Hello! New guy from Michigan.

M

Mike J. 53

New member
Greetings on this beautiful evening! My name is Mike, I live in Michigan and I came across this site a few days ago. Looked it over and thought why not? Just might help me with some things. Fact is, I know it will!

I'm primarily a bass player who also plays guitar....but I'm not a "proper" guitar player....and I'm just getting back into writing again. (It's been a few years. Life got in the way.) I played bass in bands full time many, many years ago and these days my only gig is once every three weeks at church and I find it to be very fulfilling and rewarding. It's good to serve and good to give something back to the Lord and to the community.

I have a guitar related question for you good folks, but first I'll tell you about my recording setup. It's very, very simple (probably primitive to some!) but for what I'm doing it serves me very well. Recording gear is a Tascam DP-02 8 track, a dbx 266XL compressor, an Alesis Nanoverb and an Audio-Technica condensor mic. For bass guitars I have a Fender Jazz and Precision (both are 4 strings) and my 5 string is a Soundgear SR505 bass. I also have a Zoom B3 that I use for church and for recording and for my needs it works very well. No complaints.

For 6 string guitars I have a Fender Telecaster, a Gibson Les Paul and a Martin DX1R acoustic. I also have a Fishman Aura/Spectrum that I use with the Martin. I also have a keyboard which is a Yamaha DGX-230. I'm just learning keys, so I am NO keyboard player by any stretch! I'm lucky if I remember where middle C is!!

Okay, onto my question. Now that you know my recording setup I'm in need of something for my electric 6 strings to record with. I was using a Digitech GNX 1 that plugged into the Tascam that I had for a long time but I find it's time for an upgrade. The clean tones are okay, but I hate the overdriven and distorted sounds within the unit. I know there's a lot to choose from out there....but what? As I mentioned, I have a Zoom B3 for bass that I'm very happy with and was considering checking out the Zoom G3 for guitar. Never tried it but I have been checking out various clips on You Tube and of what I can tell it sounds pretty good.

But I am open to any and all suggestions from others here to what they use and recommend to plug into my Tascam. I used the Zoom G3 as an example because I'm really trying to watch the costs these days and again, I'm open to suggestions. I'd love to get into computer recording but right now that's just not feasible.

Thanks for your time. Looking forward to hearing from some of you.
 
Hi Mike,
I used to be a bass player! I pick it up now and again for a laugh.

Now, AFAICS that DP-02 does not have a dedicated, high impedance instrument input? This can be fixed by a pedal but not one of those loopy so called "true" bypass jobs! No, you want a Boss OD pedal (or check me out top right?) with a buffered bypass. Even better would be a pedal with an "emulated output". (again, see moir!)

But getting a good OD tone is one of the most common problems seen in forums and I am afraid there is no quick fix (made even harder because no bugger agrees WHAT a good OD actually is!) . Rather than buy a guitar centred device I would suggest you go for a good audio interface. One such will have the all important high Z input and you can use any of a zillion pieces of free software to hone the tone.

You don't seem to own a guitar amplifier for the sixers? Can you try or borrow one? Assuming you can make a racket at home (many people cannot ) and you can get the OD sound you want you can then (try!) capture it with a microphone (again I bet the Church will have something you could borrow?)

If you are worried that your computer is not up to audio recording, don't be. If it runs Win 7 and has 1G of ram it will certainly cope with two tracks of audio at 44.1kHz (24bits). Yes, you might have a glitch or three but we can help there.

Dave.
 
yeah, I was gonna suggest miking the cab too. A 57 up on the grill. Pointing the mic at center is tinny, out towards the edge of the speaker is boomy...somewhere in between is the sweet spot. :)

And welcome man.
Lots of good folks with good info here.
 
I've got the SR505 as well... love that bass.

I suggest not giving up on the digitech just yet. Yup, the preset distorted patches can sound horrible, but if you treat the sim just like a real amp you can get some very useable tones out of it. I use an old RP150 and get some nice crunchy stuff without the fizz. Does the GNX connect to a computer through the USB port? If so, try out the X-Edit program.
 
Another option is software sims. You can send your guitar in clean or with fx pedals you want and then tweak the sim to your heart's content once the part is solid. There are some nice ones out there, too.
 
Hey gang. Thanks for the responses! I'll try to address what's been suggested here.

ECC83: You mentioned an OD pedal. I assume you're talking about running a pedal straight into the DP-02? If so I've never tried that. But I do have a Digitech Bad Monkey pedal that has two output jacks, one that is labeled "To Mixer." Would that work? I'll have to try that.

