Saber

Click on "Tools", "Audio Options". Go to the "Advanced" tab and put a check mark on "Enable Simultaneous Record/Playback".

Unless the pickup's poles have a strange uneven stagger, the sound of the pickup by itself shouldn't change. If it's on at the same time as another pickup, though, the phase relationship between the 2 pickups will be reversed.

You ARE aware that there's a big difference between a heat gun and an open-flame torch, are you?

I also think it's better to let it hang loosely. That way, once you're used to it, your hand always knows exactly where to reach down and get it without even looking. The problem with tightening it is that one day you'll reach for it and it will be slightly out of position from where you thought you left it, and you'll fumble with it or miss it altogether and that whammy moment will be ruined. When you let it hang loosely, it can never be out of position because it always end up exactly the same place, unless you're playing in the spacelab.

I think you've miscalculated. According to the photo, the scale length of that guitar is 1.5 times the body length. So if the scale length is 24", then the body length should be 16", not 20.5".

If your new middle pickup is a lot lower in resistance/impedance than the other two, it can load the other pickups and reduce their signal output when they're all in parallel. That's another thing to consider. Do you know the coil resistance of each of the three pickups from either their specs or from measuring them with an ohmmeter?

On the Duplicolor website, they say that Metalcast is an enamel. And in their FAQ they say that enamel can go over laquer, but putting laquer over enamel might lift the enamel.

That guitar is a real beauty! All the separate elements combine so well together. The word "synergy" immediately comes to mind.

It's definitely a possible solution for the impedance issue. The only thing left would be to make sure that the line-level device can work with the lower signal strength of the guitar signal, which is usually possible when the unit has an input level adjustment. But from what I got in previous posts, Drak is not into building electronics devices. And in his own words, "I'd much rather get the right effect off the bat and not have to buy another effect to make the first effect work correctly, if you follow. Just means more knobs, more weight, more rack space taken, and I'm trying to keep it compact and simple." But a simple solution might be to get one of these. It could be tucked away in the rack case behind the other effects. While I was on the axess electronics website, I saw something else that might interest you, Drak. Instead of a footswitch for your Rivera amp, you could use this. It could be controlled by whatever MIDI pedalboard you use. You might find their stuff a bit pricey though.

The PQ3 has both line level and instrument input. The instrument input does have a higher input impedance than line level devices but at 100k it is still a bit low for a guitar so you would get some "tone sucking" or loss of highs. It would be good in an effects loop, but not too great if you want to plug a guitar directly into it. Dimebag Darrel uses one but his wireless system buffers the signal before the PQ3. The G-major is a great unit but for the effects loop because it's a line level device, but if what you're looking for is EQ and Compression between guitar and pre-amp, you can't plug your guitar directly into it like with the much more expensive G-Force.

470k ohm is typical for a guitar input and higher is even better. According to the Ashly DPX 200 specs, it has a >/= 1k ohm mic input (exactly how much is >/= 1k ohm is not too precise but a balanced lo-Z mic input is too low for a guitar) and it has a line input that's 20k ohm balanced, 10k ohm unbalanced. On another note, if you're also thinking of noise reduction, ISP Technologies has recently released the Decimator ProRackG. And Channel 1 could possibly double as an impedance buffer between guitar and DPX 200, but you would have to test that out to be 100% sure of optimum signal level compatibility since the DPX 200 is not specifically designed for a guitar signal.

The DPX 200 doesn't have a high impedance input for guitar so if you want to use it between your guitar and pre-amp (which is where one usually places a compressor), then you would need some kind of buffer between it and your guitar. Remember my earlier suggestion of the Rocktron Xpression? It has the parametric EQ, compressor, and high impedance input for guitar. I don't know about the quality of these features, but they are all in one single unit... and more.

Does it say 110watts output, or 110watts power consumption or anything like that? Where is it indicated, near the power cord, near the power fuse, or near the speaker output? It could be the ac power consumption rather than the output power.

On the contrary, mon ami. Some capacitors use a color code. Check this site for reference.

Thanks. There's a real emotional vibe to Lee's song even without the guitar solos. My lead melodies sort of wrote themselves, bringing the best out of me. Go for it, man! I can't wait to hear what you come up with.

Maybe you should look into the Rocktron Xpression. It's a MIDI effects unit that has a MIDI programmable 4-band parametric EQ, and other goodies, and it's around $300. And since it has a high input impedance (470K), you can place it either between your guitar and pre-amp for pre-distortion EQ (and phaser and other pre dist effects), or in the effects loop. I don't know of any other MIDI programmable rackmount EQ that has a high input impedance. The Hi-Z ones are not programmable and the programmable ones are lower impedance line-level units. Maybe there are others but I'm not aware of any. It might be possible with the G-Force but at a much higher price. I don't know how good the Xpression is noise-wise for use at the front end, though. You'd have to try one.

Sounds good already but here are a few suggestions that you might (or might not) want to try. Like MATT said, the kick drum sounds a bit "muted". Maybe add a bit of upper mids or highs to emphasize the percussive "click" sound. And I would try to add a bit of reverb to the snare and toms but not to the rest of the kit. Lead guitar might sound great scooped when played alone, but with the drums taking up the lows and highs I would give the lead guitar a bit more mids, especially the ones at around 3:13. MATT commented about the guitar not being loud enough. Maybe it just needs a bit more mids and a bit less lows and highs to make the whole mix more harmonically balanced. The rhythm guitar sounded fine to me though. I'm not saying that this is the right way to do it. It's just what I would try, considering what I heard. Just my 2 cents.

Here's a quote from the BBE website that pretty much explains it: "Since a loudspeaker's natural tendency is to add progressively longer delay times to higher frequencies, the BBE sound processing system adds progressively longer delay times to lower frequencies."

Like I said just 2 posts above.

If you're referring to the clockwise lug as the left lug, then you're correct for both pots. But it doesn't make sense that connecting the middle lug to ground kills the sound, and it's not immediately obvious why. And the arrow with the V+ at the top simply connects to the other arrow with the V+ at the bottom if you want the LED to light when the effect is turned on.

Well... you have to learn to walk before you can run.

Yeah, Roy Buchanan was real talented but it's still a much more efficient way of getting pinch harmonics from a bridge pickup in the area where most of the string's harmonics are the strongest, and with a high gain amp or pedals to naturally compress the signal to boost the low-level harmonics.

Thanks a bunch. I'd rather hear that than about my "chops".

Thanks again. You really know how to brighten someones day.

Also, use the bridge pickup and plenty of gain.