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 Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 4:38 am
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 4:24 am
GHS ZWs strings.
Sound - These phat babies are definitely going to get you the bottom end you need for those deep sounds of bone crushing metal. Once you slap these bad boys on you wont want to put your guitar down. They are clean and deep and that�s what most people who play metal are looking for. So if you want nice deep and worm tones get the GHS ZWs!
Durability/Reliability - Very durable and easy to bend. Some would think that larger strings would be harder to bend but in fact I found it easier. The strings are larger so you can get a better grip on them to take them all the way down into a dive bombing hell raising bend. In the month i had them on my guitar not a one broke.
Action - These puppies beat your fingers badly. After a few hours practicing you will find your fingers soar and shredded. Probably do to them not being used to such large gauge of strings. But after a few practices it tends to lighten up. Its a lot easier to play than thinner strings. You aren�t searching the fret board to find the strings. They are just BAM right there for you to hold on and take a ride on a road of killer riffs. When the strings are down tuned is when they really shine. Take all the strings down either a half or full step. Or grow some balls and take them down two whole steps. These things become monsters and whale like no other when down tuned.
Features - Come in two sizes .70-.011 and .60-.010.
Disadvantages - Some of the disadvantages to these strings are that they mess up your nut. Since they are so large they probably wont fit in your nut grooves and after a while they wear them out. After taking them off I found that my nut was worn down and my strings began to rattle. So be careful putting these strings on because they probably will ruin your nut.
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Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 3:24 am
Planet Waves Gripmaster http://www.planet-waves.com/Resources/JDCPLW/Images/prodpics/gm.jpgWhat is it?: The Gripmaster is a gift from the guitar gods. Well... not really. but it's close. The gripmaster is a weight set for your fingers that will really help beginners improve their playing as well as intermediate players. It's a simple design, with 4 platforms that your fingers sit on and a palm grip on the opposite side of the unit that fits nicely in the palm of your hand. Effectiveness: Used mine for about a week now and the first thing I noticed was the level of clarity my playing developed. Also, I gained a ton of consistency. That was HUGE. Some days I wouldn't be able to play some of the satch stuff for long because it was so demanding on my wrist and hand. I wound up warming up, playing a couple songs, and then losing it. I'd never make it as a session guitarist. After this, I was already warmed up when I picked up the guitar and my fingers weren't worn out from bending the strings (I know. I'm a total wuss). Using it wherever I couldn't play a guitar was the best thing that I could do. This tool would be great for someone with a full time job where they really don't have time to play very often. It's a neat gadget that will improve your strength, but dont' count on becoming Vai because of it. You still need to learn the stuff in order to play it.
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 5:50 pm
Planet Waves Gripmaster (Second opinions, w00t!)
Price paid: $15.75 US
Okay, I bought the medium tension model.
What it is - A tool to help your hands be stronger and more dextrous.
What it does - exactly what it's supposed to. I only bought it a few days ago and am already noticing a huge improvement in my endurance and speed.
Is it worth it - Oh, yes. It's great for whenever I can't be playing my guitar but have my left hand free.
Would I recommend it to someone else - I already have, more than once.
The bottom line - buy it to increase your hand strength when you can't play your guitar.
Vox Wah-Wah model V847
I've had this thing since the end of May, and only just remembered to write a review.
Features - Standard wah wah pedal. Pump it with your foot to change the tone you get, leave it alone to keep one tone you like.
It's got a great tone, I can use it to perfect Metallica solos (Hammet does use wah a lot, you know...), some classic rock tones, some kickass blues licks, basically everything. A very versatile wah wah pedal. I'd recommend it.
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Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 6:14 pm
Martin MSP4200 Phosphor Bronze Medium Acoustic Strings
Sound - Whew... It's an EXTREMELY rich sound, MUCH richer than my crappy acoustic ever gave before.
Durability/Reliability - Pretty easy to bend for acoustic strings.
Action - Absolutely wonderful. They're an absolute dream to play on.
I'll be using these babies exclusively on my acoustic, I think.
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Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 8:07 am
Seymour Duncan SHR-1 Hot Rails, Bridge
...DAMN. Clear tones, insane output for a passive pickup. This thing is excellent for harsh, wailing metal solos, but it can still pull off that strat twang that you'll find on single-coils, if you know how to do it.
Sound - HOT. Only way to describe this baby. 10/10 here, only thing that annoys me a bit is that it overshadows my neck and mid pickups.
Durability - No problems, so I'll give this a 10/10.
Action, fit, and finish - Well, there were problems, so I took it into the local shop and had my mistakes fixed. Only problems were my mistakes, so I'll throw out an N/A here.
Looks pretty nice, fits in with the neck and mid pickups.
Overall - 10/10.
I recommend it.
