Rig of the amateur: happyorange

Happyorange27 · September 12, 2010, 07:07:46 PM

Hello everyone, My name is Eric. I'm an engineer from Akron, OH. I've been a Trey phan since 1998. It quickly shifted my style of music from acoustic rock to jam band style. So little by little I made strides to get me to a happy place in my tone. Mind you this will all sound meager and some of it sinful to the snobs but it's where i'm at (especially after being a busy dad to 2 kids recently).

Strings: DR MT-10
Pickup: Duncan 59 in bridge; Sustainiac driver/pickup in neck. If you are not familiar with the Sustainiac you absolutely must check it out. It's how I cheat on real infinite sustain. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pu4KCH6b3Q
Guitar: Peavey Wolfgang. It's the 90 version. It's built like a tank and has a sweet neck. I bought it on a whim because the saleman said it had great sustain. I do love it still for a solidbody.
Wah: Crybaby Hendrix Signature model. I modified the pedal with various resistors and especially the Whipple halo inductor which is bad ass. Also and ICAR 100k pot made a huge improvement. By the way I am great friends with Whipple and I just did all the engineering for his latest pcb board. Sounds incredible.
TS: Goudie FX 808+. This was my first screamer. It's actually pretty cool, just not a silver analogman so of course it's different. Anyway it was in my budget at the time.
TS#2: Analogman Silver TS9. Funny thing, the first time i played it i was not sure i liked it but now i use it all the time. I was coming of of a very clean phase in my playing. TBC

Happyorange27 · September 12, 2010, 07:21:34 PM

Continued...
Tube preamp: Seymour Duncan SFX-03. I need SOMETHING with real tubes so i got this nice little preamp with crunch and heavy overdrive and bypass. It's great for us budget dudes. It gives me very convincing amp overdrive. I kick in the second channel when i am ripping a lush, creamy solo.
Compressor: Boss CS-3. Please don't shoot me. I bought this way back in the day and it's been in and out of the rig many times since i have a love hate relationship with it. Well for now it's in because it's serving as the Ross wantabee. It's not terrible actually but Boss just makes me cringe like Ford made me cringe in the 80's:)
Digital Workstation: Digitech GNX4. Okay maybe i can be forgiven here because i really just wanted a whammy right, but then i figured for a couple extra bucks i could get this entire unit which has hundreds of effects, amps, onboard 8 track recording, drums, blah blah. So it is digital of course, but i really only us it for the whammy, delay, reverb, some sweet square wave modulators, and one special trick of mine. Since i don't have a hollowbody guitar, i mix in about 20 percent acoustic amp simulation. Hey, say what you will but it gives me a timbre of a hollowbody.
Looper: Line 6 DL4. I bought it because it could do 14 seconds of looping....hey in 1999 that was a long time dude. (I know the rang was around then but not in the budget).
Amp: Fender Princeton Chorus. I KNOW IT'S SOLID STATE! Sue me. I bought it when i purchased my acoustic electric even before the Wolfgang. And i never saved up for a real tube amp. Trust me, I know the difference. If it's any consolation, this amp is one of the best solid state amps, at least it's just supremely clean and that has served me well.

So that's my rig but it's always under construction. I think an Ibanez Artcore semi hollow body is in the plans for Christmas. Again, baby steps for my "hobby" (not career). Thanks!

Happyorange27 · September 17, 2010, 08:48:32 PM

Ok, are you ready to hear the rig of the amature???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuM4loGs0BE

Enjoy

or

Destroy (me)

raisingfreen · September 17, 2010, 09:55:32 PM

Interesting youtube videos. Love the sustainiac vid. It's so bad its cool, if you know what I mean.

The princeton in the first clip did sound decent with what you had going on, kind of elevator music jam.

Dont give up the dream man.

Happyorange27 · September 17, 2010, 10:23:08 PM

Thanks freen. Funny thing about the clip above...no amp used! It's direct into the PA. What you are hearing is a special amp modeler I made from the Digitech unit (semi hollowish) and mostly the tube pre amp
pedal (SFX-03). Had I used my amp, it would have sounded about the same because the solid state would just be very clean too.

Happyorange27 · September 18, 2010, 11:20:32 PM

Yo, my father in law is letting me borrow his 1974 Fender twin for a month while I hunt a serious amp down. I'm stoked!

sour d · September 18, 2010, 11:26:55 PM

Quote from: Happyorange27 on September 18, 2010, 11:20:32 PM
Yo, my father in law is letting me borrow his 1974 Fender twin for a month while I hunt a serious amp down. I'm stoked!

Nice! I have a mid seventies twin that I love. Plenty loud. I like plugging a strat straight into it.

