ha! The first electric guitar I ever purchased was an Aria Pro II XX Deluxe… a black flying V with a yellow lightning bolt across it, lol. I still have the photo I took of it when I got home from buying it in Germany in 1984… sent it to you in a DM, Glenn
Great guitars dude. My Bass player bothers had ZZB basses. Blue/black burst and Black red bolt. I had a white urchin guitar. Also my brothers had Sb700 and Sb71000 basses.And A PE limited edition special I bought my mrs....80's Arias kicked fucking ass. Insane quality.
@@GregGallagher Glenn and James go back like more than 15 years, the Andy Sneap forum was a great collective of great minds that were known names or became so later :)
I went to the guitar store for a Gibson thinking “todays going to be the day.” I walk out with its epiphone counter part. I restring it, set it up, grab pick ups from a local pickup craftsman, and then play it. The best part is that after all that, I had 80 percent of my budget left afterwards. I’m chasing that fair to midland tone. You should totally give them an honorable mention.
I’ve always thought that the main reason expensive guitars play better is that they come set up better out of the box. And after going back and setting up my first electric guitar … it’s true. Sounds and plays great! It was around Squier affinity in price!
I was a epiphone player for years I my wife got me a sp1 and after setup and intonation I looked at the neck and it was super concaved I went to relief the neck and the rod wouldn’t relieve at all so I flipped it over and it was a fake epiphone no engraving in the neck plate and no serial numbers anywhere and the pups have 0 Gibson marking or marking or stickers in general only way guitar center exchanged it was have the coverage I don’t think I’ll go through them anymore the jackson pro I traded for needed and complete setup I did it my self and save 200
The fact that Glenn made the transition from analog to digital as an adult professional recording artist shows that he most likely has a much greater insight on recording than anyone from either generation. He has bridged the gap and seen how the equipment and techniques of the olden days has evolved and/or been made obsolete and has studied the evolution of recording far beyond the entitled keyboard recorders who were born into the digital era and whose lives don't even predate FL studios... or the old Fudds who were too stubborn to learn the new technology and adapt to the changing world. Now Glenn codes his own VST's while 17 year old guitar snobs bitch about the "digital studio" not being "authentic" enough and how we should "go back to analog" because they've never even lived in a world with tape and love the novelty of old, expensive, and greatly limiting vintage crap. IT'S NOT THE MISSING LINK TO YOUR "INCREDIBLE" UNIQUE SOUND, THAT WOULD BE {TALENT}. Take Glenn's advice, move with the world. He lived through the transition to the digital age and never looked back.
This is some profound insight. Calling out the Gen Z Hipsters who thoughr 8 Track was the height of sophistication when they first saw one at a thrift store. I do think there's something to be said about the limitations of recording back in the 60's-80's. Nowadays if you can conceive a sound in your mind, chances are you can produce it with a single (or possibly 2 plugins), so it's rare to need to develop a workaround. That said, if you have the time, money, and inclination, you can grab 2 or 3 VST's and experiment for the rest of your natural life to get some REALLY interesting (if not always useful) sounds/tones. The first time I dropped a Shimmer Reverb into my chain in Amplitube, I must have looked like someone on acid in the middle of the lighting section of Lowe's: Just flabbergasted at something everyone else has known about for years.
Just wanted to thank you for teaching me the ins and outs of recording. I've learn so much. Been a sub for years. I recently bought the Volt 276 and the Laney pedal because of your video's on them. What a great buy.
Thanks for validating the point I was going to make. Great speakers won't fix bad pickups. The stock Jackson pickups were garbage, but (almost) any decent pickups that work well with your intended sound will get you where you need to go. RIP CGS 😢
I was always a bit of a pickup snob and kinda still am. I can tell a difference when I play different pickups and some I just like better than others so I was skeptical about Glenn's test. I decided to put it to a test myself and recorded my favorite pickup with what I would call my least favorite that I own. I could not tell a difference in the recording at all. The clarity and tone of the amp sounded the same. Just remember that Glenn is trying to help you get the best-recorded tone for the least amount of money. What you hear live and recorded are two totally different situations. When mixed in with a band in both situations pickups are even less important.
Speaking of Australian-made... At NAMM I met Ben Sneesby, owner of BeesNeez microphones out of Australia. Ben is so hardcore about having everything to his standards that he makes all parts of his microphones. He even machines his own screws! Ben's also one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet!
I'm pretty sure Glen said that pickups make such a small change that it doesn't matter compared to parts of the chain that make huge changes, like EQ, pedals, and speakers.
Using IR's can be a great way to test different "speakers" and find what you like and then buy them for your cabinet. On testing, also look into the "Triangle taste test" method. It is used for perception, and validates. Have 2 that are the same and one different. You should be able to match the same versions, and select preference over the odd one. If you match the odd example, it shows you perception is off or that the difference is too small.
Thanks for another great video, Glenn. I’ve been super happy with an SD-1 and an old Mesa Nomad after adopting your philosophy about gear hounding. I have a Lace Hammerclaw and a Duncan Distirtion competing for my main sound, on the amp I usually move the bass and presence knobs to tailor the guitar. Best thing I ever did for my sound is leave the gain knob at noon and suddenly that warm glow high up in the neck finally happened and the chords were clear and sustained when I needed.
Reamping totally changed the game when it hit the scene. Let the artist hear what they want and record the tone you need. Adam Steel’s cartographers guide to Celestion drivers 😂🤘🏽
GLEEENNN! You can’t forget one of the other reasons changing pickups doesn’t change the tone very much is there are like, 5 or 6 famous sounding brands, and most brands are copying or modifying those really popular brands designs. How many versions of the PAF, Tele, Strat, Gretsch, and rickenbacker pickups are there? More than I can count.
That's absolutely true. It's like a race to see who can copy someone else the best. Guitar gear is the only industry I can think of where innovation is scoffed at. I'm glad to see that changing these days.
I personally had that speaker epiphany 13 years ago when I was demoing 4x12 cabinets to buy in a music store in cologne. I switched between all different brands, Mesa, Marshall, Diezel, you name it, and every single time I had the Marshall 1960AV, I could not stop smiling and playing. Instant buy, never regretted it and understood the importance of speakers from there onward and had that part of my quest for tone checked. To this day, this cabinet is my absolute favorite. But yeah, I am like the most standard you can get - boosted 5150 type amp into said 1960AV - my personal tone heaven.
One of my first "nice" guitars was a Jackson "Professional" with horrible Jackson branded active pickups... ripped them out and replaced with a Vai Special DiMarzio in the bridge position, and a Wilkinson Blade humbucker in the neck... replacing the bridge with a Gotoh Floyd completed the rebuild... absolute shred... Don't be afraid to rip apart and rebuild...
Done Glen! I am from Brazil. Calling Bgt for you. Thank you for The great content. You gave me so much information that changed my game that IS hard to count now!
Seriously looking forward to the actual science of how you create your tests. Observation/question, hypothesis, prediction, test/experimentation, results analysis, and conclusion. Definitely make your tests repeatable so that others can verify the results. One test = a study. 1000 studies(with conclusive positive results)= a theory. Really enjoy and support your search for musical truth Glenn. You Rock!!! Glad you’re on the mend. 🤘🎸🤘
About 20 years ago I was fortunate enough to experience a studio in Wicker Park, Chicago (right around the corner from the Double Door), which had a beautiful 24 track, 2 inch machine. It was 6 feet tall with 16 gauges above the reel deck and 8 below. The truth is, even back then they were recording on Pro Tools, and if they wanted the sound of the 24 track machine they would dump the tracks on the 24 track after edits, then put it back on Pro Tools. So if that commenter wants to go all analog, good luck.
