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Available Now:
"Curt Shaw"
Produced by Curt Shaw
Out Now! on
CDS Records
Learning:
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Username:
Curt Shaw
To: Randy Cuffee
Randy,
I checked out Ashes Remain today. That is pretty kick ass. I can hear a
lot of advanced ideas and your harmony choices are pretty sweet too.
I was wondering what you use to record you solos:
What amp do you use, or do you record direct via a POD or something else.
How is your cabinet miked - SM 57? Close miked? on or off axis?
Are you using pedals or a processor? Or do you plug straight into your
head?
Do you have a special mic preamp or run through a compressor?
Anyhoo, I'm always trying to improve my recording skills, any advice you
could offer would be cool.
Thanks,
Curt
Hey Curt. I've had best results
by recording from the "headphone out" of a processor directly to a high
quality sound card. In my case I'm generally using the GNX3 processor and a
Creative Extigy external USB sound card. So I'll have my guitar plugged into
the GNX3; the "headphone out" of the GNX3 plugged into the "line in" on the
soundcard using a high quality 1/8" stereo cable, while at the same time I
have a pair of Bose headphones plugged into the "headphone out" of the
soundcard so I can hear myself play along with the backing track. What this
allows me to do is play around with different GNX3 patch settings in real time
until I find the perfect one that sounds best for the song I'm recording. I've
tried mic'ing up my amps but these days, guys like Digitech, Zoom, Line 6 and
others have created such realistic sounding guitar patches, unless you're an
expert at amplifier settings, EQ, and effects, you just can't beat the
processors in terms of recording.
Right now I have a Boss ME-50, a
Zoom 9002 Pro, and the Digitech GNX3. I play around with all three, sometimes
using more than one processor in a song. For example on "The Vision" cover
tune, I used the Zoom 9002 for the melodies, but various GNX3 patches for the
rhythm guitars and solos. That's how I was able to get the Lynch solo to sound
very "Lynch". I would've had to go and by his 80's gear and then spend hours
tweaking the settings to get that sound from a tube amp. All my patch settings
that I use for the GNX3 are on my website.
That is cool, I heard some nuances in your tone that were really cool, like
professional quality. I will try playing around with the headphone out as
well. Do you have an effects unit with an SPDF output? I have been thinking
about that. I also might try using something like AMP Farm.
When I start recording again I am going to split the output from my guitar to
multiple amps/processors to capture different sounds and tones for each take.
Curt,
Although
the GNX3 comes with an S/PDIF output, it is not needed, a simple gold-tipped
stereo headphone cable from Best Buy or Radio Shack will do nicely. And since
the only effects I use are the ones built into the processors I mentioned, I
try to maximize the features that they have built-in. For example, the GNX3
comes bundled with a piece of software called GenEdit that allows you to
adjust ALL distortion and effects settings directly from the computer using
MIDI cables (your soundcard must be equipped with MIDI obviously). This allows
extreme granularity because you can dial in the effects very slowly with a
keyboard or a mouse until you get the perfect sound. You can even download
patches that other people have created from Digitech's website, modify those
to taste and save them as your own custom patches. And if that's not enough,
Cakewalk Sonar 3 (the recording software I use) has several comprehensive
"virtual" effects racks with a ton of effects (flange, reverb, delay, EQ,
etc), each with their own fine-tuning settings. My entire "studio" consists of
a laptop, an external soundcard, a drum machine, a few processors, a digital
keyboard, and some good stereo cables. Nothing fancy.
By the way, if
here is a link to my version of The Vision if you haven't heard it yet.
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Which mountain range is the largest in North America?
Jamison,
The longest and most extensive range in North America
is the Rocky Mountains, although the entire western third of the continent could
be considered one enormous mountainous area, perhaps the largest "mega-range" in
area on the planet. North America has an incredibly wide variety of mountains,
including ice- covered giants worthy of the Himalaya, huge ranges of craggy rock
pinnacles, gentle, rolling, forest-covered hills, and exotic volcanoes on small
tropical islands. Among the continents, only Asia has more mountains, mountain
ranges, and variety of peaks.
