The Jam Room Blog Thread.

[mortlock]

what is the etiquette on tipping your guitar repair tech. i recently took a bass in for some work, he is not a friend, just a local guitar tech with a great reputation that works out of a local music store. i am paying full price for his services. its it customary to tip these guys or is it not expected?? please help, im supposed to pick up the bass tomorrow. not that it matters but the bass was promised about a week ago but he didnt get to it as promised.

[AgentofOblivion]

I wouldn't tip unless he did a great job or hooked me up in some way.

[RAGER]

I don't think tipping is the norm and I'd bet he isn't expecting one.  I mean he works for musicians.  Most of which aren't exactly affluent.  Tip if you want I guess but I probably wouldn't.  Just like you don't tip your mechanic normally.

Whenever I use my card at a store, I'm always surprised there isn't a tip line.  I think I spend too much time in bars.

[Mr. Foxen]

Even expecting musicians to pay up for work I've done on time sets me up for disappointment.

[black aspirin]

New things learned:

Using the high-pass filter on certain tracks is quite useful in getting rid of the muddiness of some of my recordings.
Using Multiinspector to see where the dominant frequencies are helped me to adjust tracks accordingly with EQ, and made a huge difference.
Some panning of different tracks helped them to be heard better in the mix.
Using the limiter on the Master was quite useful.

[Jake]

Out stupid tipping culture is completely out of control. For servers who make less than minimum wage, I understand. But for most anything else, I totally hate it.

[liquidsmoke]

[MichaelZodiac]

Al's new digs. Did anybody see their Albuquerque or Denver set? Racer? How did it sound?

[RacerX]

Al's new digs. Did anybody see their Albuquerque or Denver set? Racer? How did it sound?

That was a seriously badass set. The tones were mighty, and the overall mix was excellent. This was the best sounding "loud band" show I've ever attended at the Sunshine Theater. They've put a lot of sound-deadening material up since the last one (Celtic Frost), so that may be the reason. Didn't catch an ear spear all night.

Performances were stellar, & Pike's white LP Supreme looks to be about 3" thick. They played most (maybe all) of Dopesmoker, but broke it up into movements. Also played material from Holy Mountain.

Al looks like a mad monk up there. Tune is zooming along at about 15 bpm, and his head is jiggling back & forth at 120 bpm. I'll assume that's his internal metronome ticking. It can be hard to keep time if you're counting in 3s or 4s at that slow of a pace...

[Jake]

Saw the Denver set. Spectacular. All of Dopesmoker, three or so new songs, and some choice cuts from Holy Mountain.

Al didn't use the guitar part of the double neck for anything besides feedback swells, it seemed. Also spectacular.

[dogfood]

Jake, I got to thinking about the profile of my 77lp custard neck after I had done posted the words that it was chunky an it seems on further review that it is a sort of mid 70s generic medium profile.  See, I got a 90somethin lp junior and it most definitely has a 60's profile and anything next to that seems, well, chunky.  Was just on my mind.

[Danny G]

So I recently had my stricken-for-several-years Acoustic B200H brought back into service after spending $30 on a tech and a blown solder joint...

I used it once in a rehearsal and it kicked major ass!

Then used it at a gig and struggled half the night with it causing the speaker cable to constantly be spit out the back of the cabinet.

Added a Speakon jack to the back of my cabinet, I thought problem solved. Used the cab with my SVT for a gig with not problems whatsoever (even the SVT started doing the spitting-out-of-the-speaker-cable thing).

Tried the Acoustic the very next night, and as soon as I turned it on (set to a modest volume level, no less) every time I hit a note there would be a fraction of a second of sound, then the signal would cut out completely and be replaced with an angry ticking sound from inside the amp.

Well fuck fuck fuck fuck.

I wonder if the speaker load constantly being on/off during the aforementioned problematic gig damaged the transformer?

Or if it is just a cheap piece of consumer-grade garbage that I'd be better off throwing off a bridge than spending another cent on repairs for...

Cause God Damn, it sounded great the brief time it worked. But I don't have it in my budget to repair it again, much less buy a useable backup.

