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Celery Man

By Celery Man
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Superhero
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NGD!  

NoRagrets
NoRagrets

Welcome home, my love. New Tele American Pro II (stupid fucking name, fender)

Goredho
Goredho

My daughter got her bumblebee telecaster today.  She was stoked, and so was I.

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Goredho

Goredho 17345

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Posted (edited)
On 2/19/2022 at 1:24 AM, BERT said:

I was wrong. Price is $699.99. Not sure I want to spend that much. Cause I’ll still need an amp and all that stuff. 

I know you aren't asking, but I would seriously recommend a PositiveGrid Spark as a first amp and at $299, that may let you focus your spending on the guitar?  I bought one at Christmas for one of my kids and I've repoed the thing and play it pretty much every day.  You can connect to and control it via phone app and it will do some cool stuff beyond just making good guitar noises.

  • Playback spotify, youtube, itunes, whatever through the amp for you to play along to
  • It will detect the chords in the songs you playback through the amp and display them for you in real time as the song plays along
  • Various amp and effects models. Just a guitar and a 1/4" cable and this amp and you got all the tools you need.
  • Tone cloud to download presets from the intardnet that others have created
  • Built in tuner
  • Small size, loud enough for bedroom use
  • Can connect to your computer/ipad as an audio interface with USB cable and allow you to record with no other hardware needed (also comes with free DAW software)
  • $299 price tag

It's about as perfect a practice/learning amp as I could imagine (a looper is the one notable omission) and it actually sounds pretty damn good.  The following is just my Tele into the Spark playing over a backing track from YouTube and all of that recorded with my phone's mic.  The tones you can get out of this are certainly good enough for practice/learning purposes.

I pissed all over PositiveGrid for their botched rollout of this amp, but their supply issues are long-since worked out and this thing is a fantastic practice/learning tool for $299.

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Celery Man

Celery Man 20882

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I'll have to read more about whatever that is. I mentioned earlier how much I was enjoying my airpod max headphones due to the "transparent" mode which mixes ambient noise with whatever is in the cans, and the utility that has for playing along with something streaming from my phone and being able to get the mix right between my amp and the recording. I haven't done a whole ton of playing along with recorded music in a while and it's been a rediscovery of just how great that is, and how helpful that is with learning new stuff (and correcting the drift from things you've learned and played a million times alone).

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Goredho

Goredho 17345

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

I'll have to read more about whatever that is. I mentioned earlier how much I was enjoying my airpod max headphones due to the "transparent" mode which mixes ambient noise with whatever is in the cans, and the utility that has for playing along with something streaming from my phone and being able to get the mix right between my amp and the recording. I haven't done a whole ton of playing along with recorded music in a while and it's been a rediscovery of just how great that is, and how helpful that is with learning new stuff (and correcting the drift from things you've learned and played a million times alone).

https://www.positivegrid.com/spark

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Butch Had Not

Butch Had Not 2940

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1 hour ago, Goredho said:

I know you aren't asking, but I would seriously recommend a PositiveGrid Spark as a first amp and at $299, that may let you focus your spending on the guitar?  I bought one at Christmas for one of my kids and I've repoed the thing and play it pretty much every day.  You can connect to and control it via phone app and it will do some cool stuff beyond just making good guitar noises.

  • Playback spotify, youtube, itunes, whatever through the amp for you to play along to
  • It will detect the chords in the songs you playback through the amp and display them for you in real time as the song plays along
  • Various amp and effects models. Just a guitar and a 1/4" cable and this amp and you got all the tools you need.
  • Tone cloud to download presets from the intardnet that others have created
  • Built in tuner
  • Small size, loud enough for bedroom use
  • Can connect to your computer/ipad as an audio interface with USB cable and allow you to record with no other hardware needed (also comes with free DAW software)
  • $299 price tag

It's about as perfect a practice/learning amp as I could imagine (a looper is the one notable omission) and it actually sounds pretty damn good.  The following is just my Tele into the Spark playing over a backing track from YouTube and all of that recorded with my phone's mic.  The tones you can get out of this are certainly good enough for practice/learning purposes.

I pissed all over PositiveGrid for their botched rollout of this amp, but their supply issues are long-since worked out and this thing is a fantastic practice/learning tool for $299.

