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I had a great time at the gearfest - thanks guys!!!

If you think of Gearfest as a Stripclub - it's a bit like this....

There are so many hot woman there that you look at one woman, watch her take her first item of clothing off, then rush to watch another woman take off her first item of clothing - and so on - you spend the whole night at the club, and as you walk out the door, you realise, you didn't get to see a naked woman !!!

There was so much nice gear at Hamilton, that in order to get around to look at everything, you could really only have quick looks. In Bender and Grant's room, the gear in there would take an entire week to go though and really have a good understanding of it all. I could have spent the afternoon just playing with willows two amps, Steves Mojave (oh yes it will be mine, it will be mine!!!) or with Simons rig (new word of the day - STEREO REVERB!!!)

As much as all the gear was cool, a fun part of the gearfests is watching progress along their 'tone quest' path. Over the last four fests, i've seen guys really make progress in this area. Whether it's a few pedals to finish things off, or a few mods to an amp, or a new guitar etc. Two guys that really come to mind are Steve and Dave. Steve has been tinkering with his mojave over the last year or so, and turned it into a monster of an amp (it sttiiiilllllll will be mine!!!.) When I first met Dave he had just got his first JC amp, and was trying out everyones speakers, next gearfest he had speakers sorted - this gearfest he had a second JC head. His setup sounded killer. When Sustainz was playing it, Dave put an attenuator onto the head, and WOW - his setup just went to a whole other level. I bet by the next gearfest he'll have it sounding even better!

I forgot to mention Kent - nice meeting you - I think your tele is one of the nicest guitars I've seen. The detail of the woodwork is just fantastic. I think you should take some nice photos and post them here.

I'm planning a telemaster build, so was trying out everones teles. Thanks to Bender for passing on all of his 'tele' knowlege. If anyone listened to me talk to Ben - they would of done an instant face-palm-plant thingie. I was trying to explain what I wanted, Ben was trying to make sense of my crazy 'sound descriptions,' and impart his knowledge. It was like we were talking two different languages. I tried to make things better by using terms I use for myself to describe pickups, like 'bell like' or '50's or '60's sounding. That made things way worse, because it seems like I have different meanings for term than all other guitarists. In the end I got what he was meaning, and have got a much better idea of what I want. thanks Ben

AiRdAd wrote:When I first met Dave he had just got his first JC amp, and was trying out everyones speakers, next gearfest he had speakers sorted - this gearfest he had a second JC head. His setup sounded killer. When Sustainz was playing it, Dave put an attenuator onto the head, and WOW - his setup just went to a whole other level. I bet by the next gearfest he'll have it sounding even better!

I think once phil got on the 22H he had me dial some stuff "out" that I have for low volumes but muddy it up a bit when louder...never really noticed until he pointed things out ... part of me hates these fest

Its funny it was almost a year to the week from getting the first JC to the second...spooky

I forgot to mention, I made a fupar of similar epic proportions to my 'what's with the two whammy bars' comment some while back.

I was playing Hamish's Tele, and I was loving the bridge pickup. I thought great, what's the neck pickup sound like, so I flicked the three position switch, and there was no sound - I played with it a bit, gave it some wiggles, turned all the knobs, moved the switch back and forth, and even unplugged the lead etc. The bridge and middle positions worked fine, but not the neck. so I wiggled and moved the switch around some more, and still couldn't get the damn thing to work. After about a minute of playing with it, I thought 'man I'd be gutted if I was Hamish,' because he'd just bought this killer guitar, and after a few weeks the wiring had crapped out - I even had thoughts of 'oh shit - I've broken his guitar!!!'

Anyway.... long story short....

I glanced up the towards the headstock, and noticed out of the corner of my eye.....

His guitar didn't have a Neck pickup!!!!!

DUH!!!!

Lol .... So funny... yes the strip club comment and the Mojave comment...lol your scaring me and I have gone into hiding lol.... that was a great surprise as well for John to pop back by and chat amp talk...

Did you bring the Carr, I didnt see it but didnt know which one it was...

Tonemaker wrote:Lol .... So funny... yes the strip club comment and the Mojave comment...lol your scaring me and I have gone into hiding lol.... that was a great surprise as well for John to pop back by and chat amp talk...

Did you bring the Carr, I didnt see it but didnt know which one it was...

i left it in the car, as I was going to give it to grant to put in 'his' room, but forgot to bring it in. DUH

AiRdAd wrote:I had a great time at the gearfest - thanks guys!!!

I forgot to mention Kent - nice meeting you - I think your tele is one of the nicest guitars I've seen. The detail of the woodwork is just fantastic. I think you should take some nice photos and post them here.

I'm planning a telemaster build, so was trying out everones teles. Thanks to Bender for passing on all of his 'tele' knowlege. If anyone listened to me talk to Ben - they would of done an instant face-palm-plant thingie. I was trying to explain what I wanted, Ben was trying to make sense of my crazy 'sound descriptions,' and impart his knowledge. It was like we were talking two different languages. I tried to make things better by using terms I use for myself to describe pickups, like 'bell like' or '50's or '60's sounding. That made things way worse, because it seems like I have different meanings for term than all other guitarists. In the end I got what he was meaning, and have got a much better idea of what I want. thanks Ben

Thanks 'Dad, likewise...

