I worked Protection for Guitar shows all over the U.S. and saw Eric Johnson about twice a year for 26 years.
Whenever he picked up a guitar checked it and walked away, five guys would run over and do the same.
We teased him about getting a commission from the dealers.
Great story ! What the Protection for Guitar show ? A trade show ?
Muddy is right. If the guitar is hanging on the wall, try plucking the B string and place your other hand on the bottom edge of the guitar, near the strap stud. You should feel the vibration through the wood. The stronger the vibration, the more resonant the wood. This points to there being a good tight neck pocket and well-joined body pieces (obviously in two- or three-piece bodied strats), but also how well seasoned the wood is. As someone else said, the better a guitar sounds acoustically, the better it will sound plugged in (unless the pickups are really bad, but those can be swapped). This quick test can help you to not waste time playing every dud in the shop.
Great tip ! Heard about this on internet, but never knew if this was really used or just another crazy rumour. Does anyone know why specifically the B string ? Is that the one that vibrates the least ?
i play the guitars first without amp
if this is fresh acoustic sound which you like
then the wood is right and the instrument have the sound you like
good pickups will reflect this acoustic behavior
and at least you will have a great guitar
Great, Thx. So, first you look for an acoustic sound you like. looking for more base or treble - whatever your type of sound is. I've read that some say " it sounded really loud and alive" (versus quiet / dull ?)
What about vibrations in the wood ? Nitro Lacquer versus Poly E ? Thick neck versus thin, ... does it all affect tone, or is this more into the "mythical sphere " ?
All good points. I am rather uneasy to order 1 via mail and test it. My preferred process would be to play as many as possible in shops, and come to small list. However, shops in most European cities have about 4 CS models, some even only have 1. So how do you compare ? I read that some people test like 20-30-40 different strat's before 'finding the one'. Brings me back to the original questions, next to subjective personal impression, how do you recognise a good one ?
Another variant on the many "which strat to buy" question.
Looking to buy CS Strat to get close to this JM Sweet Tone. Have a 2013 Fender MIM Roadworn Strat. Cannot find specs - its a Rosewood neck, Olympic white (more cream) with black PU-guard, PU's & knobs. 2nd tone is connected to Mid PU. As far as I know , these are Tex-Mex PUPs ? Assume it has 9.5"radius neck. Whatever - I am looking if I can upgrade guitar for more vintage PU and 7.25 radius neck (or compound 7.25 - 9.5) guitar.
Originally, choose this Road Worn, cause neck was really smooth - and I don't like the Poly plastic bodies/necks of the AM Stdrd.
Have seen on YT a '54 CS with vintage PU's, played on Toneking Imperial with great John Mayer tone. so tempted to buy a Custom Shop Strat - but maybe a regular AM Vintage or AM Original is as good ? So how does one decide ? Not many shops have several CS to test. How do I recognise a "good tone wood"- well made 'not dead' guitar ? Is it the trick with body vibrations ( is it B or G string to play unplugged and feel vibrations near guitar body plug - one with strongest vibrations is best) ? Or are there other ways to test/evaluate guitar in shop, next to "playing in plugged/unplugged" ?
Are there some clear objective criteria/tests one can apply, or is it all pretty much subjective ? Or is it all pretty much in "the hands"?
Have tried below for toaster stands. K&M is great for laptop, as it has extra/separate mouse surface, and platform can be angled, which is useful for laptop, but no point for toaster.
For Toaster stand, my preference is The Adam Hall - is more robust - its legs are much solid and stable, and it’s about 1/3 of The price - for about 35 eur its great value.
Once editor is released, we should be able to do everything with laptops, and leave toaster in rack !
Still looking for a rack solution - already have a 19’ rack shelve on sliders to mount toaster, but need to look for rack that can contains toaster + extra 3U ( 2 x audio intf , 1x furmann)
Currently i have nr 3 and nr 2 combined: laptop sits on top of toaster
1) Koning & Meyer stand
https://www.amazon.de/gp/produ…tle_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
2) Laptop shelf
https://www.amazon.de/gp/produ…tle_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
3) Adam Hall stand
Both my MIM Road Worn, and MIA standard are 9.5’ radius. John Mayer songs I am learning now, use a lot of thumb chords.
Went to shop to look at some Fender Strat CS reissues - had my Roadworn MIM with me. Neck felt bit better, but found my TexMex PUs were more ‘airy’ - preferred that sound - at least for that brief time in shop. Not sure these Custom Shop guitars 2000 Eur + are that much better than my 1000 Eur MIM Roadworn.
Anyone any experience with going to 7.25’? Not many strats have it - most 9.5 Eric Johnson ‘s model has even more - 12 ? That one felt like “flat” at bottom on neck.
