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ALiLPinkMonster
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Sun May 03, 2015 3:44 pm

meerkt wrote:
I had the impression people liked its high gain amps, possibly more than the low gain stuff.

If they do, they have different high gain tastes than me. I've gotten some great clean tones out of it, but I've never been quite happy with its high gain capabilities.
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Sun May 03, 2015 4:12 pm

Captain Ned wrote:
That said, I'm a life-long sax player and there is no way in hell you'll get me to play with the tiny screws and myriad flat springs that make a sax's keys work. I can change a pad, but that's as far as I go in that world.

This spring when a couple of clarinet pads needed replaced, I bought a pad kit and some pellet glue and I was going to do it myself. I then realized that I paid two f***ing thousand dollars for this instrument and there was no way in hell I was going to set it on fire with a butane torch. If I had a cheapy plastic clarinet I might try it, though.
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Sun May 03, 2015 4:39 pm

derFunkenstein wrote:
Captain Ned wrote:
That said, I'm a life-long sax player and there is no way in hell you'll get me to play with the tiny screws and myriad flat springs that make a sax's keys work. I can change a pad, but that's as far as I go in that world.

This spring when a couple of clarinet pads needed replaced, I bought a pad kit and some pellet glue and I was going to do it myself. I then realized that I paid two f***ing thousand dollars for this instrument and there was no way in hell I was going to set it on fire with a butane torch. If I had a cheapy plastic clarinet I might try it, though.

And that's why I wouldn't mind getting a cheap piece of junk for my first car. Hell, I bought my first smartphone a few years ago not realizing that I'd actually want a decent camera. Didn't make that mistake the second time around. Also means that if I decide to mess with the car a bit (I don't really know what I'm doing with those yet), who cares if I f**k it up? Not like it was worth much anyway.
 
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Sun May 03, 2015 4:54 pm

meerkt wrote:
travbrad wrote:
Hopefully something like a Zoom G5 could at least get me part of the way there though.

Unless it's just for headphones, keep in mind you'd need to amp it with something. The Spider II might be limiting because of the speaker/cab, and I don't know if you can disable all of its internal processing. An all-in-one option is the Fender Mustang amps. Not sure about their high gain stuff, it might be okay, but otherwise they're pretty nice. The larger ones are also decent as pure/clean amplifiers because you can connect your external preamp directly to the effect loop return.


I was probably just going to use my headphones (Sennheiser HD280) and monitors (M-Audio BX5a) for now. You're right about the speaker/cab in the Spider II. I've plugged the headphone out into my monitors and it sounds noticeably better, although still not amazing. I'll probably end up getting a better amp eventually too though, so thanks for the recommendations. Fender in general seem to have very clean sounds from the amps I've tried, so it's not surprising you'd recommend them. I mostly play clean or mid-gain stuff (lots of classic rock, folk, and blues), so high-gain isn't really a big deal for me. I've even seen a few people online who said modellers sound great through keyboard amps. :o

I'm still a bit torn between the HD500X and G5 though. You can find people online saying one is great and the other is garbage, and vice-versa. I did find one youtube comparison online and the HD500X cleans sounded a bit better to me, but then saw another comparison and the G5 cleans sounded pretty much equal to the HD500X. Based purely on sound I'm leaning towards the HD500X, but the G5 is $300 instead of $500, and people say the Zoom stuff is much easier/more intuitive to get a good tone out of. I am a computer nerd obviously though, so I don't necessarily mind a bit of fiddling. :)

I just wish some stores around here would stock the G5 so I could actually try it myself.


ALiLPinkMonster wrote:
Yeah! No shame involved. Replace those strings and start looking up some YouTube lessons. There are some really helpful ones out there.


In particular I've been really impressed with JustinGuitar for learning how to play. I feel like I've learned more in 7 months this time around than I did in YEARS last time I tried to learn guitar. It is really well structured as everything he teaches you builds on stuff you learned before. All of his lessons have videos to go with them too, which can help a lot seeing and hearing exactly how something is done. Most importantly he gets you PLAYING MUSIC almost immediately, which is the whole reason people pick up guitar in the first place.
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Sun May 03, 2015 5:56 pm

travbrad wrote:
I've even seen a few people online who said modellers sound great through keyboard amps. :o

That's a feature, not a bug :)

Keyboard amps tend to be essentially PA speakers, or in other words, FRFR - full range frequency response. That's the kind of thing you tend to want with a modeller. In my experience, a little color in your amp is fine, as long as it's not too much.

