Ooof.... your poor ears. Those fuckers are loud.

I toured with something similar that had a power soak on it and it was still brutal. Noone would come near my side of the stage (which was kinda nice actually)

I guess it's for folks who are nostalgic for the hair metal days? Which would be...nobody?

Klon hype/prices are crazy...

Wampler makes a pedal called a Tumnus that is basically a Klon ( I cant tell the difference between the two) but does way more and is just regular pedal priced.

LOL I guess so. I'd say that would be me, but I was into thrash back then, except for Motley Crue which was the biggest thing in 7th grade. At my lunch table anyway. Sometimes there were even other kids there!

Poor ears - Poor walls! The walls in my house shake when they get on 3/4ish!

It's for rich douches to hang on their wall and then say to me "You play guitar right? You GOT to see this!!!! Same paint as my Lexi !!!! Super rare, they only made 100, so of course I got one the moment it came out!!!!!"

The fretboard is made of blue Richlite with a 12" radius and Stainless Steel frets - very un-fender, especially not 90s Fender

Everyone who paid $10k for the Levinson system in their Lexus never fails to tell you how many speakers it has and how much it costs.

Levinson is a super crusty brand from the 70s in my eyes

Haha so maybe Fender did know what they were doing

Just read about the current state of the Levinson company - apparently Levinson himself left in the 80s, and the company has nothing to do with him - but the Levinson brand name is now owned by Samsung. WTF

They are. Not to add to the hype, but as far as I know, it is one of the last NIB KTR from their original run as well as the earliest documented serial number.

Took it out of the box to try it out. Sounds great. I think there are plenty of pedals that sound similar, and I won't say the Tumnus is any better or worse, but it's cool to have the original thing.

I do like the move to SS frets though. That's one of the big reasons I have moved toward assembling my own guitars rather than buying from Fender.

Yep.

When your company is your own name, and it gets into trouble and you take on investors or sell it - you lose the rights to your name.

Same thing as when Leo sold Fender to CBS in 1965.

Tumnus just has more options on it so you can shape things more.

These things are pretty great also, if you ever wondered how ACDC gets "that sound"

https://solodallas-shop.com/products/schaffer-replica-ex-tower-by-solodallas

I’ll vouch for the Tumnus as well. Does a nice job
of recreating that Klon sound. In fact, I think most Wampler pedals are solid.

Had both of these for 30+ years...
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'85 Les Paul Custom. Got it used in late '86 or early '87.

The story behind it was when I was taking lessons on acoustic at a local shop my dad told me he'd buy me an electric if I met goals set by him and my teacher. Difficulty: used only, he wouldn't pop for a new one. The tags on the new LP's they had were $1100-1200ish. This was the best LP they had hanging in the shop. I had to have a Les Paul shaped object because Jimmy Page. He got it for $675. What a creampuff. No wear except for worming on the back from the WWF championship belt the previous owner wore. It survived teenage me who insisted on doing my own work on it despite hardly knowing shit from shinola about guitar maintenance. It sounds like a Les Paul and weighs as much as a Lincoln Town Car even with weight relief. All original except for strap locks.

But DAMNIT! I WANT ANOTHER GUITAR! A few years later I put feelers out at the same shop that I was looking for another LP, maybe a beater. One of the other guitar teachers said he had just the guitar for me. I got him down to $375 and was presented with an '80 Les Paul Standard that had been rode hard and put away wet. This guy had acid sweat and probably never wiped it down and maybe even pissed on it. It was gigged HARD. It was fucking disgusting when I got it, complete with rusted strings.

She cleaned up well and quickly became my #1. All original except for strap locks, replacement pick guard and speed knobs. I got it with witch hats, which I hate, and they're not right for that era. My guess is he swapped the original speeds to an early '70's LPC. When I play out, it's my stage guitar. Even though it has the same electronics and pickups as the LPC, this thing is just an unholy, filthy beast. Which suits me well.

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Beautiful guitars!

Wait, what? Maybe it belonged to this guy at some point.
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I love this thread but I don't really get to contribute. Today I bought tickets to see both Joe Bonamassa and Steve Vai and the two shows are only three weeks apart. I'm super excited!

It will be my third time seeing Joe but I've never had the pleasure of seeing Vai live. And at the coolest venue!

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I've seen Joe many times and he plays at some great Ohio venues. Highly recommended!

My dad has tickets to that show. Might have to fight my mom for the other one...

