Kia ora! =)
Dunno about you lot but I'm a big fan of kiwi built gear. There are some awesome products out there and there seem to be a few more every year which is excellent!
AMPS - HUGE OR TINY?
From my experience with valve amp building so far (I build Lucidtone amps and pedals), I've made quite a few amps and everyone is rapt with the tone, but almost everyone wishes they were smaller. I guess I'd like your comments - what's more important for *you*, bottom end or portability? I'm considering losing all that wonderful thump in favour of a smaller, more car-friendly box.
My current design uses a 'detuned' single 12" cabinet, similar in size to a Vox AC-30 2x12" combo. I'm thinking of putting it in a box more like a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.
KIWI BUILT GUITARS - HELP!
Some of you have probably seen our new Realtone guitars on TradeMe. They're hand assembled in NZ using Korean parts, set up by a technician to play great, and are around $1100 for a tele or strat type guitar. I personally play one of these now as my main guitar.
I'd like your advice, as people who play and buy guitars.
Pro 1. It plays as good if not better than any other stratocaster on the market IMO.
Pro 2. It is really, really affordable.
Con 1. The pickups let it down and it doesn't sound as good as it can with a better set of pickups in it.
Do you all think I should source some better sounding pickups, and would you rather the price went up or the body and neck quality went down to keep the price the same? On one hand, the guitar would be $1400 rather than $1100. On the other, it would only play about the same as a US Standard rather than better.
EFFECTS PEDAL IDEAS
Theremins have been bloody popular, I can't keep up with demand, as it should be :-P
If you have any cool pedal ideas, feel free to email me, darren@lucidtone.com.
Cheers for your comments!
--
Darren inwood
Lucidtone
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Technorati
the stereo splitter box is eagerly ...
the stereo splitter box is eagerly awaited.... something that dosn't scoop your guitar tone and with the
A or B or A and B options.... theremin is very cool!
what sought of amp could you build for $600..?
Heh, that is actually really really on ...
Heh, that is actually really really on the cards. So many kiwis love playing multiple amp setups. If you want a splitter that doesn't hum, you need an isolation transformer, and good ones are not only pricey but often too big to fit in a stompy box!
Stay tuned, watch the Lucidtone mailing list.
aluminium necks....
aluminium necks.
I've only played a couple and didn't ...
I've only played a couple and didn't like either, cold neck, weird overtones - was I playing the wrong ones? I dunno how I'd go finding a supplier for aluminium necks, but if I did, should I get some do you reckon?
travis beans are the best guitars ever ...
travis beans are the best guitars ever built.
clear, precise top end and solid lows.
theres a guy in Florida doing clones and I've been told by the man that they are hot.
You should get in touch with Joh Lang ...
You should get in touch with Joh Lang at Langcaster regarding the necks he is using in his top end guitars now - he found some guy doing a totally different thing where the neck stays perfectly straight for like, ever, or something. He sources the best stuff and damn the price, so maybe some of his parts would be too expensive for your guitars to be viable, but maybe some will be good.
re guitar amps....smaller . somthing ...
re guitar amps....smaller . somthing that you can chuck in the back of a taxi. And they dont have to be super loud either as most musicians are playing smallish venues. An if you do play a bigger venue, the cab is going to be mic'ed and you would have fold back.
b
Re: size, sweet, one vote for little ...
Re: size, sweet, one vote for little ones with less bass :-)
Re: volume, my amps are 20W, is that about right do you reckon?
Chalk my vote up for smaller amps with ...
Chalk my vote up for smaller amps with less bass... let the bass players handle all that "bass" crap... and your 20W are a very powerful 20W, my man... plenty loud enough.
And I would buy a Lucidtone guitar... with a mini humbucker and a P90. Good pickups are a good idea.
Small amps with more treble fo' ...
Small amps with more treble fo' shizzle . . . That would be, like, totally tigs shats boombies!
I'd happily pay more for amazing ...