Playing through monitors is okay, through headphones I don't like it too much, because there's no room reverberation. That's why I always add some when practicing with 'phones.
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Mon May 04, 2015 12:19 pm

TL;DR the thread, but here is a crappy panorama of my Early '90s Gibson Les Paul Studio with Seymour Duncan SH-6 in the bridge, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, ESP LTD Viper 30th Anniversary Edition, gaming rig and Yamaha Acoustic (as well as the crib my one month old will be using once she outgrows the bassinet in our bedroom).
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Mon May 04, 2015 12:29 pm

You have a Dual Rec. I hate you too.
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Mon May 04, 2015 12:40 pm

morphine wrote:
You have a Dual Rec. I hate you too.


A mid '90's 2 Channel model at that!

I bought most of my guitar gear between the ages of 16 and 19 when I lived with my parents, had a decent paying summer job, and zero bills to pay.

Those were the days...
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Fri May 08, 2015 3:55 pm

morphine wrote:
travbrad wrote:
I've even seen a few people online who said modellers sound great through keyboard amps. :o

That's a feature, not a bug :)

Keyboard amps tend to be essentially PA speakers, or in other words, FRFR - full range frequency response. That's the kind of thing you tend to want with a modeller. In my experience, a little color in your amp is fine, as long as it's not too much.

Playing through monitors is okay, through headphones I don't like it too much, because there's no room reverberation. That's why I always add some when practicing with 'phones.

That's also why a lot of Axe-FX/Kemper/whatever users often plug directly into the house PA from the unit when playing live. I've been looking at some nice FRFR speakers, but for now in my tiny room my Rokit 5's will do just fine.

BTW it officially shipped yesterday. I'll make a video of the unboxing and some first time patch fiddling and post it here, if anyone's interested.
Prestige Worldwide wrote:
morphine wrote:
You have a Dual Rec. I hate you too.


A mid '90's 2 Channel model at that!

I also hate you, but not as much since I'll be able to accurately model a dual rec ;)
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Sat May 09, 2015 2:34 pm

ALiLPinkMonster wrote:
That's also why a lot of Axe-FX/Kemper/whatever users often plug directly into the house PA from the unit when playing live. I've been looking at some nice FRFR speakers, but for now in my tiny room my Rokit 5's will do just fine.

BTW it officially shipped yesterday. I'll make a video of the unboxing and some first time patch fiddling and post it here, if anyone's interested.


Do you think having "only" 5inch drivers will be "missing out" on anything for guitar? I know when it comes to guitar amps people generally recommend 12" or at the very least 10", but obviously a combo amp isn't the same thing as a studio monitor, plus part of what those modellers do is model cabinets and speakers. In terms of frequency response the low E on a guitar is 82hz, so even 5" monitors should be able to handle that frequency fine. I'm just wondering if there is some kind of resonance, harmonics, etc involved that would cause 5" monitors to sound a lot worse than 8" monitors for example, or 10-15" FRFRs.

I'm jealous. You are going to be unboxing some sweet sweet tone from the demos I've heard. :D
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Sat May 09, 2015 2:46 pm

travbrad wrote:
Do you think having "only" 5inch drivers will be "missing out" on anything for guitar?

As a former self-taught roadie, I'd hate to mic a guitar amp with nothing bigger than a 5". At that size I'd insist on a DI box unless the guitarist could show me that some parts of his sound depended on that amp/speaker combo.
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Sat May 09, 2015 3:09 pm

trav: you're comparing apples to rhinoceros with tutus. :)

When people refer to speaker size for guitar amps, they are talking about the common guitar cabinet, in the standard pedals/amp/cabinet arrangement (plus mic, if we're talking a recording). That's what gets you what's commonly known as the electric guitar sound. You want your cabinet to have some size so that it projects in the room nicely, and as well as to make it easily recordable. Fiddling with finding the sweet spot to place a mic on a small speaker is not a pleasant task - just ask Ned.

