The dreaded Fender Strat knob inadvertently moving.....

I had a 486 with Windows 98+!!!!!
My first PC I got it in 1998!!!!!
Paradigms really do last!!!!

Yeah Robert, my first occasional use of a PC was when I would ask friends if I could use their 486 to make documents like a Proposal or Contract. The internet was not really much of a thing in our remote neighborhood yet. Not to mention Wifi. Heck we were lucky to get cable TV.
 
Robert Herndon said:
Definitely, I can hear the muddiness in some people's rigs that I listen too, but, I've got very little difference between my neck and bridge the way I have them set up and they way I have the poles adjusted...and that's intentional. I cannot stand the typical muddy neck pickups that I hear so often. When I switch to the neck, the tone gets fuller but there's no volume drop and no huge shift in tone...and that's also intentional.
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Are you ~sure~ that those pole piece adjustments actually had an effect?

Maybe you're just hearing that because you want to! Maybe it's just a nuance that nobody else can hear!

(Just poking the bear - it's all in fun! I know adjusting pole pieces and pickups makes a difference.)

But, you've literally described how you, yourself, do exactly the same sort of things that that other people do.

You hear something you don't like or want to improve and you make a change to achieve what you do like. Or, you play a song one way, but make an adjustment to get a different sound on another song.

Robert Herndon said:
Honestly, I'm just playing the Gibson Les Paul these days. I really don't play anything else, unless I am asked to use a ____ on a certain recording. I find it to be very, very consistent. I ca roll the tone off and get a different tone of the song requires it.
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BINGO!

That's really a great, bottom-line summary of what anyone here has been saying.
 
Robert Herndon said:
"When it comes to gear, we all chase the mythical holy grails, and I’m lucky enough to own a lot of them. But it’s funny: If I took an Epiphone Les Paul and a Peavey Bandit or if I took a ’59 Les Paul and a Dumble, chances are I’m going to sound very similar, and, to me, that’s gear in a nutshell. It all comes down to you. It’s the type of pick you use. It’s your attack and your bloom. Do you have a light tough, or do you pick hard? Tone really starts with you. It's what you hear in your head and how it manifests. Gear is important – you want to have the right tools – but there isn’t one device, electric guitar or amp that’s a game changer. Nothing is going to give you your sound. Your sound’s in you. Your gear is just there to help you...."
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That reminds me of a funny story...funny to me, at least.

At an event I played many years ago, there was a HiWatt cabinet on stage near me. It belonged to someone else. I was not using it. I was just using my antiquated, obsolete Line6 POD X3 Live processor run direct to the mix. That processor is certainly NOT any holy grail of any sort!

Anyway, after the show, a guitar player from an earlier band came up and complimented me on my sound. He had assumed I was playing through the HiWatt. He had a rather shocked look when I said, "No. That's not mine. I used this," and I pointed down to the processor.

One of those times when someone listened with his eyes!

But, I TOTALLY get the point. The whole "holy grail" thing exists in the processor world, too - not just amplifiers and guitars and pickups.

When someone doesn't know what I use or if they don't know that they aren't supposed to like it, then they will think I sound good. Once they learn that they aren't supposed to like Line6, or that they are only supposed to like Line6 Helix and newer, then the opinion changes.

That's why it's also fun to use an iPad running software as an alternative platform. People haven't yet learned if they are supposed to like that or not, so it messes with the brain cells.

Funny how that works.
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
I had a 486 with Windows 98+!!!!!
My first PC I got it in 1998!!!!!
Paradigms really do last!!!!

Yeah Robert, my first occasional use of a PC was when I would ask friends if I could use their 486 to make documents like a Proposal or Contract. The internet was not really much of a thing in our remote neighborhood yet. Not to mention Wifi. Heck we were lucky to get cable TV.
Click to expand...
Dang children. First computer I used at work was one of those IBM main frames. Taller than me. Took two people to drag the hard drive out of it. Updates installed from 7” floppies.

My first home computer was a Tandy 8086 with no HD. After I installed a 20mb HD in it, thought I’d died and gone to heaven. There was no Windows. “C” prompt all the way. I wrote batch files on it to make loading programs easier. Loads of fun.

Moving on. Did get a windows machine with Win98 on it. Moved up years later to a Win XP machine. And now a laptop with 10…. That isn’t new enough to bump up to 11. Just got my wife an HP laptop that did come with 11.

Been lucky. I’ve been able to skip the crappy versions on Windows. Both 98 and XP were solid. I was using 7 at work, so having 10 on my laptop wasn’t a big jump. And so far. 11 seems solid on my wife’s laptop.
 
smitty_p said:
Are you ~sure~ that those pole piece adjustments actually had an effect?

Maybe you're just hearing that because you want to! Maybe it's just a nuance that nobody else can hear!

(Just poking the bear - it's all in fun! I know adjusting pole pieces and pickups makes a difference.)
Click to expand...

I listen on headphones and adjust the poles with a VU meter. I also balance them with the VU meter as well.
 
iblive said:
Dang children. First computer I used at work was one of those IBM main frames. Taller than me. Took two people to drag the hard drive out of it. Updates installed from 7” floppies.

