Speedy McFeely

All of the above for me. gig set up I run my geetar into my pedal board (tuner,bad horsie,chorus,blues driver,eq) then into the 5150 combo (with jj tubes thanks for the recomendation BLS!!) and thru the effects loop I run an alesis midiverb 4 into an alesis compressor in a rack with a power condenser. recording geetar into pedal board into v-amp into compressor into mixer into sound card practice geetarr into pedal board into v-amp into compressor into peavey rage 158... hey shut up the rage is a good size!!! LOL

on a side note... How do you like the bias mod? i have groove tubes in mine, and have a set of jj tubes on order. I want to mod mine, but i'm skeered it won't sound good to me anymore.

5150's DO sound like SLO 100s. plug into the low gain input, and try not to get the soldano sound. the schematics are almost identical, the only difference being the 5150 has an extra gain stage and resonance control. it's hard for me to get my 5150 to NOT sound like a soldano. my last amp was an SLO 100 head and 5150 cab

i use a V-amp 2. here is a link to some recordings. I know the songs suck, but just listen to the tone of the guitar in the songs. i used a V-amp 2 for all guitar parts. songs

i have a v-amp 2. i record all my stuff with it. i run it into an old four track, used as a mixer, then into the sound card. i sometimes put a compressor inline, but only if the signal is all over the place. i would highly recomend it.

thanks, the second one "newrock" is more rockin than the other two. If you are so inclined.

i know these aren't going to be top 40, or even on the radio or in a store for someone to buy, i just recorded a few things. let me know what you think... constructive criticism please. if you think it sucks, say it nicely please. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/5/dustinksouthermusic.htm happy listening.

that's interesting. i always though marty friedman came up with the "killer kelly" guitar. my friend is a huge friedman fan and has a few kelly's, because they were the marty friedman sig guitar.

wow i totally want the air classic... i love those!! look out speedy's commin!!

it could also have to due with microphonic feedback. with a huge audio system, like those used in arenas and outdoor venues, you get allot of interference from radio waves, monitor signals, wireless units, high gain amps, microphones, video monitors, etc. a live sound is only as good as the house PA. here's an example. plug in your guitar, turn on your amp, turn the voulme pot on your guitar to 10. now stand next to your TV, or computer monitor, or talk on your cell phone. liten to the microphonic feedback from your guitar. now turn off all devices that send or recieve aay kind of signal, ie tv, radio, phone, monitor. now your guitar is considerably quieter, well it should be at least. live shows can sound great, or like crap. most of the time it isn't the artist. case in point: i've seen all of the G3 tours. the first one with eric johnson sounded awesome, the second one with JP sounded OK, and the last one with Yngwie sounded like poo when yngwie played, and alittle into Vai's set, then the probem was fixed for the jam set. another thing to consider is "live" recording. this is a completely different animal from studio recording, and uses different equipment. it's really hit or miss dude. If you ever get a band together and play at 20 or so different bars, parks parties, gyms, and outdoor venues you'll know exactly what i'm talking about.

a noise gate is essentially a reverse compressor. it will work like a "gate", when the VU meter is below a certain point the gate is closed, meaning no sound. when the VU meter reaches a predetermined point it opens the gate to let the sound in. so when used together compressors and gates do essentially the same thing, but at different ends of the volume curve. i set my gates to just under the quietest part of the sound wave. this way i don't lose any sound, but it doesn't let any unwanted noise to come through the mix. trial and error are the only way to get a good set up on compressors and gates. and as you probably imagined it is different for every mix. good luck.

ok the answer is on most studio albums the amp is in a room with no noise (iso-booth. also during the mixdown and mastering of a studio recording an engineer spends weeks, sometimes months cutting oout all of the silence and noise between drum beats, lyricks and guitar notes. although a good compressor used properly is great for helping a guitar not get lost in the mix, it does not get rid of noise. a noise gate would be better for this type of thing, but like a compressor, noise gates when overused can steal dynamics away from the sound of a guitar. School is now in session, Professsor Speedy will be facilitating. lesson #1 Compressors most types of singnal processors like reverbs, phasers, and eq make an obvious change to the sound. a compressors effect is much more subtle; when used properly, you probaly won't be able to tell you are even using a compressor. a compressor is just a device which controls volume. think of a compressor as a teenie tiny engineer with his hand on a fader at a mixing board watching a VU meter. as long as the the meter stays below a sertain point then he leaves the fader up and the gain is unchanged. but the instant the sound gets louder, the engineer pulls down the fader by a certain amount. when the sound gets soft again the engineer will move the fader back up again.