Modelling takes almost everything into the digital realm. It relies on whatever output amp/speaker you're using to be reasonably full-range (namely but not only: having some treble). And then you have three scenarios:

- If you want to record or practice at low volume, you're best served by studio monitors. Your modelling unit takes care of simulating amp, speaker, cabinet, and mic for you.
- If you want to actually play with a band with modelling, you need a reasonably transparent amp or PA speaker both for volume and, again, for sound projection. Here, you'll want to disable mic modelling as it makes no sense - you want the "in the room" sound, not the recorded one. Optional: disabling cabinet emulation depending on the amp and taste.
- If you want to play a moderate/big gig, just hook your unit directly to the PA with mic emulation on, just like in the studio. Optional: stage amp for yourself.
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Sat May 09, 2015 4:23 pm

I wish had the money for an Axe FX II, guess I've had to settle with my Bugera 6260 (a 5150 clone.. literally) and a 1x12 cab loaded with a v30, with my "old" pod hd bean for effects, really just a few hard gates and using one of the several overdrives, as a clean boost to tighten up the bottom end.
Not that it's a totally fair comparison but here's what a pod hd recto sounds like with am amateur mixing it
https://soundcloud.com/mikaelwithem/nil
And for a my actual amp recorded with an sm57 and a totally different mix.
https://soundcloud.com/mikaelwithem/corrupter
I think my mic position was a tad off and I could had the mids up a bit more on the amp.
 
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Sat May 09, 2015 10:18 pm

Thanks for the very insightful posts morphine and Ned. I just started playing guitar again 7-8 months ago so I'm really just looking for something to play with at home and maybe do a little bit of amateur recording, so it sounds like monitors will be fine for now. I don't plan on gigging soon so I don't need high volume or sound projection. I live with a few other people so that's one of the reasons I'm going this route in the first place (good tone at low volume). If I do end up joining a band down the road I can always just get a better speaker/amp for that situation.

I'll probably be going to the store and comparing the HD500X, G5, and RP1000 this week some time, so hopefully they'll let me hook them up to some monitors. Based on the demos I've heard on youtube I'm leaning heavily towards the HD500X though, since it seems to sound much better/richer at clean to mid-gain settings (90% of the music I play).
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Sat May 09, 2015 10:42 pm

travbrad wrote:
Thanks for the very insightful posts morphine and Ned. I just started playing guitar again 7-8 months ago so I'm really just looking for something to play with at home and maybe do a little bit of amateur recording, so it sounds like monitors will be fine for now. I don't plan on gigging soon so I don't need high volume or sound projection. I live with a few other people so that's one of the reasons I'm going this route in the first place (good tone at low volume). If I do end up joining a band down the road I can always just get a better speaker/amp for that situation.

I'll probably be going to the store and comparing the HD500X, G5, and RP1000 this week some time, so hopefully they'll let me hook them up to some monitors. Based on the demos I've heard on youtube I'm leaning heavily towards the HD500X though, since it seems to sound much better/richer at clean to mid-gain settings (90% of the music I play).

When you're testing the units in the store, make sure you use a PA speaker or a very clean amp.

And just as importantly, make sure mic emulation is turned OFF.
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Sat May 09, 2015 10:52 pm

travbrad wrote:
I'll probably be going to the store and comparing the HD500X, G5, and RP1000

Check out also the Fender Mustang amps (digital, so there's also pure headphones and USB out) and the Boss GT-100. If you don't mind the form factor, the Eleven Rack could be another option (check eBay prices).
 
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Sun May 10, 2015 8:56 am

Yep, the Fender Mustang and the Peavy Vypyr are pretty good, they definitely punch way above their weight. I'm partial to the latter myself.
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Mon May 11, 2015 3:32 pm

morphine wrote:
Yep, the Fender Mustang and the Peavy Vypyr are pretty good, they definitely punch way above their weight. I'm partial to the latter myself.

I forgot about the Vypyr. When they came out I tested them several times at Guitar Center. Very impressive for the price. Yet another product that made me hate my Spider II...
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Mon May 11, 2015 3:58 pm

I had a Spider II years ago, I liked the cleans but the not the distorted tones, which is kind of funny since it was sadly the best amp I've had up to that point, I replaced it with a pod xt only a few months later.
Pod HD's are pretty good btw, not nearly as fizzy as the pod xt and pod x3, I used to have run a narrow band eq at 8k with an 8dB drop to tame it when recording with a pod xt. The cab simulation is still the weak point with the Pod HD's btw, no one cab will give you a good tone, so it's good thing you can run dual amps, I used to use one for the low end and one for everything else, with the same amp model.
 
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Tue May 12, 2015 9:28 pm

Mikael33 wrote:
I had a Spider II years ago, I liked the cleans but the not the distorted tones, which is kind of funny since it was sadly the best amp I've had up to that point, I replaced it with a pod xt only a few months later.
Pod HD's are pretty good btw, not nearly as fizzy as the pod xt and pod x3, I used to have run a narrow band eq at 8k with an 8dB drop to tame it when recording with a pod xt. The cab simulation is still the weak point with the Pod HD's btw, no one cab will give you a good tone, so it's good thing you can run dual amps, I used to use one for the low end and one for everything else, with the same amp model.

