JF Trilogy Video Demos

[crankyrayhanky]

Interesting discussions here...part 3 is rendering...should be the best of the Trilogy and I fully expect Oscar buzz

 

[crankyrayhanky]

Part 3
Dirty Strat tones in E
at 2:05, hi gain Epiphone LP7 in dropA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sidFCJmsod0&hd=1

 

[crankyrayhanky]

when I listen to clips I & III, I'm liking I a whole lot more. This is most likely not the module modal differences, likely mic positioning & pickups...+ the Epi is just a darker guitar in general

 

[Mattfig]

Ray, the Trilogy is complete and I have fully enjoyed it! Very nice work and a great resource...

Now that everyone's had a great opportunity to get to know the Trilogy, what more do you want to see/hear? I'm in the process of making a promo vid as well and obviously don't want to reinvent the wheel...I don't wanna sidetrack the thread so if you have a request, please PM it to me and I'll do my best to accomodate...

Again, great job Ray!

 

[crankyrayhanky]

^Thanks Matt! i don't mind a sidetrack, it's on topic anyway

I'd like to hear some VHish type of tones...I had a few i was working on with my Wolfgang axe, but I didn't like the performance and mic, so I cut it. I'm sure your video will be good and thorough

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

again Nope not that !

"overlap" btw the modder's mods themselves - example

with a boost pedal and parametric eq, I'm fairly certain I could achieve
trilogy tones from a JF Erect

Lots of interesting points in this debate.. I can see this side of it because with a lot of these modules I do hear overlaps in tone. Like you I also am not impressed much by the chugga chugga. I like classic rock to 80's tones. that's it really. That said, using a boost pedal or para EQ, you could get a lot of amps to sound like other amps.

Now on to what Rob said. I think this is one of the best observations of all. John Norum playing through a shitty little solid state practice amp before going on stage was RIPPING and sounded exactly like himself. Gear goes a long way but the style of the player is what helps define what you like about the tone. Now the biggest factor of all.. our ears. Not only for what we like but HOW we produce the sounds we make. Personally, when I listen to cranky's trilogy clips, I am left feeling a little underwhelmed as well. Has nothing to do with his playing or recording method, just the final mix and gain levels which are not to my liking. Sometimes I think Matt makes modules sound too similar as well and I'm not crazy about his mixes. However, give these to Wagener or any other producer who knows way more about recording than us and see what he does with it. Those ADA preamps don't exactly sound like the cat's *** anymore yet they were all over my fave albums in the 80's..

(just as a disclaimer, I also get annoyed with the sound of my own recordings so don't take it personally guys..)

At the end of the day, many amps sound alike. If we put a 5150, bugera,jcm800, and boogie back to back in clips and set them on crunch dialed in the way each of us likes them, I bet they would sound close enough for us to realize maybe we don't need a zillion amps to get the tone we are looking for? What I think more people should be doing with these mods, is showcasing a broader spectrum of the gain that is available in them rather than just going balls to the walls. Maybe also not bury the guitar as much in the mixes by having them so gained out.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

^interesting points

If you look at a thread from a few weeks ago, I specifically invited people to suggest clips- or even send me di tracks to reamp. If one was seriously interested in hearing their own tones, that would have been a great opportunity. No one offered anything up, so I did my own thing, which is not a hit for everybody.

As for my mix approach, it was different than what would be for a typical song (see my Jigsaw video for my idea of a completed song). On this project, I purposely buried the bass and tried to make the guitars up front so as to be heard. No eq, no reverb, no compression tricks- juts a simple guitar L & R. Many times I read people that dislike polished studio tracks and asked for something more raw...in retrospect, I should have ignored the raw and applied my usual mix techniques.

In the end, I dialed in some tones that I enjoy. I tried to present some quality, and considering the majority of video demo reviews on youtube are a live webcam that picks up string plucking more than amp, I'm proud of this completed work. It's clearly not for everyone...though I also wonder if you watched part3, as there's >2minutes of non-chugga tone with the strat (?)

I'm sure when Matt uploads his video you'll hear what sounds like a completely different vibe...and if one has different ideas of how a demo should be presented, I say go for it! I'd love to hear others interpretations. ...criticisms are welcome, but obviously carry more weight when supported with audio/video clips

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I must have missed that thread sorry about that.. glad you didn't take my post the wrong way. What i have learned is that the sounds we find too trebly or too thin are often the ones that are the best suited to cut through a mix. I did notice the lack of bass but also how fat the drums were. As a drummer as well, I think a clearer drum track might have helped. Either way who cares, your intention was to showcase the module, not the mix!