What kind of landforms cover the central part of North
America?
It is characterized by moderately
dissected, glaciated, flat to rolling plains that slope gently toward the
Missouri and Mississippi River valleys, which bracket the Section on the
west-south and east, respectively. Local relief is 20 to 165 ft (6 to 50 m). A
minor anthropogenic landform, strip-mined areas, exhibit hummocky or ridge-swale
topography. Drainage is dendritic; current geomorphic processes are fluvial
erosion, transport and deposition, and minor mass wasting. Elevation ranges from
600 to 1,500 ft (185 to 450 m).
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Hi,
thanx for
getting back to me so soon. I would like to know if my combo amp can drive a
4x12 cabinet. I have the Fender Combo ultimate chorus (PR 204) ,it has two
12 inch speakers. I think the amp is rated for 65 watts per channel. The
speakers' impedance is 8 ohms. There's nothing written by the jack in the back
of the amp.and the cabinets' impedance is 8 ohms also
I hope I
got everything
Thanx,
Pitch
Michael
Michael,
Yes, A combo amp can drive an external cabinet. Let me know some info about your
amp:
What kind of Combo is it? Brand and model
How may speakers does it have?
How many watts is the combo rated for? 10 watts, 25 watts, 50 watts, 100 watts?
Do you know the impedance of the speakers? They will usually say 8 or 16 ohms on
the back of the speaker.
Does the speaker in the combo plug in to the amp somewhere on the back of the
amp? If so what is written buy the jack?
What is the impedance (ohms rating) of the cabinet you want to use?
Let me know these answers and we will see what we can do.
Curt
Pitch,
I looked up the manual for your amp (which sounds pretty cool by the way) here
is the link for the users manual.
http://www.mrgearhead.net/faq/pdf/guitarpdf/Ultimate_Chorus.pdf
Now for the bad news: There doesn't appear to be dedicated output jacks for
hooking up speakers. It looks like you just have wires coming out of the amp
that connect to the speakers.
Question: Do the speaker wires actually plug into jacks? I could not see any
jacks in the pictures, but maybe they are where I could not see them.
If there are dedicated jacks then you are good to go. Each jack would drive an 8
ohm cabinet or speaker. If you want to hook up an 8 ohm cab the unplug ONLY ONE
speaker from the jack and hook your 8 ohm cab into that jack. So you would end
up with one jack hooked up to a speaker in your combo and the other jack hooked
up to your cab. BOTH jacks need to be used though! Other wise you will fry your
amp.
If there are not dedicated jacks that the speakers plug in to, then it is a
little more difficult. You would have to rig something up. If this is the case
you should probably take it to a music shop to have them make an adapter.
Let me know if you have the jacks for the speakers and we'll take it from there.
Thanks,
Curt
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Username: Neo
UserEmail: Incineratedgutz@aol.com
Hello, I was wondering if you can help me find a very good combo amp. I have
heard a lot of combo amps but none has really satisfied me. I need a combo amp
that has clean, clear high distortion sound or like a evil or insane crunch
sound. I need a sound like cannibal corpse or something a long that line. Im
willing to spend about $700 on a combo amp. Can you help me find a good cannibal
corpse sound like combo amp?
Neo,
Thanks for the question. I did some
checking around on what Cannibal Corpse actually plays. (Owen) Digitech 2101
preamp, Ampeg power amp, vintage Marshall 4x12 cab with 65-watt speakers;
(O’Brien) Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier . Thinking back to when I saw them, they
were playing Crate amps. But you are looking for a combo amp. That is a hard on
to answer because it is hard to find everything you are looking for in just a
combo amp. My favorite combo amp is the Marshall 30th anniversary combo.
It has three midi switch-able channels and the distortion is pretty cool, I'm
not sure if it's quite what you are looking for though. I would actually
suggest that you check out a floor or rack mount preamp unit like the Boss GT-5,
The POD, or a Digitech 2101. If you could pick one of these up for a around 300
bucks then you could spend 400 on your combo. Then you could set your combo amp
up totally clean and let the preamp switch between your distortion and clean
channels. This would give you the most flexibility to find a really cool sound.
