I recently bought this dirt cheap Harley Benton PJ-4 HTR bass from Thomann. This thing is fantastic for its price, plays and sounds wonderful. I also really like this Precision/Jazz hybrid thing. However, I think it just looks awful with the glossy red paint combined with the red pickguard and the slightly awkward looking pointy headstock shape. Also the colour of the maple neck looks like it has been bleached or something.
So I figured: I'm gonna try out my first refinish on a guitar. I stripped off the clear coat with a heat gun and sanded the thing down to the bare wood, hoping to find some nice wood grain so I can do a natural wood finish which would look pretty cool with the red pickguard I think. Apparently they had been using filler all over the place on this body, so a natural finish was not gonna happen (what was I expecting from a €129 guitar ). I decided to do a matte black finish instead. I also used some steel wool on the pickguard and pickup covers to remove the shiny look. Finally, I sanded down the neck, changed the headstock shape and applied some wood stain to darken the maple a bit.
I think it turned out pretty well. At least a lot better than it used to look...
I'm seriously looking at those too. I see them $400ish used... I need a guitar with some p90's.
I can really recommend this one! The pickups have a fairly high output, similar to low output humbuckers. I've never owned a P90 guitar before, but this guitar just sounds agressive!
It also plays really nice, very similar to my RS820. Killer guitar for the price!
Well, the benefits of Morphing are so great I think you are really missing the boat here. I would suggest to get a cheap (I use a Morley M2) expression pedal as the use is just too good for so many things; it can really simplify your performances or live stuff and so much more.
I remmeber now about that issue with the rise and fall time etc. I think we're talking about with the button morphs. I have made those buttons reset the morph to default parameter it's much 'safer' for me with my clumsy feet.
I do use morphing right now, however I'm not using it to its full potential.
I use a DIY MIDI pedal for switching performances. I have programmed it, so that when for instance slot 1 is engaged and I press the slot 1 button again, morphing is toggled. However, due to this bug, I find it risky to use with transition times longer than 0 seconds. Therefore, I only use the morph button to instantly switch an effect from 0% to 100% mix. This way I never have to mess with the code in the MIDI pedal and still have some flexibility in enabling/disabling different effects without switching rigs.
Problem with expression pedals is that I can never get a smooth transition between two morph states.
This is the exact reason why I never bothered using morphing live, it's too much of a risk when using it with a stomp switch. Messing with expression pedals is not really my thing (apart from wah).
Have you considered using the snapshots feature in the Kemper? Then use the timestamp in the snapshot to identify which snapshot was used for each track. You only need to log the timestamp in the project in the DAW I would think.
You have to love him even if he is now just a caricature now. If fact he is now a parody of Nigel Tuffnel. Dancing Dwarves anyone? Can’t deny his technique though and he always had great tone to my ears.
It depends.. might as well be that he's being dead serious in that video!
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Couldn't you monitor from the Kemper headphone out? Or if want the backing tracks also, then you could either get the master out from the DAW, or setup a separate monitor mix with whatever tracks you need (eg. drums-only).
Well, yes I want to hear the DAW output ánd the guitar when I'm recording. But I want to hear the guitar with minimum latency.
Great explanation! I tried this a year ago. Bought a second hand U24XL along the Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 I already had. I thought the U24XL was perfect, as it also featured direct monitoring. Well, turns out this is only for analog inputs
Others might have better experienves, but in the end it was all kind of a hassle with the ASIO4ALL being a bit buggy, which might have been caused by the drivers of the U24XL, which didn't seem all that stable to me. Also, I had to use the direct monitoring of the Focusrite, for which I needed extra cables again.
In the end I sold the Scarlett 2i4 and bought the 6i6, which is a better solution in me experience. The U24XL is still for sale in The Netherlands, anyone?
I use the freqout and love it....however I totally agree with your assessment. I use it sparingly within a mix and it can sound very convincing. My settings on pedal are gain fairly low 10oclock, onset up fairly high 1 or 2 o’clock then I exclusively play type in second position. The key for me has been to use on single held lead notes then before artifacts hit signal I jump straight into another note. I almost never let it ring out. Obviously the pedal has some shortcomings but when used in context sparingly it can bring an incredible dimension of analog flavor to a digital dimension. Oh and I use momentary as well as the set and forget settings. With the late onset settings in the set and forget mode I can quickly move on from a phrase before it kicks in. Good luck with it...