Used to do it slightly differently back about 15 years ago - record onto the 2inch 24 track and then onto ProTools for mixing, editing etc. Point remains the same though. Digital changed the landscape forever and not imho for the worst. Unless you're one of those bands with enough budget to go full analogue and hire a studio big enough for long enough to get your shit recorded, then it's digital all the way, I mean, hell, back when I was recording in the late 1980s the SSL mixing desk still used basic computers saving mixes (well automated fader positions and marker points, etc) onto 8 inch floppy disks which then got stored with the 2 inch reels. Hey, it was a ballache back then but digital means even a guitarist can operate Logic Pro or Reaper and get their tracks down at home these days. Progress, slow and maybe not as "real" as the old days but if the music and the talent is still there, who gives a shit eh? Does it rock? Yes? Then it will rock on digital - case closed :)
I don't miss tape! Head alignment sessions on a MM1100. Good times! /sarcasm. One thing I do miss about analog is how guitars sounded especially. I still haven't really heard anything that replicates the tape compression and rolling off the jaggies like it. the CLASP system, which captured sound of the repro heads and synced to PT, sounded like the cats ass but I believe they're dead? Maybe there's something similar but I've never heard of anything like it.
Gleeennnn! May have commented this before, probably have, but Nolly stated in one of the three GGD Cali deep dive episodes here on RUclips, that Clayman had a Fredman on a V30, and then a Fredman on a Greenback. Guessing you've probably clued into that anyway. Though there has got to be more to it. Also the Voiceover sounds super good on this video.
I understood the difference speakers made when I bought my first car over forty years ago ,and it’s hilarious that people think this is something new they found out about from one of your videos
he read my comment! yes! i got 2 2x12 combos wired as one amp. gonna buy 4 different used speakers for more mic'ing options. hate my 2 diff celestions.🍻
I had a little 'netbook' (smaller than a notebook) to play music in the breaks, and the 'bugle songs' for the Vietnam Vets shows. It went to every gig for at least a decade, and always came home, despite the after parties! The first thing I did when I bought it was getting my name and licence number engraved in large bold letters on the lid. Kinda hard to say it's yours with someone else's details on the lid! 🙂
Is it me, or is your daily pretty much every guitar playing genius just lining up to be the next brick wall you smash your head on? Like DAYLY? DAYLY!!
Hey Glenn! Could you do a quick video on where to place bass traps, noise boards, curtains, diffusers et.c. and the differences between a room for recording or mixing? And if there already is a video for that, I'd love to see it!
I do remember a Hondo guitar with a lightning bolt back in the mid eighties. It was black with a red and orange bolt. It wasn’t a flying V shape, I don’t think. More like a star. I can’t remember exactly. Looooong time ago.
I noticed pickups dont make too much a difference when listening to my own play back between iron gear pickups and seymour duncan pickups. They sounded the same, I thoght I was crazy but sent it to some friends and they couldnt tell either. Life is a lot easier now when I just have to worry about if there is noise or not.
I "roadied" for a local band for a while. I put it in quotes because my real job was watching over stuff like merch and the tablet that ran the square app etc. to make sure our shit didn't get stolen while they were on stage.
I believe aria pro-2 and Hondo guitars were both made in the matsumoku factory, so a flying v from either would be a great guitar. I have a 1981 aria from there, and it is my favourite guitar. All original apart from the strings and it feels so good to play
Yeah, there were (still are, I think) a few factories that produced similar instruments for several different brands . Fujigen and Hoshino were two fairly well-known players in that business. My first electric was a Washburn SB-4 (aka T-bird) which it turns out was also a Matsumoku product. Pretty decent guitar as I remember.😎🎸
Brother that opener was completely incoherent ! 😂😂😂😂 that was classic hahaha. Yeah the food poisoning haha. Man your an old school music soldier. Fuck yeah
The part about your physicist friend made me happy! I'm (hopefully soon) finishing my master's thesis about this exact topic and it's amazing how even in science there's a large number of researchers who don't share their data and materials/code so other can repeat their findings. It's a huge issue in science, but if we want to be confident about anything we consider "truth" then results need to be repeatable, other wise it might as well just be a coincidence, or result of bias or who knows what. It just take one observation that results in something opposite what was originally observed to raise the alarm. And there's been a recent push in science to conduct studies repeating previously published research and guess what, depending on the field, a significant number of past results might not be achieved again or at least not with the original significance. On another topic, yesterday I got an alnico Warehouse speaker to swap the stock blackstar ht1 blackbird 8''. Is it going to fix that annoying bass frequency and some other issues I tried to fix with new pickups? I'll see that soon!
3 out of my 6 main guitars all have emg 81 and then one epi les paul with gibson burstbucker pickups and another epi les paul seven string with fishman mkh pickups. I use a modeler mostly and the biggest change on tone is the IR.
The whole pickups/guitars/tubes, etc. vs. speakers I think is a mute point to most guitarists except for beginners. When you've been playing for years you already have most likely found the speaker or cab that you like, or you at least know what you gravitate towards. We generally buy gear for the audience or for the recording (even if you say that you do). The audience could care less. What's more important is that you have good songs. Whatever inspires you to create is a worthwhile investment. If you're inspired by your new pickups, or any other piece of gear, and write something great because of that inspiration, then it's worth it. There is an emotional response to gear and ro music, it's why we buy more guitars than we need, more pedals than we need, more everything. The audience doesn't care about your tone. Whatever things you think are important to you, are important to you. They don't need to be important to everyone. As long as they give you want you're looking for, whether it's in your head or not, is all that matters.
I just bought a V30 and Classic Lead 80, to replace two G12T75 in a 2x12, and a Heil PR30 mic, spent whole day recording a reamp with all combinations of which speaker with which mic (heil, 57), levels etc, just to find a great combination for live (and recording) the change is massive compared to any pickup change (which I did, but not expecting a huge tone change, which didn't happen).
Hey Glen!! Got the HB Victory! Yep, had the grounding issue! But luckily I was prepared for it. I had seen your review and the fix wasn't a huge deal! Put some heavy strings on it and tuned down to D. She's now a sharp looking, growling metal machine! Besides that minor pain in the ass ground issue, it's a great value for the young struggling musician!
Hey Glenn, another thing you may want to think about when it comes to tone is: some people want to get the tone of their favorite musicians so they spend the money to get that particular gear. That is understandable. Personally, I focus on getting my own tone rather than copy what everyone else is doing.
I just convinced a friend, who blew one of his V30s in his 4x12, to try out some other speakers. He now will try two WGS Reaper or Jensen Electric Lightnings in a X pattern with the V30s. Can't wait how he likes them.
Your physicist friend is correct. Transparency in methodology is critical. The basic features (for those wondering) of the scientific method can be seen as: Testability, Repeatability, and Falsifiability, in combination with Occam's Razor. The first two are more important, as some questions are not really falsifiable (e.g.: "Define Universe, give three examples..."). I would enjoy a video where you showed EXACTLY how you did your testing. What mic(s), what speaker, what enclosure, exact distance and exact angle of mic to speaker, what source, what reamp box, all that. You would be doing the world a great service. Will such a video be your most popular ever? Probably not. But it may well prove to be one of your most important. Cheers!
At this point a DAW is pretty much necessary if you want to put your music out there. I do electronic music and use hybrid setup. I have a 24 channel Mackie console that I use to mix my drum machines and synths. But I still use Reaper for recording and mastering. Sometimes my stems are just a single track. I sequence my drums, bass, and other things. Then I may live play a synth on top of those. It's all running into the console at the same time and into my Behringer interface from the main mix output. I recently made a house track where I used a vocal sample from a baby toy. I played the sample using the sample player in Vital a fantastic free VST synth. Once I get a rack mount sampler I will need the daw even less. As much as I love hardware I still use a DAW. Even if I wanted to record to tape for that tape flavor; I would still record the tape into Reaper so I can share it online. I don't get people shitting on DAWs. They are are a useful tool even for someone who likes hardware. One of my favorite synth RUclipsrs Espen Kraft does 80s style synth pop using old school hardware. He still uses a DAW. If you like hardware just use a hybrid setup. Get a used console on reverb like I did and do your mixing on that. Fill a rack up with outboard gear instead of using plugins. And then run all of that into your DAW.
he he yup... I got tons of questions of what kind and how many tubes are there in my amp.... no one, ever asked me about the speaker I got in the cab XD
Some good news in this episode! It's great that your physicist friend made you aware of the principles of repeatability and sharing the methodology, but the point behind it is enabling peer review, another key part of the scientific method. In turn, this is the point where many of RUclips guys fail when making claims: whenever you make any claim, the duty of coming up with proof is on you, not on whoever disputes your claim. Anything showing any part of any claim not being satisfied actually points out that your claim might not be 100% wrong, but it certainly needs to be reworked. And this is far from not being nice to you, this is the actual science cycle we all have to go through either in science or engineering (applicable even to RUclips authors). This has been the case with Jim Lill videos, which are great because he sets a hypothesis, tries to empirically elaborate a theory, and he shares his methodology. I love them, they have very valuable information. However, there are issues with his tests, and they've been very specifically pointed out by many (even in a very detailed way by pros in the amplification field who had to carry out similar tests before starting a production, not just regular guys like me, although I'm an engineer in other field). Inexplicably, other people (not him!) seem to have issues with peer reviews pointing out these gaps. An example on your own: «if you don't like my opinion, go fuck yourself» is already against peer reviews.