Happyorange27 · December 07, 2010, 10:37:40 AM

Check out a little sample i recorded recently:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32rX3hCXyM8

Happyorange27 · February 16, 2011, 10:08:37 AM

Here is a video with my Blues Jr. with the Cannabis Rex. The Digitech unit is dampening some of the amps dynamics but hey.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5MOqF8Dorg

Walker done done · February 16, 2011, 10:37:23 AM

Sounds good man. You liking that new speaker, eh?

Happyorange27 · February 16, 2011, 10:53:12 AM

Quote from: Walker done done on February 16, 2011, 10:37:23 AM
Sounds good man. You liking that new speaker, eh?

Thanks Walker. I like the speaker indeed. With the stock speaker, the amp is super bright and ice pick harsh so I had to have treble on zero for sure, even then it was harsh. Now I can have treble at 12oclock no problem.
It's all going to get way better in the next week or so once I install the Billm mods (better tone stack, new caps, power stiffening, power bias, presence pot, etc). All for $50 from Bill.

ColForbin · February 16, 2011, 12:29:36 PM

I really liked your tone on the Blues Jr. video dude!! Which one of your drives are you using there? Or are you using both?

Happyorange27 · February 16, 2011, 01:13:59 PM

Quote from: ColForbin on February 16, 2011, 12:29:36 PM
I really liked your tone on the Blues Jr. video dude!! Which one of your drives are you using there? Or are you using both?

Thanks ColForbin. I've got both screamers on, the silver at about 12 o'clock drive and the 808+ at about 9 o'clock drive. I even have the SFX-03 on the rhythm channel which adds a bit more tube break up after the compressor.

Let's call today's article: HOW TO SOUND LIKE TREY FOR CHEAPSKATES!

Part#1:
Here is my secret weapon which I struggle to continue to use because it's a digital unit: the GNX4. I've been trying not to use it due to any possible tone sucking. Even though I don't really hear any sucking going on with it, I'm still trying to "keep it real" by most players standards ("keep it analog"). I'm always torn with this unit because it is so darn versatile. It's got just about every effect out there including the whammy stuff. All kinds of outputs, inputs, 8 track digital recorder, drums, hours of looping, blah blah. Craig Anderton did a whole book on this thing and I think he is a respectable dude. He claims there are top notch components in there giving you super converting and whatnot. Anyway I do now know that looking back into my past music clips that indeed my tone is obviously digital so I don't really use the silly amps and cabinets and cheesy effects on it. BUT BACK TO THE SECRET WEAPON!!

Ok, one day it occurred to me (and I do believe this is completely an original thought of mine that noone else has attempted) that I can save a custom amp profile in one of the empty slots of the GNX4. Now most users of this unit know that you can save hybrid amp by taking 2 different amps and setting the percentage of each amp and thus making a new "preset" if you will. So my brilliant idea was that I needed to get some hollow body feel into this tone. So I choose to go with 80% Blackface and 20% of...what is it....oh yeah...ACOUSTIC! Ok maybe I'm blowing this out of proportion but once I started playing with this new preset that I carefully dialed in, you can really hear an acoustic element in the tone. FABULOUS! Maybe in the clip above you kind of heard some hollow, woody tone but were baffled about how this occurred?

So for a poor dude who is stuck with a solid body for now, this is how I'm getting a cheating timber of hollowness. I really dig it considering it cost me no money to obtain this "new tone", only my time to dial it in.

Part #2:
Also I'm a big cheater in the sustain department too right? Yep, you know me as the Sustainiac dude, but hey I guess the proof is in the sound clip. Why do I love my Sustainiac? Again, I DON'T HAVE A HOLLOW BODY so I need some feedback, even if it's manufactured by my neck driver/pickup. Hey, it does not change your tone one ounce. It's only driving your stings with pulses and my PAF 59 in the bridge is receiving the same string vibration that it always sees, only with much more undying energy. Also the Sustainiac is 100 repeatable and controllable so I don't have to play loud or stand at certain angles to the speaker to get the desired sustain. All this for several hundred dollars.

In conclusion: Yes I know what I "should be doing" versus what I actually "am doing". It's all done with good taste however. I'm glad some of you dudes liked my clip. The moral of the story is be resourceful and constantly evaluate what you have and how can you possibly reconfigure things that might yield better results. Now go experiment like a mad scientist!

Peace, Eric Bernhardt

Happyorange27 · February 17, 2011, 08:31:43 PM

Oh man I just reached a new level of Trey tone! I put the gain on my silver at max and the attack on the compressor at zero. I took the gnx4 out if the equation by the way. Any how my attack now has the incredible quack when I smack the strings. Also way more harmonics. I'm getting real sustain too! All around an upgrade.

sour d · February 17, 2011, 10:32:42 PM

You have something there with that sustainiac. I watched your thing on that. Pretty cool.