I'd happily pay more for amazing pickups and keep the neck and everything else quality up. It's still going to be way less (approx $800 to $1000) than buying a US guitar. Why not brand your guitars as Lucidtone though? I'd rather have a Lucidtone guitar than a Realtone to be honest, even if they're exactly the same thing - Realtone somehow sounds like it's made in Indonesia or China or something. Why not put everything under your Lucidtone banner, so the branding that's already occurred benefits your new stuff as well? Everybody knows Lucidtone (ok, not EVERYONE) but Realtone is a totally new thing.
Could you do a good "better Gibson than Gibson" Les Paul for a similar cost to your Fenders (about $1500)? That is something I would love, even it cost a bit more (actually even if it cost a lot more). Especially a Lucidtone gold top with mini humbuckers. Oh baby. We should talk about this Darren....
For that matter, if Lucidtone were to make guitars from scratch and charge a bit more for em, that's what I'd go for. I'd rather have something constructed by NZ luthiers, with NZ electronics, through an NZ amp. Man, that would RULE, especially if it sounded better than overseas equivalents.
> I'd happily pay more for amazing ...
> I'd happily pay more for amazing pickups and keep the neck and everything else quality up.
Yeah, me too. Just $1100 sounds so much less than $1500 when you're going to actually buy a guitar. I guess I'd need to cause a stir... in the meantime, you can get a Realtone and drop a set of whatever pickups you want in when you can afford it ;-)
> Why not brand your guitars as Lucidtone though?
I'm not actually making them, I just have a hand in the organisation of it. Although it looks as though we may end up going a different route, with handmade pickups and hand assembled instruments, which I may end up being happy enough with to brand Lucidtone.
> Could you do a good "better Gibson than Gibson" Les Paul for a similar cost
I don't know. Setting a neck is a difficult thing. I work with three luthiers, and only one has any experience with this. There is also an issue with finding supply of parts, if anyone speaks Korean or knows anyone who does I'd *love* to hear from them. We'll be doing just bolt-necks for a start because we've been setting up five or ten a week of those for years already.
Chur =)
a quality A/B/Y box would be awesome- ...
a quality A/B/Y box would be awesome- something that's battery or wall-wart powered (dont the unpowered ones kill your signal?) with easy switching between A or B or A and B
i've been hunting for one for ages, and none of the ones I've seen (bar maybe the Pete Cornish ones) have appealed
> (dont the unpowered ones kill your ...
> (dont the unpowered ones kill your signal?)
Awesome, I love dispelling myths =D DI boxes and A/B splitters should use the same technology, though I've seen some that don't try to seperate the ground paths of the A and B signals at all. If you connect a cable from out A to amp A, and out B to amp B, and the outputs are connected together, and the amps are plugged into power points on the same circuit, that is a big ground loop and it hums like anything. the problems are as folows, this cut from elsewhere on the inter-web:
a) A passive DI does not offer better electrical isolation than an active. A passive will couple output to input at the square of the transformer's turns ratio. What a passive does offer is superior "ground" isolation, a subtle but important distinction.
b) Yes, transformers can be influenced by external hum fields. That is their operational mechanism after all. That said they are not all influenced equally. Higher quality passive designs will use shielding to reduce problematic interference. Less expensive product uses a cheaper transformer that reportedly lacks proper shielding and probably skimped on iron too.
c)Active direct boxes are in fact cheaper to make than a passive. You can buy a lot of electronics for the cost of one even inexpensive transformer. A good transformer would cost more than most customers would be willing to pay for the whole product.
The basic problem is that if I was to build a wicked A/B/Y splitter using common parts, it would cost a lot of money, around $350!! I'd like it to be more like $250, so I'm searching for some uncommon parts. ;-)
Slightly off topic, but the "email us" ...
Slightly off topic, but the "email us" links on your site don't work...
Cheers! Fixed. =)...
Cheers! Fixed. =)
I don't think there's anything wrong ...
I don't think there's anything wrong with your current cabinet design- I like the detuned cabinet concept a lot, a mate of mine plays through two detuned 12" cabs and the 'thump' is just lovely- not OTT like a quad can be, just really natural sounding.
