Guitar amp cab idea with 2 leftover RS-180

[JonMarsh]

Nice touch with the slash logo on the underside of the pickup! HAHA!

Turns out the control cavity does have foil on the cover and looks to be painted with "shielding" paint? At least that's what I've read it is supposed to be. Regardless, with the 6 fluorescent lights in my office, I haven't noticed any buzzing yet so likely not an issue.

That's great! I've heard a bit more hum and noise with the P90's with things cranked up a bit than with a hum bucker LP.

[JonMarsh]

Jon - you still there? Haven't seen any new gear recently!

I went on a bit of a spree last week.

This is on the way since I gave my other Tele to my dad:



And these two (1 & 2) showed up today since I wanted a classical guitar and wanted to try P90s:



All told, all my electrics together still aren't worth as much as a "real" LP or strat. So I feel ok with the stable of guitars that continues to grow.

I strongly identify with that statement, and it's also the pitch I give my girlfriend, when she recently asked me to create a brief inventory of the guitars now over at her place... 15 altogether, including an Epiphone Jack Casady bass guitar. Ahem... it's gotten a little more out of hand than I'd realized, since I still thought the number was more like 11 or 12... :lol:

But for example, I pointed out to her a listing on eBay for the Gibson SLASH "Appetite for Destruction" Les Paul; finding examples for sale priced between $3600 and $4500; this is between 6 and 7-1/2 times more expensive than what I paid.

Yet, the following facts are true:

• The Gibson and Epiphone versions use the same Seymore Duncan SLASH pickups with overwound coils on Alnico II magnets, designed in cooperation with Slash.
• They both use the same tone and volume circuits and components, including the sprague orange drop film capacitors
• Both have long tenon neck constructions typical of late 50s/early 60's Les Pauls, with one piece rosewood fretboards, and the slightly modified D neck profile which Slash prefers
• Both have a carved maple top with AA grade maple veneer on top, over a one piece mahogany body (not typical for Epiphones, which usually use a layered body)
• Both use the same Kluson vintage style tuners
• Both use the same bridge and tail piece parts, nickel finish
• The Gibson has a nitrocellulose lacquer finish, the Epiphone their standard polyurethane, with a lemon burst shading for the top veneer, and the red aniline dye as for the classic instrument for the mahogany body.

With these kinds of ratios, it's possible to have quite a few high performance Epi's for the price of one Gibson or Fender, particularly if you're looking at higher end Custom shop models in the latter. Particularly, if you're buying to PLAY the guitar, rather than just "collect" a name brand guitar, this makes tons of sense in my opinion. The only practical way to buy those "name brand" signature models is finding a deal on ebay, IMO. That's how I got my '56 Les Paul and my Jeff Beck signature model strat.

The real trick for value, with Epiphone, in my opinion and experience, is getting one of the better designed/built signature system models that basically use all Gibson parts and construction techniques. They're produced only in limited quantity, and aren't easy to find, but they offer an exception value proposition, in my experience, IF that model represents what you're looking for as regards playing characteristics and tone structure. For the most part, one may want to ignore the specific signature character (for example, I'm not a Slash fan particularly, or at all- don't have any of his music), but focus on the guitar construction. For example, I'm no fan of Ace Frehley, but the Epiphone "Bodokan" I have is very much one of my favorites from the viewpoint of tonal flexibility, playability, (really like the neck feel and special model Grover tuners) and build quality. All I had to do to "disguise" it was get a replacement Epiphone Les Paul Custom neck adjustment cover- fortunately, there's no goofy graphics built in to the head stock or neck, unlike the earlier versions.

What you're doing makes a lot of sense, particularly to experiment with different hardware for different tonal styles. When I point out these price versus performance issues to the GF, at first she was skeptical there could be such similarity AND such difference, but after she went online and looked around, she was convinced I was on the right track.

Even my sort of crazy recent purchase of the Les Paul Recording falls under the high value proposition range, IMO, as most of their premium build Les Pauls go for 2-1/2 to 4 times the price... and don't have the fancy internal electronics.

[oneplustwo]

I got the thinline today and it's pretty darn good. It's made in china but seems pretty comparable to the made in korea rondos I've gotten. Probably not quite as nice as my strat clone, but it was also less than half the price. The tuners aren't as nice as the grovers but they seem to hold tune pretty well. The bridge isn't super fancy, but it appears to do the job quite well. Doesn't have the traditional look of the tele saddles but they likely are more practical. Also, the pickups are just fine. Sound nice and twangy when they should and have lots of tonal adjustment. The fit and finish of everything is actually better than the LP with P90s I got recently. Intonation, action, and overall setup is good too.

This is the last one... really.

[JonMarsh]

I got the thinline today and it's pretty darn good. It's made in china but seems pretty comparable to the made in korea rondos I've gotten. Probably not quite as nice as my strat clone, but it was also less than half the price. The tuners aren't as nice as the grovers but they seem to hold tune pretty well. The bridge isn't super fancy, but it appears to do the job quite well. Doesn't have the traditional look of the tele saddles but they likely are more practical. Also, the pickups are just fine. Sound nice and twangy when they should and have lots of tonal adjustment. The fit and finish of everything is actually better than the LP with P90s I got recently. Intonation, action, and overall setup is good too.

This is the last one... really.

Very nice looking guitar overall, particularly the quality of the wood! Is that a quilted maple finish on the front?

Hmmmm.

This is the last one... really.

Seriously? Now, I'm sure you may feel you need to tell your wife that, but do you think I believe it? :W

Of course, having taken stock of my current tally, even I was embarrassed to realize how many I'd bought... averaged about 1 a month since the beginning of 2013... except I didn't buy the first one until April 2013...