Tone tubby speakers!!!!!! Anyone?!?!? Anyone?!?! They were the first hemp cone speakers I ever heard of, and the 40/40 is one of my favorite speakers of all time. Best tone upgrade I have ever made.
I love how people don't understand that pickups aren't microphones. They don't capture the sound, they capture the electromagnetic difference the string movement causes on the magnets and send an electric signal. Believing it changes tone like crazy is just a waste of time
I just stumbled on some recordings of mine, playing a Def Leppard riff on two completely different guitars ( both humbuckers, alnico 5 + alnico 2 magnets) and they sounded identical, although overall i like alnico 2 humbuckers more...😁🎸🤘🎸
I’ve definitely had a bias for Alnico II single-coils in Strats or Teles over the years, but I can’t honestly bet the mortgage that I’d be able to tell A2 from A5 on playback.😅
Dammit Glen, because of you I've now bought myself two Celestian Greenbacks instead of pickups 🙃🙃🙃 Verified truth. Speakers make the biggest difference. Pickups matter too....Just not AS MUCH.
A recording studio I used to work for has a 16 track Studer, so I have some experience with them. Tape machines are cool but temperamental. In a recording environment the last thing you want is gear that is unreliable. If a client wanted to track to tape, I would recommend tracking in the DAW and bouncing that out to tape during mastering. Tracking to tape is archaic and while there's a romanticism to it, there's better options in today's world. For example, some people still drive old v8 cars from their youth but a modern Toyota is the better choice of vehicle. The old v8 is more about the attraction to cool stuff than being practical or functional.
Love watching the wave form in the background when he says "absolute ass!" 😂 I imagine he has to compress that mic input signal significantly with all the yelling he does in these videos 😂
Glen! I was revolving through some of your content and I would be interested in a video of your professional opinion for listening to music (whether it be a rough mix or a fully established album) in the context of listening for the purpose of enjoyment? Specifically, gear and setup for listening to music for recreational proposes. We as engineers and musicians typically (try) to make music for that purpose, for people to enjoy. Me personally, I listen to music on analog formats for best quality and I feel like more talk about receivers, pre amps, music formats, and the infamous speaker test. I love listening to music as much as making it, but not everyone want to pack everyone of my friends into my bed room studio to listen to albums for enjoyment. I also enjoy your content and think that your opinion on these matters could be very essential and educational to all. I personally would love to know what recreational listening and speaker recommendations. I hope this comment gains momentum or similar requests for this video.
speaker and cabinet are the 2 biggest parts but you know skill of playing and the ability to know how to run the gear would help alot as well and man alot of guitar players dont even know how to use the gear they have
Just for the record, I recently added a Hesu Demon with a V30 to my 2x12 cab. I run an MT 15 through it and it really sounds insanely good. Not just for metal (mostly drop c), which it does well, but even for less gainy, brownish tones as well. The two compliment each other better than I ever expected. Just fyi for anyone thinking of the combo. Best thing I did for my sound in years.
I watched a guy a play with a laptop and it sounded good. He played guitar and sang. Accompaniment (drums, bass, keyboards) were programmed into a laptop.
Are you going to follow up on the 16 vs 8 vs 4 OHM speakers? I have two 1x12 cabs that are almost exactly the same size and material, but one has a 16 ohm speaker, and one has an 8 ohm. The 16 ohm sounds a lot better. In my experience with cabs, I've always liked the sound of 16 ohm cabs better than 8 or 4 ohm.
A few years ago my drummer loaded his drums into my car after a gig and he didn't realize his fucking CYMBAL BAG wasn't there until I already got home after I dropped him off! He called the bar, they said it wasn't there. He asked the other bands, they said they don't have it either. He never saw them again. $1,400 worth of cymbals gone, three of which he bought the day before! People, make a checklist for load in/out.
Imagine what could you do by swtiching all those giant fullstacks for a laptop. There would be so much free space on stage for a band to actually MOVE. And if you already have rented that car trailer to carry all those amps and cabinets, you could put inside some scenography eqiupment for visual effects of you gig. Instead of looking at a bunch of guys playing their instruments, would be better to looking at the bunch of guys playing their instruments IN A CATHEDRAL.
The biggest difference for me with pickups is the amount of gain they push making it easier to play certain music styles. Maybe? Hard to explain feelings. Lol
We left some equipment in the storage room of the venue, promised it would be safe, went to pick it up the next morning and some ass had slashed the carpet covering on my bass amp. Like wtf was the point in that? Always take your gear home I learned that night.
About people walking away with gear: I was in a battle of the bands at a venue in Toronto, and the place had no green room. Everyone was told to leave their gear at the side of the stage. As my band is setting up for our set, I made a terrifying discovery... I can't find my bass anywhere. The bassist from one of the other bands was nice enough to let me use his, but he only had a 4-string, and I played a 6-string, so I had to adapt all my parts on the fly. At the end of the set, I announced to the whole venue that I had to borrow a bass because mine went missing. Guess what happened? A guitarist from one of the previous bands walked off with it thinking it was his guitar. Apparently he was too stoned to notice that his gig bag was suddenly two feet taller and missing one of the pockets. The band was actually getting ready to leave when I made my announcement. In the end, I got my bass back, the guitarist got his guitar back, and yes, the guy who lent me his 4-string got his bass back too
I record analogue…. Fifteen minutes or tape is $600 last time I bought it. I enjoy doing it that way and I bought up a lot of the gear as studios were switching over to in-the-box. But it takes a lot of maintenance at the age the gear is at, and also most bands aren’t good enough to record to analogue. All but one of the bands I’ve done projects for did a quick demo to find their weak spots, then did a huge woodshed session before coming back for the real sessions.
The tonal differences between gear variables are most noticed by players who enjoy playing clean tones. Once you introduce significant gain to a signal, everything starts sounding the same. When you play clean sounds a lot, then you notice that the biggest differences in tone/timbre have to do with changing the physics of the sound. E.g. string gauge, string type (flats, semi flat, round wound), string material, scale length, speakers, amps, etc. Having said that, like Glenn said, some things affect tone more than others. Playing a clean tone through different types of pickups do sound and feel different. From single coils to buckers, to p90s, to Charlie Christian pickups, to floating pickups. Having said that, changing out between 2 different pickups of the same type and manufacturing quality will produce less of an appreciable difference, in that regard I concur with Glenn. Also, for lap steels those original rickenbacher horseshoe pups definitely have their own sound. No denying that. Changing out pots and pot values matters a heck of a lot as well. This is because you are changing resistance values and altering how much highs are bled into the signal. It’s funny how changing out the easiest and cheapest stuff like strings and pots will make more of a difference than really expensive pickups. But it does, because it changes the physics of the sound. I totally agree with Glenn that changing speakers vs pups make a significant difference. In fact, it’s funny how pickups can cost more than a speaker, and take more time and effort to change out. But speakers make more of a tonal difference. Lol. It is what it is. In fact, I have 2 deluxe reverbs. One with a 12 ohm Alnico Blue, and one with a 16 ohm greenback. I had the extra greenback, but it was the “Wrong” ohmage because Deluxes are 12 ohm amps. But if you understand impedance, then you know that you can put a higher impedance speaker in an amp, and it will just run the amp cooler, and you might actually like that sound. In fact, you can half the ohmage (e.g. 16 ohm amp with 8 ohm speaker)of the speaker rating and the amp would still work fine, it will make the amp work a little hotter, but just don’t dime it outs every single night back to back. In 99% of playing applications, it will be fine. Just dont be an idiot and “Redline” the amp all night every night (And nobody plays that loud that consistently). Electric guitars are stupid simple machines that involve basic physics. Most of the arguments and disagreements within the guitar community stem from a fundamental lacking in science education, and lack of employing the scientific method (Testing a variable while controlling all other variables). Basically Glenn did the work and employed the scientific method, and retested, and retested. That’s how you do it. Good job Glenn!
