The Doom Room: ILF Edition

[skullservant]

In case anyone else is interested, the shipping infor for the Digitech jamman express xt is showing that they have actually shipped it to me. Stoked to have a better option for looping long tracks
It should be here by this weekend so I'll probably do a demo review early next week once I've figured it out and run it through it's paces.

DEFINITELY curious to hear what you think of it

[deathmonkey]

That's pretty cool to hear that Christian uses .60mm picks and heavy strings. I've used .60's for years until I found this forum. All of you guys talk about using heavy picks made me think I was doing it all wrong. I've got a few 1.0mm picks and am starting to get a feel for them now but I still like the .60s better.

Man, I use 0.60's as well.. i only go up to 0.73 if I am feeling Saucy. My string gauges are 0.014 to 0.070.

[D-Day]

This made me think of Nick instantly: http://imgur.com/592NFV8

[new05002]

This made me think of Nick instantly: http://imgur.com/592NFV8

wowzers my crossfit must be showing. I wish I could do even 1 muscle up.

[new05002]

I'm on mega chump I need to practice you did look up some helpful today

[AngryGoldfish]

Yeah, my old RAT was excellent at boosting an amp, but I decided to try and perfect it and tested other variations on the RAT. I'm still searching for that 'perfect' one.

In your experience, does the Iron Horse sound like a Rat? Basically I'm asking if I sell the Iron Horse, should I look for another Rat, or will I get more of the same from any Rat variant?

Summit, those clips were awesome, especially the Doom Bloom.

Recently started listening to Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. Good shit. Anyone else on board with them?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg5sWhzzDVk[/youtube]

You probably won't get the same thing with another RAT. I've tried a bunch of RAT pedals and the Iron Horse definitely sounds different. It's sludgier at higher gain settings and isn't as cutting at lower settings where a 'traditional' RAT usually works well as a boost for a high gain amp. A RAT has this low-midrange growl that sounds amazing, but it still remains tight. It's kinda contradictory, but it works. It's gnarly and guttural. The Iron Horse is more of a wild beast than a cutting long sword, so to speak. If you want something tamer, but still mean and Doomy, check out either an original or a boutique clone. Acid Age Electronics have one that I'd like to try next. The JAM Pedals Rattler, Retro Sonic Distortion, Freakshow FX Brown Rabbit, CMAT Brown Plague, Fuzzrocious Rat Tail, Suhr Riot, Montgomery Appliances Longtail, Hartman LM308, Lovekraft Chupacabra, etc. are all RAT clones or derivatives to consider. I know the Retro Sonic, Freakshow FX, Montgomery and Suhr well enough to say they're all different. The Longtail is great for boosting but not as a standalone distortion. The Suhr Riot is great for tight, modern high gain, but not as good for sludge. The Brown Rabbit is balanced, as the Retro Sonic Distortion. They're not polite as such, they just don't have the 'character' some of the others have. That's not a criticism. Some would say it's a compliment. If you find the Iron Horse too unwieldy like I do, a more manageable and predictable variety might be better. I'd like to try Nick's Volt Thrower and the Acig Age Electronics versions next.

I'm ok with being derivative. That stuff goes back to the 60's. It looked cool then and it still does. Way better than various colored spot lights that are everywhere. My thought on it is to have a digital projection setup and play patterns, liquid light and film as appropriate for each song. I know it's not anything that has not been done but I think it would make for a cooler experience.

I saw The National at the weekend in Dublin and their light show was fantastic. It was really tasteful and pretty and added so much to the experience, but never took away. I think that's the direction I would go, mixed with a little eerie shit.

I also managed to lose my iPod the next day... I'm going to have to be on medication until I either get it back or find a replacement.

Dude, I know that feeling. When my Cowon was in for repair last year I was at a loss. I was confused and felt all weird and on edge whenever I went out. My new phone is a HTC One, though, and has solid sound and enough storage to put some tunes on if my mp3 player breaks again or if I lose it. The Cowon is a great device. I've had it for a few years now and it still sounds awesome.

[AngryGoldfish]

Hey all, a few people I know who already post here keep telling me I should be around these parts. So just joined up today, just saying hello. I regularly post on Talkbass, sporadically on the StonerRockLives Jam Room and I was a regular poster on the old SR.com Jam Room forum as well.

