"Help me decide what to buy" thread

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Sober
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"Help me decide what to buy" thread

Post by Sober »

http://www.brookmays.com/prod_disp.aspx?itemnum=DXPIII
http://www.brookmays.com/prod_disp.aspx?itemnum=HP900P
http://www.brookmays.com/prod_disp.aspx?itemnum=HT730

Because I work there, I can get all three of those items together for about $950. Pretty freakin sweet if you ask me. Sell off my stupid drums, and get some cool fake ones.

Also, I'm looking to get another electric. I've looking at either an Epiphone 335 or this cool Custom Tele we've got. The one in my store is more of a straight red, and has a cool trim around it. I can get the 335 for around $280, and I can get the tele for around $400. I'm leaning towards the tele at the moment.

Then I need a new bass. I want a 5-string or a Fender jazz bass.

A flatscreen monitor.

Guitar amp.

A/E mandolin.

So much more.
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Re: "Help me decide what to buy" thread

Post by deshead »

The Sober Irishman wrote:Then I need a new bass. I want a 5-string or a Fender jazz bass.
I got a new J-bass a couple of months ago, and I love it. Something that might help you decide: the J-bass has a narrow neck, especially compared to a 5-string. If you have wimpy little guitar player hands like me, the narrow neck is much easier to play.
The Sober Irishman wrote:A/E mandolin.
I have an Ovation MCS148 which I hate. Even before the neck split from the body, it never stayed in tune and had more intonation problems than my $90 Samick guitar. POS.
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Post by ken »

I personally prefer the sound of a P-bass to a J-bass. P bass is way punchier, and seem to sound better overall. I think in the end it dependson the pick-ups though. That tele is sweet, but I wonder if it is the right guitar for you.

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Post by starfinger »

i love my jazz bass!

-craig
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Post by jack »

i love my P-bass. it's a mexican one i picked up for about $350 at GC a few years back. i spent awhile trying to decide if i wanted the american one for about $800 or the mexican one for $350. after asking numerous bass player friends they said there was no discernable difference. they were right. also, if you can find a fender p-lyte bass, they are pretty kick ass. active pickups, thin neck, and light. limited run on this one. might be able to find one for about 700-800. i hate heavy basses. i think someone here has a p-lyte (lunkhead maybe?)

also, the epi-335 is a pretty fat guitar, especially if it's got something like P-90 humbuckers on it. i played one for many years (i think it's called a black dot maybe?) and it had the fattest tone. the fact that it was played through an old twin reverb probably helped too. but i give huge thumbs up to the epi-335. get a tubescreamer for it.
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Post by Leaf »

I have a p-lyte. I love it love it love it.
I also just picked up a squier fender m-80...looks like a gibson sg... pretty meaty, distinct tone ,.think I'm gonna have to get rid of the jackson now... the problem with the jackson, is the neck shifts if you give it a tweak, throwing the tuning out, if you drop d tune on the fly, the damn thing needed EVERY string tweaked, then you had to stretch each string with a couple strums, then re-tune... and the neck is tiny... while the m-80 is bright, clear, holds it's tone, the neck DOESN"T move, and it's a sweet cherry colour with the wood grain showing through...


Those points on the jackson are more for THC, who was inquiring about getting the jackson off me...you don't want it dude..it's not good value for the cost, and it's not really a step up from what you got, it's a step sideways...


But yeah, the p-lyte is great, good tight bottom end, warm, light, doesn't look like a fender bass (number one best point about it), great hardware, nice wood grain finish, great pickups... I got mine for 800... canadian, so that' slike 300 american...(kidding).
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Post by erik »

What is your store's return policy? I know that the Guitar Centers (a chain which you do not work for, but whose policies may be similar) here in town will let you return anything for store credit, no questions asked, up to 30 days after purchase if you keep the reciept. I knew a guy who would buy stuff, try it out, and if he didn't like it, swap it out for something else, over and over again, and they never said anything to him about it, and he finally ended up with all stuff that he really liked.
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Post by Leaf »

I'm not sure, I teach at this store, so I get a little extra lee-way on stuff like that...the owner's taking back the crappy squire strat I bought... so I think it's pretty good on that level for me. Although, he can be a weiner about this stuff occasionally...(hope he's not checking out songfight message boards these days!!) but over all, he's pretty cool about it. I got an account I throw gear on, and work off with the drum lessons ...so it's a sswweeett deal for me. My account used to interest free for many years, but these days business is tight.. and frankly I'm pretty happy to have gotten interest free loans on music gear for 8 years!!

