Keeping the Trivial Pursuit thread going… Page/Plant employed a hurdy-gurdy player on their tour. He (innocently enough) asked Jimmy “what Zoso meant” and could actually hear a pin drop.

Scalloped fretboards; not just the province of the widdler. Billy Sheehan’s Yamaha “Attitude” bass, scalloped for the E and A strings at the lower frets and for the D and G strings at the higher frets. Did I say Billy Sheehan? OK, strictly for the widdlers, then.

and didnt Kirk Hammett once play a hurdi gurdi? in the early folky hazy days before his ESP Voodoo trip? scalloped fretboard of course, and on a serious note, has anyone noticed that its the PRS 20th anniversary? am i the only person to have noticed? and did you know Mr P made his first guitar for Pete Frampton?? 😀

[quote]metallica used the jazz chorus heaps

i heard a rumour they use them live for their clean sound[/quote]

I didn’t know that, rws, thanks. I’m tempted to say that I didn’t know Metallica used a clean sound 🙂 , but I’m straying way outside what I know about (again). I’ll keep an eye out for live footage. The JC-120 is certainly very capable, but not my kind of thing.

“you can never have too many effects pedals”

You a Rage Against The Machine fan?

metallica used the jazz chorus heaps

i heard a rumour they use them live for their clean sound

Lee, next time you and I are on this forum at the same time I’ll wear my wetsuit and maybe the (urban myth?) Hendix stage catheter. I don’t know many hairy JC120 users but pretentious “Guitar symphony in E min and 64,000/4 time” types may be among them.

yeah but a jazz chorus? metal?? i just cant see ywengie malstreem poodle doggy style hair, one sweaty spandex clad leg up on the jazz chorus whilst ripping the nuts out of some minor pentatonic scale, in Eb minor of course, with the Austrian National Philharmonic backing him up, while he widdles out some improvised Bach, you think im making it up, it actualy happened, a reveiwer discribed it as like putting on a classical record on one deck whilst simultaniously playing a heavy metal record.
Jazz Chorus?? pull the other one its got Ywengie on it.

I ought to qualify that, though. Anyone who reckons “No need for a valve amp, I can get that Bluesbreaker tone from my modelling or multiFX pedal” has perhaps a slightly hazy idea of the amp being emulated. That, or they’re beta-testing a floor unit not on the market yet.

Lee, some of those Randall heads are all SS; I think Cyclone and Warhead were a couple with no glowing bottles even in the preamp. The Valvestates were almost all pre-tubed (hence the name). The JC120 I remember particularly in the 80s. They have their fans, but not particularly in metal, where this thread originated.

Some players (the vast majority of bassists, a minority of guitarists) do go for the route of the cleanest possible power amplification with little coloration. The coloration can then be dialled in by the player using eq and pedals. The unpleasant distortion of SS is simply overcome by just upping the W, which can be done easily with little weight penalty (unlike valves).

Much as I love valves for pre and power stages, it is an ear thing and goes with my style. If someone else likes a pedal and a straight wattage-multiplier for their tone, that’s fine too, if it fits.

randall
marshall valvestate
roland jazz chorus

http://www.randallamplifiers.com/
http://www.marshallamps.com/images/archive/valvestate1.html
http://www.rolandus.com/products/details.asp?catid=7&subcatid=32&prodid=JC-120[/quote]

Randall And Marshall still use Valves in the pre-amp stage, and Roland Jazz Chorus?? surely not, who uses those??

Fair point on the Randall. The JC120 is a fine amp for what it does (my guitarist still has one that’s some 20 years old) but, in fairness, doesn’t crop up at the usual hairy gig. More for the bloke sat on a stool playing an ES with strings he hasn’t changed in seven years 🙂

I’d rule out the valvestate on two fronts. I don’t think it was marketed (and certainly wasn’t taken up) as a serious pro setup. Also, all but the smallest bedroom combo used the hybrid approach with a 12AX7 preamp that I mentioned. Funnelly nuff, Marshall used the same trick with the Dynamic Bass System (DBS) with the capability to blend valve and SS preamps (much like that Randall V Max). I tried the DBS400 stack and initially expected the SS blend to be the ‘totally useless’ knob but was pleasantly surprised. For bass, it was quite nifty to dial in the SS for a clean funk or Weather Report tone (didn’t make me play like Jaco, though 😛 ) and dial back the valve tone I use more often for the indie-rock I usually do.

