Saturday, October 23, 2010

Q’n’A: Advice Pasal Equipment Untuk Beginners (Part 4 of 4)

 

The most basic setup yg diperlukan ialah gitar sambung terus ke amp. If you like the sound of your amp, tak yah letak effect in between pon takpe. But aku nak depart from that conventional wisdom sket.

 

Effects

Most players usually letak something between amp dengan gitar untuk kasi lagi sedap tone dia. There are many kind of effects you can use, in many different shapes.

 

Jenis Effects

Jenis effect terbahagi kepada beberapa group. Kalo tengok website Boss, ade Distortion/Overdrive, Reverb/Delay, Modulation, EQ/Tonality, Pitch Shift, etc.

I’m not gonna go too deep into that, I’m not an expert in it anyway. But basically, Distortion/Overdrive ni effect yg kasi bunyi tu ganas sket, heavy, berbanding clean tone.

Reverb pulak effect yg kasi dengar macam kat dalam dewan ke, cathedral ke, room ke. Delay pon is closely related to that. Delay ni macam echo la.

Modulation pulak, well, this is modulation sound effect. Bukan key modulation yg aku discuss sebelum ni. Chorus (or ensamble) contohnya effect yang buat macam stereo sket, macam dua orang main the same thing. Flanger buat kasi bunyi macam jet pejuang sket.

Equalization is tone shaping. So ko boleh kuatkan certain frequency, and rendahkan frequency yg lain. Wah ni buat sound macam goreng lagu Enter Sandman tu.

Pitch shifter boleh ubah pitch note yg ko main tu. Harmonist boleh buat sound macam dua orang main benda yg sama, but the other sound is in harmony. Maknanya katakanlah ko main satu lick, the other sound main the same lick, at lower or higher pitch, and stay within the key.

Compressor pulak is like an automatic volume control. Compressor boleh ubah “dynamic range” sound ko.

 

Package Effects

Memacam rupa bentuk effect ade dipasaran.

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Yg jenis ni dipanggil “stompbox” punya pedal. This is a very common form of effects. The good thing pasal effect camni ialah nak mix and match senang sket. Katakan la ko suka distortion brand Boss, delay Behringer, whammy Digitech etc, just connect them to each other. Pretty easy. Nak ubah susunan effect tu pon senang. Lagi satu pedal camni memang kebal gak la. They last forever. Sebejik pedal camni tak berapa mahal sangat. But kalau nak macam-macam effect, this may not be very cost effective lah. Especially kalau ko belum tau banyak pasal effects, buying these may not be the best idea kot. I’m speaking from experience. Dulu aku pakai gak effect camni. Kalau mase aku start dulu aku ade choice macam skrg, aku takkan beli effect camni.

And aku tak sure la kat kedai gitar kat Malaysia ade benda cam gambar kat bawah ni. Kat US ni, kalau aku gi Guitar Center, dia ade station yg letak memacam effect Boss yg dah siap disambung to each other and an amp. Just pick any guitar you like, cucuk cable, and you can learn what each effect does sebelum beli.

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Effect camni pulak dipanggil multi-effects. Ade yg kecik, ade yang besar, ade yg murah, ade yg mahal. And you can always check the list of available effects for each unit. GT-10 for example ada memacam effect. You can just google for a list of effects it has. And some units, macam GT-10 ni aku rasa boleh cucuk terus kat USB computer, boleh jadi macam sound card. Boleh pakai headphone jek, boleh cucuk kat amp, atau PA system. Siap ade amplifier modeling skali. Effect camni kalo nak combine dengan pedal lain boleh gak, although it’s not too straightforward. And the bad thing about this thing is that you may not like all effects dia. Although harga dia nampak macam mahal, this is actually more cost effective daripada individual stompboxes. Oh, nak pakai benda ni kena baca manual la.

 

 

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Ha, kalau loaded, buat camni. Those are rackmount punya effects. Aku memang takde experience pakai rack punya effects. But I’m guessing that each one of those are high quality stuff, stok orang pakai dalam studio or touring rock stars. And setau aku dorang sambung semua effect ke programmable pedal. So if you’re a beginner, this is something to dream of, but don’t get them.

Hmm, actually, aku bercadang nak angkut satu rackmount unit. Camni.

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Heh heh, just a Behringer tuner. Just about $60 jek. Actually I wanna have a tuner on my desk, but I don’t wanna spend $200 on this Peterson.

 

Amps

Pada aku it’s more important to have a good amp daripada effects. Effect best-best tapi last last bunyi kuar kat amp cabok tak guna gak. Amp pon ade memacam jenis. Let’s see how they’re packaged.

