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Stoner/Doom Bassists Thread, Part 90: Maxed Out
- Thread starter Korladis
- Start date
no, it changes the impedance but that's it. the disadvantage to series wiring is if one speaker blows, then the other will no longer get any signal. with parallel wiring at least the other speaker would keep working and get you through the gig.
Got the Supercollider V3 in yesterday. Digging it. Sounds like a fuzz version of my B3K. Quick review:
Incredibly versatile! Can get scooped, bright, muddy, heavy, thin, etc. etc. etc. The gain on this pedal is huge! I'm at 9:00, and it's plenty for me. But it's nice that the gain doesn't increase volume too much, just adds distortion. Tone knob is responsive across the spectrum, as are the mids and mass knobs. Numerous reviews told me the mass control was subtle, but I didn't think so at all. It has a huge impact on the low end, so I'm thinking of it as a "bass" knob. Maybe it's not as obvious on guitar? So far, I prefer silicon diodes, but I'm planning on experimenting with LED. This, coupled with my GK Rails for a dirty "clean", may just get my fuzz exactly how I want it. I would have bet that the Supercollider would have been too high gain for me, but it's not. As long as I keep the gain down, it's fantastic for my needs. Can't wait to try it in the mix Wednesday!
Now, for a compare/contrast with the Pharaoh fuzz, since that was the one that won out in my original fuzz quest.
The Supercollider is more modern and cutting than the Pharaoh, but the Pharaoh is much more vintage and warmer. The Supercollider also has much finer grit, while the Pharaoh has bigger "chunks" of grit, if that makes sense. The Pharaoh can not get as bright as the Supercollider. Basically, Pharaoh is lower gain, and the Supercollider is higher gain, but both are amazing fuzzes. Just gotta know what you're going for tone-wise. Neither will be leaving my stable of effects, though for my current needs, the Supercollider seems to be the winner. Wednesday's practice will determine for sure.
Other notes:
In silicon mode, I can get the Supercollider to sound like the Pharaoh, but not vice versa.
The Supercollider requires me to set my gate much higher to keep my rig silent. It still feeds back often. Not a big fan of this, but I'm going to tweak my gate, and potentially get another gate just for the Supercollider. Any suggestions on a cheap, but reliable gate?
EDIT: Addition to "Other notes" - It doesn't seem to play as well with my envelope filter as the Pharaoh does. We'll see what I can tweak. Been contemplating a different filter anyway...
Incredibly versatile! Can get scooped, bright, muddy, heavy, thin, etc. etc. etc. The gain on this pedal is huge! I'm at 9:00, and it's plenty for me. But it's nice that the gain doesn't increase volume too much, just adds distortion. Tone knob is responsive across the spectrum, as are the mids and mass knobs. Numerous reviews told me the mass control was subtle, but I didn't think so at all. It has a huge impact on the low end, so I'm thinking of it as a "bass" knob. Maybe it's not as obvious on guitar? So far, I prefer silicon diodes, but I'm planning on experimenting with LED. This, coupled with my GK Rails for a dirty "clean", may just get my fuzz exactly how I want it. I would have bet that the Supercollider would have been too high gain for me, but it's not. As long as I keep the gain down, it's fantastic for my needs. Can't wait to try it in the mix Wednesday!
Now, for a compare/contrast with the Pharaoh fuzz, since that was the one that won out in my original fuzz quest.
The Supercollider is more modern and cutting than the Pharaoh, but the Pharaoh is much more vintage and warmer. The Supercollider also has much finer grit, while the Pharaoh has bigger "chunks" of grit, if that makes sense. The Pharaoh can not get as bright as the Supercollider. Basically, Pharaoh is lower gain, and the Supercollider is higher gain, but both are amazing fuzzes. Just gotta know what you're going for tone-wise. Neither will be leaving my stable of effects, though for my current needs, the Supercollider seems to be the winner. Wednesday's practice will determine for sure.
Other notes:
In silicon mode, I can get the Supercollider to sound like the Pharaoh, but not vice versa.
The Supercollider requires me to set my gate much higher to keep my rig silent. It still feeds back often. Not a big fan of this, but I'm going to tweak my gate, and potentially get another gate just for the Supercollider. Any suggestions on a cheap, but reliable gate?
EDIT: Addition to "Other notes" - It doesn't seem to play as well with my envelope filter as the Pharaoh does. We'll see what I can tweak. Been contemplating a different filter anyway...
Last edited:
That will most likely be the awesomest thing I'll hear today.
@Kawai-chang I have to go Richmond today and there is a Kawai KRB pj bass with a gorgeous koa body. Pretty sure they swapped the necks because that model usually has the graphite neck but this one has the maple neck on it. Not a fan of active basses but hoping it still does the p sound thing as I have no p basses in the stall and it looks typical Japanese well made bass. I know you had some of these, how did you like the tone of them?
