Picked up a Marshall DSL40....What now???
 

I've been on an acoustic binge the past two years, and after returning a Boss Katana I picked up a Marshall DSL40CR to pair with my Les Paul Traditional. So, I spent 2 hours last night dialing in a Bonamassa tone when it hit me.....I need a Tubescreamer, delay pedal, and probably more reverb. I start seeing $$$ signs and I just sit back and let out a huge sigh....

This is why I gave up electric a few years ago. The Les Paul is nice, it really is, but I'm already bored with the "rig" and I am just fiddling with knobs and not playing and getting any better. The tone is nice from the DSL, and I did find a nice trick for a killer Bonamassa tone. Ride the tone knobs down, and use the mid position with the bridge volume on 7 and the neck pickup on 3. Totally Bonamassa!

Problem is that I don't really know what to do now? I've dialed in a nice tone and played my 8 or 9 blues licks and I'm just lost. With acoustic, I write songs and play with my daughter while she plays violin. She doesn't even wanna be in the same room with the "noise" haha.

So, I may return the Les Paul and the Marshall and buy another nice Martin....

There's a whole load of other nice tones in that Marshall, as there are in any good tube amp - and while nailing the Joe B. tone is nice, speaking as an old tube-amp guy going back to the early-60's (when those sweet old blonde/blackface Fenders and blue-check Ampegs were brand-new and nobody on this side of the Atlantic had even heard of Vox, much less Marshall) I'd take a page from your acoustic experience and focus on developing your own "signature tone"; you're definitely on the right track with the knob-twisting - playing with different combinations of pre/post-gain and EQ can reveal a variety of sonic nuances, even before you start messing with the guitar's knobs - but I'd keep a log of useful tones, so that you can come back to them at a moment's notice. As far as playing along with your daughter's violin is concerned, "Les Paul" doesn't automatically mean balls-to-the-wall rock; bear in mind that they were originally intended as solid-body jazz guitars, and with a period-correct setup (think wound-G flatwound 12's and ultra-low action - if you're primarily an acoustic player you shouldn't have any problem handling it) and a bit of woodshedding on your part (pull out all those upper-position extended/altered chord voicings and non-open-string scales that give the "acoustic" guys fits) you just might discover a new dimension to your father-daughter relationship...

In the meantime use it well, often, and LOUD... :guitar:

I totally understand what you are saying....

My take is this... Electrics in their own way are exciting and super fun!
For me the electric lends itself more to a band setting.
For home ... It could require additional gear to make it more rewarding.

I think a looper is essential ... I just recently got a Ditto X4 which is amazing. I Can lay down a track or 2 with multi layers of sound and play my leads over them.... plus With the X4 I can also record 2 separate parts like a Verse and Chorus (or Bridge). Have them playback easily and switch back and forth. It has many added "looper" features for changing things up .. decay, various types of stops, fades, reverse... (I can talk all day about the X4). :)

Next there is the Band in Box pedals.. Like the Digitech Trio and Trio + (with looper).... Pretty swiftly create bass and drum tracks to play along with... Very cool. Full band in one pedal.

Lastly, Jam Tracks .. I love to use Youtube which has tons of free tracks.

The Marshall has an MP3 Jack in the back. It is great for playing along with music!

Interesting, I guess I am the opposite. I don't use pedals. I never get bored with my two electrics and three amps.

I do get bored with my own skills, however.

I also feel that there is nothing like a good acoustic.

Some ideas:

• Get a looper and play leads over the rhythm tracks you lay down.
• A couple of strategically selected, good quality pedals can really kick-start the interest. As a child of the Psychedelic era, it's a Hendrix style Fuzz Face into a phaser for me.
• I wouldn't worry about the reverb...I like the digital reverb on my DSL-20HR. Don't you like your on-board reverb?

I took lessons from this guy when I was a ten-year-old kid and he was a teenage phenom, back in the early-60's:



Doesn't seem to need anything other than a guitar, cable, and amp - no band, no overdrive, no stompboxes, no backing tracks - to make it "rewarding"; does take more than a little bit of old-fashioned practice, though...

When Dhani Harrison first took up guitar he was allowed a Strat, cable, and tweed Bassman, period - and I'd tend to think Papa George knew a little something about what makes electric guitars tick...

PSA: "Good electric guitar tone" isn't just about ear-searing distortion and how many layers of effects you can stack, and it never was: think outside the box(es) and draw upon your acoustic roots - touch, picking technique, tone color, dynamics, phrasing - and IME you'll be better off/more satisfied in the long run...

I feel like The Great Oz: "WHILE YOU HAVE THE GEAR, WHAT YOU LACK IS A FIRE IN YOU BELLY. FOR THIS I GIVE YOU HOME-GROWN CLIPS!!!"

OUTRO SOLO 1

OUTRO SOLO 2

Outtro solos from songs I produced and played on for clients. I used a Tele and the PODHD500X for both.

WAITING

A little equipment test using an ES-335 and PODHD500X

I once asked a friend who was an A-6 Intruder pilot in Vietnam if he had kept his pilot's license up to date and had flown something like a Cessna since the war. His answer? "Heck no! If I'm not yanking and banking, why would I want to fly?"

So get yanking and banking on the electric.

All the best,

Bob

And remember: Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...

I bet this is my issue! haha :D

or trade them in for a Boogie ;) :guitar: :D

Sounds like you just weren't sure you really wanted to play electric to begin with. It's a different "game" from acoustic.

I know we are talking about tube amps but there's a lot to be said about solid state amps like the Fender Mustang which would allow you to have fun and experiment at a fraction of the cost of a tube amp, without the need for pedals and with a headphone jack so you won't disturb your daughter.

Different strokes. My electric gets the majority of my play time, a lot of it unplugged since it's late-at-night-quiet that way. You can write songs and play along with your daughter on electric just as easily as acoustic, though you might want to tone down the distortion. In fact you can play it just about exactly like you play acoustic, if you want to. Or, you can sound like Randy Rhoades. :D Or you can put it down and sell it all and buy another acoustic guitar instead, if you want to.

Me, I have two channels on my Marshall with 3 gain settings each, but I'll usually use just two of those in combination with different pickup selections and some adjustments on the gain knob. I have several pedals but most of the time I'll use one or two, a blueSky reverb (infinitely better in all ways than the onboard reverb, and almost always on with several different settings depending on mood) and a Boss chorus (which is generally on or off, I don't mess with the settings). Doesn't have to be complicated at all, though it does require some exploration and maybe note taking at first.

Yep, nothing like a good acoustic. Oh, and also, nothing like a good electric with a good amp.

Been getting in a lot of practice trying to get used to my new delay pedal with the jet aircraft control panel, but when I turn it off I keep playing because my amp sounds so good with nothing other than the guitar in front of it. Great amp and guitar can benefit from some nice effects, but they are completely optional.

Rabbits
 

Be careful! As mentioned in a pedal post I was in a while back, those pedals multiply like rabbits! Never get one even close to damp or poof! You have a dozen over night!

Or you can buy one big huge monster Flemmish Giant Rabbit called a Helix. :)
I played through one a few times. They open up a Pandora's box of possibilities!

If you play alone get an I-Rig and run it through an I-phone (garage band or Ampli-tube) into your Marshall. That will open another door as well at minimal cost.

Number one rule! Have fun!