It was really encouraging to get so much great feedback on both the tele and the amp. Interesting with the Tele, too, is my thoughts with Drew (bro-in-law/builder) went a similar way - really hard to put into words just what I wanted, but in the end, he really came up trumps.

Still want that other tele, too, though. It was Slowfingers, right? Where does he live again?

And yeah, man, wasn't Simon's setup mean?! Go delays and stereo reverb!

AiRdAd wrote:I forgot to mention, I made a fupar of similar epic proportions to my 'what's with the two whammy bars' comment some while back.

I was playing Hamish's Tele, and I was loving the bridge pickup. I thought great, what's the neck pickup sound like, so I flicked the three position switch, and there was no sound - I played with it a bit, gave it some wiggles, turned all the knobs, moved the switch back and forth, and even unplugged the lead etc. The bridge and middle positions worked fine, but not the neck. so I wiggled and moved the switch around some more, and still couldn't get the damn thing to work. After about a minute of playing with it, I thought 'man I'd be gutted if I was Hamish,' because he'd just bought this killer guitar, and after a few weeks the wiring had crapped out - I even had thoughts of 'oh shit - I've broken his guitar!!!'

Anyway.... long story short....

I glanced up the towards the headstock, and noticed out of the corner of my eye.....

His guitar didn't have a Neck pickup!!!!!

DUH!!!!

The thing to remember is that it's not a Tele. It's an Esquire! If you can make that distinction, then you're well on your way to remembering there's no neck pickup!

Also, there is actually sound if you put the switch in the 'neck' position. It's just that, with an Esquire, it's run through a couple of capacitors and a resistor. As a result, the volume is a bit lower, and it's very dark sounding and mostly useless. Most people prefer to wire it so that position is more useful, but mine is meant to be a loose replica of Luther Perkins' '55 Esquire, so I went with the stock wiring.

Thanks to Dave for organizing another great fest........despite my lateness.
Yep that JC setup is pretty killer.
The one on the left ( I think your first one? ) is quite cool in the way that it's able to be dialed for different tones.
From Soldano'y high gain to a very close JCM 800.
Bonus points for cleaning up well when riding the vol knob.

The second more classically voiced JC was great & I'm bummed I missed out on Grant & Joes turn at playing thru it.
I think once you get an ABY pedal and run them in stereo, it'll open up a new kind of wow.
One set for high gain in conjunction with the lower gain more classically voiced amp filling things up is a great example of the wonders of blending.......just ask Jerry Cantrell

Oh I'm kicking myself for leaving it too late to checkout Grant's Divided by 13 amp. Def on the cards for the next one.

Great to catch up with Danny, sorry I couldn't collect your guitar, hope you understand.

Steve's Mojave sounded awesome with the new clean tones it's now capable of. Joe sounded fantastic through it with that strat
Plus it roared like an animal when given the jandal

KentNZ wrote: Still want that other tele, too, though. It was Slowfingers, right? Where does he live again?

Auckland. Where's you?

twangnsnarl wrote:
The thing to remember is that it's not a Tele. It's an Esquire! If you can make that distinction, then you're well on your way to remembering there's no neck pickup!

Also, there is actually sound if you put the switch in the 'neck' position. It's just that, with an Esquire, it's run through a couple of capacitors and a resistor. As a result, the volume is a bit lower, and it's very dark sounding and mostly useless. Most people prefer to wire it so that position is more useful, but mine is meant to be a loose replica of Luther Perkins' '55 Esquire, so I went with the stock wiring.

The women tone. Might sound ok with a heap of fuzz?

I've read that you can wire a capacitor with a fixed/cocked wah sound into an esquire. Good for a cutting mids sound. But I imagine there's no limit to what you can wire in if you did your homework.

slowfingers wrote:

KentNZ wrote: Still want that other tele, too, though. It was Slowfingers, right? Where does he live again?

Auckland. Where's you?

Panmure...

AiRdAd wrote:
I'm planning a telemaster build, so was trying out everones teles. Thanks to Bender for passing on all of his 'tele' knowlege. If anyone listened to me talk to Ben - they would of done an instant face-palm-plant thingie. I was trying to explain what I wanted, Ben was trying to make sense of my crazy 'sound descriptions,' and impart his knowledge. It was like we were talking two different languages. I tried to make things better by using terms I use for myself to describe pickups, like 'bell like' or '50's or '60's sounding. That made things way worse, because it seems like I have different meanings for term than all other guitarists. In the end I got what he was meaning, and have got a much better idea of what I want. thanks Ben

Something I have to point out is that I think entirely as a sound engineer and not a guitarist, which is why I may not be the best person to talk to...


posted from tapatalk

I beg to differ. Someone who thinks entirely like a sound engineer wouldn't have owned, or much less been so passionate about those beautiful amps you were playing.

Or perhaps I'm making assumptions about sound engineers.

TnS & AD

Your amps have been dropped off at the AmpShop this morning!
Ryan will contact you in due course.

KentNZ wrote:I beg to differ. Someone who thinks entirely like a sound engineer wouldn't have owned, or much less been so passionate about those beautiful amps you were playing.

Or perhaps I'm making assumptions about sound engineers.

I only meant in terms of my tonal descriptor vocabulary.

This is what pops into my brain when people start talking about tone (in terms of mids, highs etc)