KVR Audio

strangedogs · Post by **strangedogs** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 5:25 pm

birch plywood is really lightweight

Agreed · Post by **Agreed** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 1:55 am

susiwong wrote:
Agreed wrote:I'm going to try to record some stuff through the amp tomorrow. Bit of a problem - I'm running a fully Wampler pedal board right now, so for the purposes of the review, that would constitute a conflict of interest, right?.
For your blog, maybe, yes.
You should probably steer clear from any pedal reviews there.
Here @ kvr however, what harm should be done ?
Your signature makes things perfectly clear.
Personally I'd enjoy hearing some convincing Wampler clips.
Again, comparing them to others might look a bit weird.
Just my opinion,
ymmv,
susiwong

I actually fully intend to go right on posting about pedals that I buy, clips and all, Wampler and otherwise. I'm pretty pro-builder in general, having got to know a lot of the good people behind the products I choose to purchase, and my relationships with individual builders remains positive though of course it isn't the same as it was before I started working for a competitor. I won't be doing reviews anymore, just talking about them and posting clips when I get something cool in that makes me happy.

If I were beholden to advertisers or getting units in for review to send back when I'm done, of course that would be absolute bollocks and a blatant conflict of interest in the most applicable sense of the phrase, but it's just me spending money on things I like and talking about stuff I've bought. And I totally understand if people don't take anything I say about non-Wampler pedals seriously. My integrity hasn't changed, but my employment has, so I won't take it personally if people gloss over my opinions on pedals. I'll still be putting them out there

In this case, though, since I'm actually going to be contributing a review of the cab to the magazine I used to write for, I suppose I ought to just use my amp. That's fine, the THD has awesome on-board overdrive and distortion, it'll do its thing without pedals. I'm just most interested in pedal dirt, you know, one of my "things."

If you do want to hear some Wampler demos, I've posted quite a few over the past few years - I didn't start working for them without considering that I was indeed hitching my cart to a particular horse in a big race. I really respect their products and have felt they're an excellent pedal maker, starting with the first couple of pedals I bought and on through the next four or five after that. And I guess I ought to have a new section on my blog, something just to record demos of Wampler pedals so people can hear what I'm getting out of the pedals they're asking me about.

If anyone ever wants to contact me about Wampler Pedals products, I obsessively check my jeff@wamplerpedals.com email address, you'll get a reply really fast and skip the ticket system if you need to get in touch directly.

Anyway, back on topic, didn't have time today - NAMM is nuts - but I'll try to record some soon.

Interesting news related to 333, IK is partnering up with a bunch of equipment makers to do more "Fender"-like stuff. Among others, THD are officially on board (which makes me wonder about Overloud TH2's THD amps), as are Soldano, T-Rex, Seymour Duncan, and - imo confirming Soldano's continued involvement if there was any doubt - Jet City Amplification.

susiwong · Post by **susiwong** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 7:25 am

susiwong wrote:I'll do a quick'n'dirty version with my JMP-1 later, for comparison.

Sorry, completely forgot my guitar rack suffers from reconstruction syndrome atm to integrate the Quad.

You know the drill, remove one cable, find another suspicious one, before long you decide to do the right thing and start from sxratch.
Knee deep in cables, solder and plugs atm.

The clip will follow, tomorrow latest.
Sorry ...
susiwong

susiwong · Post by **susiwong** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 7:40 am

Agreed wrote:Interesting news related to 333, IK is partnering up with a bunch of equipment makers to do more "Fender"-like stuff. Among others, THD are officially on board (which makes me wonder about Overloud TH2's THD amps), as are Soldano, T-Rex, Seymour Duncan, and - imo confirming Soldano's continued involvement if there was any doubt - Jet City Amplification.

Any insight how the new modular system will work ?
I sure hope there will be a way to purchase offline, my DAW will never see the internet.
Ymmv,
susiwong

deathwish · Post by **deathwish** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 10:33 pm

metalifuxx wrote:Ok, so all this talk of real amps and micing them got me re-interested in doing it and actually recording something. This tune will please Susiwong and all you 70's rockers.

Just Got Paid - ZZ Top cover, but kind of the way Joe Bonamassa does it minus the extended jam with all the Zeppelin riffs thrown in.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6185854/kvr%20s ... 0cover.mp3

Cranked the amp to an insane level (well master was only halfway up on 5) and yes it got hard to monitor with the headphones and hard to hear the backing tracks sometimes with the amp being in the same room. I hope it didn't cause tinnitus

Tubescreamer clean boosting the Soldano Hot Rod 50 in vintage crunch mode on clean channel on medium gain with a dark bassy heavy tone dialed in on the amp EQ. Mic, a vintage Shure SM53, is moved a good 4-5 inches back to compensate for the heavy bass response coming from the cab. Just an M-Audio USB Mobile Pre as the preamp. Midi drums and bass.

