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Posted by: Ben Higgins Oct 14 2014, 07:05 PM

What role does gear play in your guitar life ?

We all need a certain amount of gear to provide our sound. We start off with whatever equipment we can acquire when we first start learning the instrument. For most of us, it was probably a small practise amp. Pedals if you were lucky ! For many years, I relied on a tiny practise amp and a fuzzy distortion pedal that would probably make my ears bleed if I heard it now ! At that time in my life, gear just provided the ability to be able to get closer to replicating the distorted sounds that I was hearing from my favourite metal bands.

Distortion was quite intoxicating to a youngster... it would be interesting to hear if it was the same with you guys ? The only gear quest that I was on in those days was something that provided even more distortion. I used to look at the adverts in guitar magazines and drool over the stomp boxes on the pages, imagining what levels of sonic brutality I could achieve with them. To me, the level of sheer saturation was an indicator of heaviness. But it's understandable... when we're younger and naive we latch on to the things which are most tangible to us.. and the ferocity of the guitar sound was equatable to a badge of honour.. the more distorted the better I thought ! How times change

As I got older and progressed into playing in bands, I began to feel more dissatisfied with my tone. All the following years involved the quest to find the tone I wanted. A story which is probably familiar to us all. I'm sure you've all treaded that path or are doing so.

So... 2 roles that gear has played so far are:

Necessity in learning / playing

Providing our ideal tone.

So let's assume that we've found our ideal tone. What further possible benefits could we get from gear ?

Well, how about inspiration ? A new instrument or piece of gear can bring out something entirely new and different to anything we'd done before. A different piece of gear can have us thinking in entirely different ways.

Is this the case with you ? Are you quite happy with gear providing your tone and no more or do you like to hunt for new toys and get excited by new possibilities ? What roles do gear play in your guitar life and have I missed any ?

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Oct 15 2014, 07:56 AM

Heh! Great points here

Ben, I for one have no need of I don't know what nifty gadgets at THIS point as my stage duties are fairly rhythmic - overdrive riffing, clean chords with some reverb and delay based themes or overdriven ones. After seeing some of my favorite bands live this year - Karnivool, Tesseract and Animals as Leaders, we started thinking that we need to get some Axe FX/ Kemper units in order to achieve that particular sound with less ruckus onstage and from the logistic perspective.

Imagine that in our situation, there are three heads, cables, three cabs and three pedalboards - we have two techs and ourselves, but still, moving from one place to another is pretty costly and complicated due to all the backline we have to carry around. So we thought that maybe if we'll use these units, we'll cut out a lot of effort in carrying stuff around and maybe cut costs with only one tech instead of two.. See, for us it's a problem that relates not only to sounding amazing but it also relates to the logistics and costs. I think that's a very important perspective, once you are a part of a band that gigs often and is also tone conscious.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Oct 15 2014, 08:47 AM

Very good points here, man... this is a great example of how the gear you use can literally make your life easier and cut the workload down and reduce physical space taken up.

If I had the means I would definitely be tempted with an Axe FX !

Posted by: Mith Oct 15 2014, 09:41 AM

The Logistics side of using something like the AxeFX is a big thing for gigging and touring bands.

Posted by: PosterBoy Oct 15 2014, 10:13 AM

I have some very good guitars that help lessen my want for more (though that desire still exists, it's down to pure lust rather than anything resembling a need) and the Axe Fx Ultra which has so much potential for different tones.

I haven't done any experimenting with the Axe Fx for a long time now, I have my set go to patches that I'm happy with for clean, crunch, high gain and solo, and some ambient ones. Maybe 10 patches all together, they also have the same set up of effects that I use, Chorus/Phaser, Flanger, Tremolo, Rotary, delay and overdrive.

I think it's now down to me to sound better not the gear.

Posted by: klasaine Oct 15 2014, 04:47 PM

My gear 'needs these days are similar to Cosmin's in that they are more logistical.
Cases, direct boxes, cables and gig bags are generally what I look for.

*I will purchase a guitar, amp, cab or pedal if it's something I've wanted that comes up at a great price.