Frankly, I'm very happy with what I've got on hand- now if I could just find some time to work on the many guitar lesson videos I've either downloaded or bought on DVD- the latest was a collection of lessons from a company in the UK for Peter Green songs- the best of the early Fleetwood Mac stuff.

Now, I suppose the real acid test would be, if we could only keep one, which one would it be? (or two... or three? )

[oneplustwo]

Very nice looking guitar overall, particularly the quality of the wood! Is that a quilted maple finish on the front?

They call it burl ash, but yes, I do like the finish. And the binding is done quite well too. I really do think I'm done for now. To your point, I need to find time to play them now. I have been messing around with online lessons and the PS3 guitar game, Rocksmith. But after my triathlon in July, I may consider taking some real lessons to make real progress on the improv side of things. I can follow a tab/chord progression easy enough, but would really like to be able to just make up stuff along the way.

[JonMarsh]

I think you'll find it's like learning a vocabulary and some grammar- at first, you'll really have to think about things, learn how a type of progression or chord inversion works and sounds, practice different picking styles, get a real feel for the strings.. (I see some people posting online videos that can play a moderately fast lead of some sort but I don't get the feeling they understand how much tone and micro dynamics is in the hands/fingers- they just have one style or method of picking).

Get some vocabulary down, then you can start to speak with your own inner musical muse.

[JonMarsh]

After playing the new Recording model Les Paul with the V7 Bigsby, I've decided to expand the scope of the so called Peter Green / Slash conversion-

Ironically, this is the photo image that the eBay vendor I chose was using- he sells complete kits with the Bigsby plus the special adapter parts for a drill-less add on to Les Pauls and other selected models:




This is the details of the V7 with the add on kit to avoid having to drill into the body or modify the body- it provides hardware adapters for the mourning points.




It's on the way via USPS, so it may be a while before it gets here- will post the conversion details - I suppose I should make some tone files for before and after, too, but finding the time for that may be difficult with everything else going on. Northern CA DIY next weekend, May 3; won't have speakers ready for it, but will be there providing a playback system.

[oneplustwo]

Sweet! I do like the look of those Bigsbys. I'm not a big tremelo guy in general though. Don't even have the whammy bar installed on my strat. I made a more pragmatic purchase today though.



That said, I'm also eyeing one of these:



It's a mini travel guitar with a pickup.

Would be fun for travel and maybe for the kids to start learning guitar.

[JonMarsh]

Have you started the modern method for guitar yet? What do you think of it? Any links for comments or reviews of it?

I usually haven't been a big "whammy bar" guy, never had one back in the day, but between my JB Strat and the Les Paul Recording I'm finding ways it can be fairly useful- I've also been watching a number of close up video's of Jeff Beck, seeing some interesting ways he uses it- so I figure adding it to the vocabulary may be useful. Now, the JB Custom shop Strat is the one that's really setup right for that- even a roller nut, very good bridge hardware, and locking tuners. They did a very nice job on that compared with standard Stratocasters.

(and the stoopid reason is that I think it will look cool on Slash to Peter Green Epi Mod. By the way, did I mention that the Recording LP has a pickup phase switch built in? The pickups sound more like normal LP pickups than the old original Recording model i used to have, but I figure it can't really hurt to have to LP's setup this way. I'm even thinking about doing it to my LP Custom. There's a couple more on eBay.... complete kits with the adapter hardware to work with an LP.

I've got so much learning stuff on hand that I'm looking forward to- if it was living a normal work life style (by past standards) I'd be spending at least an hour or more every night on practice, but it's all I can do after I get home to get a snack to eat, clean up and get to bed by 9:30 or 10, getting up again at 5 Am.

Hopefully that will change by October or so...

[sandalhat]

New member here, though I've lurked on the forum sporadically for some time.

I love this thread, it really shows the descent into madness that is a guitar addiction / GAS! I have a lot more experience with guitars than I do with the main content of the forum, so it's amusing from another perspective seeing experts in what you guys do getting turned on to a new hobby. So basically I'm the complete opposite and getting turned on to what you're doing here. Specifically I have been wanting to take on a speaker build project, as I am a huge fan of DIY, but that isn't for this thread and I'm sure I won't have time for a while.

I also have to say that I really appreciate the methodical and intelligent approach that I seem to often find in threads here - it is really refreshing to see it on a forum since that really isn't the norm!

I'd like to say that my GAS isn't quite as bad as yours JonMarsh, simply due to your acquisition rate, but I think realistically mine is just throttled by income too much these days!

[JonMarsh]

Welcome to the forum- appreciate your perspective and kind comments!

Yes, I have a severe case of GAS in the last 12-14 months with regards to guitars and gear; it started with getting a new organ just after Christmas time in 2012, and that reminded me of how much I enjoyed guitar too, back in the late 60's and early 70's when I earned my way through school on keyboards and guitar, rather than MacDonald's. And these days there's SUCH a greater volume of written information available, and it's much easier to come up to speed on the technology approaches needed to achieve what you want... of course, there's a lot more to absorb, too.

In my case I'm 3-6 years away from retirement, and really doing a deep dive back into playing is definitely one of my plans... some time in a few months I'll probably put together a picture of where everything is at, fortunately GF is an amateur musician too, and she's OK with a lot of instruments around, and even hanging some of the better ones on the wall in the living room, which has become the music salon for now.

I do understand the "throttled by income" bit- that's why I have so many Epi's and not nearly as many Gibson's and Fenders! It's all about finding the sweet spot in the value proposition.

[sandalhat]

Thanks for the welcome.

