024 in Jon Shuker's workshop. It was inspired by the Aria RS Esprit but in a Yamaha MSG format and it kind of goes one step further. The original RS Esprit had electronics licensed from Alembic (but built by others) and in this guitar, I used a set of genuine Alembic Activators. The electronics in the RS Esprit were a pair of low pass filters with boost and Nuno at Lusithand kindly tweaked a pair of filters so they were more suitable for guitar frequencies. (Thanks Nuno!) A rare Wilkinson VS100CV bridge was also installed with Graphtec Ghost saddles connected to an acoustiphonic preamp. A rotary pickup selector chooses the piezos for a full acoustic simulation, or bridge/bridge+middle/bridge+neck/middle+neck/neck. Not ideal but the simplest solution in terms of controls. In high gain situations when the high frequencies are filtered a little, lots of interesting harmonics jump out. However the lack of crystalline brightness in clean settings has been a little disappointing and I suspect this is due to the neck woods (the maple is way too soft). Recently I found a guy in Guangzhou who has started offering his own graphite necks for knock off Steinberger M Series guitars for the domestic market. So I've sent him the neck of this guitar and he'll make a copy of the neck in graphite composite...but with a 43mm nut to match the MSGs and Chandler Strat. I hope the graphite neck is going to be rigid enough to brighten up the sound a bit but we will see. There's an ongoing power drain issue with this one that I need to sort out over the Summer. Ibanez S670 (highly modified): I'm not sure this was ever really a S670 as it doesn't have a mahogany body even if the neck is correct. The body wood is more like basswood but it only cost 130 quid and the trem was completely worn out. I looked into an upgrade but none were available so found a like for like replacement for about ten quid. Actually I think the replacement is better quality, the knife edges on the base seem more durable. I had some special order Dimarzio pickups a Mo Joe and a PAF Joe in chrome so thought why not turn it into a S series Chrome boy. I looked into painting and discovered that in the first batch of Chromeboys, Ibanez had used chrome based paint finish (on a metallic undercoat) and it cracked and split after a few years due to seasonal changes. So the more recent version 2 Chromeboys have bodies made of lucite, not wood. I figured another option was to use an automotive vinyl wrap, so I bought some online and got in touch with the city's best wrap specialist who took care of the body in three pieces one afternoon. I tried wrapping myself but discovered I really needed two pairs of hands to lay the vinyl without it sticking to itself. The neck also needed attention with a few frets that were worn from cowboy chords, so I replaced, levelled and dressed them and it plays effortlessly now although the neck profile is U shaped rather than the D I'm used to. The electronics were my usual harness of coil splits for the humbuckers and a semi superswitch which allows position 3 to select both humbuckers instead of the middle pickup. So it'll do stratty stuff as well as the more familar high gain. I ended up playing this guitar at a CNY gig in January and it did a fine job. The experience of installing strings confirm and endorsed my absolute hatred for double locking trems though. Ibanez AWD83T: Last but not least, I mentioned an interest a few years ago in an Ibanez AWD. I went off them for a while, in preference for a Yamaha SAS semi hollow to match the MSGs. However YT research suggested the SAS didn't sound as smooth and jazzy as I wanted whereas the AWD did. One day last month I was trawling a japanese auction site and discovered a rarer AWD83T (with a trem) for sale, put a bid in for less than 200 quid and won. When it arrived, the electronics were a bit dodgy, the trem arm was missing and it was covered in a thick film of nicotine - perhaps the guitar was part of an estate. Not sure, but the main thing was that the neck was good (as I have come to expect from Ibanez) and there was plenty of life in the frets. The electronics issue turned out to be just a poorly soldered earth connection from the pickups and that was sorted in a few minutes and a spare trem arm from a wilkinson V100 bridge fitted perfectly. It's a great value guitar, does jazz and Foofighters in the same breath. I might trial some pickups from my spares department over the summer and see how much of an improvement they make. Otherwise it plays sweetly and smoothly with low action. BQW Custom: And finally...I have found a luthier in northern China who makes instruments featuring some incredible workmanship and he can do pretty much anything including graphite necks. So I've been on a two year waiting list for a build of another Yamaha MSG style instrument but with a through body 3 piece mahogany neck with bound ebony fingerboard, stainless steel frets, lightweight sapele wings, a carved top made from a bicoloured piece of golden camphor and maybe a back from my stash of 42,000 year old NZ swamp kauri...or some 3A flamed maple. The electronics feature a custom HSH set of my favourite Armstrong pickups, a switchable EMG SPC midboost circuit and a Kahler trem. He's finally going to start work on it this month. Also in the planning is a build that will be a 5 string version of my Alembic Series 1 graphite, but that's another story. Ampwise, there's quite a bit of extra stuff. I'm now running four rigs without any real need for this much backline. Tweed Princeton 1x8 combos: These are good amps but I haven't played them in three years, apart from a wet dry wet experiment shortly after the PRII arrived. So they will be going up for sale. Considering they are hand wired and point to point with high quality parts, just like the originals and like later boutique amps, they go for criminally low asking prices but there's not a lot of other option. Fender Princeton Reverb II: This amp was part of a Paul Rivera supervised series that was Fender's attempt to compete