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  2. Behind the Scenes: Magnificent = Country Club it is!

    1:52 into the video you get a good look at the pickups - which are DynaSonics and not the FliterTrons of the Irish Falcon.

    Per Gretsch Pages:

    "Cadillac Green" finish when combined with the brilliant gold hardware made this guitar both visually stunning and worthy of being displayed at any art museum. Now, the classic Cadillac Green Gretsch Country Club is back!

    Features include:
    DynaSonic™ (2) single-coil pickups = CHECK
    "G" long tailpiece = CHECK
    adjustable bridge = CHECK
    detailed binding = CHECK
    and enough gold hardware to make Fort Knox envious = And CHECK
  3. Wow, you know a lot about guitars
  4. _.
  5. Hi folks,

    right now I'm playing once or twice a week in a church freestyle worship rock band. We do of course start with certain songs and we also rock quite hard, but we also include a lot of jamming, improvising and atmospheric / spacey / almost ambient instrumental parts. I'm using a lot of volume swell, Ebow, ChickenSalad vibe, TunaMelt tremolo and / or RV600 shimmer for those while our pastor / keyboarder plays a piano & string sound or takes a break. Now I'm thinking about getting myself a guitar synth for some really weird stuff. Maybe it's just a crazy idea, but then again, well...

    On the market there are certain options like:

    - EHX MicroSynth (250€) - cheapest option, square wave, built in two- pass filter, no dry / wet mix
    - Pigtronix Mothership (450€) - expensive, square and triangle wave, glissando option, intelligent ring modulator, dry / wet mix
    - EHX HOG (500€ / 600€ with pedalboard) - insanely expensive, seven octaves and fifths, simple filter, glissando, expression pedal, dry / wet mix
    - EHX POG (320€) - four octaves plus detune, simple filter, dry / wet mix
    - Roland GR-20 (500€) - expensive, digital sound library, good presets but few adjusting options, requires adding a Hex p/u

    Of course the MicroSynth is the best option price- wise, so it's first on my list. The thought of adding a Hex p/u to one of my guitars doesn't seem very attractive to me, and dialing presets is sure less fun than tweaking around on the fly, so I put the GR-20 last. But does anyone of you have any experience / opinions / suggestions about these? Can these sounds be combined well to vibe, trem or shimmer? I've been watching some youtube reviews recently and I'm infected by serious GAS but I'm still not quite sure what to do. Even the cheapest option is still a lot of money, so I thought I'd better listen to some other's thoughts.

    Alex
  6. Originally posted by Alex:Hi folks,

    right now I'm playing once or twice a week in a church freestyle worship rock band. We do of course start with certain songs and we also rock quite hard, but we also include a lot of jamming, improvising and atmospheric / spacey / almost ambient instrumental parts. I'm using a lot of volume swell, Ebow, ChickenSalad vibe, TunaMelt tremolo and / or RV600 shimmer for those while our pastor / keyboarder plays a piano & string sound or takes a break. Now I'm thinking about getting myself a guitar synth for some really weird stuff. Maybe it's just a crazy idea, but then again, well...

    On the market there are certain options like:

    - EHX MicroSynth (250€) - cheapest option, square wave, built in two- pass filter, no dry / wet mix
    - Pigtronix Mothership (450€) - expensive, square and triangle wave, glissando option, intelligent ring modulator, dry / wet mix
    - EHX HOG (500€ / 600€ with pedalboard) - insanely expensive, seven octaves and fifths, simple filter, glissando, expression pedal, dry / wet mix
    - EHX POG (320€) - four octaves plus detune, simple filter, dry / wet mix
    - Roland GR-20 (500€) - expensive, digital sound library, good presets but few adjusting options, requires adding a Hex p/u

    Of course the MicroSynth is the best option price- wise, so it's first on my list. The thought of adding a Hex p/u to one of my guitars doesn't seem very attractive to me, and dialing presets is sure less fun than tweaking around on the fly, so I put the GR-20 last. But does anyone of you have any experience / opinions / suggestions about these? Can these sounds be combined well to vibe, trem or shimmer? I've been watching some youtube reviews recently and I'm infected by serious GAS but I'm still not quite sure what to do. Even the cheapest option is still a lot of money, so I thought I'd better listen to some other's thoughts.

    Alex


    I don't really know how they work, but one of those external MIDI pick ups that you don't want to get may work really well. If it works as I imagine, you can put the signal into any kind of synthesizer that works with MIDI and you will be able to get virtually any sound using your guitar as an interface. I imagine this is not really what are you looking for, but speaking guitar+MIDI, it can't get any better than something that works like this (if that thing really works as I think it does).
  7. Originally posted by thechicken:[..]

    I don't really know how they work, but one of those external MIDI pick ups that you don't want to get may work really well. If it works as I imagine, you can put the signal into any kind of synthesizer that works with MIDI and you will be able to get virtually any sound using your guitar as an interface. I imagine this is not really what are you looking for, but speaking guitar+MIDI, it can't get any better than something that works like this (if that thing really works as I think it does).

    Hm... thank you very much for answering. I understand your point about the quality of the trigger signal. But what kind of synth would you recommend to use with Hex p/u? As I understand it the Roland GR-20 is merely a preset sound library, I'd prefer to tweak around on the fly. I like knobs and faders.

    As I said, I'm haven't decided anything yet, not even IF I'll get a guitar synth.

    Any other opinions / suggestions?

