tbonesullivan

Skin O' My Teeth by Megadeth is pretty good. It used to be used a lot on the Howard Stern show. Along a similar line, Painkiller by Priest

It seems almost like every new model has different pickup spacing. The ESP Jake E Lee models I have seen have the bridge pickup at least 1/4" closer to the neck, and the middle and neck pickups are also both closer to the neck. I watched the Premier Guitar rig rundown from before the JEL-100 was released, and he was talking about how his charvel had a "swimming pool" route because he changed pickup locations a bunch.

Ahh... I guess now I see where the inpsiration came from. Been following that build a bunch.

The charvel is great... sometimes. I am developing a love hate relationship with some parts of it. The neck is pretty small and fairly narrow, which is fine, but with the .009s on it getting any kind of palm muting is eluding me. the middle pickup being so close to the bridge pickup also is kinda annoying. I have also considered eventually getting the White / Lavender one, and then selling the "loser".

I did the "Parsons Street Pilgrimage" 3 or 4 times, can't really remember. I have one guitar that had the HRW pickups, and they always had a pickup selector with an inlaid dot on the top. My guitar no longer had it, but Ren had a few left, so he gave me one. I also know a few of the workers who were there, and one named Katie, her father had worked at the factory as well, and during the event she met a guy to look at and purchase his "F-style" heritage mandolin. She already had an "A-style", but this would have completed the set. I think it was also signed by all the workers at the time on the certificate, which is something they would do sometimes, so her late father's name was on the case candy. All the Gibson / Heritage people there took a look at it. I took a bunch of pictures in 2014, and the first picture is Katie (lower right holding the certificate). Second is Ren lookin at the Mandolin, and third is Ren with people that were playing acoustic stuff over at "the bridge". I think Ren may still play out sometimes in Kalamazoo, and maybe his son does too? It's been a while

Honestly, I had been pretty much on the ledge waiting for an "Open Box" JEL-20 to show up when the JEL-50 was announced. The only real reason I went with the 50 was so that I could use some SED Winged C EL34 tubes that I have. I've got a matched quad from earlier and two matched sets from when Mesa was selling them. They are great tubes, so this will be where they end up. Definitely better than throwing them in a Mesa Stiletto or Royal Atlantic. I mean I love those amps but they don't have quite the mojo that the JEL does. When I bought my Avatar 2x12, I remember the M65 Fanes being listed as on closeout along with the higher wattage version they made, but now they seem to have decided to keep offering them. People really seem to like them as an alternative to the Celestion M65 Creambacks. I just have no life, never take vacations, don't really drink or go out much. I have been buying and selling gear for around 20 years now so I've been selling off a bunch of old stuff to get some funds. I'm also always on the hunt for open box deals or great used stuff. Like when I got the JEL-50, I got $400 off because it was open box. Not a spot / scratch on it. OHHHH BOY. Also get ready to get in line. I wonder how many people who just got Friedman amps for Christmas are boxing them up to return after that announcement. I personally don't think I'll ever want another "Marshall" style amp than what I already have, especially now that I've got a JEL-50.

Oh wow! I've been up to the Heritage Factory a few times and met Ren. He's truly a treasure trove of information. Did you talk shop at all? He used to do special rewinds of Schaller Golden 50 guitars for Heritage, which were called HRW pickups. There's disagreement over whether it means "Heritage Re Wind" or "Heritage Ren Wall". I have a guitar with them, and they are definitely good pickups, very articulate, and I like them a whole lot more than Golden 50s.

Those are incredible guitars, and I don't know if Heritage has any plans to make that type of guitar in the future. In that era the tops were hand finished and tap tuned. If someone is looking for a fantastic archtop acoustic, that will fit the bill.

I also don't understand it either. They are supposed to be "like" the Steve's special, which also seems to be somewhat mythical pickup. But you can get a brand new Steve's special if you want, so I don't quite get it. Was there some famous player who used the P3s?

I did a little digging: The Yamaha RM-Pro II Tremolo is a Floyd Rose Licensed tremolo where you don't have to remove the ball ends of your strings. I saw something about it being a "single locking" tremolo, but there are definitely locking blocks at the top, so I believe it is a dual locking design. The second row of hex bolts appear to be for adjusting the intonation, so they are like "the key".

Holy crap. I forgot about those even though I OWNED ONE. It was a nice guitar. I'm trying to remember why I didn't bond with it. I can say however that is was one of several guitars that really convinced me that I don't really like the sound of split humbuckers, except when it's combined with another split humbucker. My PRS can split both pickups, but I only like it when it's in the center position.

It's got the same series effects loop that is on the other Friedman amplifiers: "Ultra-transparent series effects loop handles your time-based effects pedals and rack units." I believe it is line level, but it's supposed go be VERY good. The information for the amp also definitely makes a big point of how well it takes pedals. I do have an effects unit and was going to see how well it worked with it once I really learn how to dial it in.

Definitely! Constructed like tanks and very well thought out. Like how the "Plex" amplifier solves so many issues with the OG Plexi with the internal jumpered channels, post Phase Inverter master volume, and the built in variac which also rebiases the power tubes.

