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NGD, NID, and incoming NAD!


Kerouac

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So one of my Xmas presents last night was this baby. She unfortunately arrived with broken strings, so I wasn't able to play her. frown.gif I braved the snow and ice this morning to get over to Sam Ash for strings, using a gift card a student gave me.

damien_1.JPG
damien_2.JPG

After that I met a friend at Guitar Center, where another one of our friends works. I had an exchange to make and then we played some guitars, including a really nice Carvin 7-string. We checked out some basses, but the selection was pretty meh. My friend bought a new recording interface and I had my other bud order me a used Tech 21 Power Engine from another store, which should be here next week.

I also got this nifty toy for Xmas:
apogee_gio__16863_zoom.jpg

I'll be using it with the Power Engine so that I can run Guitar Rig or MainStage both for practice and the occasional gig.

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Quote Originally Posted by nightflameauto

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Sweet. How's the Damien play and what gauges did you go with on the low side?

 

It plays really well. No sharp fret edges and the neck profile isn't fatiguing. Right now I'm using a D'Addario 8-String set, which is 10-74, but I'm going to order a couple of sets from Circle K and go with an 80. I have it tuned down a half step.
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Quote Originally Posted by Chrisjd

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Is the neck the traditional schecter kind? really wide? or is it thinner like an ibanez?

 

I've never owned a Schecter before so I don't have much to compare it to. It's not nearly as thin or as wide as the Ibanez 8 strings I've played. It reminds me of a narrower five string bass neck. idn_smilie.gif
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Quote Originally Posted by Kerouac

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It plays really well. No sharp fret edges and the neck profile isn't fatiguing. Right now I'm using a D'Addario 8-String set, which is 10-74, but I'm going to order a couple of sets from Circle K and go with an 80. I have it tuned down a half step.

 

thumb.gif Circle K strings are good stuff. Nice and bright and really even across the spectrum. I've been using them on both guitar and bass for a bit now. Right now I've got an .090 on the low end of my 8. Nice and punchy, though I got by with .080 for a bit too. I just wanted to be able to hit it harder without the BAWOOOROWWW effect.
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Quote Originally Posted by nightflameauto

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thumb.gif Circle K strings are good stuff. Nice and bright and really even across the spectrum. I've been using them on both guitar and bass for a bit now. Right now I've got an .090 on the low end of my 8. Nice and punchy, though I got by with .080 for a bit too. I just wanted to be able to hit it harder without the BAWOOOROWWW effect.

 

Jesus, what guitar are you using? I don't know if a .90 would fit the post. eek.gif I was going to go up to an .80.
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Quote Originally Posted by Kerouac View Post
Jesus, what guitar are you using? I don't know if a .90 would fit the post. eek.gif I was going to go up to an .80.
The red Agile Hornet 825 I keep posting pictures of. Let's see. . .

[ATTACH=CONFIG]350842[/ATTACH]
attachment.php?attachmentid=350842&d=135

I was a little worried about the post, but there seems to be quite a bit more room. I think early Agile 8s had some trouble fitting even .080s, but Kurt listened and changed to much bigger holes on the lower tuning machines.
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Quote Originally Posted by Kerouac View Post
I also got this nifty toy for Xmas:
apogee_gio__16863_zoom.jpg

I'll be using it with the Power Engine so that I can run Guitar Rig or MainStage both for practice and the occasional gig.
I'd be interested in hearing how that GIO works out for you. I have one and I was/am really unhappy with it -- I say "was" because I have pretty much just given up on it and it is just collecting dust. It is incredibly noisy when connected to monitors via the line outs while connected to the USB (which you'd need to do anyway). It is clearly picking up RFI from the USB. You can tell that the noise is a result of transactions on the USB. It can be better or worse depending on the machine I hook it up to and a quality USB cable with chokes will help somewhat...but it is always noisy through the monitors regardless.

I always wondered if I just got a bad one or if it is a generic problem with those units. I got tired of dealing repeatedly with Apogee's customer service and gave up.

Definitely not trying to rain on your NID, I am mostly just wondering if you experience the same issues that I did. Here's hoping your GIO works out better for you than mine. thumb.gif

Oh, and by the way, I have been really happy with Apogee interfaces in the past so the problems with the GIO were a surprise. Their stuff is usually top notch.
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Quote Originally Posted by jimSG View Post
I'd be interested in hearing how that GIO works out for you. I have one and I was/am really unhappy with it -- I say "was" because I have pretty much just given up on it and it is just collecting dust. It is incredibly noisy when connected to monitors via the line outs while connected to the USB (which you'd need to do anyway). It is clearly picking up RFI from the USB. You can tell that the noise is a result of transactions on the USB. It can be better or worse depending on the machine I hook it up to and a quality USB cable with chokes will help somewhat...but it is always noisy through the monitors regardless.

I always wondered if I just got a bad one or if it is a generic problem with those units. I got tired of dealing repeatedly with Apogee's customer service and gave up.

Definitely not trying to rain on your NID, I am mostly just wondering if you experience the same issues that I did. Here's hoping your GIO works out better for you than mine. thumb.gif

Oh, and by the way, I have been really happy with Apogee interfaces in the past so the problems with the GIO were a surprise. Their stuff is usually top notch.
I've got an Ensemble and a Duet and they've been flawless since Day One. So far I've just been running it into a little tube combo, but once my Power Engine gets in I should have a better idea of what's going on. Thanks for the headsup. thumb.gif
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Cool guitars man. About the power engine though I've got to warn you, it isn't exactly an FRFR system, it has a pretty flat response seventy/80 speaker in it and with the active eq you can pretty much do curves the guitar cabs/speakers can't replicate. The seventy/80 is still a guitar speaker with a cut off above 5-6 khz...

But, it still sounds like a guitar-ish enclosure in the end.

If you are to use it with speaker sims, I'd add a separate tweeter for an expansion of the frequency response. Less than 20$ in part, if you google it there are many who describe how they did it.

If you don't and to be honest this is how I liked it the best, you can always use the line out of guitar rig without the speaker sims. The power engine mosfet power amp is VERY neutral to be used with preamp and power amp sims straight of the line out.

Of course many use it as it is and are happy, the active eq on board is your friend.

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Quote Originally Posted by tech21man View Post
Cool guitars man. About the power engine though I've got to warn you, it isn't exactly an FRFR system, it has a pretty flat response seventy/80 speaker in it and with the active eq you can pretty much do curves the guitar cabs/speakers can't replicate. The seventy/80 is still a guitar speaker with a cut off above 5-6 khz...

But, it still sounds like a guitar-ish enclosure in the end.

If you are to use it with speaker sims, I'd add a separate tweeter for an expansion of the frequency response. Less than 20$ in part, if you google it there are many who describe how they did it.

If you don't and to be honest this is how I liked it the best, you can always use the line out of guitar rig without the speaker sims. The power engine mosfet power amp is VERY neutral to be used with preamp and power amp sims straight of the line out.

Of course many use it as it is and are happy, the active eq on board is your friend.
Thanks for the tips! You ever use it as an acoustic amp?
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