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Mr.Grumpy

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Everything posted by Mr.Grumpy

  1. "All generalizations are false, including this one."
  2. For audio, a Mackie "Big Knob" interface; for MIDI, I just bought a Roland/Edirol "UM-1" , a typical USB dongle type with a the two MIDI plugs on the end of skinny wires. I was previously using a Roland UM-3, which has 3 sets of MIDI ins and outs, but it was very finicky to use with Reaper. It's not that I'm a big user of virtual synths or anything like that, but even a little control surface interface like the Korg NanoKontrol that I somethimes use to control Reaper is actually a USB/MIDI device. My SoundCanvas also uses USB to support two MIDI streams, so I suppose that counts as two MIDI devices. I've read that Windows 7 still has "MIDI mapper" buried in the system but it's parameters are not viewable or adjustable, so I had to download and install some "MIDI configurator" freeware. There seems to be a hard limit on the number or MIDI streams/connections that Reaper will support. I've been using Reaper for at least 3 years, and there's still TONS of stuff left for me to learn.
  3. Relax, "random perma-bans" are only a figment of my over-active imagination. A sarcastic joke about this forum, similar to the old "Will the last person leaving Seattle please turn out the lights" type thing. I need want to buy a MIDI controller keyboard now so I can use my SoundCanvas module to make my own music instead of just listening to MIDI files recreationally. I have an old cheapo MIDI controller, I'm pretty sure I bought it at a computer store and not a music store. It's a Quickshot (brand) MIDI Composer, I think it's 49 keys with modulation and pitch bend wheels, 3 digit LED display, and some buttons that are supposed to do stuff. I've discovered that I can record MIDI data to my DAW (Reaper), but can't play the SoundCanvas in real time. And I can't figure out how to call up different patches via the MIDI controller. I've long since lost the manual for the MIDI Composer so I'm just completely lost. The only copies of the manual I can find are on one of those creepy "file sharing" sites. Looking at buying a 49 key controller from one of the big companies, it's about $230 and comes with a bunch of bundled software.
  4. Yeah, I'm late to this party, but...remember these mini-strats are short scale, 10-46 strings will be very loose in my opinion. I bought my daughter one and put 11's on it. I haven't really noticed any issues with my daughter's mini, action is decent and the little thing is comfortable and fun to play. The short scale means bends and heavy hand vibrato is really easy compared to a standard-scale guitar.
  5. It all depends on what speaker cabinet(s) you connect to this pedal-amp. It's a safe bet that the poweramp in the SuperBlock is a Class-D, they work fine, they're efficient and reliable and it's really the only way to get any kind of power into a pedal-sized amplifier. However, unlike a tube amp, a class-D amp has a hard limit on the amount of power they can put out, when you get to the 25 watt output, it will either clip (distort) in a very un-musical way, or the amp may have a limiter, or some amps go into "protect mode" and shut off until the power is cycled. Having said that, 25 watts can be loud enough for a band setting with an efficient speaker cabinet, like a 12" or even 2 x 12" open back cab. If you connect this thing to a tiny 8" closed back cab, you'll be disappointed. A twenty-five watt tube amp can be overdriven beyond it's rated power, but of course with power amp distortion which may or may not be desirable depending on the kind of music you're playing.
  6. Who uses those anymore? I bought a later model Roland Sound Canvas module, an SC-8820. I've had a long "love affair" with the Sound Canvas 'cause way back in ancient times (the nineties) I bought a Sound Canvas "daughter board" that mated with a mulit-pin connector on my computer's sound card. This upgraded the MIDI sounds over the built in cheesy FM chipset the SoundBlaster cards used. This mattered back then because a lot of games used MIDI music. Over the years, Windows has been upgraded numerous times so that my soundcard is no longer supported, so no lovely SoundCanvas MIDI music unless I boot my computer into Windows XP. Stumbled across a Sound Canvas module for sale on my local Craigslist, took a while before I got around to purchasing due to a cash-flow problem, but I figure no one else would buy it, and I was right. The seller's emails were short and abrupt, and it seemed he wasn't experienced selling things on Craigslist. Once we agreed on a price, he just gave his home address and told me to come by (!). I showed up at his house, an old woman with a thick Russian accent in a housecoat answered and beckoned her husband. I asked him to demo the unit for me, which I then regretted because the old man moved slow and seemed to struggle with simple stuff like plugging in a USB cable. Turns out the old guy had a "mild stroke" an isn't able to play guitar anymore. I paid, thanked the man and left. I tested the unit out with it's MIDI input jack and my USB to MIDI interface. Then I was able to get the unit's USB interface to work on Windows 7 with a Windows Vista driver. I'm planning on getting a MIDI controller keyboard and using the Sound Canvas for drum and "standard" synth sounds for my home recording setup. I have to post pointless "content" like this to get my post/credibility rating to improve before I'm subject to a random perma-ban.
