Me and my noise!

I have been experimenting with my virtual guitar rig for the last few month and thought I would share my thoughts and findings.

First part of my setup is Softubes Acoustic feedback, this is as close to playing a loud over driven amp as you will get with a plugin, thanks to Jeff over at geareview for drawing my attention to this plug-in, fantastic squeals and feedback!

Next is a Tube Screamer set with level 100% tone on 50% to 100% gain set really low like 5-10 alternatively I sometimes use a Boss SD-1 with similar settings. I find that is has a nasally cocked wah quality that's hard to work with and the tube screamer sounds a pinch warmer, anyway I use BTE Audio's Tube screamers secret, the one skinned by requietus

After the booster I use one of these amp sims:

Nick Crows 8505

Poulin HyBrit

Poulin SoloC

Analog Sims JCM900

If the amp sim Im using doesn't have a cab simulator like Nicks 8505 then I use Poulin LeCab, normally with Mesa and Engl cabs, I use Alus decab impulse to remove the cab sim built into the JCM900 and use Poulins LeCab as usual.

Finally I use Overlouds Breverb to add a 'touch' of reverb to rhythm tracks and a big dollop for lead tracks, Im just sticking with presets from Breverb for now (Guitar room/lonely guitarist), I have the plugin 100% wet with only 20-25% applied to the signal.

If I want a thrash metal sound I will go for the 8515 or the SoloC, If I want a more natural tube type sound and also lead playing then lately I have been using the HyBrit with some success, still cant quite get the ultimate tone, guess I never will! getting closer though....

New amp head vst plugin C-15 Controlled Insanity

Over at acmebargig there is a new plugin in the Preampus Metal Line: C-15 Controlled Insanity!

"Crank it up and let it cut loose, you will be rewarded with a high gain that delivers crisp over tones and rich soundscape"

The Preampus heads  have been excellent so sar especially the the recent Series 60 metal version, head over and give it a blast!
http://www.acmebargig.com/c15

The rut zone

After a week or two of moaning I managed to dig my way out of my rut.  I finally managed to come up with a few riffs I actually liked!! although its not much its enough to give me a bit of motivation.

Electric metal blues

Bah! I had a blast on guitar tonight but couldnt come up with anything worthwhile, same old stuff again and again!

I know I mentioned creativity last time but this is one almighty rut.  It seems like im bored of playing all the stuff that im good at, the only stuff I enjoy is Hendrix blues stuff and im not so good at that.  My natural style or learned style is metal and grunge although if I just pick up a guitar and play it come out like 90's thrash metal rather than grunge.  Even the lead stuff that I normally get a kick out of playing is tiresome.  I look forward to picking up a guitar and having a jam but after every session I feel fed up and frustrated, dont know if I can bring myself to learn a whole new style, not with my attention span...

Creativity, or lack of ...

Lately I seem to be churning the same old stuff over and over, the same sweep picking flashy licks the same palm muted gallops, the same extended power chords.  I need something new or a new angle...

ABY switcher change of plan...

To switch or not to switch...

I had a change of mind on the Aby switcher, I don't really need the ability to switch between anything so this is going to be a basic ground lift audio isolator, hopefully this will cure the noise issues I have been having using a laptop.  I think the noise is coming from a typically noisy switch mode power supply in the laptops power brick.

Parts

The parts for this project are only minimal, the most important being the transformer for isolation, you can easily spend a lot of money on an audio quality transformer but as this is just for guitar hopefully I can get away with a cheaper one, the linear frequency range is 200Hz-15kHz, although the low frequency response is a low I'm hoping this will suffice although I'm not so sure now, might have a scout about see if I can get a better low frequency response...
Other parts of note are a TL072 JFET Op amp and a Intersil
ICL7660 voltage doubler to ensure we have enough headroom using a single 9v battery.  Other than that there's just a handful of capacitors and a few resistors.
I see if I can get the parts list finalised and get the schematic and pcb layout on here shortly...
D.

Plectrums, plectrums, and more plectrums!

have a bit of an obsession with plectrums, it seems there's a plectrum for every occasion but one for all uses seems to elude me...

I use mainly Jim Dunlop plectrums, theres a wide range of different thicknesses and materials, I seem to have at least one of each!  I prefer thicker plectrums made of Tortex or Delrin with a thickness around 1 mm, I have used them down to 0.60 mm and as thick as 3mm :o

For grungy rhythms and even fast alternate picking a Tortex 0.60 is a good choice, it feels a bit flimsy for fast lead work although Paul Gilbert seems to get by just fine!  The thicker Tortex ones seem to feel like they catch or scratch the strings more and I don't like the tone as much

For general lead work and metal rhythm a Delrin 1.16mm is a good choice, the tone seems to sound better than the thicker tortex ones.

For sweep picking and fast palm muting you cant beat a Jazztone, they have a kind of ceramic feel to them and seem to improve the tone, they take a bit of getting used to as they are about 2mm thick and have a smooth chamfered edge, the only problem is that the grip isn't as good as Tortext and Delrin and I usually score them with a knife.

Recently I have started using 1.16mm Ultex they seem to have a good grip but I'm not sure if I like the edge they have they seem to suffer the same tone loss as the ticker Tortex ones...
Hmm if only they made jazz tones with more grip or Ultex with a more chamfered edge, maybe when the Ultex beds in a bit they will grow on me...

Some of my stash of plectrums