My Shine So Hard Rig

mmasonmusic · #1 06.23.11, 11:49 AM

My new band is called Shine So Hard.
facebook, Webpage, BandCamp

We just finished basic tracks at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, and we should have a finished product fairly soon. We are without a doubt an "alternative-rock band". We channel post-punk, gothic rock, first wave punk, and shoe-gaze.

I re-designed my rig a lot for this new band. I'm thinking about maybe getting a new amp set-up as well...

My Rig:

Epiphone Elitist Casino (stock) -->
early 80s Ibanez TS-9 --> ProCo Rat (modified) --> DeviEver Hyperion --> Boss Tuner --> EHX Freeze --> Lovepedal Pickle Vibe --> TC Electronics Flashback X4
L --> 1972 Fender Super Reverb
R --> AC-4

Melodica Rig
SM 57--> Boss DD-7 --> Hughes & Kettner Red Box -direct->

Pedals that sit in boxes and come out to play every once in awhile:
Seymour Duncan Pick-Up Booster
Voodoo Labs Chorus
Dunlop Classic Fuzz
EHX P.O.G.
EHX Micro Synth
Early 1980s Ibanez Tube Screamer
Boss CS-3

Other guitars that he uses live and on future recordings:
Early 90s Japanese Fender Mustang (Lindy Fralin Vintage Hot pickups added)
Early 90s Japanese Fender Jazzmaster (Mastery Bridge and Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Pickups added)
Mid 90s Mexi Fender Stratocaster (Callaham Tremolo Block and Saddles, Rio Grande Pickups and Tropical Fish Resistor in the tone circuit added)
1970s Obscure New York Luthier copy of Gibson J-200
early 2000s Yamaha FG-750 tuned a whole step down (this is my "Elliott Smith" guitar)

K.O.'s Rig:

Gibson ES-137 (heavily modified by Andy Brauer) --> MXR bass compressor --> EWS fuzzy drive --> Xotic bb custom preamp --> Epicenter Audio valveboy --> EHX neoclone --> Mythfx triton --> Ernie Ball volume pedal jr --> T-Rex replica delay --> T-Rex tremster tremelo --> Eventide timefactor twin delay --> TC electronic flashback delay/looper --> Eventide space reverb --> Xotic ep booster --> Mesa lonestar medium 100/50/10 watt head --> Mesa lonestar 4 x 10 cabinet

*There is a Poly Tune, tuner in the tuner out on the volume pedal

Other guitars that he uses live and on future recordings:
Gibson SG Zoot Suit
1992 Gibson Les Paul Standard (I used this on one solo too)

K.O. is really the master sound creator in the band. I do most lead lines, riffs, and top layer guitar pieces, but K.O. is driving force on most sonic experimentation and a good chunk of the rhythm guitar. There isn't a normal lead guitarist rhythm guitarist structure we just play pieces that work together. If you hear a solo and it sounds like J. Mascis or Billy Corgan it's probably me, but if you hear a dense wall of beautiful noise it's K.O.

Tina's Bass Rig

Fender J Bass --> Pitch Black Tuner --> Way Huge Effects Angry Troll --> Ampeg Bass Amp

Concretebadger · #2 06.23.11, 12:05 PM

glad to hear about what you've been up to since I haven't seen many posts from you lately. What mod was done on your RAT btw? I know you were looking around for ways to improve on what you had. Damn, a stereo amp setup out of a DD-7 must sound great live.

S'funny, but I started to get into Catherine Wheel lately (fellow Norfolk-born shoegazers!)...fell in love with Ferment the first time I heard it.

mmasonmusic · #3 06.23.11, 4:21 PM

Yeah, I've been busy, not a lot of time to come to GG.

The Rat pedal has most of the aluminum electrolytic capacitors replaced them with tantalum electrolytic capacitors. As well in the distortion feedback loop I increased the capacitor capacity from 2.2 to 4.7 uF. Also, I did the Ruetz mod where I threw a knob on the side to control what some people do with a trimpot. I have it set to about 60% of how much low end is added to the feedback loop.