Damn that went fast, listed my PRS Se Santana hardtail on Reverb this morning and it sold within an hour. Now I need to scrunge up an electric guitar box today. I can use the bass box Julian shipped the Waterstone in if I can't find any today.
Also @ampegfuzz that plug and play setting on the GK sounded surprisingly damn good on guitar too. If I ever get a chance to play I think I would buy a second GK400RB and a second Bassic and run stereo out to them for either bass or guitar.
Also @ampegfuzz that plug and play setting on the GK sounded surprisingly damn good on guitar too. If I ever get a chance to play I think I would buy a second GK400RB and a second Bassic and run stereo out to them for either bass or guitar.
Yeah, this is true. I don't think of most of those bands as all that heavy. Some Slayer, Motorhead, though I consider Motorhead to be a rock and roll band more than metal or any other tag.
Hell, Misfits were heavier to me than most metal of the era.
But part of what I dig about these bands and folks like Saxon and a lot of NWOBHM stuff IS the fantasy / cheese / camp factor.
Agree with @Sartori also, about speed not necessarily equating to heaviness.
Another thing-- I feel most 80s metal guitar tones are really thin and wispy. Never understood that. Sabbath and a lot of other 70s bands sounded real chunky, but the 80s seemed to usher in that wheedly-whee dog frequency divebomb stuff, but with what to my ears sounds totally lacking in depth and body as far as tone.
For truly heavy, outside of a lot of old loudfastrules hardcore punk (much of which was admittedly derivative and boring, and often overtly political in a way I never gave two craps about) it really is later stoner doom sludge that hits me as truly heavy in the best way.
Whatever you might want to label them, when I first heard Melvins' Bullhead album right when it came out, that set me on a path.
It may have been the first album that struck me as uber heavy that wasn't punk and was pretty far from campy.
In retrospect it doesn't seem so heavy now, but at the time it really hit me in the balls.
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Hit the nail on the head there.
60's and 70's had great tone, cool music and such for the most part. My parents also played me a lot of music from this era and it was shared with me by peers a lot too.
The 80's i just 99% don't mesh with. All genres and styles mind you. Those overly processed drums, elec drums, drum machines with too much reverb, the vocals delivery and subject matter. The guitar tones like you said were thin and wheedly whee. That politics within punk thing is the other part I don't care for. I assume a lot of it is just you guys grew up with it or around it and enjoy it. It's like showing me an old horror movie is hardly scary as its so overly fake nowadays. Also all the art looks like it belongs airbrushed on a van or roller rink hehe.
EW might be campy, but you have to admit there's a big leap from Dio howling Eye of the tiger to dopethrone. He might be singing about amps and weed but the tone and atmosphere is quite different.
It's like in slow southern steel they discuss how kiss was super big and cool and scary then you look back and can appreciate it, but it ain't actually scary. I was never there so I see them as four older Jewish baby boomers dressed like weird demon clowns (or a cat...) playing mostly bad music a few ok songs within.
None of this is to say I'm right or wrong or think that I dig anything better. I just view everyone from that time be it Phil Collins or Dio or Napalm Death to be all one lump of not for me.
Was just going over some practice recordings from the last couple weeks and thought I'd post a small snippet of a jam that we're working on. Major work in progress, recording is less than great, drummer nursing a bad arm but here it is:
Recording with a Shure USB mic, right into audacity. No EQ, minimal editing.
Anyway, thought you guys might be interested in hearing a taste of what's to come. Obviously this will all be cleaned up, tightened up and made much more awesome by the time we start playing out.
Recording with a Shure USB mic, right into audacity. No EQ, minimal editing.
Anyway, thought you guys might be interested in hearing a taste of what's to come. Obviously this will all be cleaned up, tightened up and made much more awesome by the time we start playing out.
Ugh the hm-2 hopefully is mine tomorrow... This guy is flakier than a biscuit. Mid July I was supposed to get it and he put it off day after day until he went on a two week vacation and I've been in contact for two weeks since he's been back and he finally settled on a place and day but not an exact time yet. He only responds like every 12-24 hours and if I say something he disagrees with he stops talking to me and reposts it until I ask about it again ...
If another guy replies. Might pick up a donner yellow fall micro analog delay for $25
If another guy replies. Might pick up a donner yellow fall micro analog delay for $25
Re: heaviness.
I never got 80s too much too. I used to love Metallica (especially first 3 albums, I still do actually), but all the rest of NWOBHM left me cold. I had an older cousin who used to listen to all this crap: Helloween, Accept, Running Wild etc. It all always seemed thin and pretentious. For his credit, he eventually got me into Kyuss a few years later.
