SolitaryPine Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 Ah! Great idea with the G. I never thought about running the piezo into a loop return. Smart. The possibilities with presets would all be there then, but I get your point about keeping the insert loop straight among presents. Thanks for the tip. Your setup with the H&Ks must sound pretty killer. Pick a good tune and post us a YouTube vid sometime soon -- would be cool to see it all in action. Thanks. Yeah, you can do all kinds of crazy stuff with the G, which is what I love about it (and the killer tone). If you don't already, you should spend some time in the TC forums and see what some people there have come up with. Hopefully I'll have time to make a video soon. I'm guessing if you are using the 4 cable method you've already read Laird's white paper. But if you haven't definitely do so. One other thing I should mention, I think (I can't remember) that when I plugged into a loop return I had to put a dummy plug (with no cable attached) into the Loop 1 send, or else the G thinks it isn't in use and bypasses the loop even when you specifically tell it to activate it. So if you try it and it doesn't work, see if a dummy plug fixes it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock2112 Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Thanks. Yeah, you can do all kinds of crazy stuff with the G, which is what I love about it (and the killer tone). If you don't already, you should spend some time in the TC forums and see what some people there have come up with. Hopefully I'll have time to make a video soon. I'm guessing if you are using the 4 cable method you've already read Laird's white paper. But if you haven't definitely do so. One other thing I should mention, I think (I can't remember) that when I plugged into a loop return I had to put a dummy plug (with no cable attached) into the Loop 1 send, or else the G thinks it isn't in use and bypasses the loop even when you specifically tell it to activate it. So if you try it and it doesn't work, see if a dummy plug fixes it. Thanks. Yeah, I've spent some time in the G-system forum and even noticed you have posted over there. I also read Laird's great white paper on the G. Like many, I have a love-hate relationship with the G, just because it takes so much time to get it where you want it. But the sound is great and the sky is the limit with it on switching and flexibility when you do it. I use an Amp Gizmo for amp channel switching and it works nicely with the G (switching on the G is still a bit slow). Put together, it's a lot of things to configure, leading my band mates to refer to my rig as the "space shuttle." When things get screwed up or even one cable jars loose, I can easily lose half a practice just going through everything ("we checked every bulb, didn't we Russ?"). I tried your tip using a loop for the Piezo input -- it worked nicely. I didn't need to use a dummy plug. I used loop 2 just because I already had an overdrive in loop 1 and didn't feel like moving things around (just wanted to try it out) -- I'm not sure if that would make any difference on the dummy plug. The only issue I ran into was I needed to kick up the input gain a bit for the mags, and that caused a significant volume imbalance between the Piezo and the mags on my clean channel. So I'll need to play with that to get it right. I need to spend a good 8 hours that I haven't had in years just programming everything to work well together -- G, Nova Drive, Amp Gizmo. My band's been just writing and recording for a while now so, without a gig, there's no strong impetus to clear a full day for configuring. I just short-cut up some settings for times when we jam. My rig sits at my friend's studio, and at home I run Amplitube 3 and other stuff through a Fireface 800. If I do a video, it would probably have to be using Amplitube as my friend's studio is a little dark for decent video. I played the AL through it quite a bit this past weekend and the sound of that guitar just continues to amaze me. It captures the best of the Les Paul sound while being able to morph to whatever sound you need. I think Presto would be good to show it off right but I'll have to set up some switching options and I won't have the benefit of a footswitch option for the Piezo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolitaryPine Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Put together, it's a lot of things to configure, leading my band mates to refer to my rig as the "space shuttle." When things get screwed up or even one cable jars loose, I can easily lose half a practice just going through everything ("we checked every bulb, didn't we Russ?"). Yeah, I hear you on that. I've spent a fair amount of time with my rack to make sure that everything is locked down as much as possible to make sure cables don't wiggle free from the vibrations of moving it around. I think I have a thousand plastic ties in there, and that helps a lot, but of course there is still the issue of the connections not in the rack. I tried your tip using a loop for the Piezo input -- it worked nicely. I didn't need to use a dummy plug. I used loop 2 just because I already had an overdrive in loop 1 and didn't feel