Posted by: Ben Higgins Oct 15 2014, 06:35 PM

Yeah there's always that point where we've got to knuckle down and start putting more into our end of the deal. I think a lot of people never reach that point, or I should say they refuse to see it.. and spend their time constantly on gear acquisition.



Yep. If something does a job and it it's smaller, easier to use and makes one's life easier then I'm on the side of convenience rather than elitism.. it just makes sense.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Oct 16 2014, 05:51 AM

I LOVE GEAR!! I love trying out new gear, testing new year, tweaking new gear, I"m a gear nut.

My "personal" gear is very simple.

1.)Ibanez Guitar
2.)Eleven Rack (with foot control)
3.)Velocity 300 power amp
4.)Genz Benz George Lynch Edition 2x12.


Thats it. I can get pretty much any tone under heaven from that simple rig so I don't "need" anything more at all. Better yet, anyone can buy that rig for UNDER $1,000 U.S. (buying used like I do) and be ready to Gig, Record, Etc. with Pro Quality Tone on ANY genre under the sun from Jazz to Grindcore.


Having said that, I recently bought and sold no less than 4 separate Digitech processors stretching over 20 years of production. From the Genesis/2112/GSP2101/GNX300/GNX1, etc.in addition to a POD XT and Rocktron Chameleon and others. All of which confirmed my view that the GNX3 is the best cheap modeling processor EVER BUILT and remains unbeatable for the price despite being more than 10 years old.

What I really like now is trying out guitar sims/plugins in software. The ability of software these days is amazing and recently I've been on the BETA TEST team for the DESKTOP version of BIAS and WOW. Game Changer. So much flexibility. Like SGEAR but with more headroom and gain potential.

So in short, the question continues!

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Oct 16 2014, 08:09 AM

Those are cheaper on eBay nowadays and you only have one foot controller that takes up little space onstage plus just one cable. Now that I am using a wireless unit, I have no need to worry about cables either The only thing which I need to take care of, is get a high quality guitar cable for my wireless unit (the one going out of the guitar and into the receiver, as I've had a lot of trouble with the cable that came with the unit - very bad quality indeed..). It's weird because I'm starting to change my mind about these units - remember, I'm a tube guy

Posted by: Todd Simpson Oct 22 2014, 04:15 AM

Have you ever tried HESU cables? They are higher end cables than my usual SPECTRAFLEX choice and very sturdy. I've ordered a couple of patch cables that are on the way. I've had patch cables give me problems in the past as well. More so than regular length guitar cables. After researching it at length, it seems the overall view is that these HESU cables are built to withstand a Nuclear Bomb.

THese are the ones I got. They come in 90 degree angled plugs on both ends which is what I wanted.

http://hesu-amps.com/products/instrument-cables/black-series/

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Oct 22 2014, 08:05 AM

Hey Todd! Thank you very much for the suggestion, man!

I was thinking about ordering some cables from Spectraflex soon and I think that since they offered me the endorsement deal, I will take the opportunity and try some of their cables for my wireless. I'll let you know how it goes

Posted by: Yash Oct 22 2014, 02:46 PM

Well, I am a pretty young guitarist Been playing for around practically 2 years now, but, through the times and situations that forced me into positions in which I could not play my instrument, it pushed me into gear, because, I guess I want to be involved with it all the time. Since I can't play a guitar, I got into gear, became a gear nut kinda guy Even though I own just one low quality cheapest one available on the market Indian guitar, and right now, no amps, because they are too loud for the hostel. Even a 10 watt one. So, my gear is basically just for practicing and getting my skills up a big notch for the moment. I play my guitar through my laptop with a Behringer UCA interface unit And I get all my tones from a TH2

Now, I recently ordered a Jackson King V guitar So, that's gonna take my playing a lot better And I hope to spend a lot of time with it, no matter what others say So, the role gear has fulfilled in my life yet is - making me play, and get me into music, which didn't exist for me, literally till I was 13. I kinda despised music before that for reasons I don't remember. Because I thought it was a showoff probably

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Oct 23 2014, 10:11 AM

I know how much you have waited for that guitar and I really hope it will be what you wish for On the funny side of things, when I was in the 5th grade, I was in the music class (I had no idea about what would happen in the future, mind you ) and I started drawing a big moustache on Beethoven's and Mozart's pictures in the music manual. The teacher caught me and she was angry with me, asking me how dare I do such a foul act... I answered: I don't like music

She lives close to my house and over the years, she has seen my evolution and when we met last year at the 1o year anniversary of the highschool graduation (she taught music in my highschool too - what a coincidence, right?) she burst into tears, because we both remembered that silly happening, back in '95 Incredible, right?