I do have guitar amps, a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue and what I call my "mid-life crisis" amp, a Marshall DSL 50 with a 4X12 cab. (I'm 61 and I bought it about 6 years ago. It was either that or become a complete fool by going the red sports car route and hitting the bars! No thanks!!) If I'm going to try micing an amp up then I'm going to have to take all my recording gear into my basement. Problem is I sound MUCH better on guitar going thru the GNX 1 into my DP-02 then playing thru a guitar amp. There's a real art to playing thru an amp and I admit I'm not there yet. And I do agree when people say tone comes from the fingers. But maybe I'll have a go at it....and practice thru an amp a lot more!! Oh yeah, I also have a Shure SM57 mic as well.

As far as recording via computer.....I don't know the first thing about any of it. Don't know what is what, what kind of equipment you need, what the software is all about....I admit I'm totally in the dark about all of that. Besides, I'm really not in a position right now to go investing into more gear. I've been laid off for a number of months now (the job scene sucks around here especially at my age) so I'm trying to make my savings last as long as possible. So I'm trying to do what Frank Zappa once said: "Learn to make music with what you've got."

Bottom line....when it comes to the "how's and why's" and the "nut's and bolt's" of equiptment I'm probably the least technical person you're ever going to meet. I'm one of those "plug it in, turn a few knobs and go" type of players. I can totally relate to Paul McCartney when he once said...some guy said to me "I've got a fantastic L5!" Really? Could be a motor bike for all I know! That's me. But I DO know how to get a good sound with what I have and those who've heard my recordings are pretty surprised that it was all done in the back bedroom. But again, I'm having a hard time getting some good overdriven guitar sounds with what I have. The clean guitar tones are basically fine. No problem there.

That's it for now. I'm going to work on some tones for one of my songs tonight. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks to all for your time!
 
" The Mixer output features Cabinet Emulation circuitry for connecting directly to a mixing board or recording device."

^Quote from the Bad Monkey page. That's the very thing! Yes give that a go.
Computer recording is really not that difficult. I am not familiar with 1/2 the kit you have and so some of it might already be capable of interfacing with a PC? Even if you have nothing at the moment, download a program called "Audacity" then use that to rip a CD and play around with the tracks. That gets you half the way to PC recording! And hey! Audio Interfaces, even very good ones are waaaay cheaper than fast red cars and booze!

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
" The Mixer output features Cabinet Emulation circuitry for connecting directly to a mixing board or recording device."

^Quote from the Bad Monkey page. That's the very thing! Yes give that a go.
Computer recording is really not that difficult. I am not familiar with 1/2 the kit you have and so some of it might already be capable of interfacing with a PC? Even if you have nothing at the moment, download a program called "Audacity" then use that to rip a CD and play around with the tracks. That gets you half the way to PC recording! And hey! Audio Interfaces, even very good ones are waaaay cheaper than fast red cars and booze!

Dave.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dave.

Last night I tried hooking the Bad Monkey pedal direct to my 8 track and it sounded pretty murky. Maybe some further experimentation is needed with that pedal. But I'll tell you, for $40.00 that pedal sounds great thru my DSL 50, so I know it has potential.

I'll have to check out that Audacity program you mentioned and see what that's all about.

One more question. I have a laptop that I bought before I got laid off and it's equipt with Windows 8. I've barely touched it and really don't know it that well. Do you know if Windows 8 can accommodate the recording software programs that are out there? If so then I'm thinking this would be a great way to put that laptop to use. Pardon my ignorance but again, I'm not very technical about certain things.

Thanks again. Have a great weekend.
 
That's great Mike,
getting somewhere! I do not have Windows 8 I have W7/64 and there are lots of people who really do not like W8. Equally many folks say they love it!

Whatever, I am sure it will run the limited amount of audio you will need for a while, really any computer capable of running XP or later built in the last 5 years will work.

But what are you communicating to us lot on? Google for and download a little app' called "Speccy". Run this on both machines and it will tell you and us all we need to know about the capabilities of your computers.

Hold on a bit Mike. Just thought of something else.

"Oil be bek!"

Dave.
 
Right!
Go to http://ninite.com and tick the box for Audacity. You can trust this site just follow the instructions.

Next go > http://speccy.en

This site is a little more busy but you should be able to download the program ok.

Trouble these days is that a lot of sites slip a load of intrusive crap in with the downloads. Not viruses and really harmful just a bloody nuisance.