I think too many guitarists are futilely attempting to emulate,with absolute exactitude, the tones they’ve heard on recordings or perhaps tones that have been described to them by the media/forums. Most gear itself is a bit of a moving target (for example no one actually knows what a Deluxe Reverb sounded like in 1965, but the reissue is supposed to be an accurate facsimile). Furthermore, it can be detrimental to the creative and learning process to constantly try and “force” your rig to sound exactly like someone else’s, rather than spend time exploring the sounds you can get with it. Is it impressive to hear someone sound just like-insert famous guitarist-? sure, but it’s a lot more fun and interesting to hear someone sound like themself.
Since you're getting into speakers lately, I got a question for you: What do you think of bass speakers? I've been rocking a Behringer 4x10 cab with Bugera speakers since high school, and as much as people *loooove* to bitch about Behringer, I've been rocking this cab for almost 20 years and have never had a problem! It sounds incredible! Lately I've been taking cues from Rage Against The Machine and Voivod, by using a channel splitter and a 2nd bass cab with a guitar amp head to blend a clean bass signal with distortion & other effects. The 2nd cab used to belong to my uncle, and while I'm getting some intense sound out of it, the speaker itself has been beaten up for years, and I'm looking to replace it
Glenn I need to give my condolences for Mike 😢I just found out yesterday man I know u guys hung out and did music stuff 🙏 💔 so sorry man peace and love man RIP Mike 🙏
One of the worst things you can do to your microbiome in your gut is to feed it unhealthy foods like soda, oil and refined carbs. Especially if you haven’t eaten much or anything for a long period of time. Hopefully you can withstand the cravings for these things until the bacteria in your gut changes, im rooting for you!!
Hey glenn, i just upgraded my celestion v30s and and g12k100's to the jensen mod 1270s and electric lightnings and wow, these things are killer sounding. Very underrated company and speakers
@Wickednative yes those are exactly what I'm thinking of. It's like a dozen 3" gumballs cut in half and encased in epoxy. Same guy also did colored pencil guitar the same way
Honestly, switching to digital (which is a smart move for a lot of people) is basically just accepting that in 15-20 years Musicians (and maybe Recording Engineers) won't have jobs. AI will likely have taken over song writing, recording etc. by then. AI is already making really good visual art, songs will actually probably be easier for them. Playing live won't matter either because there's plenty of examples now where it doesn't matter and most people don't watch concerts anyways (and even fewer care about the actual music). You can look to Vocaloids in Japan where people are fine with watching a virtual projection of a computer singer or like 90% of rap and pop where it either sounds like Karaoke night at the bar or it's all (or mostly) lip synced. There's also plenty of other tricks popular bands have used, that people know about, but people don't actually care. And all that to say, I don't really care about live anymore either as I've gotten older. I don't really have the time to go to concerts anyways so I care more about "Do the recorded songs sound good to my ears in my headphones on my PC or through my car speakers" then how "real" it is or even the level of musicianship. There's plenty of metal/rock songs that I listen to that have programmed drums out the ass or are over produced or are extremely simple (musically speaking) compared to older stuff but they still sound decent and you can headbang to it. I'm 28 so maybe this'll be a generational thing, who knows, but musicians and recording engineers should keep a very close eye on AI development.
While I still think pickups make a bit of a difference, you're right Glenn in that changing a speaker will give you a bigger shift in tone. One thing I find funny is that guitarists will spend $400 on a set of Seymour Duncan pickups and also baulk at the price of a $200 speaker. Or a $150 mic for that matter. The whole signal chains important.
Glen, I am fairly new to your channel. I am a long haired angry old man, who absolutely loves Ronnie Dio , Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson, ect., and pretty much all of the other musicians they are surrounded by. I am a mediocre guitar player at best. I too subscribed, for years to all of the B.S. you have been debunking. I own some of those expensive " tone wood " guitars as well as some cheap ones. I have a Carvin V3M, with a 2 x12 Laney cabinet. After watching you for a while I thought I should try switching out the speaker to a Mesa Black Shadow ( because I love the Mesa Mark V ). I found a used Mesa Black Shadow for $70 , it made a big difference. What was a great sounding little amp, is now a amazing sounding little amp. I spent some of that unnecessary money you speak of. I have always said i don't give a damn about the name on the headstock or the speaker grill as long as it plays like , or sounds the way i like it. But, people when the man puts the evidence right in front of you, and you continue to deny it, it either means you're an idiot or a child. Listen to guy with the proof ! Thanks Glen, keep passing off the dumbasses.
I do get the sentiment in recording in analogue the great bands used to, but it's 2023 and things have moved on and it is what it is, and it's not like computers in music is a new thing...
Glen it blows my mind that guitarist don’t know their gear. I know everything about my set up. I wired on of my cabs because the company didn’t offer the speakers I like for one of my amps. If you tour in a band you should know your rig and know if it sounds weird. I can handle almost anything that goes wrong with my amps, guitars and pedals.
ha! The first electric guitar I ever purchased was an Aria Pro II XX Deluxe… a black flying V with a yellow lightning bolt across it, lol. I still have the photo I took of it when I got home from buying it in Germany in 1984… sent it to you in a DM, Glenn
Thanks, James!
Great guitars dude. My Bass player bothers had ZZB basses. Blue/black burst and Black red bolt. I had a white urchin guitar. Also my brothers had Sb700 and Sb71000 basses.And A PE limited edition special I bought my mrs....80's Arias kicked fucking ass. Insane quality.
THE James Murphy? Holy shit!
@@GregGallagher Glenn and James go back like more than 15 years, the Andy Sneap forum was a great collective of great minds that were known names or became so later :)
405 is actually "Method Not Allowed", so pretty appropriate for a lot of musicians.
Error 405: Scientific Method Not Allowed?
“It’s too easy for them to walk away with a computer” *proceeds to bring a pedalboard*
Ignoring the fact amps get stolen all the time. If someone REALLY wants it, they’ll find a way to take it
Dude probably shows up to gigs in a semi cab. Thieves won't be able to steal his vehicle if it's heavy enough.
“Sorry guys, I’m not gonna bring my guitar to the show. Someone could just walk off with it.”
I went to the guitar store for a Gibson thinking “todays going to be the day.” I walk out with its epiphone counter part. I restring it, set it up, grab pick ups from a local pickup craftsman, and then play it. The best part is that after all that, I had 80 percent of my budget left afterwards. I’m chasing that fair to midland tone. You should totally give them an honorable mention.
Epi was first anyway
Fair To Midland is fucking incredible
@@hadleymanmusic people love to trash them, but they stay in tune better than gibsons.
I’ve always thought that the main reason expensive guitars play better is that they come set up better out of the box. And after going back and setting up my first electric guitar … it’s true. Sounds and plays great! It was around Squier affinity in price!