Damn. I need to get this. With all the tones available,  is it easy to find the sound you like?? Like I want to sound like ACDC. Then want to sound like Trivium. And then over to SRV. 

 

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Goredho

Goredho 17345

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13 minutes ago, Butch Had Not said:

Damn. I need to get this. With all the tones available,  is it easy to find the sound you like?? Like I want to sound like ACDC. Then want to sound like Trivium. And then over to SRV. 

 

Yeah, pretty much.  Their tone cloud has a search feature.  I type in “Gilmour” and I see presets for comfortably numb, another brick in the wall, etc...  if I hit that play button below, I can preview the tone of that preset.  If I like what I hear, I can download it and play it all the time.

 

9B1AB207-86F1-4F47-8766-7236B0885A3E.png

Edited by Goredho
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Goredho

Goredho 17345

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1 minute ago, Deej said:

I'm sure it's great, but my personal experience with modelers is option overload and I end up playing less than I would straight into an amp with just tone and volume knobs to screw with. 

It’s not going to beat a good real amp rig for sound and there is a lot of overhead if you want to build your own presets, but just searching the tone cloud by artists you like is pretty easy.  Main thing is to get started, you buy a guitar and this amp and it will take you a long way before you have to buy anything else.

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Celery Man

Celery Man 20882

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Today's lesson

 

This is the version I've listened to a trillion times and I'm not sure he plays chord #2 the same (I think he hits the 5 rather than the 9 or whatever it is on the e string). Either way, youtube videos and being able to play along while listening = finally I'm picking up this song that I've meant to learn for eons.

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tbone_

tbone_ 14020

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That thing seems pretty cool. I don’t know how much use I’d get out of all the tone downloads as I tend to just gravitate toward 1 clean tone and 1 dirt tone (better if volume knob affected). But I could certainly see the benefits of practicing with that.

On a related note, I’ve started mixing in practicing with just a straight metronome. Holy shit.

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Goredho

Goredho 17345

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43 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

That thing seems pretty cool. I don’t know how much use I’d get out of all the tone downloads as I tend to just gravitate toward 1 clean tone and 1 dirt tone (better if volume knob affected). But I could certainly see the benefits of practicing with that.

On a related note, I’ve started mixing in practicing with just a straight metronome. Holy shit.

It can be as simple or complex as you want it to be.  If you want it to be simple, just use the onboard amp models and ignore that you can download stuff and that there is a deep pool of modeling & signal chains that can be explored.  Just use the knobs on the top to pick between clean, glassy, crunch, high-gain and metal models that are pre-loaded into the amp and use the other familiar knobs to control gain, master, tone, reverb, etc...

W7xfQWggsbjduFYqGWUFD3-1280-80.thumb.jpg.ae368152054c807dce4c5013691df46b.jpg

Edit:  That video was using the crunch model with just some knob tweaking.  I didn't spend hours trying to find and dial in a sound.

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tigol

tigol 2383

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15 minutes ago, Goredho said:

It can be as simple or complex as you want it to be.  If you want it to be simple, just use the onboard amp models and ignore that you can download stuff and that there is a deep pool of modeling & signal chains that can be explored.  Just use the knobs on the top to pick between clean, glassy, crunch, high-gain and metal models that are pre-loaded into the amp and use the other familiar knobs to control gain, master, tone, reverb, etc...

W7xfQWggsbjduFYqGWUFD3-1280-80.thumb.jpg.ae368152054c807dce4c5013691df46b.jpg

Edit:  That video was using the crunch model with just some knob tweaking.  I didn't spend hours trying to find and dial in a sound.

I bought one when they first came out, but I have no idea what I'm doing.  Thank you for this write-up about the app and the demo.  Now I feel like I can tinker with it a bit.  The backing tracks with chord images sounds awesome.

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topochico

topochico 1049

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2 hours ago, Goredho said:

It can be as simple or complex as you want it to be.  If you want it to be simple, just use the onboard amp models and ignore that you can download stuff and that there is a deep pool of modeling & signal chains that can be explored.  Just use the knobs on the top to pick between clean, glassy, crunch, high-gain and metal models that are pre-loaded into the amp and use the other familiar knobs to control gain, master, tone, reverb, etc...

