Lightbulb Sun
Losing the Skyline....
^Yeah, I'm sure you could find one in Japan for dirt cheap, but then you have to pay shipping.
It's too bad.....
It's too bad.....
Pls help: Jackson or Ibanez?
- Thread starter METALKIRK
- Start date
Requiem960
Member
My buddy has a few. I'm in the minority when I say this, "I don't like how Caparisons play or feel."
I'm more of a PRS and Parker kinda guy. For a metal guitarist, I take a lot of crap for this. But, I mainly play a Parker Nitefly. I've sold off all Jackson and Ibanez guitars I've ever owned. I had one Les Paul, sold that. I'll stick with the Custom 22 from PRS, but I still prefer the Parker Nitefly. ...and acoustics I've got a few high end Takamine 6 and 12 strings.
Kenneth R. said:
Yuck! There was nothing worse than Marshall's Valvestate line. Uggh, my dad gave me a Marshall Valvestate for Christmas years ago, thinking he was doing me a favor. It was a 100 watt combo with horrible tone. Unless it's an all-tube amp/head, I'm not going to touch it for distortion. However, I will give some Line6 stuff credit where credit is due. I will use the XT Live for recording or for boost on a tube amp. But, solid state amps are best kept for modeling and practice amps. I do however love the Fender solid states and the Roland Jazz Chorus amps for clean tones.
Kenneth R.
Cináed
No no no. The COMBO is worthless. The HEAD is gold. With a 1960A 4x12. Line6 is digital sounding drivel, so I can't believe you would make such a hypocritical judgment.
At any rate, people worship at the feet of PRS, Caparison, Parker, but for the purposes of this thread they are completely irrelevant as they are never something someone on a budget can buy. Not to mention that as far as quality goes, you're getting jacked over hardcore on the first two if you buy any of the recently-made ones. I won't say anything negative against Parker, but again it's not for tight budgets.
Lightbulb Sun
Losing the Skyline....
No no no. The COMBO is worthless. The HEAD is gold. With a 1960A 4x12. Line6 is digital sounding drivel, so I can't believe you would make such a hypocritical judgment.
At any rate, people worship at the feet of PRS, Caparison, Parker, but for the purposes of this thread they are completely irrelevant as they are never something someone on a budget can buy. Not to mention that as far as quality goes, you're getting jacked over hardcore on the first two if you buy any of the recently-made ones. I won't say anything negative against Parker, but again it's not for tight budgets.
I agree. Parkers are super expensive.
And as someone who can't go to a guitar store without playing a PRS, I can say that the SE's can't compare to any Custom 22/24 or SC 250 or the Johnny Hiland model. But the one thing I don't like about PRS (SE's), is the neck can be super thick at times and get in the way. They actually have some versatility, but if you want to play what METALKIRK is defining, they wouldn't be appropriate. As someone who is moving more into rhythm, take a minor role as apposed to a big role as lead (although both are important), I'm thinking of investing in a PRS or a guitar with a thicker neck because chords on thin necks are a pain.
For that money i would rather save a little more and get a used gibsone les paul or explorer and for those of you who say you cant shred on a les paul well you can one of my bands guitarists has largly stopped using jems ect and uses two les pauls and leaves everyone including other guitarists totaly flawed with his sound and playing. 
Lightbulb Sun
Losing the Skyline....
For that money i would rather save a little more and get a used gibsone les paul or explorer and for those of you who say you cant shred on a les paul well you can one of my bands guitarists has largly stopped using jems ect and uses two les pauls and leaves everyone including other guitarists totaly flawed with his sound and playing.
If you ask me, Gibsons are overrated. But I haven't had the chance to play it to its full extent.
Plus the necks are super chunky.
well ive played quite a few guitars in my time and yes gibsons are chunky neck wise but not a major problem and after all jimmy page garry moor and many others play great guitar on them. what you do get is awsome tone when coupled with say a budda head and 4 by 12 or a marshall valve marsall or soldano head and 4 by 12. the jems ect sound thin and unsububstantial in comparrison. however a good usa prs used like the new mira or the ce series would be versitile but not so brutal sounding. the paul budda and mesa 4 12 combination is wicked sounding and very versitile and cuts without being harsh or tizzy sounding. but everyone likes different sounds
and also on the subject of locking tuners some of the comments on here sound like they come from inexperienced guitaists or they dont play. locking tuners are a great bonus in my opinion however the les pauls our guitarist uses doesnt have them but he does have to tune up a little more often than the jems double locking system. most of these differnces my be due to poor or rushed restringing. locking tuners eliminates this area so you only have to worry about the guitar changing tune due to humidity and temperature or maybe strings sticking in nuts (in which case seek a good repair man for a setup) also on stage locking tuners make for ultra swift string change (not jem type but say shalleor grover or sperzal)
anyway have fun
RoadKing
The Central Scrutinizer
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Just curious, but have you ever owned a Gibson? They don't feature the wide-flat radius necks of the more "shred-specialty" guitars like Jackson, Ibanez, ESP, Parker, etc., but they "shred" just fine. Ask guys like Al Di Meola, Alex Skolnick, Doug Aldrich, Michael Schenker, Zakk Wylde, Randy Rhoads and Gary Moore, just to name a few, all of whom seem to have had no problems whatsoever melting frets on one!