Posted by: Yash Oct 23 2014, 12:46 PM

The things we think when we are little. We didn't like music !! Icredible incident Cosmin. And, were they tears of joy. I for one have never had music teachers, except you, Gab, Alex, Todd, Ben, and everyone else at GMC For us music class was a way to just roam around in school

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Oct 24 2014, 09:25 AM

Glad to hear we can make a change for you, mate Just keep it up, remember to always be patient and never stop, even if life throws some challenges along the way.

Gear is important, but it shouldn't become the most important aspect - imagine that artists such as Al Di Meola are expressing themselves fully with only an acoustic guitar sometimes. Keep this in mind as well Of course, it's a very nice acoustic, but it's just a guitar - he doesn't use a huge rack and tons of effects or pedals and all that.

Posted by: Zynicon Nov 4 2014, 02:27 PM

oh, i love my gear and i love checking out new guitars, amps and pedals.

New gear gives me new motivation and sometimes new possibilities but that doesn't mean that i have to buy new gear every year.

i started with a cheap ebay marathon strat. That guitar was horrible when i think about it nowadays.
The first amp i had was a Peavey Bandit 112. It was a nice practice amp and i started my first band with it.
Over the years i had a lot of amps: Engl Fireball, Marshall JCM800, Marshall JCM2000 DSL, Peavey 5150, Mesa Single Rectifier.
I had some Ibanez, LTD, Epiphone, BC Rich guitars.

My main amp at the moment (since 2010 and i hope for a very long time in the future) is a Diezel Einstein with a Mesa Rectifier 2x12 vertical.
My main guitars for the band are a Ibanez RGT42FMDR and a Ibanez RG7620, tuned to drop A.
I have also a Maxon OD808, Line6 Relay G30, ISP Decimator G String and a Korg Pitchblack Tuner.

My main guitar at home is a Ibanez RGR465m. I was out to buy a high end guitar (ESP, Ibanez Prestige, PRS etc) but went with the rgr, since it felt better in my hand than the other axes and responded very well. I modified it with an inlay sticker (tree of life), a seymour duncan distortion and an original floyd rose. Now its my favorite axe of all my guitars (3 Ibanez, 2 Bc Rich Jrv) and perfectly set up for standard tuning with 009-046 strings.

My practise Amp at home is a Line6 Toneport.

I always check out new gear, when i have the opportunity and i doesn't matter if it cost 500€ or 3000€.

cheers
Nico

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Nov 4 2014, 06:35 PM

Howdy Nico it seems like we share some gear:

The ISP, the Relay G30 and the pitchblack - tell us mate, what did you feel about each head that you owned, on a scale from one to 10 which would've been the most player friendly and why?

I know Mesa is not that player friendly and you need a lot of work to get used to it - how about the Diezel? I never had the opportunity to lay my hands on one..

Posted by: SpaseMoonkey Nov 4 2014, 08:09 PM

The role of gear in my life.. Hmm To go broke?

I'm like Todd, I loved buying stuff just to try it. I have owned 2 Line 6 pods, 1 Boss GT-10, some old DOD rack gear. I've owned a few different amps. Ranging from solid state to a staple tube amp. All the choices because I wanted to sound like guitarists that I looked up to. I never really did the stomp boxes, because of the multi-effects. Anymore I would like to say I've had my Kemper over a year now and I haven't bought a single piece of equipment since.

