Musician's thread

[viewerfromnihil]

I was pretty lucky I guess, my Dad always had good gear laying around the house and when I started playing bass I was loaned an early 70’s Maton B-250 which played beautifully but I hated because it didn’t look metal enough. I’d have it in a heartbeat now, they’re rare as hell also. As soon as I could save the money I bought a BC Rich Warlock in blackest black. At some point I stumbled across the Russian Luthier that sold me the two custom 5-strings that I still have.

Haha, yeah I did similar things when I was younger, always looking for the more metal looking guitar. I've owned a few BC Richs, including one made of plywood, the fact of which I ignored because it was otherwise a sick looking sparkle-white Ironbird. That's a killer find with the luthier though.

Where did you hear he uses a Sunn Beta Lead? There's nothing about that in the article. It basically says he doesn't have a preference for amps but he's used a lot of Gallien-Kruger and Ampeg stuff.
I had an Ampeg solid state 70's head for years that I wish I hadn't sold. It had 4 knobs on the front (vol, bass, mid, treble) and it was heavier than my 4x10 cab. At the time I wanted more 'modern tones' so I bought the Hartke 350 watt head that I still have. It's been a good workhorse but I'd like to get a new amp at some point soon.

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I meant that Buzz Osbourne uses a Sunn Beta Lead.

I'm basically ampless at this point and am hating it. I don't have an amp here in Germany, which is whatever because I'm just practicing in my free time, and back home I'm whittled down to just a 5W tube practice amp. There's a good chance my late grandfather had something good and old hidden somewhere on the family's property, but my grandparents were major hoarders and sorting through all of there old possessions and garbage will probably wind up being a decade's long job be the time it's said and done. I'll probably try to pick up a decent Fender combo amp when I'm back home.

 

[Satanstoenail]

I meant that Buzz Osbourne uses a Sunn Beta Lead.

Ah of course. I has the dumbs.

I'm basically ampless at this point and am hating it. I don't have an amp here in Germany, which is whatever because I'm just practicing in my free time, and back home I'm whittled down to just a 5W tube practice amp. There's a good chance my late grandfather had something good and old hidden somewhere on the family's property, but my grandparents were major hoarders and sorting through all of there old possessions and garbage will probably wind up being a decade's long job be the time it's said and done. I'll probably try to pick up a decent Fender combo amp when I'm back home.

I’m currently looking for a decent Marshall or Orange tube combo to play my SG through at home. I’ve never bought a guitar amp before so I’m trying to tread carefully and not just jump in and buy whatever. I’ve had the SG for a while now and just been playing it through my bass rig with a shitty distortion pedal but it deserves better. I borrowed my mate’s Marshall for a few weeks a while ago and it just sings through it. I basically started involuntary shitting Angus Young and Jimmy Page licks as soon as I plugged it in haha.

 

[Satanstoenail]

Spent Saturday doing our first recording, went pretty well I think. Pretty rushed doing it all in one day but it was cheap and the guy who did it was super on the ball and easy to work with. We recorded 5 songs with the idea that we’ll pick the best two or three and release them on vinyl if the recording is good enough.

Artwank shot while I waited for everyone to show up:

Action shot:


After we finished we went and played a gig which was super fun because we were so warmed up.

 

[CF87]

Played guitar on and off and can play pretty well naturally, picked up this cheap used Jackson guitar, it happens to be foreign and did not notice at first, but it plays pretty well, called a Dinky,i can always do shit to it, just need to get a combo amp, went to get one but the store happened to be closed, so just need to get a combo amp and should be good to go, i know a decent amount of scales and what not and for me I just like fucking around on it to see what I can come up with.

 

[Satanstoenail]

I’m currently looking for a decent Marshall or Orange tube combo to play my SG through at home. I’ve never bought a guitar amp before so I’m trying to tread carefully and not just jump in and buy whatever. I’ve had the SG for a while now and just been playing it through my bass rig with a shitty distortion pedal but it deserves better. I borrowed my mate’s Marshall for a few weeks a while ago and it just sings through it. I basically started involuntary shitting Angus Young and Jimmy Page licks as soon as I plugged it in haha.

So I finally found a good deal on eBay - A Marshall JCM 2000 TSL 602 60Watt combo. I won the auction with no other bids and got it for $590. I messaged the seller and arranged to go pick it up with cash the next day. Called him to go grab it the next afternoon and he starts making dumb excuses as to why I can't come and get it, before telling me that he thought it had been purchased for the buy it now price ($840 or something) and he never intended it to go for $590. I told him that it's not my fault that there were no other bidders and he is the one that entered the starting price. He tells me that he thought it would automatically go for the buy it now price. I grimace. This guy has 174 eBay transactions on his account and apparently can't get his head around what a starting price is. I told him that I have been looking for an amp for some time and that I'm extremely pissed off. He apologizes and tells me he'll send me a cancel transaction request. Tonight I contacted eBay and they told me they would report him and that I should decline his request and leave negative feedback, which I did.

