The underappreciated/unsuccessful but you like it thread

Started by Rhcole, March 06, 2016, 11:54:05 AM

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kneagle

Casio PG30 Synth Guitar - no external box/proprietary cable needed. Fast tracking. Very decent synth/rompler type sounds for the time - plus the ability to load a whole bank of new sounds by plugging in a new card. Built in tuner. Decent just as a guitar (Ibanez). I sure wish someone would have pushed this type of technology further.


Brak(E)man

Boss GigaDelay DD-20




I have been using this box as a 2 track 23 second stereo live looper with multiple modes
( not the sound on sound ) since 2005 , I have two and thinking of buying another one.
using it as a delay so the feedback works as a fade out etc.
and on off as a bypass which means you can play to a stereo 23 s delay looped multiple times
In the different modes , and 2 loops at one time in any length independent of eachother.

Brilliant box at a good price
swimming with a hole in my body

I play Country music too, I'm just not sure which country it's from...

"The only thing worse than a guitar is a guitarist!"
- Lydia Lunch

admin

#27
Quote from: kneagle on July 23, 2017, 01:22:21 PM
Casio PG30 Synth Guitar - no external box/proprietary cable needed. Fast tracking. Very decent synth/rompler type sounds for the time - plus the ability to load a whole bank of new sounds by plugging in a new card. Built in tuner. Decent just as a guitar (Ibanez). I sure wish someone would have pushed this type of technology further.

it was called the Casio PG-380
http://www.sonicstate.com/synth/casio_pg380/

Mike Martell (mike_martell@hotmail.com) writes:
Apart from the synth built in, the guitar itself, a strat style "Ibanez", is of very high quality. [Equivalent to a late 1980's Ibanez Roadstar II] Adding the synth makes it THE MOST ADVANCED GUITAR EVER BUILT allowing the full transition from a normal screaming strat to a scary synthezised dentists drill by by slowly turning a knob on the guitar. Seen from the front it looks like a normal strat (S/S/H) with a Hex-pickup close to the floyd rose tremolo and a small panel below. On the panel there are 12 small buttons for controlling patches and octave, a 2-digit LED display, and two LED's for the built-in tuner. Strat-wise there is a five pole pickup selector and controls for tone, guitar volume and synth volume. Apart from a normal DIN MIDI-OUT connector there one mono output for guitar only and a stereo for guitar + synth. The synth can be set to send on six different MIDI channels, one for each string, or everything over one channel. Tracking is very good, and you can even bend the tones to play your favourite blues. The backside is full of electronics and a slot for the ROM cards. Acoustically it has quite a woody sound due to all the chambers routed for electronics.
Comments About the Sounds:
The built in patches is not so good but with a VZ synth module or keyboard you can design your own sounds



BackDAWman

Quote from: alexmcginness on July 22, 2017, 11:01:44 AM
Heres one I used and cloned into my VGs The Guyatone TO-2. Bill Ruppert mentioned that he used one of these as well. I still have my beat up original and two that are pristine.



heres the clone sound. Excuse the mistakes. This was done live at the end of a dead night on one of the boats I work on and the bartender said do one more, so I pulled up a track and just played something over it.

Sounds Santana-esque

alexmcginness

Quote from: BackDAWman on July 23, 2017, 04:09:38 PM
Sounds Santana-esque

Yup it was a Santana tune. It sounds like Jeff Healey on his stuff if you dig in. The Guyatone was my go to box for years until I cloned it into my Vgs.
VG-88V2, GR-50, GR-55, 4 X VG-99s,2 X FC-300,  2 X GP-10 AXON AX 100 MKII, FISHMAN TRIPLE PLAY,MIDX-10, MIDX-20, AVID 11 RACK, BEHRINGER FCB 1010, LIVID GUITAR WING, ROLAND US-20, 3 X GUYATONE TO-2. MARSHALL BLUESBREAKER, SERBIAN ELIMINATOR AMP. GR-33.

Smash

Always loved the Aspri mechanical reverb - lo tech, no battery reverb solution for acoustics. Still have mine from 1989.


kneagle

#31
Yeah Baby - YEAH!!!