Does it bark? Yes, yes it does indeed, and it is full of KERRRAAAANNNGG. Classic Marshall tones from the 70s and 80s, done right. I had been thinking about a Friedman, particularly the JEL-20, for a long time, before this one was announced. As I have a good stock of SED EL34s, and wanted a bit more "thump", i decided to go for the larger wattage example. There were a bunch of pretty much brand new returns, so I saved a bit and picked one up. Cabinet is an Avatar contemporary closed back with two Avatar M65 speakers by FANE. I did not expect to bright switches to have such a huge impact on the sound, especially at lower gain levels. Gonna get to know it a bit better, and then swap in some old production glass into V1 and V2. Also gotta change the strings on the guitar to 9.5 or 10 gauge, as 9s feel like noodles to me. As it is, channel 1 is pure plexi style, and it's got the three way bright switch, which is almost like a gain control at lower gain levels. With it to the right I think it's the same as an OG Plexi, which is quite bright, though I don't have confirmation on that. In that setting it's hard to even get a clean sound, but with the bright switch in the left, or the center where it's the least bright, it's got a great clean sound. As you up the drive you get more dirt, and I think even near the highest gain levels you still get a good amount of extra bite with the bright switch to the right. With the gain fully dimed you're definitely a bit past AC/DC level gain, but if you want the real "plexi" sound you do need to get the master up above 5. However per Pete Thorn, Dave Friedman designed the amp so it isn't as woofy at lower master volume levels, so it still sounds good. Channel 2 is the JCM 800 style channel, and serves that up just right. The bright switch is also quite useful at lower gain settings, but once you get above 7 or so you can barely tell it's on. I'm not sure if it even makes a difference when you pull out the boost on the lead gain, but I think I can hear a change. The gain is usable throughout the entire range, and pulled and pushed are kinda like two different voicings, so there's a lot of ability to customize the sound using the pull gain and the bright switches. The presence and thump in the back are great as well, though they are more something I would set depending on the room I'm in, or the cabinet I'm using. And speaking of that, this is the first time I REALLY got to put some volume through the Avatar cabinet with the M65 speakers as well, and I can say they are definitely some really nice speakers. I'm fairly certain that Avatar pretty much asked Fane to make some Creamback style speakers, but they definitely have their own voice. Nice and crunchy with a lot of definition. I'm going to make that my standard cab for a while, and hopefully break them in a bit more.

I really wish Ibanez would break out the old logo more often. That style of bass is really popular now. "Vintage" is in. They make some great strat style guitars, but only a few signature models have a "noodle" style logo, and it's also not as stylized as the old 70s logo.

I've never really been one for excessive bling. Yes, I do own and have owned some really "fancy" guitars, but that's only because it was the only way they really came. Right now, for the first time in a LONG time, I have a BLACK bass in my stable. Just, black. Sure it has fancy inlays and binding on the fretboard, but the body is just black. I like the look so much I'm almost thinking of giving up on a "Fireglo" Rickenbacker 4003 and just getting a black one, so I can truly be a Geddy Lee Fanboy. A lot of this may come from having been a carvin fan for years, and watching people sink untold amounts of money into upgraded tops and inlays, which had zero effect on the sound and playability of the guitar. This also had zero effect on RESALE, so they were essentially throwing money away, yet they did, and continue to do so. OF course, plenty of people are still shelling out lots for custom covers on Mesa amplifiers, so I guess people will always love to spend money for something special.

OOPS. Already fell victim.

I guess they really wanted that distressed look on the pickups. If it had been my guitar, I would have just put some TV jones in it. Sure I wouldn't have had the option of having pickups that look like they were left out in the rain, but at least they wouldn't clash so hard with the existing gold hardware.

Merry Christmas! And now begins the OPEN BOX DEAL season.

You can see in his face that he's betting getting non-stop messages about the damn thing since it was announced. I follow his instagram and he was trolling people with pictures of the IIC+ with totally weird settings two days ago. I am not a huge fan of his style of music, but his videos are definitely very well done, and entertaining.

Ahh, and now finally the video has dropped that made all the whiny people shut up. I should mention that it originally did not say "boomer amp", but that was added as a tongue in cheek thing later.

It's a great intro. Sadly the drummer from the movie and subsequent albums/tours passed away a few years ago, but by all accounts lived a great life. Never knew that Ric Parnell's father was Jack Parnell, a jazz drummer who was also the actual Musical Director for the entire original run of The Muppet Show, which was shot in the UK.

What? No BIG BOTTOM by Spinal Tap?

I love Bohlinger's interviews, and I love his demos. He's just someone who REALLY loves guitar, and is always happy about it. Definitely a breath of fresh air. I mean, if you want someone to go and get rig rundowns, you want a good player who is also really nice and a gearhead. He fits that perfectly. I also love watching Pete Thorn's stuff. He also loves so much about guitar, and honestly I never REALLY understood how a treble booster worked until watching his video on them.

Yeaaaap. With the IIC+ being unobtanium, I think people really didn't realize what it was really like. At the time, when the Mark III came out, people bought those. I wouldn't be surprised if a fair number of people sold their Mark IIC+ amps because having a third mode was useful, especially if they got it modded to have an R2 Volume on the rear. And then when the Mark IV came out, it had an ACTUAL clean mode that didn't influence the lead channel. And it seems like the only people who consider the R2 channel on the Mark IV to be "useless" are the super metal heads. They either want crystal clean, or ultra gain. From what I've seen, it also seems like many of these owners, who never had an original IIC+, didn't bother to read the manual, at all, or pay attention to the "classic" settings. They also seem to have zero understanding of microphonics. Tonight I'm gonna break out the Mark V and make some noise. I think my favorite channel on that is actually channel 2. The best description I heard of the modes is EDGE = Plexi. CRUNCH = JCM800, and Mark 1 = Santana. Once I get done amp downsizing, a Mark IV B is going to be top on my list.