Controversial gear opinions…….lets hear them.

  • Thread starter Thread starter EyesOfTheSouth!
  • Start date Start date
Solarflares said:
Yes.
Very shit story.
I joined the band fresh from the Reading Festival in Sept 1980. Their album, without me, had just been released.
The Old Grey Whistle Test played one track, with a video cartoon. Sales were moderate.
We were signed worldwide to WEA, and published by Hit and Run. Executive managed by Tony Stratton Smith. We had an office in Hit and Run.
The thought was to do a two-song live spot on OGWT, and a support slot on some major tour - possibly Genesis.
Recording for the second album was booked in February, 5 months away, and Mutt Lange had been paid already (£40,000).
Can’t remember the order, but Mutt was doing Foreigner 4, and was booked for “Back in Black”. Might be the other way round?
So what happens in October? Well, firstly, my retainer isn’t appearing. I haven’t been fucking paid a penny. We were rehearsed in and ready for TV.
Manager suggests I look for another band. WTF?
What actually happened is that the singer found our good Lord Jesus Christ, who apparently saved him, and in penance he would concentrate on church visits and painting! Yeah Right.
Tony Stratton Smith closed our office, and threw the sub-manager out. We no longer had publishing. WEA decided to take their option, so there was to be no more pressing or promotion. We no longer had a record contract.
This meant we had no advance either for the next album.
Don’t know how, but the singer and bassist tossed a self-produced album off in Utopia studios in February.
Apparently Foreigner 4/Back in Black had run overtime and Mutt wasn’t available. Not sure if we got the money back or not. The band didn’t invite me to the recordings!
Spoke with Pete the drummer, and his retainer had stopped too, and he was gone. He was also not on the Feb recordings.
Mike Rutherford lent his Llindrum for the album, which confuses anyone, since we’d burnt our bridges with Genesis.
Then I get a phone call in May, asking if I’d do a few shows, with the new drummer from the band City Boy.
I did go down, but it was very strained. I grabbed some expenses money and turned my back finally on this whole debacle.
A year later, I found that Feb album in the bins in HMV records. A few tracks can be found on YouTube.
Not quite done. Tina Wisby from Zzomba records told me how the singer had woo’d them into paying for a development deal after recording was done. Mutt Lange offered to make the singer a solo star. Quite a few companies were supporting him financially, to get him to sign.
What does he do? He signs with Deutsch Grammafon! What!!!
After that, he was a musical leper, an untouchable idiot.
Incredible rock voice, but what a wanker.

That was my first professional engagement. What a joke.
Click to expand...
That's wild man. But then he found Shania...
 
japetus said:
That's wild man. But then he found Shania...
Click to expand...
Now don’t get me wrong, I think you’re alright.
And as you can see - I deleted that shite.

Too much me me me.
Prefer gassing about gear.
 
Solarflares said:
Now don’t get me wrong, I think you’re alright.
And as you can see - I deleted that shite.

Too much me me me.
Prefer gassing about gear.
Click to expand...

Fair enough either way

When i was younger I didn't "Get" this and would talk about all my touring experiences (especially at big venues and with well known bands) and didn't realize how douchey it sounds to people

But on the other hand, it's even more douchey to have the attitude without the actual guitar chops and experience
 
DanTravis62 said:
Fair enough either way

When i was younger I didn't "Get" this and would talk about all my touring experiences (especially at big venues and with well known bands) and didn't realize how douchey it sounds to people

But on the other hand, it's even more douchey to have the attitude without the actual guitar chops and experience
Click to expand...
I could write a very long book.
Comedy and Tragedy.
But I don’t think people would believe half of it.

Here’s me a week before I finally retired from bands, at the age of 32.
Breakfast at 9am was half a pint of Absolute Vodka straight out the freezer, in frozen glasses. Constant joints. Constant Bud Lights and Tequila. Rehearsals begin at 12.00. I was the straightest guy in the band, and we really played.
IMG_6586.jpeg
 
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Here's one for yah..
Those B52 AT-100 Amps were actually really great sounding amps.
The secret?? For some reason the lead and crunch channels were somehow mislabeled/switched.
If you were on the "Red" channel, it was actually the crunch channel. And the "orange" channel was the lead channel.
I owned one for yearssss and it was a searing high gain monster.
People probably hated them because the lead channel had no balls and the crunch channel was where it was at... Weird.
 
Not common knowledge, but the Lab Series L5 amps had a small pot inside that controlled the distortion and summing circuit’s gain. Just a tiny movement of this would advance the tone into a full, lush experience.
You had to be careful though, as the amp was potentially capable of 200W, and could destroy a single 4x12 in seconds. Mine blew up, and the engineer said it was outputting 190W at the time!
I stripped the pre-amps out of mine, and had two in a custom rack unit. Biggest problem was the 4V fx-loop voltage.
But their engineer modified mine to output 2V. Used them for nearly 20 years.
Definite Ty Tabor vibe - monstrous tones, full of body.
But turn that distortion pot up, and it’s a modified Marshall.
Best transistor amp ever made, and you could upgrade the 13 4558 chips to ultra low-noise variants to make it even better.
Mine had Hush 11C’s and 15-band graphics on their outputs.
Awesome recordings over the years.
I could go anywhere in the world, grab an L5, and after fiddling inside, get my distinct sound. Loved it.
 
