Gasalcoholics anonymous? whoever said this was a help group?

[dubkitty]

oh, i have stories.

[TheTransient]

i'm extremely familiar with Garcia's setup, but it's way too much firepower for what i do. plaster would fall from the ceiling of the apartment downstairs, and there's little likelihood i'll play in a place big enough for a rig like that again before i die. i also don't have Steve Parish to move all that shit around. and i don't really want to do that close of a Jerry-copy thing...i burned out on doing that back in the 80s though i occasionally whip it out when provoked. it would be extremely easy for me to buy a Wolf replica and have a Dead cover band, but i don't need that kind of attention. i learned with my band in the early 80s--a sort of early adopter of the jamband concept that played to acidheads in Eugene, Oregon--that Jerry had a really shitty job, and why he had to do heroin. i just want the cleans. my speakers are Dead, though. i have a 12" Weber California (a JBL D120 clone) that i play guitar through and a real JBL D140F coming tomorrow for my bass setup. i also like Greenbacks which are in the AC15 and the Laney VC30 that probably needs a new power transformer, but not as much.

i've been all EL84s since the late 2000s except the Electar Tube 10 which has one 6L6. i wanted to get away from the sound i'd been using for the preceding 35 years. but now i'm tired of clean tones that aren't really very clean.

at some point i also want to try a smaller Roland Jazz Chorus amp for the painfully clean approach. that might be a good option for looping where i don't want very much coloration of the sound. or a Quilter might be a thing for that application, but probably not as my general-purpose amp. i'm hoping the Pro Reverb will be clean enough for looping and still have the Fender amp character i like when playing without the loopers.

I mean I wasn't suggesting you start a Dead cover band or anything
Just thought a Sarno SMS preamp and an small power amp (Art SLA100, or one of the Carvin ones maybe?) might fulfil your needs for a lighter Twin Reverb kinda thing. The Quilter Tone Block 202 is pretty good, even at lower volumes. The built in reverb is nothing to write home about though. I guess there is always it's little brother the 101 Reverb if you wanted something quieter.

I'm not a deadhead or anything, but I had a bit of a phase late last year where I was determined to get my head around Grateful Dead and their gear which is why it is fresh in my memory. As an Australian in my mid 30s, the Dead have never had any cultural relevance to me. I'd never heard it on the radio, never heard anyone older than me mention them at all. It's just not a thing here like it is for Americans. I mean they didn't tour here continuously for what, three decades or so? So it makes sense. It was crazy to me just how much of an institution they are in America, so I wanted to see what the fuss was about. I've already moved on to other music now, but it was fun for a bit. They definitely have some great songs spread throughout their discography.

[dubkitty]

in some ways their gear is more interesting than their music, and i loved their music. quite possibly the most important and influential thing they ever did was the Wall of Sound, which essentially invented the modern PA system and was the best system i've ever heard live. i saw them at the State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, IA in 1974 and you could hear everything clear as a bell from a quarter-mile away. the only thing that even came close was an experimental system they used at the Melkweg in Amsterdam for the Gong Family Unconvention in 2006, and it took over 30 years to get there in a fairly small club. and then there's that genius setup Garcia had where the guitar signal ran from the pickups straight to an switchable output which drove the effects, went back to the guitar, through the guitar controls, and then to the amp. i'm pretty sure this was to make the MuTron behave consistently when the guitar knobs were adjusted. and the quadrophonic wiring in Lesh's bass...he could throw sound from one side of the PA array to the other. it also had an insane array of filters and stuff.

[dubkitty]

i looked it up, and the Garcia system would be several layers of overkill. an 85W Twin Reverb head as a preamp (he carried 2 in a cabinet with one as a spare) into a 600W McIntosh power amp with 3 JBL 12s. you could play 2000-seaters with that and never have to mic the amp. i'd love to know what kind of juju they used to keep him from blowing D120s with a 600-watt power amp.

[Blackened Soul]

Ok before I start.



Right then, have comming 2 basses, the first is a musicman usa sub5.. this dude had a listing on reverb (still has it up on ebay)… stock picture.. not the same color as the bass listed says.. so I think the bass will be blue.. anyway.. I was in a mood so I made an offer for under half the asking price and they accepted.. waited to the time limit on shipping to contact me about shipping it.. asked if I was ok with them taking the neck off the ship.. I was fine with that.. then they needed little more $ (still kept it less than half the listing price) because the shipping pice they had on the original listed was less then they could get it shipped for…. I said ok.. and the bass is making its way to me.. slowly… so we will have to see what shape it actual in... what color it will be… and if it is a real musicman…

2nd one…. Last February I put in a preorder for a shecter dug 12 string bass.. they kept pushing out the date so in June I cancelled my order and found a builder that had made a couple of 12s to make a neck for me instead, the neck took 3+ times the time estimate and when it got to me the neck was not the dimensions we agreed on.. the heel was the same as a 4 string.. they are not sure how it happened… so the neck is on its way back and they are refunding me.. and right after I packed it and labeled the neck a Galveston 12 string showed on on reverb… FOR THE SAME PRICE AS I PAYED FOR THAT NECK! So I got that comming, more than likely I will have to make it a new body for balance reasons but still I see this as best outcome..

