Oh god yes the planets are aligning again.
I've tracked down a MESA Lonestar 2x12, my dream amp, for ****ing $800.

Guy has somebody coming to check it out on Sunday but I'm waving cash in his face like a mad man, offering to drive to his house today. I think he's going to cave, sucks knowing I'll be scooping it from somebody else but ****, a Lonestar for $800, I'd kill for that. Cheapest one on eBay right now is $1600.

$800 sounds way too low. Beware!

It's the classic "I'm living on my buddy's couch and need money for a damage deposit on a new apartment NOW" situation, he's made it very clear that it's his all-time favorite amp and he's sad to see it go. Convinced him to meet up tonight, I'll give it the best inspection I can in 5 minutes and hope for the best, can't miss out on a deal like this.

I'm in the market for (a) bass effects pedal(s) - any recommendations?

Phaser!

Adding a delay pedal to your board basically gives you the option to have your guitar/bass function as two different instruments.

Not quite an effects pedal per se, but something that could really develop your sound:

Avalon Instrument DI, U5 Specs & Details

How does a preamp compare to a compressor?

I am planning on getting a delay pedal, I just want my bass to sound like a sitar if that's what I feel like doing.

I've got just the thing for you then.

http://www.premierguitar.com/ext/res...JPG?1371672856

Tested one of these bad boys out at guitar center a few times before someone nabbed it, it'll give you some of the sexiest tones you've never heard.

Being at a loss for explanation, I found this to be of some assistance.

It happened.

$800 for a near mint condition MESA/Boogie Lonestar Classic 2x12, 6 MESA 6L6 replacement tubes, 4 MESA 12AX7 replacement pre-amp tubes, a Shure SM57 studio microphone, and a Snark tuner. That's ~$2150 worth of gear... for $800. The circumstances in which this amp ended up in my possession are a bit unfortunate (guy stuck in a rut, homeless, needs cash immediately for damage deposit for a new apartment), but **** happens and our gear saves us, I had to sell 6 years worth of guitars and amps to go to school in 2011. I only had half an hour last night to play around with it, and at the lowest possible volumes while switched to 10W, clean channel, but even that was ****ing romantic. The clean tones on this amp are overwhelmingly beautiful, I've been desperately chasing '65 Deluxe Reverb tones since I got my Telecaster last year but couldn't bring myself to buy a Fender amp because, while I'm absolutely smitten with their cleans, I just can't get comfortable with their overdrive. The Lonestar is one of the only amps on Earth, certainly the only MESA/Boogie amp, that is entirely capable of producing nearly spot on Fender blackface clean tones, Fender tweed overdrive tones, and classic MESA crunch / lead tones, with no pedals or effects in the way. This is made possible by independently switchable channel power ratings, AC voltage control (for tweed tones), independently adjustable spring reverb settings for both channels, and two 12'' C90 Celestion speakers (slightly modified Celestion Classic Lead 80s). I need to spend a lot more time with it before I can really say it's the best amp I've ever owned and possibly ever will own, but with the new gear buzz raging inside of my head right now, I can't stress the beauty of this amp enough, it's insanely versatile.

http://i.imgur.com/byxZnQ8.jpg?1

Good score!

Most excellent!

Finally got a chance to do a side by side comparison of my Lonestar and Single Rectifier, as well as run the Lonestar through my external Laney IRT212 cab. I was very surprised at how well the Lonestar kept up in metal tracks, when you crank that thing and get the gain under control it has some serious beef to it. I typically dial my Single Rectifier back to vintage settings anyway so with the side by side comparison the difference wasn't even that big in terms of distortion / meat. However when you're pushing the Lonestar that hard it really does help to run it through an external closed back cab, really tightened up the bass response and projection. I think I might like it more than my Single Rec, even in a metal setting, it did a really good job and added a very significant boost in clarity & voice. The Single Rec doesn't do a whole lot of tone coloring itself, I've always liked how it allows my guitar's voice to really shine through the distortion, but the Lonestar takes that a step further, it's pure Fender tone at any setting.

http://i.imgur.com/6fTAVWA.jpg?1

Also went ahead with ordering a new bridge for the Tele.
After spending a lot of time with my other Tele's true vintage saddles I'm convinced that I like the modern ones more in terms of comfort.

