The vintage Roland VG-88

[FrankD77]

For the vintage lovers

I love vintage gear, own several rack units and tube amps.
But also some cool stuff I actually bought new.
one of them is the VG-88
It's holiday time so I had some time to write an overview.

If I missed something please let me know so I can add it.

 

[FrankD77]

Sorry the link :

The VG-88 - Frank Doorhof

The VG-88 is one of those revolutionary devices. And still holds it's place in the creative workflow.

music.frankdoorhof.com

 

[Papanate]

Sorry the link :

The VG-88 - Frank Doorhof

The VG-88 is one of those revolutionary devices. And still holds it's place in the creative workflow.

music.frankdoorhof.com

I thought they were cool - but the lack of adoption proved they were not useful to guitarist. - it’s a neat exercise - and might be good for a one off (like Andy Summer’s did that one time) - but not really a weekly or even yearly sort of instrument.

 

[FrankD77]

It's a special effect. Great for fills in the studio .

 

[TalismanRich]

I've got a problem... I admit it.... I am a packrat.

I've got more "vintage" stuff than anyone should have. My original Guild S100 and Guild Thunderbird amp from the late 60s- early 70s. Two Yamaha AW recorders, Roland RP355, PodXT, Peavey Transformer 112 amp, National (Valco) amp, original Peavey Classic 30.

There's the turntable I bought while in high school and the Sony receiver and Marantz speakers from about '73, a Sony 650 tape deck, a dead Dokorder 8140. Lots of computers... Apple ][+, TI 99/4a (a few), various Atari computers and at least 6 old PCs (Win 95/98 or Win 2000 upgraded from DOS). Full stereo system from about 1980. If 10baseT networking ever gets popular again, I've got plenty of cable and some cards, plus copies of Novell Netware and Novell DOS. The list goes on. Computer software (original Doom, SSI wargames, Myst, LodeRunner, Infocom games, Kings Quest, Scott Adam Adventures)

Some of the things get occasional use. I played my S100 into the National just the other night. I updated the AW16G to an SD card a couple of months ago to play with. I upgraded a computer with Win XP so I could play Diablo and Age of Empires and a few other old games.

But so much of that stuff is sitting in the basement and hasn't been fired up in over 5 years. I keep thinking some day I'll pull out something and fire it up.

For recording I find that a DAW with a USB interface is infinitely easier and faster to use than anything I had before. If I had to use PCIE cards or DATs, I probably wouldn't even be doing any recording. I pretty much gave up on tape over 30 years ago.

What gets used is reasonably recent. The R24 and 16x08 with the Lenovo desktop and Reaper, various guitars and my AmpShop 65 Princeton, DSL401 and Strymon Iridium. Wednesday I'll pack up my PA (Carvin PM15s, QSC 2450, Yamaha MX12/4) and the Princeton, couple of guitars, mics, stands and cables for a trip to Michigan. It is a mix of old and new. But if something breaks, it will be replaced with up to date gear. My pedal board is mostly recent except for the Vox Wah and Visual Sound Liquid Chorus.

My buying of new gear has slowed in recent years. I bought one guitar in the past 8 years, a few pedals and some mics. I considered buying a Tascam Model 24, but the situations where I would likely use it are getting fewer and fewer. Spending $1200 on something I'll probably use 2 or 3 times isn't practical. If I was 20 years younger, it would be a no brainer.

If my great nephew ever gets to the point that he's joining a band, he's going to get plenty of free gear!!!

 

[RFR]

Sometimes we keep gear just for the stories they tell. If one picture is worth a thousand words, an old piece of gear represents chunks of our lives.

 

[FrankD77]

Or budget.
You can buy one axe FX for the price of my whole rack and keep some cash in buffer.

I started on a 4 track and love working i a daw. Having all the outboard gear is also inspiration

 

[TalismanRich]

You mentioned the James Tyler guitars (I'm assuming the Line 6 Variax).

John McFee of the Doobie Brothers has used a Tyler Variax for years. He'll switch between a lead guitar with distortion, and acoustic guitar and a banjo on a single song. He switches tunings for different songs, like changing for slide, then back to regular tuning. He also uses the Line 6 Helix system.

For a live performer, that's a lot of options to have at the flick of a switch.

 

[FrankD77]

Correct the variax.
I only record at home

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

You like the GR300? The GR300 has the low 3 m/s response latency. Instant hits with classic analog 80's synth architecture.

by 1984-85 the Roland n GR700 had more features a nice sound but 30+m/s of latency. It sucked. And will always be remembered as 'that' way.

the 300 is a Beak personal fav-

 

[FrankD77]

I have a gr55
Didn't appeal to me
I didn't want to play keys.
That's what I loved about the vg88 it was a real guitar system.

 

[CoolCat]

Roland - VG-88 | V-Guitar System

VG-88: V-Guitar System -

www.roland.com

samples are good marketing..

if my memory serves right these GK pickups were wild and complexing for some. (the group I was around were like cavemen in hindsight. there wasn't a internet, computers were rare, there wasn't much of anything other than learn by trying and playing. ) The pickup /cable GK was on the stores demo seen as "weird and wild sounds"...the GK pickup and box system and the sounds were fantastic in the store demo but very different and high tech and expensive.

fun old memory triggered on this Roland thing, but I actually recall us all standing around this spaceship sounding device demo in the store... probably 1988 the 13 pin cable was released? Seems like it was earlier but I guess not.

Roland GK /Fender was a cool guitar, onboard Sims and it was $350, MIM strat, I sold it for $400 and now they are $800-1200. ouch...
Did dropD tuning and Dobro and acoustic guitar with a flip of a switch. I didn't have the 13 pin GK one though. I think it was a US strat with the 13pin setup.
I recall liking the ROLAND Strat sim better than the real Strat pickups, no noise and it was really shimmering tone.

Rich, my oldest brother was a packrat too. He kept about everything working or not and played live since he was 8yrs old to the end. He was more about skills than gear.
He didn't keep every single piece but didn't suffer GAS, and only wanted gear for sounds....like getting rid of his Les Paul because it was too heavy on stage for 4 hrs...as they got older...lol

 

[FrankD77]

I was always into the new stuff.
But only when it was based on the guitar tone. Not like the synth stuff which the same pickup did with the gr55 which i hardly used but still own

 

[rob aylestone]

My GR-33 has a very good flute sound, that screams Titanic, so you cant use it!

 

[FrankD77]

Sorry i own a GR30.
It doesn't track as well as the VG88 so i somehow lost interest. It's cool for some sounds indeed.