Actually as far as the income throttling goes, it isn't always a bad thing. The fact that I couldn't afford the exact guitar I wanted made me decide to get into luthiery. I ended up making exactly what I wanted (twice now) and had a blast doing it. Took lots of research of course, but that was fun too. Oh, and no kits for me for a few reasons.

The same throttling made me think in the first place about DIY speaker builds, which brought me here. It certainly appears I can get a really good value for my money if I consider what I'd have to pay to get a comparable commercial version (which actually I can't do due to $$) of a lot of the stuff you guys end up building in combination with the enjoyment I would get out of it as a hobby.

[JonMarsh]

The things you can learn from a poll....

Reportedly from a poll in Japan-

Why did you start playing the guitar?

Why did you quit playing the guitar?





For those of you not fluent with written Japanese,

Why did you start playing guitar?




Why did you quit playing the guitar?





:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[oneplustwo]

Have you started the modern method for guitar yet? What do you think of it? Any links for comments or reviews of it?

It's in the mail... will write up a little review once I get through some of it.

I love this thread, it really shows the descent into madness that is a guitar addiction / GAS! I have a lot more experience with guitars than I do with the main content of the forum, so it's amusing from another perspective seeing experts in what you guys do getting turned on to a new hobby. So basically I'm the complete opposite and getting turned on to what you're doing here. Specifically I have been wanting to take on a speaker build project, as I am a huge fan of DIY, but that isn't for this thread and I'm sure I won't have time for a while.

Welcome! I have built a bunch of speakers... and DACs, power amps, headphone amps, preamps, and now guitar amps/speakers too. Got a few steel frame bicycles and random wood working projects under my belt too. So I understand the allure of new hobbies especially of the DIY musical variety.

I'm now thinking the Little Martin might be a better guitar vs. the Yamaha. Probably better sounding (it's a Martin after all) and I don't really need an electric acoustic anyway. It's a little more expensive but also better quality to keep the value equation parity.

[JonMarsh]

I'll be curious to see what you have to say about those lessons. I had music theory learning to play organ for the church when I was a kid, but did everything on guitar by ear and translating a bit of what I knew to the fretboard. I think a more organized approach can be of great benefit once I have some reasonable free time again...

[JonMarsh]

Oops? Not exactly what was ordered...

This may come under the "many a slipt twixt the cup and the lip" category, though if handled right it's a slight benefit?





The Bigsby B7 I ordered arrived yesterday... but you know, I could have sworn the item I was buying on eBay was a nickel finish unit with the adapter kit... not gold plated as this obviously is! I went back and checked the original listing and order details, and it IS supposed to be a nickel finish unit.

Oh well.... not really a problem, as I'd been thinking about getting a gold one also in a few weeks or months for my Les Paul Custom, which should be gold, (which costs about $20 more), so I guess I'm just going to have to change the order of the instrument upgrade work. There are some other vendors now that are selling the nickel version and which I am watching, so hopefully everything will work out smoothly in the end. I've even thinking about getting one now for my '77 with the D'Marzio pickups, (aka Budokan) but I'll likely hold off until the others are finished.

Should work out, but I really had hoped to find time to work on the lemon burst this weekend. well, I could still do the pickup mod...

[oneplustwo]

Instead of the Yamaha I teased above, I made a pricier purchase to round out my collection... It's a Martin LX1E. A short scale travel guitar with a Fishman pickup.



Comes with a well padded gig bag and I got them to throw in a set of Martin strings while also discounting the price by $50. No tax, no shipping, so $350 all in.

I really like the shorter scale. Just feels more comfortable to my short fingers I guess. The stratabond (laminated) neck is heavy, but it seems really solid/stable. Throws off the balance a little, but I don't really notice it while playing.

Sounds better than the other travel guitars I tried for sure. And the playability/build quality is great as well. Better than my full scale acoustic from guitar fetish for sure. Frets are well dressed, intonation is great, action is fine. It's made in Mexico but as in many things these days, it's less where it's made and more the execution of materials, craftsmanship, design, etc.

[JonMarsh]

That looks great! What your comments add up to for me, is that quality always tells... sounds like you made a great purchase with the right blend of value and performance. I was curious what you meant by short scale neck and checked the specs on Sweetwater- 23" is definitely fitting to that concept; I imagine it will work fine most of the time, just may not for specialty tunings like a Drop D tuning. What do you think of the Fishman pickup?

I've been so busy with what free time I have on the weekends devoted to the Ardent project that I've been mostly stalled on the music front- I have three Bigsby V7's waiting to be installed- one for the Slash to Peter Green conversion, a gold one for my Les Paul Custom, and another nickel one for my Budokan LP. The plan to get me out of the customer embedded team blew up, and they have another more critical problem with that staffing situation, in spite of adding the new PhD, so I'm likely there for the duration, until November or so. Still adding interesting videos to the learning collection...

[dyazdani]

I almost bought one of those Martins, nice guitars. I thought I'd be partial to a Baby Taylor (after owning a 514 in the past), but I thought the Martin was better. Nice buy!

[JonMarsh]

Bargain basement score this week... Sweetwater via eBay, just arrived yesterday but haven't had time to unpack...




An Acoustic B200H head to go with my Jack Casady bass. I'm looking forward to trying this out... it's sort of old tech for these days, but I remember when Acoustic Amps and the big 18" driver folded horn cabinets were the cat's meow for concert bass guitar rigs...