I actually really dig Gibson necks, while it's true that they're deeper in radius than one of the aforementioned shred-favored brands, they're also noticeably narrower across the fretboard, and when set up properly, can absolutely blaze!
And, for me at least, when I think of "super chunky" necks, I tend to think old-school Fenders, not Gibson. Some of the older, late '60s-'70s Tele and Strat necks in particular are like freakin' baseball bats with frets!
One of the things I will say on the negative side about Gibson is that their quality control is nowhere near where it should be for such a prestige, high-end brand. You really don't want to buy a Gibson you haven't played and inspected in person. Most are just fine, but I've seen more than one brand-new, $2500 (or more!) Les Paul come in with the bridge actually off-center, and many more with just terrible factory setups and sloppy detail work on the binding and frets. When it comes to out-of-the-box QC and setup, PRS fucking SLAYS Gibson. That said, if you take your time and find a good one, nothing sounds as good as a really, really choice Les Paul. (Kinda dig my customized '76 RI Explorer, too!)
Also, something you'll find out if you're ever in the dealer business, Gibson are the most narcissistic, fascist pricks to deal with in the industry. They basically dictate to you exactly what and how much you will carry, down to the last dollar. They're certainly not the only company that pushes specific floorplans, but no one else even comes as close to being as militant and downright gestapo as they are about it! If you don't just bend over and let them shove their floorplan up your ass, they will pretty much tell you to go fuck yourself, and just deal through Guitar Center. Oh yeah, their booth at NAMM is invitation-only, even to dealers!
It's a shame such a legendary company has to be run by such equally legendary ass-bags, to the point where it almost makes you not care that, when they do get it right, they still build one of the finest instruments you can buy!
BlueSky
New Metal Member
- Apr 27, 2006
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Gibson's are way overpriced, and you'll have to pay a pretty penny if you want true quality. I've played a few LP's that were in 2500 range which were just horrible. First I don't like the neck's, but I wouldn't hold it against them as that's a personal preference thing. Anyhow the Rosewood on these guitars was some of the worst quality I've seen, and the fretwork was jacked up so bad that playing in the higher register was almost impossible to get anything to sound decent. But if you're willing to pay for a 4500-5 grand black beauty LP there isn't a more solid guitar on the market. I mean solid as in you could prolly kill a person with it, and it'd still be perfectly tuned. They just feel like it would take way too long to get used to for my preference, but I understand why people play them. If you want that true LP tone, and a killer looking guitar to boot there is only one way to go.
Hi guys, thanks again for all your input. Yesterday I went to try out the DKMG dinky once again to make sure its 100% what i want to get, however i found that the one in the shop was in dropped D tuning and when i asked the guy in the shop to tune it back to E, he said they were a bit busy at the moment and that it could take 10-15 minutes! this came as a shock to me as maybe i hadnt considered this before. Does it take this long because the guitar has a floyd rose? or is it because it has locked tuning? is there ANY way of changing tuning in a quicker way?
Thanks in advance.
Thanks in advance.
RoadKing
The Central Scrutinizer
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Welcome to the wonderful world of locking tremolos, grasshopper!
One of the primary downsides to a locking setup is that changing tunings is well... complicated. To tune the E string back up from D, you would need to loosen the locking nut over the E and A strings, re-adjust the fine tuner for the E string so that you have some travel room to fine-tune both sharp and flat, and then tune the string to pitch via the tuning key (hint: tune it just ever so slightly flat, as locking down the nut usually will cause it to go just a touch sharp), then lock the nut back down and re-check your tuning, using the fine tuners on the bridge for the final well... fine tuning!
There are a couple of cheats/workarounds for just doing a drop D tuning, though. First, the range on most Floyd-type bridge fine tuners is one whole step, so you can leave the fine tuner for the E string screwed all the way down to the highest end of the range and then just let it out all the way which would leave you at D. The disadvantage of this is that your guitar needs to be pretty stable in the tuning department, because if you have to fine-tune sharp, you're screwed and would have to loosen the locking nut again and use the actual tuner on the headstock. The other solution would be to have a good tech install a "D-tuna" on the bridge. You can get one of these for about $40, and probably about another $50 for the install (IF you're not comfortable doing it yourself, it's actually pretty easy to install, though). These were standard equipment on both the EVH Peavey Wolfgangs and Ernie Ball models. The cool thing about them is that all you have to do is pull the little spring-loaded doohickey on the bridge and you're instantly drop D-ing! The only real drawback with these is that you can't go nuts pulling the whammy bar up or sharp, because the D-tuna sticks out a little bit from the normal end of the bridge on the E string and will hit the body if you pull it too far sharp.
The ideal solution with locking-system equipped guitars is simply to have another guitar available for alternate tunings. I usually gig with one or two whammy-equipped axes and one fixed bridge axe which I primarily use for the drop D stuff.