W7xfQWggsbjduFYqGWUFD3-1280-80.thumb.jpg.ae368152054c807dce4c5013691df46b.jpg

Edit:  That video was using the crunch model with just some knob tweaking.  I didn't spend hours trying to find and dial in a sound.

This is intriguing. I don't need 5000 downloadable settings, but the chord detection with Spotify and the ability to slow the song  to learn sounds awesome. What is your experience with the accuracy of auto chord?

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Goredho

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47 minutes ago, topochico said:

This is intriguing. I don't need 5000 downloadable settings, but the chord detection with Spotify and the ability to slow the song  to learn sounds awesome. What is your experience with the accuracy of auto chord?

Generally good, but it’s not going to necessarily tell you exactly how a chord is being played.  Like if what’s in the music is the 2nd inversion of a G chord up the neck, it is probably going to show you the campfire G chord down by the nut.  It’s enough to strum along, pick out the key and such but it’s not like an exact transcription of what is being played.

Heres a screen shot from “Hotel California” showing where you are in the bar, the current chord, the last chord and the next chord.

 

CBD60820-7C5B-4769-8B22-88DE1CF935B0.png

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Goredho

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1 minute ago, Butch Had Not said:

Damn it,  been watching videos all day of that Spark.

The one video that wasn't glowing (though he wasn't critical really) was Darrell Braun when he compared to the yamaha. But I'm pretty sure I'm buying it once I dig up the 100 dollar visa gift card I got for Christmas. 

 

Yeah, no experience with the Yamaha to have an opinion between them *shrug*.

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Napoleon

Napoleon 8600

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7 hours ago, Deej said:

That Page tone was not “really, really spot on.” Not the amps’s fault, but that could have been dialed in better.

Those tones sounded about 80% to 90% there. Enough so you could usually figure out what they were going for, but far enough off that you are shaking your head as you listen to it. 

I have one of those amps, but haven’t used it much. I probably will use it more in the future after updating the firmware last month, but the tones seemed like those from a bad cover band. 

Maybe it was due to the wrong guitar, or maybe it’s just the tiny speakers. 🤷‍♂️

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Buzzrock

Buzzrock 14870

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20 hours ago, Deej said:

I'm sure it's great, but my personal experience with modelers is option overload and I end up playing less than I would straight into an amp with just tone and volume knobs to screw with. 

I had this issue with my Katana (option overload) but the Spark kinda takes that away. If I want to play Ghost songs I can just search for Ghost and seconds later I have that tone. If I find one I really like I just save it to my favorites list so I always have it on hand. It’s pretty damn idiot proof and a lot of fun. 

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Goredho

Goredho 17345

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@Butch Had Not, for what I use out of the Spark, I’m sure that Yamaha is just as viable based on that video. Probably can’t go wrong with either choice.  If the Yamaha had a foot switch and built in looper, I would probably sell the Spark and buy it.  Then everything I use for practice really would be in a single lunchbox unit.

I think trying to judge either compared to what you might hear out of high quality tube amps recorded in a professional studio is silly.  They aren’t going to sound like a Bassman miced up at Abbey Road.  But that’s not really what they are shooting for.  They are trying to be an all-in-one learning/practicing workstation with “good-enough” tone that can fit on a nightstand.  I know the Spark (and by all accounts the Yamaha) really deliver on that front.

Back to the original point of my post, @BERT said he didn’t want to spend $699 on a guitar because of amp costs.  Well, with Spark at $259 with the spark40 coupon code, you can get the $699 guitar, a cable and your amp for under a grand.  I can’t imagine a better value for a beginner whose focus for a long time is going to be learning to play the instrument in their bedroom.

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Butch Had Not

Butch Had Not 2940

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@Goredho

I ordered the spark last night.  I think I just have been craving something different. Been using same Vox ac20 valvetronix for about 9 years now and it's a fine amp at home but when hearing what the spark can do for you with the app, I really think it would fit well with what I'm doing.

Thanks for the rec.