GF wondered why I got this, but as I explained to her, the ideal tone stack for a bass guitar is quite a bit different from what you want on a standard guitar. A lot of flexibility with the EQ setup, and this consignment unit was really inexpensive... I ended up being the only bidder on it and got it for the starting price... I'm embarrassed to mention how low that was! :W

[oneplustwo]

Hey Jon - Any new toys recently? I've been out of commission with everything these last couple months after getting hit by a car while riding my bike to work. Broken femur was the worst of it... but lucky to be alive and just got off the crutches. Plus, I now have a nice 18" titanium rod to keep me company for the rest of my life. =)

[JonMarsh]

Oh, Jeez, that's terrible! By bike, do you mean bicycle or motorcycle? I'm SO sorry to hear that- but glad to know you weren't hurt worse! (by worse, I would cite a long time friend on a bicycle that was hit by a motorcyclist and had over 17 fractures, including several spinal, and was paralyzed below the waist- or a motorcyclist friend who was in a coma for 6 weeks, with 7 fractures to boot...) I've just started commuting the 55 miles each way to customer site on my ST1300; did it a few times on the VFR1200, but it doesn't have the weather protection or riding position that lends itself to that kind of chore, particularly later in the day when I'm tired going home! And doing that has made me aware of things to tweak and upgrade on the bikes... I swear, GAS syndrome IS a lifestyle choice! A new windscreen for the VFR should arrive today... will document all this later.

A broken femur is no joke, but glad to hear that plus a new titanium rod is apparently the worst of it (GF has two bionic hips... since I met her). I've heard the metal parts will sometimes aid you in forecasting the weather?

Between work and trying to make progress on the Wavecor Ardents and my GF's niece's wedding and associated trips, some things have ground to a halt as regards progress- that includes the Wavecor Ardents, as well as musical endeavors. I haven't finished the work on the Slash LP to do a Peter Green mod with the magnets, and now I'm pondering changing direction with that one and going for a Jimmy page style wiring harness setup with all the pole splitting switches and the phase switch- apparently, Jimmy liked the Peter Green tone, too. Have barely started research on that, other than downloading some schematics.

the only "progress" on music stuff is discovering new videos and lessons and downloading or buying them and downloading... I'm so happy with the resources I'm accumulating there.

Glad to hear from you- will update here as soon as some time frees up- and I get some stuff done! Have you had any time for music while you've been laid up?

[oneplustwo]

I was on my bicycle. Nearly head-on collision when someone turned in front of me from the other direction. Definitely could have been worse.

I'm super jealous of your new Hondas. I had a '91 Nighthawk 750, '97 VFR750, and a '99 CBR929 that I used to track occasionally. Then I got married. :| I had a supercharged Honda s2000 that was a ton of fun on the track as well... then I had kids. But recently picked up a 2007 BMW 335i with some tasteful upgrades. Just had it dyno'd a couple days ago actually. It's pushing right about 400 hp and a little more than 425 lbft of torque. It's a lot of fun and I might actually head back to the track sometime in the next couple months.





As for guitar practice, you would think I would have had lots of time for that after the accident. But work was actually crazy busy at the time so I basically came home from the hospital and started working from home immediately. Was good to have a distraction from the leg stuff actually.

Looking forward to seeing your updates!

[JonMarsh]

Bikes...

That should be a very fun 335! That's in M3 territory as regards horsepower, and likely has more torque than a naturally aspirated M3! though I hear the newest one has gone to a twin turbo instead of the V8. This IS the kind of car that you can't really explore it's limits at all unless you're on a track- I've done a few days with Jim Russell Racing up in Napa and enjoyed the hell out of that in an open wheel formula trainer- if my NSX weren't such a garage queen now, that would be interesting to do some day- but that's quite a ways off, till I get things sorted out with the NSX-R upgrades.

The ST "Big Red" is not all that new- I picked that up (literally) in Russleville Arkansas in late December 2010, flying out there on the 20th- they picked me up at the airport.

At Russleville Honda, just before I left...




That evening I just rode to a bit south of Little Rock, and made Abilene the night of the next day, in time for the pre-scheduled 600 mile break in service the following morning. The temps that first day were record setting- it was 90 degrees in Fort Worth, which does NOT happen in late December- except for me! :W

This was taken outside a restaurant in Texarkana, where I talked to the manager, who rides also- I graduated from High School in Texarkana.



And in Abilene at Max's Honda...



Here's a pic taken outside of El Paso-





I just followed I-10 just north of the border across to CA- BTW, the morning starting out from El Paso it was just 32 degrees- that was the low point for the trip. A bit of rain later in that day, nothing to worry about.

AZ was dry, but pretty- and in AZ, most of the rest stops were open, unlike CA which had closed a lot of them due to budget cuts.

Worst weather was on the 25, XMAS day, with heavy fog alternating with heavy rain going north on I-5, but I made it home about about noon, in time to make some XMAS stuffing and head over to GF's for dinner in the afternoon.

Since then I've added a Corbin seat, and a Helibar handlebar pull back with a Rammount for a GPS holder- but there's a few more Farkles I need to get, including the quartet power harness, the aux power connector, some tip over bars, and some LED running/fog lights.



Also figure I want to invest in a CalSci shield- been checking out all sorts of kinds, and for total protection and low turbulence aerodynamics, they seem to have really figured things out.

• Several inches taller, so that taller coverage can be achieved with the leaned back angle of the electrically adjustable shield in the lower position
• Wider at the base and extends calm air pocket for riders hands and for passenger
• Additional strategic flow through vents, (as newer Honda's like my VFR use) to reduce back pressure on rider when wind screen is higher, and provide a better still air environment and airflow

After all, the main reason I rationalized getting this critter was taking a run up to Canada (probably after retirement, the way it looks), and spending some time in the Bamf region, particularly around Lake Louse, where I took these pictures.





I do still have a VFR800, but that hasn't gotten much attention the last year or so, and the VFR1200 is filling the slot as "hooligan bike", and doing it quite well! I've got a fix up plan underway for it - once I get most of that done, I'll do a write up.




