racman
Ok, I'm thinking about consolidating my guitars and focussing more on acoustic for now. I am also in the process of a custom electric build as well so am thinking that unless gigging, more than one electric is unnecessary as when I do play in public it is invariably with an acoustic. I would appreciate any input and/or advice as well as suggested selling prices for any gear that I decide to sell ("pm" offers are also welcome but bear in mind that a final decision has not been made yet ?). For now I am merely an enthusiastic guitarist (or is that guitar owner as I don't think I am that proficient either) but occasionally play the odd "tjune" or two for an audience.
My current gear is as follows:
1) Acoustic 1: Takamine Supernatural EAN15CE - Solid Rosewood back, solid Cedar top (Man, I miss my Taylor K14ce!!!)
2) Electro Acoustic 1: Crafter SA-QMS
3) Electric 1: 2000/2001 USA Standard Strat - mint, original condition
4) Electric 2: Fender Baja Tele - Tortoiseshell pick guard, Bare Knuckles "Yardbird" neck PuP, DiMarzio "Twang King" bridge Pup, Wilkinson Vintage "Ashtray" bridge
5) Fender Champ 600 - fully "mattarised" (doubt will ever sell this. Can't wait for my Ashton Audio TS808 custom build as well 8))
6) LR Baggs Para DI
7) Various pedals e.g. Boss chorus etc
Pics can be added later in the week if the thread has provoked a little interest:
My current thoughts:
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1) Acoustic 1: Dreadnought (Current Takamine, Martin D28, Larrivee SD-50 or similar)
2) Acoustic 2: Grand Auditorium or Concert style acoustic
3) Electro Acoustic: Thinking about modifying the Crafter as I got it for a great price and would like to “Hotrod” it – maybe LR Baggs Hex pickups for midi as well as other mods but undecided as yet.
4) Electric – Custom Strat type build. (Simple tone and blues machine)
5) Amp etc – remain
6) What I need is an electric unit that can just as easily be used as a practise tool at home as a “direct to desk” unit live, with a monitor output to a small clean amp as a monitor. I have not had much joy with the GT-8, G700 type units but then maybe I haven’t spent enough time customising. The mic’ed amp situation doesn’t work in our environment due to various issues that are best not discussed publicly. Was looking at the Jamvox but while this is great for practice it does not suit the other requirement for stage use to PA.
You thoughts, criticisms etc would be most welcome
Bob-Dubery
You're going to end up with THREE acoustics that way. Are you sure the Baggs Hex is going to give you MIDI capabilities? The way I read it they are individual saddles but the output from the system is strictly analog and is via a jack plug. Baggs also warn that most of their pre-amp equipment won't work with the Hex as the output is very hot.
Whatever, that system clearly gives you an audio output, so maybe you are going to end up with more acoustics than you need. However if this is the number of acoustics that you WANT then go right ahead ?
Why not hot-rod the existing strat or tele rather than buy a new electric?
A dreadnought and an OM might be a nice combination of acoustics, or you can look at the L shape Larrivees which are somewhere between a dreadnought and an OM.
This all looks like a way to justify buying that "jellybean" ? It is a pretty cool guitar.
racman
Aah Bob you see right through my plan so quickly!!! ?
Actually looking at another SD-50 at a more reasonable price (jellybean 2 ?) at present.
I think you are right about the Baggs - it is the RMC hex that I was thinking of but this would be a medium term plan. I am also thinking about rather giving the Crafter to my son instead. This would then leave me with the plan of two acoustics and one electric.
Re: the hotrodding 0f the Strat or Tele - my understanding is that the eventual cost difference would not be so great compared to the final product improvement of the custom - but maybe I am wrong.
What do you think I could ask for the Takamine etc If I decided to sell?
AlanRatcliffe
The RMC system is the one that's MIDI compatible - not as good on the plugged acoustic side as some of the other non-MIDI systems though, so there is a bit of a tradeoff.
As far as late night/DI amps... If the GTs and the like are a bit daunting for you due to the lack of plug-and-play, take a look at the modelling amps (Roland Cubes, Vox AD, etc.). Most are simple and easy to use, sound decent, have built in DIs and you can use headphones for late night play. Sure, they don't give you the same results as the real thing, but horses for courses. The older PODs (V.2) are underrated and easy to use too - especially for DI/recording/late night play (or even the POD knockoff Behringer V-Amps, which you can pick up ridiculously cheap on the 2nd hand market). The old rackmount POD Pro (the red one) is vilified on forums, but you'll see one racked in most studios, which tells a more accurate story. Effects aren't great, but are simple and the amp sims are fine, so you can always add effects in front or if recording do all your reverb/modulation on the recorded tracks.
racman
What is the Boss GX-700 like Alan - saw one recently for R1.5k?
AlanRatcliffe
The GX-700 is a GT-6 in a rack format. Decent at the right price (about R1,200 though), but amp models are not as good as the newer units and it takes a bit of programming to sound decent (possible, but a fair bit of work).
I used a GX-700 for a few years, but as soon as I got a POD pro the GX-700 was moved to piezo duties and later replaced with a GT-PRO (the POD Pro stayed on magnetics until Guitar Rig came along, which replaced everything aside from GI-20 guitar to MIDI).