 

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Amp camni dipanggil Combo Amp. Combo sebab amplification unit dengan speaker dia combine skali. This particular model ade footswitch, untuk turn on or off some effects. Most amps memang ade overdrive effect, reverb etc.

 

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Yang ni half stack (left), and full stack (right) amps. That’s your ultimate kind of amp. But they’re not cheap. Besar and berat plak tu. Amp camni amplifier unit dia (amp head) yg belah atas tu, and yg bawah tu speakers cabinet dia. If you’re a rock star doing a live show, consider something like this. If you have a studio and you wanna do recording, this isn’t a bad idea too. Kalau beginner main kat rumah jek, toksah la.

 

Tu common amp configuration. Amplification dia pon ade macam-macam gak. Ade yang tube, ade yang solid state, ade yg modelling. I won’t go into that. Google jek. Read stuff like this or something.

 

 

Recommendation Untuk Beginners

Kalau ko masih beginners main sesorang kat dalam bilik, aku tak recommend satu pon produk yg tunjuk kat atas. Because it’s 2010, and pada aku korang ade better option for your money.

 

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Line 6 TonePort UX1 (~RM580)

Kalau ade computer, ni yg aku akan recommend untuk beginners. Yup, just a sound card. Why? It’s relatively cheap, and you’ll get access to a lot of kinds of effects. Aku discover product camni like 2 years ago. At that time aku ade Boss GT-6, and a small Marshall combo. Since aku beli Line6 TonePort UX2 aku, jarang gile aku pakai GT-6 ngan amp tu. And I’ve learned a lot about effects.

Audio Interface ni ade banyak manufacturer dia. Look for something with low latency. Latency ni delay dari time ko petik tali sampai dengar bunyi dia. Masa aku angkut UX2 aku, I was so impressed by the extremely low latency it has. Well, time has changed. Computers are much faster. Gambar kat atas ni UX1. It’s good enough for most applications. Aku pakai UX2 ade dua mic input, ade phantom power kalau nak pakai dengan condenser mic etc. I really have to admit that I absolutely love it. It is by far the best thing about guitars that I’ve purchased. I’ve learned so much since I own it.

Lagi satu kelebihan benda ni nak record pon senang. Ye la, bukan semua orang ade studio, ade amp yg best, ade mic yg mahal utk record sound yg dahsyat. This allows you to connect directly to the computer, and amp modeling ngan effect sume dalam computer.

And since aku tinggal kat apartment, this makes a lot of sense, since aku boleh main sambil dengar pakai headphone. Tak kacau neighbor. And if you’re a beginner, nobody really wanna hear you play anyway. So keep it to yourself for the time being until you get better. :P

Pakai audio interface camni boleh pakai dengan beberapa jenis program untuk model effect ngan amp.

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Ni Line6 GearBox. Boleh pakai dengan Line6 punya product jek. It comes free with Line 6 TonePort. Video aku mostly pakai software ni untuk effects.

 

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Yang ni Line 6 Pod Farm. Yg ni aku tak sure kalau sound card lain boleh pakai ke tak. But it comes with TonePort.

 

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Amplitube. Soundcard brand ape-ape pon boleh pakai.

 

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Ni pulak Guitar Rig.

 

Those are among the most popular la. Benda camni la yg I wish I had mase memula main gitar dulu. You can learn so much, get good sounds without spending a fortune. Zaman skrg ni almost everybody has a computer. Ada electric gutiar, ade good audio interface, pakai pro audio punya headphone ke, you’re good to go.

 

Audio Interface + Computer ni I’d say it’s good untuk practice sesorang. Well, that’s what I do anyway. But kalau nak main dengan kengkawan, that’s not gonna be enough. You’ll need an actual amp for that.

Don’t be thinking about a full stack amp yet. Remember, as a beginner, you won’t be performing in a big arena yet.

Untuk jamming dengan kengkawan, atau kalau ko tak minat pakai computer punya effects and nak practice dengan actual amp, I’d suggest a combo modeling amp.

Modeling amp ni bukan macam traditional amps. Modeling amp ni kat dalam dia ade digital circuitry yg boleh imititate other amps. See, kalau ko beli satu traditional Marshall amp for instance, you get Marshall sound. But if you buy a modeling amp, you can get Marshall sound, MesaBoogie sound etc. Of course lah, modeling amp ni takde la sehebat orginal amp yg dia tiru. But it’s pretty good. And modeling amp ni biasanya ade banyak effects. So, macam ade multi effects plus multiple amps in one package.