They're not quite as terrible as everyone says, but there are definitely better choices for the price. Oh and any shoddy cab simulation can be remedied by turning it off and sending the signal through a good impulse. There are some great free impulse plugins out there.

Anywho, it arrived today. UPS is supposed to deliver until 7 pm at residences. It got here at 7:12. I couldn't sign that dude's pad fast enough. Immediately tore the box open, reveled in its ultimate glory for a bit, set it up and reveled some more in its ridiculously high quality sound. Didn't take but a few minutes to have the sweet, sweet tones of legendary amps pumping through my house. It's got clipping indicators on the front panel so dialing in the input level was cake. I've got a brutal work schedule this week so I'll have to wait until the weekend to really mess around with the endless options and start making my own patches. I'll also make a video or two demoing some of the excellent presets that it came with. For now, enjoy these pictures. You can definitely tell that Steve Vai not only used this thing, but toured extensively with it likely as his main unit as indicated by all the road wear and the "A" stickers.
Image
Image
Image
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Wed May 13, 2015 8:24 am

FYI, I still hate you.
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Wed May 13, 2015 9:34 am

ALiLPinkMonster wrote:
Mikael33 wrote:
I had a Spider II years ago, I liked the cleans but the not the distorted tones, which is kind of funny since it was sadly the best amp I've had up to that point, I replaced it with a pod xt only a few months later.
Pod HD's are pretty good btw, not nearly as fizzy as the pod xt and pod x3, I used to have run a narrow band eq at 8k with an 8dB drop to tame it when recording with a pod xt. The cab simulation is still the weak point with the Pod HD's btw, no one cab will give you a good tone, so it's good thing you can run dual amps, I used to use one for the low end and one for everything else, with the same amp model.

They're not quite as terrible as everyone says, but there are definitely better choices for the price. Oh and any shoddy cab simulation can be remedied by turning it off and sending the signal through a good impulse. There are some great free impulse plugins out there.

Yes, that is true, I was using impulses on my podxt when I discovered them, it is somewhat annoying to record with, however. I've been meaning to make an impulse of my cab so I could record direct and do re-amping and stuff for easier tone chasing.
 
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Wed May 13, 2015 6:12 pm

morphine wrote:
FYI, I still hate you.

QFT :lol:

I refit my Strat kit over the weekend with a new tighter-spacing bridge (from a MIM Standard Stratocaster; the USA strats use a different mounting mechanism which means a whole new way to drill), some Fender-branded locking tuners, and a MIM maple neck (which had the guide post holes to match the tuners). I have a Squier Strat with a maple neck and thought the colors looked nicer together, plus something about a maple neck "feels" like my hands move faster. I dunno. At any rate, I'll put up new pics eventually, but it plays quite a bit nicer just by tighter spacing. The strings aren't falling off the instrument.

Also when I bought new strings (a couple 3-packs of D'Addario nickel-wound; I always buy more when I get down to the last two sets so I'm never short - I do the same thing with clarinet reeds going back to my college days in the 90s), I got some free sets of their "balanced tension" strings. Honestly I can't tell much of a difference, but the idea is that they have the same amount of pull on each string. The gauges are specifically for that purpose, at least with standard tuning. I'll use them but I don't know that I'll go out of my way to buy more. They're not really any more expensive. Just seems gimmicky for my performance level. Maybe a really good player would notice the difference.
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Thu May 14, 2015 2:36 am

ALiLPinkMonster wrote:
Anywho, it arrived today.

Nice. What firmware version? :) No MFC-101? :(

(Photobucket is annoying.)
 
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Thu May 14, 2015 8:42 pm

meerkt wrote:
ALiLPinkMonster wrote:
Anywho, it arrived today.

Nice. What firmware version? :) No MFC-101? :(

(Photobucket is annoying.)

They installed the latest firmware before they sent it. No MFC and they're pricey but I can use any footswitch with it. Their expression pedal isn't terribly expensive so I might invest in that, but not before I invest in some nice pickups to replace the poorly aged Duncan Designed ones in my 7-string. I've had my eye on the BKP Juggernauts and now that I'm playing through something that truly justifies such high end pickups, I think they just might be ordered by next week.