Never got Kiss too, it always seemed ridiculous to me.
Melvins too, really. Not that I don't like them, just never got into them for some reason.
In the 90's when I got into heavy music for good, I was heavily into nu metal (it's actually the only thing in my music development I'm kinda ashamed of): Korn, Coal Chamber, Sevendust, there was also this Polish band Kobong - really twisted, heavy stuff. It was the epitome of heavy for me back then.
Then my cousin played me Sky Valley and I never looked back - that was it.
A few years later someone brought EW's Dopethrone to a party - that was a game changer.
And yes, they are campy, even more now than back in the days.
Stoner and doom (mostly doom for me) has the heaviness I've always been looking for. I just love this wall of sound. I actually don't consider doom to be metal, for me it's just doom. It's like difference between, say, Cathedral and Electric Wizard.
Also, some shoegaze and post rock bands have this intensity. Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Mogwai, mainly.
Wow, my longest post ever
And some Kobong for you guys.
I never got 80s too much too. I used to love Metallica (especially first 3 albums, I still do actually), but all the rest of NWOBHM left me cold. I had an older cousin who used to listen to all this crap: Helloween, Accept, Running Wild etc. It all always seemed thin and pretentious. For his credit, he eventually got me into Kyuss a few years later.
Never got Kiss too, it always seemed ridiculous to me.
Melvins too, really. Not that I don't like them, just never got into them for some reason.
In the 90's when I got into heavy music for good, I was heavily into nu metal (it's actually the only thing in my music development I'm kinda ashamed of): Korn, Coal Chamber, Sevendust, there was also this Polish band Kobong - really twisted, heavy stuff. It was the epitome of heavy for me back then.
Then my cousin played me Sky Valley and I never looked back - that was it.
A few years later someone brought EW's Dopethrone to a party - that was a game changer.
And yes, they are campy, even more now than back in the days.
Stoner and doom (mostly doom for me) has the heaviness I've always been looking for. I just love this wall of sound. I actually don't consider doom to be metal, for me it's just doom. It's like difference between, say, Cathedral and Electric Wizard.
Also, some shoegaze and post rock bands have this intensity. Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Mogwai, mainly.
Wow, my longest post ever
And some Kobong for you guys.
Yeah, it's just that the seller I bought the Faitals from is apparently out of the 8 ohm version, but still has the 4 ohm version in stock.
That one disadvantage was what I figured... but I doubt I'm likely to blow a Faital 15PR400. So I should just tell him to send me the 4 ohm ones rather than wait until he has more 8 ohm ones?
I've actually always considered Motorhead more punk than metal, really.
I like political punk, though. Always loved the Dead Kennedys.
Some of Sabbath sounds real chunky and awesome... but I piss people off all the time, when I comment that the Paranoid album sounds so thin as to be almost unlistenable to me. I much prefer the sound on the first and third albums.
When it comes to thrash... personally I always felt that Metallica was the biggest thrash band for good reason. I like a few other thrash bands, some Slayer, Megadeth can be pretty cool... Testament is probably my favorite besides early Metallica... but honestly, most of them I just can't get into. Their songs aren't as well written, to my ears, and nothing catches my attention. Now, I would agree that early Metallica had piss poor production, especially on Justice, obviously, but I still really love those songs. Especially the second and third albums. Two of my favorite albums of all time. I actually do really like the guitar sound on them, I just wish the bass was louder (which, as a result of video games and youtube, it now is on some versions you can find). I think few bands knew how to incorporate a really catchy chorus into thrash as well as Metallica did. It's the moments where they stop chugging on the low E and sustain notes/chords that really do it for me. There's an 'epic' quality to some of their stuff that I don't hear as much in other thrash (with the exception of some Testament and a bit of Megadeth).
As for camp... it really depends. I'm a nerd. I make no excuses about that. I'm a shaging nerd who likes nerd stuff and does nerd things. So Dio songs about dragons and sorcerers and all that stuff... I don't see as the least bit off putting. And having seen both the Ozzy lineup and the Dio lineup of Sabbath... I prefer Dio Sabbath. Yeah, I know, heresy. But honestly, Dio Sabbath blew Ozzy Sabbath off the stage and made them seem boring by comparison. My favorite Sabbath tune is probably either "Children of the Sea" or "Sign of the Southern Cross." Because awesome, catchy, a little bit cheesy, and epic. Also, the main rifs, IMO, are actually super heavy. Especially in the second case.
Anyway, I love Iron Maiden, too, and while I wouldn't call them heavy, they're damn good fun. Also I do like the tones and the production. Helps I guess that the bassist is basically the band leader, there. They stand out among 80s metal bands for their production, I think.