Now, here's some food for thought, about the relative merits of street bikes, versus track bikes- i.e., what you can actually use and use better on the street. Going back to what may be your favorite marque, consider the BMW S1000RR. An incredible piece of total engineering, a very all around high performance 1000.



This is what happens when you let a big room full of a LOT of BMW former F1 engineers loose on building an equivalent type of motorcycle- a full on super bike with all the options you can imagine with performance oriented rider assist electronics (to manage the FBW throttle (common to the VFR1200) and with multiple levels of engine management and traction control.

Let's NOT talk about the riding position, though, which is like that I see for so many young guys riding track bikes to work, where I swear their hands are actually lower than their knees, particularly if they're tall or have a short upper body and long legs (brutal combination on this kind of bike, IMO).

Ok, changed my mind, let's talk about it...

This is my bike as delivered...




And here, a close up of the Helibars- raises the bars about 1-1/2", and brings them back an inch and a half also.



Now, 550 lb is no where near the weight class of the BMW- but then this does also have a very rigid unilever style rear swing arm with shaft drive... no chains to maintain or replace. It's a solid 43mm inverted fork, with very good compliance, but needs some work on dating behavior compared with the BMW. The six piston Nissin brakes, OTOH, are first rate- true 1 finger brakes with very good control and feel, especially once you get some good dogleg levers on and adjust to preference.

I've commuted on the VFR to my customer site in Cupertino- don't think I'd enjoy that much on the Beemer, if I could even manage that long a ride bent up that way...

Now, let's talk what you can put on the street with these bikes, with a little bit further tuning. Here's a reproduction of a dyno sheet comparing a warmed up S1000RR and a VFR with some external mods (mainly a Powercommander V with the autotune O2 sensor and a de-catted 2-1 conversion tacked in after the headers, replacing the stock catalytic converter assembly). The VFR1200 torque and HP curves are blue; the BMW's are red. Reminder- these are actual measured REAR WHEEL HP, not mfr spec at the crankshaft.



Now, the stock S1000RR and this warmed up one rev like a typical 600- 14,000 RPM redline- and that's how you get 176 HP on the stock bike, and almost touch 200 HP on the modified one. It's giving away a lot of displacement compared to a Hayabusa, so there's only one way to get the power- revs and lots of them. Certainly an impressive combination for a track bike.

But these are both sold as street bikes- and the warmed up VFR1200 doesn't have a higher redline, it just makes more torque and power than the stock one... everywhere. And below 10,000 RPM, it makes more than the BMW- everywhere. In fact, the modded VFR1200 makes about 110 HP at just 6000 RPM. You can definitely feel that if you're in 3rd gear at 60 mph (5000 RPM) and go from cracked to half throttle or more- the way the VFR leaps forwards that point, you better be holding on tight- and that's on the stock bike.

That, in my mind, is awesomely usable on the street. I remember when 110HP max on a street bike was considered pretty rad, back in the early 80's. Combine it with de-restricting the throttle/torque curve in 1st and 2nd, and you have a great hooligan bike, throttle command wheelies at will, and with a riding position still usable by someone long past their 20's or 40's. Oh, and this warmed up VFR matches the maximum HP measured by Cycle World on the stock S1000RR at the rear wheel.

Just sayin'. It would be a hoot, if you had a family room, or man cave, just to have the BMW on a pedestal as sculpture- but I don't think I'd really enjoy riding it very much- and it would attract way too much attention from the Polizei. And I did I mention that VFR1200's cost about 1/4 as much to insure as Ninja 1000's? I suppose because of both reputation and statistics... I'd shudder to find out what the insurance tab on the S1000RR is...

All for now- have a great Labor Day Weekend! Just got back from my Starbucks run on the VFR... :W

[dyazdani]

Funny, I think my son has a Russleville Honda hat...

[oneplustwo]

You have an NSX too!? With NSX-R upgrades to boot!? A friend of mine had a red '91 5-speed. Tons of fun. Not that fast compared to modern cars, but still a dream car of mine. Just a great blend of style, performance, technology, reliability, etc. I thought my S2000 had a lot of similar qualities (and a lot of differences too) but obviously, I'm a Honda fan. The BMW is my first non-Honda. And to tell you the truth, it's great. I think I still prefer a true minimalist sports car ala the S2000, but I'm a family man so this was a willing compromise. The N54 turbos or just so upgradeable. ECU flash, downpipe, intercooler upgrade, intake upgrade, and blowoff valve gets so much relatively easy horsepower compared to naturally aspirated cars I've owned in the past. And the torque is addicting. I'm used to high-strung 9000 rpm peaky engines from my Integra GS-R, S2000, and of course, from high redline from the motorcycles. But this thing breaks the tires loose so easily in first gear and pretty easily in second gear as well. Looking forward to trying it on the track soon. Might need to upgrade to a limited slip diff in the back if I can't keep the power down.

And a VFR800?! I have three young kids so I guess that's almost as fun. Almost. I need to make a trip out to Livermore one of these days to play with all your toys!

[JonMarsh]

I hear you - having some guts down low and a strong midrange are why I like both the ST1300 and especially the VFR1200- applies pretty equally to cars. Your new BMW has got to be pretty sweet with that setup- it's all about the midrange, I think. (early review of the VFR noted that the ECU restrictor was taking significant guts out of the oomph below 6000 RPM, and then on the track they were surprised when staying in 3rd coming out of a turn accelerating into a sweeper, the bike was leaving black stripes on the track while puling harder than 2nd...)

