turned on tonex pedal for the first time in a month

[mentoneman]

and played my guitar more than 10 minutes for the first time in 2 weeks! BUSY!

so although rustier than the tin man post rainstorm, and having spent way too long trying to make sense of the garage band virtual drums thus smoking my hearing, i fired up the volcano 78 preset from the brown pack, DI into a behringer interface to garage band pretty darn naked, and away i went in celebration of this little groove i've had in my head forever.



TAKEAWAY:

1) i really have to be on it technically to play this bouncy syncopated VH style way, which i wasn't ... they call me Mushy Hands McKinley the rhythmically ill.
2) though the box has potential, and sounded better to me plugged straight in with headphones, listening back to the recording seems to have a hashy cocked
wah squawk. so that could be part cheap interface sludge, part garage band foolishness (master +3 gain and 1:2 comp to try to make the track louder) and part
plain ole "it's digital"
3) i used the same tone for the solo which sounded decent compared to the rhythm sound. i lightly added a generic garage band tape delay on the solo track.
4) i'll do better next game coach.

 

[PDC]

The tone is fantastic. And whether you think its a bit rusty or not, you can always tell when you are listening to someone who can really play. Great groove and great playing here. A lil dash of Beautiful Girls sprinkled about for flavor? Killer.

 

[gibsonash]

like it too

 

[mentoneman]

The tone is fantastic. And whether you think its a bit rusty or not, you can always tell when you are listening to someone who can really play. Great groove and great playing here. A lil dash of Beautiful Girls sprinkled about for flavor? Killer.

why thanks man! i did like how the tone came across on the lead—- kinda VH/Nuno which is what i always gravitate towards on the rock stuff.

the rhythm tone woulda come out sounding better if my hands properly extracted it by executing better. and that’s where i feel a tube amp rig with real speakers has the advantage. more percussive, silky and reboundy like the way a real piano hammer feels as the felt hits the string.

but for going from a month off of not using this thing or playing much to whipping out the drum track, rhythm track, fake bass by playing clean and dropping an octave, and lead track in about 3 hrs, i’m good just knowing i can still remember how this works!

 

[tjnx]

this is good and I think you ought to polish it up mf

 

[harddriver]

Some good stuff in there Mentoneman! Great tones in that clip, I can't believe I am praising a digital plexi algorithm............................

 

[SaberRed]

Only listened on iPad but it sounds like a cool groove!

 

[crwnedblasphemy]

Sounds good

 

[mentoneman]

this is good and I think you ought to polish it up mf

yes coach

 

[mentoneman]

Some good stuff in there Mentoneman! Great tones in that clip, I can't believe I am praising a digital plexi algorithm............................

mahalo!
the pedal *is* very fun to play with from a VH tone fan perspective. and the fun is inspirational. the challenge is using that tone and not trying to play Eddie’s licks but do your own thing!

 

[mentoneman]

no doubt with patience the UA Lion 68 and Tonex can produce convincing recorded results. no regrets experimenting with new tech.

there is still something wild and simply primal about tubes interacting with speaker cabs that triggers unpredictable inspiration, enhancing how expressive your playing can be.

that experience gets diminished when i’m playing through digital recreations of tubes and speaker cabinets.

 

[JohnnyGtar]

Dude, you know how to swing on that guitar like a mofo. You understand pocket. Hell yeah!

 

[mentoneman]

Dude, you know how to swing on that guitar like a mofo. You understand pocket. Hell yeah!

mahalo sir!

if i practiced with the metronome more i could control pick coordination better, hit the single notes cleaner, land chords more accurately, and in turn articulate the tone more successfully.

 

[JohnnyGtar]

mahalo sir!

if i practiced with the metronome more i could control pick coordination better, hit the single notes cleaner, land chords more accurately, and in turn articulate the tone more successfully.

We can always improve but your sense of swing sounds really organic to me, like it's part of you. Nice problem to have! LOL

 

[mentoneman]

although chug is not my interest, i can acknowledge the discipline of being percussive and precise like a cut time blast drummer on the E and A string. my ability to execute tricky picking elements blends some of that with groove and swing, and is directly correlated to how well the amp responds and how it allows fine tuning of the gain tight/loose factor and eq across the strings.

that’s why i loved the cameron atomica because it has the elastic boogie squish and effortless sustain but a marshall voice and tightness in the way notes rebound and chords chomp just right to balance it out.

 

[Jeff Hilligan]

Ya your swing and rusty playing do suck! JK mahalo brah

 

[mentoneman]

the cab sounds as great as it did in the 90s. also happy i found one with the classic and well broken in celestion black shadow/EV 12L pairing. the Blacks have a more pleasant celestion grind and scoop than the 75s imo, and the EVs fatten up the single notes and make the clean attack pop.
I know i’m totally uncool when it comes to modern heavy tones but i can’t imagine needing more gain than a mark III with the presence and graphic tweaked in.

it’s funny to see how nuts Bob gets about these speakers—poor Michelle

 

[Sick Michael]

Pretty great sounding stuff, Playing is really good, its the hardest thing to nail, that swing/mojo thing that he had. Im hearing two tones from these clips, the raw VH and the thicker body of the Mark III. I love them both and its hard to know which is the one...

 

[mentoneman]

Pretty great sounding stuff, Playing is really good, its the hardest thing to nail, that swing/mojo thing that he had. Im hearing two tones from these clips, the raw VH and the thicker body of the Mark III. I love them both and its hard to know which is the one...

sickness!

mahalo and you hear what i’m hearing and feeling tonally.

@GJgo mentions in his RI post the one problem i have with the Mark III simul blue which is the slightly mushy vibe i get on the E and A strings if i’m trying to navigate quickly from note to note/chord to chord in that zone. but up high for soloing that oily boogie vibe is great!

when i owned the IIB coli in it’s original form, it was non simul w/graphic and verb and it tracked the low stuff well. i had it modded to simul and that went away some.

the tonex gets tighter VH-Nuno response but kinda dry/stiff and not tube/speaker bloomy, forgiving and sustainy.

my synergy/eggie wdw rig is a great compromise between the two. the be-dlx module is very close to a modded marshall mixed with the greasy low mids i’m dialing in with the Mark III,

and the IE4 ch 3’s warmer vintage plexi-jcm 800 with @griff10672 Atomic Punk Overdrive is more along the VH side of things.

as much as i dig the Friedman stuff and i think i’ve played most of them (my fave is Steve Stevens v1), the core tone of my Peacemaker attenuated and hit with the right pedal and the cameron atomica straight in are still my two favorite rock amps i’ve ever played.