Noob to TheFret

[Tig]

I'm in the Starting Over gang. I goofed around (suxed, actually) with an acoustic and a few electrics in my early to mid 20's, but switched to keyboards and later bass. I picked up a guitar again 6 months ago after 20 year off. (I'm 46 now) While I don't have much in the past to base my playing from, I'm pleased how much better than expected I am doing. Maybe having more patience that comes with age is helping!

I decided I needed a solid base to learn from, so I'm working my way through Fretboard Logic now. I don't have nearly as much time as I'd like, but progress is always welcome, even in small doses.

I started with a cheap Epi LP Jr. and a 15 watt Peavey Vypyr (not bad sounding after a speaker upgrade), and am now playing a Reverend Club King 290 with a modded Epi Valve Jr. I'm finally getting those tones that were once elusive, and my technique is improving little by little. I have a Budda Budwah wah pedal on order, which I can't wait to play with. I enjoy modding gear, and can solder fairly well, thanks to a few courses at NASA.

I look forward to expanding my abilities over the next few decades, as far as my fingers and imagination will allow. Music is a major thread through my life. My grandfather sang opera, and my dad sang jazz in the 50's. Dad took me to see many jazz and blues greats while I was growing up. I listen to a wide variety from serious metal (Lamb of God, Meshuggah), to blues-rock (SRV, Jimi, Mayer), to older blues (John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, BB, Robert Johnson), to all kinds of jazz, alternative, progressive, classic and punk rock, plus some weird stuff like Unknown Hinson and thenewno2 (George Harrison's son, Dhani Harrison).

I'll try to contribute here when I can.

Oh yeah, on a personal note, I'm also an avid road and mountain bike rider, recently retired from racing. I work in the IT security field, and love time with the family.

[Robert]

Welcome! Spudman is also a road biker, whereas I am a distance runner.

By the way, Meshuggah are old acquaintances of mine from my teenage years.

[bigG]

Welcome, Tig! Like me, a great and varied taste in music! Excellent! :beer:

I'm no biker or runner (knees are shot), but I lift some weights and get some cardio in 3-4 times a week.

[Spudman]

Welcome! Spudman is also a road biker,


And mountain biker also retired from racing.

Welcome to the forum Tig. What bikes are you riding?

[Brian Krashpad]

Welcome Tig!

Lessee a pic of that Rev!

[sunvalleylaw]

Hi Tig! I also am 46, and though I've never raced per se, am an avid mountain biker and road cycle some too. I try to keep up with my local dirt peleton on thursday night shop rides, and generally have a good time. Glad to have you here.

BTW, here is my ride which I am slowly modding with replacement parts over time. http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=3406 , and me and spudman riding when he came over for a visit. http://gallery.me.com/sunvalleylaw#100016

Where do you ride?

[Tig]

And mountain biker also retired from racing.

Welcome to the forum Tig. What bikes are you riding?
I still have my ol' Giant NRS full suspension, but don't ride it much. I bought a Fisher Rig single speed 29'er about 4 years ago and never looked back! I absolutely love riding that thing. I raced it against the 20-somethings in the open SS class and fought to get in the top 10 or 15. I think that took a few years out of me!

I also ride a carbon Giant and a nice Soma steel fixed gear on the road, but my riding has dropped by half after not needing to train anymore. I need to get back on the bike more, since my clothes don't fit as well as they used to!

Quick history: Rode freestyle 20" in the early 80's, then MTB in '87 (before suspension). Got on the road a year later, and then the velodrome. From there, I started racing all three, but took a several years off to play Dad. Jumped back on and started racing MTB again, but age and a few premature health problems have slowed me waaaaaay down!

[sunvalleylaw]

Nice! The shop owner I ride with rides a Fisher 29'er single (powder blue). His is a GF/Giant/Bianchi shop primarily, with some special orders. We had a great shop ride last night. Awesome views, great conditions. :AOK:

[Tig]

Welcome Tig!

Lessee a pic of that Rev!

http://gallery.roadbikereview.com/data/roadbike/500/gear-med.jpg

I need a better picture, but here it is. Gotta' love the P-90's. Also, the bass contour knob helps widen the tonal range of the pickups. My next Reverend might be a double humbucker, like a Roundhouse or Manta Ray.

I've since rearranged the amps onto some furniture. I sometimes use the Valve Jr as a pre-amp into the Peavey that is set to a clean channel, but with a choice of effects. From there, I route the Peavey into the Epiphone 1x12 cabinet, since it sounds much better than the little 8".

