Let's see your guitar and bass gear!

So, I wasn't looking for a new amp, but yesterday I stopped by Guitar Attic, our super awesome local shop. He had a little red amp in there--a Phil Jones CUB AG-100. What's this? I asked. A rep just dropped it off, he said. He said technically it's listed as an acoustic amp, but at 100 watts it should be fine for electric guitar and bass. 

It was closing time, so I headed home. Today I returned, and we tried it out for a bit. It's not as loud as an Ampeg stack, but for home I figured it would be perfect. Not sure that I'll get rid of my GK, but at least I can move it out of my office. And, as a demo, the price was way, way below MSRP. So far I'm digging it. It's perfect for jamming alone. 

IMG_2570 by davidwallens, on Flickr

And, yes, it's that tiny.

Published dimensions: WxDxH: 6.5 x 11.8 x 12.5 inches

If fits behind the front seat of a Honda fit--like, one the floor behind the front seats. 

The amp weighs 11.5 pounds. 

Also, yes, fresh kicks. :)

In reply to David S. Wallens :

So, that's basically a little practice amp that you can play guitar and bass on, but on steroids? That's cool! 

Happy Christmas to me!  I've wanted a Strat since before I started playing guitar, which was about 15 years ago.  Somehow I've never owned one until now.  I went to the local music shop yesterday "just for fun" and played several Fenders.  Well, we know how that goes.  This one is just right and was a great deal because it was used but looks like it came new out of the box and I can tell somebody took the time to set this guitar up right.   It's a Classic Vibe 50s model so it has some little details that I prefer like vintage style tuners and darker glossy maple neck.  It will be a good companion for my Classic Vibe 50s Tele.

I did it!  Made a purchase purely out of want. I now have it in my hands.  A seagull acoustic electric guitar. It is perfect in every way.  I tried about a dozen other guitars ranging in price from $200 to $1,800 and I kept coming back to this one guitar. They had several seagulls on display but this one guitar just had that feel. I don’t know if this makes sense but I like a very light action but you always loose sound quality as the action gets lighter. This one is very light and yet there is non of the poor sound. It is crisp and rich. So easy to play. It really is like an extension of my hands.  I am so stoked.

Temporarily this is a joint present for me and my daughter. I have wanted a guitar like this for a long time and my daughter wanting to learn was a good excuse to go to the guitar store and look around. I was planning on spending significantly less on a guitar for her to get started with but I knew that this one guitar was the one I have been looking for for a very long time and had to purchase.  We will see how my daughter takes to things.  If she takes to it I will probably have to get her another one of her choice.  However I had her checked for figment to this guitar and it fits her perfectly  the thinner neck and the light action seems to suite her really well and with her being a decent ukulele player she has already shown me that I more than likely I am going to have to be considering another purchase sooner rather than later.

On on a side note I was allowed to play a $5000 Les Paul. Just wow!!!  What a experience that was. I have never played anything like that before and it was fantastic except I was surprised how heavy it was. 

Those seagulls are really good sounding, nice playing guitars and something about the satin finish allows them to really improve over time.

I have an early production cedar topped S6 that sounds amazing. It has a tighter and deeper low end than any D28 it plays with. The high end is a little lacking but if i keep a fresh set of John Pearse strings on it, it just sparkles.

It's a shame about the ugly headstock they have, they are phenomenal guitars at their price point.

dean1484 said:

I did it!  Made a purchase purely out of want. I now have it in my hands.  A seagull acoustic electric guitar. It is perfect in every way.  I tried about a dozen other guitars ranging in price from $200 to $1,800 and I kept coming back to this one guitar. They had several seagulls on display but this one guitar just had that feel. I don’t know if this makes sense but I like a very light action but you always loose sound quality as the action gets lighter. This one is very light and yet there is non of the poor sound. It is crisp and rich. So easy to play. It really is like an extension of my hands.  I am so stoked.

