Two New Tunes Up On My MySpace Page (Featuring Maestro Boomerang Clone)

[Paul Marossy]

Check out the tunes called "Sexton Demo 1" and "Sexton Demo 2" if you you are interested in listening. The other two tunes on there are also using the same wah pedal.  The wah pedal is on the whole time on all four of those tunes.

www.myspace.com/j201jams


EDIT: BTW, it's taken me about two years of concerted effort to get my level of playing back to where it was (as it is now) before the DIY bug hit me and I was building stuff more than playing my guitar... seriously! 

[Arn C.]

I would sure like to hear this, but I followed the link and it appears to be playing but no sound coming out of my speakers.
Is there anything special I must do Paul?

Thanks!
Arn C.

ps can't download off that site either -  company won't let me-------

[Paul Marossy]

There isn't anything special that you are supposed to do, you should be able to hear them. Are you sure that your computer is up to date as far as programs go? I can't remember what program it is that you need - I thought it was that FlashPlayer thing, IIRC.

Those two Sexton Demos are set so you can't download them, per my agreement with Steve Sexton...

[Arn C.]

Thanks Paul !   

I didn't try the 2 sexton demos the last time, this time I tried them and they worked fine, but the other 2 say they are ploaying but no sound for me,  anyone else not hearing them?

Peace!
Arn C.

[Paul Marossy]

Sometimes their MP3 player does quirky stuff... 

[Arn C.]

Thanks Paul,  I will try this again another time!

Peace!
Arn C.

[tungngruv]

Sounds great Paul, as always!

[Paul Marossy]

Thanks! 

EDIT:

On Demo 1, that's a doubled Ebow part on the beginning section, string bends and all. I had only used my Ebow for a few hours before recording that - no previous experience with one prior to that whatsoever.  I think both parts were a second take.

On Sexton Demo 2, that was my third take, no overdubs or anything - it's played straight thru from beginning to end. It was trickier to navigate thru then it sounded at first. I think I'm using five different scales on that tune. 

[Paul Marossy]

Any opinions on the wah sounds?

I like the Boomerang because it's a little more subtle, and it also has more range than the CryBaby does. Personally, I think the sounds fit the tunes well... 

[Arn C.]

Awesome Paul !   I am more of a rhythm player, tho I do pull off some blues leads now and then.

Real nice and the wah is too cooooooool....

Peace Man and keep on pickin' !
Arn C.

ps  I can hear all this at  home, I must assume that my company has this site blocked somewhat.

[Paul Marossy]

Cool' glad you like the wah sounds. I love the Boomerang!

[Marcos - Munky]

Hey Paul, I didn't knew you're a shredder . I liked the wah sound a lot. Can't compare it with the Crybaby, because I'm not a wah guy, but it sounds cool.

[Paul Marossy]

Hey Paul, I didn't knew you're a shredder

Yeah, I do that sort of stuff quite a lot. I have a mellow side, too. 

[mojotron]

Sounds great Paul - did you mic your amp or do you have a way of going direct.

(what I do is patch a tubeworks RT2100 amp into my VAMP and use the speaker sim from that as well as digital-digital right into a VS880 recorder)

Interesting, a lot of the influences you list are nearly the same as the people I have listened to and copied over the years. I also play an Ibanez S470 for a lot of stuff (a Charvel Model 2 has become my main guitar in the last couple of years though). And, while I have not done any serious/complete recording for 17 years, I think the style I would likely end up getting a recording of would be, as a number of my 1/2 done stuff is, along the lines of what the style have posted. But, if I were to sit down and just jam with some friends I would likely be just plugged straight into an amp with perhaps a boost for over drive and play mostly simpler/jazzier clean - neck pickup - stuff.

Your recording sounds very natural, even the drums sound good. When I did do a lot of recording as a one-person thing, I would always have this concept that I was shooting for at the beginning - and a lot of times it turned into something at the end that surprised me because for one reason or another what ended up on tape sounded like me, but did not sound all that artistically natural. Sometimes I got that impression of some of my recording because I was going for just the right take... other times I was shooting for the moon a bit and I had to play a little more conservatively to make some parts fit. When I have done sessions though - I seem to come out on tape more like 'me'. Now, it could just be that if I had done the recording without any help, I might have been juggling a number of things at the same time I was playing - back then doing a punch-in was not that simple.

Do you find that when you conceptualize and record something, it is different from what you would otherwise play if you just sat down and jammed for an hour? 