[duhvoodooman]

Welcome to TheFret, Tig. +1 on the request to see a pic of your Reverend Club King. Cool guitars & great values.

EDIT: I tried pasting that image link directly into my browser, and it displayed fine that way. Must be that website doesn't allow remote image calls. Anyway--nice! :AOK:

BTW, if you ever want to mod that Valve Jr., there's a couple of us here who can help you with that....

[sunvalleylaw]

Hey Tig, i have a guitar related question for you. I am looking to buy a cheap, small "carry a long" amph to bring in lieu of my tube amph, and am narrowing it down to the Vox DA-5 and maybe the small Peavey Vypyr like you have. The Vox runs on batts, but I don't think I would use that much. My son has the Vypyr 30, and I am used to it. Both are about the same price point more or less. Did you check out the DA-5 when you bought, or have you ever compared? Otherwise, how do you like the small Vypyr in general? Is the speaker upgrade you mention running it into the cabinet, or did you switch the speaker out too?

[Tig]

If I lived there, I'd be riding much more! I envy you. I've ridden MTB near Boise, but that's not anything like Sun Valley.
I used to take bike or ski trips to Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana. Pure paradise!

I've got a few photos of the Fisher, our local trail, and some race stuff in my MTBR gallery (http://gallery.mtbr.com/showgallery.php?si=&thumbsonly=0&perpage=30&cat=500&ppuser=239944&thumbcheck=0&page=1&sortby=&sorttime=&way=&cat=500).

[sunvalleylaw]

Come on out for a trip again someday. I think we will be getting some coverage of our biking options as the "Bike Press" camp was just here with reps from lots of the manufacturers and some mags. (and Zapata Espinoza). If you come, I'll hook you up with some rides or skiing (I coach and teach on the side, and have some pretty good inroads to having a good time here), and as always, I will lay out my pledge to buy the first round of bevs for any fretter that comes to the are to visit! :beer:


EDIT: Great gallery! I would love to do a bit more, but for now, I just have fun.

[Tig]

Welcome to TheFret, Tig. +1 on the request to see a pic of your Reverend Club King. Cool guitars & great values.

EDIT: I tried pasting that image link directly into my browser, and it displayed fine that way. Must be that website doesn't allow remote image calls. Anyway--nice! :AOK:

BTW, if you ever want to mod that Valve Jr., there's a couple of us here who can help you with that....

Maybe I'll find a image hosting site instead.

I bought the EVJ used, and it already has a tone pot mod. I went with the BitMo attenuator plate on the back to allow bedroom volume with higher gain settings, and it works well. I can use the Line Out or a speaker output, so that opens up the possibilities.

I'm welcome to more useful mod's, like a stand by switch. I've already replaced the tubes with a Tung-Sol 12AX7 and a JJ EL84. I haven't really dug into the various online mod forums much yet.

[Tig]

Hey Tig, i have a guitar related question for you. I am looking to buy a cheap, small "carry a long" amph to bring in lieu of my tube amph, and am narrowing it down to the Vox DA-5 and maybe the small Peavey Vypyr like you have. The Vox runs on batts, but I don't think I would use that much. My son has the Vypyr 30, and I am used to it. Both are about the same price point more or less. Did you check out the DA-5 when you bought, or have you ever compared? Otherwise, how do you like the small Vypyr in general? Is the speaker upgrade you mention running it into the cabinet, or did you switch the speaker out too?

I didn't look at the battery powered amps much. I demo'd the Vypyr 15 vs the 15 watt Spider III, plus a few others that I can't remember, and the Peavey sounded the best with the most features. I replaced the speaker with a Jenson (forgot the model, but it was about $24), and it cleaned up well, but not super great. It still doesn't handle higher volume levels very cleanly. I didn't want to throw an $85 speaker in a $100 amp! :D

The Vyper 15 lacks the 30's additional stomp box effects, the ability to run 5 different effects simultaneously, and the larger speaker. I may trade it in for the 30, just for the flexibility it has. I mean, $200 for a new Vypyr 30 is cheaper than many of the pedals out there, and it provides a huge amount of variety. I'd consider those short comings when deciding what to buy.

[sunvalleylaw]

Hmm, that was why I as thinking the Vox DA-5 may be what I want for this purpose. Like you say, the little Vypyr lacks the additional options of the 30. My son's Vypyr 30 is his (even if he lets me borrow it sometimes), and though I can put it in the car easily, it still is about as big as my C-30. What I am wanting really, just something small to throw in the car and not have to haul a bunch of stuff, and play basically at small room volumes. I will likely go play the two (Vypyr/DA-5) together like I did the Roland (I am not sure why I didn't just bring the Vypyr over too at the same time) and pick the one that sounds the best as it is.