I will admit that the vintage saddles win in terms of style, though, and there may be a bit more twang in there too.

http://i.imgur.com/mawH2tK.png

I still love the vintage saddles although I have not tried the new bridge. Just love the look and feel. I was afraid I would have trouble keeping it in tune but it's been absolutely solid. I don't want to change anything on my 52 reissue, it plays like butter and sounds amazing.

*has 3 saddle bridge with no grooves on his tele*

What is "In Tune"?

a = 440

Intonation is always the first to go for me.

3 saddle bridge all the way. Better sustain to me ears. And the compensated ones improve the intonation issues a lot.

When I get my baby re-fretted I will get a brass compensated 3 saddle bridge. Don't know when that will be because it needs a new nut if I want to put jumbo frets on it.

The Wilkinson compensated barrel bridges don't mount onto American Standard Teles without drilling new holes (American Standards have a 3 hole pattern instead of the vintage 4 hole) and I'm not ready to do that to my baby. I actually ordered a Wilkinson a while ago without knowing that and had to cancel when I found out. The only other vintage style bridges I could find that are compatible with my American Tele are the Glendale and Callaham, but they're just too expensive for a bridge replacement.

I saw a picture of a really nice Tele with the Gotoh 6-saddle bridge the other day and I liked it enough to cave on the purchase. We'll see how it goes, I'm installing it tonight, I'll post pictures after the weekend, I think it's going to look great, hopefully it doesn't alter the performance / tone much.

http://donniebshawn.com/strat.mp3

http://donniebshawn.com/pics/strat1.JPG

Pretty, what's the story?

I played the piano for years as a child, really wanted to play the guitar, though - got an Ibanez Roadstar II for Christmas when I was 11 and two years later an Ibanez Axstar - that was a sick guitar and they're really hard to find these days, I kick myself for ever selling it. I stopped playing during high school and three years ago decided to pick-up where I had left off, I now own a Schecter Blackjack ATX-C1 with SD Blackouts and a Jackson SLXT - I took the EMG HZ out of the bridge and threw a DiMarzio X2N in there.

Wildwood 10.

'57 Stratocaster - Fender Custom Shop Dealer Select Wildwood "10" Guitars | Wildwood Guitars

^Thats some quality.^

I bought a Roadstar off of my brother for $40 a long time ago, but then traded it for a keyboard that got lost in gigging hell. Pretty decent guitars.

Here's a sample of it:
SoundClick artist: PRD Solo Project - page with MP3 music downloads

Having a quiet laid back night with the Tele and the Lonestar, giving the neck pickup a bit of love.
Playing: Audio recording 2015-08-06 21-44-38.mp3 - picosong

This amp melts my heart, I've been waiting so long for tone like this.

Beautiful stuff! Put a big smile on my face. Tone to die for.

Mixing and recording: Focusrite Liquid 56 running through a Mac pro. Logic Pro X recording software.
Monitor: Yorkville NX55P
Guitar and other strings: Fender Strat U.S., 2 Gibson six string acoustic, cheap crappy bass, learning to play a Fender banjo.
Effects: Zoom G5
Amp: Traynor Ironhorse 40 watt Tube running though a Line6 2X 12 cab.

The recording is new to me and it's a tough learning curve. I've been playing guitar for 22 years. I've been in a few bar bands along the way but I'm just interested in writing and recording my stuff right now.

Sold my 1985 MESA Mark III Black Stripe. It was a cool amp and I don't regret buying it, it served its purpose well and it held up nicely in a few great jams but the Lonestar has completely eclipsed it, I've barely touched the Mark III since, and I'm itching to buy a new guitar anyway. The post on Craigslist got three responses in less than 24 hours, impressive.

