Single hit

Letting off steam with a singular objective. Naturally, the RGR08 was my pick. I still have a soft spot for single pickup guitars, regardless of the brand name. The Duncan Nazgul pickup here is perfect for angry moments but it's acquired taste. In addition to being an all out distortion affair - nothing less than the SH-6 - the Nazgul is injected with some grizzly top end.

This is perfectly reflected in the Duncan EQ chart, note the reduced bass response but it does not equal a poor bass performance, just lesser than the average high output humbucker. If your amp is up to it, chances are, you can dial in a good low end as compensation. My take on the Nazgul is that it's a pickup for the metal camp. Nothing smooth/ prog-esque about it, in fact, it sounds grizzly & menacing. It won't quite supplement all your chug fest either. There's a healthy dose of fuzz going on in here if that's your thing but it's nothing grungy, all out metal. Imagine Darkthrone coming out of your amp & laying seige to everything nice. OK enough already. I think you get the picture.

Deactivated (yet another)

My Ibanez RGR08LTD. I see this as one of the better made ones from the Indonesian factory.

This was the original pickup in it; a factory default Seymour Duncan active Blackout humbucker.

It was removed & the Nazgul took over. I would describe the Nazgul as a mystic Distortion, lots of vent-up anger shrouded by the black arts, ready to be unleashed. Is it a direct substitute for the Blackout? A passive unit will never do an active's job but it can deliver aggression on its own merit. I think I've lost interest in active pickups, they were not my thing to begin with & I see this swap as a sensible move. 

Black magic

Was a re-string Sunday. A set of Martin Darco strings into my Ibanez RGR08. What does a name like 'Martin' mean to players in the solid body turf? Not much, really. But the Darco set is one of the most affordable & above-average out there. If you think you don't have much $$ to spare but in need of a reliable set of strings- there you go. Just be informed that the B string is a little thicker, going at 11.5 instead of the standard 11.

Sometimes we just have to go the other way to be inspired. I'm not much of an active pickup fan but I do own guitars with such pickups. The Ibanez RGR08 is one of them. Last weekend was my bout with crushing guitar tones which didn't really make the cut in terms of clarity. I kept blaming the amp for the short-comings but a quick switch to active pickups did the job. Active pickups were meant for simply that- cold, calculated, crushing distortion so they should be the rightful reference. We often try too hard with what we think would get the job done instead of embracing what were meant for it all along.

Re-string Sunday: Ibanez RGR08

OK this week, it seems that I hate all guitars with more than one pickups (ha!), or maybe I am on a restrictive journey to manifest creativity. More importantly, I gave my Ibanez RGR08 a re-string, an overdue re-string, in fact.

Previously, I had a set of DR colour coated strings in there which lasted forever so a re-string for this guitar was never on the agenda but those strings aren't really immortal, the colour coat flaked off & those exposed portions rust and they must go.Lots of gunk on my fretboard as well so a little cleaning up should go a long way (to playing enjoyment).

Many of you might not be familiar with the non-round wound strings unless you play bass as well. These are basically windings which are flattened & the immediate effect is that you feel the smoothness upon handling. Jazz dweebs might be having flat-wounds in their guitars which are a more extreme interpretation to this technicality, so they don't feel that gap there between the windings. Any other differences to note? Definitely:

1. Flat-wound strings aren't as bright-sounding, this is the reason why jazz players love them for their warmth. Engage your neck pickup & you have some of the smoothest, rounded, warm tones out there.
2. The flatter the winding, the longer your string life. Why? Lesser dirt (or virtually no dirt at all) trapped between the windings.
3. Not as noisy- obviously due to the flatter surface so you won't hear that noise resulting from dragging your fingertips along the string length.

As for me, I'm taming the active pickup's top end by using a less bright set of strings, maybe this might work for you, no harm trying, yes? :-)

Anyone going to Beez's later?

Plush activity

I've been hearing too much passive tones lately so I had my Ibanez RGR08LTD going this morning, through the Plush Cream pedal. The Cream overdrive did well in taming the protrusive top end from the Duncan Blackout to give a very smooth response. However, this combination proved too much (subjective) in terms of output because there wasn't quite an overdrive tone to be heard, in fact, it's a distortion outcome pertaining to intensity.

Back to... (2)

Day 2 of cradling the familiar. It's my Ibanez RGR08LTD once more but this time it's plugged into a smaller amp, a practice-grade unit. Some of us, once accustomed to a preferred amp, would be affected by a compromise but my rapport with my instruments ensure a consistent delivery despite settling down with an alternative ingredient in the set-up. This often happens in guitar stores, yes? We bond with some guitars we test out but they somehow make us plug into an amp which we'd rather avoid. However, because of the aforementioned bonding, we don't falter in our delivery.

Back to...

 

After days of distractions- singlecuts, single coils, bass- I'm back to playing Ibanez. I was in the mood for some excruciating distortion so the RGR08 was the natural selection, plugged into my Marshall JVM... I guess I am too accustomed to the Ibanez's form & feel, having something familiar in hand really helped in terms of accuracy & inspiration. 

