Guitar talk: acoustic, bass, classical, twelve string? You name it! Pt III

[matthewr]

What about current stuff e.g. Yard Act, TTSSFU, Whitelands etc etc? Liking Gang Of Four, whilst clearly absolutely superb taste, is the equivalent of my having a Frank Sinatra album at the point I bought Entertainment or saw them live with Delta 5 and Pere Ubu!

Ironically the gateway to Gang of Four was the people who ripped them off. She was listening to Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party's "Banquet" which I think was a bit of a social media hit all over again and the algorithm does the rest and soon points you to GoF.

I don't know much about the new music she likes which seems a bit random. But there is lots of Indie stuff from the 90s so it's definitely a thing for her. I suspect some of this is boyfriend related and possibly he is getting stuff from one or both of his parents as the ages check out for them to have liked this sort of thing back in the day. Although I should stress she is very much her own woman and has very definite views about what is good and what is "mid".

The other thing I noticed in talking to her today and listening to music on Spotify is you will look up a band from way back and everything has 570k views, say, but one track will have 14.5M. Which I think is the song got used in a tv show effect. This is the Guided By Voices song she likes which has 100 times as many views as the other songs on "Alien Lanes". Although still not that many because GBV were never in danger of worrying the pop charts even by Indie standards.

She has had my Jazzmaster for the last 6 months and is saving up for her first guitar -- probably a Classic Vibe of something like that (hard to beat for a first guitar I reckon). So we even had a "Which guitar?" conversation and gratifyingly it was Jazzmaster, Strat or Tele because she has already decided she is a single coil type of girl which further burnished her solid indie kid credentials.

(I can never answer that question. I honestly think the best answer is the one you think is cool and looks like the one your favourite band plays.)

 

[matthewr]

Check the build quality on this thing! Next level stuff.

I was actually considered a Tone King when I bought my Morgan, one of the TV front ones called a Falcon or something. But when I asked about them here I got an underwhelming response which put me off. Tsk!

 

[Yank]

I was actually considered a Tone King when I bought my Morgan, one of the TV front ones called a Falcon or something. But when I asked about them here I got an underwhelming response which put me off. Tsk!

Tone King amps can be all over the map. The older "Bartel Era" amps were very well made, sometimes eccentric such as the one in the video. But Bartel sold out to a corporate interest and started another company. The "post-Bartel" Tone King amps generally use circuit boards and often have some basic problems (that can be corrected by a knowledegable tech). They still sound good, if there are no ground loops or other noise problems.

Note that this amp is the same model as in the video Tony posted.

 

[matthewr]

Tone King amps can be all over the map. The older "Bartel Era" amps were very well made, sometimes eccentric such as the one in the video. But Bartel sold out to a corporate interest and started another company. The "post-Bartel" Tone King amps generally use circuit boards and often have some basic problems (that can be corrected by a knowledegable tech). They still sound good, if there are no ground loops or other noise problems.

Which is of course much the same story with my Morgan -- except with Morgan you also get the dodgy owner as well.

Also the Tone King's get a lot more pricey unless you buy the smaller ones. That one in the video is nearly £1k more than my Morgan and getting close to Imperial territory (which always sound great on TPS). Or indeed for that sort of money you could actually buy a Rift!