with Mesa Boogie. The same series also featured the now legendary Super Champ popularised by Alan Murphy amongst others during the mid eighties. The PRII is arguably the second most coveted amp in the series because it was originally intended to be a Super Champ in a bigger box. It didn't quite turn out like that due to a few minor differences in circuitry but still a really nice sounding amp. The one I have is in near new condition and when pushed with The Xotic AC booster pedal breaks out into this harmonically rich but articulate gain. I replaced the Fender speaker with a Jensen N12K neo out of a Tone Master amp. Fender Concert (II) 1x12: I bought this amp before the PRII in 2020...but it didn't actually end up in my possession, due to various complications, until last month. The Concert II is renowned for it's blackface style cleans - David Gilmour had a wall of them behind him at Live Aid and continued to play them well into the early nineties. If I had written this yesterday, I would have said that it's not quite as tight as the PRII or as rich in the midrange. However tonight I gave it a blast and used a tactic popular with Mesa Mark amp owners...turn the bass down to zero. It worked a treat and while the gain might have been criticised online, I found my amp verged on 5E3 Tweed meltdown - satisfyingly rich and crunchy, like a Twix. Compared to the PRII, it's been gigged but well maintained. The original speaker has been replaced with an Eminence Patriot (almost a requirement for this series of amps, the OEM Fender speakers are not very good.) I also had a custom 1x12 extension cab made for it which has a V30 installed. The gain control needs a little attention but OMG it's LOUD when the master is pushed to 70%. Pedalboard: It's fairly constrained, consisting of an Xotic XW-1 wah into a Keeley C4 comp, then a Zoom MS70CDR for pre-gain modulation into an Xotic AC booster and Amptweaker Tight Rock. Sitting in the side chain of the TR is a Nobels ODR and a Joyo American Sound JF14. The TR then feeds into a Mooer Ocean Machine for reverb and dual delays before hitting the amp. If I am using the Concert II, I'll run the Ocean Machine into the series effects loop at the back for less colouration. I really love the combinattion of the AC Booster and the ODR, its harmonically rich and articulate without getting noisy. The AC Booster makes pretty much all of the other gain pedals sound better if I'm honest. I trialled a Line 6 M9 for post gain modulation but it proved to be a bit of a tone suck so put the Ocean Machine back in. There is also a Crowther Hot Cakes to swap out with the Joyo if I get bored. I'm also going to play about with an Empress parametric eq and boost to see if I can get it to do the same job as the AC Booster at some point. But otherwise really happy with this board, it makes all the right noises. Mesa rack: This started off as a single 4U rack but morphed into two in the last 4 months mainly because there was a lack of volume with the original rack and I had rack gear to spare so...why not? The Mesa rack is based around a Lexicon MPXG2 (with R1 foot controller) that switches a final version Mesa Triaxis preamp inserted in the side chain. The MPX sends a stereo signal into a Mesa Fifty/Fifty power amp which then goes into a pair of Joyo 1x12 cabs each fitted with a Celestion 12" neo creamback. The Fifty/Fifty is a later model, optimised for the Triaxis and it features a 15/50W power switch which almost makes the Marshall 20/20 redundant for practice needs. I later bought a second Triaxis as back up although it has the recto mod in Lead 1 so not quite a direct replacement. Marshall rack: The second 4U rack is based around a Marshall JMP-1 into a Rocktron Intellipitch and then into a Marshall 20/20 power amp. A Rocktron 300A comp evens out any harshness before the signal hits the preamp. It sounds like a Marshall head but can be a little shrill for my taste. The 20/20 power amp made it possible to dial in Marshall-esque tones in the Triaxis's Lead 2 setting. This rack gets used for ACDC and Def Leppard but the MXR Rockman X100 might make the entire rack redundant at some point. The cabs are the same Celestion loaded Joyos shown above. Kemper Stage Profiler board. I had a Kemper before the Mesa Traxis and it sort of became surplus to reqiurements afterwards. The one great thing is that on the largest Ghostfire pedal board, it still weighs less than a 4U rack so its currently first choice for any gigs even though it doesn't quite feel the same as having the real thing blasting away from the back of stage. My favourite settings on the Triaxis, Mesa Studio, Carvin Quad X and Burman GX3 preamps have been profiled as well, for posterity. The signal chain starts with a Shure wireless then a Digitech FreqOut for feedback effects before going into the Kemper. In a loop of the Kemper sits a Line 6 M5 for modulation effects that the Kemper can't do like Dimension D. Out of the Kemper the signal goes into a pair of Hotone Loudster Class D power amps each pumping out 85W into the Joyo cabs. All the profiles loaded into the profiler have the cabinet simulation removed. The cabs used are the same Celestion loaded Joyos as mentioned above. While the cabs are rated at 60W and the output of the Loudsters is rated at 85W, the speakers seem insensitive enough to deal with the extra power without too many issues so far. I gigged wtih this set up and the Ibanez S Series Chromeboy mentioned above. Maintaining this lot keeps me pretty damn busy and then there are the basses, more preamps and other rack gear on top of that too. So there are plans for a clear out soon, some of which driven by the need to make space and some by the sheer fact that keeping this lot maintained takes a lot of time. So once the BQW is complete, I'll be making plans to let the two MSGs go, the HItmaker, the Kleinberger, the chrome wrapped Ibanez S670, the Tweeds, the Marshall rack, the Carvin Quad X (not mentioned above), the Mesa Studio pre (also not mentioned above) and a load of pedal and rack effects.

