The Ever-Expanding Gear Thread

[Yodelgoat]

I recently bought an Electro Harmonix B9 organ machine guitar pedal, and its limited, but you could get away with playing it live for certain parts. I'm not that sensitive a player, but some of the samples by better, more polished guitarists are quite good. I may use it some in place of MIDI keys which I use quite a bit of in my compositions. Just for creating different sounds. It has a Melotron setting and that actually is really useful and has given me some pretty unique sounding parts (unique is sometimes very very cool) It has a good Farfisa sound as well. The "Lord Purple" setting is really good, but you have to use an external leslie setting to really get a realistic sound. Whats cool about the pedal is you can bend notes while soloing and its works and that makes the organ sound really unique. A four piece band with 2 guitars could add fair keys and not have to use a keyboard, and they would probably pull off cover tunes pretty well.

[Gizmotron]

[QUOTE=dgtlman;505657]I just scored one of these! Always wanted one, but you know...

Attachment 6583[/QUOTE

Wow! That looks stunning! I have not kept up with the newer units; please tell us what makes this version tick. It doesn't still use actual tapes, does it?

[dgtlman]

[QUOTE=Gizmotron;507247]

I just scored one of these! Always wanted one, but you know...

Attachment 6583[/QUOTE

Wow! That looks stunning! I have not kept up with the newer units; please tell us what makes this version tick. It doesn't still use actual tapes, does it?

The M4000D, which I have, is all digital no tapes. Check out their website for the products they make & the specs. http://www.mellotron.com/

[Gizmotron]

Very cool stuff!
I had a roommate from 1978-80 that had an original 400D and I loved being able to play it and see those tapes move past the heads and then slither back up at the end of the note. These digital versions sure look to be better than keeping an old unit in operational shape.

On the old unit one could put the voice selector knob between two voices to get a blend of two sounds...do the new units allow something like that?

[dgtlman]

Yes you can combine two "flavors" at once... seamlessly in fact. All of the samples are from original tapes & even have some of those subtle nuances that only an analog tape can deliver. These are boutique instruments, like guitars & are very well built... handcrafted in fact, made from wood, not plastic. Although it wasn't cheap I am very happy with my purchase.

[Gizmotron]

Yes you can combine two "flavors" at once... seamlessly in fact. All of the samples are from original tapes & even have some of those subtle nuances that only an analog tape can deliver. These are boutique instruments, like guitars & are very well built... handcrafted in fact, made from wood, not plastic. Although it wasn't cheap I am very happy with my purchase.

Very cool. There was a real art in goosing the selector knob to get just the right blend. A tiny difference in the knob would make a huge difference in the blend. (Blending the violins and cellos was one of the best examples of this...with the right setting it had the cellos more prominent at the bottom end and at the top the violins stood out but they were enriched by a bit of the cello huskiness.)

I love to see someone spring for something so well-made and focused as these new machines. Good on ya!

[Dean Watson]

I used to have a mellotron. I can't remember the model now, it was soooo many years ago. The darn thing was brutal to maintain, I took it into a repair shop that specialized on them and the sign over the workbench said "Labour $20/hr if you leave me alone, $40 if you watch, $80 if you assist!" I got the message.

Now, years later, I use the GForce Mtron Pro. It's a wonderful piece of software. A lot lighter too!

[Sean]

This past year I made some changes for the better when it came to tone. I went from 9s to 11s for starters, which was an instant improvement. I also ditched my mulit-effects processor (that big, black Korg thing...) and put together a pedal board with pedals that each did one thing well, rather than the "jack of all trades" I had been using.

Here's a vid or two where I discuss the pedals and such...

That's my '82 Les Paul Standard there too.... Had it since I was 17 and it's still one of my best axes.



Also, I did a vid just for the Electro Harmonix C9 "Organ Machine"



How many classic licks/riffs can you spot?

