Kelvin's Guitar/drums stuff and JV Squier refurbishment thread.

KelvinS1965

Maybe you're right KungFuPro as there is no news on it being ready yet, but I don't want to rush him. I'd rather it comes back done properly and as you say it'll last for years.

I've kept myself busy sorting out my Epiphone's fingerboard/truss rod/action and similar on my Squier Telecaster. Both are playing even better than previously now that the action is nice and even all the way up the neck.

I've also bought a neat little 5 watt all valve amp to take to rehearsals: It will fit in the boot of my Z3 and I can lift it without straining my back unlike my Line 6 and it can plug into the PA if I find the output isn't enough to compete with the drummer and the other guitars. I compared it to a few other similar amps including a Marshall, but for once I preferred the cheaper option and for some reason the shop had the otherwise identical white version for £70 less than the black one, so £279 instead of £350. I hadn't gone out to find a white amp (seems a bit odd TBH) but it's kind of grown on me and of course sounds the same as the black one which is what matters.

Pictures:

hyperfish

So, it's been a month. Any news Kelvin?

KelvinS1965

Saw him last week; mine is next in the spray booth queue as he's been busy making (from scratch) a guitar for a certain Mr Marvin. He's also been fitting a new nut and doing a set up on my Epiphone LP over the weekend while I've been away, so at least I should be able to pick that up today or tomorrow.

KelvinS1965

I got the Epiphone back with the new nut and proper set up; it plays great now, in fact better than ever. He filed the saddles on the new bridge I'd fitted recently to set that up properly too and only charged £30.

Last weekend I changed out the pots, capacitors, switch and jack to resolve all the crackles, pops and poor connection with the lead. I bought the 'proper' CTS pots, orange drop capacitors (0.022uf) and rewired it as it was (ie modern style). I might try swapping to the 50's style wiring to see how I get on, but for now it's much easier to control the volume against the amp and I'm sure it sounds a little brighter. Next step is some new pick ups as this is supposed to be a weak point on the Epiphones and mine are quite microphonic; a pair of Gibson 57/57  is likely to be the choice. Since I've had it 18 years and even with all the recent work (about £100 including the set up) it still doesn't owe me much.

Today (as per another post) I received some different valves for the Blackstar HT5-R amp to try to sort the rather abrupt gain adjustment on the drive channel. I swapped the 12AX7 (gain of 100) to a lower gain 12AT7/ECC81 (gain of 60). It has worked a treat and now the drive channel can be turned down to a clean setting, or a fraction higher for a just on the edge tone. It doesn't seem to have spoilt the full gain sound as before it was saturated at 9-10 o'clock position, now it's more like 2-3 o'clock. The clean channel is a little quieter of course, but still loud enough for home/recording use.

In practice I think I'll tend to use the drive channel set clean and then use pedals to overdrive it. The HT5-R only has a simple 'tone' control on the clean channel, but the drive channel has 3 band EQ plus an 'ISF' control (nothing to do with video calibration ) which sweeps between 'British' and 'American' tones. It means I can dial in a really nice clean tone with my Tele or Epi LP then hit the OD pedal (or just turn up the amp gain more) for more classic rock tones.

Speaking of over drive: A certain green box arrived this afternoon; an Ibanez Tube Screamer TS808 reissue. I wanted one some 30 years ago and couldn't afford it at the time, so bought a different cheaper 'fuzz' pedal. Some say that the reissues aren't quite the same as the original version, but having just played with both Tele and LP trying it out it's as good as I remember...even I sound a bit like Hendrix on the Tele's neck pick up doing my best 'Little Wing' solo (can't wait to try it with the Strat). A genuine 80s one secondhand could have cost £300-400 by all accounts and would no doubt be chipped and scuffed (terrible OCD I have ), so I'm happy with the reissue. For the money I've saved I'm going to put a decent pedal board together with some genuine older 80s pedals I already have: The matching Ibanez PT909 phase tone, Boss CE-2 Chorus and a  late 1960s Jen (made in Italy) Cry Baby (I need to check it out as it might need a new pot), plus some other cheapy plastic delay and compression pedals that I will gradually replace with better sounding ones.

Sorry for the long ramble: I can't do much due to a trapped nerve in my back and I've played my guitar so much the last few days (3 hours rehearsals last night with the band too) that my fingers are sore. I'll take some photos and add to this thread (which I probably need to rename as 'Kelvin's guitar stuff thread' or similar   ).