  7. Did you confirm this with a volt meter? Is your polarity correct?
  8. I got a notification that I'm a "posting machine" after making one post. Whee!
  9. It's because this one is done tastefully, and is NOT "overdone" like 99% of "relic" jobs. It looks like natural wear vs. an instrument that's been assaulted by a belt sander.
  10. More work was done than that...the midrange control was allegedly open and was replaced, as were several of the preamp tubes. It was in the dude's shop about six weeks, I wasn't in a hurry to get it back. Once I touched base with him again, he got my amp fixed within the week. Waaay back when, I posted pictures of the charred PCB, but I can't find my old post.
  11. A typical issue with foreign-made budget guitars is that although they may look identical to the name brand guitar, often there are subtle differences in size and layout for stuff like pickguards. So your old MIM pickguard may or may not be a "drop in" installation. Very possible that the holes in the new pickguard won't line up with the old ones. You'll just have to try it and see.
  12. I have some electronics skills, but decided this time I was better taking my amp to a pro. I'm glad I did. I believe I started a thread about it about a year or two ago. The amp in question was a Mesa Studio .22 caliber, a non-EQ model in ugly-ass dirty cream tolex. These amps have a known design issue because they use a 2 watt resistor for some kind of voltage step-down, and the resistor runs hot, so that given enough time it starts to cook & char the printed circuit board itself. I called Mesa and they were friendly, aware of the issue, and assured me "their guy" (the local Mesa Authorized tech for Dallas) would be able to fix my amp. Dropped my amp off at his shop near downtown in January I had to call the guy about a month later and ask where my amp was, but he was cool about it, and said he'd fix my amp and get it to the next week, and he did. Costs for his services was around two-hundred fifty ( I bought the amp for $400), but it works and sounds better than it did when I bought it. Very pleased I spent the money, it was well worth it.
  13. Of course it's possible to repair your TS9, it's just not often done because it's not economical to have a professional technician fix it. But the circuits are reasonably simple and very well documented. And the PCB is probably a simple single sided type and most likely it also uses DIY friendly through-hole components. A lot of the troubleshooting could be done with VOM, but you could get in a situation that requires a signal tracer to troubleshoot. The TS-9 uses electronic bypass so the switch is a single pole momentary switch, no audio signal passes through the footswitch. The switch causes a flip-flop circuit to change states, and the outputs from the flip-flop are used to switch three JFET that route the signals between the input and output jacks. If the footswitch is defective it won't turn the pedal on or off consistently. I don't see any situation where the circuit is "stuck halfway" on because flip-flops don't work like that. If you're not already familiar with electronics and electronic components, tracking down the fault could be a frustrating exercise.
  14. I used part of my first stimulus check to buy a "cheap" fretless bass. A local mom & pop store had a Squier Jazz bass for the same price ($400) the big box music store sells it! Mine is a lined fretless with sunburst body and some kind of brown wood for the fingerboard. The build quality is excellent, I can't find any flaws in the fit or finish. Contrary to my expectations, the bass came with roundwounds, I played it that way for a week or so but then went and bought a set of flatwound strings - D'addario Chromes. My fretted basses have roundwounds, I wanted something different for this bass. First fretless, first Jazz Bass, first bass with flatwound strings. I LOVE playing it! The flatwound strings have a nice feel, my intonation seems reasonable if not perfect, and I dig blending the two single coil pickups, I finally get why these basses are so popular and well-loved.
  15. Their Facebook page said the data center they use was load-testing a backup generator, and that somehow caused a fire to break out. Never mind the fact the data centers (at least the ones I've been in) have extensive, automatic fire-suppression systems that use Halon or CO2, but for some reason the local fire department hosed the data center down with water. I only hang out there 'cause this place is a ghost town.