Part III much better! I really just wanted to hear the crunch factor and you covered it.

 

[Mattfig]

Your comments are interesting to me and while I take no offense, I am perplexed...So you're saying I am at John Norum caliber because I make mods sound similar in my recordings? :lol:

OK, I know that isn't it...But it's fun to fantasize....

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

lol not quite.... we can all keep dreaming on having Norum's phrasing and chops!

What I find sometimes Matt is that when you demo the module : say the RR 59, it sounded bang on and really good to me. I often wondered if it is the mic? speaker? room? The JF Slo on the other hand, I thought sounded woofie in your clip and wondered if there was a diff with the environment and signal chain you used to record the RR 59? Because in the mix it def did not impress me. For the record though, I did move it along as i found it not to cut enough for me and be a tad too thick.

I need to get a video camera so you guys can critique me! Finally got my closet guitar booth ready in my basement studio. I lolligag though.. takes me forever to get around to doing anything.

 

[JayDA]

lol The JF Slo on the other hand, I thought sounded woofie in your clip and wondered if there was a diff with the environment and signal chain you used to record the RR 59? Because in the mix it def did not impress me. For the record though, I did move it along as i found it not to cut enough for me and be a tad too thick.

You know it's funny, because I thought the same thing regarding that particular demo (SLO). I didn't "get it" at all, I thought it sounded tubby, and just generally uninspiring. But then I got one...and I'm in love with the thing. The "thickness" is what I like about it, it makes single note lines sound like maple syrup. Not my favorite rhythm mod....but I dig it nonetheless.

 

[Mattfig]

My demos for the SL-OD100 were recorded at two different places which would probably account for some of the inconsistencies...I don't really do that so much anymore and things have settled down enough that I should be able to continuously improve my mod demo recordings...Part of it is also that they are complete side projects for me and, while I love doing them, I have other things to work on so they don't get NEARLY the attention they deserve...

It's weird to demo a mod 'cause if you EQ- you are "cheating." If you don't, the recordings sound "flat" or "muddy," etc... I have found a standard that I'll be using from here on out to keep things more even...

So here's the new plan...My band is currently tracking our next CD...While we do so, I will be taking a song or two and spending some time showing off how the module fits in the demo, the signal chain, and other boring **** like that...Then you can hear a guitar-emphasized part, a full mix, and an iso...I am going Friday to get some tracking done and should be able to pull everything up at home to do the mod demo...Hopefully that will make everyone happy and a refreshing change of pace...I'll still do the walk thru and such too as that's almost already done anyway...

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

You know it's funny, because I thought the same thing regarding that particular demo (SLO). I didn't "get it" at all, I thought it sounded tubby, and just generally uninspiring. But then I got one...and I'm in love with the thing. The "thickness" is what I like about it, it makes single note lines sound like maple syrup. Not my favorite rhythm mod....but I dig it nonetheless.

+1 was good for fluid leads but too much for rythm... interesting to hear people's ears and how we vary.

 

[JeffHenneman]

JF makes a great point about how we all sound like are self when we play different equipment. I learnt that really quickly when I jumped back into the Randall mts line this last time.
It just happens that around this same time I started to re-amp my own stuff. Main reason I went mts. I usually do reamping when I record other people's stuff, just never did it to my self. So when I started re-amping it sounded really good, but when I played thru the amp live I didn't like the "feel" or vibe I was getting. So I would adjust the eq and not like the sound I would get when reamping.
I always have multiple amps and rigs around so I can have versatility when recording. Well what I did was a test. I spent one day on each amp dialing in a sound I liked using the same cabinet and guitar. After I did that with about 5 amps, can't remember the exact amount, I started reamping. All the amps sounded in the same ball park, most of them were really close in sound.
After that I started to notice I was always dialing in a specific sound no matter what amp I used. It's kinda funny that when I am recording someone else I get really versatile with the amp sounds but when it come to my own playing I always go for that one particular sound.

 

[fuzzboat]

JF makes a great point about how we all sound like are self when we play different equipment

just another way of saying "tone is in the fingers" IMHO

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Or is it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtWrArkvrsA

the right gear still takes you far.. just for counter argument. 8)