    Alex
  8. Originally posted by Alex:[..]
    Hm... thank you very much for answering. I understand your point about the quality of the trigger signal. But what kind of synth would you recommend to use with Hex p/u? As I understand it the Roland GR-20 is merely a preset sound library, I'd prefer to tweak around on the fly. I like knobs and faders.

    As I said, I'm haven't decided anything yet, not even IF I'll get a guitar synth.

    Any other opinions / suggestions?

    Alex


    It really depends on the kind of sounds you want to get out of it. I would like to put it through a regular synthesizer, like my old Yamaha DX21, so I could play piano sounds on the guitar, things like that. You could get a good prommagrable unit, it could be just with the "head" or a more conventional unit with the keyboard interface atached. It could cost a lot, depending on the unit you get. I don't know a lot about synthesizers, but basically anything that works with MIDI would be a way to go, you just have to find one that can turn your ideas into noise

  9. I haven't worked with MIDI interfaces yet, it's kind of mysterious voodoo for me. Not quite sure if I can learn how to use it without external help.

    Hm... guess I'll take a lucky shot at a Behringer BSY600 for 40€ and see how that turns out to be when used with a guitar.

    I know that most people don't like the Behringer brand, but I have a US600 (Harmonizer - third up) and a RV600 (Shimmer) and both work just fine for me despite mixed reviews on HC. Guess I'll give the BSY600 a chance. If it all goes wrong I can still sell it used for 20 bucks. Nothing much to lose on that.

    Thank you very much. You've been most kind and informative.

    Alex
  10. Originally posted by Alex:I haven't worked with MIDI interfaces yet, it's kind of mysterious voodoo for me. Not quite sure if I can learn how to use it without external help.

    Hm... guess I'll take a lucky shot at a Behringer BSY600 for 40€ and see how that turns out to be when used with a guitar.

    I know that most people don't like the Behringer brand, but I have a US600 (Harmonizer - third up) and a RV600 (Shimmer) and both work just fine for me despite mixed reviews on HC. Guess I'll give the BSY600 a chance. If it all goes wrong I can still sell it used for 20 bucks. Nothing much to lose on that.

    Thank you very much. You've been most kind and informative.

    Alex


    You are welcome.
    Just ask when you need!
  11. Got my BSY600 today and fooled around with it. Guess it's more a little fun toy than a serious piece of gear. But for 40€, what did I expect?

    Short review for those who care:

    It's got 9 digital synth modes and 2 (analog?) wave modes which remind me of a processed autowah. The synth modes include saw, square and pulse waveform. Saw sounds harder than square, square is more smooth. The pulse waveforms sound a little like a talkbox. The saw and square settings offer a lower octave setting and a moving auto- filter setting. The wave modes are "filter up" (ooouuuaaah) and "filter down" (aaaooouuuh). Other controls include filter speed, filter intensity, filter frequency, effect volume and dry volume. Filter intensity can be set zero. Maximum filter speed fixes the filter in highest frequency. Filter speed can be adjusted on-the-fly with an expression pedal (but I don't use that option). The synth modes offer a "hold" function which allows you to play dry guitar over a frozen synth background. Wow. Quite some stuff packed into this cheap machine - half a dozen of fake moog- sounds, a fake talkbox and a synth- ed autowah.

    It's quite easy to dial in a basic synth sound. Choose saw or square with or without low octave, set filter intensity, speed and frequency - finished. Filter speed has to be set very slow (4 o'clock), on faster settings you'll get lazergun attack sounds that can be entertaining or downright annoying. After an hour or so you start to discover that it's not as versatile as it seemed at first glance. I miss a slow- attack setting most. Guitar volume fade- ins don't trigger the tracking, so you don't get any bowed- instrument sounds. Well, you don't get any mellow unobtrusive sounds at all - everything is straight in-your-face, like it or not. I'd also like a glissando option, but that's probably too much to ask from a 40€- pedal. I'd also like an octave- up mode option, but there is none. The talkbox modes are fun, but I haven't given them enough time to judge them yet. Won't use them anyway most likely.

    I decided for square with octaver, set filter intensity at 11 o'clock, frequency at 1 o'clock, effect level at 9 o'clock and dry level at 11 o'clock. The dry signal covers some of the smaller tracking glitches (see below). This gives me a starting point for some moog-y seventies synth sound. I haven't yet combined it with other effects (overdrive, harmonizer, phaser, vibe, tremolo, shimmer), but I will.

    ATTENTION: This device has got some serious tracking problems when used with guitar in one of the synth settings, especially on higher strings. The 2 wave modes track very good and even accept chords and bends, but they sound much less spectacular than the synth modes - haven't found a sweet spot there yet. The 9 synth modes track just acceptable with the low E string, but tracking gets worse with higher strings, and the synthed notes flutter easily - and this will DESTROY the tone. Probably that's because it's meant for bass guitar. It accepts absolutely NO bends, chords or unwillingly touched open strings. PLAY ONLY SINGLE NOTES! NO SHREDDING! USE ONLY THE WOUND STRINGS! The guitar has to be PERFECTLY tuned. And at last - USE THE EFFECT SPARSELY - or you might annoy your audience to death.

    I'll take the BSY600 to our thursday rehearsal and put it between between preamp and poweramp. Maybe it tracks better there in the effect chain. My US600 sits there and tracks very well, so I have some hope. If not I'll have to search for a sweet sound spot in one of the the wave modes (hope there is one).

    Questions? Ask them if you want to.

    Alex
  12. Anyone know which songs specifically Larry played the electronic drum set on? I'm curious.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.