hi everyone, i thought i would share my new rig.
it's not the most elaborate setup in the world, but i'm VERY happy (and actually quite surprised) with how good it sounds. here it is:
mark III red stripe. simulclass, reverb and R2 volume mod, but no geq.
with the help of my dad, we started building a 2x12 box (based on the dimensions of the recto 2x12). sides and back are made out of pine while the front face is made of birch ply. a sheet of audio foam was placed on the back plate, and we finished it off by using 2 eminence legend speakers. picked up a random maroon/purple skin from fabric land, and wicker grille (i wanted to make it look like the old wicker boogies).
add the previous 2 items together, and i ended up with this
i was having a hard time dealing with the old separate foot switches, so i bought a project box and started designing a a box where all the switches would be in one box. the final product looks like this. i would highly suggest to do this if you have not done so already as it simply makes switching channels so much less painful... i've always had a problem with how "backwards" the stock pedals are: red light on the lead pedal means it's NOT in lead, and red light on rhythm pedal meals you're NOT on crunch mode. this was very awkward to look at.
the new design is very simple: the button on the left is for R1/R2. when you are on the clean setting (r1) the first green led lights up. when you are on the crunch setting (r2) the second yellow led lights up. the button on the top is for the reverb, the led turns blue when the reverb is on. the button on the right is the lead switch: a red led turns on the you are IN lead mode. very easy on the eyes!
i was first skeptical about purchasing a mark without the geq, but decided to go for it since it was indeed in good condition, had the R2 volume mod, and was being sold for a pretty reasonable price. all my concerns went away when i hooked up my empress paraEQ into the loop. i know some people swear that adding an aftermarket EQ will not get you the same results as the stock eq, but i am VERY pleased with the results i got from this pedal! i would highly suggest it to anyone who does not have a geq model! i even set my parameters to match those of the boogies (i couldn't get them exact, and i only have 3 band but again, i was very pleased with the results). endless possibilities for shaping the sound and the amp seems to respond very well to the pedal!
i also added my trusty tc nova delay (which i cannot live without) at the end of the loop.
here is the whole rig together (also with a volume pedal for those swells)
i use roughly the same settings as petrucci on his iiC+, and mostly play that dream theater / liquid tension kind of stuff. however, i also use it as a jazz amp (this amp is replacing my old roland jc-90).
unfortunately, i don't have any sound samples at this moment, but will upload some soon! the sound coming out of this thing is HUGE and very thick. i'm very happy with the eminence legends and would suggest padding the back plate to absorb some of the sound, but not enough to make it sound dry. it's very punchy with a horribly warm tone.
oh, and the guitars i'm using through it are
a custom '85 mij strat with gibson L4 neck pickup and random junk ibanez bridge pickup
and a 2002 ibanez sa160 with x2n (b) / tonezone
thanks for looking!
it's not the most elaborate setup in the world, but i'm VERY happy (and actually quite surprised) with how good it sounds. here it is:
mark III red stripe. simulclass, reverb and R2 volume mod, but no geq.
with the help of my dad, we started building a 2x12 box (based on the dimensions of the recto 2x12). sides and back are made out of pine while the front face is made of birch ply. a sheet of audio foam was placed on the back plate, and we finished it off by using 2 eminence legend speakers. picked up a random maroon/purple skin from fabric land, and wicker grille (i wanted to make it look like the old wicker boogies).
add the previous 2 items together, and i ended up with this
i was having a hard time dealing with the old separate foot switches, so i bought a project box and started designing a a box where all the switches would be in one box. the final product looks like this. i would highly suggest to do this if you have not done so already as it simply makes switching channels so much less painful... i've always had a problem with how "backwards" the stock pedals are: red light on the lead pedal means it's NOT in lead, and red light on rhythm pedal meals you're NOT on crunch mode. this was very awkward to look at.
the new design is very simple: the button on the left is for R1/R2. when you are on the clean setting (r1) the first green led lights up. when you are on the crunch setting (r2) the second yellow led lights up. the button on the top is for the reverb, the led turns blue when the reverb is on. the button on the right is the lead switch: a red led turns on the you are IN lead mode. very easy on the eyes!
i was first skeptical about purchasing a mark without the geq, but decided to go for it since it was indeed in good condition, had the R2 volume mod, and was being sold for a pretty reasonable price. all my concerns went away when i hooked up my empress paraEQ into the loop. i know some people swear that adding an aftermarket EQ will not get you the same results as the stock eq, but i am VERY pleased with the results i got from this pedal! i would highly suggest it to anyone who does not have a geq model! i even set my parameters to match those of the boogies (i couldn't get them exact, and i only have 3 band but again, i was very pleased with the results). endless possibilities for shaping the sound and the amp seems to respond very well to the pedal!
i also added my trusty tc nova delay (which i cannot live without) at the end of the loop.
here is the whole rig together (also with a volume pedal for those swells)
i use roughly the same settings as petrucci on his iiC+, and mostly play that dream theater / liquid tension kind of stuff. however, i also use it as a jazz amp (this amp is replacing my old roland jc-90).
unfortunately, i don't have any sound samples at this moment, but will upload some soon! the sound coming out of this thing is HUGE and very thick. i'm very happy with the eminence legends and would suggest padding the back plate to absorb some of the sound, but not enough to make it sound dry. it's very punchy with a horribly warm tone.
oh, and the guitars i'm using through it are
a custom '85 mij strat with gibson L4 neck pickup and random junk ibanez bridge pickup
and a 2002 ibanez sa160 with x2n (b) / tonezone
thanks for looking!