 

[viewerfromnihil]

What a cunt. I've been lucky enough with ebay to not have that happen before, though I typically prefer classifieds like craigslist or Ebay Kleinanzeigen over Ebay for buying used equipment. Seems to almost always come out cheaper.

I picked up a Laney Cub 12R for 150€ a couple months back. It's a pretty decent sounding amp, especially for the money. 15W tube, so it should be able to compete with a drummer -- worst case scenario, I could swap out the speaker. It's a little dull sometimes, but the tubes need to be swapped out. Tubes seem to be cheaper in the US, so I'm going to grab some while I'm there over the summer and bring them back, and will probably pick up a hot set, preferably Mullard. The clean tones sound great and the distortion is very classic, classic rock, which I'm fine with. I think I'll bring my Tube Screamer (used SRV style as a clean boost) and Boss Bass Overdrive back with me too, just to get some extra versatility out of it. I'm tempted to bring my wah too, but then next thing you know I'll be toting all of my shit here.

 

[Satanstoenail]

What a cunt. I've been lucky enough with ebay to not have that happen before, though I typically prefer classifieds like craigslist or Ebay Kleinanzeigen over Ebay for buying used equipment. Seems to almost always come out cheaper

Yeah I've been looking on Gumtree and Facebook marketplace and various groups as well. eBay isn’t my first choice, but the odd good deal slips through, usually when people forget to bid on stuff I think. A Marshall DSL40C went for $410 a couple of weeks ago but I missed it. Normally 2nd hand they go for $700 or more.

This prick is now messaging me and begging me to retract my feedback of course.

I picked up a Laney Cub 12R for 150€ a couple months back. It's a pretty decent sounding amp, especially for the money. 15W tube, so it should be able to compete with a drummer -- worst case scenario, I could swap out the speaker. It's a little dull sometimes, but the tubes need to be swapped out. Tubes seem to be cheaper in the US, so I'm going to grab some while I'm there over the summer and bring them back, and will probably pick up a hot set, preferably Mullard. The clean tones sound great and the distortion is very classic, classic rock, which I'm fine with. I think I'll bring my Tube Screamer (used SRV style as a clean boost) and Boss Bass Overdrive back with me too, just to get some extra versatility out of it. I'm tempted to bring my wah too, but then next thing you know I'll be toting all of my shit here.

Good shit! Yeah Laney gear is good, both the guitarists in my old band bought Laney stacks and were great quality. I’m probably was over compensating for what I need by getting a nice Marshall but I just want something that matches the quality of the SG.

 

[viewerfromnihil]

Yeah I've been looking on Gumtree and Facebook marketplace and various groups as well. eBay isn’t my first choice, but the odd good deal slips through, usually when people forget to bid on stuff I think. A Marshall DSL40C went for $410 a couple of weeks ago but I missed it. Normally 2nd hand they go for $700 or more.

This prick is now messaging me and begging me to retract my feedback of course.

Well, there is a $590 way that might convince you, or maybe something lower for that matter

Sickest deal I ever pulled off was a Roland Juno-60 synthesizer for $200. Guy didn't think it worked and I wasn't quite sure of how to use it when I tested it. Got it home and after a bid of fiddling I realized it worked perfectly. Sold it a couple of years back for $900, though I could have gotten a lot more for it if I wanted to sit on it.

Good shit! Yeah Laney gear is good, both the guitarists in my old band bought Laney stacks and were great quality. I’m probably was over compensating for what I need by getting a nice Marshall but I just want something that matches the quality of the SG.

Yeah there's also just something about that Gibson/Marshall combo, particularly with SGs. Besides, dropping ~$600 on something that sounds good certainly isn't unreasonable. When I invest in a nice amp, I'll probably end up dropping more than I should on something like a Fender Deluxe Reverb, or some sort of pedal steel amp if I can find something reasonable. I think I'm over stacks. They're badass and all, but they're a bitch to tote around. That and just about any tube combo over 15W is more than loud enough.

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

Fuck, I still need to sell my Dean 79V

 

[Satanstoenail]

Fuck, I still need to sell my Dean 79V

Weren’t you trying to sell it like five years ago?

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

lol, pretty much

 

[Satanstoenail]

I finally have an amp.

 

[viewerfromnihil]

How's that Tiny Terror settled in?