With just a combo amp you are kind of stuck with the one distortion sound of the
combo. If you go with the external preamp, then all you really need your combo
amp to do is just provide clean amplification. Really you would just be using it
as a power amp. So you would want to pick something out that is loud (100 watts)
and has at least 2 12" speakers. I would suggest something with tubes in my
opinion.
Hope this helps!
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I saw that
you didn't like recording with the POD. Have you tried recording with the new
POD XT? If so, how does it compare to recording with a real amp and mic?
Answer:
Hi,
I have not tried the POD XT. I just finished reading about
it after I got your email. It seems the XT has Line 6's newest generation amp
and cab models and also a graphic display(LED's) that show where the settings
are. I have the rack mount POD Pro and one of my complaints was that there was
no way to know where your settings were when you save a preset and then recall
it later, the LED displays should take care of that problem.
As for the sound of the POD, It really is not bad. I
compared it to my Tube amps , recorded both and then listened. I think the tube
amps sound better, but then again thats just my opinion. When I did use the POD
pro I used the digital output and ran it straight into a computer recording
system, I think the digital out may only be on the PRO unit. I believe that I
compared the digital vs analog POD/mic combination and liked the digital better.
With the new XT the sounds may be even better now. I
have seen many professional musicians using the PRO on the road, including
George Lynch and the guitar player from Symphony X. One thing I noticed when I
used my PRO in a band was that sometimes it sounded kick ass, but sometimes when
the whole band was playing it got lost in the mix. Also sometimes I really did
think that it had a slightly digital sound, it was something I couldn't quite
put my finger on, just something was missing.
Another reason I like using a Amp and speaker is that
I can use 2 mic's and put one off axis. This kind of gives two different sounds
that you can blend to get a nice tone. But off course that meant that I was
committed to playing through a loud amp which sucks, even with the isolation cab
I can't record at night.
Overall The POD has many advantages, I wouldn't
necessarily shy away from it, for a decent price you can get a good tone when
recording. The other option is buying an expensive head, expensive cab,
expensive effects rig, and an expensive mic. And then even doing that will not
guarantee a good guitar sound. I just happen to already have all that stuff from
the years I've spent playing.
So I guess my recommendation would lean toward the POD.
Just check it out really good before you buy it, and see if the store will let
you take it home and try it out. Ask them if you can bring it back if you don't
like it. Then try it out with a band if you can. And try it out with your
recording set up. A lot of times Guitar Center will let you try things out.
I hope this helps,
Curt
Reply:
Thanks for replying to my email. Actually, I
already purchased the POD XT to replace my POD 2.3. I think the POD XT sounds
10 times as good as the 2.3. I don't know if has caught up to the real
amps yet. I sent you the email to get your opinion on the subject. It
probably isn't as good as the real thing, but the difference between real and
POD is getting smaller. One thing I noticed is that the POD XT sounds much
much better through an amp than the 2.3 did. Of course it depends which amp
you use. I found that through the Marshall Valvestate it sounds awful but
through an old Marshall solid state or a crate solid state (with the treble
turned down), it sounds great.
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Hey mate,
My name is Lenny DeRoma, and I play in one of Adelaides top cover bands in
Australia. lennyd@chariot.net.au
I read about you, I understand you make use of the boss GT-5 unit. I own one and
really need some help in getting the best out of it, from clean variations, to
crunchy sounds, to brutal heavy, to crazy lead sounds, acoustic simulation, and
wild effects.
My setup is:
Carvin Vai Legacy,
GT-5,
Custom Shop Jackson V with EMG 81 in the bridge, Seymour Duncan SH-4 in the
neck.
White Steve Vai Jem with Dimarzio Evolutions.
Aria pro 2 with Seymour Duncan TB-5 in Bridge, 2 Dimarzio YJM Malmsteen pickups.
Can you please help!!! and explain to me your setup and patches.I hope it's not
to much hard work to send me your patches.
