What’s on your pedalboard for rehearsals / Donner TT/ amps

[pekbro]

Yeah, I got that and I wasn't dead serious either - even if I really meant the point I was trying to make...

I certainly met my fair share of folks who had got a lot more gear than clue... ideally they sober up at some point at which their rig costs only half or a quarter of what they started out with.

Ok sry to be curt, I've had to make my point a lot lately with my new neighbor...

*The gig thing 'is' pretty easy money especially around here where you can always get a job
playing Hawaiian music at a hotel or restaurant. The tax part of it is a hassle however, if you
already have a fulltime job like me.

My friend Travis partially owns a prod company that puts on luau's for hotels and whatnot,
he makes stupid amounts of money on permanent contracts worth about $800k/yr per.
I could work for him in various capacities, but that's too much work lol...

*I could work for the sound guy, but that's my other friend who's the eurorack guy, so
more strings attached there. That's also too much work at all sorts of weird hours and
locations

https://youtu.be/lkQig26zwuE?list=TLGGE ... OTA4MjAyNA

[Naillerz78]

Massive pedalboards/ loads of gear is mostly just the folly of youth imo.
In my youth I’d rock up to auditions with nice exe guitars, mucho pedals and heaps of gear.. and I was barely an intermediate player then (still am tbh).

To me more variables =the more there is to go wrong/ troubleshoot.
That’s why I’d step outside for 10 mins if I saw a dude with a massive board setting up at rehearsal.
Even those lil patch cables can be dead out of a brand new packet I’ve found. Never mind all those knobs to be set / flashing lights on the pedal board.

E.g. Even with my minimal setup, @ last rehearsal I pulled my psu out and it was missing the little ‘tip’ on the end.. it fell off in the bag , took me 15 mins to find the fcking thing (lol).

Then there’s socket power socket availability/ location / quantity also a factor.
PSU size also with a big board.

I prefer batt-op for simplicity and time saving.
A few spare 9vs in a packet is all I’d need then or can nip to a local shop to buy more.

[pekbro]

Honestly, I don't use more than 3 or 4 pedals at one time for guitar, for synths on the other hand, it depends on what I'm using. Collectively, it can add up to a lot since I haven't really invested in the whole patch bay thing... I have one small patch bay from Friedman, that's it.

[Uncle E]

Furman made a cool thing before that was a board, PSU, and patch bay in one. Probably not up to the high amperage requirements of today’s digital pedals, though.

[Naillerz78]

So I tried out a Fender Mustang iii v2 100W yesterday..
pros - great sounding presets and lots of inspiring tones . The Johnny Marr patches in particular were fantastic.
- it’s quite light in weight,

cons - it’s extremely LOUD even on 1-1.5 volume.
- not much bass freq afaik from reviews.
- googling reviews there is a known ‘Fizz issue’ with this series. I could hear on fire-up.
- some reviews said their amp made a ‘pop’ and completely died. So no resale value in that instance obvs.( always a risk w digital)
So although I really enjoyed playing it and even got compliments on the shop on my “ sick clean tones” it’s a pass.

Next visit I’ll be doing a shootout there of a Vox VR30/50 , a BlackStar ID 50w and a fender GTX100 and some other light solid state combos.

Thinking today , I have a frontman 25R which is quite loud but farty-sounding with its 8” or 10” speaker, maybe I could cut down to a lunchbox head and run thru a bigger rented / studio 2x12” cab perhaps for a bigger sound.I like doing projects.

[Uncle E]

Give a Vox AC15 a listen if you can. They sound great and are fairly economical. The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and Deville are great if you stick to the clean channels. I absolutely adored the Pro Jr. EXCEPT that it has transformer hum, plus it's too quiet with a drummer. Original Blues Jr's are great. Lastly, try Boss Katanas.

[Naillerz78]

Give a Vox AC15 a listen if you can. They sound great and are fairly economical. The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and Deville are great if you stick to the clean channels. I absolutely adored the Pro Jr. EXCEPT that it has transformer hum, plus it's too quiet with a drummer. Original Blues Jr's are great. Lastly, try Boss Katanas.

Cheers E there’s an AC15 and Katana at this shop I’ll add them in to my shootout.

[Naillerz78]

Tried out my new Tone City Mickey RAT clone this morning. Wow. Where has the RAT been all my life so many great sounds and songs came out of a little practice with it from Jeff Beck to Gilmour to Deep Purple to modern punk and rock songs I been a dang fool to miss picking one up over the years.

I ripped through Muses ‘Plug In Baby’ and it sounded unreal !

[Naillerz78]

And I’ve decided to pull the trigger on a H&K tubemeister 18 head. It has DI capabilities also so double win it should give me all the Tonez I reckon,

Based on this demo

[pekbro]

Did you get a new one? Just wondering since i saw some used Dr Z's for roughly the same price.

