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                             Randall Reed Studios ▪ Motley, MN 56466 ▪

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1-14-09 - New Gear

Got a couple of Crate tube amps.  One is a V18-212 with 18 watts of power and has two 12 inch speakers along with two E84 output tubes.  The other one is a V33-212 with 33 watts of power with four E84's and two 12 inch speakers.  Course these aren't being made anymore -too bad. (Made by same company that makes the Ampeg amps for bass guitar). Got em brand new in the box and they have pretty decent sound.

Also got an Ibanez Tube King TK999HT tube distortion pedal. Kinda expensive but does lots more than the tube screamer.

General:

Marshall JCM2000 100 watt tube amp.  YOW!

Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue. 40 watts of greasy tube whaling.

Epiphone Sheraton II - wonderful semi-hollow. Sounds great even without the amp. As flawless as can be from the factory. Bought a 5W tube Epiphone Valve Jr. Combo for it - great tube tone.

Fender Jazz Bass with Fender B-DEC amplifier.  After all these years gonna finally try and play some good bass.

I have a Fender American Stratocaster that's really a blast to play.  Absolutely essential if you're trying for that Hendrix, Clapton or other 'Guitar-God' sound.  Punching it thru a Cry-Baby pedal and a Behringher 100 watt amp with two 12 inch Jensen speakers rattles the old studio very nicely.

In addition, I have a Les Paul knock-off made by DeArmond.  Apparently Fender bought DeArmond and then discontinued the line.  Too bad - very nice guitar and cheap.  This one was made in Korea and is beautifully made and sounds great.

I liked the Korean made guitars so much, I bought a Rogue violin bass that 's a copy of the Hofner bass McCartney used to play in the old days.  I can't believe the fit and finish of these Korean axes for practically nothing.  I paid $200 new for this one on sale. It plays fabulously and the quality rivals my $1200 Strat.  Guess you don't have to pay a fortune for guitar quality these days.  Should be interesting to see how they hold up in 5-10 years.

I also have a Martin Auditorium cut-away acoustic - wonderful wood box sound.  Not cheap but it sounds, looks, plays and even smells great. Very fine craftsmanship!

Fender Telecaster and Peavy ValveKing 100W tube amp.  Glorious!

An American made Ovation Balladeer acoustic rounds out my current crop of axes. If I only had one guitar - this would be it.  Almost as easy to play as the Strat and sounds great whether you go unplugged or electric.

I've also had Gibson's, Yamaha, Epiphones, Framus and other fine guitars.  My current selection of guitars in no way says I don't like the other manufacturer's models.  I just don't happen to own any at this time.

 

 

I have an audio and video studio where I play around and experiment when I have the time.  Thought it would be nice to share some of my music with you. 

I use both digital and analog recording gear.  I believe that each medium has something unique to bring to music making.  While digital has such a high noise rejection and very little cross-talk, something is missing to my ear that only analog can provide. Maybe I just expect to hear the tape hiss and other artifacts in the back ground.  Whatever the reason, it sounds more real to me.  In the past I found a factory r2r copy of the Doors "Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine" and cranked it on a Pioneer Spec system with Sansui XP9000 speakers.  I felt like I was standing in with the band.  Didn't get that from the digital stuff. I suppose part of it is sampling rates, beat frequencies and harmonics. Whatever the reason, I still love the analog recorded sound.

During recording, I may use one of my many reel-to-reel units and just jam.  I find that jamming is much more fun on a r2r than a computer.  When I'm done, if there's anything good, I can go back and pump it into the 'puter at my leisure.

If I'm just doing loops, digital is the way to go - period.  Being able to adjust pitch and tempo is a breeze.  I also prefer final mix down in digital as it gives me great control over the tracks and allows me to export to many different formats like wave, wmv or mp3. Of course I can pump it back out to a reel to reel, DAT or mastering cassette as needed.

The music here is of my own making.  Composed, produced, some guitar work, and mixed by me using Sonar Producer 4.  (Got Version 8 now so more toys to play with this winter).  I used a variety of the guitars listed here, MXL mics (great sound, great price), and pumped everything thru a Delta 1010 24/96 system hooked to my puter.  It is intended for your enjoyment as a 'freebie'.  You may download and enjoy it or pass it around. 

The music is in mp3 format which is kinda crappy sound-wise but downloads quick.  The video is in Windows Media format and requires Windows Media Player 9.x. or higher.  Come back and visit and see what other music, video or musings I come up with.

Randy Reed with guitars

 

 

 

 
Randy Reed's Tree House Studio

 

Newest Gear:  '69 Thinline Fender Telecaster semi-hollow body with 'f' hole.  Plays wonderfully.  I love the fret-board.  Very easy to get around on and great sound overall. 

Also bought a Behringer V-Amp Pro rack mount amplifier and speaker cabinet simulator.  It allows for 32 different vintage amps and 15 vintage cab setups. I'm going to add a full stack (two half stack cabinets with four 12 inch speakers in each) speaker cabinet to garner the full effects.  I'm going to rip out the 100 watt head from an older Fender combo amp that has a tube pre-amp in it and use it with the simulator and cabinet setup.  More info later when it's up and running.

Broke down and 'returned' to all tube guitar amps with the purchase of a Peavy ValveKing 100.  3 tubes in the pre-amp and 4 in the Class A/B and A output.  What a beauty!  I had an old 60's era Fender all tube amp in the 80's that a friend had given me.  Sadly I got rid of it as I was an idiot at the time and didn't realize what I had.  Got two closeout Behringer 4-12 half stacks with Jensen speakers.  Suckers weighed so much had to have them delivered by an 18-wheeler! Hope that's a prelude to their sound. God help the neighbors when the Peavy and Fender full stacks are all cranked up!

The Peavy tube amp with a half stack is enough to crack the windows in my studio. Gotta get some coverings there.  WOW!  What sound!  Put the Fender Telecaster on and it was wonderful.

  

Click on the link to download my music or my video.  Enjoy!

FunkinA 70's funk stuff with dueling 'wah' guitars
Rock Candy 80's rock with guitar solo
Act Naturally Randy and Bob Video
6 Axis Router Videos showing various plastic parts being routed and drilled by robots. I designed, built and sold all of these machines.

Note: If you use a modem, you may experience 'fade-outs' the first time you play a song or video.  The second time through should be all right as it is now on your computer.  No endorsement of illegal substances is intended in the video, just an old routine from guys growing up in the 60's.  Reed

1-14-09:

I don't want anyone to get the impression that I'm an expert on musical instrument gear selection.  I'm only an expert on vintage consumer audio gear. Of course with all the gear I have maybe I am becoming a lot more educated.  The audio circuits are simple for the most part (especially the tubes)  compared to consumer electronics.

There are so many fine companies out there making fabulous equipment for the guitar and bass player.  I've only been fortunate enough to sample a small number of the gear that's out there - all on my dime.  I don't get anything from any company to push their gear. I've found the best way to make a decision is to research the gear and find as many unbiased opinions about it as I can. I buy from on-line stores (like Musician's Friend www.musiciansfriend.com - great store!) as I live in the sticks and there are no retail music stores in the area.  So I make sure I get a 45 day return policy on my gear and if I don't like it - back it goes.

Randy Reed doing a little jamming with the 'bot

Copyright (c) 2001 - 2009, Randall Reed