Threw together a pedalboard, brought to you by Ikea. My father's a fabricator and has every tool imaginable for doing the job. I figured why not since I'm here with him for the summer. I'll attach some velcro tape once it arrives in the mail and maybe put some handles on it. I'm not much of a carpenter, so working with something already mostly cut to spec was convenient. It's by no means gig-worthy. I'd have to put a support beam in the middle and a proper base on it for that. Even then, the cheap pine probably wouldn't hold up. I just wanted something convenient for taking my stuff to friends's places without having to dis- and reassemble my pedals. I'll either reinforce this guy when I'm back stateside next year with the extra little shelf in the pics, or go over the top and weld some aluminum together (probably the former). Spray paint used in the following order: black base, black, white, and gray stone texture spackley stuff, silver glitter, and a matte clear coat (so I won't get glitter on my hands every time I touch it). Turned out good. It looks like a subdued stone and glimmers slightly under bright lights. A lot of other ones I saw online were painted after assembly, but I thought that looked tacky.

Before and after:




My humble little setup. The amp itself is waaaaay too dark for my tastes, despite the high gain tubes I have in it. I boost the hell out of it, using both the Tube Screamer and Bass Overdrive as clean boosts, and then the signal runs through the preamp (Hafler T3, a killer preamp) in the rack mount before going into the overworked little combo. Obviously, nothing is plugged in, and all the settings on my pedals and amp are off.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Looks a bit excessive when you only have 5 pedals

I recently upgraded my bass rig. I bought one of those old Kustom 250 "hot rod" bass heads with the vinyl padding around it, only mine doesn't have the vinyl. Thinking about adding some eventually but for now it looks cool enough as it is. I also recently snagged a $20 410 bass cab by Seismic. Nothing fancy but it gets the job done. As much as I love the idea of having a full 810 cab, the practicality of moving that around from show to show is just a nightmare. The 410 and the Kustom gets plenty loud anyways.

 

[viewerfromnihil]

Looks a bit excessive when you only have 5 pedals

Haha, yeah. The thing is about 5 inches wider than I wanted, but I figured I could chop it up later if need be. My logic was that I might want to get some more pedals eventually, like a fuzz, but I'm honestly pretty minimalist effects-wise and can get a good fuzz sound by coupling the Bass Overdrive with some meddling on the tone knob. I rarely use the flanger, but keep it around because it was a gift from a friend. I do like using delay, particularly for a slap-back effect, and might upgrade to a larger, more versatile/capable unit eventually. You really don't need a lot of effects to get a wide-range of sounds. Most of Jimmy Page's crazy sounds came from just delay and wah

I recently upgraded my bass rig. I bought one of those old Kustom 250 "hot rod" bass heads with the vinyl padding around it, only mine doesn't have the vinyl. Thinking about adding some eventually but for now it looks cool enough as it is. I also recently snagged a $20 410 bass cab by Seismic. Nothing fancy but it gets the job done. As much as I love the idea of having a full 810 cab, the practicality of moving that around from show to show is just a nightmare. The 410 and the Kustom gets plenty loud anyways.

Nice! I'm with you on the 810. It looks great, but you've gotta own a truck or van just to get the thing around. I spent years loading and unloading 2 to 3 half stacks and PA equipment in and out of my shit little hatchback on a weekly basis, and it beat the romance of stacks right out of me. #combolife. If you ever come across a Peavey Bass 400 head, they usually run cheap and I totally recommend it. It's got a great clean tone and can nail the Eyehategod-style transistor distortion/fuzz madness.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

My Kustom sounds really nice so I'm pretty set with it for now. I'm going to keep my eye out for a Ampeg SVT that some poor soul doesn't realize is worth a fortune. I might snag one of their older solid-state heads (like the B2REs) but those are notoriously unreliable and stuff, but damn they sound killer.

 

[Satanstoenail]

How's that Tiny Terror settled in?

Pretty well, super simple and nice warm gain. I think I still prefer the sound I got out of my mate’s Marshall though. This was too good a deal to pass up though, $700 for the head & cab. Normally the cabs go for about $600 here.

Nice work with the pedal board, looks sharp.

In other news, our EP is up on Bandcamp:

https://protospasm.bandcamp.com/

 

[viewerfromnihil]

Pretty well, super simple and nice warm gain. I think I still prefer the sound I got out of my mate’s Marshall though. This was too good a deal to pass up though, $700 for the head & cab. Normally the cabs go for about $600 here.

Nice work with the pedal board, looks sharp.

In other news, our EP is up on Bandcamp:

https://protospasm.bandcamp.com/

View attachment 15445

Good stuff! Your bass tone sounds great.

 

[Satanstoenail]

Cheers man. Managed to get it sufficiently crunchy and punchy at the same time. The whole thing turned out not too bad for a cheap recording bashed out in one day in our rehearsal room.

 

[Satanstoenail]

I’ve been fantasising about buying an 80’s metal shape bass for some reason.

This Czech Discobass is cool as fuck