Temporarily this is a joint present for me and my daughter. I have wanted a guitar like this for a long time and my daughter wanting to learn was a good excuse to go to the guitar store and look around. I was planning on spending significantly less on a guitar for her to get started with but I knew that this one guitar was the one I have been looking for for a very long time and had to purchase.  We will see how my daughter takes to things.  If she takes to it I will probably have to get her another one of her choice.  However I had her checked for figment to this guitar and it fits her perfectly  the thinner neck and the light action seems to suite her really well and with her being a decent ukulele player she has already shown me that I more than likely I am going to have to be considering another purchase sooner rather than later.

On on a side note I was allowed to play a $5000 Les Paul. Just wow!!!  What a experience that was. I have never played anything like that before and it was fantastic except I was surprised how heavy it was. 

Congrats on the Seagull. I'll have to keep an eye out for one of those.

I've played some newer Custom shop Les Pauls and came away disappointed.  A dealer I go to had a 1960 reissue in stock and I was really hoping the neck would feel right to me (IOW: like my '84 Les Paul Studio).  Nope. Looked pretty, tho...  I've had the same problem with Strats - I keep looking for another one that feels like my '90 American Std.  The closest have been some Charvel models.

I have like 20 guitars right now (at least) and about a half-dozen I actually play once in awhile. I think it's time to start purging.

what ever the strings that are on this guitar I like them very much. I am going to see if they are OE or if they have been replaced.  

Well when you do end up changing them accept nothing other than these

No coating gimmicks. Just a very well made, very long lasting, made in the USA set of strings. Sadly they have become difficult to find locally. My guitar center stopped carrying them. I get them via Amazon.

Bah, I tried those strings. Great strings for about a week, but they just don't last long enough for the price.

BlueInGreen44 said:

Happy Christmas to me!  I've wanted a Strat since before I started playing guitar, which was about 15 years ago.  Somehow I've never owned one until now.  I went to the local music shop yesterday "just for fun" and played several Fenders.  Well, we know how that goes.  This one is just right and was a great deal because it was used but looks like it came new out of the box and I can tell somebody took the time to set this guitar up right.   It's a Classic Vibe 50s model so it has some little details that I prefer like vintage style tuners and darker glossy maple neck.  It will be a good companion for my Classic Vibe 50s Tele.

Is that a Squier? Looks awesome! Their Classic Vibe and Vintage Modified lines are really nice for the money. I have a Vintage Modified '77 Jazz Bass, and it has the maple board with the heavy gloss, and I love the feel of it. 

Tony Sestito said:

In reply to David S. Wallens :

So, that's basically a little practice amp that you can play guitar and bass on, but on steroids? That's cool! 

Yeah, pretty much. I need to spend some more time with it. So far, I'm happy. I still have my GK, but at least now it's not taking up floor space in my office. 

The obligatory photo of the new resident in my house.  My daughter is wanting to give it a name.  I told her to wait until she figures out its personality.  

In reply to dean1484 :

So that doesn't have the built in electrics?

I had a bottom shelf Fender acoustic/electric with the built in stuff- it was pretty dismal.

paranoid_android said:

In reply to dean1484 :

So that doesn't have the built in electrics?

I had a bottom shelf Fender acoustic/electric with the built in stuff- it was pretty dismal.

It does have the electrics in it.  There is a mini phone jack with controls (treble, base and vol) on the top (when playing it).  I have not tried it as I don't have an amp so I have no idea as to how good it is.   The sound from it just playing normally is really good.  I actually like that it has a built in tuner that seems to be very accurate.  I compared it to the one on my phone and they both were spot on so I would say it is good.

Cool!  I'm sure what you have is far better than what I had.

The tuner didn't work right most of the time, and it sounded marginal at best acoustic or electric.

That is a very nice looking guitar!

