The Electra Forums

My apologies for any redundancy with this information:

Have been playing through a Peavey Heritage VTX212 for years; it still cranks out the volume at 130 watts, but it is extremely heavy to transport; I also use a Kustom Lead I black tolex amplifier (12 inch speaker and 35 watts) for smaller venues; and a Crate CA60 for electric / acoustic gigs; run them through a mixing board if necessary;
a few times I have even run the Roland GP-8 direct to the mixing board without using an amp;

Electra MPC , Roland GP8, BOSS GT-10 purchased January 2009 -

I have 2 Electra MPC's: X330 and X340; I also have other guitars as well; electric / acoustic electric;

I love my Electra MPC's, I love the way they play and sound;
However I only have to use these actual MPC modules sparingly:
A John Thornburg modified Power Overdrive and Phaser in the X330, Compressor, and Flanger in the X340;

I play all my axes through a Roland GP-8 which has 128 memory bank factory pre-set combinations of these effects, 64 on bank A, 64 on bank B:

Dynamic Filter
Compressor
Turbo Overdrive
Distortion
Phaser
Equalizer
Digital Delay
Digital Chorus

Up to a combination of the 8 effects can be used on each bank;
each effect user programmable if desired in degrees varying from 0 - 100;
also have programmed Volume pedal on each bank;

Other than that I have left the Roland factory preset banks alone.

I use the Roland FC-100 foot pedals and EV-5 Volume / Wah with the GP-8;

Original owner; registered with Roland; have used this since purchase in 1987, not 1989 as stated elsewhere; recently had the memory battery replaced for the first time ever; it still had about 85% power, but I figured it was time to replace it.

This unit is no longer available from Roland, although some are found on eBay from time to time;

Good luck on finding one in good condition though;

Though at this time I am more than happy to keep using the GP-8 for gigging and the GT-10 in the studio;

The down side of owning a GP-8 is that if the memory on the unit is lost you have to reprogram everything manually, as the patches cannot be downloaded from the Roland web sight as they are not available;

The patches and any upgrades for the GT-10 are available and can be downloaded directly from Roland;

Go to the Roland web sight and look for the GT-10 under Guitar Effects;

There are some phenomenal videos and sound links available at;

http://www.rolandus.com/

I use an original Coricidin bottle for slide;

Also an original Heet Sound Products EBow (chrome one with the holster); it still works after all these years;

http://www.ebow.com/

Also utilize a Nady 1001 Wireless receiver / transmitter;

Also a Korg DTR-1 Rack Mount Tuner.

Still use Tom Scholz designed Rockman from time to time.

Anyone else?

RCSBlues

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RCSBlues

I'll play:

For amps:

I have a JC120 with a 4 12 roland cab. It's very, very, very, VERY loud. I like the sound of it. Nice and clean yet handles effects well and can get a nice fuzz/distorted sound. I bought it cause a friend of mine in high school had one and he was a great guitarist and I liked his sound. So when one showed for cheap I grabbed it.

I also have a Univox ULM-6 tuber. 1 6V6 not very many watts but its sounds so great when it breaks up. Very plexi. It screams classic rock.

and my first practice amp a fender sidekick 35. I usually don't play guitar through it much unless I use the headphones.

I only own Electra's cept for my Yamaha acoustic. Superock 2249 (is getting the most use) Tele and Ultima X 960, needs set up.

As for effects I got into building my own so what ever I'm in the mood for:
lots of fuzzes
EH muff fuzz. has to be one of my fave, one knob turn it all the way up!
Foxx tone machine. very awesome lots of tones and the oct up is wicked
Colorsound Tonebender. nice creamy fuzz
Shin ei FY-2 fuzzmaster. on loan, wicked nasal fuzz
Green Ringer. on loan, I love this classic one trick pony
Dallas Rangemaster. Makes my ULM 6 scream
Fuzz Face. classic fuzz tones
DIY delay and two modified danelectro slapback (now fully functioning delay times with never ending feedack)

I had a few DIY MPC modules but my dog ate one and I gave another away.

Well thats about it I mostly just piddle around and jam with a friend I've known for years. I just got a Tascam DP 01 yesterday so hoping to do some more recording, its been awhile.

Looks like this might start a good dialogue and discussion.

We could have some fun jammin!!!!

Thanks for the info.

RCSBlues

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RCSBlues

Yowp! I'll bite.

The amp depends on the venue. When I play at clubs I usually take either a Fender Pro Jr, which is a 15 watt tube amp (and a great deal at 299$ new) or more lately I've been using a vintage 60's Fender Musicmaster bass amp- really terrific with a guitar.

At home I use a couple of practice amps- I liked the Roland Microcube, but a much better amp is the Vox DA-5, which includes much better amp models and effects. It sounds fantastic for a home-level amp, and is one of my main go-to amps. Also lately I've picked up a Kustom practice amp, for 100$ new and it has a tube, an 12AX7 in the preamp- it sounds amazingly big and tubey for such a low price.

I also have a larger Vox modelling amp that I use for loud rehearsals in a closed space. And a bunch of odds and ends of weird little vintage tube amps.

I'm also fond of Tech21 solid state amps, they're excellent as direct-out amps, they sound really good.

I usually stay away from effects unless they're built in to the amp. I like teh sound, but way too much hassle for my patience any more.

Cool, topic, I want to see what everyone else says.

