Deadwing

Just had an epiphany. Crotales are orchestral and therefore tuned to 442hz, not 440hz. This is why they’ll sound slightly sharp.

Crotales are so rich in overtones that it's hard to discern the pitch of a single one without having others to compare it against. On MP, the pitch sounds somewhere between a D#/Eb and E natural to my ear, and on ESL it sounds like an E. My money is on E for the reasons PW_Guitarist mentioned. It's probably an E on the studio recording as well, though it's been electronically manipulated (the panning going back and forth), so who's to say that they didn't mess with the tape speed a bit. I'm eager to hear your results, brileyryan.

 

This. Didn’t see it right away lol. Pretty much spot on.

It’s worth pointing out that the crotale on MP vs. ESL are two different notes completely.

 

On YYZ on Moving Pictures it’s a D. The panning creates a slightly doppler effect but it matches D3 on the piano when I sing it. Definitely not an E, it’s too flat. In fact it’s just sharp of D but it’s not D# either, which is probably why people are having so much trouble. It’s not perfectly tuned. But I might lean towards D# because of the B Phrygian dominant factor of the track.

 

QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ May 1 2011, 10:25 AM)

The following vid makes the rounds a lot in threads like these. For all I know it could have already been posted in this one. It's Joe Satriani playing someone else's cheap guitar through a cheap amp. Read the description first, then give it a spin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9v5e1TTwts

QUOTE (AnalogAlex @ Feb 10 2009, 02:15 PM)

QUOTE (rushfanNlv @ Feb 9 2009, 07:28 PM) QUOTE (AnalogAlex @ Feb 9 2009, 10:59 AM) on NS he's playing a PRS hollowbody, with Piezo. Theres an interview on youtube where he talks about it. The giveaway if the F-shape sound holes on the guitar(you can spot one by the tone/vol controls) Not on this tour he's not. I believe the original question was specific to the S&A DVD. oops yeah, my mistake ... oh-well CygnusX-1Bk2 has just given a good detailed view of his setup for it.   as for 12 string effect, I have a pitch adjuster on a multi-fx pedal(zoom), that at it's lowest settings, sends out a second signal at just enough difference to replicate the extra 6 strings of a 12... though I find it kinda gets jumbled if you play fast so it's not perfect! Don't know if there are any separate pedals for that effect.. must be somewhere   I'm yet to try any acoustic simulators though, may have to try one someday! He's had piezos installed in the bridge of several of his electrics (PRS and Gibsons). The Acoustic Emulator pedals out there sound nothing like the sound he gets with the piezos, and they're crap anyways IMHO.

QUOTE (jdouglas @ Jan 22 2009, 01:42 AM)

He is what you call a "seeker".  Always searching for tone, experimenting, etc....Why did he switch from Gibson to Fender and back to Gibson?  Why go from Marshall to Hiwatt back to Marshall, to Dean Markley, back to Marshalls, then to H&K?  Plenty of money, infinite toys at your disposal, and lots of down time... As for distortions, pretty much what has been said.  If you are "modeling" i suggest: Early Rush - Cranked gain on early Marshall w 4x12 cab, no stomp needed. Hemi peroid - Med/High gain on Hiwatt 4x12 cab, no stomp needed. PW/MP - Mid gain (MV or JCM) Marshall with MXR Distortion+ GUP to HYF - Jazz or Blues Combo pretty clean with Boss OD-1. Current Rush - TriAmp set to Lead Channel mostly, vary gain as needed. Or you can bid on this little guy for $1 with Lifeson tones already installed...ha "http://cgi.ebay.com/Digitech-RP250-Guitar-Modeling-Processor-RP-250-NR_W0QQitemZ280303994637QQihZ018QQcategoryZ41419QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem]http://cgi.ebay.com/Digitech-RP250-Guitar-...1QQcmdZViewItem" OK sorry, shameless ebay plug....This was my bedroom unit, but just scored a 500 recently....use the boss gt10 out of the house. JD

Can anyone out there who doesn't use the word "sphincter" in their user name shed some light on this?

Sorry I posted this question in the wrong thread:

 

Anyone have any idea why Alex stopped using the Hiwatts? I can think of several reasons why anyone would want to switch things up after a while, but I'm just curious if there was anything specific he was never happy about with them. Thanks!

 

Bump!

 

Anyone have any idea why Alex stopped using the Hiwatts? I can think of several reasons why anyone would want to switch things up after a while, but I'm just curious if there was anything specific he was never happy about with them. Thanks!

