KVR Audio

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Tue Aug 01, 2017 3:59 am

I got this for mine:

https://nordstrandaudio.com/collections ... -mm-preamp

https://nordstrandaudio.com/collections ... 1230616852

Amazing tone. Cost more than the bass with tax

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Tue Aug 01, 2017 4:24 am

fedexnman wrote:I had an Ibanez strat SSH RG series ... Neck was flawless back in 95' it was cheap as hell . It amazes me sometimes the cheap ones beat the expensive ones alot . I have a Lakland 4 string that I swapped pickups out.. it's really nice bass . $300 for a nice bass is a steal ...

My two jazz boxes (now only one) were $300 each

They are the finest sub $2000 jazz guitars I've ever played.... No seriously. (to be honest I haven't tried the new D'angelico's) Had to drop the 17 inch (floating mini humbucker) Kept the Gold 16. I'm swapping the humbuckers for Charlie Christians.

I'm tempted to pick up this Raines for 300+ Shipping
https://reverb.com/item/134668-raines-s ... ric-guitar
But I want to buy one of his jazz boxes first.

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Tue Aug 01, 2017 4:44 am

Cool.

Now, some history. I was pretty bad-ass bassist at one time. I practiced, had my little degree, and kept up with the Jones's.

Some bass names I played (even though at the time I had no business paying the money) Modulus, Zon, and high-brow Fender (I had one of the first American Deluxe models every made) in 4, 5 and 6 string models. All ripped.

But the point is, since I started all the nonsense back up (and I don't practice, and I'm not up to speed chop wise) I've spent EVEN MORE getting shit that I think I'm happy with, just to be disappointed in the end.

I think this is different. It makes no sense. It's like 2+2=cantaloupe.

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Tue Aug 01, 2017 5:38 am

I've never played a SUB but I had a real Stringray before and it was a fantastic bass. Still, my Warmoth PJ is my favorite so far. I usually switch between either pickup and rarely use both at the same time, although I'll sometimes dial in a little of the bridge pickup to add cut to the neck pickup. I'm thinking of installing a Badass bridge, which is supposed to add upper harmonics, and I also want to try the new EMG Geezer Butler pickups.

My stupid Epiphone Emperor Regent has the neck mounted mini humbucker. The thing looks like a million bucks (it's my favorite headstock design for a jazz box) but it sounds like a tinny, cheap acoustic. I've heard that installing 2 full-sized humbuckers will at least give good electric tones and will cut down feedback, so I'll probably do that some day. The Gibson Masterbuilt L5 we once got in on trade-in had the 2 humbuckers and it was the best sounding jazz box I've played.

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Tue Aug 01, 2017 7:59 pm

Believe it or not they sounded that bad back in the 30's Not just Epi's (which were not a part of Gibson) but D'ngelico's and other brands as well. Back before mic's pups and amplification were used on stage the goal was to make the guitar loud enough to be heard with a horn section blowing past them. Gibson's answer was the arched top which allowed for more sound projection but at a huge cost of tone. It may have been a plastic box guitar. The nut was raised considerably and all the guitarists would do is to strum chords on the four count Staccato to save their fingers and the audiences ears. Guitarists were often former banjo and mandolin players who would tune up. Former mandolin players would tune to 5ths to keep pressure on the strings. So your guitar may indeed be a faithful recreation of that 30's archtop tone.

Archtops are more susceptible to humidity than acoustics. It takes a lot of intricate bracing and a certain thinness of the wood to get the membrane to resonate properly. Too thick and it goes from tubby to solid body sounding in a hurry. I've had an archtop that didn't survive well. Even those sellers who are jazz players often caution buying older boxes as they have a tendency to fall apart and rattle.

The reason for keeping the floating pup design (which I have one with mini that actually does a good job) Was originally this whole electric guitar thing was thought of as a fad and guitarists didn't want to lose resale by having a big hole in the guitar which may affect the character of the tone. They also wanted to maintain the "acoustic properties" when amplified which of course lead to a lot of feedback. Hence the creation of the tone control on the guitar. And the invention of flatwound strings. Flatwounds produce a lower volume level for those strings that are flatwound. Otherwise you lose the high E and B volume. They also knock off some of the harsh harmonics, squeak of fresh strings and they feel more comfortable. They aren't any easier to press down on. I've got chrome 10's on my 16" (gold one) and it's making the guitar sound..bland right now. Some jazz guitarists actually use lighter gauge strings on 1~4 then move up two gauges for the low strings but I find that knocks the warmth and definition off the lower ones.

Of all the epi boxes I like the Joe Pass Emperor II the most. It's extremely versatile.

Yeah, Gibson boxes are from another universe. Especially "Wes" L5's He was the one who started the trend for a humbucker mounted into the body of L5's Previously all other L5's had floating pups.

Oddly you don't need a big box for big box sound. While you are sitting with it you'll prolly hear the acoustic sound resonating and distracting you from the amplified tone.