The pedal screams with joy with my Casino (P90s). It's incredibly musical, and the best distortion pedal I've ever owned.

mmasonmusic · #4 07.05.11, 10:39 PM

I also modified my pedal board, taking pedals off to streamline the tone. Plus I'm finding less pedals are needed when you have two guitarists.

Here are some pics:

Pedal Board

Guitar

arnoldtheduck · #5 07.09.11, 4:34 PM

Got any pictures of the amps? Good to see you're still using 3.

jonny-b-brown · #6 07.09.11, 5:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmasonmusic

Plus I'm finding less pedals are needed when you have two guitarists.

That's funny because I'm the opposite. I usually want more pedals for strange sounds when there's another guitarist, and when I'm the only one (like right now) I use less or none. But as Ghandi, or Yoda, or one of those guys said, "There's more than one way to grill a Yeti."

mmasonmusic · #7 07.14.11, 9:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonny-b-brown

That's funny because I'm the opposite. I usually want more pedals for strange sounds when there's another guitarist, and when I'm the only one (like right now) I use less or none. But as Ghandi, or Yoda, or one of those guys said, "There's more than one way to grill a Yeti."

The other guitarist has lots and lots of effects. He is really covering most of the distortion and modulation, so I'm using the layered delay my POG and the Freeze to create a unique sound to contrast with him. Plus my Epiphone sounds just so perfect clean, there isn't a lot of need for distortion. And as well my amps are right on the edge of distortion so there is always a touch of grit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by arnoldtheduck

Got any pictures of the amps? Good to see you're still using 3.

I do, I believe there are photos of the amp set up when I was with Seven Car floating around somewhere. I'll dig.

As well, when we've been practicing lately I've been using a lot of the rehearsal place back line gear so I don't have to haul 3 amps up the street to my car.

mmasonmusic · #8 07.14.11, 9:55 AM

I added more photos here.

Silvertone Amp

Amp Trio in Action

mmasonmusic · #9 11.18.11, 11:43 AM

I updated the first post. A lot of awesome stuff has happened since I first posted this. We just tracked basic tracks at Sunset Sound. It was a real treat and we're all really excited for the E.P. we're currently working on.

Here is K.O.'s pedal board from recording.

sloppy_phil · #10 11.19.11, 8:59 AM

cool, dude! I've watched your rig evolve for a while, and I've always dug whatever music you post on here, so I'm curious to see what you use. Would definitely like to hear some of the tracks, even if in rough form now.

also, how the hell was sunset sound? that seems pretty amazing to me.

mmasonmusic · #11 11.20.11, 9:59 AM

Thanks man! I've learned a lot from this site and folks like you. One should never discount the value of collective wisdom.

Sunset Sound was beyond incredible. I can't put in words how great it is to finally get the drum sounds I envision in my head. The room and mic pre-amps are a special kind of mojo which add that last bit to take a recording to that next level. Hopefully, our song-writing and performance will be seen as worthy of such sonic beauty.

I wish I could share what it sounds like now, but it really should wait to be finished first.

mmasonmusic · #12 02.01.12, 9:02 PM

I bought a new amp and I just got it today. I'm very pleased with how it sounds.

imagen uno
imagen dos
imagen tres
imagen quarto

Cheers!

mmasonmusic · #13 05.20.12, 2:53 PM

Mark's Pedal Board

Seymour Duncan Pick-Up Booster --> ProCoRat (customized) --> DeviEver Hyperion --> Boss Tuner --> EHX Freeze --> Voodoo Labs Chorus --> Custom Red Y/Tap
A --> 1972 Fender Super Reverb
B --> Lovepedal Pickle Vibe --> Boss DD-7 --> Vox AC-4

K.O.'s Pedal Board

mxr bass compressor --> ews fuzzy drive --> xotic bb custom preamp --> epicenter audio valveboy --> EHX neoclone --> mythfx triton --> ernie ball volume pedal jr --> tc electronic polyytune/t-rex replica delay --> t-rex tremster tremelo --> eventide timefactor twin delay --> tc electronic flashback delay/looper --> eventide space reverb --> xotic ep booster --> mesa lonestar medium 100/50/10 watt head --> mesa lonestar 4 x 10 cabinet