PS. No news on the Strat as yet...

KelvinS1965

Still no news on the Strat yet, but lately I've been playing drums at rehearsal with the band I'm in as the existing drummer just never turns up. I've also swapped over to playing electronic drums at the college class I go to (I still learn each new song on guitar too, but in my own time). I haven't played for over 25 years, but seem to have picked it back up OK, I was self taught on the kit but I was trained on the snare drum when I was in a Military band many years previously.

So after starting off looking at the £500 electronic kits the budget crept up and up (as it does ) but I settled on the Roland TD-15KV which has much better mesh heads (they feel more like acoustic ones to play) and it uses a proper high hat stand. That way I hope to be able to transfer to the acoustic kit at the rehearsal room without too much trouble.

I'll take some pictures once I get the kit set up, but here's a generic one from Roland for now. (I couldn't take it away today as I'd gone in my Z3, so I'll go back tomorrow to collect it).

                                                                       

KelvinS1965

As I had time to think over night I started reading up about the next model up...so this afternoon I went in and changed the order to a TD30K instead of the TD15KV. The different parts individually would have cost close to £2k extra to change later (less whatever I could get for the old bits). However, having been there before with this sort of thing (AV speakers for one ) I decided that it would be cheaper in the long run to go for the '30 now.

It has a better snare pad with positional sensing (it's even more realistic than the '15KV pad to play). A better 'brain' with much more in depth editing of the sounds. A better bass drum pad (much more like an acoustic bass drum to play) and an extra crash cymbal. While there is an even more expensive model with a further upgraded snare and high hat and extra tom toms it uses the same 'brain' so there's no reason why I couldn't add the better snare later and recycle mine as an extra floor tom tom.

The only thing is that it's a bit bigger than the TD4/11 kits I showed my OH when I first started looking. It's a bit much in the living room, but the plan is to use it in the conservatory in winter as we don't go out there much. For now I'll have to put it away in various places when not in use.

                                                                               

                                                                       

KelvinS1965

Well since the full kit is a bit much to leave up all the time, I bought a separate snare stand today so I can leave a 'lite' version set up in on of our smaller spare bedrooms. That way I can practice anytime I feel like without having to set the whole kit up. Just ordered 4 x stereo 1/4" jack leads from eBay so I can make up a little loom so I can use the 'brain' as well if I want to hear the proper drum sounds rather than the pads alone.

I played on the acoustic kit at the rehearsal room on Friday and the TD30 is close enough that it didn't take long to adapt to the feel of it. A different story at the college evening class I go to as their e kit is really different and quite off putting after playing the '30 at home, so I'm rethinking how I'm going to go about learning more.

Hoping to get round to adding some 'live' drumming to some of my 8 track recordings soon too, though I need to find a way to get the recordings off this old 'zip drive' recorder once mastered to stereo.

                                                                               

PS: The Strat is supposed to be ready in about 2 weeks time.

Marshall Mike

The white Blackstar looks pretty cool, haven't seen one of those before. Did you upgrade the stock pick ups on the Epi?

KelvinS1965

I've been lent a DiMarzio pick up from one of my band mates which I've put in the bridge position. It's definitely clearer than the standard Epi one, but I can't fully raise it up to the strings without modifying it so it's not as loud as it could be. I'm thinking in terms of Bareknuckle 'Mules' or 'Emerald' pick ups eventually, but got a few other things to sort out outside of AV/guitars so will have to wait.

I tried the Epi/Blackstar into a 4 x 12 Marshall cabinet at rehearsal on Friday. It sounded great,with a much richer bottom even and a decent clean sound too, though a bit like using a Mini to pull a HGV trailer I suppose. I haven't room for a 4 x 12 at home, but now I know how it sounds I might do some recording using the rehearsal room one.

Still no word on the Strat; I don't like to rush him but it's been longer than I expected: It was '2-3 weeks' about a month ago...

Marshall Mike

I wonder what speakers were in the Marshall cab, if you knew you could buy a 1x12. I have an orange 1x12 with a V30 and tried it with a couple of 1 watt Marshall's, orange dark terror and a H&K tubemeister 18. Every single one of them sounded amazing so I knew it was the right one for me I might even buy another to create a mini-stack lol