the g-major is a pro-sumer rack device. which means it is a pro level unit at consumer attainable price tag. the g-major is a new version of the ever popular g-force. it sounds great. Vai uses one, and his tone is fantastic! on to the rack question. my rack has a furman rack power condenser, an alesis midiverb4, and a v-amp pro. i would like to get more rack effects, like the g-major which will be mine soon. racks are really great for sound quality, allot of the effects are better sounding, but racks are far less portable and are much more expensive. case in point i had a boss super chorus rack mount 350 USD, and the pedal version is like 80 USD. if you are on a budget, go with pedals, or discover the magic of lay-away!!

sorry i've been out of it for awhile. i installed the pups in one basswood guit and an alder one, they sound ok. i'll break it down. for clean they sound a little muddy, too many mids, but with a little eq they were definately workable. for overdrive the smoke, total bloosey sothern rock thing happening. played thru a reavey classic 30, with a blues driver for the OD. for high gain again very muddy, even with a little eq they were still very muddy. played thru my 5150 combo with jj tubes. however with the v-amp pro they sounded very full at high gain. i think they are a good bang for the buck. oh yeah in single coil mode they sound like aluminum foil wrapped around a mic and slid across a metal grated floor. so very very very thin and tinny. my rating from one to ten on... value: 7.5 clean: 4 OD: 6.5 high gain: 3 overall: 5.5 very solid bargain pup.

SD lil' 59s will fit also, and if i'm not mistaken the l'l screamon demons will also. my friend has an early 90's washburn tah was made in korea that was routed like that. well he just looked on the web site to see which pick ups they used for replacement on the usa guitars. to make a long story short in the early 90s they sub contracted the production to samick, as did many companies, and the type of single coils used had a different base plate than most single coils, they didn't have the triangle shaped base plate. so the usa washburn pickups didn't fit. so he sold them and bought a lil 59 and a lil SD to use instead. maybe this would be an option. his guitar has a full size JB in the bridge and a lil 59 center and a lil scremon demon in then neck slot. he has them all coil tapped and gets tons of sounds. it really rocks.

my first electric was a squire bullet, like you mentioned with the star logo. it was nice. i still have the body. the neck fell victim to an "around the world" gone wrong. the body is a solid piece of alder, hence my reason for keeping it. it was made in the ibanez factory by the same hands that made the 80's ibzs. i had a fuji strat that was better than any of the american ones until like 96. those squires are nice bargains and good quality insturments, for the price. although squires of late are very beginner quality.

i have a fred in a strat copy. i like it for rock, and bluesy type tones, but it is not too great for the high gain, john petrucci type tone. i think it has too much mid range for a tight metal sound. the paf pro is good for the neck, because metal rythm is played mostly from the bridge pos. for a rippin metal sound, i sugjest "steve's special", or "Tone zone", or even an "x2n", or "super 3" for passives, but wes will tell you that metal is only metal with emg's, for active the way to go is the 81/85 combo. zakk wylde uses this set up in his lesters. on to the amp situation. get an amp first, it is the cornerstone. a super great guitar played thru a **** amp will sound like crap. just my .02

uh... it was a comercial...

i have a MIM strat body, i want to drill 1/2 inch holes in it, to make it more airy... no seriously i think it should change the tone to sound like a chambered guitar, plus it will look totally nuts. it has a standard strat bridge, a FRED and a fender noiseless SC, and a virtual paf, and a maple neck. right now the tone is ok, but kind of muddy. i was reading about chambering on the tom anderson site, and thought of this. if this is not going to be cool, or ruin the tone (tone is all that matters, not the value or finish). mabey bigger holes, or smaller ones?

i have one half installed, i have a body done with neck waiting on the OFR to get here. i believe it will be here on tues.

ditto on the OLP petrucci. i hope it has the same pickups though, but probably not, in fact i'm willing to bet it won't. luckily you can buy the dimarzio's he had in the JPM. on a side note, the custom pups in the EBMM JP guitar are kind of harsh sounding, the bridge pup is kind of shrill, i like the "ibeenhad" JPM better sound wise.

steve morse used to play a tele... clean and dirty and loud and quiet etc.

i like dimarzio "clip lock" straps. i have 3 of them, green, purple and a black one, so sweet. before that i used an ernie ball 2'' with schaller strap locks, schallers are super nice.

dunlop trotex in various thicknesses. mostly the orange, and red ones, but the green are nice for shredding.

WHAT????!!!!!