[dgtlman]

Thanx Giz! It's fun to talk gear with a fellow gearhead. If I bring up stuff like this at home it produces a thousand yard stare from the wife, as well as a slack-jaw & maybe some drool out of the corner of her mouth. Of course if I mention price then she suddenly snaps to attention & proceeds to berate me for spending "that kind of money" on something she has no idea what it is... lol.
Seriously, I am in the process of dumping a lot of gear in order to get back to basics & capturing that "vintage" sound. Building a Franken-Hammond right now

[Gizmotron]

I used to have a mellotron. I can't remember the model now, it was soooo many years ago. The darn thing was brutal to maintain, I took it into a repair shop that specialized on them and the sign over the workbench said "Labour $20/hr if you leave me alone, $40 if you watch, $80 if you assist!" I got the message.

Now, years later, I use the GForce Mtron Pro. It's a wonderful piece of software. A lot lighter too!

Yup! To understand why they were such beasts all it takes is to take the back off of one and then press a note. The wooden and metal mechanism looked liked something out of a Steampunk movie...it appeared ancient and modern all at once.

[Gizmotron]

Thanx Giz! It's fun to talk gear with a fellow gearhead. If I bring up stuff like this at home it produces a thousand yard stare from the wife, as well as a slack-jaw & maybe some drool out of the corner of her mouth. Of course if I mention price then she suddenly snaps to attention & proceeds to berate me for spending "that kind of money" on something she has no idea what it is... lol.
Seriously, I am in the process of dumping a lot of gear in order to get back to basics & capturing that "vintage" sound. Building a Franken-Hammond right now

Well, this IS the place for this kind of talk! What are you getting rid of? What are you keeping (or getting) to go "vintage"?

I have a combo of old and new stuff, especially in the keyboard/synth category. At the very retro end I have an ELKA Rhapsody 490 (well, that is if I ever get it back from my local Hammond tech...she has had it for 11 months now!) The spiritual center (cue thousand-mile stares) is my ancient Yamaha KX-88 controller. It is a heavyweight and is old but it has such a great feel (weighted, wood keys). I have a fair bit of Yamaha modules (TX-7's, 81-Z's, TX802, FB-01), some Roland modules from the 80's and 90's, Korg boards (KARMA, Triton, M-3), a Kurzweil K2500XS, Roland Super JX, Roland Handsonic, Moog Taurus 3 pedals, a few other controllers, etc. You can imagine what my wife thinks! But it is better than spending it on frivolous things like groceries and mortgage payments.

Oh, that old college roomie? He also had an ARP 2600. Sure wish I had THAT now! (But my original college roomie still has a 2600 and several extra modules!)

[Gizmotron]

This past year I made some changes for the better when it came to tone. I went from 9s to 11s for starters, which was an instant improvement. I also ditched my mulit-effects processor (that big, black Korg thing...) and put together a pedal board with pedals that each did one thing well, rather than the "jack of all trades" I had been using.

Here's a vid or two where I discuss the pedals and such...

That's my '82 Les Paul Standard there too.... Had it since I was 17 and it's still one of my best axes.



Also, I did a vid just for the Electro Harmonix C9 "Organ Machine"



How many classic licks/riffs can you spot?

Cool stuff, Sean. I wondered what you fooled around with. I look forward to watching the video.

[Mikhael]

I saw an interview with Jeff Beck where he was talking about heavy strings and tone, and BB King told him, "You know, they make lighter strings than that." He said yeah, but the tone suffers. BB said something like, "Have you noticed that amps have this newfangled thing called a 'volume' knob? Turn it up!"

[Sean]

There's truth in both thoughts there and the combo of the two works for me.

[Mikhael]

Yeah, I use .009s, simply because I cut the tip of my index finger off a couple of years ago, and I couldn't stand to play anything larger anymore; it hurts. But I did discover that between the gain and tone controls of my amp, I get pretty much the same tone now. It DID take some recalibrating, though.

[Sean]

I still use 9s on a few guitars and use them when I play songs that take a lot of bending over a step or more. Most Floyd solos usually have a few and we cover some. The minute I put on the guitar with the 11s I hear and feel a difference, but I doubt the crowd does.

