Tronfest May 10..2014

[jimi]

Good day on Saturday, cheers to the guys who organised it.

Some sweet sweet gear on show too.

Kinda funny how things go in cycles though... few years every other person was there to show off their new ASH custom / Radian guitar. This time round, its Amps built or modded by Ryan.

So much cool gear on show this time I didn't get to check out as much as I'd have liked, though I did end up hiding outside when Steve's beast of a rig was getting cranked, trying to preserve a little bit of hearing.

Was impressed with Slowy's Tele, have heard it at gearfests before but this is the 1st time I've played it, love the neck pickup tone. JVPP's home made strat was very cool, as is his ever growing collection of Yamahas. That 70's Ibanez LP was very cool too. Grant's 335 always sounds great, especially in Grant and Bender's hands.

Its always great to hear someone else playing your own gear too, I went down there wanting to try out a few Plexi-ish pedals, DLS etc, but after having the first opportunity in a long time to crank the bellbird, and hearing Grant and Ben play through it, I'm now pretty confident I can get the tone I'm after without any pedals at all. Holy shit I left a gear fest wanting less gear than when I arrived!

[KentNZ]

I understand totally. Tone for me tends to me this most of the time...

[jeremyb]

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.

Oooh hadn't thought of this kind of thing before, I'm wanting an esquire now to play around with some ideas!!

[calling card]

Hope my strangled cat soloing/jamming with calling card snr/jnr was to painful CC

Dude you were awesome! Great day in the sunny Waikato and to catch up with ya'll. Usual wandering around in a daze through the sonic soup looking at gear and missing half of it. Highlight moment hearing the JMI ac30 do it's thing and that rack effects thing of the tonemaker's. Some good little tunes popping up. Sitting outside by the road in the sun sipping a beer...

Look at that blue sky!

[bigporridgeday]

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.

Yep, there are all kinds of different wiring schemes for that third position. Kind of a shame that tone switches are obsolete on most guitars now. There's some cool ideas and sounds in some of them. Or at least there can be with a bit of modification.

Oooh hadn't thought of this kind of thing before, I'm wanting an esquire now to play around with some ideas!!

Doo eet!

[Tonemaker]

Good day on Saturday, cheers to the guys who organised it.

Some sweet sweet gear on show too.

Kinda funny how things go in cycles though... few years every other person was there to show off their new ASH custom / Radian guitar. This time round, its Amps built or modded by Ryan.

So much cool gear on show this time I didn't get to check out as much as I'd have liked, though I did end up hiding outside when Steve's beast of a rig was getting cranked, trying to preserve a little bit of hearing.

Was impressed with Slowy's Tele, have heard it at gearfests before but this is the 1st time I've played it, love the neck pickup tone. JVPP's home made strat was very cool, as is his ever growing collection of Yamahas. That 70's Ibanez LP was very cool too. Grant's 335 always sounds great, especially in Grant and Bender's hands.

Its always great to hear someone else playing your own gear too, I went down there wanting to try out a few Plexi-ish pedals, DLS etc, but after having the first opportunity in a long time to crank the bellbird, and hearing Grant and Ben play through it, I'm now pretty confident I can get the tone I'm after without any pedals at all. Holy shit I left a gear fest wanting less gear than when I arrived!

Lol I ran outside too when Joe and Grant were having a jam, I noticed outside it sounded amazing both the JMI and the Mojave... There is no substitute for the feel and feedback you get off a amp up loud and moar speakers, very addicting..

CC the effects rack is cheap and every high quality, it's an 80's Rocktron Intellifex about 150-200 usd, I have no idea how to program it but the effects are very clean....it's a poor mans axe effect


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[GrantB]

Yes, it was great to open up the gas on the JMI. It loves working up there and I'm always impressed with the tone.

Highlights for me were;
- Ryan Amps - awesomeness abounds. I was truly, honestly impressed with the sounds from Si, Kent and Ben's gear (did I miss anyone?)
- willows Jet City was pretty impressive for a clean foundation - I'd say excellent bang for buck
- Jimi's gear sounded and played super well. The Greenstones are impressive
- Ben's tasteful playing always does it for me
- I didn't play it but tns's Gretschquire looked super cool. And sounded good when others played it
- Sustainz Epi was a well made, toneful piece
- jvpp - great Yamie's. and they made me think I may have been a little hasty all those years ago
- Danny's Strat made me sit up and listen. Those pickups are something else!
- More to come....

Once again I felt like the day slipped away without actually achieving much. I know this to be wrong but there was so much to see and hear one sort of runs from spot to spot.

Ben and I did a bit of jamming but there wasn't a climatic blues jam of epic proportions....maybe a good thing?

[KentNZ]

Slight dredge, but for the few who were aware of the untimely demise of my Pedal Power 4x4, the good chaps at NZRS are arranging for a replacement; the master transformer coil fried itself. +1 for local purchases and warranty service.

[Miza]

Slight dredge, but for the few who were aware of the untimely demise of my Pedal Power 4x4, the good chaps at NZRS are arranging for a replacement; the master transformer coil fried itself. +1 for local purchases and warranty service.

Good result!

And quite appropriate timing given all the talk about the benefits of buying local.

[willow13]

Good result!

And quite appropriate timing given all the talk about the benefits of buying local.

but he could have save $5 by buying secondhand

Matt and Dave, love your work

[bender]

If you remember Unique.... tis is his little corner...

I now have massive GAS for one of your SG Jrs Grant. Damn you!