I definitely agree that the feedback sounds very convincing, it's actually very impressive!
I don't know if I would dare to use this live though.. If I would accidentally end a feedbacked note with a slide, it will instantly sound fake.
Hi, I agree. The Freqout is not the master of feedback , it is a padal with fine gimmicks. when I first plugged in I was also dissapointed, but after a while of testing I won't miss it. The sound in the vid is impossible to reach with the freqout. This is natural feedback per excellence.
After some practice I used the freqout like in this short tune (but not so often like in this tune, this is only for demonstration)
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and the settings are
The sound is an JCM800 with a black muff , I added a comp in front of the amp to get also feedback from the profile.
My freqout sits in front of the kpa.Momentary mode on, so I control everything with my feed.
Hope you like it.
Be patient with this thing, you can have a lot of fun with it.
Cheers Frank
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Surely sounds good, Frank!
Seems like one cannot just put on the pedal on and play like you would always do. If I'm limited to single sustaining notes where I have to worry in a live situation that the note might unexpectedly crap out, then I think €150,- is a bit much for such a pedal.
I think I'm gonna give it a few more days of fiddling and then I'm gonna decide whether to return it or not. It really is a pity, as this sounds very much like the real deal and even works with headphones on!
These are the short comings of the unit. I mentioned in another thread about the unnatural slide artifacts. The onset I have set at the slowest as it’s still quite fast.
I place in in front of the kemper and also use it in front of my valve amp- the effect is the same.
It’s a tool that takes a bit of time to get used to and is best used just for single held notes to add those higher harmonics to, like feedback. I think it’s best used in momentary too rather than turn on and leave and then you just choose when the ‘feedback’ kicks in.
Some of the problems can be overcome by using the momentary mode indeed, which is ok if that will make the unit work. However, I don't see any other method than just not playing slides, which is a pity. It would be cool to be able to play this solo using the pedal (at 5:07). The sliding makes it impossible I think. Bummer...
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I just ordered the Digitech Freqout last week because of all great reviews and because it sounded fantastic to me in the demos on Youtube.
I was planning on not using the momentary mode and put it in the Kemper's effects loop so I could switch it on/off with my MIDI footswitch. So I just experimented a bit, but i'm not really impressed. I get a lot of artefacts when muting notes, the trails end instantly and unnaturally and slides sound totally weird. The only option for me would be to use the momentary option, but I really hoped it could be a "Set and Forget", so I don't have to do extra cable runs to the front of the stage.
Are you guys having the same trouble, or am I just playing sloppy and not muting correctly? Or is everyone using this in momentary mode, which would solve some of the issues, but isn't all that convenient if you ask me.
Here are some recordings of the issues I'm having. I recorded a DI using S/PDIF and reamped it two times, once without the Freqout and once with the Freqout engaged. I'm using a Yamaha Revstar with the TAF "ManRock 800" profile, no effects and noisegates, just some EQ. The Freqout is in the loop in slot A (I'm experiencing the same when going directly to the Freqout with the output going to the Kemper input).
I've incorporated the two reamps in one stereo track, so you can hear them at the same time.
Stereo track, Left: Freqout ON, Right: Freqout OFF (make sure to listen in stereo)
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Settings on the Freqout are as follows. The onset is not exactly fast, although the really short staccato open strings I'm playing at the end still activate the feedback, which is surprising...
Man this is sick. I'm using Hays' profile "Wylde Bassmn E" (slightly overdriven) with a compressor and the spring reverb in front of the amp. Using my Telecaster with Bigsby, it feels like I'm going a few decades back in time --> surf and rockabilly heaven!
and the slightly awkward looking pointy headstock shape. Also the colour of the maple neck looks like it has been bleached or something.
). I decided to do a matte black finish instead. I also used some steel wool on the pickguard and pickup covers to remove the shiny look. Finally, I sanded down the neck, changed the headstock shape and applied some wood stain to darken the maple a bit.