One thing I'd criticize both them, thrash, and Sabbath for, though, is... guitar solos. Not every song needs one. Let alone two or three.
My parents generally didn't play much rock music from after the 60s (though my mom did, occasionally). My dad generally didn't like 70s rock stuff, let alone anything from the 80s. I think possibly because his life had been going downhill during the 70s, and so in a way it reminded him of unhappy times, or something (weirdly, he was a big fan of Iz, though). Anyway, I was mostly left to discover the world of rock music beyond the 60s on my own.
When it comes to tones... I like some stuff and dislike some stuff from every era.
With punk music, if it isn't political, and it also isn't the Misfits, I'm not generally not interested.
80s production I agree was generally terrible, with a few notable exceptions (Iron Maiden at least had audible bass and usually fairly balanced guitar tone, same with Dio... but then, both started in the 70s). 80s hair metal I generally can't stand, partly because of the happy riffs and the David Lee Roth style vocals. Can't stand that crap. Also I dislike that in ten years, mainstream metal had gone from songs about insanity, war, darkness, nightmares, space voyages, society, hypocrisy of elites, etc. (all subjects covered by Sabbath during the 70s) to generic poppy love/sex songs (most of what 80s hair metal was about). To me, that's part of why NWOBHM and thrash metal were badly needed, to give metal a kick in the pants.
And no, I don't have to admit there's a big leap from Dio to Dopethrone. Because for me there isn't. They're both cheesy as hell, but not in a bad way. In terms of weird old cult classic movies, Dio is Excalibur and Electric Wizard is Evil Dead 2/Army of Darkness.
But then, as mentioned, I'm a nerd (as are most metalheads I know) who likes nerd things. I mean, I like Lord of the Rings, and my favorite book series was written by two archaeologists after developing the setting originally as a world for their D&D games.
As for Kiss... can't stand them, never could. Maybe it's partly because Gene Simmons is such a living skid mark.
My mother listened to 70s disco and my father listened to The Beatles and classic 50s and 60s rock n roll
When I started to listen to Jimi Hendrix and Black Sabbath, father just sneered and said it was too heavy for him back when he was young.
As for Electric Wizard, I've seen most of the movies Jus mentions as his inspiration, boy are they bad... mostly low budget gore and weird 60s and 70s British occult horrors. Tell me that aint camp.
When I started to listen to Jimi Hendrix and Black Sabbath, father just sneered and said it was too heavy for him back when he was young.
As for Electric Wizard, I've seen most of the movies Jus mentions as his inspiration, boy are they bad... mostly low budget gore and weird 60s and 70s British occult horrors. Tell me that aint camp.
It's really cheap. They were all like close to $100 last I looked his is $60.
Re: heaviness.
I never got 80s too much too. I used to love Metallica (especially first 3 albums, I still do actually), but all the rest of NWOBHM left me cold. I had an older cousin who used to listen to all this crap: Helloween, Accept, Running Wild etc. It all always seemed thin and pretentious. For his credit, he eventually got me into Kyuss a few years later.
Never got Kiss too, it always seemed ridiculous to me.
Melvins too, really. Not that I don't like them, just never got into them for some reason.
In the 90's when I got into heavy music for good, I was heavily into nu metal (it's actually the only thing in my music development I'm kinda ashamed of): Korn, Coal Chamber, Sevendust, there was also this Polish band Kobong - really twisted, heavy stuff. It was the epitome of heavy for me back then.
Then my cousin played me Sky Valley and I never looked back - that was it.
A few years later someone brought EW's Dopethrone to a party - that was a game changer.
And yes, they are campy, even more now than back in the days.
Stoner and doom (mostly doom for me) has the heaviness I've always been looking for. I just love this wall of sound. I actually don't consider doom to be metal, for me it's just doom. It's like difference between, say, Cathedral and Electric Wizard.
Also, some shoegaze and post rock bands have this intensity. Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Mogwai, mainly.
Wow, my longest post ever
And some Kobong for you guys.
Mom played this like every day when I was a baby and I'd dance my heart out lol. Move over. Then a lot of willie Nelson and Merle haggard and Lucinda Williams haha. Dad never much played music he has a lot of records but says he got tired of it after a while? and the only cd he bought was Dido's first album. Then recently mom and the neighbors got him into alt country.
My first albums were actually a mix of burnt CDs my uncle gave me in 6th grade. It started because I accidently bought a Van Halen cd as I wasn't sure who led Zeppelin was yet ha and I was so maddd at giving money to the van halens. I got dookie, back in black, hellbilly deluxe, rubberneck, Beatles 1, smoke em if you got em. Oh and the o brother where art thou sound track. Interesting mix to start on.