Supercharging NSX's such as with the Comptech setup, is a popular past time to address it's otherwise mundane power levels compared with modern sports cars. But I do enjoy the stock car quite a bit- accelerates like an Accord V6 below 5K RPM, then takes off above that- all the while handling more like a slot car than an automobile, especially if you have some decent aftermarket rims and tires. For an over 20 year old design, it's pretty amazing. Feels more like the open wheel trainer I drove at Jim Russel racing than any other street car I've driven to date, but then I haven't been behind the wheel of a late model 911 or Cayman, much less an R8 or something in that vein.

This is a pic I took of my '96 in a Livermore parking garage- a while before I decided I wanted to go the 2002/NSX-R route.





Right after I got my Honda Element, I bought a partial kit of parts at a significant discount from a guy up in Portland who was also on NSX Prime (his wife decided she needed a new car, and hubby didn't need to pour more money into his NSX- that didn't go all that well after that, as he got laid off from his cush job about six months later - I'd say he was having a bad year....) drove up their and picked it up, and following a frenetic period at work, plunged into the original Ardents, instead of working on the garage queen. Since then, it's been either work or speaker projects, as I slowly add in the remaining bits I need to get to where I want for starting that project (just got a new 2002 type R rear taillight set a few months ago, and a very lightly used Pride V2 NSX exhaust-




still need a set of Comptech headers, (CARB approved). The RSR exhaust I have is pretty nice, but the pride reportedly emphasizes the upper harmonics (think cylinder doubling in perception) and performs well, seems like that might be a fun change... And all of this is over at the GF's now.... that's what I call moving in, even though I still have my Livermore place and most of my "normal" stuff is there still- no time to move.

In the end, it will look something like this, but with the R type spoiler, and with the Bridgestone GC07 British Black wheels I bought a while back. I've got the local paint and body place lined up that does all the Acura work, and I have all the factory manuals, including the paint manual, so there shouldn't be too much trouble getting the paint work on the bumper and valences done properly. I'm debating whether to leave the CF type R hood I have natural gloss or paint it black to match the car like the one in the picture.





Different life stages, you know- I'm gearing up for my daughter's wedding next spring and shelling out a chunk for that- fortunately, things seem to be going pretty well at work, apart from this crazy job I have for another month or so, and our new corporate acquisition, which raises all KINDS of questions about the near term future!

As much time as I spend in Danville now, that would be the possible place to get together some time- got the X there, and most of the parts; planning to get a Redlands 6000 lb portable low rise hydraulic lift when I'm ready to get really serious about the work...



I'm really beginning to see the attraction of retirement but I'm greedy enough to want to put away a bit more money...

[oneplustwo]

Beautiful NSX! I'm sure it will be that much sweeter when the upgrades are done. I put in a Comptech centrifugal supercharger in my S2000 and was really happy with it. It reminded me of a mega-sized version of the race kart I used to run up at the Sears Point kart track.



We sure have a lot of similar interests. You just do them... more. I have a Canon 5DII with a bunch of fast primes. You have a medium format system. I had an S2000, you have an NSX. I had a CBR929. You have a VFR 1200 and ST1300. I play some guitars and amps. You play more and nicer guitars and amps. I've made some speakers/amps/DACs/pre-amps/phono stages. You design AND build nicer versions of these. Gives me something to aspire to once my daughters are ready to be married off and retirement starts to loom large!

That lift looks really cool though! I hadn't thought about a full size portable one like that. I do all my own car work so I'm definitely going to look into one of these.

[JonMarsh]

We sure have a lot of similar interests. You just do them... more.

Well, I probably have 20-25 years on you! Imagine what you'll be doing or have done by then! But you're right, very similar interests in a wide spectrum- I don't see that all that often- car guys don't do bikes much, bike guys don't build speakers, etc. Well, compared to the hardcore bike and car guys, of course, I'm just a dabbler- but an avid one.

Carts are fun though they sure do require fast reaction times- I've only done them a couple of times, certainly not the 10,000 hours some folks say it's required to become an expert at anything! But I can relate to the idea...

[oneplustwo]

I'm no spring chicken myself as I just turned 40. Regardless, looking forward to many more years of reading about your exploits. And perhaps someday we can get together as we're both in the bay area.

Karting is really a great workout both mentally and physically. There's a reason the F1 guys go karting in the offseason. I really like the ability to push to my limits (and occasionally beyond) with little risk of major bodily harm or messing up an expensive car. Similarly, it makes wheel to wheel racing a possibility whereas I don't think I would be wiling to take such risks in a full size car. What's missing is the thrill of controlling a vehicle of absolutely more power and higher speeds so there are tradeoffs. Thus, why I'm going to my first track day in the BMW in a long time at Sears Point in a few weeks. Yay! I'll take some pics.

[JonMarsh]

OK- I had you figured for about 40, given your life circumstances- nice that I can occasionally call them!

The NSX was just being introduced when I was 40, and in a bit over a week I'll be 63, so yeah, in my book you ARE a spring chicken! :B Nothing wrong with that, though!

I hear you about the carting- have heard the same from others. I'm a bit of a slow learner on eye hand coordination of new vehicles- the guy who came up with the saying about it taking 10,000 hours to become at all expert in anything MUST have met me at some point... :W - some are much faster! Figuratively and literally!

Would be great to see some pics from your track day- do you have a track legal car helmet, or do they provide those like when I went to a Russell Racing class?

Have a great time! :T

[Lex]

I thought I subscribed to a guitar and amp thread. lol.

You guys should put the car and bike stuff over in speed, please... :-)

Try again:

I no longer have my M3 sadly Jon, I sold it. I started weighing maintenance against how much I drove it, and decided to be practical and got a Subaru Outback new. We do have some bad weather here, and I had nothing to go in the snow. I immediately regreted letting my M3 go. That's life.