I was a epiphone player for years I my wife got me a sp1 and after setup and intonation I looked at the neck and it was super concaved I went to relief the neck and the rod wouldn’t relieve at all so I flipped it over and it was a fake epiphone no engraving in the neck plate and no serial numbers anywhere and the pups have 0 Gibson marking or marking or stickers in general only way guitar center exchanged it was have the coverage I don’t think I’ll go through them anymore the jackson pro I traded for needed and complete setup I did it my self and save 200
The fact that Glenn made the transition from analog to digital as an adult professional recording artist shows that he most likely has a much greater insight on recording than anyone from either generation. He has bridged the gap and seen how the equipment and techniques of the olden days has evolved and/or been made obsolete and has studied the evolution of recording far beyond the entitled keyboard recorders who were born into the digital era and whose lives don't even predate FL studios... or the old Fudds who were too stubborn to learn the new technology and adapt to the changing world. Now Glenn codes his own VST's while 17 year old guitar snobs bitch about the "digital studio" not being "authentic" enough and how we should "go back to analog" because they've never even lived in a world with tape and love the novelty of old, expensive, and greatly limiting vintage crap. IT'S NOT THE MISSING LINK TO YOUR "INCREDIBLE" UNIQUE SOUND, THAT WOULD BE {TALENT}. Take Glenn's advice, move with the world. He lived through the transition to the digital age and never looked back.
This is some profound insight. Calling out the Gen Z Hipsters who thoughr 8 Track was the height of sophistication when they first saw one at a thrift store. I do think there's something to be said about the limitations of recording back in the 60's-80's. Nowadays if you can conceive a sound in your mind, chances are you can produce it with a single (or possibly 2 plugins), so it's rare to need to develop a workaround. That said, if you have the time, money, and inclination, you can grab 2 or 3 VST's and experiment for the rest of your natural life to get some REALLY interesting (if not always useful) sounds/tones. The first time I dropped a Shimmer Reverb into my chain in Amplitube, I must have looked like someone on acid in the middle of the lighting section of Lowe's: Just flabbergasted at something everyone else has known about for years.
Dude, you look a LOT healthier and thinner now, whatever you are doing is working great! Keep it up, I am genuinely proud of you, King.
He's been doing food poisoning recently.
Botox for the belly.
@@dustinf11 The Secret Doctors Don't Want You To Know!
@@Giraffinator 😄👍
Actually it appears that changing speakers changes not only the shape of sound! :)
Ps. Keto is the answer here.
Just wanted to thank you for teaching me the ins and outs of recording. I've learn so much. Been a sub for years. I recently bought the Volt 276 and the Laney pedal because of your video's on them. What a great buy.
Go check out Prism on Spectre Digital :)
Thanks for validating the point I was going to make. Great speakers won't fix bad pickups. The stock Jackson pickups were garbage, but (almost) any decent pickups that work well with your intended sound will get you where you need to go.
RIP CGS 😢
I was always a bit of a pickup snob and kinda still am. I can tell a difference when I play different pickups and some I just like better than others so I was skeptical about Glenn's test. I decided to put it to a test myself and recorded my favorite pickup with what I would call my least favorite that I own. I could not tell a difference in the recording at all. The clarity and tone of the amp sounded the same. Just remember that Glenn is trying to help you get the best-recorded tone for the least amount of money. What you hear live and recorded are two totally different situations. When mixed in with a band in both situations pickups are even less important.
Speaking of Australian-made... At NAMM I met Ben Sneesby, owner of BeesNeez microphones out of Australia. Ben is so hardcore about having everything to his standards that he makes all parts of his microphones. He even machines his own screws!
Ben's also one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet!
I'm pretty sure Glen said that pickups make such a small change that it doesn't matter compared to parts of the chain that make huge changes, like EQ, pedals, and speakers.
I am pretty sure he has said that hundreds or thousands of times over the last few months.
Using IR's can be a great way to test different "speakers" and find what you like and then buy them for your cabinet. On testing, also look into the "Triangle taste test" method. It is used for perception, and validates. Have 2 that are the same and one different. You should be able to match the same versions, and select preference over the odd one. If you match the odd example, it shows you perception is off or that the difference is too small.
ha ha i just wish all the bogren IR's were labeled, not named some form of "Cock Juice" lol
My condolences glen I heard of your loss 😔
TY!
Wait, what?
Thanks for another great video, Glenn. I’ve been super happy with an SD-1 and an old Mesa Nomad after adopting your philosophy about gear hounding. I have a Lace Hammerclaw and a Duncan Distirtion competing for my main sound, on the amp I usually move the bass and presence knobs to tailor the guitar. Best thing I ever did for my sound is leave the gain knob at noon and suddenly that warm glow high up in the neck finally happened and the chords were clear and sustained when I needed.
Reamping totally changed the game when it hit the scene.
Let the artist hear what they want and record the tone you need.
Adam Steel’s cartographers guide to Celestion drivers
😂🤘🏽
GLEEENNN! You can’t forget one of the other reasons changing pickups doesn’t change the tone very much is there are like, 5 or 6 famous sounding brands, and most brands are copying or modifying those really popular brands designs. How many versions of the PAF, Tele, Strat, Gretsch, and rickenbacker pickups are there? More than I can count.
That's absolutely true. It's like a race to see who can copy someone else the best. Guitar gear is the only industry I can think of where innovation is scoffed at. I'm glad to see that changing these days.
I personally had that speaker epiphany 13 years ago when I was demoing 4x12 cabinets to buy in a music store in cologne. I switched between all different brands, Mesa, Marshall, Diezel, you name it, and every single time I had the Marshall 1960AV, I could not stop smiling and playing. Instant buy, never regretted it and understood the importance of speakers from there onward and had that part of my quest for tone checked. To this day, this cabinet is my absolute favorite.
But yeah, I am like the most standard you can get - boosted 5150 type amp into said 1960AV - my personal tone heaven.
One of my first "nice" guitars was a Jackson "Professional" with horrible Jackson branded active pickups... ripped them out and replaced with a Vai Special DiMarzio in the bridge position, and a Wilkinson Blade humbucker in the neck... replacing the bridge with a Gotoh Floyd completed the rebuild... absolute shred...
Don't be afraid to rip apart and rebuild...
Done Glen! I am from Brazil. Calling Bgt for you. Thank you for The great content. You gave me so much information that changed my game that IS hard to count now!
I was not expecting a response lol thanks Glenn! And yes, evidence is very important!
Seriously looking forward to the actual science of how you create your tests. Observation/question, hypothesis, prediction, test/experimentation, results analysis, and conclusion. Definitely make your tests repeatable so that others can verify the results. One test = a study. 1000 studies(with conclusive positive results)= a theory. Really enjoy and support your search for musical truth Glenn. You Rock!!! Glad you’re on the mend. 🤘🎸🤘
About 20 years ago I was fortunate enough to experience a studio in Wicker Park, Chicago (right around the corner from the Double Door), which had a beautiful 24 track, 2 inch machine. It was 6 feet tall with 16 gauges above the reel deck and 8 below. The truth is, even back then they were recording on Pro Tools, and if they wanted the sound of the 24 track machine they would dump the tracks on the 24 track after edits, then put it back on Pro Tools. So if that commenter wants to go all analog, good luck.
Used to do it slightly differently back about 15 years ago - record onto the 2inch 24 track and then onto ProTools for mixing, editing etc. Point remains the same though. Digital changed the landscape forever and not imho for the worst. Unless you're one of those bands with enough budget to go full analogue and hire a studio big enough for long enough to get your shit recorded, then it's digital all the way, I mean, hell, back when I was recording in the late 1980s the SSL mixing desk still used basic computers saving mixes (well automated fader positions and marker points, etc) onto 8 inch floppy disks which then got stored with the 2 inch reels. Hey, it was a ballache back then but digital means even a guitarist can operate Logic Pro or Reaper and get their tracks down at home these days. Progress, slow and maybe not as "real" as the old days but if the music and the talent is still there, who gives a shit eh? Does it rock? Yes? Then it will rock on digital - case closed :)
I don't miss tape! Head alignment sessions on a MM1100. Good times! /sarcasm. One thing I do miss about analog is how guitars sounded especially. I still haven't really heard anything that replicates the tape compression and rolling off the jaggies like it. the CLASP system, which captured sound of the repro heads and synced to PT, sounded like the cats ass but I believe they're dead? Maybe there's something similar but I've never heard of anything like it.
