Joker Verox

Archive for November, 2009

I just got my first tube amp and have a couple questions. 1: When I am turning my amp off, I have been first switching off the stanby, then the power. is this right? 2: If I am playing a gig, and take a break, should I leave the power and standby on, or just the power and switch off the standby, or turn both off?

Yeah you got it right, first switch off the standby and then the power.

When you take a break at a gig, you can just switch it to standby until you start playing again. Don’t turn off the amp though, because then it won’t be warmed up when you turn it back on.

I have a cheap Celebrity Stratocaster guitar and 15-watt amp (starter pack) and I was thinking of buying an effects pedal for it. My range would be from $10-50 using TradeMe (the New Zealand version of eBay). New or used would be fine and I was wondering if anyone knew what to look for and how to get the best of my money for this price?

completely depends on what you are looking for. Most brand names will be comparable. run away from behringer pedals. they are an embarrassment to the guitar community. i got an eq pedal from them and ti was so bad. completely colored my tone, and introduced a bunch of noise. not only that but made my guitar sound really thin even when faders were set flat.

true bypass is a thing some people like their pedals to have. all that means is that when the pedal is off the signal runs straight through without being colored by buffer. These actually can cause a click sound when you turn them on and off. not always but sometimes. This is a touchy subject. really more a preference than a necessity on a small pedal board. the bigger the pedal board gets the more conscience you have to be of tone degradation because the length of chain.

some pedals hold their value really well. boss stuff even when abused still gets reasonable resale. price difference is sometimes not large enough to warrant buying used.

also i would recommend against digital pedals. aside from preference, they are a pain to wire into a pedal board if they use voltages higher than 9v.

i’ve been pedal hunting for the perfect distortion pedal and i have yet to find it. but i have come very close with the biyang ds-8. inexpensive, low noise, and versatile. very hard to beat considering price. 3 voicings, plenty of gain, usable tone control.

I am looking for a good rack mount electric guitar amp (NOT BASS) and have been having a hard time finding a new one. I don’t want used. New only! I am looking for company names so that I can compare. So far I just see mesa boogie and Marshall guitar amps. Does anyone know of any other companies that have these type of amps?

u got fender or go to guitarcenter.com.

I’m looking for a few things (Gibson guitars and Marshall and fender amps) and would like to know what would be a good site to look on.

Ebay,, it might sound shizzle,, but its awesome dude!

It is pretty simple, will an acoustic- electric guitar sound like an electric guitar if it is plugged into an electric amp rather than an acoustic amp? also, what strings do i use for acoustic-electrics. I will pick a best answer.

Well the Acoustic-Electric guitar only sounds acoustic due to the pick up and hollow body. The amp doesn’t have much to do with it besides distortion, which can be turn off in most amps. You can make an acoustic electric sound like and electric guitar or an acoustic with and electric amp.

Noting that most tubes in tube amps are mounted upside down I wonder why? Someone told me that one of the reasons was to speed up the heating up time of the amps when powered on, however I would think with the heat traveling up onto the boards that would eventually cause cracking and other damage. So, anyone know what these tubes are mounted upside down most of the time?

Some amps are set up that way…some are not. The most notable Marshall amp heads have them mounted right side up (most of them anyway) I don’t see any inherant benifit either way. They dont take long to warm up. Takes longer to plug in your guitar and put it on than it does for a tube to warm up.

The only thing would be how the amplifier is set up. More combo amps, with the built in speakers, are mounted upside down to ease the construction and better use the space. Most heads that require a separate speaker cabinet are mounted right side up for the same reason.

I have an acoustic guitar with pick-up, so there’s a cord that can be connected to a amplifier. But, can i use the electric guitar effects? I’m about to buy, but i want to be sure if it will work. I still don’t have enough money to buy an electric guitar.LOL

Yes. Just be sure it’s not a gain-based effect like:

-Overdrive
-Distortion
-Fuzz
-Boost
-Compression/Sustain

Also, I know you’re short on cash, but I wouldn’t use an effect on your acoustic unless it is truly a high-quality pedal.

Hope that helps. ^_^

guitar amp question: What is the difference between treble and tone?
Im thinking of buying an amp that does not have treble(Peavey vypyr30) and maybe i’ll buy a distortion pedal(Boss DS1) that has a tone knob. And i really want to change the treble.
So is treble and tone the same thing or not, if not what’s the difference?

Hello! In relation to an amplifier, tone is your overall guitar sound, and treble (or "high") is one major component of the tone. Other components would include mid-range and bass (or "low"). I am not understanding why you are concerned with the Peavey Vypyr 30 amplifier, as it has all three ranges of adjustment available (labeled low, mid, and high). See http://www.peavey.com/assets/literature/manuals/03584290_4.pdf for more details. This is a modeling amplifier, complete with a selection of pedals and amps; you will probably find that you do not need any external effects (at least for a while!). Best regards, Dana

The Amp is Fender 100W FM 212 DSP. The buzzing only happens when I plug into the input the buzzing happens even when the guitar isn’t plugged in. After I turn off the amp there’s a really loud crack.

Hello, Richard! From your description, it sounds as though your noise is coming primarily from the effects of the guitar pickups and proximity to the amplifier. Try plugging in your guitar, and standing at least six feet away from the amplifier. Turn different directions to see if the effect is minimized. My guess is that you either have very noisy single-coil pickups, or your input cord is poorly insulated. It is also possible that another device (lamp, fan, etc.) on the same circuit is adding noise through the amplifier. If none of this helps, it is time to visit the the nearest Fender Service Center (see http://www.fender.com/support/service_centers/ ). As far as the “crack” when you switch off, this is typical of Fender solid-state units. Turn down the volume on the amplifier, guitar, and effects, and slowly rotate the switch to the “off” position (instead of “snapping it off). That loud crack has the potential to damage speakers. Let me know if I can help further. Best regards, Dana

I currently have an electric bass and im buying an electro acoustic guitar (acoustic guitar with a pick-up).
How would it sound if i played this guitar through the bass amp.
Would it sound substantially better if played thorugh a proper guitar amp?
Are there different amps designed specifically for electric,electro-acoustic and acoustic-electric guitars? or are all guitar amps pretty much the same?

>>How would it sound if i played this guitar through the bass amp.<<

Barely acceptable but not great as there would be a lot of highs missing.

>>Would it sound substantially better if played thorugh a proper guitar amp?<<

Yes.

>>Are there different amps designed specifically for electric,electro-acoustic and acoustic-electric guitars?<<

Yes. Amps designed specifically for acoustic electric guitars have a cleaner sound designed to retain the acoustic quality but simply make it louder. Check out the amps by Fishman, LR Baggs, Schertler, and Genz-Benz.