But guitars and amp? I do have a serious need for speed right now!

4 Electrics and 1 Acoustic Electric, 50 watt tube amp and speaker cabinet and Fender Mustang II practice amp...

Here goes.

1. 2013 Gibson Les Paul Gold Studio I bought new in 2014: (This is my actual guitar, it just happens they took extremely nice photos of it, and I grabbed them before they came down off their web site, grabbed the info page too, and put together this nice single sheet page for it in Photoshop. Credits given... for Photos and guitar sale) New online purchase from Colorado.



2. 2014 PRS S2 Starla/w Bigsby (Seinna) New local purchase

3. 2014 PRS SE245 Soap Bar 3 knob (Tobacco Burst) New local purchase

4. 2004-? (maybe) PRS SE Soap Bar 2 knob original SE Soapbar (Cherry color) Used purchased fairly cheap at GC.

Left to right (left side - Starla, front Center - (SE Soapbar) right side - SE245 Soapbar



PRS SE-50 head/Marshall 2 vertical 12" Celestion 75/80s:



My Fender amp with the SG copy I didn't keep:

[JonMarsh]

Yes, Lex, you've definitely got some GAS going there, we encourage celebrating Gear Acquisition Syndrome with instruments in this thread! Sorry about the M3, I think I understand how that feels. But sometimes decisions have to be made that strike a better balance in some areas, while incurring a loss in others. Sounds like on of those....

Looks like you're a pretty big PRS fan. Which is your favorite of all of those, and why?

[oneplustwo]

Looks great! I have a mustang I that came with my first guitar and also have a Mustang V which is just crazy overkill but such a good bang for the buck. Fun to tool around with but I prefer the simplicity and tone from my Dumble clone.

(Will post my track day video/pics at the speed section.)

[Lex]

I honestly got carried away. I may still be trying to sooth my aching soul about my M3. I have accepted that it's gone, I did it to myself, but I still miss it. For now, it's standard drivers for me, when I get my truck paid for, I will likely upgrade this Subaru Outback to something by then, and just have 1 payment. We'll have to see how that goes in the future. If I hadn't bought all this guitar stuff, I could have been halfway to paying off the truck with that money. But I needed an indoor hobby bad. I needed something for my soul. Guitar seems to be it. I just went overboard and GAS took over. I'm done now, got to be...

Well, the older PRS SE Soapbar is a 270.00 practice guitar. That was strictly an impulse purchase. I saw it last weekend when I was getting my Marshall 2 12 cabinet, and said dang, I like this guitar for the money, and I already had an affinity for my Soap Bar pup guitar that I bought new (SE245) Tobacco Burst. I love the colors on that one, and the sound is pretty awsome to me. But the S2 is the best guitar of the bunch. I could still trade my S2 Starla back for full credit on something else. I have pondered something different from his lineup. But I may be fully invested in this guitar soon. I did find out about the coil tap that I wasn't aware it had. Out of 3 PRS guitars, one tone knob pulls up like my Les Paul's 2.

It is sort of an unfair comparison between a guitar that retails for 650 vs one for 1400. I did not pay that for either. But it's still a rather unfair comparison. I think for the money, the SE245 is hard to beat at 550-650. A lot of fun guitar, I myself love the sound of the Soap Bar pups.

But the Starla allows so much tonal variation. It is the most flexible guitar I own. The Les Paul is hot pupped. I did better tonight finding a purer sound, without lead growl or rhythem growl. I had had some difficulty, there's so many settings, it's challenging to dial it in sometimes. But when you do, wow, great. I have read that the original Les Pauls were tonally flatter. Then there are the remakes that attempt to do what the originals did, ,they tend to the more mellow side. But the Les Paul seems to be a rocker.

I think my investment of 1150 with case is Very safe though, as they are fixing to go up 30 some odd % in 2015. All LPs. They are also doing away with some models I hear. Less models, and more expensive all the way. I figure my LP will always be worth 1K at least, because it will be babied.

The soap bar tend to be more one dimensional, but great sounding. I love the Pup sound when you hit the strings hard, it just has a very cool tone.

The Starla can do it all, from growling lead to mellow pure rhythm. It is VERY Versatile with the 3 position toggle and up and down tone knob for alternate pups.

love your car there oneplustwo. What is your name? So I will know... Sorry to read about your bike wreck, was that a motorcycle or bicycle you wrecked?

I hope your Turbo doesn't do what a guy I know's did. Car wound up costing him 7K to fix. A young guy too, lucky he had that much money after buying a house. He must have been very conservative before that. His Dad could have helped him though too, for all I know, I know his Dad better than him.

I have owned 5 BMWs. But I am less into cars than I was. I think it's just a sign of the times. Going practical instead of performance. Ahhh, that's life. It's hard for me to do it all on my salary. It sucks, lol. I will always love cars, and odds are pretty good I will have something else fun someday, we'll see what it will be later on. But if not, I've had a lot of fun ones in my life, so there is that.

[oneplustwo]

My turbo seems to be solid so far. This model year had some issues but the warranty replacements have taken care of them all. New waste gates. New high pressure fuel pump. New battery cable. And I've just done the intake part of the head and the intake valves cleaning with walnut shell media blast and some carb cleaner and a wire brush. Also, I think the upgraded intercooler helps keep things a bit cooler which is always a good thing. Time will tell.

I got it on my bicycle. No fun. Hoping that I make a full recovery in time though and it doesn't significantly impact my activity choices.

I guess it wouldn't be so bad to practice guitar more.

-Jason

[Lex]

Dan:

Really fine workmanship for a less than $500.00 acoustic electric with built in tuning!!!