Gleeennnn! May have commented this before, probably have, but Nolly stated in one of the three GGD Cali deep dive episodes here on RUclips, that Clayman had a Fredman on a V30, and then a Fredman on a Greenback. Guessing you've probably clued into that anyway. Though there has got to be more to it. Also the Voiceover sounds super good on this video.
I understood the difference speakers made when I bought my first car over forty years ago ,and it’s hilarious that people think this is something new they found out about from one of your videos
It’s shocking that so few guitar players even consider the speaker
he read my comment! yes! i got 2 2x12 combos wired as one amp. gonna buy 4 different used speakers for more mic'ing options. hate my 2 diff celestions.🍻
I left my Gibson Explorer '76 in our rehersal room and some days later it had a big scratch on the back. Punks.
That's an awesome hoodie.
I had a little 'netbook' (smaller than a notebook) to play music in the breaks, and the 'bugle songs' for the Vietnam Vets shows. It went to every gig for at least a decade, and always came home, despite the after parties!
The first thing I did when I bought it was getting my name and licence number engraved in large bold letters on the lid. Kinda hard to say it's yours with someone else's details on the lid! 🙂
Is it me, or is your daily pretty much every guitar playing genius just lining up to be the next brick wall you smash your head on? Like DAYLY? DAYLY!!
Hey Glenn! Could you do a quick video on where to place bass traps, noise boards, curtains, diffusers et.c. and the differences between a room for recording or mixing? And if there already is a video for that, I'd love to see it!
I do remember a Hondo guitar with a lightning bolt back in the mid eighties. It was black with a red and orange bolt. It wasn’t a flying V shape, I don’t think. More like a star. I can’t remember exactly. Looooong time ago.
I noticed pickups dont make too much a difference when listening to my own play back between iron gear pickups and seymour duncan pickups. They sounded the same, I thoght I was crazy but sent it to some friends and they couldnt tell either. Life is a lot easier now when I just have to worry about if there is noise or not.
I "roadied" for a local band for a while. I put it in quotes because my real job was watching over stuff like merch and the tablet that ran the square app etc. to make sure our shit didn't get stolen while they were on stage.
"Made the assumption that people are going to show up to your gig"
OMFG 🤣
I believe aria pro-2 and Hondo guitars were both made in the matsumoku factory, so a flying v from either would be a great guitar. I have a 1981 aria from there, and it is my favourite guitar. All original apart from the strings and it feels so good to play
Yeah, there were (still are, I think) a few factories that produced similar instruments for several different brands . Fujigen and Hoshino were two fairly well-known players in that business. My first electric was a Washburn SB-4 (aka T-bird) which it turns out was also a Matsumoku product. Pretty decent guitar as I remember.😎🎸
Brother that opener was completely incoherent ! 😂😂😂😂 that was classic hahaha. Yeah the food poisoning haha. Man your an old school music soldier. Fuck yeah
The part about your physicist friend made me happy! I'm (hopefully soon) finishing my master's thesis about this exact topic and it's amazing how even in science there's a large number of researchers who don't share their data and materials/code so other can repeat their findings. It's a huge issue in science, but if we want to be confident about anything we consider "truth" then results need to be repeatable, other wise it might as well just be a coincidence, or result of bias or who knows what. It just take one observation that results in something opposite what was originally observed to raise the alarm. And there's been a recent push in science to conduct studies repeating previously published research and guess what, depending on the field, a significant number of past results might not be achieved again or at least not with the original significance.
On another topic, yesterday I got an alnico Warehouse speaker to swap the stock blackstar ht1 blackbird 8''. Is it going to fix that annoying bass frequency and some other issues I tried to fix with new pickups? I'll see that soon!
3 out of my 6 main guitars all have emg 81 and then one epi les paul with gibson burstbucker pickups and another epi les paul seven string with fishman mkh pickups. I use a modeler mostly and the biggest change on tone is the IR.
Dang! Sorry to hear about the food poisoning! Glad ur doing better! Great content as always! Keep up the shouting 😂 love it
The whole pickups/guitars/tubes, etc. vs. speakers I think is a mute point to most guitarists except for beginners. When you've been playing for years you already have most likely found the speaker or cab that you like, or you at least know what you gravitate towards. We generally buy gear for the audience or for the recording (even if you say that you do). The audience could care less. What's more important is that you have good songs. Whatever inspires you to create is a worthwhile investment. If you're inspired by your new pickups, or any other piece of gear, and write something great because of that inspiration, then it's worth it. There is an emotional response to gear and ro music, it's why we buy more guitars than we need, more pedals than we need, more everything. The audience doesn't care about your tone. Whatever things you think are important to you, are important to you. They don't need to be important to everyone. As long as they give you want you're looking for, whether it's in your head or not, is all that matters.
Glen, I hope you feel better after your food poisoning! Thank you for pushing through.
I just bought a V30 and Classic Lead 80, to replace two G12T75 in a 2x12, and a Heil PR30 mic, spent whole day recording a reamp with all combinations of which speaker with which mic (heil, 57), levels etc, just to find a great combination for live (and recording) the change is massive compared to any pickup change (which I did, but not expecting a huge tone change, which didn't happen).
Hey Glen!! Got the HB Victory! Yep, had the grounding issue! But luckily I was prepared for it. I had seen your review and the fix wasn't a huge deal! Put some heavy strings on it and tuned down to D. She's now a sharp looking, growling metal machine! Besides that minor pain in the ass ground issue, it's a great value for the young struggling musician!
I just happen to be getting over food poisoning myself Glen. Thank you for providing me with entertaining content and making me laugh (with you).
Hey Glenn, another thing you may want to think about when it comes to tone is: some people want to get the tone of their favorite musicians so they spend the money to get that particular gear. That is understandable. Personally, I focus on getting my own tone rather than copy what everyone else is doing.
What speakers are in your cabinet?
Sorry about your food poisoning, I've had it twice and it sucks. Hope you feel better soon.
love this video! Really chill and super helpful
(: Love the tone of the video!
I just convinced a friend, who blew one of his V30s in his 4x12, to try out some other speakers. He now will try two WGS Reaper or Jensen Electric Lightnings in a X pattern with the V30s. Can't wait how he likes them.
Your physicist friend is correct. Transparency in methodology is critical. The basic features (for those wondering) of the scientific method can be seen as: Testability, Repeatability, and Falsifiability, in combination with Occam's Razor. The first two are more important, as some questions are not really falsifiable (e.g.: "Define Universe, give three examples...").
I would enjoy a video where you showed EXACTLY how you did your testing. What mic(s), what speaker, what enclosure, exact distance and exact angle of mic to speaker, what source, what reamp box, all that. You would be doing the world a great service. Will such a video be your most popular ever? Probably not. But it may well prove to be one of your most important. Cheers!
…and it would take forever. Not sure if I could go THAT far with the detail. RUclips is a machine that needs constant feeding.
19:54 "Corporate fuckery", you need to use that more often!
At this point a DAW is pretty much necessary if you want to put your music out there. I do electronic music and use hybrid setup. I have a 24 channel Mackie console that I use to mix my drum machines and synths. But I still use Reaper for recording and mastering. Sometimes my stems are just a single track. I sequence my drums, bass, and other things. Then I may live play a synth on top of those. It's all running into the console at the same time and into my Behringer interface from the main mix output. I recently made a house track where I used a vocal sample from a baby toy. I played the sample using the sample player in Vital a fantastic free VST synth. Once I get a rack mount sampler I will need the daw even less.
As much as I love hardware I still use a DAW. Even if I wanted to record to tape for that tape flavor; I would still record the tape into Reaper so I can share it online. I don't get people shitting on DAWs. They are are a useful tool even for someone who likes hardware. One of my favorite synth RUclipsrs Espen Kraft does 80s style synth pop using old school hardware. He still uses a DAW. If you like hardware just use a hybrid setup. Get a used console on reverb like I did and do your mixing on that. Fill a rack up with outboard gear instead of using plugins. And then run all of that into your DAW.
