Joker Verox

Archive for July, 2010

i know the sound of tube vs solid state and ive played numerous tube guitar amps
but my guitarist is looking into the marshall Haze 40 and 40w is plenty loud for auditoriums and small clubs, but does tube really make it as loud as a 120 watt amp??

It varies from amp to amp. My 5 watt Epiphone Valve Jr. is louder than my 15 watt Fender Princeton. Both tube amps of course and I’m pretty sure they are both class A power. But yeah, I don’t gig with any guitarist that use over 40 watts of tube power. Most use 15 to 30 watt tube amps and mic when necessary.

Effects: guitar>boss tu-2 tuner, crybaby, digitech whammy 4, proco vintage rat, bbe green screamer od, behringer eq, mxr phase 90, behringer digital delay>ampeg vt-120 amp

it seems that the phaser won’t work well in this order – it’s only noticeable when the knob is turned to 2 o’clock and up.

any hints, recommendations are welcome – thanks in advance

The best way to find the best sound with this pedal (or any pedal for that matter), is to try it in different positions in your Effects Chain and listen carefully to the results.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with this until you find the best spot for the Tone that you are seeking. It won’t damage the gear by trying this, but make sure to turn off the amp before you start unplugging and replugging leads. ‘Standby’ on a Tube/Valve amp is best as constantly turning on/off an Amp drains the Tube/Valve life.

I would suggest that you start off by putting the MXR Phase 90 before your Distortion and Overdrive pedals and see how that sounds. Try it before and after the Digitech Whammy 4.

It depends on what sound you are chasing. It helps to think in terms of what sort of signal do you want. This will help you set up the order of what you want to do to the signal. For example do you want to phase a distorted signal, or distort a phased signal. They both give you a different sound, so try them both by placing the phaser before and after the distortion etc.

Also I would suggest that you use the Line In and Out at the back of your Amp for the Digital Delay, to get the clearest sounds. But as ever the guiding light here is which one sounds best to you, in front of the Amp or going thru the Effects Loop. The rest of the effects are normally best suited to going into the Amp Input.

So the example chain above would be:

You > Guitar > Boss tu-2 Tuner, Crybaby, MXR Phase 90, Digitech Whammy 4, Proco Vintage Rat, BBE Green Screamer OD, Behringer EQ, > Ampeg vt-120 Amp < Effects Loop / Behringer Digital Delay

But as I say feel free to change the order of pedals around (with the amp on Standby). Use you ear as the main guide and don’t stick to a particular order because you read it somewhere. Each individual case is different.

Cheers and good luck on that, let’s know how you get on with it …

guitanorak

p.s. That looks like a good Amp you have. Anything Tube/Valve gets my thumbs up !

I play guitar and am switching over to bass. Can a bass play on my guitar amp? I heard the phrase ‘bass amp’ many times, so I’m not sure.

Buddy Do Not play your Bass in your guitar amp.. The bass is too low and it WILL blow your amp out…. happened to me before but you CAN use a guitar on a bass amp as long as u dont blast some crazy shreddin’.
Hope THis HELPS :0

My guitar kit comes with a 10watt Fender amp, I was wondering if they are good quality or will I need to buy a better one separate?

http://www.sixstardj.com/feststcagupa.html
here’s the amp:
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item–i-FEN-2311000-LIST?SRC=D0407FG0HAMS0000&utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=feed&

this will be fine for someone who is just starting. but more experienced players will not get the satisfaction out these amps as you would with more expensive ones. but you can cross that bridge when you get to it.

I don’t really have a price limit, but I just want to know the range of prices for a pretty high quality bass + amps, or range of prices people usually pay for basses. Also, what kind of brands of bass would you recommend?
I’ve been playing acoustic guitar for 3 years and love it, and for the bass players out there, how does the bass compare to the guitar? harder? easier? just curious.
Any comments would be appreciated

What bass guitar you choose is really a very personal thing. You need to go and sit down at a dealer and try all the basses you are interested in. Fender and Ibanez make the best sounding bass guitars in my opinion. I bought the Ibanez because I play left-handed and they make an off the shelf left-handed version in the model I liked so I did not have to wait for it to be made. I love this bass (I have a 5-string) and it sounds great and has outstanding controls on the Bass itself so you can adjust the tone and volume on the fly. But, you need to go and play some basses to know which ones you like the best.