Or what about compound neck ? Anyone advise on neck profile for easier thumb work ?
Ideally looking for strat with nitro lacquer (not Poly Ureth); 7.25 neck, 2 post tremolo, not sure yet about neck profile, and vintage PUs for Mayer / blues sound.
Short update on Quantum AI. Connected the old M-Audio profire2626 via adat to Quantum. Worked directly. now have 8 extra inputs (and outputs if I need them). Now only need to order some copper tape and treat my Strat. Might look at Strat with noiseless PU , but hear that one looses In the high frequencies then.
Display MoreHallo mijn naam is Peter 58 lentes jong en sinds gisteren 05-07-2019 eigenaar van een powered toaster.
ik heb daar een Palmer cabinet 212 2x celestion creamback onder staan.
Daarvoor een fender Twin Reverb gisteravond toen ik hoorde wat er uit die toaster kwam heb ik de twin gelijk verkocht.
Ervaring als gitaist weinig speel nu twee jaar.
Voorkeur Nopfler shadows en sixties muziek ook van diverse country kan ik blij van worden Cash stapleton enzv
Gitaren
Fender strat mex
Fender Strat 61 customshop
Fender Tele american special
Fender akoestisch Type ?
Gibson Les Paul Traditional
Heel scala stomp boxen
stompbox shadows sounds echobox
Yamaha stagepass PA
ik zal regelmatig een bezoekje brengen en zo nu en dan een vraag plaatsen
GRTZ Peter
Welkom. Geniet van je KPA !
Do you find a big difference between your MIM and the CS Strat ? I have a MIM RW strat and a US Strat(1996) - don't like the Polyurethane coatings of the US Stdrd - MIM RW has just nitro lacquer, but both sound very similar .
Welcome Tom. You should have considered Belgium for the Chocolate (but not for the taxes 
)
Display MoreWas the guitar-pickup noise there before you bought the Quantum? If unsure, check with headphones plugged into the KPA.
If it's not an issue with the interface, which I doubt, yeah, orientation whilst recording, as well as positioning yourself as far away from electrical devices as possible and ensuring fluorescent lighting isn't the major culprit should be your first moves IMHO.
Beyond these, "noiseless" pickups, rewiring the guitar and using higher-quality leads should each help, you'd think.
Firstly 'though, try switching the ground-lift switches at the rear of the Kemper for the output/s you're using in and out; you never know - a miracle could occur...
Thought ground lifts from KPA will only work if you are linking to powered speakers that are not on the same circuit. Have already experimented with that. Like linking 1 guitar to two amps will guarantee having extra buzz / hum unless you put a ground lift on one. Radial switches have these, and are much better than a Boss or Behringer ABY switch
Display MoreWas the guitar-pickup noise there before you bought the Quantum? If unsure, check with headphones plugged into the KPA.
If it's not an issue with the interface, which I doubt, yeah, orientation whilst recording, as well as positioning yourself as far away from electrical devices as possible and ensuring fluorescent lighting isn't the major culprit should be your first moves IMHO.
Beyond these, "noiseless" pickups, rewiring the guitar and using higher-quality leads should each help, you'd think.
Firstly 'though, try switching the ground-lift switches at the rear of the Kemper for the output/s you're using in and out; you never know - a miracle could occur...
Noise was there before as well. don’t think interface affects it. Point I was making is that I was comparing SNR and dynamics specs betweeen audio interfaces , but with SC guitars, there is loads of background noise that affects recording much more.
So how do you all cope/deal with it ? Do you use the noise gate ( but still hear it while you play), or apply band filters via EQ - so remove some unwanted frequencies, but at same time loose some tone character ?
Or just move rooms / places until you find a quiet spot ? Switching off lights doesn’t help. Switching off computers not ideal as I would like to record to DAW - and use Rig manager.
Are there other tools that help ? Radial filters with ground lift, Furmann power with (?), Kinmann/noiseless PU - but doesn’t that kill the custom shop guitar value you thought of buying ? ...
What is BPNCS ?
Trying out a Presonus Quantum at the moment. Is a 28x32 i/o that i managed to order new for 850 EUR . Has 2 x Thunderbolt and analog spdif and 2x adats. Was tested in SOS mag to have very low latensy. Has almost no mixing soft of no onboard DSP, but relies you to do everything in DAW. Oh, unfortunately no polarity switch.
1st Experience is fine - struggling to get my Fender Strat recorded noisefree. RTA of presonus UC tool shows quitte some noise, that Logic Pro EQ plug-in ‘s RTA does not show. Gave up on 1st pick-up position - too noisy.