Another important thing to keep in mind about any tremolo system, locking or not, is that if you change tunings, you change the tension on the bridge and will usually need to then adjust the tension springs on the back of the guitar to re-level the bridge for proper intonation and buzz-free playing. You can usually get away with going drop D without having to do this, but if you drop the whole thing a half-step or more down, you will definitely need to re-level the bridge.
Again, this stuff really isn't hard once you get a little practice with it, but it is something that you need to keep in mind if you're purchasing this guitar as your lone instrument, which if you're planning on playing out with a band, you really need at least one backup axe anyway.
Hope this helps...
Hi again guys, thanks a lot. I actually went to a diff. guitar shop today to get some more advice and the guy in there was surprised that i had been told that it would take '10-15 minutes' to change the tuning from D to E, as he reckoned you could use the small fine tuning screws at the end of the floyd-rose to do this (which i what i think RoadKing said); but of course as also mentioned in this post, doing other more extreme tunings (such as almost all of the Ghost Reveries album) would require more time/effort. To RoadKing: how long would it take you to say tune your guitar from say, Ghost Reveries tuning to standard tuning? if it had a floydrose + locking system?
Now im starting to look at the DKMGT which is the same guitar but just without the floyd rose + locking system... im just confused lol and its soooo hard to decide damn it!
Now im starting to look at the DKMGT which is the same guitar but just without the floyd rose + locking system... im just confused lol and its soooo hard to decide damn it!
RoadKing
The Central Scrutinizer
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With practice (learning just how far you need to adjust the tension springs on the tremolo is the part that takes some time), you should be able to do it in no more than about 5-10 minutes, provided you have a decent tuner (Boss TU-2, baby!). Once you've done it a few times, you'll pretty much know how many turns it takes on the tremolo tension screws to pull it off. Once you do, adjust the tension screws first, then do the actual tuning. (You may still have to fine-tune the tension screws just a little bit after tuning, if you're as anal about it as I am, anyway! lol) Remember before you start tuning, though, to set the travel on the fine tuners to about the halfway point, giving you the most room to fine-tune either flat or sharp. Also, if you're changing strings, always remember to stretch them thoroughly before locking anything down!
Just curious, but what guitar do you have now?
Carta's
Carta's > Sex
With a guitar with a locking system, will there be problems if you change the tuning for example from standard to 2 steps down with 09's or 10's string gauge?
Lightbulb Sun
Losing the Skyline....
To Roadking: The guitar i have at the mo is my very first guitar, its a cheap Fender Squier Strat, i havent upgarded for about 10 years! so now im in two minds as to whether to get a DKMG Dinky(with floys rose + locking) or a DKMGT Dinky(just normal), ideally id buy them both of course i dont change tunings much or use the tremolo a HUGE amount but it would be nice to have the facilities for when i do want to use them, its just frustrating that i cant have the best of both worlds in a way ;(
i dont change tunings much or use the tremolo a HUGE amount but it would be nice to have the facilities for when i do want to use them, its just frustrating that i cant have the best of both worlds in a way ;(
RoadKing
The Central Scrutinizer
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To Roadking: The guitar i have at the mo is my very first guitar, its a cheap Fender Squier Strat, i havent upgarded for about 10 years! so now im in two minds as to whether to get a DKMG Dinky(with floys rose + locking) or a DKMGT Dinky(just normal), ideally id buy them both of course
What kind of condition is your Strat in? Even the cheap Squiers can be turned into suprisingly nice guitars with a little modification. You could install a Tremol-No for about $65, which can be used to turn the tremolo on (allowing you to use it) or off (essentially turning the guitar into a fixed-bridge axe), then maybe add a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails or Rio Grande Railgunner single-coil sized humbucker for another $75 and have a pretty nice second guitar you could use for different tunings. If you wanted to go really nuts with it, you could just drop in a whole new pickup/electronics/pickguard assembly for between $250 - $300 and really jazz that sucker up. I have a good friend who is a PHENOMENAL guitarist that only uses Squiers live modified with the EMG David Gilmour drop-in pickup assembly after having some drunken jackass in a bar knock a PA speaker over onto his prized '60s Gibson ES-335 one night! (I'd have kicked that guy's ass for him had I been there!) Hell, you can even buy an aftermarket neck from a company like Warmoth that will bolt right on and look just like a Strat neck, but with a Jackson fretboard radius if you want for about $150 - $200 while we're at it!
I guess what I would recommend, and please, follow your own heart on this one, is that if your Strat is in decent shape, without any serious problems (warped neck, etc.), maybe drop a little money into it and make it your alternative for different tunings, and buy the Floyd-equipped axe. If your Strat is pretty much just shot, though, and it might be a while before you can buy another backup, I'd probably go with the fixed bridge version.
As to Carta's question about the string gauges, changing gauges will also change the tension on the bridge, and you will need to re-level the bridge if you do so. Also, if you're going way down to C or something, you may have some issues with lighter gauge strings. If you play in one of the lower keys often, you would probably want to set up a guitar for it, with heavier gauge strings. Bear in mind, though, that if you change gauges, it will affect your intonation, and the guitar really should be re-intonated and completely setup for it.