[Naillerz78]

Did you get a new one? Just wondering since i saw some used Dr Z's for roughly the same price.

Nah it’s a 2nd hand. Also since then I’ve noticed it is a 110v and being sold w a step down power transformer. that paused me as I haven’t had one of those before.I there any consideration w that re running pedals with it or anything ? It’s a great deal. But then Ill need a good cab to go with so now I dunno now still unsure

Plus same day I also got a speeding ticket of $500 and 2 demerit points.
This also but the brake on

Watching videos demos of all the other 50-100w solid state/hybrid/digital combos ( Vox, Blackstar, Kustom , Line6 bogner) is that price bracket just confirmed to me they won’t cut it sound wise.

That fender is still appealing tho it really did sound great on many patches for $300 and Loud AF. There are new models of that mustang or GTX100 now maybe they fixed the “buzz issue”.

Ps where did u see a used Z for $400 AUD ? FYI I’m in Australia (!)

Otherwise it may be another 20-30W fender ss cheapie and run in stereo with my frontman 25R.

Even this H&K + cab may not satisfy for a big full sound. I’m leaning towards a stereo setup to really fill the room.

[Uncle E]

The converter isn't a big deal but it isn't something you should have to deal with. So many good amps out there, after all. I'm pretty surprised that it isn't switchable to 240V, given that Hughes & Kettner is German.

btw, if you do end up getting one of those Donner or NUX multi-effects, you might want to try plugging into the Audio In RCA jack of your Frontman 25R to bypass the preamp. A stereo pair of 25R's set up like that would be pretty cool!

[pekbro]

Did you get a new one? Just wondering since i saw some used Dr Z's for roughly the same price.

Nah it’s a 2nd hand. Also since then I’ve noticed it is a 110v and being sold w a step down power transformer. that paused me as I haven’t had one of those before.I there any consideration w that re running pedals with it or anything ? It’s a great deal. But then Ill need a good cab to go with so now I dunno now still unsure

Plus same day I also got a speeding ticket of $500 and 2 demerit points.
This also but the brake on

Watching videos demos of all the other 50-100w solid state/hybrid/digital combos ( Vox, Blackstar, Kustom , Line6 bogner) is that price bracket just confirmed to me they won’t cut it sound wise.

That fender is still appealing tho it really did sound great on many patches for $300 and Loud AF. There are new models of that mustang or GTX100 now maybe they fixed the “buzz issue”.

Ps where did u see a used Z for $400 AUD ? FYI I’m in Australia (!)

Otherwise it may be another 20-30W fender ss cheapie and run in stereo with my frontman 25R.

Even this H&K + cab may not satisfy for a big full sound. I’m leaning towards a stereo setup to really fill the room.

It was US $800-ish, so $1600-ish? AUD, it was the lower end stuff as well. Seems like a 'new' one of those H&Ks is about US. $8-900

[Naillerz78]

The converter isn't a big deal but it isn't something you should have to deal with. So many good amps out there, after all. I'm pretty surprised that it isn't switchable to 240V, given that Hughes & Kettner is German.

btw, if you do end up getting one of those Donner or NUX multi-effects, you might want to try plugging into the Audio In RCA jack of your Frontman 25R to bypass the preamp. A stereo pair of 25R's set up like that would be pretty cool!

I couldn’t figure it myself why its 110v ?
So it’s a USA model of a German amp being sold in Australia very strange.

Thanks ! Didn’t know that re the RCA jack .. handy to have that option

Stereo really is the way to go / ideal rehearsal solution for me .
It really adds so much to guitar sounds running 2 amps L&R . Stereo flanging and chorus sounds fantastic with all that panning. Mix 2 different amps and it’s like a double tracked guitar sound. Very pleasing.

The frontman has a useable muscley fender clean channel. it’s a pretty loud sucker for 25W and cheap as chips.
2 x of those in stereo might do it tbh and save me $$$. Or another bigger frontman or Marshall S/S with a 12” speaker to compliment and thicken up the tone.

I’ve had an old Marshall valvestate 2x12 stereo combo (50 or 100w) over the yrs also . another nice sleeper cheapie combo. Was a Stereo amp with nice lush chorus

Those Roland JCs stereo amps also sound fantastic (weight a ton tho)

Plus those little blackstar ID core practice amps
The 20w I had sounded massive with this super wide surround sound stereo blackstar have engineering in it. I would recommend highly. Must see if there’s a bigger wattage version .

This shop I go to has a Blackstar ID core 30watt TVP 1x12 selling atm for $250 of interest. The ‘TVP’ stands for True Valve Power (lol) it has a rotary selector after the preamp for different tubes EL34, 6L6, KT88s etc probably just a gimmick but I’m keen to try it out anyways.

[Uncle E]

I hate this guy but the results of this shootout are impressive. FWIW, I guessed WRONG because I chose the amp that had the most clarity, which is one of the things that makes the SLO so special.