Glennnnn! Cool idea you should totally do, a 4x12 cab with 4 different speakers would be cool to hear that!!
he he yup... I got tons of questions of what kind and how many tubes are there in my amp.... no one, ever asked me about the speaker I got in the cab XD
Some good news in this episode! It's great that your physicist friend made you aware of the principles of repeatability and sharing the methodology, but the point behind it is enabling peer review, another key part of the scientific method.
In turn, this is the point where many of RUclips guys fail when making claims: whenever you make any claim, the duty of coming up with proof is on you, not on whoever disputes your claim.
Anything showing any part of any claim not being satisfied actually points out that your claim might not be 100% wrong, but it certainly needs to be reworked. And this is far from not being nice to you, this is the actual science cycle we all have to go through either in science or engineering (applicable even to RUclips authors).
This has been the case with Jim Lill videos, which are great because he sets a hypothesis, tries to empirically elaborate a theory, and he shares his methodology. I love them, they have very valuable information. However, there are issues with his tests, and they've been very specifically pointed out by many (even in a very detailed way by pros in the amplification field who had to carry out similar tests before starting a production, not just regular guys like me, although I'm an engineer in other field). Inexplicably, other people (not him!) seem to have issues with peer reviews pointing out these gaps.
An example on your own: «if you don't like my opinion, go fuck yourself» is already against peer reviews.
Tone tubby speakers!!!!!! Anyone?!?!? Anyone?!?! They were the first hemp cone speakers I ever heard of, and the 40/40 is one of my favorite speakers of all time. Best tone upgrade I have ever made.
I love how people don't understand that pickups aren't microphones. They don't capture the sound, they capture the electromagnetic difference the string movement causes on the magnets and send an electric signal. Believing it changes tone like crazy is just a waste of time
Glenn, thanks for the IR. I am getting a great guitar sound. Guess work is gone. I can actually focus on writing music and recording. Thanks again
I just stumbled on some recordings of mine, playing a Def Leppard riff on two completely different guitars ( both humbuckers, alnico 5 + alnico 2 magnets) and they sounded identical, although overall i like alnico 2 humbuckers more...😁🎸🤘🎸
I’ve definitely had a bias for Alnico II single-coils in Strats or Teles over the years, but I can’t honestly bet the mortgage that I’d be able to tell A2 from A5 on playback.😅
Hooking up speakers are a pain in the ass when your cab don't open up in the back.
Dammit Glen, because of you I've now bought myself two Celestian Greenbacks instead of pickups 🙃🙃🙃
Verified truth. Speakers make the biggest difference. Pickups matter too....Just not AS MUCH.
Ugh! Food poisoning! I had a BAD BOUT a few months, it was MISERABLE. Glad you're feeling better. (by yelling at us again)
A recording studio I used to work for has a 16 track Studer, so I have some experience with them. Tape machines are cool but temperamental. In a recording environment the last thing you want is gear that is unreliable. If a client wanted to track to tape, I would recommend tracking in the DAW and bouncing that out to tape during mastering. Tracking to tape is archaic and while there's a romanticism to it, there's better options in today's world. For example, some people still drive old v8 cars from their youth but a modern Toyota is the better choice of vehicle. The old v8 is more about the attraction to cool stuff than being practical or functional.
Just here to see the moment when Glenn pops a vein in his temple
I hope you feel better, Glenn !
Love watching the wave form in the background when he says "absolute ass!" 😂 I imagine he has to compress that mic input signal significantly with all the yelling he does in these videos 😂
The first amp company to come up with a modular, plug and play speaker array wins BIG.
Glen! I was revolving through some of your content and I would be interested in a video of your professional opinion for listening to music (whether it be a rough mix or a fully established album) in the context of listening for the purpose of enjoyment?
Specifically, gear and setup for listening to music for recreational proposes. We as engineers and musicians typically (try) to make music for that purpose, for people to enjoy.
Me personally, I listen to music on analog formats for best quality and I feel like more talk about receivers, pre amps, music formats, and the infamous speaker test.
I love listening to music as much as making it, but not everyone want to pack everyone of my friends into my bed room studio to listen to albums for enjoyment.
I also enjoy your content and think that your opinion on these matters could be very essential and educational to all. I personally would love to know what recreational listening and speaker recommendations. I hope this comment gains momentum or similar requests for this video.
0:22 in the bottom right corner Glenn looks like a Thicker Malmsteen
Thanks to your vids, i decided to mix a Eminence Hempdog and a DV-77, what a fucking killer tone!!.
speaker and cabinet are the 2 biggest parts but you know skill of playing and the ability to know how to run the gear would help alot as well and man alot of guitar players dont even know how to use the gear they have
can't wait to get to episode 500 :P Internal Band Error
Just for the record, I recently added a Hesu Demon with a V30 to my 2x12 cab. I run an MT 15 through it and it really sounds insanely good. Not just for metal (mostly drop c), which it does well, but even for less gainy, brownish tones as well. The two compliment each other better than I ever expected. Just fyi for anyone thinking of the combo. Best thing I did for my sound in years.
I've been using ELD Power speakers, also made in Brazil. They are cheap compared to imported ones but do not lack anything on quality and sound.
I watched a guy a play with a laptop and it sounded good. He played guitar and sang. Accompaniment (drums, bass, keyboards) were programmed into a laptop.
Colin, Henning and Glenn = Together they are the cool gang ;)
What speakers are in your cab?
99% of Guitarist: Ahhhh, I don't know...
Kyle Bull: which one out of the 96 cabs I own.
Are you going to follow up on the 16 vs 8 vs 4 OHM speakers? I have two 1x12 cabs that are almost exactly the same size and material, but one has a 16 ohm speaker, and one has an 8 ohm. The 16 ohm sounds a lot better. In my experience with cabs, I've always liked the sound of 16 ohm cabs better than 8 or 4 ohm.
A few years ago my drummer loaded his drums into my car after a gig and he didn't realize his fucking CYMBAL BAG wasn't there until I already got home after I dropped him off! He called the bar, they said it wasn't there. He asked the other bands, they said they don't have it either. He never saw them again. $1,400 worth of cymbals gone, three of which he bought the day before! People, make a checklist for load in/out.
Imagine what could you do by swtiching all those giant fullstacks for a laptop. There would be so much free space on stage for a band to actually MOVE. And if you already have rented that car trailer to carry all those amps and cabinets, you could put inside some scenography eqiupment for visual effects of you gig. Instead of looking at a bunch of guys playing their instruments, would be better to looking at the bunch of guys playing their instruments IN A CATHEDRAL.
Just wait until you hear about rap and hip hop music.
The biggest difference for me with pickups is the amount of gain they push making it easier to play certain music styles. Maybe? Hard to explain feelings. Lol
We left some equipment in the storage room of the venue, promised it would be safe, went to pick it up the next morning and some ass had slashed the carpet covering on my bass amp. Like wtf was the point in that? Always take your gear home I learned that night.
About people walking away with gear: I was in a battle of the bands at a venue in Toronto, and the place had no green room. Everyone was told to leave their gear at the side of the stage. As my band is setting up for our set, I made a terrifying discovery... I can't find my bass anywhere. The bassist from one of the other bands was nice enough to let me use his, but he only had a 4-string, and I played a 6-string, so I had to adapt all my parts on the fly. At the end of the set, I announced to the whole venue that I had to borrow a bass because mine went missing.
Guess what happened? A guitarist from one of the previous bands walked off with it thinking it was his guitar. Apparently he was too stoned to notice that his gig bag was suddenly two feet taller and missing one of the pockets. The band was actually getting ready to leave when I made my announcement. In the end, I got my bass back, the guitarist got his guitar back, and yes, the guy who lent me his 4-string got his bass back too
More COLIN! More CSGuitarssss!! 🏆
I record analogue…. Fifteen minutes or tape is $600 last time I bought it. I enjoy doing it that way and I bought up a lot of the gear as studios were switching over to in-the-box. But it takes a lot of maintenance at the age the gear is at, and also most bands aren’t good enough to record to analogue. All but one of the bands I’ve done projects for did a quick demo to find their weak spots, then did a huge woodshed session before coming back for the real sessions.
