norburybrook wrote:Lovely playing Glenn, really enjoyed that
Looks like it was mic'd with a Royer 121 ribbon. That's a lovely mic that has a fig 8 pattern and a very natural un hyped top end, all of which will contribute to the great sound you're hearing here.
Marcus
Good eye, yes it's a Royer R121L, the "live" version that has a slightly thicker ribbon to hold up better on the road. It's perhaps even a little darker sounding theoretically because of that. I used two mics on this video, well there was also a third mic just to pick up my talking but that was muted during the playing. My amp room in the video is very small (6'x8.5') and totally dead with Auralex foam as it's really more of a vocal booth. That said I blended in a Neumann u67 tube mic that was in the very live (but also small) bathroom adjacent to the room I played in. While recording I cracked open the door to the bathroom and let the Neumann pick up a nice ambient sound from there. The mix has the Neumann panned left, and the Royer right. I did add a little reverb, but most of the ambience is the room aka Bathroom mic which is mixed in almost 50%. Sorry I'll refrain from any bathroom humor
Last edited by geetarpicker on Fri Jan 22, 2016 3:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
The Express, at least my clone, does not sound 'fully alive' to me without the bright switched on. The tone isn't right to my ear and amp 'feels' less interactive with the guitar. The interaction is one of the things that I really like about the Express. I put a baffle in front of the cab to reduce the volume. It also absorbs some of the upper highs that I am not a fan of. The baffle adds a bit of the Marshall knock IMO.
Nice clips, by the way! I like what I am hearing from the player and equipment.
Electronic equipment is designed using facts and mathematics, not opinion and dogma.
vibratoking wrote:The Express, at least my clone, does not sound 'fully alive' to me without the bright switched on. The tone isn't right to my ear and amp 'feels' less interactive with the guitar. The interaction is one of the things that I really like about the Express. I put a baffle in front of the cab to reduce the volume. It also absorbs some of the upper highs that I am not a fan of. The baffle adds a bit of the Marshall knock IMO.
Nice clips, by the way! I like what I am hearing from the player and equipment.
Interesting!! My express with 6V6's sounds huge without the bright switch. Once I had to put it on mild treble because somebody had a flying V with dirty fingers but all humbuckers (fralins or lollars) or even 57 classics sound great without the bright switch.
geetarpicker wrote:I just did a new Youtube video playing a 1985 Ken Fischer built Trainwreck Express and thought I'd post it here. I'm playing something different, an original and somewhat rare 1962 "Ebony Block" Gibson Les Paul (SG) with PAFs.
I went back and forth with the settings and input cable on this but I ended up with two Mogami 18' cords in series, the bright switch was in the full on position, volume 2/3, treble 1/3, the others on 1/2. It was miced with one close mic, and one distance mic in the next room with the door propped open just a tad. I added just a little reverb at mix down, and used NO pedals.
Damn that sounds great!!! I just realized how active the tone stack on my Wreck clone is. Turned up the treble 1/3 middle 1/2 and bass 1/3 with volume at 2/3 I get a really thick focused tone on my strat. I tried trimming treble and the bright switch and I agree with Glenn.....little bump in mids and notes become a little more focused and tighter
Thanks for the tips still breaking my amp in but gets better sounding each day.
Same guitar but different amp though, this being my 1989 Pacific OT Express. The settings were volume and treble on 11am, mid and bass on 1/2, presence on 1/4, and full bright switch ON. Using one Mogami 18' Gold cable. Guitar has unpotted PAF pickups but are tight, never pulled apart originals and reject microphonics quite well considering I'm playing at such close range. I backed off my tone control a hair on the bridge pickup, but then switch to the neck pickup wide open. I just biased the amp, 45ma with National labeled Siemens RFT EL34s, and Sylvania long plate 12AX7s in all three positions.
Ipad Mini 4 video camera doesn't look as good in low light as Iphone 5s does, lesson learned there. Audio is the same though as my first SG video, though a slightly drier more raw mix.
I benefited from the lessons on the your site; I'd never thought to angle the slide to get the 3rd in tune!
A neat trick on the modes lesson too - Thanks!
Thank you pdf64! Glad the mode short cut is helpful. I had to do a couple slant slides in this video to keep things in tune. With that much gain a sharp 3rd gets ugly quick! The G and B strings are a 3rd a part but mathematically a hair sharp, so when I play them together I slant the slide to flatten the B string. Any other pair of strings played together (in standard tuning) work with the slide exactly straight.
I had to do a few takes to get the video respectable, as I'm not quite used to working the knobs quickly on an SG vs other guitars. Still the old SG pots (Centralabs) come on so slowly that the Express amp is totally clean with the guitar on 5, and even up a little higher if I play lightly.