like moving things around (just wanted to try it out) -- I'm not sure if that would make any difference on the dummy plug. The only issue I ran into was I needed to kick up the input gain a bit for the mags, and that caused a significant volume imbalance between the Piezo and the mags on my clean channel. Yeah. If you run a DI box of some kind (like my Fishman Aura Spectrum) that has a volume control you can use that to help balance the signal levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock2112 Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 Yeah, I hear you on that. I've spent a fair amount of time with my rack to make sure that everything is locked down as much as possible to make sure cables don't wiggle free from the vibrations of moving it around. I think I have a thousand plastic ties in there, and that helps a lot, but of course there is still the issue of the connections not in the rack. Yeah. If you run a DI box of some kind (like my Fishman Aura Spectrum) that has a volume control you can use that to help balance the signal levels. I just got the Fishman Aura Spectrum delivered today, so once I figure out the best settings on that, I should be good to go. It certainly LOOKS cool -- hopefully it will sound as cool with my setup. Any tips you have on setup would be welcome, though I assume I just need to play with it and find what works best for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolitaryPine Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 I just got the Fishman Aura Spectrum delivered today, so once I figure out the best settings on that, I should be good to go. It certainly LOOKS cool -- hopefully it will sound as cool with my setup. Any tips you have on setup would be welcome, though I assume I just need to play with it and find what works best for me. Well it is a tad complicated, as it has "images" for different guitars and it basically applies an EQ preset intended to make that specific guitar sound like it has a mic on it rather than what it sounds like with a piezo pickup. Of course, none of the factory images are solid body electrics (unless that has been updated since I got mine a while ago), and obviously I'm not sure that the sound of a solid body with a mic on it is what anyone would want, anyway. So, technically, this application isn't really the proper use of the Spectrum. Alex's guitar tech acknowledged this himself in an interview I saw a month or so ago as he uses one in the same way. So, yeah, you pretty much have to play with the different images and decide which one you like best. It also has compression, volume, and feedback suppression features. I use a light compression with the volume all the way up, but I don't recall my other settings, sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormtropper Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Does anyone know if the Viceroy Brown and the Royal Crimson are on different serial number systems? Al's own tech says that he is (was) touring with a Viceroy Brown serial no. 1. I ask this because I have seen a signed Royal Crimson serial no. 1 with my own eyes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyRocker Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 From what I've read the signed ALs are not stamped but have Alex's sinature and the #XX where XX is 1 to 50. The stamped (unsigned) ALs start with serial number AL001. You saw the signed AL#1 in crimson red and Alex was touring with with a viceroy brown AL001. I have not seen any pattern in the serial numbering that identifies color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock2112 Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Well it is a tad complicated, as it has "images" for different guitars and it basically applies an EQ preset intended to make that specific guitar sound like it has a mic on it rather than what it sounds like with a piezo pickup. Of course, none of the factory images are solid body electrics (unless that has been updated since I got mine a while ago), and obviously I'm not sure that the sound of a solid body with a mic on it is what anyone would want, anyway. So, technically, this application isn't really the proper use of the Spectrum. Alex's guitar tech acknowledged this himself in an interview I saw a month or so ago as he uses one in the same way. So, yeah, you pretty much have to play with the different images and decide which one you like best. It also has compression, volume, and feedback suppression features. I use a light compression with the volume all the way up, but I don't recall my other settings, sorry. I played with the Fishman last night. Like you, I crank the volume all the way up and there's no hit on the clipping indicator (leaving me to wonder whether some kind of boost should be used). I played with a bunch of the images. It clearly improves the sound -- especially when you turn the "blend" back and forth to do an A/B comparison of with or without the image. I loved the sounds I was getting. There's a part of me that wonders whether a well used EQ would be just as effective, but the Aura gives me everything I would want in being able to shape the Piezo sound to please the ears. I ran the Piezo through the Fishman and into