Friday: Happy New Year (Eve)

No office work today but I'm so in the habit of not eating lunch that I'm just getting a little something to eat now before heading out for tonight's New Year's Eve shindig. It's a few slices of some of the best smoked salmon (made by the folks at Fresh Market) that I've ever eaten - and I've tried them all from the Atlantic coast in Virginia to the traditional dilled slow smoked salmon from regions in southern Russia (the same places where real caviar comes from). No cream cheese or bagels for this delicacy. Just some good fresh butter and a few green onion tops sliced lengthwise on lightly toasted slices of French bread. Other than good caviar, well made cold smoked salmon with just the right amount of herbs is my favorite decadent appetizers (or an entire meal). The other favorite, good French Brie is on the menu for tonight's get-together. Good food, good cheer and most of all, good friends are what make a New Year's Eve celebration something I look forward to each year.

On another note, I want to thank everyone who participated in discussions about any of the questions I asked over this past week. I am truly grateful for the knowledge and insight so many of you shared with me and the rest of the members. Forums like this one are about learning and at least in my case, that goal has been accomplished.

I also want to thank everyone for taking it easy on the "newbie" since not only am I relatively new to the forum and G&L guitars, but to this whole LR duty. I had fun.

Since technically, this is a holiday and not a work day, I don't think it would be too out of line if I ended this week with a semi-question and a poll. It has to do with effects or the lack thereof in your guitar to amp chain.

Of course everyone is different, with various tastes and musical preferences and from other threads I've seen a wide array of choice amps. So I'm looking for input about your favorite setup between the guitar and the amp(s) (in Darwin's case). I expect these answers will be as unique and interesting as each individual on the forum. Nonetheless, I'm curious about what others use to get the final sound they want from their guitars, either on stage or in the studio/home.

When I was in my early twenties (1990-1993 mostly) and gigging pretty often in southwestern Virginia while at school there, I had a long chain of pedals: a Sansamp, Microverb, Boss dual delay pedal, a distortion pedal (forget the brand, but either DOD or Boss I think), a wah, and octave, phase and flange pedals. I didn't always bring every one of these to perform, but the Sansamp, Microverb, delay and distortion pedals were the backbone of any gig, jam session or even just practice. I lost all of the above during a hurry-up move back home to Louisiana in time to pick up my passport and visa and move to Moscow for the next few years.

Currently, I'm not playing in public, and studio work has ground to a halt, so all my playing is at home. Depending on what I'm playing along with or trying to learn, I either use a Line 6 Pod or for the moment, at least, just a Hollier Grail reverb and I'm trying to figure out the best and shortest chain possible (e.g., overdrive and/or distortion and delay in addition to the reverb) to get the kind of sounds I want - a good grind with lots and lots of sustain. My Fender Pro Jr (which has a tremendously warm tube sound) has only a volume and tone knob. Anything else is going to have to come from preamp devices.

So please share what your choice of effects gear is and what kind of music you play that these pedals/processors help you achieve it. For myself, I have always chased a David Gilmour sound (earlier rather than later) with my more recent fascination with Mark Knopfler's sound - which I find tends to come easier on the S-500 when using the bridge-middle pickup combination along with a touch of delay and only a hint of reverb.

Once again, thank you all for your input and insight this week - and here's to a great 2011 for all.

Phillip

P.S. I'm still hoping for a volunteer for next week's LR before I have to institute the draft.

Happy new year to everyone - it's Saturday here. I love salmon - I had a beet root and dill cured one a little while back which was superb.

I'm a pedals guy, not anything crazy though. My rig for the country band I play with goes like this:

G&L - Tuner - MI Audio Tube Zone OD - Durham Sex Drive boost - Way Huge Aqua Puss delay - Mr. Springgy Reverb - BBE Sonic Stomp - Amp.

I substitute a Fuzz for the OD when I'm playing with my soul band. They all get used. The Sonic Stomp is a fantastic pedal. Incredibly subtle in its effect, but the other day I there was something missing from my sound - I looked at my pedal board and the SS was off. It stays on all the time, as does the reverb - none of my amps have working inbuilt reverb. I have a compressor on the way which will be on my board full time but will require me to buy a new power supply as mine has no outputs left.

Great topics this week Phillip. I think that a few guitar myths have been busted. Have a great NYE.

Happy New Year everyone. It's been a relaxing New Year's Day so far in the sunny south.

I'm staying with the out-laws in Tasmania at the moment, and Tasmania is the smoked salmon capital of Australia. Needless to say there is no shortage of quality salmon in the fish markets though I am yet to partake of any. I'm waiting to find the right cream cheese and bread to have with it.

I'm not much of a pedals guy. I have a Yamaha DG Stomp box that does all the effects I need - delay, reverb, some subtle chorus and a variety of overdrive sounds from subtle breakup to full drive. Usually I just switch off the drive and amp simulation functions and use the other effects straight into whatever amp I'm playing. The programming options are extensive and a little mind boggling. Darwin would love it! I tend to ignore the programming functionality and use it as a multi function stomp box.

