BluesKing777 Posted August 21, 2019 Share Posted August 21, 2019 I am having a lot of fun testing various pickups in my Boss VE8 lately. Here I do a short version of Neil Young's "Harvest" with a Baggs M1A soundhole pickup on my Waterloo WL-14L . All I used on the guitar section of the Boss is the volume control - just straight guitar pickup...I like it! The vocal is through my plain jane Shure SM58 with just a splash of reverb, with Keef on harmony in the choruses!😎 And then straight to record in Garageband on my old iMac: BluesKing777. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted August 21, 2019 Share Posted August 21, 2019 You kids and your gadgets... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle fester Posted August 21, 2019 Share Posted August 21, 2019 Good stuff BK! Thinking of gadgets, if you get a hankerin', would you do a demo of different mics? 1 Guitar, no p'ups, vintage, Gibson. I would say no FX (i.e. reverb, compression...), but not sure if mics require FX to really display their capabilities? I've got shure SM57 and 58, and happy with the results (they are more than fine for my use), but didn't know if there were other ways I should spend my money that would matter to no one other than me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted August 25, 2019 Author Share Posted August 25, 2019 I just sat back down in my lounge room after spending some time playing and singing through the Boss VE8 using my Shure In-Ear Monitors (545s?) and my 4 channel mixer. It is a bit tricky to get used to having the in-ears when you stop playing mainly. The sound is just superb, like playing through the best PA available. So here is a possible alternative approach to gigging or open mic’ing........practice at home with your Boss VE8, guitar plugged, mic plugged, get your balance between guitar and vocal and effects, and guess what? On the Boss VE8, you can save your settings, very handy. After you have it mastered a bit, pack a bag with the Boss VE8 loaded with batteries (yep, it takes battery power too!), one or two acoustic guitars, one vocal mic, one guitar lead, one mic lead, tuner, strings etc..AND your in-ear monitors. Park yourself on the stage, plug everything in to the VE8, run a lead to the PA and go! You get the sounds you have practiced with and SAVED and the soundpeople can do their best/worst with the Front Of House PA and you do your thing regardless.....😎 BluesKing777. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holiday Hoser Posted August 30, 2019 Share Posted August 30, 2019 (edited) Boss VE8 is quite a toy after seeing a Youtuber showing it off. Nice live rig. I just picked this beauty for a couple hundred bucks. Used to belong to Charlie Wilson of the Gap Band. Tascam 2488 neo Should be some fun in the home studio! Edited August 30, 2019 by Holiday Hoser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted August 30, 2019 Author Share Posted August 30, 2019 3 hours ago, Holiday Hoser said: Boss VE8 is quite a toy after seeing a Youtuber showing it off. Nice live rig. I just picked this beauty for a couple hundred bucks. Used to belong to Charlie Wilson of the Gap Band. Tascam 2488 neo Should be some fun in the home studio! I have an 8 track Tascam Portastudio sitting in a box in a closet. I tortured that poor thing hooked up to Band In A Box and a full digital orchestra! Spent a huge amount of time entering the music to BIAB and recording the result, only to realise that it didn’t really want a guitar player. The preamps were not that good, ok if you had plenty of level like a 57 on an amp, but a lot of hiss if you wound up the gain with a 57 to record an acoustic. My Allen and Heath 4 channel is a superb little mixer, and has replaced the Tascam. BluesKing777. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holiday Hoser Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 I have the same 8 channel in my closet and thought the same thing this is quite a difference as far as I can tell so far. we'll see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted August 31, 2019 Author Share Posted August 31, 2019 Yes, needful things! (Steve King)..... Before that 8 tracker, I had the Portastudio 4 track that used a cassette tape - 2 tracks each side of the tape! I went to a guitarist friend’s one day in the 90s approx and he said : “Look what I bought!” Record to a cassette in 4 tracks! “No! Really? Where do I get one?” The Akai reel to reel went to the pawn shop and a Tascam was mine! And soon enough I had a Boss drum machine so I could make band style tracks with a Boss Octaver on my Strat doing the bass. I did some tracks with a friend and he went mental and bought The Works with a 32 channel desk and all kinds of STUFF. After gaining some recording confidence, I did a demo of a blues band I played in for a while. We used the singer’s house, upset his wife, had the drums in the lounge and the rest in the kitchen! We did about 10 great tracks! Apart from the cassette tape HISS, we had a better band demo than a pro one we did. Copies of our tape went all over the map and we got all kinds of strange gigs off circuit....including an eye opening Hookers and Deviate’s Ball! And then one day the Tascam drive broke...and I have had it repaired a few times but never worked properly again....now at the bottm of the closet somewhere. May as well piff it, no competing with Garageband etc, is there? BluesKing777. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holiday Hoser Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 The guy I bought this from has a recording studio in San Luis Obispo complete with 2" tape and all the trimmings. Tons of outboard gear too. I asked him what it was like to work with all that vintage gear and he told me, "Oh we never use it. I hired a couple 20 somethings and we rout everything to Pro Tools" I guess he's no Dan Auerbach. I remember my fist experience with digital you could go have a sandwich while it rendered. Have a listen and have to do it all over. Ah memories... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted August 31, 2019 Author Share Posted August 31, 2019 My friend had Pro Tools and I was the guinea pig when he was first learning it. I sat and played my old Dobro in front of a wall of mics he was testing. He then sat there editing out my breathing, chair noises, clothes noises and the hot car going past..... I learned some Pro Tools but had a job using Photoshop to edit real estate advertising and my retinas couldn’t look at a screen another second. And that leads to my current recording ‘style’ of pressing record and getting whatever I get. I do a fade in and out and run it to Soundcloud, no edits. BluesKing777. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly campbell Posted September 1, 2019 Share Posted September 1, 2019 17 hours ago, BluesKing777 said: My friend had Pro Tools and I was the guinea pig when he was first learning it. I sat and played my old Dobro in front of a wall of mics he was testing. He then sat there editing out my breathing, chair noises, clothes noises and the hot car going past..... I learned some Pro Tools but had a job using Photoshop to edit real estate advertising and my retinas couldn’t look at a screen another second. And that leads to my current recording ‘style’ of pressing record and getting whatever I get. I do a fade in and out and run it to Soundcloud, no edits. BluesKing777. Always enjoy your playin...thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted September 1, 2019 Author Share Posted September 1, 2019 Thanks KC! I put the track and post up because I really enjoy using the Boss VE8 for plugging in an acoustic-electric and a mic to get a balance and effects/DI etc - and someone reading this might decide it is exactly what they need too.....no affiliations here. BluesKing777. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle fester Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 On 8/25/2019 at 12:39 AM, BluesKing777 said: I just sat back down in my lounge room after spending some time playing and singing through the Boss VE8 using my Shure In-Ear Monitors (545s?) BluesKing777. Hey BK, how do you like the shure in ear monitors? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted September 2, 2019 Author Share Posted September 2, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, billroy said: Hey BK, how do you like the shure in ear monitors? The Shure in ear monitors I have were the top of the line when I got them a few years back and are truly sensational, Billroy. They are out of date now though. To attempt to explain, mine have 3 tiny speakers each side with bass speaker, middle, treble kind of like live concert PA in your head! I could plug them in to my Boss VE8 and run that to a PA with no floor monitor on, and therefore no feedback. You could do the same with headphones but yo could get mistaken for a DJ. Because they are in your ear, you can turn down the volume of your mixer quite a lot so they won’t deafen you as much as headphones, we are told. Also because they are in your ear, if you have any ear wax problems it will sure (shure!) make it worse. The other annoying thing is the wires....it is memory wire that you bend over your ears to hold in place. Headphones, you sort of throw on and off but these take a bit of fiddling until you are used to it. Apple have the Earpods wireless now, so I hope Shure go that direction! Problem with Apple Earpods is they keep needing charging, whereas the Shures don’t. Of course the Apples only have one speaker, not 3. When I asked the Boss about them on the train to her work, she said everyone has them but she stays with wired ones so she doesn’t lose the little things..... BluesKing777. Edited September 2, 2019 by BluesKing777 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle fester Posted September 2, 2019 Share Posted September 2, 2019 16 minutes ago, BluesKing777 said: You could do the same with headphones but yo could get mistaken for a DJ. Maybe it's a little too much vanity, but this was one of the chief drivers :). 18 minutes ago, BluesKing777 said: Of course the Apples only have one speaker, not 3. BluesKing777. For use as an in ear monitor, do you think you lose a lot only having a single speaker? My desire is to find a wireless set up... then if I find a wireless mic I like and one of those wireless contraptions for guitars coupled with my battery operated bose S1 - I will be portable and cable free 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted September 2, 2019 Author Share Posted September 2, 2019 3 minutes ago, billroy said: Maybe it's a little too much vanity, but this was one of the chief drivers :). For use as an in ear monitor, do you think you lose a lot only having a single speaker? My desire is to find a wireless set up... then if I find a wireless mic I like and one of those wireless contraptions for guitars coupled with my battery operated bose S1 - I will be portable and cable free 🙂 All free and easy for a solo performance but if the whole band wants in ears......you just about need 2 more roadies. Drummer wants more of the bass guitar in his ears, bass wants just him....etc And all your mentioned dream bits have the nuisance - batteries and charging both ends constantly......mic, guitar, ears. I am with you though, Billroy, if there is a lead I will trip on the thing. But the old guitar lead and the old mic lead need no charging...ever. Just plug the ferkers in! BluesKing777. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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