Do you know how to set a "Restore" point on a PC? Very handy thing to know.

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Right!
Go to http://ninite.com and tick the box for Audacity. You can trust this site just follow the instructions.

Next go > http://speccy.en

This site is a little more busy but you should be able to download the program ok.

Trouble these days is that a lot of sites slip a load of intrusive crap in with the downloads. Not viruses and really harmful just a bloody nuisance.

Do you know how to set a "Restore" point on a PC? Very handy thing to know.

Dave.
Click to expand...

Hi Dave.

Thanks for the info about the Audacity program. Offhand I don't know if I can totally trust my computer for this. (It's a very long story.) Short version: I know all too well what you mean about getting a load of intrusive crap because this happened to me about two months ago and my computer was totally messed up because of it and I had to take it in for service. But I know a few people here who are into computer recording, so I'm going to check with them before I even attempt to download anything.

As far as what my computer is....please don't laugh.....I don't know! My son is into computers big time (he's into programming and IT for a living and does repairs on the side) and it's one that he built for me about 5 years ago. So I have no idea offhand of what it's capabilities are. All I know is that up until two months ago when I had to take it in that it was a great running piece. But it doesn't seem quite the same. So I have to proceed with caution here about what I download. That's why I was asking about recording programs for my laptop with Windows 8. It's really a brand new piece that has nothing on it, so I thought because of that it would be a perfect start.

Set a "Restore" point on the computer. Again, I'm hopeless. I have no idea what that is!!

I did try something last night. I didn't want to carry all of my recording gear into the basement to try and mic up my Marshall. So I grabbed my small, Peavey Minx bass practice amp (30 watts, 10" speaker) and hooked my Digitech GNX 1 into it. I mic'd it up with a Shure SM57, fooled around with the sound and offhand I can hear some very good potential with this. It was getting late and I couldn't crank it up much, but offhand the impression was rather favorable. So I'm really going to get into that this weekend. Just might be the answer I was looking for when I comes to getting some decent over driven sounds going. In the back of my mind I remember reading something years ago about recording electric guitars. Can't remember who said it, but they said "you've got to push air into that microphone."

I see you're in England. I'm a huge Beatles fan and if I had the chance I would love to visit Liverpool one of these years to see the sites.

Thanks for all of your help Dave. Truly appreciated. Talk to you later.
 
If the PC was built 5 years ago it is most likely running XP, Home or Pro.

This will not matter for running Audacity and virtually 95% of audio hard and software but I am not surprised that it feels a bit "odd" on the internet!

This is because Microsoft stopped all updates and support for XP two months ago (unless you pay them shedloads of $$$s a month!) I have two other XP machines and now have to use a rather intrusive anti-virus program, Avast (if anyone knows of better SHOUT!) . In fact I hardly ever go online with XP anymore. One of the XP PCs is hooked up to my telly and printer/scanner and I cannot afford to build yet another Win 7 machine! The other one just gathers dust!

Beatles. Yeah! I love them and musician son was mad about them. Got the book Complete Beatles. All the songs and chord sheets. He spent hours and days learning all the chords and solos. Then did the same for Quo, Queen and the Who. He could be in any of several tribute bands!

He is 42 now and over in Normandy making a living gardening, teaching guitar and playing the clubs and cafes. He seems very happy and I could wish nothing better for him.

But! Do get speccy Mike, then I shall know what you got there!


Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
If the PC was built 5 years ago it is most likely running XP, Home or Pro.

This will not matter for running Audacity and virtually 95% of audio hard and software but I am not surprised that it feels a bit "odd" on the internet!

This is because Microsoft stopped all updates and support for XP two months ago (unless you pay them shedloads of $$$s a month!) I have two other XP machines and now have to use a rather intrusive anti-virus program, Avast (if anyone knows of better SHOUT!) . In fact I hardly ever go online with XP anymore. One of the XP PCs is hooked up to my telly and printer/scanner and I cannot afford to build yet another Win 7 machine! The other one just gathers dust!

Beatles. Yeah! I love them and musician son was mad about them. Got the book Complete Beatles. All the songs and chord sheets. He spent hours and days learning all the chords and solos. Then did the same for Quo, Queen and the Who. He could be in any of several tribute bands!

He is 42 now and over in Normandy making a living gardening, teaching guitar and playing the clubs and cafes. He seems very happy and I could wish nothing better for him.

But! Do get speccy Mike, then I shall know what you got there!


