My 2021 Videos with Gear, Goals and Guidelines

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Zilthy,

    Life's a Journey, not a Destination.

    Exploring and experimenting along the way is what makes it interesting. You're on the right track. Just keep on doing it and you'll eventually stumble on something really cool that you didn't expect.

   It's a good rendition of this song, especially for a first go at it, nicely done!

Harley 8)

[Zilthy]

Just following up with a bit of an update.  I have fallen behind in my original goal of doing a new video every week, but in a way, I have kept up.  I have done some recordings, mostly have been original, but not what I consider 'complete' and also new drawings and art.  I am really enjoying the process!   I would love to do some full animations, and working towards that, but wow, doing cell animation solo to music is a *lot* of work for one person to try and do.

All that while working and practicing and trying to get better on guitar, violin, bass, keyboards, drums and drawing, as well as trying to take care of myself and get bike riding in.  But, it is a good year so far.  Musically my main focus is still guitar, but violin is riding up there too.

Though not what I would consider performance ready, or production ready, here are a couple of things that I have been working on.  I tend to push out to Sound Cloud or google drive for feedback from a few people before I do videos.


Definitely out of my wheelhouse, playing around with some ambient stuff and trying to incorporate some guitar on it
https://soundcloud.com/user-485788768/dreamscape

Was really starting to get in to the ambience, and decided to dive in more and let go of guitar a bit, and just really start experiencing ambient keyboards:
https://soundcloud.com/user-485788768/the-haunted-forest

And finally, back to some guitar a bit, and toss out a bit of 80s.   I was testing out a new piece of gear, and did a fallback to a Ratt song I like to use for some tone testing
https://soundcloud.com/user-485788768/reactir-test

[Harley Hexxe]

   Hey Zilthy,

             You're not the only one who is out of their wheelhouse when it comes to ambient music, I'm right there with you. I wouldn't know where to begin.

          I liked the last track though, great tone, cool chops

Harley 8)

[MarshallJMP]

Yeah me too, the sound on the last track was killer !!

[bunkyloo]

What you give is what you get the last song, is totally great good job. One of my favorite Ratt tunes.

[Zilthy]

Well, I didn't keep up with a video a week as I planned on, but I did do some recording each week.   A lot of little short things like this one that I am not really sure what to do with.   So I decided, I am just going to start finishing them up, amuse myself in the process, and put them out there.

On another note @MarshallJMP this is my first rack using the JCM800 module for my Synergy amp.  I'm kind of digging it. :D

[rnolan]

Nice  , the JCM800 module sounds good.

[MarshallJMP]

Sounds very good but not what I expected from an 800. Did you use a boost pedal or is this the sound that's coming out of it? It does have a lot of gain  ;D

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey Zilthy,

       Definitely a groove going on that video. 800 Module? I would have guessed that on the solo tracks, because that does sound a lot like I would dial in a JCM800 myself. There's a lot more beef to the notes than what I usually get from a Marshall. The power chords have more of a Mesa Boogie kind of tone to them.

      On a different note, I went back and listened to your sound cloud uploads again, and an idea came to mind. The keyboards have laid down a good base, so what if you tracked some haunting solo melodies with the violin and the guitar? Maybe trading back and forth between them? Just a thought.

Harley 8)

[Zilthy]

@rnolan Thanks!

@MarshallJMP I did use a boost, and MXR Classic OD.   Level around 3 o'clock, Tone 2 o'clock, gain barely on.   I just dialed in what I like, and that OD is super thick, I love it.  I tend to almost always use an OD with my gain tones, but I'll probably do some stuff without it sometime too.  I think I drove that 800 harder than I've heard in most other demos I've heard of that one though. :D

@rnolan I think a lot of the beef comes from that OD.  It doesn't roll off quite as much low end as a TS does, and definitely has a fatter but less pronounced midrange.  As far as violin and guitar lead, that is probably where the direction of things is heading.  Still just playing and finding myself musically, I think this last one is getting closer to where I am heading.

[MarshallJMP]

Ok, good to know, and like Harley says, it doesn't have the mid range of the 800. Strange that the od makes it fatter, usually it the other way around. Maybe  the 6L6's have something to do with the mids too. But nice sounding anyway.

[Harley Hexxe]

Hey MJMP,

       I suppose it all comes down to what kind of OD you use to drive an amp with. I think I tried that MXR once, but that was going into a clean amp, and to my ears, that setup had a kind of raspy sound to it. So I could see it doing something like Zilthy says with the gain rolled all the way back. I think a similar OD  would be the Bluesbreaker which has a warm, thick tone, but doesn't add a lot of distortion. I have one like that that I've been having a little fun adding it to a crunchy amp setting.
     Like Zilthy says, a TS style OD will cut back a lot of low end, but that's because they tend to favor the upper mid frequencies, which with a JCM 800, can get very close to harsh.

      @ Zilthy, May I suggest you take a listen to some of the solo projects of Jean-Luc Ponty? I love his work.

Harley 8)

[Zilthy]

Yeah, a lot of other ODs I've used have made the sound thinner too.   I had a Horizon Devices Precision Overdrive before the MXR.  It was a decent OD, but what it did to the sound wasn't what I was looking for, even using ver conservative settings that supposedly should have been in the tube screamer range.  The MXR OD might not be for everyone, but I really like it.   And if it's good enough for Zakk Wylde, it's good enough for me. :)

But I'm sure it's part the 6L6 power section, part my cab and speakers, possibly my pickups. I tend to favor Alnico II which at least to my ear ends up being very different with the upper midrange and highs.

And Harley, familiar with Monty.  I like his work too. :D

[MarshallJMP]

I always use the old SD-1 as a boost for my JCM800 or JMP 2203. My JCM800 uses JCM800 cabs loaded with 12G65 and my JMP uses cabs with celestion G12M25 blackback speakers. The 65's have a bit more high end than the blackbacks but you EQ that out. Now I don't like to have to much bass, that's for the bass player  ;) and I like the midrange I get this way.

I searched a long time to find the matching cabs for my JMP and I found a pair of them about a month ago, paid 600 euro for both cabs. The A cab has 75Hz blackbacks, the B cab has 55Hz and both are dated march 1979 and the JMP is from 1980, so only a year difference. I was super happy when I found these at a great price.

[Harley Hexxe]

@MJMP,

      You didn't buy those cabs, you STOLE THEM