cruisinon2

They'd never win... somebody would complain that it wasn't well insulated, or it's not big enough for a Foster's can. B1tch, b1tch...;)

Everything in the signal chain affects your sound to a greater or lesser degree, and no two rigs are ever gonna produce the same results/symptoms....plus, it's all entirely subjective anyway. They're is exactly ONE way to find out if there will be a noticeable difference between any two configurations, and nobody can predict how it'll turn out.

I'm currently offering two flavors: Gym shoe: $11.95 a pair Motorcycle boot-cured: $14.95 a pair (fuel surcharge). Rented bowling shoe and tuxedo patent leather require 1 month notice and a 50% deposit. Prices vary... ;)

Which is almost always going to be the case. There are a million reasons for it, all of which have been discussed ad nauseam, so there's no reason to rehash them again...but let purveyors of said patches charge what the market will bear. I'd sell dirty socks if there was a market for them. Low overhead, and I'm producing a bare minimum of one pair a day anyway. 'Murica! ;)

JBL LSR305's are quite nice, and have a small footprint if space is a consideration. They're powered, and have pretty good bass response given their size (5" cones). You won't be able to rattle the windows in the next zip code, but that's really not the point anyway... there are other tools for that. Usually somewhere between $250-$300 for the pair, though they are sold individually,don't ask me why...no idea what you'd do with just one.

The leaving curve sucks, but shortcuts are few, and mostly ineffective. You're always gonna have trouble trying to use other people's tones. Too many variables, and the pair of cans you choose are right up there at the top of the list of things that will affect your tone the most. At least half your tone is dependent on how you're listening, whether it's an amp, studio monitors, or headphones... and not all cans are created equal...I've got 3 sets sitting here, and each is good for certain applications, but any given patch will sound different depending on which pair I grab...sometimes very different Experimentation (and lots of it) is really the only way to find the tones you're looking for. Start simple with just the amp model, mic, and cab models. Dial in a basic tone before you start messing with FX or additional EQ (beyond the amp's basic tone controls). Much can be accomplished with the cab's deep edit parameters (low cut, thump, resonance, and decay). Also make sure that your output mode is set to "studio direct" for use with headphones. The others will sound irretrievably awful.

Just because so much information is instantly available via our cursed smartphones doesn't mean that we're "entitled" to know anything and everything about a company's inner workings. And with the exception of bug fixes or warranty repairs for defective merchandise, the company doesn't owe you anything after you make a purchase. You give them money, they give you a product...transaction concluded. Updates and added features after the fact are gravy, not a fundamental right. These demands to be "kept in the loop" are baffling.

Can the combo be made to work? Yes... but these are two very different devices that were not designed to be paired. If its strictly for home use, you'll be a whole lot happier (and probably spend less money) with a decent pair of studio monitors along with whatever computer you've got, especially if the goal is playing along with songs. You'll get stereo separation, and won't have to rely on a Bluetooth connection for streaming tunes from an iPod.

No idea what the new rules are, but personally, if I couldn't take it in the cabin with me, then it ain't coming along for the ride. Unless it was a throw-away instrument that I wouldn't mind never seeing again. I don't trust baggage handlers with anything that can't be folded and stuffed in a suitcase...and even then it's a minor miracle if your underwear lands in the same country you do...

Lol... you really should be ashamed of yourself. ;) And you know what'll come of it? Nothing. It'll be filed under "Gee, that's the first time we've heard about this problem"...

Hallelujah! A voice of reason...gadgets with flashing lights are not the answer. There only thing a dB meter is good for is when you're trying to get the Guinness folks to certify your rendition of "Itsy Bitsy Spider" as the loudest ever. They cannot possibly tell you anything about how your guitar will sit in a live mix.

Ears are free, standard issue at birth, and they're 100% effective at leveling volume. Use them...

It's gonna be trial and error...modeling is a strange world, and sometimes settings that don't necessarily "make sense" for the sound you're after end up being your favorites. As for Tremonti specifically, I wouldn't say there's anything particularly unique about his tone...Any humbucker equipped guitar with a liberal dose of gain should get you there, and there are several models in there that fit that description.

Amen. If you start jabbering about guitar tone to someone who isn't a musician...which is the overwhelming majority of "music fans"...all you'll get back is a blank stare. As musicians, we spend a lot of time amongst and around other musicians, talking about music stuff, so it's easy to forget that the rest of the world doesn't do that. Much of the listening public would have a hard time distinguishing a guitar from a bass, or a sax from a trombone without a visual cue...never mind appreciating the subtleties that separate Strats, Teles, and LP's. They're all just electric guitars to Joe Average, because he isn't listening analytically the way musicians do. He hears a wall of sound which he either likes, or doesn't. Subtle nuances in tone or timbre are a complete mystery to the average person. I've tried having these kinds of conversations...it goes nowhere, and you feel like you're talking to yourself. Which is why I am perplexed that anyone would genuinely believe that there is some mysterious cabal of Helix patch thieves skulking around local watering holes, waiting till the guitar player's back is turned so they can siphon off his tonal awesomeness, and sell it to the highest bidder on the Dark Web...there are no buyers. It ain't happening.