a separate channel of my DAW, added a nice reverb and a faint long delay, and it was really nice. I then ran the mag pickups to a parallel channel and got a nice "cream" tone going to blend in. I also used Fishman's software to look at their "image gallery," but it has not been updated to have any solid-body Piezo images. I think you're right no one wants or is able to entertain the fiction of putting a mic on a solid-body electric. But the ears are what matter, and many of the included image settings are definitely pleasing on the ears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolitaryPine Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 From what I've read the signed ALs are not stamped but have Alex's sinature and the #XX where XX is 1 to 50. The stamped (unsigned) ALs start with serial number AL001. You saw the signed AL#1 in crimson red and Alex was touring with with a viceroy brown AL001. I have not seen any pattern in the serial numbering that identifies color. Bingo. And, just one other little interesting fact.. the brown one shown in the product pictures on gibson.com is AL 001, which can be seen on the photo of the headstock if you look at the detail images. Hence, Alex was touring with the one in the product display photos on this site. For whatever its worth, the red one is AL 003, and my guess is that it is also the red one he was touring with, but who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolitaryPine Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 I played with the Fishman last night. Like you, I crank the volume all the way up and there's no hit on the clipping indicator (leaving me to wonder whether some kind of boost should be used). I played with a bunch of the images. It clearly improves the sound -- especially when you turn the "blend" back and forth to do an A/B comparison of with or without the image. I loved the sounds I was getting. There's a part of me that wonders whether a well used EQ would be just as effective, but the Aura gives me everything I would want in being able to shape the Piezo sound to please the ears. I ran the Piezo through the Fishman and into a separate channel of my DAW, added a nice reverb and a faint long delay, and it was really nice. I then ran the mag pickups to a parallel channel and got a nice "cream" tone going to blend in. I also used Fishman's software to look at their "image gallery," but it has not been updated to have any solid-body Piezo images. I think you're right no one wants or is able to entertain the fiction of putting a mic on a solid-body electric. But the ears are what matter, and many of the included image settings are definitely pleasing on the ears. Yeah, I'm thinking about adding a boost into the mix. I'm glad you are liking it also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyRocker Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Bingo. And, just one other little interesting fact.. the brown one shown in the product pictures on gibson.com is AL 001, which can be seen on the photo of the headstock if you look at the detail images. Hence, Alex was touring with the one in the product display photos on this site. For whatever its worth, the red one is AL 003, and my guess is that it is also the red one he was touring with, but who knows. Interesting. I saw the interview with Alex's guitar tech showing 001 and 003. I wonder if 002 was also the viceroy brown and the first royal crimson was 003 which Alex used? I still have not seen anything stating that there is a limit to the production but as was pointed out before, the three digit AL### makes you wonder..... On a side note. I got a chance to play one today at the Guitar Center in Tampa. I'm down here on vacation this week and decided to stop in. They had a viceroy brown AL094. It felt, played, and sounded great. I was suprised that the top wasn't very grainy. It looked similar to my 81 standard. I've seen some really nice tops posted form the AL owners and thought the figured tops would all look flamed. I have mine on order back at home and am hoping it arrives with a nice flame top. Any knowledge on the meaning of figured top? I always thought it reffered to a grainy (flames) top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormtropper Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Here it is. Signed serial no. 1. The figured top is gorgeous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolitaryPine Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 I was suprised that the top wasn't very grainy. Yeah, I was fortunate to be able to select from a group of three at my dealer, and they all had very different tops. Mine is less tiger stripy than some, but it sounded killer compared to the others, so I went with it. Any knowledge on the meaning of figured top? I always thought it reffered to a grainy (flames) top. I think it means that the top has curves, rather than being a flat plane of wood like a Strat or most acoustics. I don't think it refers to the finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolitaryPine Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Here it is. Signed serial no. 1. The figured top is gorgeous. Oh my god, what a gorgeous flame on that