Mine has been on Reverb for a while. The ex Lindisfarne one.

How are you finding the California, I have a full Mesa set up now and the California sounded pretty dark even after I dialled back the bass. Did you find a way to brighten it up?

Yeah, the Hotones were purchased for a specific gig and now they're sort of kicking about without a purpose. I'm jonesing for one of the new MXR Rockman X100 units but second hand because prices are a little crazy at the moment. Once I have one, I'll put together a Def Leppard specific mini pedal board with the Hotones and a delay unit.

The older units are generally made with less advanced components so tend to be a little noiser. I have quite a few multi effects units in both rack and pedal form including Zoom B3, Zoom G3x, Adrenalinn III, Lexicon MPXG2 (x2), Line 6 M5 (x2), various Rocktron Intelli-units who have noise reduction.

I bought a pair of Hotone Loudster Class D pedal amps a couple of months ago and was surprised how good they were. I found a set of these attached to the underside of the ODR and wondered what they were...! Cheers.

Ronnie Wood played bass on Maggie May didn't he? It wasn't really bass as we know it, more lead guitar on a bass.

I'm spoiled for choice. I could even make my own from factory second parts. Not tempted in the least, however because often what one gains in appearance is lost in functionality and poor fit. There are some excellent PRS clones for 700 quid but the rest of it I would steer clear of.