Mark Knopfler-esque sounds are definitely in the S-500 once you switch to the bridge-middle position. But I reckon most of his sound is in his technique (as it should be). Mark Knopfler playing a tele still sounds like Mark Knopfler! My favourite Knopfler sound was on the Golden Heart album, which apparently was largely recorded using one of the Crate V series amps. I'd always imagined him using an uber-expensive boutique amp to get those sounds, so it was refreshing to hear that a 'normal' amp was able to do the job - albeit in conjuction with a vintage 50's Stratocaster and in excellent recording facilities.

The Sonic Stomp is a fantastic pedal. Incredibly subtle in its effect, but the other day I there was something missing from my sound - I looked at my pedal board and the SS was off. It stays on all the time, as does the reverb...

Great topics this week Phillip. I think that a few guitar myths have been busted. Have a great NYE.

I'll do this in reverse: thanks for the kind words. They help after a week of feeling like the "new village idiot" by comparison to the rest of you guys.

Now, just as I started reading all sorts of stuff about the Sonic Stomp because the name sounded familiar, and was weighing out the concepts and the price, I get to "Musician's Friend" and the pedal is marked as closed: "We're sorry, this product has been discontinued."

Really? Anybody else know anything about such a move? Now, I'm not bummed out because it doesn't seem to be the kind of pedal I would need with the sweet tone of my tube amp/MFD p/u combo, but I am shocked by such an announcement after reading so many good reviews praising the pedal's usefulness.

Phillip

Edit: Amazon has plenty of them, so I think it is just a matter of the series, not Sonic Stomps as a whole - I think (the announcement on Musician's Friend's website seems to be effective Jan. 1.)

I'll do this in reverse: thanks for the kind words. They help after a week of feeling like the "new village idiot" by comparison to the rest of you guys.

You're most welcome. I don't think that any of us would think of you as an idiot, village or otherwise

I doubt the Sonic Stomp been discontinued - it's only recently been given a snazzy new paint job. It's a very popular pedal amongst board members. The common verdict is that it works great with amps with a simple circuit, like tweed deluxe's etc, while it's effect on more modern amps is somewhat limited. I'm unsure how much affect it would have when playing through a POD.

I only play in a hobby band and my setup is quite basic. I go guitar -> Zonkin' Yellow Screamer Mk II -> Dan Echo -> amp. I used to only have a Fulltone Fulldrive II between my guitar and my amp. I replaced that with the ZYS Mk II about a year ago. About a month ago I dug out my Dan Echo and played around with it a bit and decided that it can sound pretty decent in my chain so I inserted it also.

If you are curious about the ZYS Mk II here's a link:
http://duhvoodooman.com/miscimages/musical/zys_mkII.htm

About the Sonic Stomp, don't forget you get a free pedal for being Lunch Reporter. Look for an email from Craig and he will tell you what your choices are; perhaps you may be lucky and the Sonic Stomp is on the list.

Sorry I did not have time to respond most days, but I enjoyed reading your lunch reports at the end of every day.

Kit

I currently have a Wah, Compressor and Boost outfront. I like my delay in the loop (currently also out front due to cable issues). Have a tuner in the tuner out on the amp. The Wah has a buffer in it, and I will be adding a ISP decimator G string to first in chain (signal tracking + a strong buffer, so signal length doesn't mean much after it), then routing it in the loop with the delay to kill the high gain hiss.

If you are curious about the ZYS Mk II here's a link:
http://duhvoodooman.com/miscimages/musical/zys_mkII.htm
...

Sorry I did not have time to respond most days, but I enjoyed reading your lunch reports at the end of every day.

Kit

Thanks for the link. An overdrive/distortion is the only other type of pedal I am looking for - and that one looks really interesting (especially the Munch painting figure on it) and all the possible tweaks.

Thanks for the back pat, too.

Phillip

Happy belated New Years all.
Sorry , but didnt get to read reporter til today.
Nice job with it.
I like pedals and have a small board.It goes EB Volume Jr,BBE Bosta Grande,Boss CS-3 compressor sustainer,DOD Ice Box StereoChorus, CMAT Mods Deeelay, Amp.

The EB Jr Volume pedal, and the Bosta Grande are the only ones that are permanant.I would like to try the Keely Compressor, and am still contemplating a different delay and OD pedal.
Also,I want a Frampton amp switcher as I like to run stereo effects with two amps when room permits.This allows me to bring out the Music Man RP 130 which has the coolest phasor effect that to me, sounds very simular to a "Leslie" effect straight from the amp.Very retro and cool.

Cheers!
Vinnyk

Getting in a little late on this...was at my in-laws all last week and driving home on Fri and Sat.

It depends on whether the amp I'm using has an effects loop...my Marshall does, my home-brew combo does not. So for the combo, everything goes in front of the amp. But with the Marshall, those in front of the amp are Wah (sometimes), Boost (generally the BBE Green Screamer), Compressor. Then in the loop are EQ, Chorus, Delay, Reverb.

When using the combo, instead of the Boost, I generally use a Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde providing OD and Distortion.

That's about all I have...well, my Reverb is a Line 6 Verbzilla, which is one of their Tone Core pedals with the swappable modules, and when I bought it they were offering a free module if you bought a pedal, so I've also got their Tremolo module that I occasionally use.