Ziggy Played Guitar ....

[Slinger]

I'm going to preach caution again. Plan upgrades carefully, or you'll end up with nice hardware attached to what are very average guitars. You can only enhance a lot of cheap guitars to a certain stage, and that's the stage where you relaise you've spent damn near as much as a new guitar.on something half as good.

Congrats on managing the pickup transplant, though. I've done a couple of those myself, and they can (depending on the routing/switching) get quite fiddly

 

[Fretless]

These are low-cost Phrilam pickups (€16 the pair). I was more interested in just doing the mod than in slamming in something expensive. I thought these would suit the quality of the headless Volgoa.

I'm very much in a budget-level mode, just seeing what is possible for the minimum outlay - very much how I've also approached Hifi in recent years.

I will never be a great guitar player, probably never even a good one. The quality of the gear I am acquiring is very much orientated towards learning and experiencing.

 

[Slinger]

My beautiful little Squier Jaguar Short Scale bass is a case in point. I paid €245 for it in 2015, and it was the perfect vehicle for modding. I added a new high-mass gold Gotoh bridge, new gold tuners, gold string trees, gold control knobs, a gold "ashtray", and a pearl scratch plate. and then a €138 pair of Seymour Duncan SPB-2/SJB-2bpickups. Lastly, I got personalised (with my signature) block inlays for the neck to cover the original dot markers. The addons literally did cost me as much as the original bass, but I succeeded in turning it into a superb instrument, and defy anyone to find a better all-round short-scale bass for less than the € 500 it ended up costing me.

 

[TheMarlin]

I'm going to preach caution again. Plan upgrades carefully, or you'll end up with nice hardware attached to what are very average guitars. You can only enhance a lot of cheap guitars to a certain stage, and that's the stage where you relaise you've spent damn near as much as a new guitar.on something half as good.

Congrats on managing the pickup transplant, though. I've done a couple of those myself, and they can (depending on the routing/switching) get quite fiddly

agreed. Bolting upgrades to guitars ads zero value should you decided to sell later.
If you’re upgrading a guitar that may not be a ‘forever guitar’, keep the original parts. Restore to factory, then sell. And sell upgrades separately.

I admire your commitment to budget upgrades, but the sound quality from a £16 pickup will be about the same as what came on the guitar, just a different flavour of ‘meh’.

Pickups are tbe heart of a guitar, the voice. it’s absolutely worth having a stronger budget for pickups.

 

[Fretless]

Here's a vid of someone installing similar pickups to mine. Phrilam are also marketed under the name Fleor and are clones of Seymour Duncan designs.

I'm very happy with the sonic upgrade but mainly chuffed that it worked as a first attempt.

 

[Fretless]

Today's post brought in a couple of pedals from AliExpress, the most intriguing being a Chinese copy of the legendary Klon Centaur overdrive.

Behringer have also produced a version of this and were sued by the designer for breach of copyright. Genuine examples of the Centaur fetch thousands on Ebay.

Apparently, what I have received is a Klon Clone, handmade in China following the original design and specs and I paid €20 for it.

Have fired it up briefly this afternoon (busy weekend) and it sounds quite extraordinarily open and clear, the overdrive effect being very transparent.

 

[Fretless]

Fun with pedals:

The pocket-money prices of these gives me the chance to explore tones and effects in a painless way. There are loads of shootouts and reviews on YouTube which give an idea of what is good (or not) and bargain-hunting on Ali becomes a game!

From L-R:

Unnamed Analog Chorus: this line is also marketed under names like Kmise and Saphue. The absolute cheapest pedals on Ali. Ridiculous!
This has a pleasant, light chorus effect that I like better than my old Boss pedal, really nice 12-string jangle. Only drawback is a massive 'clunk' through the speaker when it is activated. Put that on a loop and it became an interesting rhythm track.

Rowin Phaser: a nice, useable effect.

Vivlex Slow Hand: probably rebranded Rowin - there are several different brand names that sell identical pedals: VSN, Iset, Amuzik.
Fantastic 'swell' effect for Ambient sounds. Saves me having to do it all with the Volume pedal. Love this!

Rowin Dumbler: fine little Overdrive with a compressed, controlled sound. Nice with E-Bow.

Iset Sandwich Compressor: great pedal that I've seen compared to far more expensive models.

Anyway, I'm having fun, without hurting my wallet!

 

[Slinger]

Having fun is what it's all about.

 

[Fretless]

Why sit inside when you can play guitar outside?

The Mooer GE-100 multi-effect is a basic but feature-packed little device. Hell - it even runs on batteries!

It holds a complete range of effects and things like a tuner, looper, drums and even practice scales and guitar lessons.

Just had a blast through 80(!) preset settings, some lovely, some very noisy and some downright weird. Along with my Chi-Bow and a cheapo wireless link.

Have been planning this since I spotted the unit on sale and it's turned out perfectly.