KPA’s noisegate 1st filter at 0.2 setting, kills mains hum, but pick-up hum is quite strong. Noisegate at 4 to 5 deals with that, but hiss/fizz still there when playing. EQ filter around 2k-5k dan filter Some out but also removew ‘air’ from sound, so not ideal. Manage to turn / oriënt Guitar in very specific position to reduce thIS, but not ideal. Kind of kills all discussion About interface SNR and 110/120/130dB
How do you guys manage ? Do you sit in a Faraday cage ?
Display MoreHi JVDW, here's a sound sample from the profile I use for MFN:
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I'm currently using a Profile from Guido Bungenstock (Mars Jubi Lead Hi).
Settings (Ampl.): Definition 2,4 / Power Sagging 0 / Pick 0 / Comp 0 /Clarity 0 / Tube Shape 3,3.
Gain: 6,4 / Bass: -1,0 Middle: 0 Treble: 2,7 Presence: 0,9
Very important: (Fixed) Wah
Manual: 4,6 / Peak: 3,9 / Pedal Range: -10% / Peak range -46%
Sorry for the mistakes in the clip, I'm not very good when it comes to pure finger picking ?
Thank you ! Just back from MK concert. He still has this Incredible Tone on his Les Paul - assuming that he is using Kemper now. Missed quite some more upbeat songs, but still great concert from the maestro !
Just listened to your sample - sounds great and very similar to what i just heard as tone at the concert . Mille Grazie like he said in Milan concert !
Looking forward to going tomorrow to Knopflers concert (and yes, I will take a USB Key with men - just in case).
Downloaded Milan concert in order to already get into the mode - any got tips on the Rig for Money for Nothing ?
Display MoreNo I haven't. I did note that Edge used it as his slap delay and preamp prior to the break out to stereo into the TC 2290'S that then ran into a pair of VOX AC30's.
From the videos I have seen and pictures, it looks like he close mics the cabs with an SM58 which is a cardioid pattern microphone which will pickup quite a bit from the sides. The side pickup of the other amp gives you a little wash between the delays.
There is a really nice write up on it here: http://www.amnesta.net/edge_delay/index.html
I found the theory in the article to be sound, but the clips were not that well done as the amp was too clean (as is mine for that matter. I might add a bit of grit to both the delay and the gain on the Vox to get a little dirt too).
Let me know how it sounds to you if you have a chance.
If you are keen to play U2, have a look at this guys site - he uses Axe Fx, but is a great site to learn about U2 songs and settings
Display MoreA few remarks on different RME interface options, hoping to clarify a few things for you
1. RME UC (875 Euros)
This interface hit the market 10 years ago and it doesn't have TotalMix FX, it only has the regular TotalMix. This means, you don't have EQ, Dynamics, Reverb, Delay, you can't use the TotalMix Remote app and it doesn't have direct connection of the great ARC USB remote control either.
2. RME UCX (1169 Euros)
This interface hit the market 7 years ago and it comes with TotalMix FX including all 4 DSP effects categories mentioned above. It should (haven't tried) work with the TotalMix Remote app. It still doesn't have the ARC USB direct connection though.
3. RME Babyface Pro (689 Euros)
This interface hit the market 4 years ago and it comes with TotalMix FX, includes EQ, Reverb, Delay but lacks the Dynamics! Also, it doesn't have coax S/PDIF but you can extend the inputs via optical ADAT. No connection for the ARC USB though but this interface has it basically built-in. TotalMix Remote app should work.
4. RME UFX II (1999 Euros)
This interface hit the market 2 years ago and features all of the current bells and whistles … but as mentioned before, it doesn't have coax S/PDIF. The even more expensive UFX+ is basically the same interface with the added MADI.
Even if it sounds a bit frustrating, the above mentioned 4 options are the affordable options from RME. Everything beyond gets really expensive due to the additional infrastructure required to leverage the massive potential.
One remark regarding the onboard DSP effects. By default, these effects are only used for monitoring and will not be recorded. It can be changed but this doesn't make much sense. Here's why I really like to have the DSP effects:
1. When I record vocals, it's nice to add a touch of compression and EQ and maybe a touch of reverb to the vocalist's headphones. Makes him/her feel a bit more comfortable as opposed to totally dry. But I don't want to record it "wet".
2. I use the EQ quite a lot when recording bands playing "live" in the studio. Still I don't want to actually record "wet" but it helps a LOT for the monitor mixes. Dynamics I typically use for bass and vocals (again, monitoring only).
TotalMix FX is a breeze to work with, can be remote controlled in many ways. It requires quite a bit of screen estate to have everything accessible but I wouldn't want it to be any different.