In the area of a high quality bass amplifier, I’m afraid that the industry has really let us down. First of all you need to understand that if you want a high quality tone from your low end, then the speaker’s frequency response is crucial. The E sting on the bass vibrates at approximately 41.2 Hz. So, you need to have a frequency response out of your speakers that is actually lower than that. That is called head room (or bottom room as the case may be). So, a frequency response of 38 Hz or below is probably adequate for a 4-string bass. The 5-string has a lower B string that vibrates at approximately 30.87 Hz. So in that case, you’ll need head room down to around 28 Hz to provide a high quality bass sound. DO NOT BE CONFUSED BY Frequency Range vs Frequency Response. A speaker can have the range of 28 Hz or 38 HZ but, the Frequency Response is what is important for adequate quality of sound. So, in my case (5-sting) there are NO bass speaker cabinets on the market that will take you to a 28 Hz response without spending huge amounts of money and many of those speaker cabinets weigh as much as 200 pounds (no, I’m not kidding). That’s a real problem to haul it around. So, after looking at all of the available options, I decided that the best and least expensive route was to first get a BOSS GT-10B Bass Multi-effects pedal which acts as a pre-amplifier and provides any possible sound I could want out of my bass, and then I run that through a QSC GX5 500 watts/channel stereo amplifier and that amp drives twin JBL JRX115 2-way Speaker cabinets http://www.guitarcenter.com/JBL-JRX115-15–2-Way-Speaker-Cabinets—Pair-773198-i1152805.gc (I need the 2-way because I sing and play guitar also so I need the high tones as well as the lows). But, the Frequency response on these speakers is only down to 50 Hz. That’s adequate for the A string on the bass but not the E or the B on my 5-string. So, I added twin JBL ES250PBK 400-Watt High-Powered 12-Inch Subwoofers that provide a frequency response down to 28 Hz (weigh less than 60 pounds each and cost only around $300 each) and now when I play a gig, I have other bass players coming up to me all the time asking what kind of amplifier I have that is turning out the awesome bass sounds. When I play, it’s that kind of bass sound that you feel even before you are aware of hearing it. So, when I practice at home, I just use the Boss GT-10B and a great set of head phones so, I don’t distrub the rest of the neighborhood. If you want that kind of sound, that’s what you need to do. The alternative for a 4-sting weighing in at 166-1/2 pounds is this little baby – http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/JBL-SRX728S-Dual-18-Subwoofer?sku=600444 – but, the catch is it will only handle bass notes up to around 220 Hz or the third octave A right below middle C. The bass has notes that go much higher than that. So, that means, you still need to buy another speaker cabinet (12"ers maybe & spend another $800 to $1,200 perhaps) to handle those notes (220 Hz up to around 530 Hz). So, go figure!

I’m planning on buying a Mesa boogie single rectifier head used. Now I have some questions. Do the tubes have anything to do with the sound? Do some tubes make it sound different? And do the cabinets effect the sound too? I’m just really confused and concerned about buying one.

The tubes have everything to do with the sound. In the early years, all amps were tube amps. Solid state hadn’t been invented. Tube technology wasn’t perfect. It had some harmonic distortion and uneven response under different power loads. Tubes also wear out and need replacing. As solid state technology developed, they were able to build amps that has a more even frequency response and less distortion. While desirable in a stereo system, musicians came to realize that the old tube sound with all it’s flaws actually enhanced the sound of a guitar. Or maybe it was just how we were expecting to hear it. Anyway, since then, solid state amps have been playing catch-up trying to emulate the imperfections of tubes. Some of the new breed of amps are coming close.

Purists will tell you that different brands of tubes respond and sound different from each other. It must be true, because they spend a lot of money swapping them out. You can’t really interchange types of tubes like 6L6 or 6V6 tubes, but you can change brands. Cabinets, and the speakers they contain also affect the sound. Larger speakers will reproduce bass frequencies better than small ones. Larger magnets (heavy duty speakers) will handle more power without breaking up (distorting). More speakers will move more air, which means the sound will carry better.

You don’t have to be concerned about buying one. If you like the sound, buy it. Understand that it may need some periodic maintenance, but that’s no big deal. Tubes have filaments in them, be gentle when transporting the amp and it should last for years without changing tubes.

I have been playing guitar for about six months and I think it is time to upgrade from my little 10 watt amp that came with the guitar. I don’t know if I should go with the Peavey Vyper 30, Vox vt30, or the Orange Crush Pix 35. I play everything from classic rock to metal. What would be best?
If another amp is better then the ones I put, feel free to tell me.

The amps you’ve chosen are nice but they’re still in the "practice amp" category. They almost certainly have more features and effects than your 10 watt amp and are excellent amps to have around the house. The thing I would consider is that soon, you’ll probably want to play with other folks, and 30 watts just isn’t going to compete with bass and drums. If you can afford to keep buying amps as you grow into them, get any one of these.

If it was my choice, I’d spend a little more now and get an amp that I wouldn’t outgrow as fast. The Roland Cube 80x or the Vox VT50 would be near the top of my list. While they aren’t Marshall stacks, they’re big enough to cut through the mix….I have friends who use them for small gigs.

I am thinking of buying this amp as its inexpensive and yet a powerful 100watt.
I notice other fender amps are much more expensive and wonder how good is this amp.

I will be putting my Fender Mexican Strat.through it and a drum machine.

If anyone out there has one can you give me an honest appraisal of it please?

Many thanks to you all for your help.

reviews: http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar+Amp/product/Fender/Frontman+212R/10/1

I’m about to buy an acoustic-electric guitar and I need to know if I need to buy an acoustic guitar amp or if an electric guitar amp would work. Also, what is the best bang for your buck in acoustic guitars/amps??? Thanks guys!
I’ve been playing for about 3 years.. I taught myself

yeh any amps fine, i jus got 1 4 christmas and i use my electric guitar amp. sounds cool how long you bin playin .

Thanks

Marshall Super Lead 100 (Plexi)
Marshall JCM 800
Marshall JCM 900
Marshall DSL 2000
Marshall JVM410
Marshall Kerry King JCM 800
Marshall Zakk Wylde JCM 800
Marshall Jubaliee
Marshall Slash 1990’s signature
Marshall Slash AFD100
Marshall JCM 2000

That’s quite a few, off the top of my head!