Now I am again down to only an SVT with tubes that are getting VERY tired... FML

[jibberish]

danny, good news and bad news. solid state amps are immune to any high impedance monkeyshines. anything from rated ohms to infinity is cool(open circuit)
so the good news is that unloading the amp has no effect, which would absolutely destroy the outputs on a tube amp

bad news. you still don't have an amp working. my vote is for sloppy tolerance components/cheapo construction that is going to be a whiney bitch forever

funny. I was considering buying that rig from craigslist for $200. the dude has had it listed for a while now..so I keep thinking about it
maybe I should buy it now and see wtf is inside that little head. I sure had fun with the combo version that I bought for my nephew for 15minutes and my schecter.

edit: btw, I believe the "plays for a second" means the outputs are OK. you have a power supply weakness, or intermittent short/open/weak component in some key power related area, or a flat out short somewhere.   caveat: outputs are now IC's often, so there could be power related failure within the IC which technically is the outputs, but not specifically the output section.
I would have to look inside one or at the schematic to see what they use for outputs.

btw,  if the output was fried, it would be incapable of reproducing music at all for any amount of time

edit: what if the jack was shorting the speaker outs on its way sliding out of the socket. now that can raise hell with SS outputs. too much current =overheat=failure or partial crippling of the semiconductor matrix which weakens the junction overall and changes performance parameters. one of which could be excessive current draw or heat production now that it is half fried...or a ton of other similar types of issues

[Danny G]

I'll pull the chassis and take some pics, and try not to smash it with a hammer in the process.

Few things boil my blood like faulty gear.

I saw a GK 400RB-II used at Guitar Center for $179 a week ago. Guess I should have grabbed it. But again, it's consumer grade... and used.


Sent from a can on some string using Tapatalk

[MichaelZodiac]

Those newer Acoustics are nice sounding but quality can be an issue as you have noticed. GK on the other hand is nice sounding and doesn't break down easily in my experience.

[jibberish]

hey chief, IDk if a pic will help. you definitely could just give it a real close look over in good light.  look for burned areas, lifted traces, really nasty smells. electrolytic cap guts reek when they burn up.unmistakable smell, cold solder joints, solder slop jumping traces or donuts, an actual broken component. a physical look-see

beyond that, you need to trace the signal through the circuit and measure test points. a tech manual is really cool for that. and you would have to know your way around a bit to wing it by finding the different sections and guesstimating where supply/bias/I/O voltages should be.  that cant be done except in person by someone who been there done that. that wouldn't be me either. I need some test points beyond IDing basic sections.
even a weak power supply can help destroy things and make the whole circuit act squirrely, so you really cant eyeball that crap.

I was looking for that 2000 stack on craigslist. it might be gone. wtf. look at it for a month, then the day I kick around pulling the trigger on it, it is gone. kiss my ass. fuckers.
there is a nice carvin b100 whatever for $300. I like carvin shit. that would be a nice 100w amp because you can drop it all the way down to 25watts. not on the priority list tho.

if I was buying a bass rig today, there is a GK 700w 4x10 stack right down th street for $450
http://cleveland.craigslist.org/msg/4274924280.html


edit: haha mz, that was a great thing to read while I posted this GK rig that strikes my fancy

[Danny G]

Re: build quality if the new Acoustics, yeah the direct out on mine went out shortly after getting it and having to bring it into service on the road as my svt was having some problems at the time.

I didn't see it as a problem as it sounded like ass anyway.

I'll poke around on it today and see if anything obvious.

Just sucks as I'm limited in the wattage I can use, my Dietz has 400w worth of speakers in it.

Used to have a Fender TB-600 which I was very pleased with but had to sell when I got the Dietz. The TB had already blown out 600w worth of speakers in my Isovent cab, which is still empty and disassembled in my storage unit...


Sent from a can on some string using Tapatalk

[Danny G]

So I noticed last week my Paul Stanley Iceman, which I did some rewiring on, was also having some intonation issues when using it in Ocean of Stars rehearsal.

D standard tuning, had just put on new DR 11-50 gauge strings.