Welcome.

I've got another Rat on the way. Found it for stupid cheap and couldn't pass it up. I ran my old one on a low gain OD setting with the Ruetz mod into my amp to give my dirt tones a little boost. Never tried stacking it at all and wanna try it with my Revelation and Ritual when it comes in. Which sounds best? Rat > Fuzz or the other way around. Ideally, I'd like to have it set where it sounds great stacked or by itself. I wanna say though that thinking back now I may have ran my Rat into my Pharaoh when I was playing bass. I can't remember for sure other than I know the Rat sounded huge as fuck on bass.

I prefer boosting with a RAT. It can be loud as fuck after and reacts weirdly in the midrange. It's cool though, just not always usable.

Glad to see that you guys did not disappoint re: Uncle Acid. Methed out Scooby Doo music is probably the best description I've ever heard for anything ever, and it happens to be super accurate in this case.

Any idea what sort of rig they use? I've read LP Junior and cranked tweed hit with a fuzz. BUT WHAT FUZZ????

Forget who mentioned it, but you should hit that MXR Octave for that price. If nothing else you might make a few bucks on the flip if you don't like it.

And I have a BAT Black Forest incoming. I am very pumped about that.

Spent more time with my Iron Horse. Maybe I'm just not a Rat guy, so it will be sold posthaste in an effort to snag that Depths in the BST. PM if you are interested.

Also used the no diodes position on my Elements and regret not using that before.

I'll take The Depths if you don't dig it.

Ah crap not again!

I just ordered the digitech Jamman express xt new thingy. supposedly they finally shipped. I'm a little sketched as most places said "available for preorder" still but the amazon seller claimed to have 6 in stock so we'll see.
Anyways I'll post up a demo/review in the main forum when it gets here. REALLY hoping it works as well as the ditto as that thing was easy to use, just didn't have stereo and thusly wasn't going to work in my rig.

Post a link in the Doom Room, please. I don't get time to check the main forum every day and I might miss it.

New Breaux.

If you like Whores, you'll probably like Kowloon Walled City.

http://kowloonwalledcity.bandcamp.com/

Two of my favourite bands at the moment.

Oh man you missed Lesbian, too.

Lesbian is rad.

I think they and the other supporting band (Grayceon?) played in Monterey too, which is much closer. I could have sworn there was another band with the same name from the east coast, who had an electric upright bass player, but I can't find any mention of them now.

Giant Squid use classical instrumentalists.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlAxKqu9958[/youtube]

boom baby. not bad for a guitar player if i may say so myself!

(i'm not sure why the picture hasn't rotated like i told it too. the picture did :/ )

Dude, that was awesome!

That's pretty cool to hear that Christian uses .60mm picks and heavy strings. I've used .60's for years until I found this forum. All of you guys talk about using heavy picks made me think I was doing it all wrong. I've got a few 1.0mm picks and am starting to get a feel for them now but I still like the .60s better.

I want to try some of those 'boutique' 5mm picks. Apparently they're less tiring on the hand because you don't have to grip them so hard.

TWSS

[misterstomach]

That's pretty cool to hear that Christian uses .60mm picks and heavy strings. I've used .60's for years until I found this forum. All of you guys talk about using heavy picks made me think I was doing it all wrong. I've got a few 1.0mm picks and am starting to get a feel for them now but I still like the .60s better.

i've used .60s since i was a teenager. i'm in the process of moving up to .73s. still using .60s about half of the time. i still can't roll with the 1mm yet. i've found that using a heavier pick is helping my right hand technique a bit. i can tell that i'm playing tighter. i don't even know why, maybe just cause i'm thinking about it more, but it's definitely helping. the other thing i've noticed, and i feel weird even saying this 'cause it sounds really tgp-ish, is that single not runs seem to have more definition with the thicker pick. it just sounds a little better and clearer. i swear i'm not making it up. i thought maybe if i improved my right hand technique i might break less strings, but so far this is not the case. i'm still breaking them like crazy. maybe even a little worse, but hopefully with time it will get a little better.

[AngryGoldfish]

How often are you breaking strings?