Selling my banjo as well and hoping the combined cash will give me a good head start on my first Gibson. I've fallen madly in love with the rare and fabled '69 SG Custom and have been daydreaming about tracking one down. It's my next target, although I have a feeling this one will take a long time to find, and when I finally do find one it'll probably be way too expensive for me to cave on.

The '69 is by far my favorite but there are a lot of other late 60's SGs that have caught my eye too, might settle for a different year.

http://i.imgur.com/E4zfXZT.png

Schwing!!!!!

All of them are naturally relic'd by now too. The faded gold stamped hardware, all of the white pickguards have gone cream, the oldschool Gibson tremolo, the faded binding, and that old faded natural burgundy body, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. This is the only time I've been completely won over by a white pickguard too. Not to mention the thing sounds absolutely stunning. Just ****ing beautiful, pure guitar porn.

Bought myself this thingy.
http://news.edrumpro.com/wp-content/...Sample-Pad.jpg
My sense of rhythm and timekeeping is terrible, so I thought I might try to improve it a little.
It's so much fun to drum away at five in the morning.

I have not played in years, but I use to play the violin fairly well. My personal violin is a Wiessmeyer. It is ok but the one that I use to rent when I was taking lessons was by far my favorite. I loved the wood finisg and the clarity of sound. Wish I remembered what the name of it was! Maybe one of these days I will get back into it!:)

Finally been getting some decent practice in on my acoustic, which I am a total amateur at. Anyhow I've been noticing a fantastic kind of whistling noise playing a short little stanza half step below standard. Google says people hate it, I think its pretty ****in cool. Adds another dimension to the music, kinda like polyphonic singing. Anyone have any super simple tunes, or even just tricks to add to what I'm playing, that pull that sound out more? And hopefully you know what the hell I'm talking about?

No idea what you're talking about. Elaborate.

Been a while since I've posted, dropping in for an update.

Recently got my hands on a Limited Canadian Edition Larrivee D-03R, 1 of 12 made and sold in Vancouver before Larrivee consolidated their Canadian division and moved most of their production to California with the rest of the big shot guitar manufacturers. Canadian spruce top, Indian rosewood back & sides, African ebony fretboard & bridge, Mahogany neck, and Bubinga maple leaf inlays and binding. The 12 of them retailed for $1600 back in 2010, I stumbled upon this one in near mint condition (original receipt, packing, and case) for $1000 on Craigslist, the guy barely played it for 5 years, kept it more as a collector's item. I've been learning fingerstyle blues on it, a genre I've always adored but have been too intimidated by to learn, after playing rock and roll with a pick for 10 years it's very difficult to rethink the way I use my right hand. It's coming along, though.

Here's a short recording of what I've been learning, Day 2:
Fingerstyle Blues - Day 2 - EPOCH6 - picosong

http://i.imgur.com/3zpRojp.jpg?1

And this is a Phin, possibly from Thailand, that I got off some crazy old lady for $30 (she thought it was just a fancy kids guitar from Walmart, I didn't tell her otherwise). The fret spacing is diatonic but kind of inaccurate, which is interesting because it seems like the people who make these just fret them to sound nice to their ear, rather than following what musical theory would dictate. It had some nasty strings on it when we got it so we threw a few mandolin strings on in their place hoping they'd be similar gauge but it kind of backfired and now the strings are way too tense and it's very difficult to play / keep in tune, but I'll find some proper strings eventually. Every Phin out there has an ornate hand carved dragon headstock, it's pretty bizarre.

http://i.imgur.com/VIet6I4.jpg

Beautiful guitar, sounds amazing, and killer playing.

Thanks for the encouragement man. I'm literally starting from scratch with fingerstyle, 3 days into it, after 10 years of only using a pick, so my phrasing and timing is still pretty awkward (but it's the blues so it fits anyway). That recording is this guitar at its most reserved, playing quietly in my room, excited to show you guys what it sounds like when its played with confidence. I'll be posting more progress recordings as I fumble through this.