Official Guitar, Amp, Pedals, and Gear Thread

[gomestar]

i don't know what any of that is. this was years ago when Line 6 had that guitar port thing.

 

[Gus]



Have any of you played plugged directly into your computer and listened either via headphones or monitors?

This reminds me of when I used to have a portable headphone amp for guitar. (Called a Rockman and it was invented by the guy from the band Boston). I would take it along with my Steinberger headless guitar when I traveled. I even played it on plane rides when I could find a few extra seats to stretch out. It was perfect for hotel rooms.

 

[Piobaire]



i don't know what any of that is. this was years ago when Line 6 had that guitar port thing.

An audio interface can be looked at as an external and souped up sound card. It's a bit more nuanced than that but that's the basic idea. It's how to get external sound into your machine. A DAW is digital audio workstation and what one uses to generate some stuff (be it effects of "soft synths" using a midi controller like what I have pictured a few posts back) and mixing.

PSG, here is the modern equivalent: http://www.zzounds.com/item--VOXAPAC

 

[otc]



An audio interface can be looked at as an external and souped up sound card. It's a bit more nuanced than that but that's the basic idea. It's how to get external sound into your machine. A DAW is digital audio workstation and what one uses to generate some stuff (be it effects of "soft synths" using a midi controller like what I have pictured a few posts back) and mixing.

PSG, here is the modern equivalent: http://www.zzounds.com/item--VOXAPAC

I've played with the PC version Rocksmith a bit after I got a deal on it at bestbuy. The "RealTone" cable they use is actually a pretty nice piece of technology (and is sold separately)....USB on one side, 1/4 jack on the other.

There are issues with plugging a guitar straight into a PC input jack...I've done it in the past and the results sucked, so you need some piece of hardware in the middle. The real tone cable sounds great, and I have seen reviews of people using it in garageband/audacity/protools for recording. You can always plug it into the output side of a pedal instead of straight into your guitar if you want to add effects.

Only thing to be careful of with a computer is latency issues. I was able to get my desktop system's analog audio set up so it feels like you are playing live without any lag, but on my HTPC, it is hopeless....HDMI audio basically guarantees a noticeable delay that's not a problem for playing music/movies, but is a dealbreaker for microphones or instruments. I was trying to play digital drums with it and it is impossible to stay on beat to a fast rhythm if the sound is coming back to you a good fraction of a second after you strike the pad.

edit: this video sets it up

 

[Piobaire]

Oct, the way around the latency issue is an audio interface. You can do a latency free, direct feed.

 

[origenesprit]

Piob, do not buy a Moog for analog delay. There are a bazillion analog delays out there, all cheaper. The nice thing about the Moog is that, like with an EHX memory man, you can really control the modulation of the repeats, but you really don't need to bother with that until you understand more about getting those sounds and what you want out of a delay. Plus, if you really want to delve into this stuff, there are way more flexible, great sounding digital delays like the Strymon Timeline or rack delays like an SDD-3000, SDE-3000, or TC 2290.

But honestly, just get an MXR Carbon Copy for now. They are great.

 

[otc]



Oct, the way around the latency issue is an audio interface. You can do a latency free, direct feed.

Not with HDMI though (which is why it doesn't work on my htpc).

The real tone cable works great on my desktop with either analog out to speakers or to headphones.

 

[Piobaire]



Piob, do not buy a Moog for analog delay. There are a bazillion analog delays out there, all cheaper. The nice thing about the Moog is that, like with an EHX memory man, you can really control the modulation of the repeats, but you really don't need to bother with that until you understand more about getting those sounds and what you want out of a delay. Plus, if you really want to delve into this stuff, there are way more flexible, great sounding digital delays like the Strymon Timeline or rack delays like an SDD-3000, SDE-3000, or TC 2290.

But honestly, just get an MXR Carbon Copy for now. They are great.

Thanks for the input. I'll be doing a ton of reading and youtubing, probably with more questions, before I start buying pedals. It'll probably first start with me getting a clean channel tube amp like that Marshall first. I see that Timeline spoken highly of by many ambient players. The El Capistan and Blue Sky seem to be very popular too.

Not with HDMI though (which is why it doesn't work on my htpc).

The real tone cable works great on my desktop with either analog out to speakers or to headphones.

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, with an audio interface you plug directly into it with a normal amp cord.

 

[origenesprit]



Thanks for the input. I'll be doing a ton of reading and youtubing, probably with more questions, before I start buying pedals. It'll probably first start with me getting a clean channel tube amp like that Marshall first. I see that Timeline spoken highly of by many ambient players. The El Capistan and Blue Sky seem to be very popular too.

Strymon stuff is all digital, but very well liked. I've never played any of it, so I can't give a personal opinion on their stuff. The El Capistan is supposed to mimic an old Tape Echo, like an echoplex. The Timeline does a million types of delays. The bluesky is reverb - ambient people like it because of it's shimmer capabilities, which blends octave up, reverbed sounds with the dry signal.

The Carbon Copy rec is only if you want a cheap, really good analog delay. The Malekko 616 is another option for cheap, good analog delay (I haven't played one though). If you don't care about analog vs digital, which you probably shouldn't, I don't think you can go wrong with the strymon stuff.

For ambient playing, get a reverb with shimmer, get a delay that you like, and get a volume pedal for swells. Also a loop pedal if you're into layering stuff on the fly (soundscape type stuff) - the TC Ditto is really great actually, and only $100 on Amazon.

 

[jakejake]

Any recommendations for a good karaoke system set up? Buying separate mixer, home speakers, amp vs. buying PA powered speakers with mixer or with mixer built-in? Specific brands/models to look for would be great. TIA.

 

[Gus]



Any recommendations for a good karaoke system set up? Buying separate mixer, home speakers, amp vs. buying PA powered speakers with mixer or with mixer built-in? Specific brands/models to look for would be great. TIA.

 

[El Argentino]

Guitar Center isn't the greatest place on the planet, but found this used 60thAnn. US Deluxe Strat for 750 and couldn't shake it. Coming home with me.

 

[Piobaire]



Strymon stuff is all digital, but very well liked. I've never played any of it, so I can't give a personal opinion on their stuff. The El Capistan is supposed to mimic an old Tape Echo, like an echoplex. The Timeline does a million types of delays. The bluesky is reverb - ambient people like it because of it's shimmer capabilities, which blends octave up, reverbed sounds with the dry signal.

The Carbon Copy rec is only if you want a cheap, really good analog delay. The Malekko 616 is another option for cheap, good analog delay (I haven't played one though). If you don't care about analog vs digital, which you probably shouldn't, I don't think you can go wrong with the strymon stuff.

For ambient playing, get a reverb with shimmer, get a delay that you like, and get a volume pedal for swells. Also a loop pedal if you're into layering stuff on the fly (soundscape type stuff) - the TC Ditto is really great actually, and only $100 on Amazon.

For when the time comes...volume pedal recs? I read/watched some apparently need a mod of some sort not to colour things (Ernie Ball I think was the model in question).

 

[El Argentino]



For when the time comes...volume pedal recs? I read/watched some apparently need a mod of some sort not to colour things (Ernie Ball I think was the model in question).

Volume swells w/ the knob on your LP?

 

[ac_slater]

80% of players will not appreciate the difference between an analog delay and a very good digital delay at home.

Nobody, and I mean nobody will appreciate the difference between them in a live playing situation.

Just some food for thought.