It's a detail that gets in the way of communication IMHO

Xotic AC Booster Not made any more. Send it into a Fender amp and it'll give you thick articulate boost overdrive with a little something extra in the character which I haven't identified yet. Just luscious. Way better than a tube screamer and sounds magical with the ODR and Amptweaker below. Amptweaker Tight Rock The original one, it does fabulous distortion. Use whatever boost pedal you want to emphasise a different character. It does plexi as well. Super quiet and robust build. Nobels ODR This took me by surprise but it's an audio oxymoron. Really pleasant sounding overdrive while remaining articulate in the mids and presence frequencies. Great as a boost pedal too. Does everything well. Crowther Hot Cake Utterly unique drive pedal that does fat and grungy sounding distortion which teeters on the edge of fuzz but never quite goes there. It can be used as a boost as well. The presence control really does mids and it can be tweaked to a very entertaining level of intensity. It's the best drive pedal for a Vox AC30. PRS is a fan (which is probably a good thing) Joyo JF14 American Sound A copy of an old Tech 21 pedal. Use the voice control to move between tweed and twin midrange. The only criticism I have is the components are not as durable as they could be. Slightly higher noise floor. Otherwise, warm, articular midrange distortion from a Fender amp, use it with the ODR1 or the AC Booster for different takes on that mid to late seventies Rivera modded Fender thing. Mosky Silver Horse A little more versatile than the Goldern Horse if you are in the market for a Klon clone. Also, if you don't want or can't find an AC Booster, this does something similar but to a lesser degree for the cost of peanuts second hand. Slightly higher noise floor too but I use it as a boost pedal into the amptweaker for modded tones. That's it, I don't need any more drive pedals. Oh wait, there is the MXR Rockman...

Noise floor can sometimes be higher though

In my defence I'm left handed and footed in everything else, Sir.

Not me, I've played right handed from day one. Mainly because my drum teacher made me play the skins right handed two years before I took up bass. I've never really learned to play left handed and there's not a lot of motivation to learn given Mark King is left handed too. I can play drums ambidextrously more or less, but need the kit set up Phil Collins style.

Pretty much every UK luthier can make a tele. They are the simplest popular guitar to construct. Most of the sound comes from the pickups so body woods can be anything from pine to ash. Just choose one closest to you, pre-purchase the neck and pickups and get him to make a body to suit.

On Saturday we had a work party where we provided the entertainment. About six weeks ago I rounded up a bunch of colleagues and proposed we do a song together. Below is the result: 52fb7b34b4790dbaf517c3d5cce802d3.mp4 It was my first time performing on guitar and I used the instrument mentioned here: All sorts of technical issues that I won't bore everyone with but the band had no right sounding as good as this recording suggests. I originally rehearsed with a 4U rack containing my beloved Triaxis and MPXG2 into a Marshall 20/20. But there were 60Hz hum and phasing issues so I swapped the rack for a Kemper and used a profile of the Triaxis instead with only marginal improvement (no more phasing). The Kemper went into two Hotone Loudster Class D power amps sat on a pair of Joyo 1x12 cabs loaded with Celestion Neo Creambacks. The speakers struggled to disperse, but this shouldn't have been too much of an issue if we had been given PA support. Unfortunately the video stops just before I move up front for the solo guitar breaks. I did the thing though - one foot on the monitor. No hair in the wind unfortunately.

There is a Chinese amp maker called Grand who ghost built the Classic series for Peavey at one point. I have a couple of their handwired 5W Princeton Tweed amps for home use. They're sold under various other brand names by resellers on Ebay but they would fit your needs perfectly. Or...you could look for a used Peavey Classic 20.

I picked up a super cheap Ibanez S670 with a fake body for 1500RMB ten days ago and went about upgrading, fixing and customising it with chrome Gotoh hardware and Dimarzio Satriani signature pickups. I wanted to do a Chromeboy painted finish but it's not possible to do it well on wood bodies. The original Chromeboys had finish cracking and bubbling issues do to wood expanding and contracting with seasonal changes, the follow ups had bodies made of lucite not wood. So I did the next best thing - bought a load of mirror vinyl wrap online and found a friendly auto wrapping firm to do it for me after my own attempt failed miserably. The reflection isn't 100% sharp but only really noticable when you are standing closer than 5 meters. I'm planning on using the guitar for a show coming up on Jan 11. The good thing of vinyl over paint is that I can get it re wrapped if it starts to look a little worn.

Looking forward to some bass guitar related content...

Checking frets with with a fret rocker would be the second thing to do after checking the neck relief and string height.

I really like PRS Mira pickups. I have two sets installed in guitars and feel they're a bit of an industry secret for those who aren't label and trend orientated. Loads of upper midrange and note definition in the style of a Seymour Duncan 59 but without shrillness. If I want a classic rock (think AC/DC or GnR) then I'll sling a set in.

I have a soft spot for boogie kit and have a triaxis and studio pre as well as formerly owned a Bass 400+ and Strategy 400. The bass needs stamping on in the Mark series amps (and the studio pre) but that singing lead tone is unbeatable.

Nice guitar. My headless Kleinberger looks like a toy on me. Yours doesn't.