[Paul Marossy]

Sounds great Paul - did you mic your amp or do you have a way of going direct.

It's really a pretty simple setup. I plug my Parker Mojo Nitefly into my Maestro Boomerang wah pedal and the output of that goes into my Zoom 9030 half-rack digital effects unit with a customized preset that I fiddled around with quite a lot to get right and have been using off and on since about 1993. The output of the Zoom 9030 is sent as a stereo signal to my Yamaha AW16G Digital Multi-Track Recorder set up to do direct recording. For all the do-it-yourself-ers out there, I know that I say on my website that I think digital stuff sucks, and that's true - for live music, I do think it's lacking. But in a studio environment, I think it's better - lower noise, easier interface, etc. - and, I don't have to mike an amp and all that stuff - all I need is headphones! 

EDIT: Here is a picture of my humble recording setup. The Zoom 9030 is the silver unit with the white cord plugged into it, just above dead center in the image. The mixer on the left is just for when I practice with a drum machine or to a CD that I want to play along with/figure out parts on. Lower right is the Yamaha AW16G digital multi-track recorder. Top shelf has a Boss and Alesis drum machine.

Interesting, a lot of the influences you list are nearly the same as the people I have listened to and copied over the years.

Really?! Cool. 

I also play an Ibanez S470 for a lot of stuff

That green one I have was my main guitar for a long time. It doesn't even compare to my Parker Mojo Nitefly in terms of playability, though. That's why it's lonely in its case these days. 

Your recording sounds very natural, even the drums sound good.

On the Sexton Demos, all that stuff was recorded by others. I just added the lead guitar parts. 

When I did do a lot of recording as a one-person thing, I would always have this concept that I was shooting for at the beginning - and a lot of times it turned into something at the end that surprised me because for one reason or another what ended up on tape sounded like me, but did not sound all that artistically natural.

Yeah, been there, done that. I used to try and make things too grandoise and I didn't really know what I was doing at the time (ca. 1993-1994) and they just didn't sound good. I have found that if I follow the "K.I.S.S." rule, things often turn out a lot better. I usually go with the first thing that pops in my head because it's usually the best - that's pretty much what I did on the Sexton Demos. If I work on something too much, things usually start going downhill... 

Do you find that when you conceptualize and record something, it is different from what you would otherwise play if you just sat down and jammed for an hour? 

Yeah, it usually is. 

[mojotron]

Sounds great Paul - did you mic your amp or do you have a way of going direct.

It's really a pretty simple setup. ...

I think that's been my biggest issue, Too much gear and too many ideas - I used the K.I.C.K. (keep it complicated knucklehead) rule recently - and I never seem to complete stuff. Around 1990 I used a Fostex cassette recorder for about a dozen complete demos... I got an awful lot done back then because I did keep things simple - guitar/vocals into an ART MachII into a Fostex - and that was it. I'll get back to a simpler approach next time I do some recording - thanks.

The Boomerang sounds great - at the beginnings of those tunes it sounds like the ebow and Boomerang are a great pairing for a kind of unique very melodic sound - very interesting as you don't really have that initial attach then decay, rather a slower ramp and much less decay, with the subtle wah effect - one of those things that gets more interesting as my ear realizes the dynamics are different.

[Paul Marossy]

I used the K.I.C.K. (keep it complicated knucklehead) rule recently

That's a clever acronym. 

Around 1990 I used a Fostex cassette recorder for about a dozen complete demos... I got an awful lot done back then because I did keep things simple - guitar/vocals into an ART MachII into a Fostex - and that was it. I'll get back to a simpler approach next time I do some recording - thanks.

I was never happy with cassette tape 4-track recorders - way too many limitations and the dynamic range sucked on the high end. I could never get crystal clear highs without too much $%&*!@^ tape hiss. 

The Boomerang sounds great - at the beginnings of those tunes it sounds like the ebow and Boomerang are a great pairing for a kind of unique very melodic sound - very interesting as you don't really have that initial attach then decay, rather a slower ramp and much less decay, with the subtle wah effect - one of those things that gets more interesting as my ear realizes the dynamics are different.

I never really thought about it that much. The wah pedal was just in a static position acting like a resonant filter, which I think helps to mimic certain stringed instruments. A happy accident, I guess. I've even had one person tell me that it sounded like a "mellatron", something I never heard of until a couple of days ago!