I was having a lot of noise issues out of nowhere! Picked one of these up at a local shop and fixed it immediately!
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Replaced the stock V-Mod II pickups on my American Pro II Jazzmaster with Lollar Original 58s.
The V-Mod IIs are okay, and may even be the right choice for some players. Theyāre noticeably hotter than the Original 58s. The V-Mod II bridge has a coil tap for a lower output āvintageā tone. In the couple of years Iāve had this Jazzmaster, I found I prefer the lower output tone, especially with the pickup selector in the middle position.
With the Lollar 58s installed, the middle position sound is much more to my liking. Thereās a sparkle to the sound that wasnāt there before. The push-push pot to activate coil tap has been repurposed to a phase switch. One of the reasons I chose these pickups is Lollar can make pickups with the 3rd wire for in/out phase switching.
The series circuit also more usable for me. One of the American Pro II Jazzmaster features is, instead of a traditonal JM rhythm circuit switch, there is a series/parallel pickup switch. With the stock pickups, the series switch was really a mud switch. Yes, the output jumped dramatically but highs were also cut, resulting in louder and muddier tone. Now, thereās less of a high cut and it delivers the mellow, jazzy tone that peeps associate with the rhythm circuit.
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Update: Went with the EHX Attack Decay. Gave me the perfect āsynthā sound to play with, really fun to build up harmonies like a string section
This video came out recently. Ive had EHX pedals off and on for decades. Thereās a decent interview with Mike Matthews on this and I thought it was hilarious that the Edge got his signature sound from the sales guy
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Quick test with AD + Superego+ :).
Bill Ruppert demos sold me on themā¦
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Have a look at the posts and audio examples from Member 995 in this thread (starts on Page 6). Good examples, settings, and ideas.
https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/ehx-attack-decay.2013490/page-6
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Of course, I realized the RC-600 has Slow Gear on it after I purchased! You canāt have too many envelopes though
Pico Swello also looks fun. Doesnāt have the decay part of Attack Decay but is smaller which may be a plus for those struggling with pedalboard space; and reportedly behaves a bit differently as well
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I just wanted to mention here that I got the new Blackstar Beam Mini and Iām in love. Iāve always found that, for some reason, mini amps make me want to practice and play more. Maybe itās because my family are easily annoyed by sound or maybe itās because Iām self-conscious about bothering people, but regardless, a good little amp is often the difference between me playing or not playing.
This thing is the best little amp Iāve ever owned both sonically and functionally. It sounds great in the room if youāre into clean and low gain sounds. If you want thumping 4x12 air, you need to use headphones, but the good news is that once the headphones are on, itās sounds even better.
Iām personally using it as a pedal platform much of the time and have a small board in front of it for gain and weird sounds. It takes pedals as well if not better than any amp emulator Iāve ever used. That includes the Iridium, all of the UAFX pedals and the Poly Ample. All of those have required a good bit of care with not slamming the front end to avoid the digi-crackle I hate so much. That has yet to happen with this thing.
The Beam Mini uses a brand-new NAM format, A2. As a result thereās a finite (but still vast) amount of A2 profiles to check out in the free public repository. Iāve gotten more than I personally need, but I imagine in the next 6 months there will be very, very high quality A2 profiles to play with of some fun amps. For the time being Iām content with a clean AC30, Pro Reverb, JC120, a gritty AC30 and a something else for fun.
Lastly, itās also got a USB-C port that can function as an audio output, so you could plug this directly into your computer and use it as a recording interface for guitar and bass.
The tech behind A2 is all open source and the guy whoās developed it is absolutely brilliant. He posted a great video about the process of development and blind testing 1000 users to determine which variant of the A2 format was the best. Very interesting watch if you like science and audio.
Iāll post a demo, but the caveat is I hate most youtube presenters, so try and get past their personalities and just enjoy the sounds when itās not blues wankery.
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Good choice. I love the A/D. I bought one on a whim a few years ago just because i stumbled across a cheap used one and Iāve been really glad i did. Itās a fantastic pedal. It doesnāt live on my main board so it doesnāt get used daily but i feel like i find new things tondo with it all the time. The fact that it has the decay envelope puts it ahead of most other volume envelope pedals for me (slow gear, et al).
So true. I do a lot of playing in the middle of the night and having an amp that sounds good quiet or with headphones makes all the difference. Iāve been using a modded Backstage Plus for years and i love that amp but i just scored a Joyo American Sound pedal for $15 and Iām totally blown away by it. I wish it had a headphone out but itās not a big deal to run it into a mixer or whatever. I prefer it over amp sim pedals Iāve had that cost several hundred dollars. I want to get another one (or two) to explore some mods i have in mind. Also special shout out to my two favorite battery powered mini amps, the danelectro honeytone and the liāl smokey (original version that was housed in a cigarette pack). Both sound crappy in the best sort of way and have gotten me through times when bigger amps werenāt an option.
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Got one of these recently too and feel the same way. Itās really an incredibly good sounding amp sim. I also have the Boss Katana Mini and the Fender Mustang Micro, both of which are great practice tools with a pair of headphones but I think I prefer the American Sound to both. It sounds more lifelike and realistic. Itās one of those pedals where I canāt help but think, damn I should have gotten this ten years ago! I would have become a much better guitar player bc I would have practiced way, way more.
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100% agree, especially about how i should have gotten one ten years ago. Iāve never had a katana or mustang micro but in recent years Iāve had the walrus acs1, the irridium, and the boss gt1000 core and for fender style amp sim i prefer the joyo over all of them. Oddly the original version was never on my radar, i think the speaker sim aspect can be disabled on it which would be a handy feature though i think thereās a mod to do that to the joyo. I havenāt tried it through a loud system yet so all ofbthis praise is with the caveat that Iāve only used it at bedroom levels and with headphones. Have you tried it loud? I imagine it will be great but it could also reveal weaknesses at higher volumes.
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I also have it, I had many Sansamp before. Very good for the price, but I prefer to use the Tonex One.
(I donāt use them with an amp)
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Just recieved this Eastwood Electric Sitar, as a birthday gift to my self. Wanted the danelectro since I was like 20, but this is much better made.
Mahogany body with a built in preamp. Canāt wait to get home and plug it in.
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One of my biggest regrets in the guitar-buying world was not buying several Jerry Jones instruments. I would love to have their baritone, sitar, baby sitar, shorty 12-string, ā¦
Glad to hear there are other high quality instruments available in those styles.
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