[JonMarsh]

Looks pretty nice, Lex! Definitely some value proposition there!

[Lex]

Thanks Jon. I had a pretty good laugh when I got a warranty registration appreciation email from Two Old Hippies. "Two Old Hippies Stringed Instruments"

Sometimes, you want to hear the acoustic sound, lay around the couch and pick a bit. It works well for that. I didn't want a huge dreadnaught for that or to drag along with me somewhere maybe.

[Lex]

Hey Jon, what happened to that recording box you had? I wanted to look at it and see what it was. I'm not sure it was what I think it was, but it was sort of an all in one recorder for music or something I thought?

I been cruising back through this thread, some cool stuff in it!

I had to put the brankes on, I hit the skids hard... After acquiring two Strats...

Did I mention my American Standard HSS and American Deluxe? I forget, honest... I don't think I ever said, but I did show a Fender case under the acoustic. you didn't pick up on that...

Oh, I returned one of those guitars, bought a second S2 SingleCut, then decided to take the Singlecut back and get the SE245 back, that was less money after springing for the American Deluxe Strat. I know gas... But I hit the wall now, I am done except for a recording device, at least for a long time.

1 gibson, 2 Fender, and 2 PRS, that will be my final electric count for now, unless I undo something pretty quickly. My amps are firm and set.

[oneplustwo]

Need some pictures as proof!

Which guitar to you reach for most? I find I rotate pretty consistently through them all.

[JonMarsh]

Hey Jon, what happened to that recording box you had? I wanted to look at it and see what it was. I'm not sure it was what I think it was, but it was sort of an all in one recorder for music or something I thought?

I been cruising back through this thread, some cool stuff in it!

I had to put the brankes on, I hit the skids hard... After acquiring two Strats...

Did I mention my American Standard HSS and American Deluxe? I forget, honest... I don't think I ever said, but I did show a Fender case under the acoustic. you didn't pick up on that...

Oh, I returned one of those guitars, bought a second S2 SingleCut, then decided to take the Singlecut back and get the SE245 back, that was less money after springing for the American Deluxe Strat. I know gas... But I hit the wall now, I am done except for a recording device, at least for a long time.

1 gibson, 2 Fender, and 2 PRS, that will be my final electric count for now, unless I undo something pretty quickly. My amps are firm and set.

Are you thinking about the Metric Halo ULN-8/LIO-8?



I still have that, now over at GF's but haven't had time to set things up in the music room with everything going on at work. I haven't had a weekend off for several weeks- this coming will be the first in a while. I'm way behind the curve on my audio stuff, and we're going down to the Channel Islands two weeks from now, on a Sierra Club boat trip. And the weekend after is a road trip to Seattle to pick up a motorcycle. Life is hectic.

A really neat unit that has just come out with a bit more modern features is the Apogee Ensemble, with a Thunderbolt 2 interface- I don't know if the converters sound as good as the Metric Halo's, that's one of it's real claims to fame in that price range, besides the software. But this new Apogee looks pretty classy- have to see what the reviews are like.




NO budget for this in the near future though!

[JonMarsh]

Need some pictures as proof!

Which guitar to you reach for most? I find I rotate pretty consistently through them all.

I'm almost embarrassed to admit my response to this- I do like the new LP Professional quite a bit, but the Budokan LP remains a big favorite when I have time. Triple DiMarzio's on an LP do float my boat... and the neck on this one is the slim D profile, and I really like how it plays.

Image not available

But now and then I need the Fender sound and feel, and out comes the custom shop JB Strat.

Image not available

The hardware on this thing, including the roller nut, locking tuners and bridge assembly just put it in a different operational class from most Stratocasters- it will spoil you! And the pickups have a meatier sound that I like...

[Lex]

Jon

maybe what you showed us one day somewhere wasn't what I thought it was. It was sort of maroon color, a gadget oriented box, I thought it was a recording device, but maybe not.

Jon, I think he was telling me he needed pictures as proof, but maybe not, I can't say for sure, but we all know you are crazy enough, haha. Nice axes BTW. Love your white Strat. Is that a Mexi-strat? What kind of pups did you put in it? nut? black bridge? what is that one? nice look with the white.

a I will get some photos together this weekend, but here's a forward facing mugshot of one of my girls...

[JonMarsh]

Maroon? Are you thinking of the Line6 Sonic Port interface?






With iPad App?




This is a really cool unit, IMO, and has the most realistic dynamics of any of the emulator systems on iOS that I've played. Mind you, I'm comparing that to my experience on a Marshall JTM45 and a big Traynor tube amp, too, as well as a small Supro from the lat 60.

Mind you, I think I was also talking at one point about the new one, the sonic port VX, which has built in mic for doing acoustics.









I have to warn you, that while there are some boutique amp brands I like quite a bit, like Fargen, for a "mass market" amp company, Line6 is one of my favorites, because of their software integration and equipment integration.

Though as noted above I have a Vintage Modern VM2266 Marshall head, my favorite for guitar is now the DT-50 with a POD HD ProX, because of the way they integrate together and how the setup on the HD ProX can be managed and configured from a computer like my MacBooks. The DT-50 has a configurable tube output stage to create model different amplifiers, not just different tone stacks and gain arrangements- and it's all controllable on the fly from the POD HD Prox. The HD ProX will even do split signal chains feeding different amps, so for example, it has a pretty good "Eric Johnson" preset so you can do the violin tone Marshall setup through one amp (DT50) and the clean Fender Princeton sound on another amplifier (my Line6 HD100 in that case). you can down load all the built in configurations, tweak them up, develop variations, and re-load them into the HD ProX. That is just so, so Cool!