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Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 6:20 am
GFS Hot 'lil Puncher (Tele style bridge pup)Features: Single coil-sized tele-style humbucker, no adjustable pole pieces because it has rails like the SD Hot Rails series. Has coil tap capabilities, but I haven't put those to use yet - can't find a push-pull pot. Sound: Oh. My. GOD. After I installed this puppy (and then went back and fixed the fact that for some reason my Tele was never bridge-grounded...), I plugged in and WOW. I first hit it on the clean channel and let me tell you, you want some nice snappy funkadelic-type tone? This baby's for you. Whilst employing some rough picking you get a nice snap with this puppy, and maybe a bit of that tele twang showing through, because everybody loves Tele Twang. Dont get me wrong, this thing is also capable of nice warm BB King type blues tone, but tends to get a bit overpowering when used for full chords, unless you thin out the tone a bit by roling back on the volume. With a dirty setting, this thing shines. I had to ompletely revamp the settings on my pedalboard and amp due to the sheer hotness of this puppy. It crunches like none other, and infact gives out sounds rivaling the Seymour Duncan sound bytes for the Tele Hot Rails. Perfect for any type of crunch from mild blues to ballsy AC/DC inspired riffs. I'm sure it can get pretty violent with some scooped mids but come on - do you think I want to defile my tone like that?! Reliability: Well.. it hasn't falled out or desintegraded yet... but I suppose if it fell out that would be my fault seeing as how I installed it myself. The low down: Though it's the first replacement pickup I've slapped in my guitars, I can honestly say this is probably one of the best deals you could ever get. Singing solos, dirty rythm, clean arpeggios, snappy funkadelics, anythign you need is right here - includign that single-coil tone! If you've been thinking about one of those Duncan or DiMarzio pups that cost an arm and a leg, STOP. Do yourself a favour and look up GFS pickups - they're all the tone of the big boys with less than half of the price! I payed all of $25USD for this baby, plus shipping. Not bad cool http://store.guitarfetish.com/
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 3:30 am
JSX Combo/ Stack
I've played these things in the guitar store nearby enough that I think it's about time that I reviewed one:
Sound: Well..... let me just say that if you want any sound at all, be it a crisp, solid clean tone at full volume, a heavy crunch at low volume, or a nice overdrive tone, this amp does it all. I mean everything(effects not included though). It's got 3 sets of tubes in it for the different settings (Clean, Crunch and Ultra). The eq on this baby is so dynamic that I can go from sounding like Jimmy Page to any moderen medal guitarist today in about 3 twists of eq knobs. It's a badass.
Features: 3 Channels, One pristine clean, one Crunchy rythm/lead type channel, and one shred channel. Each channel has it's own set of eq parameters and gain levels, as well as a fat switch. There's each a presence and reverb knob for those who want to either wash themselves with reverb or tweak the tone just to the next level.
Overall: This amp would be in my room if it werent for one thing: The pricetag. Being a full tube amp, it's got a hefty Pricetag. I'm not sure what it is in USD, but up here in Canada, the Stack is about 2200 and the combo is about 1800. Ah well. Maybe when I win the lottery eh?
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 10:22 pm
Amp: Fender ~ Deluxe
Price: around $750 (got mine for free)
Rating: 7/10
Info:
I love this amp. it has so many functions but if you dont know what your doing it can be tricky. first day i had mine it almost blew up. but once you learn what can be done with it you can get a verity of sounds out of it. It also sounds very clear.
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Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 2:03 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 8:14 pm
Fender Mini Twin Amplifier
Features: 1 watt, 2-2in Fender mini speakers. Volume, Tone, and Dive controls, as well as an on/off knob (not switch), all chicken-head knobs. Great tweed housing and vintage style fender grillecloth. Great chrome plate under the controls, too.
Sound: OH. MY. GOD. This thing knocked me out with its sound. I wasn't expecting such a powerful sound from 1 watt, but Jesus H. Christ, this thing screams when your turn everything to 11!!! Its got alot of what I would call "cone fuzz", which is basically that really FUZZY fuzz you get even when your not using a pedal. But that's okay, It's prt of the thing's sound! I'm a guy who likes to work with the sound I get from whatever I'm using at any given time. Nice saturated fuzzy when cranked, and I can even get a GREAT semi-clean blues tone with it, very snappy even when using my neck pup on my Tele, but rolling off the tone on the guitar turns it into buttah for smooth blues.
Durability: Just got the thing less than 2 hours ago, but so far I can say for sure its build more sturdy than my damn Behringer.
Overall: GREAT PRODUCT FOR $35 !!!!! Great if you love fuzz, classic crunch, and bluesy tones, but you like them to fit into your pocket (this thing litterally fits in my guitar case)
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Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2005 7:49 am
JS 100 Model Ibanez
Paid: 750 Can (Don't know how much that is in yankee coins)
Playability: This thing is wild. Unbelievable. it plays so quick and so easily that it's like you're not even playing. the small body offers little resistance, and the shorter scale allows my short fingers to get right in those chords and phrases easily. I'm having a great time with my new beaut. It's Unbelievable. My only beef is with the Floyd rose Pro bridge... it's a pain in the a** to change strings since the tuning goes all over the place and you can easily wind up killing all playability if you're not careful.
Look: Got the one with the redish finish, somewhat of a woodgrain texture(I think that's basswood, haven't checked yet). No pickguard, which is always nice for the modern sleek look of an ibanez guitar.
Sound: I plugged it in at the guitar store and I was a little dissapointed. Then I realized how far the pickups were from the strings. When I got the baby home, I shifted them up a bit and WHAM. Sound like no other guitar I've heard(except maybe satch's guitar). The really cool feature is the push pull pot for switching pickup combinations. It's humbucker-single whenever you want it, vice versa, and all you have to do is play with the pot. Amazing.
Overall: I walked into the guitar store looking to rent a mic. I came away with a guitar... funny how that happens sometimes. I guess since I had the money kicking around I figured that I had it to spend when I fell in love with this machine. It's an 11/10. easily. For the price, you can't beat it.
Edit: And it's still an 11/10 some months later... I'm getting the pickups swapped out of if to some real dimarzios... it's going to cook with an Evolution 2 in the bridge! xd
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Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 4:34 pm
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Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 2:57 am
Yeah.. I know that now.. xd
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Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 8:36 am
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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