Update

Haven't made a post in a while so thought I might! I'm selling my Ibanez Flanger and George Dennis tremolo as I really need the cash. Once I start working a bit and save some money I'm hoping to buy a TC Electronic Repeater or similar delay pedal and maybe a BOSS BF-2. I still haven't modded my DS-1 or Ibanez CM-5 but will hopefully once UNI finishes. Been loving my BX5a's they have alot of depth even if they are a bit harsh in the high end and lack bass (they are cheaper 5" speakers and I don't have a great interface yet so thats expected).
I'm trying to get a project going with Alec and Gabe from my last band hopefully something will eventuate.
I'm really loving my Pinnacle II and BYOC Big Muff at the moment gives me two totally different distortion sounds and then I have my FZ-2 for stranger fuzz sounds.

New Monitors

Got some new monitors some M-Audio BXa5's they sound great and have a lot more detail then my stereo I was using before you can really hear the reverb tails with detail.
I will now try some new mixes and try to throw up some more demos plus a few tips on certain tones using emulation software.

Finally the Brierley demo

I have finally recorded a demo of my new tele pickups.

It took a while but I now love them. I had only tried them with emulation software and my stereo now that I've played and recorded them through my amp I realize they are awesome.
They are quite different to my Antiquities when clean they are brighter and less chunky and warm sounding but about the same quality wise as the antiquities so they have a great clean sound more jangly but great. The 4 way switch and phase switch added a few interesting if not so often used options.

Distortion is where they beat my old pickups they are biting and powerful with my pinnacle pedal which I never before got to sound this nice with any guitar.

This demo is through Amplitube 3 as I can't crank my amp in my apartment and don't have a decent enough mic to get a great sound but you kinda get the idea of how it sound. If you want some nice clean modern but with some vintage niceness tele pickups get these if you want something else Brierley has other pickups and you can custom order stuff.

Anyways here is the video, my intonation on my tele is a bit out at the moment and this was all terrible improvising in the morning so excuse my playing. Also I'm new to Adobe Premier and chose the wrong project size and its from a webcam so it kinda looks a bit weird but its more about sound quality.

BOSS FZ-2 Demo Audio

I really like this pedal it has some interestingly nasty songs and the 2 band eq and different modes gives it a bit of versatility.
The sound clips are here on the JIMIJAYMESGUITARIST soundclick.
Check them out

Wolfmother

On Thursday 29/07/2010 I saw Wolfmother at The Esplanade Hotel.

Since moving to Melbourne I've seen three big name acts;
Status Quo at the Palace
The Pixies at Festival Hall
Now Wolfmother at The ESPY

While Status Quo and The Pixies played well the sound at the Palace was a little bit harsh and painful to listen to. On the opposite hand Festival Hall was muddy and hard to pick out the vocals.

The Esplanade Hotel was a nice change the sound was full rich and clear like if we were in the practice room with the band x 10 and had nice chest thumping bass.

The backline consisted of three VOX ac30 and two Ampeg SVTVR Stacks

Aiden used a Les Paul Goldtop with P90's and Andrew used an array of SGs
While I didn't see his pedal board I could hear certain effects such as his whammy, his micro synth and the use of what I think may have been the AC30's tremolo on minds eye (but it may have been a pedal). Many people may have thought the AC30's to be a bit bright and thin but in the mix they worked brilliantly.

After a great set including Woman, Joker and the Thief, White Unicorn, Colossal and many others they went off stage for a good 10 minutes while the crowd chanted them back on for them to a return for a 4 song encore finishes with a great version of The Who's Baba O' Reily.

It was an awesome gig and I encourage anyone to see them while they are in Australia. The support act Philadelphia Grand Jury were really good to and their 60's style cover of 99 problems was highly enjoyable.

To top it off we met everyone from both bands except Andrew Stockdale and got a photo with Ian Peres.

Recording Trying My Rig

Recorded a song on Monday with my old bass player. First time I played my new pickups and Les Paul through my amp (Frenzel). The tele pickups were really bright but allowed my to scope the sound and with distortion it sounded great so did the Les Paul happy with my set up.

FUZZ Workout!

I've been looking at getting a tonebender clone after hearing a few songs that use it but before settling on one I decided I would play through my BOSS FZ-2 with my Les Paul.
It was alot more fun and better then I remember with my tele I liked the tones I could get not as warm, punchy and nice as tonebenders seem to sound but I can get a similiarish sound on Fuzz 1 and having a Gain Boost is awesome!
I think I will record some tones soon and post them up here.

Wah comparison audio

I've recorded a comparison between the two.
VOX V847 Stock vs Modded Audio

Gear used

Clean sounds:
Tele > Wah > Amplitube with a Fender and VOX settings (dual amp)

Dirty Sounds:
Les Paul > Wah > Amplitube with a Marshall settings

It is played in this order
1) Stock Wah Clean
2) Modded Wah Clean
3) Stock Wah Dirty
4) Modded Wah Dirty

I'm still not sure if I like the q setting and I think the bass seems to be lacking (like the low end of the sweep sounds the same for the last part of the sweep) so I may need to slightly adjust it with some other resistors and maybe change the 2k as it is meant to fix this but doesn't seem to of done anything useful!

Wah Mods Part 1 Complete

As I said in my previous blog I've modded my wah. Due to misplacing the 3PDT (you can use a DPDT) switch I haven't added true bypass yet but have done some other mods.



1) After dismantling the wah I desoldered the old black inductor and took it out.



2) I then tried to fit the new Whipple Inductor but the posts didn't line up so first I tried to bend them then added wires from them only to realize after hours of failing attempts that only two of the legs need to actually be in the circuit!



3) Eventually I soldered in the inductor



4) I then soldered in a 100k pot in parallel with the q resistor which I then later removed as it wasn't needed.

5) I then replace the 'midrange resistor' which is the one in the middle of the row of resistors next to the inductor I changed this from 1.5k to 2k which improved midrange and the bass/treble transition

Opinions
It is a fair bit better sounding, I still need to mess around with the pot to get it right as thats all down to taste and this inductor seems to have less high end so I may look into adding some more. No it isn't suddenly a $250 wah but it is better for under $40 and less then an hours work.

Stayed tuned for the comparison video and audio coming soon

Modding My VOX V847 Wah

I've started modding my wah today so far I've added the following mods
Parallel 100k pot to the q resistor for control of q
Whipple Inductor
2k Midrange Mod

I will also be making it true bypass and possibly changing the capacitor.
I will update it with step by step what I did and pictures soon.
When I've finished there will be a comparison video

Watch this space!

YOUTUBE

Also if noone has checked my youtube there is a ton of videos of gear including:
Warmoth Tele
VOX AC30
Rickenbacker 360V63
Frenzal HBX-AC15
BOSS DS-1
Wampler Pinnacle
BOSS SD-1
BOSS CE-3
BOSS BF-2
BOSS FZ-3
BOSS PH-3
BOSS PH-2

Modding Pedals

I have just bought parts to mod a few of my pedals (VOX Wah, BOSS DS-1, Ibanez Classic Metal) I will try and get a few step by step pictures of what I'm doing and some reviews.

Adjusting Tele

I think I've got my tele close to where I want it pickup height wise. I will be putting a video up soon about all the mods I've done and how it sounds etc.

New Guitar Day J&D Les Paul

Here is a quick demo of my new les paul custom. I will do a more in depth review soon

Welcome

Welcome to my Blog about guitars and equipment related to guitars. This is a sister blog to my youtube account JimijaymesGuitarist. I will update it weekly and I look forward to feedback!