Oh and I definitely need to invest in a decent headphone amp, because as expected plugging headphones in directly sounds like butt.
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Thu May 14, 2015 8:55 pm

derFunkenstein wrote:
I refit my Strat kit over the weekend with a new tighter-spacing bridge (from a MIM Standard Stratocaster; the USA strats use a different mounting mechanism which means a whole new way to drill), some Fender-branded locking tuners, and a MIM maple neck (which had the guide post holes to match the tuners). I have a Squier Strat with a maple neck and thought the colors looked nicer together, plus something about a maple neck "feels" like my hands move faster. I dunno. At any rate, I'll put up new pics eventually, but it plays quite a bit nicer just by tighter spacing. The strings aren't falling off the instrument.

Maple necks are the best IMO. UNPAINTED maple necks, that is. The neck on my Viper (the SG looking one) is painted which makes my thumb stick to it a little. On my 7 string's unpainted maple my hand just seems to move more freely.
derFunkenstein wrote:
Also when I bought new strings (a couple 3-packs of D'Addario nickel-wound; I always buy more when I get down to the last two sets so I'm never short - I do the same thing with clarinet reeds going back to my college days in the 90s), I got some free sets of their "balanced tension" strings. Honestly I can't tell much of a difference, but the idea is that they have the same amount of pull on each string. The gauges are specifically for that purpose, at least with standard tuning. I'll use them but I don't know that I'll go out of my way to buy more. They're not really any more expensive. Just seems gimmicky for my performance level. Maybe a really good player would notice the difference.

It is gimmicky. There is variation in each string's tension for a reason. D'Addario makes good strings though, especially for the acoustic. For electric I've always been fond of Ernie Ball. Even their standard sets without any fancy coatings seem to last quite a while, and they just have a certain brightness to them that appeals to me.
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Thu May 14, 2015 9:52 pm

ALiLPinkMonster wrote:
Oh and I definitely need to invest in a decent headphone amp, because as expected plugging headphones in directly sounds like butt.

Eh, what? For playing with headphones, make sure mic emulation is on and add some room reverb. Or did I miss something?
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Fri May 15, 2015 12:03 am

ALiLPinkMonster wrote:
There is variation in each string's tension for a reason.
I think it's a random historic happenstance. Either they didn't pay attention when electric guitars started and it became the norm, or the technology wasn't there to produce strings with very specific diameters. What reason do you have in mind?
 
ALiLPinkMonster
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Fri May 15, 2015 7:03 pm

meerkt wrote:
ALiLPinkMonster wrote:
There is variation in each string's tension for a reason.
I think it's a random historic happenstance. Either they didn't pay attention when electric guitars started and it became the norm, or the technology wasn't there to produce strings with very specific diameters. What reason do you have in mind?

You know, I always thought that a string set's gauges were carefully selected based on relative tension but as this very rude and abrasive luthier points out, that isn't the case. I guess that's why I've always preferred the "skinny top heavy bottom" strings, because they kind of balance out the tension.
morphine wrote:
ALiLPinkMonster wrote:
Oh and I definitely need to invest in a decent headphone amp, because as expected plugging headphones in directly sounds like butt.

Eh, what? For playing with headphones, make sure mic emulation is on and add some room reverb. Or did I miss something?

Yeah yeah, I fiddled with that a bit. Sounds alright now but I still think it could benefit from a proper external amp.
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Re: Nerding out to some guitar gear

Fri May 15, 2015 9:43 pm

ALiLPinkMonster wrote:
Maple necks are the best IMO. UNPAINTED maple necks, that is. The neck on my Viper (the SG looking one) is painted which makes my thumb stick to it a little. On my 7 string's unpainted maple my hand just seems to move more freely.
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It is gimmicky. There is variation in each string's tension for a reason. D'Addario makes good strings though, especially for the acoustic. For electric I've always been fond of Ernie Ball. Even their standard sets without any fancy coatings seem to last quite a while, and they just have a certain brightness to them that appeals to me.


This one is unpainted where it counts, on the back. The fretboard has a shiny clear coat that matches the body just fine.

D'Addario strings have been on both my acoustic and electric. They're cheap enough and seem to last plenty long. Again, it might just be my level talking, but a string of a certain gauge is a string is a string, regardless of brand. I've used Fender 250L's, too, and the pink package of Ernie Ball. Everythign has been .009-.042 and I just can't tell a difference. :lol: The only ones I'd probably feel anything different would be the Elixir Polywebs or Nanowebs.
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