[Childbride]

welcome to the Fret! :)

[just strum]

Tig, I didn't even see this when it was originally posted. Hello again and thanks for the advice on my bike thread.

[evenkeel]

Welcome to the gang. :beer:

[luvmyshiner]

Always nice to have another Texas on board. If we get a few more we might give the Canadians a run for their money.:bravo:

[ibanezjunkie]

hey there

thats a neat little setup, hows that modded VJ head working for you? i was torn between the blackheart and a modded valve junior. Ended up getting the BH because it seemed generally better constructed.

[Tig]

Newest jumbo pic's...
Reverend Club King 290 > Budda Budwah > Epiphone Valve Jr (modded) > Peavey Vypyr 15 > Epiphone 1x12 cabinet

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2440/3702335062_d27819432e_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2588/3702349384_51cf5aa289_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3443/3701528023_cfed795d2c_o.jpg

[Brian Krashpad]

http://gallery.roadbikereview.com/data/roadbike/500/gear-med.jpg

I need a better picture, but here it is. Gotta' love the P-90's. Also, the bass contour knob helps widen the tonal range of the pickups. My next Reverend might be a double humbucker, like a Roundhouse or Manta Ray.

I've since rearranged the amps onto some furniture. I sometimes use the Valve Jr as a pre-amp into the Peavey that is set to a clean channel, but with a choice of effects. From there, I route the Peavey into the Epiphone 1x12 cabinet, since it sounds much better than the little 8".

Cool thanks! I lubs me some P-90's. That looks sharp.

I know what you mean about that Peavey 8" speaker, it's probably the same one I have in my ValveKing Royal 8. I need to wire a speaker disconnect/external speaker jack to see what it would sound like driving a more decent speaker.

[FrankenFretter]

Welcome, Tig! I'm in a similar situation, having put down the guitar for roughly 15 years, just to pick it up again recently. I'm also fairly new to The Fret, but I find myself hanging out here more and more often. I used to do some mountain biking in NW Washington state, but haven't been out once since I moved to Oregon 10 months ago. I did get my Specialized out for a little rail-trail ride the other day, and I find that I can't ride like I did when I was younger (I'm 44). Not surprising, but disapointing anyway.

The family life also takes up much of my time, but it makes the time spent with my guitars all that much sweeter. I'm sure you know what I mean. ;)

[Tig]

Cool thanks! I lubs me some P-90's. That looks sharp.

I know what you mean about that Peavey 8" speaker, it's probably the same one I have in my ValveKing Royal 8. I need to wire a speaker disconnect/external speaker jack to see what it would sound like driving a more decent speaker.

I ran across a Telecaster Thinline JA-90 (P90's), neck-thru, and an ash body in see-through red a few days ago at the local guitar shop and almost had a heart attack!
http://www.sweetwater.com/images/items/750/TeleJA90CRT-large.jpg
It was incredible... Mrs. Tig would never understand, so I let it stay for the next lucky customer.

I replaced the 8" speaker with a lower priced Jensen MOD8-20 20W ($24 I think) and it improved the amp quite a bit, but it's still not all that great.

[Tig]

Welcome, Tig! I'm in a similar situation, having put down the guitar for roughly 15 years, just to pick it up again recently. I'm also fairly new to The Fret, but I find myself hanging out here more and more often. I used to do some mountain biking in NW Washington state, but haven't been out once since I moved to Oregon 10 months ago. I did get my Specialized out for a little rail-trail ride the other day, and I find that I can't ride like I did when I was younger (I'm 44). Not surprising, but disapointing anyway.

The family life also takes up much of my time, but it makes the time spent with my guitars all that much sweeter. I'm sure you know what I mean. ;)

I'm sure there are some great trails near you in Oregon. Try looking at the trail listing and reviews at
http://trails.mtbr.com/cat/united-states-trails/trails-oregon/PLS_4571crx.aspx
I'm out of shape, as in really bad, but try to ride at least 1 time a week until it cools down and I can ride a little more. Recovery time is much longer, so we can't let our mind or ego make promises our bodies can't keep!

Yep, I understand. Family comes first. My playing progress is better than I expected, but not exactly steller! I'm a more patient learner (older) these days, which helps. Even squeezing in 10 or 15 minuets every so oftewn keeps the rust away.