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The 60’s Wem Copycats were excellent units.
Superb on fx-loops, with a smooth pre-amp.
But there was a trick people missed.
For just $50, you could install relays to switch record-head, erase-head, and motor-power.
Relocating one playback head would give you a 1 second delay, taking it into Echoplex territory - except you could have 341ms and 1,000ms together, with the 1 second repeat being naturally quieter due to its post-motor spindle position. Bloody fantastic.
Being able to record a 2 second loop, and then hearing it wind down as you turned the motor off - was such a great way to end songs.
 
Anyone that buys a Rat pedal should be sectioned.
Anyone that buys a Muff pedal should be shot.
Anyone paying over $2000 for an amp, and $3000 for a guitar, should have the shit kicked out of them.
Chinese V30 users should spend at least a year in prison, on the paedo wing.
 
DanTravis62 said:
Fair enough either way

When i was younger I didn't "Get" this and would talk about all my touring experiences (especially at big venues and with well known bands) and didn't realize how douchey it sounds to people

But on the other hand, it's even more douchey to have the attitude without the actual guitar chops and experience
Click to expand...
Hey Dan.
I use SLV bridge, SA middle, and an S in the neck on my Strats.
SPC is a bit ‘85 for me. So I use a Koko Boost, which is less honky.

Suggest you ‘Dieselbilly’ that Tele control-plate. Turn it round man.
 
Solarflares said:
Hey Dan.
I use SLV bridge, SA middle, and an S in the neck on my Strats.
SPC is a bit ‘85 for me. So I use a Koko Boost, which is less honky.

Suggest you ‘Dieselbilly’ that Tele control-plate. Turn it round man.
Click to expand...

I have turned it around before, when I needed to ride the volume knob a lot live

Since I quit playing in cover bands though, I don't really need to ride the volume knob as much anymore - and I have an ernie ball volume/tuner pedal I use live now, if I ever do need to

I'm building a "teevee" at the moment though, and I may well dieselbilly the control plate on that one just for shits

I just ordered some tropical frostflake to add to my inverness green body, then its getting assembled

Heres the un-sanded, unflaked base coat body

808.jpg
 
Solarflares said:
Not common knowledge, but the Lab Series L5 amps had a small pot inside that controlled the distortion and summing circuit’s gain. Just a tiny movement of this would advance the tone into a full, lush experience.
You had to be careful though, as the amp was potentially capable of 200W, and could destroy a single 4x12 in seconds. Mine blew up, and the engineer said it was outputting 190W at the time!
I stripped the pre-amps out of mine, and had two in a custom rack unit. Biggest problem was the 4V fx-loop voltage.
But their engineer modified mine to output 2V. Used them for nearly 20 years.
Definite Ty Tabor vibe - monstrous tones, full of body.
But turn that distortion pot up, and it’s a modified Marshall.
Best transistor amp ever made, and you could upgrade the 13 4558 chips to ultra low-noise variants to make it even better.
Mine had Hush 11C’s and 15-band graphics on their outputs.
Awesome recordings over the years.
I could go anywhere in the world, grab an L5, and after fiddling inside, get my distinct sound. Loved it.
Click to expand...
I built this ...... I use to run it into my Mesa Strategy 400 into two 4 x 12 's

full on Ty Tabor tones ......... since sold my Mesa ..... but it sounds pretty dam good into my Peavey 50/50 doing the same thing

1784821634337.png
 
griff10672 said:
I built this ...... I use to run it into my Mesa Strategy 400 into two 4 x 12 's

full on Ty Tabor tones ......... since sold my Mesa ..... but it sounds pretty dam good into my Peavey 50/50 doing the same thing

View attachment 453889
Click to expand...
Nice try. Where’s the multi-filter?
Anything sounds good through a Peavey 50/50.
 
Solarflares said:
Nice try. Where’s the multi-filter?
Anything sounds good through a Peavey 50/50.
Click to expand...
If I would have done the whole pre amp ... I would have included it .... but this is just a stripped down version of just the drive channel .... I didn't want or need the clean channel .
 
griff10672 said:
If I would have done the whole pre amp ... I would have included it .... but this is just a stripped down version of just the drive channel .... I didn't want or need the clean channel .
Click to expand...
Multifilter is integral to only the lead channel.
When I racked mine, we cut and folded the circuit board over, and connected the edges, after removing the clean channel pots. Part of the lead channel was physically on the clean channel’s board location. Very annoying.
The Multifilter is essential, although mine would only be on about 1.5, maybe 1.
The pre-amp definitely needed post-EQ, to tweak everything. A 15-band barely enough.
I used L5’s exclusively from 1981 to 2000. Racked them in ‘87, after the transformers started burning.
The pair got a single toroidal 12-0-12 in a separate rack box after that. Sounded lush.
Midrange was best at 1.6K, but they weren’t honky at all.

I tried a Pearce pre-amp in Manny’s once. It was very flat-sounding.
I put that down to the absence of the Multifilter.
 
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