  16. Update, 4/9/21, about 7 pm CDT, TalkBass is back online and seems to be running more or less normally. 4/09/2021: Edited the subject line for improved truthiness and less trolly-ness. :-) Rest in Peace, fellow music related forum. It's actually a nice forum, even though they're fairly strict about moderating posts and users. The sub forums where I tend to hang out (Amps & Cabs, Pickups & Electronics, Recording Gear) have decent traffic. Here's hoping they get their operation back online soon.
  17. Sound like an issue with the electronic bypass, which is pretty rare, in my experience. Unless you have a sentimental attachment to this pedal, I suggest you just get a new one. They're like Dixie cups!
  18. What Daddymack said..." I wouldn't bother." Re-angling the neck even by a couple of degrees is going to change the feel of playing the guitar, and will create other weirdness like the neck pickup being too close to the strings and the bridge pickup being too far away, or at least will require other steps to put the pickups in their proper position. If you have a hankerin' for a Strat style body with tune-o-matic bridge, both Schecter and ESP make Fender-style guitars with TOM style bridges. They seem to be oriented to metal players, they always seem to be equipped with humbucking pickups.
  19. I presume this is a new product, as I'd never seen it before. It's from Guitar Center's "in house" Acoustic brand. The unit is a programmable 6 loop effects controller, with six banks each with six patches in each bank, for a total of 36 total patches. As far as I know, this is the most inexpensive programmable loop switcher on the market. This is a simple, bare bones unit, so there's no capability for amp channel switching nor MIDI control of any kind. However, those are features I don't need at this time. The unit is in a heavy duty bent case made of curved steel. The stomp buttons are chrome plated, and have a nice solid "click" when you step on them even though they're momentary switches. Each of the six selector switches is surrounded by a bright backlight to show which loops (pedals) are activated for each patch. There's a nice large LED display that shows the bank, patch and status (program/edit/save, ect). The LED display is also used by the unit's guitar tuner function. It also has a mute function but apparently no "bypass all" function so if you need a completely clean tone you have to program a patch for that. The unit comes with a power supply, but thankfully it runs on bog-standard 9V Boss DC power. I powered mine from my pedal board's ISO-5 power supply. Setting up the programs for the patches is very simple and quick. Once I got everything cabled up (that's a whole other post...) it only took me a few minutes to get my patches programmed. My pedals and effects sound exactly like they did before! No pops of thumps when changing patches; no added noise. I'm pleased as punch with my purchase. A few things to note if you're considering one of these: Since it has six footswitches, it's rather wide, and due to the steel enclosure, has some significant weight too. It takes up a sizeable chunk of pedalboard real estate, and that prime bottom row space too. The built in tuner is nice to have, but it's a bit mediocre compared to most pedal or clip on tuners. The LED display is easy to see, but it's a simple 3 mode flat/in tune/sharp display. Switching to a loop controller FX setup means doubling the number of your pedal interconnect cables. so there's that expense and hassle to consider. Once I got this looper, I instantly saw and understood the utility of narrow bodied "mini" pedals that everyone's making right now. I'd like to run several more pedals on my board but there just isn't room. Also in regards to cabling the jacks are numerous and close together, so certain types of cable ends might not fit.
  20. Ah, the ol' "Marshall in a box" question. OD pedals alleged to have "Marshall-ish toanz" include: Zvex "Box of Rock" Catlainbread "Dirty Little Secret" Joyo "British Sound" Tech21/Sansamp "British" (out of production, apparently. The Joyo is thought to be a clone or close copy of the SansAmp) ...and probably any pedal with "British" or "Plexi" in it's name. I have no experience with any of these pedals, sooooo....good luck and happy toan chasing.
  21. Cakewalk (now Sonar Cakewalk by BandLab or somthing....) used to have "instrument definition files" that would you could download from the internet and install them in Calkewalk, where your various hardware synths and their patches would be installed and integrated into the DAW's workflow.... I used to use Sonar and you could select instruments and patches from a drop down list in the MIDI tracks. I don't know if any other DAWs support instrument definition files, but I suspect not. Everything I read about them references Cakewalk, so they're the only one. It looks like you'll have to enter the data manually.
  22. Traded my Squier Stagemaster for a S-U-B Axis, and now I regret it. The 'licensed by' Floyd trem on my Squier was pretty solid and reliable as I recall. The locking trem on the S-U-B seems to be a lot more finicky, and I've broken strings a few times. And the overall build quality and wood quality seems to be lacking in the S-U-B.
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