If you're not running a studio and just record yourself, most of the "fancy" stuff won't matter much to you. Even the latency topic doesn't matter at all when you record guitar, vocals, etc. and use direct monitoring which all modern interfaces offer. Latency and buffer settings only matter when you play virtual instruments via MIDI keyboard or by using eDrums.
If you're on a tight budget, go for any of the Focusrite USB interfaces like the Scarlett 18i20 2nd gen or the Clarett 8pre USB (better preamps). They are good value for money, no doubt. And for a small, personal home studio they do the job really well.
Hope, my novel helps
Martin
Thanks for warning me on TotalMix. It is for a (small) home studio. And in first instance, want focus on guitar and Kemper and quest for great warm blooming tone like SRV or John Mayer, ... ). Somehow I still prefer my Fender Blues Deluxe over the Kemper + DX12. Other potential purchases like Kemper Cab, UA OX will likely be more important/ have more impact on playing experience than the difference between RME and MOTU/Focusrite differences in DA/AD I assume.
A couple of years ago I was more into (amateur) recording, and noticed that recording drum wasn't that easy. Hence the RTA might help setting up EQ to get better focused drum tracks on those couple occasions when I try to record a drum with my 4 mikes.
Need to look into how to get my SPDIF covered to Optical, but you pointed out it was likely not cheap, but if all that becomes too risky/complex/costly might as well go for interace with cinch SPDIF as most on forum recommend to record that way (and it saves another input).
I like hi-tech , but never used my VG8, Fostex VF16 or even Korg 168RC a lot - too complex if you don't use it weekly, and distracts from playing - hence I fear for the rabit holes called Apollo/Axe FX/... . For next 1-2 yrs want to focus on guitar & tone with Kemper, and eventually 1 or 2 amps , but gradually build towards a good home studio.
Trying to stay shorter than you novel ! 
But thanks all for your input. Always difficult to get good SNR on YT reviews and understand where its most important to put one's money with all these goodies to buy that promise you Tone Heaven !
Yes I did and MOTU was definatly one of the contenders but price wise here in Europe Focusrite gave more bang for the buck... The other serious contender were RME, but at that time they were basically 100% Windows focused and did all Mac drivers as a second thought. Brilliant hardware but there were a lot of issues were people had to wait for updates... (and expensive also)
This have changed these days and now we also have UA and Apogee as great choices!
I still think Focusrite has the better price/value ratio AND a great Mac support.
Thanks - that is great feedback. Agree that RME - still seems more WIN based, and Audio tools seems quit old. It does seem that Focusrite gives more hardware inputs for similar budget (see my response to MM). But Lightbox warned against limitation of their mix/routing software "Control".
Any experience on that ?
It's the only brand of interface I've ever used.
IIRC MOTU's CueMix FX had this since way back; I can only assume it's been ported to the AVB line as well.
Strange. You looked at MOTU, right Janne? Mark of the Unicorn goes back to the early '80s in its association with Apple, and Digital Performer was Mac-only from 1983/4 -> just a few years ago.
You mentioned driver obsolescence - you can still use the oldest MOTU interfaces, be they MIDI or audio (going back to the early '90s), on the latest operating systems; the company has always had a policy of backward-compatibility (load projects from 1984 in 2019's DP10) and non-obsolescence (all interface drivers updated when necessary) for all its software and hardwar
Great to hear you're really happy and log time user of MOTU.
Seeing Lightbox' extra info, RME UC doesn't seem option anymore (will research Optical SPDIF --> cinch SPDIF conversion first though) , so think I likely decide between
- MOTU 1248 AVB (1400€) 32i34 with 4 XLR/pre
- MOTU 624 (also with AVB; 800€) - 16i16 with 2 XLR/pre
- Focusrite Clarett 8preX (1100€) - 26i28 with 8 XLR/pre
- Focusrite 8pre (800€) - 18i20 with 8 XLR/pre
All have Thunderbolt (some also USB) and SPDIF cinch, and ADAT (expandability) - and MOTU have AVB for future expansion if recording increases.
Other aspect will be software
+ MOTU Pro Audio has web based mixing - also via IOS phone/tablets
+ MOTU drivers
+ MOTU onboard DSP, FFT / Spectr Analyser
+ Focusrite drivers
- ? Focusrite Control soft ( no tablet remote ?)
Based upon input hardware, seems Focusrite gives better/ more Pre's for similar budget. Looking at other aspects, MOTU provides extra DSP and looks Mixer / Audio tools are more evolved. IF the MOTU FFTS analyser runs using Mac processing, then I might as well use Logic Pro FFT, if it uses its onboard DSP, then its a clear advantage.