I think the store is too small to adopt that kind of policy on an accross the board scale though....
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Post by Dan-O from Five-O »

I can't speak to the drums specifically except to say that I've played with some drummers who have used electronic drums. Two dummers I know who have used the Pintech version (a knock off of the V-Drum) didn't care much for the feel or action of the drums. Another guy I know made his own using a plywood base, covered by rubber place mats cut to fit, and triggers mounted to send the sound to the brain. The latter of which seems to me to be the most important component in the chain. He liked it and it cost him little to make it. Real Roland V-Drums are expensive but from others I've spoke to, worth the investment. One of the guys who used the Pintech version I talked about liked it when the owner of them (who graciously lets the drummer use them for practice to keep the sound down) bought a single V-drum off EBAY to use for the snare.

Being a novice drummer myself I can say that I do like the feel of the woven heads of either the Pintech or V-Drum over the feel of the hard rubber of the Yamaha. Overall the price seems pretty good but I would check out the brain thoroughly to make sure you're happy with the sounds that you get out of it.

The guitars are as apples and oranges as you can get except they both have humbuckers. If you never used a semi-hollow body guitar or are planning on playing it at high volume with a lot of distortion, buy the Fender. If you think you can deal with the potential for feedback, get the Epiphone. Screw it, get one of each. I did only mines a Gibson and a traditional Tele.

Ching-Ching (My two pennies)
jb wrote:Dan-O has a point.
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Post by Leaf »

Oh man, electronic drums lick. I have a TD-7 (now my kid's toy), I've gigged on the top line Roland (I think it's the TD-10?, playing Zeppelin and AC/DC on an electronic kit at a bar gig? the band insisted on my using their kit, talk about not getting the point of the tunes!!!!!) I teach on the TD-6...( I wish the store would soundproof the gooddamn lesson room so I could teach on real drums). I fucking hate them. Their is an art (I 've yet to really get a grip on it though!!) to tuning a kit, in making it sound right... electronic drums... cheating. Straight up cheating. Yeah yeah, saves engineer's time, save's novices from sounding shitty...hmmmm, I call that cheating.

Sober, I loved the sound of your kit, for the record, cause they sounded real. And it sounded like someone really playing them!!! However, as a "TOOL".... you gotta do what ya gotta do I suppose... but their's my opinion... they lick lick lick the stick.

And, they are SSSSSOOOOOOO boring. Sure, for a day or two, it's all impressive tones, and easy, ya, you can hit the kick with a pencil and get the same tone as a pedal, but slowly, surely, they will bore you like you can not believe, and any drummer worth their salt will resent the shit out of them.


GGGGRRRRrrrrrrrr.

[/opinion]
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Post by Sober »

Dogma alert! :roll:

By the time I spent money on:

Drum mics
Cables
Mic stands


I would have spent as much money as I would have for the electronic drums. On the real drums side of things, we've got:

Getting levels/eq/reverb set on my mixer before the signal gets to my computer (still single-track recording at the moment)
Getting the take in as few tries as possible, for the sake of my neighbors
A Rodgers kit.
Taking up half my apartment with this setup


On the fake drums side:

Compact
Perfectly balanced, one-output signal, unaffected by shitty room reverb, etc.
Freedom to try as many times as I like
Mobility (I live on the 3rd floor)
Midi controller, if I so desire


The fake drums just make way too much sense in my current stage. I know they don't feel the same and all that, but at this point, I just want good-sounding drums that are easy to record and play.

Now, does anyone want to buy my two kits? :wink:
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Post by bz£ »

The Sober Irishman wrote:The fake drums just make way too much sense in my current stage. I know they don't feel the same and all that, but at this point, I just want good-sounding drums that are easy to record and play.
I have a fake drum kit, and it is nice, but it is not the panacea that you seem to be envisioning. My kit is easy to record and play, but difficult to record well and difficult to play well. It is great for being quiet, and you can jam all day or work out exactly how you'll percuss your song, but it is probably gonna sound better if you do the actual recording on a real kit.

It is true that my kit takes up very little space, but it isn't exactly super portable, either. It takes about half an hour to break down and set up again-- this is worse than a small acoustic kit for gigging, because you also have to make sure you get all the wires connected right.

Go for it, but don't sell off all your real drums. At the very least, keep the cymbals and make yourself a hybrid kit with fake toms, snares and kick, but real cymbals for recording. It will only take a minute to switch between the real and fake cymbals, because fake cymbals are made to fit real hardware. The end result will probably sound a lot better.
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Post by Kamakura »

I've had a Simmon's in the past, and use a Yamaha DD55 at present. All to keep the neighbours happy.
I would give a (metaphorical) arm and a leg to have a real kit again. They might seem a good alternative, and it's true you get to record the midi data which is easily editable, but you'll regret it... At the very least keep your real drums if you can.
Also, the tapping sound of sticks and pedal hitting pads is actually quite loud, and you'll find you get wrist ache.
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Post by ken »

The Sober Irishman wrote:The fake drums just make way too much sense in my current stage. I know they don't feel the same and all that, but at this point, I just want good-sounding drums that are easy to record and play.
I think a great drum sound can be gotten with just one condensor mic. Listen to most of Loyalty Day and my songs, most of the drums are recorded with one overhead mic or an overhead and a kick mic. Easy to work with, sounds great after adding compression.

