Gorecki

So, unless you're 'a site sponsor' you are in violation of forum rules. Otherwise, I was clearly overly coarse and in turn you received reactionary 'venting' that was not called for and I apologize. I appreciate you answering my embedded question but as free shippiing to the end of October isn't particularly special (when anyone can get that anytime from various vendors for the same pricing) I'll pass. You guys ever have one of those days where no matter what you do, say or be is wrong? That certainly was my day yesterday...sorry guys.

Okay, I'll bite, what's the special perk recieved by PG members for this shameless self promotion, violation of forum rules and otherwise regular old MSRP pricing?

Player: "I need a sound something like a 9 year old passing wind?" Engineer: Walks up to speaker cab and puts foot through the cone, "There ya go! Next time let me know sooner, this cab's already 10 years old."

Yes that's correct. Realistically you SHOULD be able to take the string off the tuner entirely once locked down if the nut's stable.

No, sounds like this 'luthier' is a little (trying to be nice) misinformed! String gauge is string gauge, string tension is string tension. As long as the same strings are used, the guitar setup is not going to be affected by the direction of ball-end. MOST strings are not designed to be direction dependent. Commonly Floyd users do thread with the ball-end on the tuners side. Do yourself a favor and not ask that person questions, from the sounds of it, they do not have a clue what they are talking about.

Thanks but don't bother. My boxes are performance tuned (so to speak) and doubt their is much in the manner of tweaking possible. When I make a reference to latency, it's quite suttle and probably not even noticable to most. I have wicked ears. I'm the kind of guy who can walk into a stereo shop and notice if speakers being demo'd are wired out of phase (which is insane in a stereo store but has happened). Latency is more than just a delay from source to system it can also show itself in ways in the sound in general. Really now that I think about what I was referring to isn't as much latency but more so system headroom. When the processor is tasked it can affect things like reverb decay or spaciousness, long echo reproduction..etc.

Well for snorts and giggles I'll give my own little review on the unit now that I've had one for a couple weeks. In general the views voiced here of the unit are genuine and pretty consistant. In the nuttiest nut, nutshell I can derive, it's a great little box for a $100.00. I didn't ebay, I just bought it new so I had reason and means to throw it back in someones face if it wasn't up to snuff. Overall sounds just as presets are really good, they've managed to emulate a lot of tonal qualities of many amp, cab and effect combos. To improve on the realism of some sounds, playing through speakers is much better than through headphones as in any situation with a guitar, the harmonic elements associated to feedback makes more of a familiar environment to a guitar player. Latency is probably the largest cause and affect in the unit. The bigger the computer, the better it sounds. Especially when you start using tones that have heavy delay, reverb and modulation. I've sampled the unit on a few different systems ranging from 1Ghz P3 to a 3.4Ghz P4 including a mix of laptop and desktop systems, I'm currently completely content with it on a P4 1.6Ghz Dell Laptop. I believe their minimum specs are too low, my P3 1.0Ghz Dell laptop started to choak on heavier sounds and this system is more than double the minimum requirements. As for what I see as needing improvement, well not much. Same old song when it comes to solid state type reproduction, it does a good job but it's certainly not tube driven. With rhythm type playing/sounds, it's great, melodic passages could use a little heat behind the meat. Also, extremely fast articulate phrases start to sound a little wierd when playing long runs in excess of 140bpm as 1/16ths, it's as if it simply doesn't have enough time to reproduce the sound in the same manner as a slower phrase. The Effects are quite limited and in a few cases cheesy. The Wha-Wha is pretty much useless, the delays, too limited, the reverbs...WAY too limited! But to finish my in a nutty nut, nutshell, if someone was pushing the buttons to change the presents, I could probably gig with this thing plugged direct to the board. I have no intension on taking it back and don't see anything on the market that can do what it can for the money or even close. Any questions?

Sweet maple, the back of the neck looks great, the pic near the sound hole looks as the the finishing could have been a bit more intensive but none the less pretty guitar.

Interesting reading, nice to know Dan is human like the rest of us.

Ebony boards are my personal favorite so no complaints from me! Natural finishes with gold hardware (you're still going with gold right?) tends to washout the affect of the hardware but that body is so dark as it is, maybe it'll work out?

Like I said before, take the locking nut tops off, look under them for signs of slipage. Realistically now, it's pointless because you obviously do have slipage. The portion of string between the tuners and nut should never more! So, either you're simply not locking down tight enough OR the string is slipping and the piece(s) that have developed a rut in them, need to be replaced.

If you're intonation is drifting that slightly and you're beating the crap out of the bar, you're in pretty okay shape. Those nine's should hold up somewhat okay but I'm not super versed with them. I've used GHS 9's for well over 20 years and when something works, don't break it.

Whooohoooo...she's gonna be pretty hoss!!!!!

If you're finding it not staying in tune, I would do the following checks first. What strings are being used, some simply do not hold out well on trems. Take off the locking nut tops and look at them, are their any signs of slipage (ruts..streaks) that would suggest the nuts not holding the strings in place. Then if still no sign, start from one point and follow through to the end point. Are the screws holding the tail of the trem stable, are the springs seated, are the saddles tight? Any signs of slipping up/down on the bridge studs?

Someone pointed this out a month or two ago, very amusing and must have been quite a bit of work to complete.

Sorry chief, no alternative means of acquiring this type of coordination. The result you want (not having to think about it) comes as a result of training the body and mind by repetition. Then the conscious mind can do other things. It’s very much like when someone first starts driving, they’re usually extremely attentive. One year later, they’re hardly looking at the road while on it. As sad of an example that it is, that’s the result of repetition. It can’t be avoided.

Wow that brings back memories. Back in my day (around '80), I did Eruption and You Really Got Me with a trio. The crowd was insane but the contest was awarded to a Sax player who hardly anyone in the crowd could appreciate. Glad you had fun!

I believe I've played all of them and they're nice little guys. The 30 & 60 sound fuller than the 15 & micro. For practice any will do well.

Wow, Great piece Lee! Love the Kahlar! I truly believe somewhere, somehow Jerry Garcia is lifting an eyebrow with interest! :

Berkeley Press, Modal Voicings DVD - Rick Peckham Warner Bros Classics, Al DiMeola DVD Two I've really liked.

YEeeeeeup!

I voted for Bill mostly because of the creative use of resources.

I knew the requirments but this stuff can be really picky but the box has a bit more pooh than the one you used it on. So I'm hoping I'm in good shape. A USB audio interface gives me the shivers all by itself. Thanks bunches guys, think I'll take a crack at it, it is pretty cheap.

Thanks alot for the info GBT and BTW very graceful correction to my blundering the spelling of insane. Seems like a worthy purchase at this point, for the price and the positive response regarding the unit the only variable at this point is the system I expect to use it on handling it well. Only way to answer that is to buy it and try it. But as I worked for GC for five years a long time ago, the person I would buy it from when returned would likely get grief (trust me I know) and I really don't want to go down that road. Ahh..now that I think about it, what's the system spec's you used it on?

Latency is exactly my concern, I would expect to use it as THE audio device in the system and between it being USB based and the intended system isn't a power house where even playing along with looped 2 track audio or a DVD would cause burps, churps, pops, clicks and would eventually drive me insane. To use it for tracking however would be purely a bonus and nothing more. No expectations to use it in the / as a studio. My M-audio Firewire I tried to use on the same box suffered considerably from latency issues no matter how hard I tweaked the box.