Getting a guitar

[MDK]

26 minutes ago, Troy Saint said:

So, bassists of Yoob. Decent starter bass that won't break the bank, go.

A cheap one, check eBay. That is where I got my first one from.

[thatshortguy]

1 hour ago, Troy Saint said:

So, bassists of Yoob. Decent starter bass that won't break the bank, go.

VP's on the money, MDK doesn't have a bad idea so long as shipping isn't terrible.  The miKro basses I play generally go for $179 new.  I'll stress that you need to try and play a few before throwing down the coin, though.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Squire P Bass. Utterly in love with mine (albeit it's a P-Jazz with a P neck....but still...)

 

Can't go wrong. 

[VerbalPuke]

Ya know what? Fuck it. Here you go everybody, if I can post these for people I haven't known long on another forum I can share a few with my friends here.

So the first one here, I honestly can't remember recording it. But it sounded good so I put it on sound cloud. Sorry if the volume is low...

 

This me having some fun with the Octasynth pedal and some delay and reverb.

 

This is the second song I ever wrote. The recording quality is half decent on it, it's a bit louder so mind your volume...:)

This me playing clean. I just liked the rhythm a lot.

 

[thatshortguy]

Ah, hell, if that's how we gonna do things, have some sludge metal:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bslonuw1lbkgnky/The%20Journey%20%285-1-16%20Demo%29.flac?dl=0

I'm playing bass on this one.  I'd share the one I sing on, but it's not sludge  

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

P-Bass!

 

 

 

 

[VerbalPuke]

For you guitar playing lot, thought I'd pass along that Sweetwater.com has a deal on Ernie Ball Regular Slinks, and Ernie Ball Super Slinkys. They are 9.99 for a pack of three (technically it's a buy two get one free sale). Pretty good sale that runs to the end of June, I've been using hybrid slinkys lately but having some super slinkys around at that price is hard to pass.

[thatshortguy]

Slinkys used to be my go-to, but now I'm spoiled by the D'addario NYXL series.  Bought a set about nine months ago, still hasn't rusted.

[Kyle]

Picked up my first electric guitar today, ended up going for a Squier Affinity strat because cheap. >_>

[thatshortguy]

4 hours ago, Troy Saint said:

Picked up my first electric guitar today, ended up going for a Squier Affinity strat because cheap. >_>

Nothing wrong with that.  Good noise-maker to get your feet wet with.

[VerbalPuke]

No doubt, Squire is a great place to start with in the guitar world.

A lot of old timers say that right now is probably the best time ever for people wanting to get into guitar because there is a huge variety of cheap but quality guitars on the market. Back in the old days there wasn't much to work with, for beginners I mean. Gibsons, Fenders, Rickenbackers...that sorta thing was expensive so the beginners fucked with stuff like Silvertone and Danelectro which were products of Sears and sort of considered a joke. Funny thing is now a vintage Danelectro is worth some cash. 

But yeah, you've got Squire, Epiphone, Ibanez, and Yamaha that all make very quality instruments for less than 400 bucks. Plus, a good variety of amps with all sorts of built in effects so that you don't have to fuck with pedals (I like fucking with pedals myself). 

[thatshortguy]

Europeans!  Why have you not informed me of Stagg's Blaxx pedals!?  Their Heavy Metal (video link) is the best damn distortion I've run across.  Straight up deletes my Tube Screamer Mini.  Best part is the Stagg stuff is generally about $30-$50 cheaper than the Iby stuff and at least $20 cheaper than other metal-cased pedals.

[VerbalPuke]

I think there are a few companies cashing in on those mini pedals. Hit up Amazon and look for Donner, Outlaw, and Mooer pedals. Same deal, 20-40 bucks but highly rated, metal cased. Thinking of trying out a Donner Chorus.

[thatshortguy]

Do need a good mini reverb.  The Mooer Wahter is a neat little device, especially with the touch sensors in the pedal.  I'll keep 'em in mind.

[VerbalPuke]

For those interested Mr. Black pedals is selling everything for 99.99 today. Sign up for the mailing list and discoubt code is Whatever. He specializes in reverb but has a bit of everything. His stuff is normally 170+ so its a nice deal. 