Dave.
Click to expand...

Dave, I'll be seeing my son pretty soon and I'll have to pick his brain to see if he remembers exactly what he built for me.

Yeeha, the whole Windows XP support thing ending....that's what messed my computer up. What happened was....prior to support ending I was involved with an online course and all was fine. When support ended I was having no luck in trying to get further into the course and it said because of support ending I had to download Windows 8....or something along those lines. So I tried and good gawd, I could not believe how much crap was downloaded into my computer and I STILL couldn't access the course. It went from a great running machine into one big bogged down mess that wouldn't let me do anything. So now it's got a good Malware protection program and it also has the Avast virus protection. But again I'll check with my son, hopefully he'll remember and then I can get back to you about what I have and take it from there.

Thanks again Dave.
 
I built my computers easy 5 years ago. I upgraded to Win7 and they have behave very well. Most likely he spec'd it out on the high end. One virus/malware program I recommend is Malwarebytes. The give you a version that one can run and do a lot of clean up work, it just won't run proactively until you upgrade. $40 and lifetime updates (at least in the last 5 years I've used it).

You probably could upgrade to Win7 if you feel the need with few issues. Safe place to download software without fail is Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder they have been around for a long time and have a lot of good programmers on the site.
 
Mike J. 53 said:
Dave, I'll be seeing my son pretty soon and I'll have to pick his brain to see if he remembers exactly what he built for me.

Yeeha, the whole Windows XP support thing ending....that's what messed my computer up. What happened was....prior to support ending I was involved with an online course and all was fine. When support ended I was having no luck in trying to get further into the course and it said because of support ending I had to download Windows 8....or something along those lines. So I tried and good gawd, I could not believe how much crap was downloaded into my computer and I STILL couldn't access the course. It went from a great running machine into one big bogged down mess that wouldn't let me do anything. So now it's got a good Malware protection program and it also has the Avast virus protection. But again I'll check with my son, hopefully he'll remember and then I can get back to you about what I have and take it from there.

Thanks again Dave.
Click to expand...

Whoever was running that course was talking BS. If it ran on XP "yesterday" it should run today. XP ending support has had not effect on my XP machines as they stand it is just that I was using Msofts SE ant-v and they "said" it was no longer supported*. But all my passwords and access to forums and other sites did not change one jot.

I agree DM60. It would be a very bad son that would build dad a clunker! My XP P4 is still quite nifty and the test download said it would run W7 32 bits but if I am going to buy another instance of W7 it has to be 64 bits these days.

*Oh! But I have since read that SE IS supported for about another year?

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Whoever was running that course was talking BS. If it ran on XP "yesterday" it should run today. XP ending support has had not effect on my XP machines as they stand it is just that I was using Msofts SE ant-v and they "said" it was no longer supported*. But all my passwords and access to forums and other sites did not change one jot.

I agree DM60. It would be a very bad son that would build dad a clunker! My XP P4 is still quite nifty and the test download said it would run W7 32 bits but if I am going to buy another instance of W7 it has to be 64 bits these days.

*Oh! But I have since read that SE IS supported for about another year?

Dave.
Click to expand...

Yea, agree. If it is stable and one is not all over the place, then support and updates really means nothing.

64 bit capable hardware has been out at least 10 years (actually longer from Sun/HP/IBM running Unix). Like I said, my computers are well over 5 years and they run Win7 64. Plus, Windows Server 2000 and beyond were 64 bit and then Unix/Linux ran 64. So even if it is older doesn't mean it won't run 64 bit. Just have to test to make sure.
 
DM60 said:
Yea, agree. If it is stable and one is not all over the place, then support and updates really means nothing.

64 bit capable hardware has been out at least 10 years (actually longer from Sun/HP/IBM running Unix). Like I said, my computers are well over 5 years and they run Win7 64. Plus, Windows Server 2000 and beyond were 64 bit and then Unix/Linux ran 64. So even if it is older doesn't mean it won't run 64 bit. Just have to test to make sure.
Click to expand...

Yeah well I am not THAT computer smart David! I ran the W7 test progg and it said the PC could only run 32 bits and I had to take the word for it.

No matter, I am a bit flush for computers at the moment!

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Yeah well I am not THAT computer smart David! I ran the W7 test progg and it said the PC could only run 32 bits and I had to take the word for it.

No matter, I am a bit flush for computers at the moment!

Dave.
Click to expand...

My apologies, this was meant more as a general statement that older hardware could possibly run 64.
 
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