[Rarebird]

[QUOTE=dgtlman;508213]

The M4000D, which I have, is all digital no tapes. Check out their website for the products they make & the specs. http://www.mellotron.com/

I would like the rackversion. If I only won a big price in the lottery. I would also buy some Moog and Roland stuff, like the Mother 32
http://www.moogmusic.com/products/se...ular/mother-32
and the System 1m
http://www.roland.com/products/system-1m/

[Mikhael]

I still use 9s on a few guitars and use them when I play songs that take a lot of bending over a step or more. Most Floyd solos usually have a few and we cover some. The minute I put on the guitar with the 11s I hear and feel a difference, but I doubt the crowd does.

Probably not. That's one of the reasons why I no longer use a cabinet. Yes, I miss my 12"s. But the crowd actually hears a more hi-fidelity sound without the cabinets onstage, with everything pumped through the mains. So the difference between string gauges would most likely be inaudible to the masses...

[No Pride]

I still use 9s on a few guitars and use them when I play songs that take a lot of bending over a step or more. Most Floyd solos usually have a few and we cover some. The minute I put on the guitar with the 11s I hear and feel a difference, but I doubt the crowd does.

I went from .009s to .009 and a halfs to .010s on a Strat scale length guitar (which has more string tension than a Gibson scale). At first, I couldn't do major 3rd Albert King-style bends with .010s, but I pushed myself to get my fingers stronger. It was well worth the effort. You notice it the most on the E and B strings above the 12th fret.

[Plasmatopia]

I also ditched my mulit-effects processor (that big, black Korg thing...) and put together a pedal board with pedals that each did one thing well, rather than the "jack of all trades" I had been using.

I have a multi-effects unit that just confused me and caused problems, lol. (Yeah, it was probably just me.) So I made a pedal board. It worked a lot better for what I do...which is to NOT use a lot of effects. But the downside is that I still have a sort of clunky pedal board to carry around which has no case since I designed and built it myself and then, in the final analysis, I realized that I only ever step on 5 out of the 8 items on the board (the remainder being set and forget or unused altogether).

Now I'm not playing in a band so I'm thinking I'll make one monster setup using both the pedal board and the multi-effects for use in my music room.

I wish I had one of those Line 6 Helix boards to play with for a couple of weeks...I might be able to replace everything with that.

[Gizmotron]

I have a multi-effects unit that just confused me and caused problems, lol. (Yeah, it was probably just me.) So I made a pedal board. It worked a lot better for what I do...which is to NOT use a lot of effects. But the downside is that I still have a sort of clunky pedal board to carry around which has no case since I designed and built it myself and then, in the final analysis, I realized that I only ever step on 5 out of the 8 items on the board (the remainder being set and forget or unused altogether).

Now I'm not playing in a band so I'm thinking I'll make one monster setup using both the pedal board and the multi-effects for use in my music room.

I wish I had one of those Line 6 Helix boards to play with for a couple of weeks...I might be able to replace everything with that.

Yup, the newest Line 6 stuff looks impressive.

[Mikhael]

For FX I use a combination; a t.c.electronic G-Major for time-based FX (chorus, delay, etc.), because it does those REALLY well. Plus, it switches amp channels for me in response to MIDI. I use a Xotic SP compressor (LUV that thing) and a Morely wah/volume pedal. I also have a Rocktron compressor/hush inline that I use for solo volume boost (very little compression), and a Digitech IPS-33 pitch shifter that I hardly ever use.

But mainly, it's guitar->compressor->volume/wah->preamp->G-Major->power amp-> speakers (stereo). Dirt simple to operate, using a Rolls MIDI Buddy.

[Soc Prof]

Anyone excited about the new OB 6? Unfortunately, it's out of my price range at the moment. I'll probably stick with Arturia softsynths for awhile.

[Dean Watson]

Just picked up the TC Electronics Flashback X4. Large for a pedal ( ie takes up LOTS of real estate ) but I was toying on purchasing two regular flashbacks anyway, and this one does more than two, having 3 presets. Which is awesome.

[Sean]

It's AWESOME! Totally worth the space. Man cannot live on one delay setting alone!