Speedy McFeely

i put bobbin toppers on my emgs. on my wolfie i have a cream and a black zebra look to maintain a stcok appearance, well sort of anyway. the chrome 81s are tits though, i wants some chrome.

some are designed to sound sigle coilish, like dimarzio hs2. while other sound really close to a full size, like the seymore jb jr. i like hotrails pickups for retro fit. the are essentialy mini hbs for strats, sound cool too. look at the dimarzio web site for a detailed explanation of the design.

you probably won't find too many fp for under a grand anymore. the have gone up in price since the advent of ebay. they go for over the grand mark everyday on the bay. you can get on of the last models left new, if you can find one. theis is the last production year ever for the fp. happy hunting.

since the guitar is anorexic. i think you should put a high calorie pick up in it. i suggest the emg 85, it was the true inspiration for queen's classic fat bottom girls. and for the neck you could put an 89, then if the little twang monster bites you, you could have a single coil tone also. besides, it's a maple guitar, and probably not your number one anyway, just let the skinny bitch eat!! EMG 85/89

i guess it really depends on how far the pole pieces are from the strings. i have a homemade strat copy with a standard fender vintage trem, and a non f-spaced dimarzio fred in the bridge position. the e strings sit just a little off of the poles. i had this same pick up in an old dc les paul, and the volume of the pick up over every string didn't change, although the sound did. that was most likely due to the change from mahogony to alder. just try not to be too far off of the poles. ps. i have emg's in a couple of my guitars now, a peavey wolfgang sp, and a jackson. pv is basswood, and the jacko is alder. they sound completly different, the only similarity is the high output.

Peavey wolfgang. that is a sweet artist model. EB/MM EVH/Axis is also very cool.

line level is a different signal than say the ouput for a speaker. it isn't amplified like a speaker signal would be, in most cases it is balanced, and is much much quieter. in a direct recording situation you want the least amount of noise possible, because the more tracks you put on a recording the more noise is amplified. you can tell if a box is made for direct plug in if it says so. just look to see if it has a line level ouput. or if it has RCA output, which are those little red and white jacks like on a playstation. if i'm not mistaken, most of the digitech rp's are equipped very well for all kinds of situations. the key would be to ask the sales clerk at the store if i does everything you want. if he, or she doesn't know then ask for the number to customer service at digitech and ask them, they are going to be able to answer any questions you might have.

i have the same sound card sort of, i have an audigy 5.1 with the front panel interface. i use cakewalk sonar 2.0XL, it's really user friendly, and sounds good, plus tons of effects and plug ins to dick with. here's how i have my humble home studio set up. i usually mic up my amp, then run it thru an old 4-track for a pre-amp of sorts, from there i run it into an alesis midiverb 4, then to the front interface of my sound card (line in, because the 4-track sends a line level output). mic -> 4-track -> alesis -> soundcard. if you were going to plug in direct, i recomend to do it this way. guitar -> processor -> pre-amp -> sound card. In the recording software you will have a virtual mixing board, you can level everything there. if you don't have a pre amp, then you could just use the line out of your processor straight into your line in port of your interface, and adjust the level in the program, keep in mind it doesn't sound very good that way, unless your box was made for direct plug in. there are cakewalk plug-ins (programs that run with cakewalk for certain effects, like cab sim, or amp modeling) that can adjust for this set up and simulate a more warm signal. i have a plug-in called "amp farm" it is basicly an amp modeler, but it also has effects that can make a sterile signal sound like it is run thru an amp first. pretty cool, but requires some tweaking. you can download lots of free recording software, just do a google search for them. also you could always get one of those guitar-port things by line6. those are ok for direct recording.

you don't really need a unit to have direct input for recording. if you save a few bucks and buy a direct plug in box, then it would serve the sam need. as far as Boss or digitech, i think they are both excellent buys for the money. i have an old rp40, that i still use time to time. i have a few boss pedals, and they are fantastic. i also have a DOD (digitech's cheap line) chorus that is good too. a mic pre-amp also will work for direct plug in. also amp and cab modeling is great, and handy for recording, especially direct. i may be going out on a limb here, but it sounds like you are budget minded, so to find an all in one unit sounds like the best idea. i say go with the digitech RP-** whatever one best fits you needs, mine has lasted like 7 years, so they are rugged. good luck

i built a cab for an old 15 watt practice amp i had. it had an 8'' speaker in it, but i boght a celestian vintage 30, and built a walnut cab fo it. although the amp was 15 watts, it sounds way better than with the 8. it actually has a cool distortion tone, because of the underpowered speaker. i got the plans off of a website that has info about house speakers, i wanted a closed back cab, for a single speaker quarter stack. it's preatty cool.

that is the same way peavey does stop tail wolfgangs, (recessed) they said it compensates for the lack of neck angle, it is even more dramitic on the flat top specials. i have to agree with Gedward, new to carvin, not to mankind.

i have an '88 77fp. it is my favorite guitar, it plays great, sounds great and has a vibe that no other guitar has. i have had all kinds of remarks on it. if you are into vai, then you know this was the axe to have in the 80's. i have a couple of jems, the fp is my fave. (my other is a 7dbk)

i like to mount pick ups to the wood, not pick-up rings. to me it sounds a little fatter. some people can't hear a difference, i can. the wood makes up a significant part of the tone of a guitar, so this is why i like my p-ups to be connected to the wood.

i run my sm-57 thru an old 4-track first, before my board. like this" MIC->4-track->mixer->soundcard. to me i get a much truer sound wiith the four track. it is kind of like having a mic pre, just not as versital. i have a tascam 4-track, it has two balanced XLR inputs. i also run a creative soundblaster audigy sound card. i like the way it sounds.

it actually doesn't play bad, the sounds are ok IMO. the only problem is the vibe, which to me is a HUGE issue. it doesn't feel like all of the guitars it supposedly replicates.

yep, practice. i am pretty good at harmonics now becuase of practice. besides it's the only way to find them all.

i forgot to mention, i think a good high gain set up, is on ly about one thing, noise. the lower the noise the better, IMO. shield everything really well, then use whatever p-up you want and trial and error. that is the main reason i love active p-ups, they are so quiet in comparison. look for p-ups also that have encapsulated shielding build into the pick-up ala EMGhz, dimebucker.

emg h4's are passive, and sound good. i should say EMGhz h4.

with as many different genres of music steve morse covers, he only really has two options, take a slew of guitars, or have ernie ball make him one that can do everything he needs, but is more complex than calculous.

on my wolfgang, i use lemon oil. this is what the peavey custom shop guy told me to use. apparently it is less dyeing than other types of oils. any oil will leave the maple a little darker every time you oil it. i don't use wax, but every 6 months or so i re oil. works great, nothin beats an unfinished neck, IMHO.

i have an american jackson, and a korean one. i like them the same. both are dinkys. one with emgs, and one without. both killerr insturments.

right now i am listening to: BLS blessed hellride marty friedman music for speeding liquid tension 2 (a mainstay in my cd player) albert king best of

BURNT UMBER!! so brown, yet so red. it has to be burned just right though.

put a floyd flush onto the body, not recessed, then you get the best of both worlds.

i get dizzy looking at that quilt, wow.