Intonating it tonight, sure enough D string was way out of whack. But after moving the saddle as far forward as it could go, it still wasn't even close. Hmmm...

In years past I had a similar issue with the A string. Even changed out strings and same fucking deal. That particular issue dealt with a batch of faulty A strings..,

Taking a cue from that, I swapped out the D string with one from a different set. PROBLEM SOLVED and crisis averted.

I've had that guitar since 1996 and have been tempted to smash the damn thing many times over the years.

Luckily I didn't smash it this time. Crisis averted for now


Sent from a can on some string using Tapatalk

[liquidsmoke]

I put a different bridge piece on my Scroll the other week because the one that came with the guitar was basically junk and one string was way off like that. Nothing seemed to help so I loosened the string tension way down, made a massive adjustment, and then tightened it back up and then only needed to do a minor saddle fine tuning and it was right on. This may be completely wrong but sometimes it seems like saddles carry a lot of tension during intonation adjustments when the strings are tight even when the saddles are moving okay. They sure are easier to move when you ease the pressure off by downtuning a bunch first. I also bought some lube which is nice. It loosened up a stubborn fucked up bridge screw.

[jibberish]

the A on my les paul studio was way out of whack from the  fibsome fagtory. the saddle is all the way up on that string. thank crom it dialed in right at the very end. I remember I was very frustrated when that guitar was new.

I sure as fuck learned a huge lesson from that. now along with general action, buzzy frets and weird twists in the neck, I always octave all the strings after comparing the open with the 5th fret on the next lower once that is dead nuts in tune.

"We won't get fooled again"


Oh No
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I cannot figure out best buy. I went up there to grab a sound card because the stupid fucking factory too friendly for retard use but impossible for anyone else to use(breath) fucking stock sound chip cant listen and play at the same time. fuck u asus.

all I wanted to do was rip foxen's epic 20min creepy song.
in the past , since the dawn of whenever maybe win 98 soundblaster could do that, I never gave it a second thought. if I can hear it, audacity can record it..or so I thought.

ANYWAY...I look at a couple online, and go down to best buy. the place looks like it is half going out of business. I rummage all around and find 2 soundblasters. one was the $99 LOOKING one I kind of wanted but it had no price and no place on the shelf, and the other was older with an extra aux line in(key feature) says it works with win 8 ok. was $62 or something. so I ask the dude for a pricecheck, he double takes and then double checks...he's like "damn, $39, yeah was $99"... i'm like "cool, just for yucks, whats the price the other one"
he comes up with $23...I just grabbed them both , I got change back from 3 20's.

I also played around with all the tablets. those are soooo sexy.   what an amazing control interface one of those will make too. sooo touchy feely heh. yeah. sweet.

then I looked at the super hi def sony TV. it is an LED, but it has a nice glass front and HOLEEEE SHIII-THUH the hi def promo reel they had running...I almost sold my soul on the spot..i had to run away.  until further notice, that LED is better than the plasmas.  the other regular led tvs all look like you are looking through an acrylic aquarium vs glass. slow refresh, that faint hazy smear. fuck that shit. it was making my eyes water.  LED's really do blow when you can see side-by-side comparisons.
one good look will fuck you up from regular LED's forever YOU BEEN WARNED

[Lumpy]

So Disco Rice has been playing guitar for my noise band (duo). We already played a show in December, and we have another one at the end of January.

"But Disco Rice is a drummer" I hear you say.

Exactly.

[jibberish]

excellent.   that news made my fucking day.   back atcha!!!


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my internet is having troubles.  I really do not care for those times when the ISP is squirrely. not at all.
they need to get this shit fixed. the 3rd call is going to be a nasty one if I have to make it.

[VOLVO)))]

Disco Rice loves offset fenders

[RacerX]

Noise is all about drummers hitting things other than drums.

He should fit right in.

[Lumpy]

Ernie Ball has great customer service... I've bought 2 volume pedals on Ebay where the previous owner removed the rubber feet and added velcro.

Ernie Ball has sent me replacement feet... twice... for free. For pedals I bought second-hand. They don't even ask for postage.

Plus I really like their volume pedals, for the price.