Holy crap!!

 

I forgot all about that poem. I haven't read it since I was in Grade 8 I think it was, about 16 years ago. We had to memorize it and recite it. That and another poem he wrote called "The Shooting of Dan McGrew".

The newest addition to my collection of drums and other percussion:

 

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/Lerxst/IMG00034.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/Lerxst/IMG00032.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/Lerxst/IMG00035.jpg

 

It's a traditional two sided drum from South Korea called a Chang-gu. I also included a picture of the bamboo stick and mallet that came with it that you use to play it. My friend Dana had it made while she waited (it took the man about 25 minutes), and she sent it over to me as a Christmas gift. It's friggin awesome! One of the best gifts I've ever received and I'm so grateful for it.

I'm really one for reviewing shows, but I just wanted to say that I got to see Van Halen Thursday night and it was awesome. They played a 3 hour set. Research In Motion, the company I work for, hired them for a private concert in Toronto at the Air Canada Center.

 

If anyone hasn't seem them yet and has their doubts about Eddie's son Wolfgang on bass, that kid is fantastic. He's only 16 and he's doing a real bang up job. He's way better than Mike Anthony in my opinion.

Some early early Beatles tunes on guitar like "It Won't Be Long", "All I've Got To Do" and some from a little bit later like "It's Only Love", "Things We Said Today", "No Reply" and "I'll Be Back".

 

They had some really interesting chord progressions considering they were just taken for a pop group. Some of them hurt my brain. Not in terms of complexity, merely in terms of unpredicability considering the melodies that they had going over top of the chords. They really knew what they were doing.

Holy crap these are too funny! There's an awesome one of Slash right here. I nearly started crying from laughter when he starts grunting into the talk box tube.

 

Slash Shreds

QUOTE (_pete_ @ Oct 26 2007, 02:06 PM)

QUOTE (Deadwing @ Oct 26 2007, 09:13 AM) Yeah I had a feeling if there were only two preamp tubes then they must be the phase splitter. I agree it's been an interesting thread and I've certainly learned something just from the few posts here. I have to agree about the ZenTera being the best emulator amp out there. With your experience, if I run into anything that I don't know how to deal with, I'll certainly know who to ask. ...that is if you don't mind of course?  Well, I know a lot more about guitars than amps!     Did you try out a zenTera head or combo? The speakers have a lot to do with the tone too. I'm using four Celestion G12M-65's that I took out of an old Marshall cab before I sold it. I think they're one of the best Celestion guitar speakers and they are getting hard to find. I think the combo (and the H&K 4x12) uses Celestion V30's and I've never been completely in love with them. All the ones I've heard have a brittle high mid sound that I don't care for. Well, the rig I was testing out was a head and single cabinet, but the speakers were Vintage 30s. No question speakers have a lot to do with it, depending on the voicing and frequency response, as well as the specs of the cabinet itself. I may go back and try one out again with a different cab if the store still has that ZenTera there.   I'd actually like to take my speaker cab with me with the Fanes in it, now that I have it since hunting for an amp a while back. I'm curious as to how the ZenTera would sound through it. The Fanes are particularly bright sounding. It will make a difference for sure. I'm just wondering how much and if I'll like it.   Thanks for the advice. I'll let you know if I end up doing that and post my results.

QUOTE (_pete_ @ Oct 26 2007, 09:31 AM)

