Ford through a TwoRock last month

[telentubes]

Mine doesn't stay in tune either. Worst guitar I've ever owned in that regard. Hopefully the new saddle and stop tail will cure that.
I've never had an LP, but feel it's time to get one. Had a 345 in the 70s. Wish I never sold it. Great guitar.

[ic-racer]

I think my HRF III sounds pretty good and I have never had a tuning problem with it. Here is a video of the Howard Roberts Fusion III through my recently completed HRM with EL34 tubes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt4KMHStQXQ

[telentubes]

VERY nice. A true inspiration to get my rig dialed in (amp and guitar). Great playin'!

[dcribbs1412]

Gotta say this is real nice example of the transition of clean to OD.
Really nice playing also ic-racer....
thanks for sharing this

Darin

[riverman]

Great playing and tones.

[vibratoking]

Nice playing and nice tone, IC. You have the amp at a fairly low volume, correct?

I should go a little further and say the my HRF will stay in tune if I play it in a style such as yours. I tend to do alot more string bending which is the problem. Think King Albert. As strings are bent on that guitar, you can see the tailpiece fingers moving. I don't think they return very well and I think that this is what causes the tuning issues. Perhaps lubing the finger pivot points would help with the problem.

[10thTx]

Very very tasty playing! Nice amp tone. I really enjoyed that, so thanks for sharing it.

With respect, 10thtx

[ic-racer]

Nice playing and nice tone, IC. You have the amp at a fairly low volume, correct?

I use an iMac and record with Logic, but can't get it to use Logic as a mixer for the "Photobooth" movie recorder. So I just was using both the built-in speakers to play the backing track and the built-in mic to record. Pretty low tech, but yes, needing pretty low amp volume.

I use a passive resistor box attenuator. With my present setup, I prefer those to the 'active' attenuators.

I just got my EVM 12 S last week, and my Thiele cabinet is on order from Brandon, so I may have to re-vamp my setup when I get all the pieces together.

[garlin]

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[telentubes]

Back to the Howard Roberts Fusion tangent.

I installed the Gotoh bridge and stop tail and there was a big difference. Sounds better... and it now stays in tune, with all the string bending you care to throw at it. Much more fun to play. A cheap, quick, noticeable upgrade. Thanks for that one!

[tag101]

I saw Robben at Yoshi's Oakland this year - he didn't use distortion once the whole night. I understand doing this. If you practice/play with a really good clean sound and you have a great sounding guitar and you're a good player -
it's worth trying - after all SRV's best killer tones are clean, you just have to have an amp/guitar/technique that really is fully opened up and singing. If you can get sustain without relying on distortion - try it. It can be a refreshing change. I also saw Robben at Throckmorten in Mill Valley within the last year and he used a borrowed Two-Rock - nasty. buzzy and I would have rather he just used a clean setting.

If thats true, how did he play many of his most loved songs? They all were recorded with lots of overdrive. Did he just play them clean? I cant see that going over very well. I have seen Ford lots of times, and he has always used lots of overdrive. Thats the tones that he is noted for, and what his Dumble is all about!

[bluesfendermanblues]

I saw Robben at Yoshi's Oakland this year - he didn't use distortion once the whole night. I understand doing this. If you practice/play with a really good clean sound and you have a great sounding guitar and you're a good player -
it's worth trying - after all SRV's best killer tones are clean, you just have to have an amp/guitar/technique that really is fully opened up and singing. If you can get sustain without relying on distortion - try it. It can be a refreshing change. I also saw Robben at Throckmorten in Mill Valley within the last year and he used a borrowed Two-Rock - nasty. buzzy and I would have rather he just used a clean setting.

If thats true, how did he play many of his most loved songs? They all were recorded with lots of overdrive. Did he just play them clean? I cant see that going over very well. I have seen Ford lots of times, and he has always used lots of overdrive. Thats the tones that he is noted for, and what his Dumble is all about!

Yes, but RF always sounds 'clean' and articulated even though he use a wast amount of OD. He's never fuzzy or buzzy.

I've seen RF many times in Europe. His best concert was a late 90's show where he used a pedalboard with earnie ball vol pedal, vox chrome wha and two ibanez tube screamer reissues in series into two red knob rental fender amps. My jaw dropped when I saw that setup.

This summer I saw him with Miles Smiles. He played the blonde tele, the new large pedalboard and two fender super amps. He didnt used any of the OD pedals and his sound was pure Robben.

[garlin]

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[Structo]

He seems to go through phases with his gear.

Not sure if the new Vertex pedalboard and all is to make fly dates easier or he is just tired of the unknown at the venues.

He used to use rented Supers or Twins at far away venues so as not to have to ship his Dumble which becomes more valuable by the day.

When we saw him at the Aladdin last spring he had his Dumble but no Dumbleator or TC 2290.

Just a few pedals scattered on the floor which became problematic for the last couple numbers. (bad connections)

[tag101]

This summer I saw him with Miles Smiles. He played the blonde tele, the new large pedalboard and two fender super amps. He didnt used any of the OD pedals and his sound was pure Robben.

I am not trying to be a smart ass, but no one can get a clean amp to sound overdriven. When you say pure robben, you mean CLEAN pure Robben. (Which is great as well, I agree!) But its a lot different than overdriven Robben. "The Plunge" "Indianola" and such are going to sound a lot different tonally clean. Stylistically speaking, pure Robben I agree.