 

 

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If you’re in the market for a small modeling amp, I’d suggest a Roland Micro Cube. This little amp, is very little. But looks can be deceiving. This little thing is impressive. Aku try kat kedai, I was like, “how the hell did they do that”? Aku rasa harga dia kalau kat Malaysia kurang dari RM400 kot. This thing is pretty loud for the size, and it sounds good. If you have the chance, try it. Nak practice sesorang pon ok. Nak practice dengan kawan pon maybe loud enough kot. It’s small enough bole run pakai battery jek. Boleh letak strap gitar gak. That way kalau nak pegi camping, you can play an electric guitar in front of the campfire. Tak yah pakai gitar kapok. :D

And Roland is not the only one yg buat modeling amp kecik camni. There are other brands too.

 

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Kalau nak yang besar sket and more features, there are a lot to choose from. Yang aku familiar sket Line 6 dengan Fender la. But I’m sure there are a lot more out there.

Macam gambar yg kat atas ni, it comes with LCD display. Ade memacam effects, ade metronome, ade backing tracks lagi. I heard this one siap boleh connect kat computer lagi, jadi audio interface. Boleh cucuk MP3 player, SD card. Kalau tanak buat bising, cucuk jek headphone. I don’t have one yet, I don’t really need it, but I think I wanna have one.

In any case, aku advise korang toksah tamak nak amp besar sangat. I’m not just talking about half and full stacks. Combo amps get big too. Toksah la angkut amp yg besar, yg high wattage. I think amp yg besar ni, kalau tak main cukup kuat, it won’t sound very good. So if your venue is a small room or a garage, get something of appropriate size. Bile aku gi kedai gitar, I saw those big Marshall stack or MesaBoogie Rectifier stack, they look nice. Tapi aku tak teringin pon. I know I’ll never need them.

And recommendation aku ni is mostly for practice. It’s not for live performance. Kalau live performance, you’ll probably need some sort of pedal nak tukar-tukar effects. Good luck.

10 comments:

  1. 1st time aku tgk effect station camtu. I wish kat Malaysia ada! Tapi skang ni dah ada youtube, so kat situ pon dah byk membantu.

    Anyway, do u know any alternative brand to Boss RC-2? Aku tgk harga yg org jual kat lelong.com.my pon dekat RM700, out of my budget la. Biasa Behringer akan 'copy' apa yg Boss buat, tp aku tgk kat website Behringer blom ada lagi produk yg macam RC-2 tu.

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  2. thank you bro.aku agak tertarik dengan tone port yang kau cerita ni. kalau blog ni tak wujud, mungkin aku tak tau pun pasal tone port ni. Ni yang nak cari sebiji ni. wahaha. :D

    terima kasih bro pasal banyak ajar kitorang semua pasal guitar and music bro.

    corey taylor

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  3. salam bro..sy nk tnye skit ni..toneport tu...kalau la sy nk record lagu..and sy nk tukar dari clean channel ke dist..mcm analog or multieffects kite tekan gune kaki kan..kalau toneport mcm mane tu bro?

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  4. pakai tone port with any computer based effects kena ade pedal khas yang boleh transmit midi signal to the computer untuk tukar effects. the same goes kalao pakai sound card yang lain gak.

    pedal dia most likely not gonna be too expensive, since it doesn't have its own effect circuit. it's just a switch.

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  5. oh.thnx bro..just 1 more question..im just a beginner guitarist..just like to play guitar..not that serious to play live or etc.. playing at home..in my room..i would like to record my playing sometimes...im interested to get the POD studio..shud i get the POD studio UX1 or UX2..the UX2 is slightly expensive than the UX1..what would u recommend to me?thnx in advance bro!>.<

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  6. for most application aku rasa UX1 ok dah kot. yang lebih sket UX2 tu aku rasa ialah dia ade extra instrument input yang kalau ko nak pakai dengan high level input macam dari active pickups (i could be wrong). lagi satu dia ade dua mic input. so kalo nak record acoustic guitar ke, boleh letak dua mic kat different positions to get better sound. or satu boleh guna untuk nyanyi, satu boleh letak dekat guitar. and UX2 ade phantom power. I'm not sure UX1 ade ke tak. but kalo ko nak pakai dengan condenser microphones, kena ade phantom power (i could be wrong). lagi satu ux2 boleh cucuk foot switches kalau nak tukar-tukar effect ke, nak tambah wah control ke.

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  7. but yang tu pasal input output la. pasal noise level ke latency ke ko kena baca spec dia, if they're different.

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  8. oh..ux1 xboleh cucuk foot switch? T_T thnx again bro..bean <--idol :D

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  9. maybe check out other pod products too. aku dengar ade yang siap dengan built-in effects, so ko boleh main tak pakai computer. and u can still use it as an audio interface (not sure how good it is for that purpose).

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  10. assalam bro nk tnye..ape sebenarnye function pre amp,power amp,and all the stuffs yang stacked dkt rack tu..ape beza dgn just connect the guitar thru the amp directly?huhu

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