QUOTE (Deadwing @ Oct 26 2007, 07:54 AM) Very interesting results indeed. Good advice from 1-0-0-1-0-0-1 on the tubes. In terms of warmth, I'm curious as to how long you had the Switchblade running before you made comparisons between that and the ZenTera. I know it is inconvenient for many people, but a tube amp really needs to be worked before you start getting a warmer sound. If you can get that pretty much instantly with the ZenTera then that is awesome. Good for you! Another question I had was already answered, and probably explains a lot as well. If the Switchblade only has 2 preamp tubes in it, my guess is that neither of those is a rectifier tube. So because of that, you're not going to get a whole lot of warmth compared to other tube amps, and you definitely are not going to get any natural warm tube compression and sustain, or "sag" as it is called. Then again, the fact that a digital amp had more warmth to it, I have to admit, is a bit of a mystery to me. Tone circuit of course will also still say a lot about that in any amplifier. The tone circuit in the ZenTera is probably a far better design than the Switchblade. You will still get more punch then a digital or solid state amp though, due to the 4 EL34s in the powerstage. Considering the ZenTera faired better than the Switchblade, and I had little luck with the ZenTera, well, that leads me to think that the Switchblade is definitely not something I would enjoy, though I would still check it out for myself. I always have had tube amps in the 30+ years I've been playing. When I was on the road years ago I used 50W JCM 800's with EL34's. I had a Vox Valvetronix breifly and it was ok but the zenTera killed it. The zen is the first solid state amp I've owned and used live.   The SB was running for over 6 hours straight so it was definitely warmed up.   The SB has a digital preamp stage but I think it's a completely different design than the zen. I guess there's a reason the zen lists for over twice what the SB does.   I'm not going to worry about the details. For the Rush tribute band I'm in now, the zenTera literally nails every sound I need. It's plenty loud, is very dynamic and responsive, and sounds like a million bucks. If I didn't need a thousand different sounds for the band I'm in, I'd probably be using an old Marshall Plexi and a Fender Twin.   I'll mess with the SB a bit more but right now I'm 99.9% positive I'll keep the zenTera. When you don't worry about your tone you tend to play much better and With the zen I get great tone. I may just add a rack mount Decimator to control the noise and be done with it.   This has been a good discussion and it was worthwhile to me to get the SB. Guitarists are always looking for that elusive perfect amp & tone and for me at least, I think I now know that I have it. Yeah I had a feeling if there were only two preamp tubes then they must be the phase splitter.   I agree it's been an interesting thread and I've certainly learned something just from the few posts here. I have to agree about the ZenTera being the best emulator amp out there.   With your experience, if I run into anything that I don't know how to deal with, I'll certainly know who to ask.   ...that is if you don't mind of course?

Very interesting results indeed. Good advice from 1-0-0-1-0-0-1 on the tubes.

 

In terms of warmth, I'm curious as to how long you had the Switchblade running before you made comparisons between that and the ZenTera. I know it is inconvenient for many people, but a tube amp really needs to be worked before you start getting a warmer sound. If you can get that pretty much instantly with the ZenTera then that is awesome. Good for you!

 

Another question I had was already answered, and probably explains a lot as well. If the Switchblade only has 2 preamp tubes in it, my guess is that neither of those is a rectifier tube. So because of that, you're not going to get a whole lot of warmth compared to other tube amps, and you definitely are not going to get any natural warm tube compression and sustain, or "sag" as it is called. Then again, the fact that a digital amp had more warmth to it, I have to admit, is a bit of a mystery to me. Tone circuit of course will also still say a lot about that in any amplifier. The tone circuit in the ZenTera is probably a far better design than the Switchblade.

 

You will still get more punch then a digital or solid state amp though, due to the 4 EL34s in the powerstage.

 

Considering the ZenTera faired better than the Switchblade, and I had little luck with the ZenTera, well, that leads me to think that the Switchblade is definitely not something I would enjoy, though I would still check it out for myself.

QUOTE (Literatii @ Oct 19 2007, 10:10 PM)

Just curious, Here are mine: Favorite tunes to play (competently, in order): Natural Science Tom Sawyer YYZ Marathon Spirit of Radio Freewill Limelight Distant Early Warning Subdivisions The Trees Jacob's Ladder Show Don't Tell Vital Signs The Camera Eye There is just something about Natural Science that puts me into a zone which is extraordinary. There are a few other songs which I like to play but can't really get down pat: Cygnus X-1 2112 La Villa Strangiato Cinderella Man What do you drummers love to play?

Sweet! Been thinking about picking up one myself. Awesome tone. How do you find the neck on it? Thin eh? Really easy to play.

 

And it was FREE! Free is the best kind of anything.

QUOTE (_pete_ @ Oct 24 2007, 02:36 PM)