In less than 10 days, the 2010 closure will set in. I would want the year to end quickly for its bitter moments in the hope that the new year has some other promises in store for me. It's much like buying a new guitar; we hope its fresh presence will open up new hopes for us.

New jack

My Ibanez's RGR08 input jack suddenly went dead. Despite some tampering, it just won't carry the signals through...

So it was off to Master Beez's who had the new (Gotoh) input jack done in a matter of minutes.

While I was at it, the Orange Drop cap was installed as well. Beez had the suitable value there as the guitar is an active unit.

Beez has a new homepage up & going, please click here: Look for Beez!

Club reverso

Here are all the Ibanez guitars I own with reverse headstocks (top-bottom):

• GRGR010LTD
• RGR321EX
• RGR08LTD

What's the hype with reverse headstocks? There is this belief the longer string length of the bass strings after the nut, give the instrument a looser low-end respond. Also, it's a relationship with the tension there due to it's less acute dip to the machine head opening.

Yellow + red

Stop rubbing your eyes. Yes, those are red & yellow strings in my Ibanez RGR08. I have some boxes of coated DR strings at home- wonder if a combination of colours in the same guitar would make me play better. Hmm...

Smash the RGR08

Gotcha! Nothing was smashed last night, I played my Smash & RGR08 with the inclusion of VOX's curly cable...

SMASH S2 Lite

• the more I play this guitar, the more I feel duped by the ones I own which cost more than 2x its price. Darn.
• planning to re-string it with a different string brand to confirm if this accounts for the current feel factor
• also, this guitar's heavy... the 'Lite' in its moniker is rather deceiving
• I simply love the default pickups
  

Ibanez RGR08

• this guitar served to test the VOX cable; I heard a curbed treble response plugging it into the SMASH. Knowing how treble-inclined active pickups are in general, it proved the VOX cable to be as I suspected; bass rich.
• I also gave this guitar a fretboard re-conditioning today
  

Everly strings: B-52s (9209)

I bought a pack of Everly B-52s strings while I was at Zen Guitarworks a few days ago- trying them in my Ibanez RGR08LTD.

Ibanez RGR08LTD: Tone!

Ibanez's RGR08LTD is a great offering by the manufacturer for those of us who wish for a no-frills guitar with lots of high gain/drive potential (active humbucker). However, it's also one of the most nonsensical in terms of electronics.

The guitar features a kill switch & volume knob which make the instrument excessive in terms of volume control. I had plans to remove the kill switch & install a tone control instead but knowing the active nature of the pickups, it would mean more effort scouingt for a suitable pot & capacitor. I decided to keep the kill switch (I don't vary volume with this guitar, it has to be an all out affair so the kill switch is useful after all) & turn the volume knob into a tone control instead by adding a capacitor, so no removals were involved.

Now I have a guitar for my needs, not something which the manufacturer deems acceptable for general application. No offense Ibanez, I still like my RGR08LTD.

Distortion overkill

This is quite a distortion overkill: A Marshall amp in its most blistering channel with drive set to full blast & an overdrive pedal set to maximum effect as well. Adding fuel to the distortion incendiary would be a guitar with an active humbucker; my formula for a face-splitting aural assault.

It's only wise to include a proceedings referee here; my Beta Aivin Noise Gate unit. I played this scorching set up last evening- room door closed & the ceiling light threatening to spill its guts with that excessive rumble. You've heard what they say: Nothing beats an angry Marshall. Well, try beating an angry Marshall on Red Bull...

Had to stop because the spouse was in need of assistance to shower the daughter... there will be a next time anyway.

Ibanez RGR08LTD- mine!

This is a new one for me- I still fall for single pickup guitars. It's another Ibanez *yawn* so you say but my liking this guitar is about the pickup there.

I'm not a keen fan of active units, they are good for distortion madness more so than any other tonal applications but hey, I am distortion inclined & I am a fan of Seymour Duncan- that's right, the humbucker there is Duncan's Blackout model, not EMG (no offence EMG fans, my ESP & RG8 both sport EMG pickups).

I'm still not keen with the 1xVol + Kill Switch combo, would be doing something about this soon.

Ibanez: RGR08LTD

I was @ Swee Lee last week, came across the RGR08LTD (finally here!) which is a splendid player. The active Duncan you see there is the Blackout model; very drive-inclined but not much pleasurable, clean. The fact that it's the solitary pickup there means your tone is limited to its default voicing. The O8LTD also has no tone control, in lieu of this, the guitar features a kill switch which is a love/ hate (hate for me) affair. If your amp isn't grounded, the kill switch activates hum when the pickup is not engaged...

That aside, how useful can a 1-pickup guitar be for you? Well, Alan Holdsworth shuts everyone up when he plays his single humbucking guitar which implies, if it works for you, then it works regardless of whatever everyone else has to say. The 08LTD would serve the distortion mongers out there with no qualms; the Duncan Blackout has great clarity to boot, much more appealing than the average EMG (my take, of course. If you prefer EMG then good for you...); maybe that's the reason Mick Thompson has a pair in his signature model, replacing the EMGs in the prevoious incarnation of the Ibanez MTM1.

However, I've only one dislike here; the fretboard markers are very unappealing, to say the least...

Product availability: Swee Lee Co
List: $909