[misterstomach]

more than anyone i've ever known. earlier this year i actually went a couple of months of practicing without breaking any and i thought i was cured, but no. it has returned. if we're playing a string of shows i have to change strings every other show or i will definitely break one. they last a little longer in practice, but i rarely make it more than 3 or four practices without breaking one. my last set made it through two shows and one practice. the next practice i broke two strings within about twenty minutes. i'd say that's about a good average for me. the problem is all me too. it's happened on multiple guitars for a really long time. my record was once breaking five strings during one forty minute set in my old band years ago.

[Iommic Pope]

I switched to 1s when I went through my metal-dude stage. I never went back.
Mostly I like the feel, it digs in and makes hitting shit hard sound like it carries more weight. Also, when I wanna do some HoFing or some Mastodonian type of stuff, Baronessque runs and such, its good for that stuff as well.

Mystery string breakage sucks.

[misterstomach]

if i'm just bedroom jamming it's not a problem. i don't break them very often. this is just in a context of always playing full volume rocking out, tremolo picking for long stretches, usually screaming the whole time and head banging and shit. those conditions lend themselves to playing real hard and thus string breakage.

[AngryGoldfish]

I was going to say that it could be the guitar that's breaking the strings, but if it's happening on multiple guitars it's obviously the way you play. It happens to a lot of people, but for many of them it's the guitar. They SAY it's because they play too hard, but when you actually look at their technique, it's no different than mine and I rarely ever break a string. They're just showing off. My strings go dead before I break them sometimes. I imagine heavy tremolo picking for an entire set would kill a string. Where do they usually break, out of curiosity?

[misterstomach]

showing off is certainly not my intention. i really want it to stop happening and have tried to adjust my technique accordingly but it hasn't worked. also, it's always a break at the bridge, which also points to the guitar, but i've filed the saddles and everything. and like i said, it's been multiple guitars. i've had three guitars that were my main guitar at some point in the past 18 years that i've been playing shows and it has happened on all of them. i don't know. i sure would love for it to stop happening.

[AngryGoldfish]

It sounds like you're picking too hard. I assume you tremolo pick with your whole arm, right? It would take a lot of adjustment, but you should definitely try a pick with a medium pointed tip—so not too sharp but not rounded like a standard Dunlop one—that is made of sturdy but smooth material (try V-Picks) and is above 2mm in thickness. Try to pick with a combination of thumb and wrist movements instead of your arm. If you're already doing that then try thicker strings and even thicker picks. The thicker the pick the less pressure you need to press to hold on to the pick and stop it from falling out of your grasp as it bounces between strings. Avoid ones that start big and gradually decrease in depth until the tip. Instead try and find something that has a flatter gripping area that then degrades to a point. That way you won't find your grip gradually falling down the plectrum. In other words, find a flat pick. It's an easier adjustment when coming from a traditional style.

Also, when you're messing about and jamming at home, are you sitting down or standing down? I ask because when seated, your picking hand changes in subtle ways not everyone notices. Many already recognize the differences so I don't mean to tell you what you already know or anything like that, but some don't and need it pointing out. What I'm getting at is this: If you pick the strings with the plectrum at an angle, which happens when you stand up and play especially with a low strap, that might be causing some unwanted 'cutting' of the strings. On the flip and probably more common side, what might be happening is the polar opposite, where if you're playing with your guitar higher up on your strap and have long arms that reach round so that your pick is parallel with the strings, THAT could be causing extreme resistance that damages the strings. In which case try and pick at an angle and use thicker, pointed picks. Basically, do the opposite of what you're doing now.

I've spoken with students who break strings regularly and it annoys me that they have to spend so many hours a month and so much money changing strings when proper technique can help with the issue. But many don't want to change, and I understand the reasons why, because they simply prefer the sound of heavy attack. It's how they play and I don't try to change that; I try to work with them and adapt to their style. Still, if it really bothers certain people, I always try to encourage them to use heavier, pointed picks, heavier strings, and gradually changing from aggressive picking to a more manageable style. You lose some attack, but that's where the heavy picks come in. They not only help with gripping issues, which can eventually cause pain and muscle imbalances, but they help compensating for a lack of body and depth when you begin to begin more gently and in a more controlled way. Again, it's totally up to you.