The Shure SM53 mic I used, if the history of how it was acquired is accurate, could be the very mic that recorded the Free Bird and Sweet Home Alabama guitar tracks and the other songs on that Skynyrd album. If there were live recordings, those as well.

The vocals... are they serious?

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 11:36 pm

deathwish wrote:Can we get some blind tests in here so we can see how good people's ears are? If they can pick out the fake marshall/fender etc out of the mix vs a real one playing the same music? preferably high gain? I don't own any real amps anymore so I can't do this

ironic, this is exactly why you can't do tests

deathwish wrote:
metalifuxx wrote:Ok, so all this talk of real amps and micing them got me re-interested in doing it and actually recording something. This tune will please Susiwong and all you 70's rockers.

Just Got Paid - ZZ Top cover, but kind of the way Joe Bonamassa does it minus the extended jam with all the Zeppelin riffs thrown in.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6185854/kvr%20s ... 0cover.mp3

Cranked the amp to an insane level (well master was only halfway up on 5) and yes it got hard to monitor with the headphones and hard to hear the backing tracks sometimes with the amp being in the same room. I hope it didn't cause tinnitus

Tubescreamer clean boosting the Soldano Hot Rod 50 in vintage crunch mode on clean channel on medium gain with a dark bassy heavy tone dialed in on the amp EQ. Mic, a vintage Shure SM53, is moved a good 4-5 inches back to compensate for the heavy bass response coming from the cab. Just an M-Audio USB Mobile Pre as the preamp. Midi drums and bass.

The Shure SM53 mic I used, if the history of how it was acquired is accurate, could be the very mic that recorded the Free Bird and Sweet Home Alabama guitar tracks and the other songs on that Skynyrd album. If there were live recordings, those as well.
The vocals... are they serious?

you see, on such tests the subject is not the vox so what good does this post do? You ask for guitar samples an criticize the vox? That might be why people are reluctant to do tests

redshift factor · Post by **redshift factor** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:16 am

Agreed wrote:Interesting news related to 333, IK is partnering up with a bunch of equipment makers to do more "Fender"-like stuff. Among others, THD are officially on board (which makes me wonder about Overloud TH2's THD amps), as are Soldano, T-Rex, Seymour Duncan, and - imo confirming Soldano's continued involvement if there was any doubt - Jet City Amplification.

Not only is Soldano involved in Jet City, but so is THD, who designed the PicoValve. Perhaps this is one of the Jet City models coming to AT3? The plot thickens...

BTW, these new officially authorized models are going to be different from AmpliTube Fender in one respect - they will be available for individual purchase through the new Custom Shop. I wonder if individual models from AT Fender and Ampeg SVX will be available through the Custom Shop, too..?

All of these new developments make me definitely NOT hate ampsims!

metalifuxx · Post by **metalifuxx** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:33 am

deathwish wrote:
metalifuxx wrote:Ok, so all this talk of real amps and micing them got me re-interested in doing it and actually recording something. This tune will please Susiwong and all you 70's rockers.

Just Got Paid - ZZ Top cover, but kind of the way Joe Bonamassa does it minus the extended jam with all the Zeppelin riffs thrown in.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6185854/kvr%20s ... 0cover.mp3

Cranked the amp to an insane level (well master was only halfway up on 5) and yes it got hard to monitor with the headphones and hard to hear the backing tracks sometimes with the amp being in the same room. I hope it didn't cause tinnitus

Tubescreamer clean boosting the Soldano Hot Rod 50 in vintage crunch mode on clean channel on medium gain with a dark bassy heavy tone dialed in on the amp EQ. Mic, a vintage Shure SM53, is moved a good 4-5 inches back to compensate for the heavy bass response coming from the cab. Just an M-Audio USB Mobile Pre as the preamp. Midi drums and bass.

The Shure SM53 mic I used, if the history of how it was acquired is accurate, could be the very mic that recorded the Free Bird and Sweet Home Alabama guitar tracks and the other songs on that Skynyrd album. If there were live recordings, those as well.
The vocals... are they serious?

No not really, I am not a singer and don't pretend to be good at it by any means. I am a guitar player first and foremost. I wanted them there for mix purposes even if it might be mixed horribly and I suck at singing. Where is your shining example of a real recorded amp within a mix context? Would you prefer meaningless death/black metal growls and screams that usually can't be understood anyway. Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) is one of my favorite musicians (for both guitar playing and singing) and no one can quite be as talented and versatile as he is unless you actually attempt it, of which he doesn't even like his vocals, he does it out of necessity to perform a song for people. A lot of people, if they do post something, is only a small clip maybe with just half a minute of guitar/instruments, so I thought I'd be different. And yeah, that took a lot of confidence to record them and even post them, even if you do think they suck. Hmmm, I don't even know why I bothered to feed a troll.

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:39 am

I don't think it was fair, and quite frankly I like the sound of your recording (which I think was the focus, yes?)