Think about just buying a few really nice electronic drums like just a kick and snare with those mesh heads and a couple of cymbals instead of a huge kit.

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Post by fluffy »

V-Drums are great for apartment dwellers (I wish my goddamn downstairs neighbors would use an electric kit for example, especially when they're practicing at 2:30 in the morning on a work night, which they can get away with 'coz cops here don't really care about noise complaints). Also some people actually like a fake drum sound/feel for some reason.
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Post by Sober »

/Phoenix Down on thread

I for some reason decided I want a mic preamp. I don't really know why, I just do. Part of it is because I want to fill up my new desk's rack spaces with cool-looking shit.

I can pick up a compressor and that bbe 482i sonic maximizer pretty cheaply, which I think would be cool. But this mic preamp is what I'm unsure of as far as which one to get.

Basically, I'm looking for something that's dual-channel, a full rackspace, and tube. It kinda seems like there's a bunch of stuff out there for under $200, and then you jump straight from there to like $2,000. I'd like to stay under $500 for this.

Basically, my two condensers are a tad bright, and eq'ing and mic modeling alone don't really give me the warm gooey-ness I'd like.

Also, a better vocal mic at some point. Is that bluemic stuff any good?

Oh, and I'll soon have a Hammond. Don't know where I'll put the fucker, though. Any tips on finding a pair of leslies reasonably cheap?
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Post by ken »

I doubt you are going to find a two channel tube preamp of any quality for under $500. Maybe used around $700 for a Peavey VMP (I think that is the good one) or Universal Audio 2-610. Hamptone makes a great kit, for about $750. If you actually want a good preamp for under $500, get the FMR RNP. You can fill your rack with Funk Logic stuff instead.

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Post by Sober »

Jesus, I didn't realize how much they jumped. Hm.
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Post by Lunkhead »

On topic but 6+ months late, I do have a P-bass "Lyte". I like it, feels nice, looks nice. I'm having a hard time getting it to sound good on recordings, though. It doesn't sound as tight/punchy as I'd like, and I'm not sure why. Could be that I'm just recording it straight through the Mackie mixer I have though we had a hard time getting a great sound out of it at Ken's, even. I might be thinking about trading it for something, I don't know.

Um, preamps, are cool, and stuff, too...
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Re: "Help me decide what to buy" thread

Post by blue »

deshead wrote:
The Sober Irishman wrote:Then I need a new bass. I want a 5-string or a Fender jazz bass.
I got a new J-bass a couple of months ago, and I love it. Something that might help you decide: the J-bass has a narrow neck, especially compared to a 5-string. If you have wimpy little guitar player hands like me, the narrow neck is much easier to play.
The Sober Irishman wrote:A/E mandolin.
I have an Ovation MCS148 which I hate. Even before the neck split from the body, it never stayed in tune and had more intonation problems than my $90 Samick guitar. POS.
hmm.. two things Des and I agree on, IN ONE POST. someone call the end-timers. J-bass forever, Ovation must die! (forever)
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Re: "Help me decide what to buy" thread

Post by stueym »

blue wrote:Ovation must die! (forever)
Blue made Mr Sparkles cry!!!

..and the wonderful collection of 8 Ovation and Adamas in my studio say you are wrong. There are plenty of other POS cloning companies including Fender's woeful attempts to build accoustic instuments that are way up the list of worthy candidates for early graves and bonfires. Hmm new thread idea.....musical equipment and instruments that have caused me so much pain I want to anthropomorphize them and kill them! Windows XP anyone LOL ;-)
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Post by ken »

BOING!!!
Lunkhead wrote:On topic but 6+ months late, I do have a P-bass "Lyte". I like it, feels nice, looks nice. I'm having a hard time getting it to sound good on recordings, though. It doesn't sound as tight/punchy as I'd like, and I'm not sure why. Could be that I'm just recording it straight through the Mackie mixer I have though we had a hard time getting a great sound out of it at Ken's, even. I might be thinking about trading it for something, I don't know.
I suggest you just spend some money to get it set up, then buy an ART Tube MP and replace the tube with something nicer. I think it makes a good bass DI for cheap. Although, if you spend all that, you might as well just trade it in for a P-bass and upgrade the pickups.

Ken
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