If you are looking for a more electric jazz tone I would advise against larger bodies. Even the shallow ones like Conti's. I like them and all but they lack depth. I also don't like the transverse bracing for the fixed bridge vs the floating bridge. To me it's a compromised tone. In order to get a fixed bridge on a hollow body you have to make it a semi hollow like a 335 with a centerblock. If you mount a block in a 90 degree angle you can achieve air flow under the center of the body where the pups are but it still takes out the character.

Let's take 15 inch bodies for example.

Traditional bridge

Traditional bridge full hollow but slightly shallow

Transverse brace

That Gibson 275 is heaven to my ears. And @4K it ought to be.
The Raines sounts more like a 17inch box.
The D'angelico is only fair (even though the player is great)

The newer cheaper D'angelico Premier EX-SS with a lower price point isn't worth buying for me as it has a "conventional" centerblock to support the bridge.

One thing about Matt Raines setup. Raines likes his tone all the way up and his amp settings flat. Triming the tone down a might gives all that "warm jazz" tone back. Right now I'm saving my pennies for an older Raines 7
This one

It will be my first 7 string

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Wed Aug 02, 2017 7:06 pm

Dude, if you are going to get a 7, you need this:

How can you shred w/o it?

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Wed Aug 02, 2017 7:35 pm

I heard that Wes Montgomery played one of those in his later years.

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Wed Aug 02, 2017 8:00 pm

Totally dude.

Nobody djented better.

theEmbark · Post by **theEmbark** » Wed Aug 02, 2017 8:22 pm

This one has been on my list for years

finally picked it up a couple weeks back! Black and white TC63 from Nash.

It's everything I hoped and dreamed of and more

Next on my list now is probably a Martin D-15

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Wed Aug 02, 2017 9:05 pm

I've seen a few videos with Nash Guitars. They are pretty good.

incubus · Post by **incubus** » Thu Aug 03, 2017 12:38 am

theEmbark wrote:This one has been on my list for years finally picked it up a couple weeks back! Black and white TC63 from Nash.

It's everything I hoped and dreamed of and more

Next on my list now is probably a Martin D-15

I hate you

I like the road-worn/relic/whatever look. Some people really hate it.

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Thu Aug 03, 2017 4:22 pm

The road worn, relic look all started with Kieth Richards. He called up fender and wanted a new strat. Him being KR and them being FMIC went to work and built him a custom one.... He sent it back. "I can't play this guitar it looks to pretty. Rough it up a bit" After that they did the SRV signature.

My strat "Upgraded" has been through hell and back and it still looks in newer condition. I did some research on my strat oddly. The year before plus models were issued they did a limited run of upgraded with TBX tone controls and Lace Sensors. I was always curious as to why it didn't say plus on the headstock.

bharris22 · Post by **bharris22** » Thu Aug 03, 2017 4:57 pm

tapper mike wrote:
fedexnman wrote:I had an Ibanez strat SSH RG series ... Neck was flawless back in 95' it was cheap as hell . It amazes me sometimes the cheap ones beat the expensive ones alot . I have a Lakland 4 string that I swapped pickups out.. it's really nice bass . $300 for a nice bass is a steal ...
My two jazz boxes (now only one) were $300 each

They are the finest sub $2000 jazz guitars I've ever played.... No seriously. (to be honest I haven't tried the new D'angelico's) Had to drop the 17 inch (floating mini humbucker) Kept the Gold 16. I'm swapping the humbuckers for Charlie Christians.

I'm tempted to pick up this Raines for 300+ Shipping
https://reverb.com/item/134668-raines-s ... ric-guitar
But I want to buy one of his jazz boxes first.

What brand are these archtops (can't read it on the headstock), and where did you get them?

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Thu Aug 03, 2017 6:13 pm

dbl post

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Thu Aug 03, 2017 7:10 pm

bharris22 wrote:
tapper mike wrote:
fedexnman wrote:I had an Ibanez strat SSH RG series ... Neck was flawless back in 95' it was cheap as hell . It amazes me sometimes the cheap ones beat the expensive ones alot . I have a Lakland 4 string that I swapped pickups out.. it's really nice bass . $300 for a nice bass is a steal ...
My two jazz boxes (now only one) were $300 each

They are the finest sub $2000 jazz guitars I've ever played.... No seriously. (to be honest I haven't tried the new D'angelico's) Had to drop the 17 inch (floating mini humbucker) Kept the Gold 16. I'm swapping the humbuckers for Charlie Christians.

I'm tempted to pick up this Raines for 300+ Shipping
https://reverb.com/item/134668-raines-s ... ric-guitar
But I want to buy one of his jazz boxes first.
What brand are these archtops (can't read it on the headstock), and where did you get them?

The brand is Guitar Research... Not affiliated with Schecter.
Sam Ash has many "inhouse" brands They did a promo for jazz guitars and selected Eddie Durham as he was the actual first recorded electric guitar (slightly afterwards charlie christian recorded with Benny Goodman and history was made) It would have been Eddie Durham's 100th birthday (2005) They had a list price of $1200, didn't sell well and prolly were sold for around $900. I got both of mine used on ebay 300 each.

Here's a sampling of the JX16 model

Sam Ash has another brand Carlo Robelli, The 17inch Robelli with floating pup is identical to the JX17

These have ..thinner necks. Not super thin very comfortable.

Your next guitar?