Quote from: admsustainiac on July 23, 2017, 03:01:32 PM

it was called the Casio PG-380
http://www.sonicstate.com/synth/casio_pg380/

Mike Martell (mike_martell@hotmail.com) writes:
Apart from the synth built in, the guitar itself, a strat style "Ibanez", is of very high quality. [Equivalent to a late 1980's Ibanez Roadstar II] Adding the synth makes it THE MOST ADVANCED GUITAR EVER BUILT allowing the full transition from a normal screaming strat to a scary synthezised dentists drill by by slowly turning a knob on the guitar. Seen from the front it looks like a normal strat (S/S/H) with a Hex-pickup close to the floyd rose tremolo and a small panel below. On the panel there are 12 small buttons for controlling patches and octave, a 2-digit LED display, and two LED's for the built-in tuner. Strat-wise there is a five pole pickup selector and controls for tone, guitar volume and synth volume. Apart from a normal DIN MIDI-OUT connector there one mono output for guitar only and a stereo for guitar + synth. The synth can be set to send on six different MIDI channels, one for each string, or everything over one channel. Tracking is very good, and you can even bend the tones to play your favourite blues. The backside is full of electronics and a slot for the ROM cards. Acoustically it has quite a woody sound due to all the chambers routed for electronics.
Comments About the Sounds:
The built in patches is not so good but with a VZ synth module or keyboard you can design your own sounds




scrufy

Reviving an old thread but I tell people about my 50th anniversary American roland ready strat and I just get by blank looks like "what is that", and I've even had some tell me it's worth less because the 4th gk pu.
I love it and have for 24 years now. Might not be for everyone and I've had the neck off twice to do the frets and realign it (I never said I was easy on th things) haha
I just think they are underappreciated.
I run mine now with a gp-10 I got when they first came out 2014 or 15. Had a few boxes before that but the gp woke it up.

gumtown

Way back in 1989 I saved for weeks to buy one of these ART SGE mkii
and the X11 midi foot pedal.
It was amazing at the time with all sorts of menu driven effects, overdrives, pitch shifting, and also a 2 second sampler capable of midi pitch playback.
I still have 2 of these today, I just can't bear to sell it now, after what I paid for it in 1989 (was worth about 4~6 weeks wages then).

People were amazed by all that high tech crammed into a 1U rack unit.

here are some pics/vid of what I have found on the interweb.


Free "GR-55 FloorBoard" editor software from https://sourceforge.net/projects/grfloorboard/

aliensporebomb

I still have my SGE (Mach I) but back when I was living in an apartment where electricity was uneven the digital portion got fried.  It was repaired by ART but then it happened again. 

I still have it and the analog portion works but the digital portion doesn't work anymore.   My favorite was the glistening chorus patch I think when it did work.   I also found a decent distortion out of it but I mainly used it to process drum machines and other devices.  I wonder if it's something that can be fixed?  I never did open it up to see if there's
a fried chip.

My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

aliensporebomb

Quote from: alexmcginness on July 22, 2017, 11:01:44 AM
Heres one I used and cloned into my VGs The Guyatone TO-2. Bill Ruppert mentioned that he used one of these as well. I still have my beat up original and two that are pristine.



heres the clone sound. Excuse the mistakes. This was done live at the end of a dead night on one of the boats I work on and the bartender said do one more, so I pulled up a track and just played something over it.

Sounds great - nice and throaty.  You made a VG-99 sound out of this?  Or VG-88 or 8?
My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

aliensporebomb

#36
Quote from: scrufy on March 29, 2020, 09:33:38 PM
Reviving an old thread but I tell people about my 50th anniversary American roland ready strat and I just get by blank looks like "what is that", and I've even had some tell me it's worth less because the 4th gk pu.
I love it and have for 24 years now. Might not be for everyone and I've had the neck off twice to do the frets and realign it (I never said I was easy on th things) haha
I just think they are underappreciated.
I run mine now with a gp-10 I got when they first came out 2014 or 15. Had a few boxes before that but the gp woke it up.

All the stores around here charge more for the guitars with the Roland GK pickup in them - most conservative guitar guys would rip that out because all they ever want to play through is some tube amp or something.  That's so conservative.

I appreciate mine!   There was even one locally that was someones "Bootsy Collins" guitar with gold sparkle pickguard and black finish
body, it looked pretty wild but I already had two GK guitars a third might be considered too much of a good thing!

My music projects online at http://www.aliensporebomb.com/

GK Devices:  Roland VG-99, Boss GP-10, Boss SY-1000.

kenact

A rather old piece of "high tech" gear. A 1967 Gretsch Viking with a "Floating Sound Unit.

The tuning fork goes into the body, the strings get threaded through to 3 bars, and it's held up by a space saver bridge. The larger of the three bars, serves as the actual bridge.