FUCKING NBD!

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However.. the MM almost didn't make it.. the fucker that sold it to me who even asked more $ for shipping put in a box too small for the neck and..

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Thankfully the only damage was a bent tuner, which I luckily had a spare because I put a detuner on my other MM bass..
Plays and sounds great though. also I think this was the 2nd dirtiest bass I've ever bought.. I had to clean it twice.. the pick guard was beyond nasty and beat up.. i took it off and am getting a black one.
The 12, is almost unplayed and because of the balance I can see why.. I'll eventually make a new body to get it to balance correctly.. no hurry as I got this as a backup 12.

[Paul_C]

A long time ago I had a lot of Yamaha SB/SBV basses but never the guitar version, in part because the bridges looked huge and clunky which spoiled the look of them for me.

Having bought way too many Telecasters I thought I was done with guitars buying, but persistence threw up this:



Which should be in my hands sometime this week

[coldbrightsunlight]

A long time ago I had a lot of Yamaha SB/SBV basses but never the guitar version, in part because the bridges looked huge and clunky which spoiled the look of them for me.

Having bought way too many Telecasters I thought I was done with guitars buying, but persistence threw up this:



Which should be in my hands sometime this week

Woah did they ever make these stock with the tune-o-matic or is it a mod? I've played one a bunch (Eivind August's) and never had an issue with the bridge but this one looks cool anyway

IMG_0325.jpg

Damn, bad seller, cool bass. Love that blue!

[Paul_C]

A long time ago I had a lot of Yamaha SB/SBV basses but never the guitar version, in part because the bridges looked huge and clunky which spoiled the look of them for me.

Having bought way too many Telecasters I thought I was done with guitars buying, but persistence threw up this:



Which should be in my hands sometime this week

Woah did they ever make these stock with the tune-o-matic or is it a mod? I've played one a bunch (Eivind August's) and never had an issue with the bridge but this one looks cool anyway

Yes, it's all stock - an SGV-500 (the 300 and 800s are much more plentiful and have the vibrato bridges)

[le lambin]

Damn that is sick

[dubkitty]

i got curious and looked at old Yamahas on Reverb and came across this little guy. sometimes a guitar just reaches out to you, and this is so adorable i want to take it home and love it and hug it and call it George. it reminds me of a old Guild Bluesbird. that poor baby needs moisturizer all over. i don't love it $900 worth, but i love it.

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[friendship]

A long time ago I had a lot of Yamaha SB/SBV basses but never the guitar version, in part because the bridges looked huge and clunky which spoiled the look of them for me.

Having bought way too many Telecasters I thought I was done with guitars buying, but persistence threw up this:



Which should be in my hands sometime this week

Looks fun as hell. I wonder what it sounds like with some Fuzz Pedals™

[dubkitty]

i'm dying to find out what the pickups sound like, and how they compare to the rectangular tissue-box pickups on the earlier models similar to those common on other contemporaneous Japanese makes. if they're anything like my Kent pickups i'm in trouble.

[coldbrightsunlight]

i got curious and looked at old Yamahas on Reverb and came across this little guy. sometimes a guitar just reaches out to you, and this is so adorable i want to take it home and love it and hug it and call it George. it reminds me of a old Guild Bluesbird. that poor baby needs moisturizer all over. i don't love it $900 worth, but i love it.

yam1.jpg

yam2.jpg

Wow, if I was nearby and it played really well I might $900 love that, it's weirdly gorgeous (george)

[dubkitty]

it just looks right, despite being rather out of the norm. the term "booty-licious" springs to mind.

TELL THAT THING TO QUIT TALKING TO ME. I CAN'T AFFORD IT.

between this and the solidbody electric bouzouki i am in GAS Hell right now and looking at at least $2000 out of pocket in dental bills. i think i'm going to have to use the dentist's handy financing unless they're worse than my credit card rates. even if everything works the way it's supposed to i could never do it. now, if there was one on the US East Coast i could play-test...

[Blackened Soul]

@ 4:58