The tonal differences between gear variables are most noticed by players who enjoy playing clean tones. Once you introduce significant gain to a signal, everything starts sounding the same.
When you play clean sounds a lot, then you notice that the biggest differences in tone/timbre have to do with changing the physics of the sound. E.g. string gauge, string type (flats, semi flat, round wound), string material, scale length, speakers, amps, etc.
Having said that, like Glenn said, some things affect tone more than others. Playing a clean tone through different types of pickups do sound and feel different. From single coils to buckers, to p90s, to Charlie Christian pickups, to floating pickups. Having said that, changing out between 2 different pickups of the same type and manufacturing quality will produce less of an appreciable difference, in that regard I concur with Glenn.
Also, for lap steels those original rickenbacher horseshoe pups definitely have their own sound. No denying that.
Changing out pots and pot values matters a heck of a lot as well. This is because you are changing resistance values and altering how much highs are bled into the signal.
It’s funny how changing out the easiest and cheapest stuff like strings and pots will make more of a difference than really expensive pickups. But it does, because it changes the physics of the sound.
I totally agree with Glenn that changing speakers vs pups make a significant difference. In fact, it’s funny how pickups can cost more than a speaker, and take more time and effort to change out. But speakers make more of a tonal difference. Lol. It is what it is.
In fact, I have 2 deluxe reverbs. One with a 12 ohm Alnico Blue, and one with a 16 ohm greenback. I had the extra greenback, but it was the “Wrong” ohmage because Deluxes are 12 ohm amps. But if you understand impedance, then you know that you can put a higher impedance speaker in an amp, and it will just run the amp cooler, and you might actually like that sound. In fact, you can half the ohmage (e.g. 16 ohm amp with 8 ohm speaker)of the speaker rating and the amp would still work fine, it will make the amp work a little hotter, but just don’t dime it outs every single night back to back. In 99% of playing applications, it will be fine. Just dont be an idiot and “Redline” the amp all night every night (And nobody plays that loud that consistently).
Electric guitars are stupid simple machines that involve basic physics. Most of the arguments and disagreements within the guitar community stem from a fundamental lacking in science education, and lack of employing the scientific method (Testing a variable while controlling all other variables).
Basically Glenn did the work and employed the scientific method, and retested, and retested. That’s how you do it.
Good job Glenn!
Thanks, Micheal!
I think too many guitarists are futilely attempting to emulate,with absolute exactitude, the tones they’ve heard on recordings or perhaps tones that have been described to them by the media/forums. Most gear itself is a bit of a moving target (for example no one actually knows what a Deluxe Reverb sounded like in 1965, but the reissue is supposed to be an accurate facsimile). Furthermore, it can be detrimental to the creative and learning process to constantly try and “force” your rig to sound exactly like someone else’s, rather than spend time exploring the sounds you can get with it. Is it impressive to hear someone sound just like-insert famous guitarist-? sure, but it’s a lot more fun and interesting to hear someone sound like themself.
Hondo was partly made at Matsumoku, so were all Japanese Arias. So could well be the same guitar with a different badge…
Since you're getting into speakers lately, I got a question for you: What do you think of bass speakers? I've been rocking a Behringer 4x10 cab with Bugera speakers since high school, and as much as people *loooove* to bitch about Behringer, I've been rocking this cab for almost 20 years and have never had a problem! It sounds incredible!
Lately I've been taking cues from Rage Against The Machine and Voivod, by using a channel splitter and a 2nd bass cab with a guitar amp head to blend a clean bass signal with distortion & other effects. The 2nd cab used to belong to my uncle, and while I'm getting some intense sound out of it, the speaker itself has been beaten up for years, and I'm looking to replace it
Glenn I need to give my condolences for Mike 😢I just found out yesterday man I know u guys hung out and did music stuff 🙏 💔 so sorry man peace and love man RIP Mike 🙏
One of the worst things you can do to your microbiome in your gut is to feed it unhealthy foods like soda, oil and refined carbs. Especially if you haven’t eaten much or anything for a long period of time. Hopefully you can withstand the cravings for these things until the bacteria in your gut changes, im rooting for you!!
The cables alone to record multitrack analog would add up to way more than a basic DAW setup.
Hey glenn, i just upgraded my celestion v30s and and g12k100's to the jensen mod 1270s and electric lightnings and wow, these things are killer sounding. Very underrated company and speakers
There is someone on here that made a guitar out of giant gumball candies. Burl guitars I think? Crazy stuff lol
They’re essentially guitars made of epoxy, but the designs of using different items makes them unique. I like the coffee beans guitar the most tho.
@Wickednative yes those are exactly what I'm thinking of. It's like a dozen 3" gumballs cut in half and encased in epoxy. Same guy also did colored pencil guitar the same way
The ring of fire! The ring of fire!
IIRC, Hondo II and Aria Pro were both brands made by Samick of So Korea.
Honestly, switching to digital (which is a smart move for a lot of people) is basically just accepting that in 15-20 years Musicians (and maybe Recording Engineers) won't have jobs. AI will likely have taken over song writing, recording etc. by then. AI is already making really good visual art, songs will actually probably be easier for them.
Playing live won't matter either because there's plenty of examples now where it doesn't matter and most people don't watch concerts anyways (and even fewer care about the actual music). You can look to Vocaloids in Japan where people are fine with watching a virtual projection of a computer singer or like 90% of rap and pop where it either sounds like Karaoke night at the bar or it's all (or mostly) lip synced. There's also plenty of other tricks popular bands have used, that people know about, but people don't actually care.
And all that to say, I don't really care about live anymore either as I've gotten older. I don't really have the time to go to concerts anyways so I care more about "Do the recorded songs sound good to my ears in my headphones on my PC or through my car speakers" then how "real" it is or even the level of musicianship. There's plenty of metal/rock songs that I listen to that have programmed drums out the ass or are over produced or are extremely simple (musically speaking) compared to older stuff but they still sound decent and you can headbang to it. I'm 28 so maybe this'll be a generational thing, who knows, but musicians and recording engineers should keep a very close eye on AI development.
While I still think pickups make a bit of a difference, you're right Glenn in that changing a speaker will give you a bigger shift in tone. One thing I find funny is that guitarists will spend $400 on a set of Seymour Duncan pickups and also baulk at the price of a $200 speaker. Or a $150 mic for that matter. The whole signal chains important.
Glen, I am fairly new to your channel. I am a long haired angry old man, who absolutely loves Ronnie Dio , Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson, ect., and pretty much all of the other musicians they are surrounded by. I am a mediocre guitar player at best. I too subscribed, for years to all of the B.S. you have been debunking. I own some of those expensive " tone wood " guitars as well as some cheap ones. I have a Carvin V3M, with a 2 x12 Laney cabinet. After watching you for a while I thought I should try switching out the speaker to a Mesa Black Shadow ( because I love the Mesa Mark V ). I found a used Mesa Black Shadow for $70 , it made a big difference. What was a great sounding little amp, is now a amazing sounding little amp. I spent some of that unnecessary money you speak of. I have always said i don't give a damn about the name on the headstock or the speaker grill as long as it plays like , or sounds the way i like it. But, people when the man puts the evidence right in front of you, and you continue to deny it, it either means you're an idiot or a child. Listen to guy with the proof ! Thanks Glen, keep passing off the dumbasses.
I do get the sentiment in recording in analogue the great bands used to, but it's 2023 and things have moved on and it is what it is, and it's not like computers in music is a new thing...
Glen it blows my mind that guitarist don’t know their gear. I know everything about my set up. I wired on of my cabs because the company didn’t offer the speakers I like for one of my amps. If you tour in a band you should know your rig and know if it sounds weird. I can handle almost anything that goes wrong with my amps, guitars and pedals.