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Acoustic sounding without Amp block

Per Boysen

Per Boysen

Inspired
Hi guys,
Today I recorded this piece with my 36" scale Chapman Stick. The thing is that I'm not using any Amp block; just a (analog) EQ, Cab, MultiCompr and Reverb. This Stick has kind of "hi-fi style" humbucking pickups, meaning there is no frequency bump at any particular band, like with regular guitar pickups, but all frequency bands are coming through equally strong (a bit like the Lace Alumitone guitar pickups that I have on an Epiphone Les Paul... but that's another story). Anyway, this tone reminds me a bit of an acoustic guitar but, since the scale is 36" rather than 24" 3/4 it feels a bit different.


AcouFreezeStick.png
 
Per Boysen said:
Hi guys,
Today I recorded this piece with my 36" scale Chapman Stick. The thing is that I'm not using any Amp block; just a (analog) EQ, Cab, MultiCompr and Reverb. This Stick has kind of "hi-fi style" humbucking pickups, meaning there is no frequency bump at any particular band, like with regular guitar pickups, but all frequency bands are coming through equally strong (a bit like the Lace Alumitone guitar pickups that I have on an Epiphone Les Paul... but that's another story). Anyway, this tone reminds me a bit of an acoustic guitar but, since the scale is 36" rather than 24" 3/4 it feels a bit different.


View attachment 29972
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Hi Per, always enjoy your stuff! A loop of this would be nice for meditation.
 
Very nice, Per! I was considering buying a stick for some months now and feel encouraged now! Thanks! Any recommendations for a newbie?
 
Mike4Bass said:
Very nice, Per! I was considering buying a stick for some months now and feel encouraged now! Thanks! Any recommendations for a newbie?
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You can check up what models there are at http://www.stick.com/. And the forum http://www.stickist.com/ is very friendly with people that can share experience and answer specific questions.

The Stick I used in this recording is a 36" scale12-stringed Grand Stick built of Bamboo with the pickup Stickup. It is the classic Stick sound. I also like the pickup PASV-4 that offers two pickups and a five-way switch on each of the two fingerboards. That one sounds more like a fat telly or strat; single-coils housed in a magnetically shielding metal box (dead silent! genius construction that I can't understand why no guitar designer uses). Speaking about the Bamboo, I like that material because it makes light weight and comfy instruments with a good tone.

There is also the new model, the Railboard, all made of aluminium. A little heavier and with a super precision action. Only one pickup per fingerboard though, and only 10 strings. Nevertheless many love the Railboard. It sounds a little fatter and rounder than my 36" (audio clip above).

There sometimes come up second hand Sticks and best way to buy one is to call Stick Enterprises (stick.com) and watch out at the stick forum. But the second hand price for a Stick is not much lower than buying a new, so it might be more fun to get a RAiloard. They now also offer them in gold and silver chrome. Last year I was over to LA and played a gig where the inventor Emmett Chapman also played and he brought one of the first gold finish Railboards.... wow, it was really cool. Flashing like a golden mirror in the stage light.

My "daytime instrument" is the shorter scale, 26,5", Stick Guitar SG-12. Twelve strings and the PASV-4 pickup makes a gorgeous sound. That's what I use when going out street busking with a battery amp. It sounds more like an eight-stringed guitar (compared to the long scale Stick). Hear you can hear what the SG-12 sounds like:

 
Thanks Per! I have now registered at stickist.com and will try to learn more about the options! What's your user name there?
 
I've been very tempted for years. I would think that as a pianist and guitarist it should feel pretty natural to me. Just never see them in any music stores so I've never had a chance to try one out.
 
Have done intense research during the last weeks and ordered a railboard.
I would assume the axe is a perfect partner for the stick as you can have different effects for the bass and the melodie side.
 
Mike4Bass said:
I would assume the axe is a perfect partner for the stick as you can have different effects for the bass and the melodie side.
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That's correct! The Axe is very good with dual output instruments. The screenshot below is an example of a patch I'm using with the Stick. Each fretboard side has its own Gate, Amp and Delay. As you can see the Cab block is fully stereo panned to allow a subtle left/right (+10 vs -10) panning of the two inputs as well as the two delays that that pan around at different speed. The delays are ducked, by the corresponding input's amplitude envelope, and bounce on straight 4th notes vs triplets (for poly-rhythm fun). Also volume pedals for the two sides that max feedback (freeze effect) at the toe-up/silence input position. Each amp has two states (X and Y) so I can keep pedal switches for switching between clean and distorted amp on both string groups.

flashback_stick.png


Here's an example what that sounds like with the long-scale Stick, only using the clean amps:


And here's what that patch sounds like (with the short scale SG-12 Stick Guitar) when using the distorted amp a lot on the melody side:
 
Hello Per Boysen :)
Clean amplifiers....
You mean, list. 221 Tube Pre ?

Style similar "Shadowns", ;)
 
Per Boysen said:
Just GEQ and CAB. There's a screenshot in the first post.
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Hello Per Boysen,
yes, I saw the first picture.
I was referring to the second screenshot. ;)
you have local patches, to test ? :D
new sound by experiment :rolleyes:

Very particular instrument :cool:

Thank you
 
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spx90 said:
I was referring to the second screenshot. ;)
you have local patches, to test ? :D
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Of course! I just uploaded the patch to
http://axechange.fractalaudio.com/detail.php?preset=4090

Here are some things I forgot to type into the patch info:

Both Amp blocks have clean sound by X and a dirty sound by Y. I use a foot pedal to send the MIDI event for switching between X and Y (like a Switch Blade stomp box).

The MultiDelay block, at the end, is used for reverb and set to follow the summed input envelope; more reverb when you hit strings harder and less reverb if you mute strings to shut up.

The two Delay block's delay effect are ducked. Compared to the shared MultiDelay block, these two delays are doing the opposite thing; backing off when you play a note (through the corresponding input channel) and blooming in between your notes.
 
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