one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyRocker Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Oh my god, what a gorgeous flame on that one! Agree. Stormtropper you have an awesome flame top! Nice signed #1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyRocker Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Yeah, I was fortunate to be able to select from a group of three at my dealer, and they all had very different tops. Mine is less tiger stripy than some, but it sounded killer compared to the others, so I went it. That's nice you had a choice. My dealer didn't have any and now has two on special order. I'm concerned less about the flame and most about the sound and play/feel. I Ordered this guitar to become my main/only guitar for gigs. I'm currently using my LP Standard and PRS Custom 22. I also need to use some acoustic but couldn't make that work logistically so I faked it with some clean tones. Not only is Alex my main influence but this guitar is the Most flexible tonal instrument with six strings! I plan to sell the PRS once I have this AL setup with my gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zGrooveMeister Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Here's my sick baby... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyRocker Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Here's my sick baby... That's a killer top too!... My PRS is a 10 top color Black Cherry. It looks very similar to this. Congratulations on another beautiful AL LP!.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock2112 Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Great to see some others scoring very nice Als! The posted pictures of happy owners is much better than all the Peizo Bleed posts! Here's a shot of mine I recently took -- will post one more afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormtropper Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Yeah, this guitar is a beauty. The flame is an improvement over my other LP which is a Gold Top ;) which is a '95 LP Classic that I have had since new. It has been a stellar guitar in every way and the AL model exceeds it in every way. Such an awesome addition. In the store I was surprised with how closely the neck feel and setup was compared to my Gold Top. And it's quite a bit more comfortable to play with the slightly lighter weight and body cutaways. Is there an electronics recall on the guitar? I saw something about that in the forums and that Gibson made a statement, but they must have took it down because I can't find it. What I find is that the specs show a push/pull switch for the piezo pickup which my guitar does not have (bought it early May). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock2112 Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Yeah, this guitar is a beauty. The flame is an improvement over my other LP which is a Gold Top ;) which is a '95 LP Classic that I have had since new. It has been a stellar guitar in every way and the AL model exceeds it in every way. Such an awesome addition. In the store I was surprised with how closely the neck feel and setup was compared to my Gold Top. And it's quite a bit more comfortable to play with the slightly lighter weight and body cutaways. Is there an electronics recall on the guitar? I saw something about that in the forums and that Gibson made a statement, but they must have took it down because I can't find it. What I find is that the specs show a push/pull switch for the piezo pickup which my guitar does not have (bought it early May). Yes -- the issue is called the Piezo bleed. I think if you dig you can still find Rick Gembar's statement about the issue and Gibson's fix on the main product page for this guitar. Basic issue is that, even when all volumes are down, you can still hear a little Piezo sound bleeding through. Also, that means the Peizo is always throwing a little signal in with the mags. Fix is to replace the Piezo volume pot with another push/pull tone pot that, when pulled out, "kills" the Piezo completely (basically attenuates the volume to inaudible). Gibson will retrofit yours free of charge with that new pot if you take it to an authorized center, though you may want to call ahead and make sure they get the part first. Anything after AL99 should include the modded pot. Everybody's different and some people are fine without getting the fix. Me personally, I use the kill switch often and view it as a necessary feature. I can actually hear a difference while playing through just the mags (Piezo at zero volume) and then switching between killed and not killed Piezo. There is some high-end coloration that comes through if you don't kill it. Mind you, in some cases the coloration would IMPROVE the sound I'm getting, but the kill adds flexibility for those other cases where it does not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyRocker Posted July 8, 2011 Share Posted July 8, 2011 Is there an electronics recall on the guitar? I saw something about that in the forums and that Gibson made a statement, but they must have took it down because I can't find it. What I find is that the specs show a push/pull switch for the piezo pickup which my guitar does not have (bought it early