My first home computer was a Tandy 8086 with no HD. After I installed a 20mb HD in it, thought I’d died and gone to heaven. There was no Windows. “C” prompt all the way. I wrote batch files on it to make loading programs easier. Loads of fun.

Moving on. Did get a windows machine with Win98 on it. Moved up years later to a Win XP machine. And now a laptop with 10…. That isn’t new enough to bump up to 11. Just got my wife an HP laptop that did come with 11.

Been lucky. I’ve been able to skip the crappy versions on Windows. Both 98 and XP were solid. I was using 7 at work, so having 10 on my laptop wasn’t a big jump. And so far. 11 seems solid on my wife’s laptop.
Click to expand...
I wrote my first FORTRAN program in 1983 using #2 pencil marked cards (not punched). The second pic is what the program did :dood:


7F893531-6F15-4F7E-BFE0-9A9412244E77.jpeg

289821B9-1D54-4475-AB01-9442FF75CF9E.jpeg
 
iblive said:
Dang children. First computer I used at work was one of those IBM main frames. Taller than me. Took two people to drag the hard drive out of it. Updates installed from 7” floppies.

My first home computer was a Tandy 8086 with no HD. After I installed a 20mb HD in it, thought I’d died and gone to heaven. There was no Windows. “C” prompt all the way. I wrote batch files on it to make loading programs easier. Loads of fun.

Moving on. Did get a windows machine with Win98 on it. Moved up years later to a Win XP machine. And now a laptop with 10…. That isn’t new enough to bump up to 11. Just got my wife an HP laptop that did come with 11.

Been lucky. I’ve been able to skip the crappy versions on Windows. Both 98 and XP were solid. I was using 7 at work, so having 10 on my laptop wasn’t a big jump. And so far. 11 seems solid on my wife’s laptop.
Click to expand...

There's no doubt the digital amp simulations are here to stay. I was reluctant to use them initially, but after working day in and day out using software like Blue Cat Destructor and Avid Eleven Mk II, I began to realize they are a great time saving tool.

For live use, it's a simple 2x12 with a tube head. Consistency and simplicity.
 
Robert Herndon said:
There's no doubt the digital amp simulations are here to stay. I was reluctant to use them initially, but after working day in and day out using software like Blue Cat Destructor and Avid Eleven Mk II, I began to realize they are a great time saving tool.

For live use, it's a simple 2x12 with a tube head. Consistency and simplicity.
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Even the analog BluGuitar amp 1 sounds fantastic. If one ever cared about ABing things, which I don't, it can sound virtually identical to a JCM800 with an SD1 up front when played through same cab.
Compact, pedal form, 100 watt 3 channel high gain amp. Fun.
 
Jethro Rocker said:
Even the analog BluGuitar amp 1 sounds fantastic. If one ever cared about ABing things, which I don't, it can sound virtually identical to a JCM800 with an SD1 up front when played through same cab.
Compact, pedal form, 100 watt 3 channel high gain amp. Fun.
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No argument from me...

But I remain devoted to my old rig for live shows....

20210529_205455.jpg
 
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Robert Herndon said:
I listen on headphones and adjust the poles with a VU meter. I also balance them with the VU meter as well.
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Terrific!

You listen on headphones and use a VU meter. Very good. Not ten minutes ago I finished a training class on a particular type of audio gear where the instructor advised us to always listen to the effects that changing settings has on the sound even though the system has built-in metering.

So, your approach of using the tools and your ears actually is consistent with that training.

But, the meter only gives you a visible indication of your adjustments. The VU meter doesn’t tell you, on its own, if you’ll actually like those results. It’s only by comparing what you hear with what the VU meter indicates that you’re able to make that meaningful correlation. You know, only by listening, that a particular set of VU readings is both audible and pleasant to you. From that point on, you can rely a little more on the meter, itself. This does give you valuable metrics for reproducibility of the final result. So, there is significant value in that.

But, in the end, it all boils down to the same thing everybody else does. You make a change and use your ears to make the ultimate evaluation.
 
[QUOTE="smitty_p, post: 387800, member:

But, the meter only gives you a visible indication of your adjustments. The VU meter doesn’t tell you, on its own, if you’ll actually like those results.
[/QUOTE]
 
smitty_p said:
But, the meter only gives you a visible indication of your adjustments. The VU meter doesn’t tell you, on its own, if you’ll actually like those results.
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Yes, it's only to balance each string and the pickups to each other. The sound or tone may not be to one's liking, but it will be balanced.

My Gibson pickups are very bright and have great clarity...Burstbucker 2 & 3
 
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Robert Herndon said:
There's no doubt the digital amp simulations are here to stay. I was reluctant to use them initially, but after working day in and day out using software like Blue Cat Destructor and Avid Eleven Mk II, I began to realize they are a great time saving tool.

For live use, it's a simple 2x12 with a tube head. Consistency and simplicity.
Click to expand...

I agree. Software solutions will continue to get better and better.
 
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