Some jerk is selling this Kramer Baretta (I think) 5 string bass locally for only $100:

The person is a jerk because I don't have room for another bass in the lineup right now, and I WANT THAT!!! I don't have a 5-er yet. 

I had no idea they even made these. It appears to be a Baretta bass because it has the set/one piece neck. According to my research, they made these first back in the mid-late 80's, and then made them again as reissues with different headstocks just a couple years ago. This, however, is an early one because it has the reverse hockey stick headstock, which I prefer. It does appear to have some chunkiness going on near the input, but these basses usually sell for $600-800, so whatever. If it's around by the weekend, I may have to snag it. 

Tony Sestito said:

BlueInGreen44 said:

Happy Christmas to me!  I've wanted a Strat since before I started playing guitar, which was about 15 years ago.  Somehow I've never owned one until now.  I went to the local music shop yesterday "just for fun" and played several Fenders.  Well, we know how that goes.  This one is just right and was a great deal because it was used but looks like it came new out of the box and I can tell somebody took the time to set this guitar up right.   It's a Classic Vibe 50s model so it has some little details that I prefer like vintage style tuners and darker glossy maple neck.  It will be a good companion for my Classic Vibe 50s Tele.

Is that a Squier? Looks awesome! Their Classic Vibe and Vintage Modified lines are really nice for the money. I have a Vintage Modified '77 Jazz Bass, and it has the maple board with the heavy gloss, and I love the feel of it. 

Yeah. I’m a big fan of the Vintage Modified and Classic Vibe Squier guitars.

Yesterday I broke out this one: 

IMG_3206 by davidwallens, on Flickr

It's a '57 Reissue that was made in Japan in 1991. I bought it a few years ago and, since I'm an idiot, never really played it. When I got it I had our local shop replace the strings and set it up, but then I put it away. Yeah, I'm dumb. It's totally original, down to the case and candy. I found my other P-bass that same week, so that's the one that I wound up making my regular. 

Plays like butter. 

David that is really sweet!!!  I had that exact guitar back in 1980 except the body was natural wood finished.

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I LOVE THIS. It's the same color/neck combo as my very first bass, except mine was a lowly Samick that was absolute trash. I bet yours plays a lot better than that POS I had!!!

Thanks. Yeah, the JDM P-bass plays really nicely. I realize that a real '57 P-bass should have the metallic pickguard, but for whatever reason these reissues came with the plastic one. Truth be told, I prefer the plastic one. 

I got my first pedal build to the point of giving it the smoke test.  It’s a clone of an Earthquaker Devices Hoof Fuzz, but not built from a kit.  This is the site I got the idea from.

It passed the smoke test, but not the sound test- no noise came out of it.  So I’ll be troubleshooting it for the foreseeable future.

Another episode in the adventures of my musician nephews:

The younger bass-playing one called me recently and told me he wanted to buy a six string guitar. Even though his older brother has a few of them, he wanted to get his own so he could learn to play and write stuff by himself. So naturally, we hit up our favorite spot to go hunting. I wanted to start him with something easy to play and service (no Floyd Roses like my 1st guitar had) and if possible, something cool. 

As he was poking around with a few different guitars and not liking any of them, I walked by one of these and did a double take:

It's an Ibanez RG3EXFM1. These were sold exclusively at Guitar Center for around $350, and are nice hard tail, no nonsense guitars. They came in two colors: red with a transparent maple top, and the gray you see above, which I think looks amazing. They have the RG Wizard II maple neck, which is wide and very easy to play, and they have "EMG-Designed" pickups that sound good with a 5-position selector. They are sought after on the used market and still go for $250-350 used. The shop had this one marked at $179, and he traded in some stuff and walked out with it for $110. If he didn't buy it, I was going to! Compared to my Jackson JS22 Dinky, I like it better. It seems like it's put together better and the stock pickups sound much fatter. 

Also, I bought enough strings to re-string 3 of my guitars and one bass. Going to be a fun winter going through my existing stuff and setting them all up properly.