May). Not a recall but I found this a few posting pages deep on the Gibson AL LP product page. I played AL094 last night and the kill switch was installed on it. From rgembar: Dear Gibson Fans, I have read, with interest, the postings here regarding the Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess. I’m glad to see so many of you have an avid interest in the guitar. We make these guitars with you in mind. The guitar was designed, in collaboration with Alex Lifeson, to accurately reflect his own personal instruments. In developing a model like this, we need to be faithful to the desires of Alex himself. In this case, one of the features that Alex requested, was that we use the Ghost system from Graph Tech Guitar Labs, but that his models not incorporate any additional external knobs or switches. We realized that not every player will want to play through two amplifiers, at all times, in order to fully utilize the complete functionality of the guitar. So, we developed the application that you now see. It has the capability of being played with the magnetic output and piezo output completely separated via the use of two ¼” phono jacks, thereby allowing the signals to be sent to two separate amplifiers, as Alex does. However, it also has the ability to be played through a single amplifier channel. Recently, I have seen posts concerning what some people regard as a flaw in the instrument. I am referring to what they are calling Piezo Bleed. (Sounds like a good name for a band.) First, I want to assure you that we are and were aware that when you play the guitar at high gain, and with maximum or near maximum overdrive, it is possible to hear a very faint “shadow” of the piezo system when the guitars volume controls are all turned to zero. We didn’t consider it an issue, since players do not perform with the volume controls turned all the way down. Additionally, we could detect no “bleed” when using only the magnetic pickups. (Played through the following equipment: Marshall JCM 800 Lead Series with a Marshall 1960 Lead 4x12, and a Marshall MK II with a Marshall 1960 Vintage 4x12.) However, we are listening to you, and hear your concern. As a result, we spent the last week working with Graph Tech, and our engineers, to address it. We felt that half a response would be worse than none at all, so please understand our delay. We developed a process to incorporate Graph Tech’s “kill switch” concept without adding an undesired additional toggle switch to the top of the guitar. Our modification utilizes a 500 ohm Audio Taper push-pull pot in the Piezo volume control location. Basically, you still use that pot to adjust the piezo volume, but if you desire to completely kill the piezo signal, you may do so by pulling the knob up. After thorough testing, we have determined that this completely silences the piezo circuit, even when utilizing the extreme settings described earlier. While we don’t consider this a defect or flaw, in response to those individuals that find it annoying, we are incorporating this change into all Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess models going forward. If you are already the original owner of one of these guitars, and are bothered by this “piezo bleed,” call our Customer Service Department at 1-800-4-GIBSON, or contact them at service@gibson.com, for details on how to deliver the guitar to your nearest Gibson Warranty Service Center, and we will, at no charge to you, modify your instrument. Be assured that even with this modification, you will maintain the full functionality in either a one-cord, or two-cord application. Again, thanks for your interest and enthusiasm. Sincerely, Rick Gembar Senior Vice-President and General Manager Gibson Custom, Art, and Historic Division Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolitaryPine Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 Thanks for the information about #312. I too wondered if the 300 was in addition to the 50 signed. If #312 is already out I'm interested to see what # I get. I just saw AL 404 on Sweetwater. Blowing well past the "300" now. The Spartans will not be pleased. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyRocker Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I just saw AL 404 on Sweetwater. Blowing well past the "300" now. The Spartans will not be pleased. I just walked in the door with AL 412! I love the color - darker edges than others I've seen on others but my pic is a little darker than the actual guitar. a few nice stripes on the top, but best of all - sounds incredible! They are still taking orders and my dealer has heard of no limit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock2112 Posted July 21, 2011 Share Posted July 21, 2011 I just walked in the door with AL 412! I love the color - darker edges than others I've seen on others but my pic is a little darker than the actual guitar. a few nice stripes on the top, but best of all - sounds incredible! They are still taking orders and my dealer has heard of no limit. Congrats dude! Looks nice. The little teaser of the guitar it's sitting next to looks nice too. Rock on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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