Gibson Dark Fire

Started by RoC1909, November 29, 2008, 09:54:49 PM

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RoC1909

Hey all,

While skulking around the Harmony Central forums, I saw a link to a guitar that I had never heard of. It's made by Gibson and it is called the "Dark Fire".

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/DarkFire.aspx

It's a Les Paul body (hell, what isn't that comes out of Gibson anymore). It also uses the Travincal Tuners that were first placed on the Robot Guitar that was released not too long ago. The tuners on the Dark Fire are version 2 of the tuners though. I read that they can tune to a alternate tuning in less that a second. As mentioned in the description, you could just about change tunings MID-SONG with that speed. The battery also supports up to 500 tunings on a single charge.

The 'tuning button' on the guitar has also gone through a update and instead of showing on the knob dial what tuning you are in, the button now has a small display that shows the tuning. It looks really nice.

The MAIN thing that caught my attention is that it comes with a Piezo Bridge pickup and that in the near future:

An optional adaptor provides easy connection from this hex output to popular MIDI guitar interfaces such as those made by Roland and Axon, or allows you to divide out the six individual signals to their own balanced one-quarter inch connectors.

Looks kick ass to me and I am not a big Gibson fan!

RoC

LeeMorant

looks well thought out, if the input is 1/4 jack to the rip does that mean you could insert a decent wireless system and be wire free?

Elantric

#2
this is my favorite part of the press release:

Quote" And, here's good news for current Robot owners: all the new features of the Gibson Dark Fire will be available for your guitars, with a low-cost upgrade kit."
I might re- explore a refurb robot guitar I saw recently under a $1000

Fwiw- this upgrade never occurred, and speaks volumes on why Henry J's electronic lifestyle dream failed

feloniouspunk

Contest:

Write a song about the Dark Fire, dump it up on youtube, and win one!

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/DarkFire/Contest.aspx

Heres a freebie... "the dark fire is object of my desire..." :P
Lots of Gear. :)

RoC1909

Quote from: feloniouspunk on November 30, 2008, 06:03:14 AM
Contest:

Write a song about the Dark Fire, dump it up on youtube, and win one!

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/DarkFire/Contest.aspx

Heres a freebie... "the dark fire is object of my desire..." :P

Gotta Love it!!! Hell, you won in my book!!

RoC

rcknrllmn

#5
Anyone have any insight on how the new Gibson Dark Fire may work with the VG-99?

mos6507

Yep.



$3,000 is a lot of money for features you probably don't need, though.  Depends on how much you want the tone to come from the guitar vs. the VG.  If you want alternate tunings on the VG you have to sacrifice the regular pickup tone whereas with this you would not (the robotic tuners).

Michael Dolan Doubleneck
Les Paul Custom

VG-99
FTP

Elantric

#7
Mine arrives this Friday.

I intend to gig with it.

I'm currently performing as a duo with a Shawn Colvin type female singer songwriter and each song is in a different open tuning.

The VG-99 is the best emulated alternate tuning rig around - but nothing beats the real deal open tuning when trying to play Sonny Landreth slide. You need that close coupled sustain feedback that only real open tuned strings in proximity to an over-driven amp can provide. 


rcknrllmn

Would the hex output go to the vg-99 13 pin input? 

And, can you change the Les-Paul settings with the VG-99/FC-300?
Would you need some other equipment to control the Les Paul besides that grey box?

I'm confused on how all this would work together. 

Elantric

#9
Gibson is due to market a GK13 pin  adapter - which will connect to the Dark Fire RIP box's  8 pin miniDIN "HEX" out - thus making the dark fire able to connect to Axon or Roland GK 13 pin gear.
Few details are available regarding this adapter. Availability is sometime in 2009.

I may build my own.
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?action=downloads;sa=downfile&id=80

( edit: IN 2008-2010  - I  Became very involved with this project for Gibson
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?action=downloads;sa=downfile&id=23


At this time  there is no path for footcontrol operation of the Dark Fire's Tronical tuning system  - but a future firmware update may allow the Dark Fire Rip Box Editor application to respond to MIDI commands when attached to a PC/MAC via Firewire. 


rcknrllmn

Thanks for the info. sustainiac & mos6507.   

;D

rcknrllmn

I was just wondering, because I was just bugging Gibson/Epiphone customer service to produce a model with a built in Roland GK pickup system.  Then I saw the Dark Fire.

Elantric


redlock

Hey Steve , can't wait for your review/insights into the Dark Fire.
Spoke to my man today and it's looking like the new year for me :(

I'm number 4 on a list of 5 and they'll be getting thyem one by one

ah well.............

