Birthday present.

What is it? Got a bigger pic? I can't make out much about it.

It's a Gibson Les Paul 1968 re-issue. I will try and take a better pic.

My Taylor 712ce. Bought from a bloke who bought it at a music shop in Dubai from another bloke behind the counter. Great tone. Best six string I've had.

guy I know works at a studio and we were recording some guitars and there were a few beauties that had been left around that we were allowed to use.

Bought a kitset strat and set to work:

• wired the tone pots as treble (upper) and bass (lower) masters
• replaced the bridge pickup with a splitable hotrail - push/pull on the lower tone pot
• reversed the phase of the middle pickup - push/pull on the upper tone pot
• copper lined all the cavities, except the vibrato (tremolo) cavity at the back, of course
• painted it and put my own logo (FF-ES stands for FF-evil sash. :lux: ) on the headstock.

All the rewiring gives it 10 tones:

1. bridge unsplit
2. bridge split
3. bridge unsplit + middle in phase
4. bridge unsplit + middle out of phase
5. bridge split + middle in phase
6. bridge split + middle out of phase
7. middle
8. neck + middle in phase
9. neck + middle out of phase
10. neck

First song I played on it - Glad All Over. What else could it be?

Hello all

I’ve got a bitthday present due... not especially well off, but I’m looking at treating myself to a multi effects unit. Any recommendations?

I mostly use a US standard Strat (no mods) and a back up Epiphone Les Paul. Amps are a 90s Fender Performer 650 and I’ve got a Boss Katana 50 for home practice.

I’m looking at forming a classic punk covers band, but I like every style of music (except modern pop) so something versatile and easy to set to different styles would be great.

I’ve never been a gearhead and only have a Blues Driver, a DD3 and a Cry Baby, so effects are something of a mystery. Any suggestions and thoughts on mini pedals would also be appreciated. Any good? What do you lose compared to the full versions?

cheers

Tony, your Katana should have quite a few effects built in. Is there anything specifically that you're not getting from that, or that you would like a more flexible version of?

For classic punk you shouldn't need much more than an amp and a Rat. Maybe a subtle phaser (Steve Jones used one).

There are a lot of multi effects boxes. Would you want to get overdrive from it or just modulation and delay? A cheaper unit is a good idea for starters. The small Zoom ones are still highly rated and a Line 6 M5 is versatile. For more money look at Keeley, Source Audio, Strymon, Eventide etc.

Thanks Foetus. I think I'd prefer to use my Fender and keep the Katana for home use (so mentioning the later was probably a bit of a red herring).

It would be interesting to know what other people choose and why? My issue with my guitar playing has always been that I see guys live who don't seem to be doing anything I can't do, but they always seem to sound immense and I ... don't.

I don't want to be stomping on too many buttons or fiddling with too many settings (have enough trouble concentrating on the strings :supergrin:) so a couple of reasonable pre-sets to take me from Sonic Reducer to something like early Cure or even a classic U2 echo would be handy. If two pedals will do rather than an all-singing/dancing wonderbox then great.

On your suggestion, I had a look at Strymons, etc (terrifying prices and an equally terrifying array of knobs and buttons!!), but for the cost of a Rat and a phaser, then possibly a Boss GT1 or a Zoom G3n, maybe?

If its simplicity you're after I would recommend looking at a few individual pedals. The multi effect units offer a lot of options but some have quite deep menus and a learning curve. Whereas something like a distortion box (Rat, SD1) and an MXR phase 90 require minimal effort to sound good - less time bending down fiddling with tiny menus, more time playing.

Loads of good buys second hand on ebay. Also, the cheap Chinese brands like Mooer are good value.

Will you be getting your overdrive and reverb sounds from your amp? A decent delay from TC Electronic / Boss / Digitech will cover lots of sounds.

A simple starter pedal collection could be - tuner : distortion : modulation (phaser, flanger, chorus) : delay : reverb

Youtube is a good resource for understanding what they all do.

I started with a Line 6 M13 which has tons of effects and was a good way of deciding what I liked. Once you go down this rabbit hole you'll probably end up with a collection of individual pedals. It's taken me years to end up with this board.

http://i65.tinypic.com/2n1s1zb.jpg

Have a look at a used TC Nova Tony. They can be had for £170 ish and are built like tanks. They've got the usual high quality TC electronic delays , boosts, pitch shifts and modulations but also have 2 built in analogue dirt pedals - the distortion pedal is very RAT like to my ears and will be great for punk.

for the price and the size you can't beat Mooer. They aren't the best pedals on the market but for what you pay they're really ******* good.

They've just made a multi effects unit, that you should give a go



If you're doing covers and just having a laugh most decent priced multi effects will do you fine.

a second hand one of these will do you good

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ME-50-Multi.../dp/B0009PHGOO


Unless you're a gearhead/touring pro, you don't need Strymon gear. It's great but it's designed (and priced) for the Pro market.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, much appreciated. I like the look of the TC Nova (which I'd never heard of), but will have to see how much I've got to spend. I'd prefer new really.

The choice seems to grow ever larger, and there are so many options that are well reviewed and come with 5-star recommendations. I suppose that's a good thing, but perhaps you can have too much choice!

I'm thinking along the lines of finding a decent multi-effects, but also having the option of a simple two pedal set up as well.

A couple of points, Tony.
Most boxes are pretty reliable over long periods of time so you don't have to get new. I have a couple of second hand pedals and they work well.
Five stars are almost mandatory in the review game. (If a reviewer doesn't give good ratings, manufacturers stop sending new free toys.) Go try stuff out in the shop to see what actually works for you.

yeah, pretty much this. I've got a second hand Turbo rat I picked up for about £30 that'd be £100 new and it works fine (except needing a converter because the power supply size has changed since it was made)

Thanks again, I’m still researching but lots of useful ideas here. My birthday’s next month so I have a bit of time to look around.

Just love the first 4 mins of this video..........

https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLQ...&v=1DmsEjot7B0

Anyone know a good place to buy a cheap Telecaster shaped body and neck? Don´t need the electronics, I want to spray a couple up to imitate guitars of famous players i.e.Wilko Johnsons black and red one

There's a lot of that sort of thing on ebay Maidstoned.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_f...+body&_sacat=0

Cool, thanks.:p