QUOTE (Deadwing @ Oct 24 2007, 11:00 AM) QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Oct 24 2007, 11:47 AM) QUOTE (Deadwing @ Oct 24 2007, 11:27 AM) QUOTE (Sonilink @ Oct 24 2007, 10:36 AM) That was the moment I feared when I opened this thread: the one Pete comes and writes in and make us all look very cheap... Speak for yourself.   My vintage Hiwatt isn't exactly something you'd find in the dollar store. And it blows any Hughes and Kettner out of the water in terms of tone and power. You have a beast of an amp there, but I'm sure Pete loves his H&K rig. That zenTera is a quality modern tube amp. Different tones for different players, you know? I'm sorry, I actually meant no harm in my post. But since you mentioned it, actually no, the ZenTera is all digital. The TriAmp is tube. I've played all sorts of their amps and I was not impressed. And in my opinion digital amp tone goes to shit as soon as you crank it up. That's where tubes have a major advantage.   And of course I believe in different strokes for different folks. I was just joking around. I thought it funny when he said the rest of us looked cheap. Money isn't everything anyways. I'm as cheap as anyone else. I just have a couple credit cards. Whichever amp I decide to keep, I have to sell the other to pay the bill.     The zenTera is all solid state but it does not in any way sound like it. You may have tried one but you really cannot go by the factory presets. You have to dial in your own sounds and be sure it is set to the right setting for the cabinet. It makes a huge difference. If you know how to set it, it sounds and reacts more "tubey" than most tube amps. The key is in getting to know how it reacts to the controls. I've had lots of guitar players tell me how good it sounds at gigs. I've had to show a few of them that there are no tubes in it. It does get very loud and still retains great tone. I never need to have it past 3 no matter where we're playing. There's no reason to drown out the rest of the band.   I'm real interested in comparing it to the Switchblade tomorrow. If the Switchblade sounds better and I can get the sounds I need out of it, I'll sell the zen. I hope it does sound better cause I can get way more $$$ for the zen than the Switchblade.       BTW, killer Hiwatt you have there. They are great amps. Thanks!   I have toyed around with the ZenTera quite a bit actually because it was one of the amps I was seriously considering before a friend of mine decided to sell his Hiwatt. I really wanted a good modelling amp, and I must say that out of everything I tried, the ZenTera stood head and shoulders above the rest such as the Line 6 amps in terms of sounding like the amps it was modelling.   The real problem I had was that it didn't behave and respond like those amps, nor did it behave and respond like a tube amp, and it really didn't have the presence that a tube amp does. You put it side by side with a great tube amp and really compare (as I had the chance to do), the H&K comes close, but it was still not close enough for me.   It's true that you don't have to play loud all the time, but if you're other guitar player has a tube amp, the presence coming from it will easily cut down a digital amp, even if it's up louder. I've seen it happen. I saw a 150W Line 6 Spider III digital head and cabinet up on bust get blown off the stage by an 85W Fender Twin Reverb 2 x 12" combo, simply due to the tube presence.   Let me know what you think of the Switchblade if you don't mind. I'd like to check it out sometime. Even Alex has gravitated towards the Switchblade, which has tubes. Coincidence?

QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Oct 24 2007, 12:38 PM)

QUOTE (Deadwing @ Oct 24 2007, 12:34 PM) QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Oct 24 2007, 12:29 PM) QUOTE (Deadwing @ Oct 24 2007, 12:00 PM) QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Oct 24 2007, 11:47 AM) QUOTE (Deadwing @ Oct 24 2007, 11:27 AM) QUOTE (Sonilink @ Oct 24 2007, 10:36 AM) That was the moment I feared when I opened this thread: the one Pete comes and writes in and make us all look very cheap... Speak for yourself.   My vintage Hiwatt isn't exactly something you'd find in the dollar store. And it blows any Hughes and Kettner out of the water in terms of tone and power. You have a beast of an amp there, but I'm sure Pete loves his H&K rig. That zenTera is a quality modern tube amp. Different tones for different players, you know? I'm sorry, I actually meant no harm in my post. But since you mentioned it, actually no, the ZenTera is all digital. The TriAmp is tube. I've played all sorts of their amps and I was not impressed. And in my opinion digital amp tone goes to shit as soon as you crank it up. That's where tubes have a major advantage.   And of course I believe in different strokes for different folks. I was just joking around. I thought it funny when he said the rest of us looked cheap. Money isn't everything anyways. I stand corrected -- I knew the zenTera was a modeling amp, but I thought it still used tubes. Still, Pete has done a lot of playing and recording of Rush tunes with that amp and it works great for him.   And soni may have forgotten that you posted about your Hiwatt, but he also forgot about my two Marshall combos. Cyg mentioned his vintage Fender amp, and defrush has a big B-52 amp there, too. No big deal. He was speaking for all the guys like him who are learning their craft on solid state Marshall MGs and such.   BTW, I've been playing for 30 years, and I didn't get my first tube amp until eight years ago. Took me a while to catch up.   Yeah, I honestly believe it's all good as long as people find something they really enjoy, even if I don't always share their taste. I didn't mean to criticize Pete for his amp choice because I'm sure he is happy with it, or anyone else for their post for that matter.   I will be certain to word my posts more carefully going forward so I don't inadvertently rub people the wrong way. I have problems with that sometimes and I end up stepping on people's toes when I don't mean to. The last thing I want to do is come off as a snob on a great forum like this. I really like it here. No sweat, dude.   That IS a monster of an amp you have there. Do you use a powerbrake of some kind so you can crank it up and get a good tone without causing any seismic disturbances? HAHAHA. Not at the moment, but as soon as I have an extra few bucks I'm probably going to get something like a THD Hotplate. My friend has one for his JCM800, so he let me borrow it to try on my amp, with great results. I have suffered a bit of hearing loss (I wish I could say I was joking) from putting the amp up around 8 or 9 just to get the tubes really cooking. But I can't help it -- it really does take on a whole different character when it's overdriven like that and you're playing it for a couple of hours, so I'd love to be able to bring it down to more manageable volumes.   Oh by the way, I don't know if you saw my reply in the other thread, but I REALLY appreciated your advice on tube selection when it came to JJs and Groove Tubes. I know I still have a lot to learn, as we all do, so thanks again for that!

QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Oct 24 2007, 12:29 PM)

QUOTE (Deadwing @ Oct 24 2007, 12:00 PM) QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Oct 24 2007, 11:47 AM) QUOTE (Deadwing @ Oct 24 2007, 11:27 AM) QUOTE (Sonilink @ Oct 24 2007, 10:36 AM) That was the moment I feared when I opened this thread: the one Pete comes and writes in and make us all look very cheap... Speak for yourself.   My vintage Hiwatt isn't exactly something you'd find in the dollar store. And it blows any Hughes and Kettner out of the water in terms of tone and power. You have a beast of an amp there, but I'm sure Pete loves his H&K rig. That zenTera is a quality modern tube amp. Different tones for different players, you know? I'm sorry, I actually meant no harm in my post. But since you mentioned it, actually no, the ZenTera is all digital. The TriAmp is tube. I've played all sorts of their amps and I was not impressed. And in my opinion digital amp tone goes to shit as soon as you crank it up. That's where tubes have a major advantage.   And of course I believe in different strokes for different folks. I was just joking around. I thought it funny when he said the rest of us looked cheap. Money isn't everything anyways. I stand corrected -- I knew the zenTera was a modeling amp, but I thought it still used tubes. Still, Pete has done a lot of playing and recording of Rush tunes with that amp and it works great for him.   And soni may have forgotten that you posted about your Hiwatt, but he also forgot about my two Marshall combos. Cyg mentioned his vintage Fender amp, and defrush has a big B-52 amp there, too. No big deal. He was speaking for all the guys like him who are learning their craft on solid state Marshall MGs and such.   BTW, I've been playing for 30 years, and I didn't get my first tube amp until eight years ago. Took me a while to catch up.   Yeah, I honestly believe it's all good as long as people find something they really enjoy, even if I don't always share their taste. I didn't mean to criticize Pete for his amp choice because I'm sure he is happy with it, or anyone else for their post for that matter.   I will be certain to word my posts more carefully going forward so I don't inadvertently rub people the wrong way. I have problems with that sometimes and I end up stepping on people's toes when I don't mean to. The last thing I want to do is come off as a snob on a great forum like this. I really like it here.

QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Oct 24 2007, 11:47 AM)

QUOTE (Deadwing @ Oct 24 2007, 11:27 AM) QUOTE (Sonilink @ Oct 24 2007, 10:36 AM) That was the moment I feared when I opened this thread: the one Pete comes and writes in and make us all look very cheap... Speak for yourself.   My vintage Hiwatt isn't exactly something you'd find in the dollar store. And it blows any Hughes and Kettner out of the water in terms of tone and power. You have a beast of an amp there, but I'm sure Pete loves his H&K rig. That zenTera is a quality modern tube amp. Different tones for different players, you know? I'm sorry, I actually meant no harm in my post. But since you mentioned it, actually no, the ZenTera is all digital. The TriAmp is tube. I've played all sorts of their amps and I was not impressed. And in my opinion digital amp tone goes to shit as soon as you crank it up. That's where tubes have a major advantage.   And of course I believe in different strokes for different folks. I was just joking around. I thought it funny when he said the rest of us looked cheap. Money isn't everything anyways.

QUOTE (Sonilink @ Oct 24 2007, 10:36 AM)

That was the moment I feared when I opened this thread: the one Pete comes and writes in and make us all look very cheap...