Would a 'detuned' cabinet for a 10" or 8" Jensen be significantly smaller than a 12"? Maybe that's something to think about?
Darren, do you know how may Kiwi made ...
Darren, do you know how may Kiwi made products are available here in the UK ? are any of your products available over here ?? .. My choice for an NZ Guitar ahs to be the Lancaster built by Jon lang .. beautiful looking things .. I was going to buy one and have it sitting here at the studio for general use .. but decided against it as for one .. I don't play so pointless for me to own .. and two it would be me paying for the promotion of someone else's product .. even if it is a kiwi made thing. If trade NZ got together and plonked some gear here with a clear MADE IN NEW ZEALAND logo on it I'd put it out there as and when I could .. who know's who could use it .. and like it even ...
[ http://www.guitar.net.nz ]
> Darren, do you know how may Kiwi made ...
> Darren, do you know how may Kiwi made products are available here in the UK ?
Well, Joh's guitars and the Hot Cake are both very popular over there, as are the Red Witch phasers. I'm pretty sure G2D have a distributer in the UK as well, which is hilarious as they don't really have one in NZ!!
Joh Lang only sells direct in NZ, I've asked him about putting some of his guitars into the shop and he isn't keen.
> are any of your products available over here ??
You can order Lucidtone pedals etc from lucidtone.com and I deliver worldwide. It's unlikely that I'll have a distributer in the UK any time soon as each pedal and amp is handmade, the internet with no promotion gets me enough orders to fill my time!
//a smaller, more car-friendly ...
//a smaller, more car-friendly box.
What about creating a 420 head? Then you could offer a tuned or detuned cabinet for it to clip on.
//The pickups let it down
Pickups from http://www.billlawrence.com/ retail slightly cheaper than the Kent Armstrongs. They're simillar to the SCN pickups in the 2004 Fender American Deluxe Series. You might need to order in bulk though.
//"better Gibson than Gibson" Les Paul
The high end Agile guitars almost get there.
Looks like Realtone have got into a price war with DBM Music over Kent Armstrong pickups.
[ http://www.guitarparts.co.nz/ ]
// What about creating a 420 head? Then ...
// What about creating a 420 head? Then you could offer a
// tuned or detuned cabinet for it to clip on.
I've been considering making heads and cabs only. Combo amps are actually not a great idea tonally, they encourage microphonics.
//The pickups let it down
// Pickups from http://www.billlawrence.com/ retail slightly cheaper than the Kent Armstrongs.
I actually really like the samarium cobalt pickups in the deluxe series, substantially nicer than the standard series. That could definitely be a goer, thanks!!
// The high end Agile guitars almost get there.
You can never be too sure, but Agile are made in either the same factory as the parts I'm using, or 'another factory down the road'. I talked to Agile about a year ago and they weren't interested in a dealership in NZ as they ship direct to here anyway...
As our existing customers will testify, the difference between an average guitar and an average guitar that's been set up properly is quite astounding. I reckon a guitar using the quality woods that Agile and other Korean mfgs use, with a set of decent pickups and a thorough setup, can be *excellent* guitars, as good sounding and playing as anything two or three times the price.
// Looks like Realtone have got into a price war with DBM Music over Kent Armstrong pickups.
They just aren't very good sounding pickups IMO. No better than, say, Samick or Epiphone, and I want to be able to offer you guys better than that. =)
WETA GUITARS 4TW!...
WETA GUITARS 4TW!
the non linear tremolo and the delay ...
the non linear tremolo and the delay look really promising Darren. I think when they are released I'll have to put my boss tremolo and delay out to pasture once and for all...
tell me if this is lame. could you ...
tell me if this is lame.
could you make a 5 watt valve combo, mainly for recording? something that has clean tones but can be cranked full tit to drive the tubes without plaster falling from the ceiling. its really hard (and super pricey) to find something like this these days. how much do you think you could do it for?
it should have only one knob (volume) and i guess it doesnt matter if its true class A or not for me.
it needs to have an absence of hum to a certain extent too i guess.
let me know what you think.
cheers.