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noharleyyet

noharleyyet 2837

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On 2/21/2022 at 10:08 AM, Goredho said:

I know you aren't asking, but I would seriously recommend a PositiveGrid Spark as a first amp and at $299, that may let you focus your spending on the guitar?  I bought one at Christmas for one of my kids and I've repoed the thing and play it pretty much every day.  You can connect to and control it via phone app and it will do some cool stuff beyond just making good guitar noises.

  • Playback spotify, youtube, itunes, whatever through the amp for you to play along to
  • It will detect the chords in the songs you playback through the amp and display them for you in real time as the song plays along
  • Various amp and effects models. Just a guitar and a 1/4" cable and this amp and you got all the tools you need.
  • Tone cloud to download presets from the intardnet that others have created
  • Built in tuner
  • Small size, loud enough for bedroom use
  • Can connect to your computer/ipad as an audio interface with USB cable and allow you to record with no other hardware needed (also comes with free DAW software)
  • $299 price tag

It's about as perfect a practice/learning amp as I could imagine (a looper is the one notable omission) and it actually sounds pretty damn good.  The following is just my Tele into the Spark playing over a backing track from YouTube and all of that recorded with my phone's mic.  The tones you can get out of this are certainly good enough for practice/learning purposes.

I pissed all over PositiveGrid for their botched rollout of this amp, but their supply issues are long-since worked out and this thing is a fantastic practice/learning tool for $299.

I sound that good thru a stack...of tequila shots

Good shit Goredho.

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tbone_

tbone_ 14020

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My brother called me yesterday to confess that he was committing a cardinal sin in my book: selling a guitar! After discussion I okayed it because it was his 4th Gibson, some kind of green double cut that he never played and he promised to replace it with a Tele.

The point of that is that it caused me to pull out my tele this morning and plug straight into the super reverb and crank it for a while. Man I love doing that.

giphy.gif

/csb

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Goredho

Goredho 17345

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Posted (edited)
18 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said:

How does the Spark do with non-cowboy chords?  For example, if I'm trying to pick out a jazz progression with crazy diminished chords etc.?  Ever put it to the test in that way?

I'll double check, got a song you want me to test with it?

 

21 minutes ago, Deej said:

https://9to5toys.com/2022/02/22/spark-mini-smart-guitar-amp/

 

Spark-MINI-black-and-Pearl-iPhone-mini-smart-guitar-amp.jpg

I thought that was a joke.  Guess not, lol.

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/positive-grid-spark-mini

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Goredho

Goredho 17345

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Posted (edited)
30 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said:

How does the Spark do with non-cowboy chords?  For example, if I'm trying to pick out a jazz progression with crazy diminished chords etc.?  Ever put it to the test in that way?

It picked this diminished chord out of this Wes Montgomery tune.

 

4B7A7C96-5827-4E6E-A019-EC2D0CF1CC6D.png
 

Edit: also these from Rush’s “La Villa Strangiato”

 

7889F4AE-63E3-4CB9-B748-B47E850BE9B7.png

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Goredho

Goredho 17345

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@Chad Fuck will have to check that Willie song later, but here's a video of Spark's chord detect working with a jazzy Danny Gatton song that should give an idea of how (well) it works.  This is just playing through my phone speaker, if I was connected to the amp, it would be playing through the amp along with my guitar signal and I could adjust the volume of both against each other.  So I could listen/play through the spark and watch the app on my phone to see chord changes as they are happening in real time.
 

 

There is also this view (same song), that allows you to either slow the track down and/or loop certain sections of the track.

unnamed.thumb.png.b22bb69203280c215019c48ea31dab19.png

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Chad Fuck

Chad Fuck 17556

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Posted
6 minutes ago, Goredho said:

@Chad Fuck will have to check that Willie song later, but here's a video of Spark's chord detect working with a jazzy Danny Gatton song that should give an idea of how (well) it works.  This is just playing through my phone speaker, if I was connected to the amp, it would be playing through the amp along with my guitar signal and I could adjust the volume of both against each other.  So I could listen/play through the spark and watch the app on my phone to see chord changes as they are happening in real time.
 

 

There is also this view (same song), that allows you to either slow the track down and/or loop certain sections of the track.

unnamed.thumb.png.b22bb69203280c215019c48ea31dab19.png

Cool!  Thanks!

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