I was the same with guitars. I've gone from mid range to high end. Now I will say that I'm a hunter for the Ibanez Grail Guitars. They are cheap due to age, but are the best feeling guitars to my hands. Now I'm just into getting pickups to give each guitar a unique tone. But I am quite happy with the guitars I currently own.


Mesa, you just need to get a nice boost up front to tighten them up and they sound amazing.

Diezel, wow! If you want hi-gain, that is truly an amp that will get you there. I played on a VH4 once, it got loud fast and there was an over abundance of gain on tap at all times. Sounded amazing tho.

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Nov 5 2014, 08:52 AM

Hey Travis

I agree with you in respect to the Mesa Boogie amps - my band mates own a Road King and a Roadster so I had plenty of time to try them both onstage and in the studio and that's the conclusion we all went for - they need the boost

Diezel, hmmm, haven't tried those .. yet, but I heard only great things about them, that's for certain. Now to be frank, we are seriously thinking about getting Kempers, but it's a longshot as they are pretty expenisve. We'll live and see what happens Does yours feel natural? I mean does it really feel like playing a tube amp in respect to the dynamics and response you get when playing? What is it that you DON'T like about it? I am curious to find out more

Posted by: Ben Higgins Nov 5 2014, 10:03 AM

Do you have the opportunity to try them out anywhere ?

What about Axe FX ?

Posted by: Zynicon Nov 5 2014, 11:12 AM

I agree with SpaseMoonkey. You need a boost for the Rectifier, but then it can sound like a beast.
The JCM800 was loud as hell. It cut through the mix, like no other amp i have owned, but damn it was ear-bleeding loud.
The JCM2000 was a bit darker in the sound and better to control (volume). If i ever join a old school thrash band, that would be my choise again.
The 5150 was also a good amp, but i got rid of the sound. Its that typical modern metal wall of sound. Not bad, don't get me wrong, but i wantet something new. I traded it for the rectifier.

The most "unfriendly" amp was the Engl Fireball. It was easy to dial in a good sound but it was very compressed to my ears. i like amps that show you when you suck at playing. the only way to get better.

I am very happy with my Diezel but you have to be careful with the bass and deep level. it has tons of low end but its very tight. It has a unique sound and the only amp i would trade it for ist the Bogner Uberschall Rev Green.

The Kemper is piece of gear i would like to put my hands on. Very interesting concept!

Picture: my Ibanez Collection [The Rgr465 still with the edge 3, what a shitty floyd. Now loaded with an OFR ] and the Diezel + Mesa Cab

Posted by: SpaseMoonkey Nov 5 2014, 12:28 PM

Hello Cosmin!

I love my Kemper I believe it's helped me with my playing more than any other piece of equipment I've owned. Being a bedroom player, I don't have to worry about loudness or setting anything up at all. I just turn it on and go. As any multi-effect units, Kemper, Axe, 11R, Pods, ect, you always have your go to patches.

Some things I really liked, we all know I'm not a non-distortionist! But back when I owned a EBMM JPX and had the piezo, they came out with a few profiles for acoustic amps and it sounded really clean and clear with a bit of that wooden reverb. It really impressed me playing an electric and getting that kind of tone.

As for feel you can change that. Under the amp setting for each profile you can change the definition, how the power sags, pick, compressor, clarity, tube shape, tube bias, and direct mix. So you can do a lot with it just like the Axe FX.

What I don't like, I have no clue what all that stuff in the previous sentence really changes as a whole. I'm not a tweaker so it goes over my head. But I must say after watching what people have been doing in the band setting it wouldn't be an issue. Get the tone you want set up in a studio and profile it. Maybe a bit of light tweaking for tone at that point but not messing with all the amp/cabinet options so much.

Through a cab, I hated it on my Mesa Triple Rectifier, but thats due to the series or is it parallel fx ins/outs as it wasn't normal and it didn't react correctly it actually needs modded. I'm running some junkie Alto PA speaker and it sounds decent in my room, so no complaints. But I would love to hear it going through a tube power amp into a cab to see if it has a warmer feel.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Nov 6 2014, 03:20 AM

Spectraflex cables RAWK!!!!

Nice Ibby Collection!!!