I'm just a homebody...
Orange Crush B-20. (bass)

I've also got a Trace Elliot bass head with some issues. I've got it mounted in a wood crate 2x15 cab, resembling the small Crate amps SLM used to sell. I'm guessing the speakers I have may also have issues....
but the crate provides a nice resting place for the Orange amp

only MPC Effects, though I do have a Line6 Guitar Port for the PC which is really cool, and has lots of different amps, cabs, effects options.....

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My Electra Pages
I have too many projects!

Amps:

THD Flexi 50 with EL34s - 2x12 Avatar Celestion Cab
1982 Fender Super Champ

Pedals:
BYOC Phase 90 Clone (great phase 90!)
BYOC Analog Chorus (small clone, ahhhh, clone)
BYOC Digital Delay
BYOC Compressor (Ross Compressor Clone)
Jekyl & Hyde Distortion/boost
Morley ABY

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"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." - Groucho Marx

I love my current set-up:

AMP: Ampeg VL-502 head through a Basson Sound 2x12 cabinet holding one Mesa Black Shadow, one Eminence Legend. Kind of a "Vox-y" Marshall tone.

Pedals: Keeley Katana Clean Boost (my favorite), E-H LPB-1 Nano Reissue (sounds a LOT like the Thorny-modded Power Overdrive MPC module), Everman Fuzz-Drive, Boss DD-6, E-H Big Muff Pi (Green Sovtek), E-H Small Stone (Green Sovtek), Loooper (to take the non-TBP pedals out of the chain when I'm not using them) and a Peterson Strobostomp tuning pedal.

Guitars: Electra X-950, Electra Electric Oak, Gibson L6-S.

Electra MPC effects: Power Overdrive, Phase Shifter, Dynamic Fuzz, Flanger, Compressor.

Hi great topic.
I use a Music Man RD 112 tube amp and for effects I have been using a Pod 2.0 .
Nothing beats a nice tube amp!!!
However, I love that I can take the pod and plug it in to any thing Stereos, direct to Board, an amplifiier....etc . I use a RCA to stereo phono cable and plug in where ever I want to practice. I have even plugged into the RCA input on the front of my bigscreen TV. With the modeling capibility of the pod I can get a wide selection of tones and effects with simple set up and opperation.

I also use my SLM relic "THE CAN" Amplifier (made from a gas can) for battery oppereated fun I want to get a MPC so i can get some effects on the go with the can.
Anybody else out there remember the can?
Miked in a closet with the bass down and trebble cranked it sounded remnisent of a Mashall.

Thats funny you mention the "can" I saw one at a local guitar shop and was suprised I never saw one before. Had no idea it was made by SLM. I thought about buying it but I have a couple mini amps I made here check em out.


and heres a DIY delay for good measure

Those are cool. I love the woodie. The can is cool and it actually has THe Can on the bottom and the SLM name embossed on it.

Those are really great!

Thanks, Have to see if they still have it. Can never have to many portable amps. Those amps are Ruby's from www.runoffgroove.com if your handy with a solder iron. I suggest making one. Volume/gain sounds good and can even drive a 4 12 it won't be loud as hell but it's impressive.

I'll join in if no one minds:

I generally play either my Electra Invicta (mainly a studio-only guitar but sometimes I bring it out live), Electra 335 or Gibson Les Paul at live dates. My amp is either a 100w tube Silvertone 1484 or its solid state younger brother. Sometimes I run the 1484 into its 2x12 cab, sometimes a Marshall 1960 4x12. I use a Chandler Tube Driver for distortion, and occasionally use a Dunlop wah pedal, and very occasionally a Boss digital delay.

For studio work I have a much larger pile of guitars, pedals and amps. You get older, you accumulate stuff.

All very cool!

I would love to hear what styles people are playing. Like, some gear is better for one or another. I play jazz and blues, mostly with clean tones or some smooth distortion.

For some players including me, we go through cycles, sometimes using no effects at all and other times using a bunch. I've been going without for the last year or so and I'm just getting back into using them regularly- I haven't wanted the distraction but now I guess I do.

Anyway, I use the onboard effects on my Vox amps, the little DA-5 which is fantastic, far and away the best practice amp, and the VT60 for rehearsals. But lately I've been collecting a bunch of the weird effects I use into a pedalboard- in fact when I get done typing this I'm gonna go work on it. So far the pedalboard items (in order of signal chain) are:



Ibanez Weeping Demon wah
Boss GE-7 Equalizer
Crossroads (the digitech Clapton pedal)
Morley Volume Phaser pedal
E-H Flanger Hoax flanging phaser

I know, weird stuff. But to my mind the key pedals are EQ and wah because you can shape your tone, the EQ also serves as a clean boost. I love time-based effects, and the two phasers are great- the Morley allows me to manually sweep the phaser, which again acts as a tone filter- and the Flanger Hoax is beyond words, it creates a vast organic acoustic landscape (or so I dial it in- you can also set it to sound like alien abduction). That leaves the Clapton pedal as a multi-purpose pedal with a bunch of extremely useful presets- high gain, low gain, acoustic. I'm not a Clapton fan, so I'm not the least bit inclined to imitate him, which I suppose makes it ok (besides, I like it).

I actually jsut picked up a new pedal which I think is going to be fantastic- it jsut arrived and I have to try it out yet- but the concept is sheer brilliance:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0104769177

Wow, that is a cool little device. Have fun with it.

I mainly play hard rock live; I'm lead guitarist for my brother's band. I also do my own Beatle-y pop-rock stuff, though not as often. For the hard stuff I really only need one sound--moderately overdriven and a little raspy. When I play my own stuff it's a bit cleaner, and I sometimes engage the tremolo on the Silvertone.