Yes, that is most certainly doable. ...
Yes, that is most certainly doable. I'd suggest 1 or 2 watts as 5 watts is still really loud. I built a 1W amp into an oven tray with high sides (roasting dish? dunno what you call it) a few years ago, it sounded awesome through a Marshall quad!
The cost would be around the same as a 20W however as the only things that are cheaper are the power tubes and the power transformer... I do want one day to release an amp that has two power amps, switchable 1W/20W. Not feasible right away though.
i fckn lovedd using the lucid tone amp ...
i fckn lovedd using the lucid tone amp (i borrowed one for about 6 gigs)..it has heaps of character and is a solid workhorse. I felt it sounded like a slightly more muscular AC30. Although i did miss having tone controls as i find i usually have different tone levels for diferent rooms/diferent songst etc.
The lucid tone pedals are rad too. I was meaning to buy a theremin but only recently got the cash together to get one...strolled on in to the guitar gallery where i was informed that Darren was on holiday and they had none in stock. I shall go back next week if i get paid again. Ah waiting for royalties is a strange way to make a living.
keep up the good work darren, you have the magic tone in your toys. i love them!
> i fckn lovedd using the lucid tone ...
> i fckn lovedd using the lucid tone amp
Sweet, glad you liked it!
(i borrowed one for about 6 gigs)..it has heaps of character and is a solid workhorse. I felt it sounded like a slightly more muscular AC30. Although i did miss having tone controls as i find i usually have different tone levels for diferent rooms/diferent songst etc.
> I was meaning to buy a theremin but [...] they had none in stock
Back in stock. :-) Hooray.
> keep up the good work darren
Oh i so will. you should hear the tremolo, it kicks ass. annoying that i haven't been able to finish it tho, technology has beaten me thus far... i'm working on the tremolo and delay simultaneously cos they'll be using the same computer chips. Computer controlled analog tremolo and analog delay, don't think anyone's done that yet, it sounds so fat tho. The RNC Really Nice Compressor is the same idea but a compressor and everyone raves about that one!
Thanks for your kind words, do you have any photos with the Model 420 in it on stage somewhere perchance? =D
//Oh i so will. you should hear the ...
//Oh i so will. you should hear the tremolo, it kicks ass. annoying that i haven't been able to finish it tho, technology has beaten me thus far...
That trem you've been working on is sounding even better than the old one!! Nicest trem I've heard as yet.
I'd strongly recommend checking out the analoug delays if you want something a bit different from the usual sterile digital delay (boss) - really lovely (I am biased as the new analouge delays are based of my old one :-)
The boxes look way cool too, definatley can't be mistaken for any other brand!
I for one will happily bow before our new Lucidtone overlords!
i will see if loop have any photos of ...
i will see if loop have any photos of the amp...they are bound too.
the theremin produces a tone..... just ...
the theremin produces a tone..... just out of interest what it this tone.. a note... a random thing ?
its like a wavering tone. like an old ...
its like a wavering tone. like an old horror movie. Though if the aerial is broken its more like static.
there's some sound samples on the ...
there's some sound samples on the Lucidtone website...
[ http://lucidtone.com ]
I guess the base pitch of the theremin ...
I guess the base pitch of the theremin is kinda irrelevant, given how you hold yr hand is always going to shift the pitch about anyway...
The doco just called "Theremin" is really interesting, imo. I'd thoroughly recommend it.
um sorry i didn't explain that ...
um sorry i didn't explain that right... i've got one of these puppy's so i know what it does.. but the original tone is it a 'middle C' or 440Hz thing??
Oh, hi Benjamin! =) The original ...
Oh, hi Benjamin! =)
The original tone is calibrated to play approximately the same range as an electric guitar's bottom three strings under normal stage light conditions. You can kick it up to higher notes using a torch, LED torches work best.
So in frequency terms you can get from 10Hz-100Hz with your hand right over the right hand sensor, with your hand/foot 1-6 inches away up to around 600Hz, and with a torch you can get it as high as 4kHz. So quite usable for doing melodies!