The guitar is handing on the wall behind me, in my profile picture.
Godin Session & Montreal FTP, LGXT, LGX SA, Redline, ACS, A12, A11, A10, A4
Danoblaster Baritone w/GK-3
Gretsch Nashville, Viking
Fender Strats
Fret King Supermatic
Larrivee DV03RE
Parker Midi Fly
Seagull, S&P 12
VOX Phantom XII
GR-55, 33, 30, 20, GI-20, RC-50, US-20, VG-99, VP-7
Sentient 6
Cyr 7

cplm

A few years ago I bought a used Gibson Nighthawk from 1993. The owner didn't love it at all and sold it at a ridiculous price.
At first I thought I had simply thrown some money away, but then I added a GK3 to it and now it is the only guitar I carry
when I play live, fast neck, very light on the shoulders and with many different sounds that bind very well to synth sounds.

The funniest thing is when I open the case: that incredible violet-fuchsia leaves everyone speechless!



(image taken from internet)

kenact

Quote from: aliensporebomb on March 30, 2020, 02:40:43 PM
I already had two GK guitars a third might be considered too much of a good thing!



Godin LGXT
Godin LGX SA
Godin ACS Slim
Godin A4
Godin A10
Danoblaster with GK3
SG Clone with GK3

I don't want to go down to just 2. :)
Godin Session & Montreal FTP, LGXT, LGX SA, Redline, ACS, A12, A11, A10, A4
Danoblaster Baritone w/GK-3
Gretsch Nashville, Viking
Fender Strats
Fret King Supermatic
Larrivee DV03RE
Parker Midi Fly
Seagull, S&P 12
VOX Phantom XII
GR-55, 33, 30, 20, GI-20, RC-50, US-20, VG-99, VP-7
Sentient 6
Cyr 7

Piing

My old setup. It survived through many gigs during several years. I feel nostalgia when I see it.
From that picture I only keep the Ibanez




  • Ibanez RG550LTD This is still my favourite axe. I've owned more expensive guitars: J-Custom, JS2450, JEM... but they had no added value over the RG550LTD, so I didn't keep them. It is a lucky piece of wood.
  • Marshall JMP-1. Incredible and versatile pre-amp
  • BOSS GX-700. For FX and CAB-sim
  • VG-8: No need to explain
  • Korg 05R/W: it used to be my workhorse
  • E-Mu orbit: that was fun
  • JBL EON-15: my FRFR Stage Monitors
  • Peluso: my mate lived more than 20 years

I knew every single parameter, tricks and programming corners of these gear by heart

kenact

Quote from: Piing on March 31, 2020, 09:10:15 PM

  • Ibanez RG550LTD This is still my favourite axe. I've owned more expensive guitars: J-Custom, JS2450, JEM... but they had no added value over the RG550LTD, so I didn't keep them. It is a lucky piece of wood.
  • Marshall JMP-1. Incredible and versatile pre-amp
  • BOSS GX-700. For FX and CAB-sim
  • VG-8: No need to explain
  • Korg 05R/W: it used to be my workhorse
  • E-Mu orbit: that was fun
  • JBL EON-15: my FRFR Stage Monitors
  • Peluso: my mate lived more than 20 years

Isn't that a GR-30, partially obscured by a cat tail? :)
Godin Session & Montreal FTP, LGXT, LGX SA, Redline, ACS, A12, A11, A10, A4
Danoblaster Baritone w/GK-3
Gretsch Nashville, Viking
Fender Strats
Fret King Supermatic
Larrivee DV03RE
Parker Midi Fly
Seagull, S&P 12
VOX Phantom XII
GR-55, 33, 30, 20, GI-20, RC-50, US-20, VG-99, VP-7
Sentient 6
Cyr 7

Piing

Yes, I forgot to mention the GR-30. I didn't used it much, because I preferred the Axon AX100 MK II + modules

Rhcole


alexmcginness

Quote from: cplm on March 31, 2020, 12:36:31 AM
A few years ago I bought a used Gibson Nighthawk from 1993. The owner didn't love it at all and sold it at a ridiculous price.
At first I thought I had simply thrown some money away, but then I added a GK3 to it and now it is the only guitar I carry
when I play live, fast neck, very light on the shoulders and with many different sounds that bind very well for synth sounds.

The funniest thing is when I open the case: that incredible violet-fuchsia leaves everyone speechless!



(image taken from internet)

Heres a guy using one of those and a VG-88 doing The Wall

VG-88V2, GR-50, GR-55, 4 X VG-99s,2 X FC-300,  2 X GP-10 AXON AX 100 MKII, FISHMAN TRIPLE PLAY,MIDX-10, MIDX-20, AVID 11 RACK, BEHRINGER FCB 1010, LIVID GUITAR WING, ROLAND US-20, 3 X GUYATONE TO-2. MARSHALL BLUESBREAKER, SERBIAN ELIMINATOR AMP. GR-33.