Hey maybe you can help me out with this. I was listening to a classic rock local radio station. They play a lot of 60's- early 80's classic rock B side stuff. Anyways, I just caught the ending of a song, like space or prog rock with a wah or maybe phaser in the guitar in the repeat riff and it had the lyric "you could take it with you" or something like that, in a kinda steady repeat. What song is this and by who?

A quick internet check makes me think you're talking about "you can't take it with you" from the Alan Parsons Project...Give that a listen and see if that's the song you're thinking of.

That's it! Thank you.

Its a good feeling to have your pedals dialed in (for the most part.)

This is my main pedalboard. I just picked up an SD-1 for a good price and so far I like how it works well with the Big Muff and Turbo Rat. I'm happy with the gain stages I get. Turbo Rat for solos, Muff for massive sound. Dyna Comp adds even more boost and sustain.

I really like the Deluxe Memory Man for power drone with the Muff or just ambient modulation. EQD Levitation Reverb is always on.

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Speaking of Rats, anyone have any thoughts on the new JHS PackRat?

Looks like good bang for the buck, similar to their pedal with all the Muff variants.

Pretty bad ass. Worth the hype?

So, back in Kansas for a sad reason, but along the way, I got the two primary guitars I played in high school back from the nephew I gave them to.

One is gutted and sanded, ready for new everything.

The other is a Peavey Patriot that has taken quite the beating. The big pick guard shattered by the pickup switch, and later, the plexiglass replacement I hacked up for it shattered in the same spot. Then somehow, it has split along the original glue line in the body. I'll tear it down, fix that and maybe refinish the body.

I've never figured out what type of guitar the first one is. It had a custom fit gig bag that said Dean Markley, but I can't find anything that looks like this shape. Some very similar Ibanez and Bc Rich models, but nothing quite like this. I'm thinking either a jet black finish with a deep clear coat, or maybe do some graphics and clear coat it. Since it's meant for metal, I'm thinking a dual alnico V setup, but I don't know shit about selecting pickups, so any advice is welcome.

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I have the EXACT same guitar (the unfinished one). Same body shape, same headstock. Kind of looks like a BC Rich Ironbird, but isn’t.

I got it from a shop near KCMO when I lived there. Maybe it’s some kind of local designed kit guitar? Never seen another like it

Awesome! Could you share a picture?

Trying to find more pics. It was used as a prop in my girlfriend's senior pictures.

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It’s at my folks house in Ohio. I’ll be there over thanksgiving, so I’ll snap one then

It's pretty amazing, but I'm not a huge overdrive person. I also mostly play pedal steel these days and it sounds like absolute dogshit while using it on that. It's cool having the last new KTR from the first run. Every few weeks or so I take it out of the box pick up the guitar and try it out and it blows my mind every time.

The only other overdrive pedal I've ever liked is the Mid-Fi Electronics Magick "I" which is, and I do not say this lightly, the most unique overdrive/distortion pedal in the world. Doug at Mid-Fi is one of the best (and one of the first) in the biz.

Also, I have "Bare Knuckle" Pickups in my Washburn N3, which are SUUUUUPER high-output pickups. They sound amazing for metal tones, and give you bite even in clean tones (although I wouldn't use them for jazz). That is going to be replaced soon with a Steve's Special so I can put the Bare Knuckle in one of my more "metal" looking guitars. The N3 has a DiMarzio Air Norton in the bridge position.

In one of my other guitars, I have an *original* Bill Lawrence L-500-XL (the Dimebag pickup) reversed as per his specs. Sounds amazing. Unfortunately I installed it in a guitar which is so damn heavy I rarely play it.

Here's a picture of me from 2008 with the first 'real' guitar I learned on. I sold it around 2011 (probably for college beer money) and always regretted it.

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Turns out, that particular guitar is somewhat rare in that color and was only made for 1 year. It's a Squier Showmaster, not particularly expensive, but hard to find in good shape these days.

Well, I have FINALLY been reunited after scouring the web for about 2 1/2 years. This thing plays better than I remember!

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It's not particularly expensive or anything, but playing it hits me right in the nostalgia. The humbuckers also provide a nice change of pace from the single coils I've been working with over the last few years.

NICE! The guitar I learned on was a 1980-something Aria Pro II TS-800 Tri-Sound like this. The guy from the next college dorm room over lent it to me. One day I'll pick one up. Definitely unique.