Man, I wish I could do real amps

I've really got the itch now. For me if I ever DO say F..IT I'm 97.4% sure it will be a blackstar, and it might just be a head and some sort of smaller speaker (I have 0% need for a 4x12). I'd rather have a bad cat, but that is NEVER going to happen

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:55 am

metalifuxx wrote:
deathwish wrote:
metalifuxx wrote:Ok, so all this talk of real amps and micing them got me re-interested in doing it and actually recording something. This tune will please Susiwong and all you 70's rockers.

Just Got Paid - ZZ Top cover, but kind of the way Joe Bonamassa does it minus the extended jam with all the Zeppelin riffs thrown in.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6185854/kvr%20s ... 0cover.mp3

Cranked the amp to an insane level (well master was only halfway up on 5) and yes it got hard to monitor with the headphones and hard to hear the backing tracks sometimes with the amp being in the same room. I hope it didn't cause tinnitus

Tubescreamer clean boosting the Soldano Hot Rod 50 in vintage crunch mode on clean channel on medium gain with a dark bassy heavy tone dialed in on the amp EQ. Mic, a vintage Shure SM53, is moved a good 4-5 inches back to compensate for the heavy bass response coming from the cab. Just an M-Audio USB Mobile Pre as the preamp. Midi drums and bass.

The Shure SM53 mic I used, if the history of how it was acquired is accurate, could be the very mic that recorded the Free Bird and Sweet Home Alabama guitar tracks and the other songs on that Skynyrd album. If there were live recordings, those as well.
The vocals... are they serious?
No not really, I am not a singer and don't pretend to be good at it by any means. I am a guitar player first and foremost. I wanted them there for mix purposes even if it might be mixed horribly and I suck at singing. Where is your shining example of a real recorded amp within a mix context? Would you prefer meaningless death/black metal growls and screams that usually can't be understood anyway. Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) is one of my favorite musicians (for both guitar playing and singing) and no one can quite be as talented and versatile as he is unless you actually attempt it, of which he doesn't even like his vocals, he does it out of necessity to perform a song for people. A lot of people, if they do post something, is only a small clip maybe with just half a minute of guitar/instruments, so I thought I'd be different. And yeah, that took a lot of confidence to record them and even post them, even if you do think they suck. Hmmm, I don't even know why I bothered to feed a troll.

The playing was impressive but I wasn't blown away by the Soldano surprisingly, of course if it were live at a show that would be a different story

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:58 am

redshift factor wrote:
Agreed wrote:Interesting news related to 333, IK is partnering up with a bunch of equipment makers to do more "Fender"-like stuff. Among others, THD are officially on board (which makes me wonder about Overloud TH2's THD amps), as are Soldano, T-Rex, Seymour Duncan, and - imo confirming Soldano's continued involvement if there was any doubt - Jet City Amplification.
Not only is Soldano involved in Jet City, but so is THD, who designed the PicoValve. Perhaps this is one of the Jet City models coming to AT3? The plot thickens...

BTW, these new officially authorized models are going to be different from AmpliTube Fender in one respect - they will be available for individual purchase through the new Custom Shop. I wonder if individual models from AT Fender and Ampeg SVX will be available through the Custom Shop, too..?

All of these new developments make me definitely NOT hate ampsims!

actually Agreed has a THD and I'm looking very seriously at the Jet City model, the THD has the attenuater but I already have that base covered. ne question though...are new amps coming to AT3 or AT4?

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 3:02 am

hibidy wrote:I don't think it was fair, and quite frankly I like the sound of your recording (which I think was the focus, yes?)

Man, I wish I could do real amps I've really got the itch now. For me if I ever DO say F..IT I'm 97.4% sure it will be a blackstar, and it might just be a head and some sort of smaller speaker (I have 0% need for a 4x12). I'd rather have a bad cat, but that is NEVER going to happen

okay so I do not want to speak for anyone else here but two people who's opinions I respect here have each expressed concern on Blackstar. I am somewhat interested in them but I'm gonna wait a bit more and see where the cards fall.

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 3:55 am

Oh really? I guess I didn't catch that.

Well that settles it then, I'll change my mind, whip out the master card and get that bad cat.......

See ya SUCKA'S!!!!!!!

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 4:00 am

http://www.badcatamps.com/index2.html

Make sure your headphones on when tuning in

http://www.badcatamps.com/index1.html WANT!!!!!!! (of course no idea what it costs yet

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 4:00 am

hibidy wrote:Oh really? I guess I didn't catch that.

Well that settles it then, I'll change my mind, whip out the master card and get that bad cat....... See ya SUCKA'S!!!!!!!

why dont you try one first, though I think 250 bux on the Soldano collab jet city head is a no brainer. I'm not saying blackstar isn't good, in fact I think they are pretty nice but I want to try one.

I think I finally hate amp sims!