Thanks,
Lenny
Answer:
Thanks for emailing me
your question. I know you asked a very specific question but I am going to
elaborate more for the benefit of other readers. The perfect tone is something
that all guitar players are constantly searching for. I think I have something
that is pretty cool, but that is just my opinion and others may think it sucks.
A lot of time you get so used to hearing your tone that your ears get sort of
brainwashed and you may not realize that you are squashing your tone/frequencies
by trying to modify them. A lot of people swear that the best tone comes from
just plugging straight into a marshall or a mesa head and cranking the amp. This
approach would give you the truest sound. By plugging straight into a head there
is really no way you can over EQ your tone. I find a lot of times with rack
mount units that the more parameters I have the better the chance that I
will jack one of them up and screw up my tone. Plugging straight into a head
gets rid of this risk and you do have a true authentic tube tone. But does that
really sound the best? I have a lot of heads and only one of them even comes
close to sounding great when I plug straight into the head. It may be possible
that this approach might be the best if you add a sound man that tweaks out your
sound in the mix though.
The more you start
cutting frequencies the more you are stripping the personality out of your tone.
For example when you cut your mids for that awesome metal tone it may sound cool
by itself but then you can't hear yourself when playing with the band and you
can't really tell a difference in your sound when you plug in two
different guitars or switch to a different pickup. So I think you have to find a
middle ground and also analyze your tone not when your playing alone but when
your playing with the band. I have seen tons of Death Metal bands but the one I
enjoyed the most was Cannibal Corpse because they don't cut out all of there
mids so you can actually hear the guitars. What is the point of even playing if
no one can hear what you are doing?
So what I try to do is
as little as possible when it comes to cutting frequencies. I try to find an
effects unit that has a natural sound to it. My personal choice is the BOSS
GT-5. There are a ton of presets straight out of the box that sound good to me.
But it can sound different depending on the guitar, the head, and the speakers
you are using. It sounds like you have pretty kick ass guitars! I would be
curious about the wood they are made out of. It seems to me like guitars made
out of ash, alder, and maple/mahogany tend to have more personality and Tonal
character. It also sounds like you have awesome pickups in your guitars. When it
comes to Amp heads. I've never played a Carvin Vai Legacy. I would love to
though. My main head is a Marshall 30th Anniversary Combo that has a specially
designed EV speaker. No matter what head I'm using I set it up perfectly clean
with out any dirt. I also like speakers that can handle a high wattage with out
breaking up. Some speakers color your sound with a grittiness that comes from
the speaker breaking up at higher volumes. For this reason I probably would stay
away from 30 watt greenbacks.
Finding a great sound
is really a finding a great combination of the guitar, pickup, effects
unit, amp, and speaker cabinet. If you have something that sounds great and you
replace any one of these factors it could completely alter your sound. So it is
really hard to find the perfect combination! It's almost as hard as winning the
lottery, when you consider the fact that most of us don't have every type of
speaker , guitar, and head just laying around our house that we can experiment
with. But I think that is the key to finding a good sound, just keep
experimenting. Hopefully you will hit the perfect combination and find something
great. I run my GT-5 into a Roland guitar synth before my amp. I don't use it as
a guitar synth, just as a preamp. I find that it sort of compresses my sound and
brings out some really cool frequencies. It also takes out some of the
grittiness of the GT-5, just kind of smoothes things out. But who would have
thought that it would do that? That is why you just have to try everything.
Here are the presets for my main
distortion preset on the GT-5. Keep in mind that it will probably sound
different through your setup. Also keep in mind that I probably would not be
happy with it if I did not run it through the guitar synth to smooth it out.
Power Distortion: od/ds: type distortion
1, drive 60, bass 0, treble 0, level 60 preamp:
type JC-120, volume 28, bass 56, middle 50, treble 50, presence 0, master 80,
bright off, gain middle
I also add a little bit of Reverb. Global: Power Amp Stack,
low eq 0, high eq 0, SP Simulator always off
I would play with the Power Amp setting to
suit your rig. I haven't really tweaked the clean settings because I'm
pretty happy with the presets. I hope this helps!
Curt
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