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Wow, love that

Yes! I'll do that.

Every Aria I've ever played has absolutely blown my mind. Great guitars. That one looks like no exception. I had a few of their 4001 copies that rule.

100% agree. What happened to that company? Did they get consumed by Fender like Jackson did? (RIP neck-thru Jacksons...)

In theory they still exist and are still made in Japan, but I have no idea what the actual deal is with their production. I get really lost on those details (even the heavily documented ones) really easily. I will say their new guitars don't look.... great...

LOL too bad... I am only buying 80s and 90s guitars at this point, even lesser known brands (like Aria, I suppose) because the ones made now are just sooooo junky. The metal is way too soft, the wood feels wrong... But a 90s-era Jackson can still be found under $1K if you aren't picky about the body art

Just found this thread. I've had way too much gear to post over the years (guitar and otherwise) but here's a recent shot of me after a recent tournament:

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Nice! I had an Aria Pro 2 bass that looked just like your gtr. It is one I regret selling. Super light weight , easy to play and solid sound. I sold it to a studio I was helping a friend record at because the frets were wearing down and I was worried about having to have them replaced. Thanks for bringing back that memory!

One of the absolute shittiest guitars I've ever owned that I absolutely regret selling was this Cort Lead II copy. Great fucking guitar. Had half wounds on it. Sounded excellent. The neck was a little fucked up in the way all Corts are. Always wanted to put a warmth Gibson Conversion neck on it but felt silly buying a $400 neck for a guitar I paid $100 for.

Damn do I miss this one.

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I learned Bass on an early Aria pro-2 in Natural, really nice rig.
Looked one up 10 years ago and it was really expensive, the secret on these Japan-issue ones has been out for a long time.
Any made in Japan guitar deserves a second look, but they really hit their stride in the 80's.
I would prefer a Japan Gretsch Country Gentleman over the original any day, heck with the value.

My dad had an Aria acoustic that I mostly learned on years ago. The bridge had warped the front, unfortunately. If I had the skill, I'd disassemble and flatten it, but alas...

I bought an awesome DIGI-002 for $1000 back in 2004.

Av!d dropped support for the drivers in 2016. Not updating their drivers for 64-bit MacOS. (10.15+)

SO PISSED OFF -- the hardware works 100% and could continue to work another 25+ years.

Lesson learned, some companies *hate their customers*.

Invest as LITTLE as possible in hardware that RELIES on drivers, in case the company hates its customers, or goes out of business.

-mof

What do you like for a USB Audio interface?

I'd like to get something affordable, so when the company quits working on drivers, while the hardware keeps working 100% -- they've screwed me out of as little money as possible when they force my hand to buy more hardware.

https://www.sweetwater.com/c695--USB_Audio_Interfaces

-mof

I hear you - 2 things: That Digi *IS* pretty old, but I also have mixers from the 70s (and 80s!) that still work without a computer, so I get the frustration.

Second thing: Don't buy anything with any sort of proprietary interface, especially one designed by Apple (or especially, emphatically not by DigiDesign/Avid). This is a sidebar, but Avid, is *horrible* in their software development and QA. Yes that definitely includes ProTools.

Anyway: USB is a ubiquitous standard, so it's safer from being "retired". That said, jsut because it's USB doesn't mean the drivers themselves won't be retired - the two have nothing to do with one another. You're far safer getting something USB ,but *anything* that uses a computer interface *at all* will eventually become obsolete.

What I do is stay 1 standard behind and upgrade every 10 years or so. I hate it too, but i hate it a *lot* worse than when something suddenly craps out or is no longer supported.

I didn't realize UAD interfaces were that cheap now. Pretty unreal if you ask me.

For product longevity and commitment I've always leaned towards MOTU, but the UAD interfaces with their plugin selection is pretty hard to beat. My studio is still running a pair of MOTU 828s (MKii and MK3 in tandem via the ADAT link) as my main 16 I/O. Are they professional grade converters? Hell no. Do they get the job done? Yeah.

After 2 decades, it's amazing that a tech company is still in business, let alone paying programing teams to write software to support outdated hardware platforms.

$220 nowadays will get you something with insane specs like the MOTU M4 (audiophiles actually buy them because the D/A outperforms $2000 "audiophile" units https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/motu-m4-audio-interface-review.15757/).

With standard USB-C and a top sampling rate of 192khz, you can start filling that 18tb hard drive .