Personal info that can be monetized, or lead to identity theft should be safeguarded. Copyrighted media, too. However, your Helix patches are not this summer's upcoming blockbuster film, nor do they contain anything that would allow some nefarious actor to drain your bank account or apply for a mortgage in your name. Hell, they couldn't even use them to figure out your shoe size. As such, they are intrinsically worthless for all practical purposes, save one...your Friday night gig. In order for there to be a black market for something, it has to have value, and no matter how much it bruises the ego, nobody wants them but you. But you're right about one thing...nobody wants mine either. That's OK though, I have plenty of company. ;) You'd think this was a discussion about blood diamonds...

One of my old man's many pearls of wisdom was this: "Everyone rises to the level of their own incompetence"...the theory being that if you're genuinely good at something, you'll probably be stuck doing that thing forever, because your skill is making someone middle management drone look good, and if they let you rise to the next rung on the ladder, that person might actually have to start begging productive on their own. On the other hand, if you're just inept enough to be dangerous (but not quite lethal), you'll be repeatedly promoted so that your current boss can be rid of your stupidity. This is how CEO's are born...;)

Yeah, it's awesome when the bean counters are in charge. Everything always turns out so well...

Part of the problem lies with the fact that one man's "brilliantly set-up" is another's "ridden hard and put away wet". Guitar players are crazy. We like things the way we like them, and everything else sucks. Now I like dealing with Sweetwater... they're very pleasant, responsive if you have a problem, and will often work with you on prices, if possible. I've purchased two guitars from them over the last couple of years. Both were playable... were they exactly how I like everything, so that I didn't have to touch a thing? Hardly. But that doesn't mean it's anybody's fault. What they actually do (or don't do) before they ship is anyone's guess... but let's assume for the moment that someone actually is going over each instrument with a fine toothed comb. Even so, it's not as though there's some form to fill out asking how you like your set-up...so the guy doing it is just guessing where you like your action, neck relief, etc. And more likely than not, every guitar he's working on is getting the exact same treatment. If that happens to be your cup of tea, great...glowing reviews of his set-up skills shall flow like wine. If not, you'll be unhappy. Either way it's all guesswork. Then factor in things like shipping conditions...buy a guitar in the middle of winter, and have it shipped to Fargo. After it spends a week in a half-dozen freezing trucks, any and all set-up work done beforehand will be 100% out the window. Point is, given the staggering list of variables involved, if you're happy with a guitar's playability out of the box, that's wonderful, but it's mostly dumb luck...

A lousy diet, no exercise, and too much booze and cigarettes have long term implications. Guitars don't have any implications at all...they're just things.

This entire discussion is a solution desperately in search of a problem. You can all sleep soundly...NOBODY is plotting to steal your monster tones. They might steal the entire device, in which case you'll be starting from scratch with a new unit if you haven't backed up your patches elsewhere. But who cares if the thief messes with the patches themselves on the unit that they've swiped from you? You're not getting it back anyway...welding a chain to it, and pad-locking it to the stage will do you more good than a password.

I'm sure it's exhausting.

Jeez, I know everybody's paranoid about the NSA snooping through their baby photos these days, but one's Helix patches are hardly State secrets or nuclear launch codes. In fact, no matter how much you like them or how many compliments you get, they're utterly worthless to anyone but you. You have my personal guarantee that Tom Cruise is NOT going to descend from the air vent above the stage to steal your tones in between sets... Anybody have that Dark Web address for stolen Helix patches handy? I lost the link... This thread will self-destruct in 5 seconds... ;)

Not to mention the fact that there's barely anything "custom" about "Custom Shop" guitars anyway. A few extra colors to choose from, perhaps different pickup options, but that's about it. And the funniest part of it all is that there are already 10,000 other "custom" guitars out there just like the one you ordered....a Strat is a Strat, except for the ones they manage to con you into paying an extra grand for because it's "special".

Ahh...the "Harley Davidson vs. every other bike on the planet" argument....let me save you the suspense, I've got 2 Suzuki's. ;) The only thing I care less about than what's on the headstock, is re-sale value. We're not talking about a Stradivarius here...Like my rides, I don't buy instruments as investments. I buy them to use, and I'm certainly not going to spend more money on something that I don't genuinely want, merely because the rest of the world has swallowed the advertising hype and decided that it's "better". Nor because it might be worth a few extra bucks if and when I choose to sell it. The ones that I end up parting with, I get whatever I get...if I make some money back, great. If not, oh well...

For the love of all that is decent and holy...of course the environment makes a difference. I never said otherwise. But to think that you can guess what that environment is from 1000 miles away, merely because you have access to the Weather Channel, is the very essence of an assumption. As for the half-wit in Florida...that falls squarely into the "breathtaking moron" category that I included as a qualifier in my original statement. That being the case, just how much help would it have been to set-up that guitar beforehand? Answer: None whatsoever. It could have been touched by the hand of The Almighty, and the guy would have destroyed it anyway. He may as well have stored it at the bottom of a lake...in fact, if it's deep enough and cold enough down there, it would likely have fared better than on the seaside cottage front porch. The Great Lakes preserve old sunken timber quite nicely...