Robin Nahum
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Posts posted by Robin Nahum
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Wow! That's very pretty.
So.... I've always wondered about guitars with three outwardly identical pickups... what does the middle pickup do? Is it just a different winding/magnet to the neck pickup to broaden your tone palette? And what are the switching options? And how does the 2V 2T tone circuit operate?
And why would you move on such a fine looking guitar?
RN
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Something to get you going in live audio that is a bit easier (and cheaper) than the Yamaha text.
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What amps are people using with their semi hollows?
Any of early SF Deluxe, Vibrolux or Pro Reverb.
The Pro is my favourite for its big warm tone but it really needs a bigger room. For smaller rooms the Deluxe or Vibrolux work better.
I have a Henriksen Jazz Amp for when I need a smaller amp for travelling. They are well designed and sound good but I don't think you can go past a tube.
RN
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Hi Larry,
They are a tangle - and the inductor sitting in the block between the pickups and also wired into the tone circuit doesn't help matters. The inductor is the "L" in RLC circuit and bleeds off the bass in the same way that a cap bleeds off the treble. The resulting notch filter effect is what gives the 345 it's er... interesting range of tones - but I like them.
I think that the intention of the design was to get a single coil tone from a humbucker.
My tech pulled out the insides of my '66 ES345 when I asked him to restore it to full stereo after a botched mono-isation that also damaged one of the Varitone chips. It was a very fiddly job hence my preference for mono-ising once the signals have left the guitar.
There is a schematic in Donald Brosnac's book "Guitar Electronics for Musicians". There also used to be one on the Gibson website but it seems to have disappeared.
RN
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Hi jc,
New possibility.
5E3 Deluxe?
http://forums.gibson.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=64082#64082
These have four inputs
mic - hi-gain and lo-gain
inst - hi-gain and lo-gain
The inst inputs are more trebly.
While there is more investigation to do in terms of tone, I was certainly able to find joy running the brdge pup into the inst lo-gain and the neck pup into the mic lo-gain.
RN
PS Of course you need to add just one more amp to your collection. These are only small anyway. ;-)
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Is there any electronic "active" device I can use with stereo input into a mono output?
I use a Barge Concepts VFB-X
http://www.bargeconcepts.com/x.html
If you look at the picture, you will see that it has four phono sockets - "In", "Send", "Receive", "Out".
If you are using the VFB-X with a mono output guitar, you:
. connect the guitar into "In"
. use "Send" and "Receive" as the start and end of your FX loop
. connect from the "Out" socket to your amp.
The "Clean Blend" knob controls the mix of dry and FX loop going to the amp - or you can do this using an expression pedal (purchased separately) plugged into the VFB-X.
To use the VFB-X with a 345, you need a Y-cable or a breakout box. You then connect the neck pickup into "In" and the bridge pickup into "Receive", and connect the VFB-X to your amp via the "Out" socket. This allows you to switch between the two pickups in the normal way and have a mono output.
More interestingly, you can leave both pickups switched on and pan between them using the expression pedal.
Even more interestingly, if I am using effects, say with my bridge pickup, I place these between the guitar and the VFB-X and use the expression pedal to blend in just the right amount.
RN
PS Unfortunately, running a 345 into the two sides of a two-channel Fender amp such as a BF or SF Twin, Deluxe or Vibrolux doesn't work. The output signals from the two channels are designed to be 180 degrees out of phase and when both pickups are switched on, the tone is thin and disappointing.
The Reference Booshelf
in Lessons, Playing Tips and Tunings
Posted
I have been looking into other books on live sound besides Fry's (see my dunkworld post above) and have been mightily impressed by Bill Gibson's The Ultimate Live Sound Operator's Handbook.
http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Operators-Handbook-Leonard-Guides/dp/1423419715/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298353270&sr=8-1
This book is well written and very good at explaining how to get a great sound, as well as how the bits work. It comes with a DVD that provides audio or video demonstrations of the topics he discussess.
I also bought a copy of the Yamaha reference but on first examination, I am getting the impression that it explains lots of technology but is not strong on what to do at the gig.
RN