[VerbalPuke]

Drop D with an SG and fuzz pedal is seriously fucking fun.

[thatshortguy]

28 minutes ago, VPNutsRoastingOnAOpenFire said:

Drop D with an SG and fuzz pedal is seriously fucking fun.

I have been doing a ton in D Standard/whole step down lately.  An SG, fuzz, and D'addario NYXL 10-52s are my go-to's for flushing a crappy day.

[VerbalPuke]

So I finally got myself that Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar that I mentioned even before buying a guitar. Found one at guitarcenter used in fantastic condition and decided I couldn't pass it up. I love the feel and the sound, it's a nice guitar with a great tone. HOWEVER, the bridges on these fuckers are apparently wonky and I've run into the problem of my A string buzzing horribly. I've heard of many solutions, but it seems like every solution has it's detractors. Installing a mustang bridge seems to be something a lot of people favor and then an equal amount say it's not a good idea. Same goes for this thing called a buzzstop. My first idea is to just get it set up with a set of 11s, as some think that's all I would need to really get it going. @thatshortguy Do you have any experience/suggestions? I know you work or worked in a music store and so you may have seen this issue. 

I also splurged on a Fender 68 Deluxe Reverb Reissue (amp). I wanted a tube amp, I wanted something with good cleans, so I came up with this bad boy. Considering my first amp is solid state, I can't fucking believe how loud tubes are, this thing has a setting of 1-10 and is brutally loud at 5. Not that I'm complaining. It's nice so far, takes pedals well and such. It's definitely a nice match for my Marauder (still got that, still love it). It was between this and the 65, and while the 65 has better clean headroom, the 68 just had something in it's sound that I liked a bit better. 

[thatshortguy]

On 6/10/2017 at 19:04, VerbalPuke said:

So I finally got myself that Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar that I mentioned even before buying a guitar. Found one at guitarcenter used in fantastic condition and decided I couldn't pass it up. I love the feel and the sound, it's a nice guitar with a great tone. HOWEVER, the bridges on these fuckers are apparently wonky and I've run into the problem of my A string buzzing horribly. I've heard of many solutions, but it seems like every solution has it's detractors. Installing a mustang bridge seems to be something a lot of people favor and then an equal amount say it's not a good idea. Same goes for this thing called a buzzstop. My first idea is to just get it set up with a set of 11s, as some think that's all I would need to really get it going. @thatshortguy Do you have any experience/suggestions? I know you work or worked in a music store and so you may have seen this issue. 

I also splurged on a Fender 68 Deluxe Reverb Reissue (amp). I wanted a tube amp, I wanted something with good cleans, so I came up with this bad boy. Considering my first amp is solid state, I can't fucking believe how loud tubes are, this thing has a setting of 1-10 and is brutally loud at 5. Not that I'm complaining. It's nice so far, takes pedals well and such. It's definitely a nice match for my Marauder (still got that, still love it). It was between this and the 65, and while the 65 has better clean headroom, the 68 just had something in it's sound that I liked a bit better. 

As for the Jaaaaaaaaag, I'd start with 11s and see how it fares.  It's the cheapest possible solution and can fatten up the tone if you want.  Last time I ran into this, I tried out some Skinny Top/Heavy Bottoms and those worked well.  Could even cheat and just use the tiniest bit of Loctite/Gorilla Glue to create a smoother surface where the string meets the saddle.

For reference, you run into pretty much the same thing with a Mustang bridge depending on what quality it is.  I'm always a fan of leaving the stock stuff on until the wheels fall off.  Those buzzstop things are garbage, btw.  Talked a few customers out of those due to seeing too many completely break after a week.

Fun facts:  good rule of thumb is that 1w tube power = ~3w solid state.  Since yours is a Reissue, you also won't have to worry about 'biasing' your tubes; amp should do that by itself.  Finally:  don't worry about particular tubes.  Fender uses Groove Tubes, which are made in the same factory as a lot of Ruby and Peavey tubes.  Unless you're trying to locate The Hipster Holy Grail of tubes, just buy some Peaveys when you need to (cheapest while still having the same materials).