Lee, I think (I’m not dead cert myself) that the Very Metal amp requirements are different to classic heavy rock/metal. The standard, EL34 Marshall seems to sag and distort too early ( 😯 ). Just to check, I had a look at Marshall’s endorsing artists and there aren’t many of the Nu, thrash, death variety – mostly Maiden and suchlike.

[quote=”lee_UK”]Are there any Metal bands that use SS Amps?? im not a big metal fan, but as far is i see from videos, they all seem to use Marshall / Messa / Peavey / and those big German sweaty 200 watters, cant remeber their name…. anyway, name a couple of pure SS amps, i’d like to know what they are, maybe the line6 stuff?[/quote]

randall
marshall valvestate
roland jazz chorus

http://www.randallamplifiers.com/
http://www.marshallamps.com/images/archive/valvestate1.html
http://www.rolandus.com/products/details.asp?catid=7&subcatid=32&prodid=JC-120

I avoid playing through SS if at all possible, and that’s bass. I had one of those ‘multiband’ gigs and spent a lot of time persuading others to use my amp as the bass backline. The usual sceptical comments, “lack of headroom”, “too much distortion”, “call this a preamp section?”

After everyone played, though, I got no complaints and a lot of “wow, I want one” stuff. There has been a fashion (in general, not just bass) for rack preamp and separate power amp that may or may not be valve. It depends on your ‘metal’. Some people think Def Leppard is metal. OTOH, noise regs and H+S and lawsuits being what they are, I know a lot of players who can’t even get their 100W amps going and have to use attenuators.

Mustard mitt, I can’t think of any serious guitar player’s amp that’s all SS made these days. Personally, I don’t go with the hybrids that think only the 12AX7 has to distort; I like the sag from power tubes too. For a really inyerface overdrive, I don’t hear that in many amps; pedals do better. Even then, I’ve tried transistor and digital FX and they don’t work for me. They’re too middle/trebly and the bass goes AWOL. I had a Boss that was alright, and a Peavey multi-thing that definitely isn’t. I’ve been using my guitarist’s Matchless Dirtbox and “Ohhh mama” but the darn thing costs.

[quote=”rewindspline”]
the only real discussion you could have in this post is whether tube amps or solid state amps are better for metal[/quote]

Are there any Metal bands that use SS Amps?? im not a big metal fan, but as far is i see from videos, they all seem to use Marshall / Messa / Peavey / and those big German sweaty 200 watters, cant remeber their name…. anyway, name a couple of pure SS amps, i’d like to know what they are, maybe the line6 stuff?

i should qualify my previous statement…

the amp matters live because no pedal will sound better than an angry marshall or mesa cranked

the amp matters in the studio because you can get awesome sounds from small amps as well as big amps

the only real discussion you could have in this post is whether tube amps or solid state amps are better for metal

Coolio.

I’ve tried lots of FX, and I’ve tried none but the trustiest amp. Each works, in their own way.

Neither type becomes a de facto idiot. This started as a ‘metal’ thread, so I’d lean towards the necessity for some pedal at least out front, but that’s my coupla pfennigs.

[quote=”huba2006″]personaly i think it doesnt matter about the amp but it is the effects you have.[/quote]

you can’t be serious – of course the amp matters

idiot

[quote=”huba2006″]personaly i think it doesnt matter about the amp but it is the effects you have.[/quote]

and its not the quality of effects you have but the amount that counts,
HE WHO DIES WITH THE MOST GEAR WINS !!

you can never have too many effects pedals,

and i like your post Bassleft, very good, almost spinal tapest in motion.

If you set “bottom, body and hair” contols to 0, is this the same as a “back, crack and sack” wax? 😛

personaly i think it doesnt matter about the amp but it is the effects you have.

probably….somewhere.