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Nov 6 2014, 08:23 AM

Thank you for the input mate - it definitely sounds like something I need to experience myself, in order to see if it's really worth the money and effort. The problem is - we only know ONE guy who owns it here in Romania and it's not something that you can really borrow for let's say, a month, so that you can gig it, tweak it and record in the studio with it and so on.

That's why I'm saying it's a tough endeavor - the worst situation: I won't like it and if I find myself in the situation in which I actually bought it, I will have a hell of a time trying to sell it and I will also be losing some money most likely. Well... we'll live and we'll see..

Posted by: SpaseMoonkey Nov 6 2014, 03:44 PM

Oh I agree, I was looking between this and the AXE-FXII at the time. I talked to I bet 20-30 youtubers that did videos on it. They said for what I do I'd be better off with Kemper as I have the lunchbox style it resembles more of an amp. So I took the jump into getting it, I know from the past I don't mind modelers as it's more of a convenience due to I can use headphones. So it fits my long hours of jamming with headphones on. But it happens to make everything dealing with a DAW easier as well. Just drop a track, lower it a few db, toss on my guitar track and I can do anything I need at that point.

For me it was a blind jump, as you still can't walk into a store and try them around here. Makes it a little bit harder when trying out new guitars. As I enjoy amps that aren't in the area. I would like to own one of the new Mesa Boogie Mark V 25 as it does have cab clone so I could get a tube tone and really A/B with the Kemper. But unlike my past, it's more of a I'd like to just to try it. I really don't need it and I just picked up a Mark IIC+ profile that I love for leads 2 days ago. So it's pushed that want farther than closer. It has really helped me stay away from all the GAS'ing of new amps and gear.

Posted by: Todd Simpson Nov 7 2014, 05:06 AM

COSMIN: I'd have to say I think you are the perfect candidate for a KEMPER It's got the TUBE/VALVE tone your looking for in a portable, dependable, easily transportable package and can sound HONESTLY like ANY AMP ON EARTH on that amps best day.

As KRIS mentioned, the big thing to keep in mind is that people often expect the "tone in the room" from the kemper and it's producing the TONE OF THE CONE (speaker cone). However, if the KEMPER is a bridge to far and to pricey, you can get an 11 Rack for cheeeaaaap and just integrate it in to your existing rig.

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Nov 7 2014, 10:08 AM

Thanks again Travis and Todd - I don't have a problem with the cash - in my opinion, it's better to spend a lot of money ONCE on something of great quality and true value, so that it becomes a long term investment, rather than change it all the time and end up wasting more time and money actually.

I will see how I can sell my old head - the Crate and make the proverbial leap of faith In the end, if I don't like it, I will sell it and get a Peavy 6505, which I know I like for certain I am certainly looking for an amp that can deliver the goods in the band context and when recording in the studio, not an amp that just sounds good on its own - so if I have to get aquainted to the idea of not having a tone that is so easily playable, but once it's in the mix, it will sound amazing, I am willing to make it work, for certain!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Nov 8 2014, 03:41 AM

Make sure to allow for adding a power amp if needed or add a bit of extra cash if you want the kemper with the power amp built in. The rack mount kemper with power amp built in is a killer device for the simple fact that you can put it in a road case, you don't need to lug an additional power amp, and it's a kemper But they are $2,700!!! So you may be selling your old head, and wads of other gear.

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Nov 8 2014, 05:01 PM

Hey Todd! Thanks for the add-on, man!

At the end of the year, I will have some cash put aside and I don't have to sell anything to get this full powered version. The idea is to spend my money on something that will stick around and be useful for a long time Indeed, though, the idea of having a full powered unit, that won't require an extra power amp is pretty interesting. I had no clue this version is available tho! Thanks again, mate!

Posted by: Todd Simpson Nov 12 2014, 02:25 AM

BTW NICE DIEZEL!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Nov 12 2014, 08:49 AM

I've been checking it out and damn man, it looks intimidating for me with ALL THOSE DARN TWEAKS, PARAMETERS AND OPTIONS I'm having second thoughts to be honest... It's good that I have time to think things over