Elantric

#14



I already began a Yahoo Dark Fire group -
For those of us who have a keen interest in the development of this technological marvel
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Gibson_Dark_Fire/

I'll post most of my info over there and on the Gibson Dark Fire Forum - i'm "elantric" over there.

I'll focus on keeping on topic with the VG-99 topic here - it may offend too many folks if I gloat too loudly about my new toy ;)


Elantric

#15
The Dark Fire Owners are considering a class action lawsuit over false advertising.
Dark Fire has been shipping to customers for past 2 weeks, yet  Gibson refuses to supply a Dark Fire Owner's Manual. So basically a typical owner fumbles about with the MCK knob  - clobbers the default tuning mode to DADGAD, and can never get the guitar to function as advertised. Gibson Customer Support is issuing RMAs and Fedex trucks to take the guitars back to Nashville for retuning.  This is absurd, but true.  Repeated pleas to Gibson and Tronical  for the Dark Fire Owners Manual with details on how to restore the factory default values fall on deaf ears, so The Dark Fire early adopters are considering taking legal action for being deceived. 

http://forums.gibson.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=10998
http://forums.gibson.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=10842

http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/forum/151-g-force-and-other-gibson-tech-guitars/

http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/forum/151-gibson-usa-tech-guitars/

baranger1

What a "Chocolate Mess".

Bill

God I love my Alternate Tune button!

vanceg

Boy oh boy this sure REEKS of a "we have to ship SOMETHING by the end of the 4th quarter of this year - Ship it in whatever form it is in".

Pathetic, Gibson. I sure hope they make good on the promise of the DarkFire.  Honestly they lost my respect and trust many years ago with their abhorrent behavior with Opcode and many, many other situations.  They have lost my business, so I suppose my opinion doesn't count.

To me Gibson is a lot like the American automobile industry: I would LOVE to support it, but if they only make poorly designed products and don't seem to give a flying hoot about their customers, I say "let the market speak".

But the dark fire has so much promise....

Good luck - Let's hope you all can get this worked out!

Vance

Quote from:  sustainiac on December 28, 2008, 11:16:27 AM
The Dark Fire Owners are considering a class action lawsuit over false advertising.
Dark Fire has been shipping to customers for past 2 weeks, yet  Gibson refuses to supply a Dark Fire Owner's Manual. So basically a typical owner fumbles about with the MCK knob  - clobbers the default tuning mode to DADGAD, and can never get the guitar to function as advertised. Gibson Customer Support is issuing RMAs and Fedex trucks to take the guitars back to Nashville for retuning.  This is absurd, but true.  Repeated pleas to Gibson and Tronical  for the Dark Fire Owners Manual with details on how to restore the factory default values fall on deaf ears, so The Dark Fire early adopters are considering taking legal action for being deceived. 

http://forums.gibson.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=10998
http://forums.gibson.com/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=10842

Elantric


kneagle

Quote from:  vanceg on December 28, 2008, 12:38:26 PM
  Honestly they lost my respect and trust many years ago with their abhorrent behavior with Opcode and many, many other situations.  They have lost my business, so I suppose my opinion doesn't count.

To me Gibson is a lot like the American automobile industry: I would LOVE to support it, but if they only make poorly designed products and don't seem to give a flying hoot about their customers, I say "let the market speak".


mega-frickin' ditto!!! I was going to play nice and keep my mouth shut, but now that you bring it up, those guys (Gibson) have been tickin' me off and embarrassing themselves for too many years now - not only Opcode, but Oberheim and others. . .

Dukemaster

I click on it and see ................. nothing?

Elantric


Big Vern

#22
Hi Guys,

I've been playing a Gibson Darkfire today and have to say was very impressed. However the guys in the shop didn't know much about the RIP box and whether or not the Hex out from this box can be used to drive the VG-99. I've read somewhere on the net that there is a special cable needed to go from the gibson socket on the RIP to the 13pin socket on the VG-99. Is this all I require?? And if I get this will I be able to use the VG-99 as normal?
Best regards,
David
Its better to regret something you have done, than to regret something you haven't done.

sonkoneli

I have got the Dark fire and the RIP box. There is an 8 pin socket on the RIP interface which is supposed to connect the Dark fire piezo pick up to "compatible interfaces made by Axon and Roland". It says in the manual that you are supposed to get the cable from Gibson but there is nothing on the Gibson site. There is post on the Gibson forums that someone has connected the Dark fire to an old VG8 and apparently worked well. I suppose we will be waiting for more info from Gibson.

Big Vern

Hi there, since starting this thread I have found a great site - www.futureguitarnow.com  It has answered virtually all my questions regarding the DF and the VG-99 and lots more besides, Great bunch of guys, very helpful, you ought to check it out.
Its better to regret something you have done, than to regret something you haven't done.