Sweet.
Holy buckets that looks intimidating. Thanks much for finding & linking to that, very detailed!
So here’s where I’m at with these. These are all really cool pedals, and they all have good tones in them. If I had to stack them in order, best to less-best, right now I’d say first is the ZVex Distortron, then the Fulltone OCD, and last the Fulltone GT-500.
I’m really liking the Distortron because it’s versatile and you can get a wide variety of warm Fender-y to Marshall oomph out of it, AND it cleans up really nice when you turn down the guitar. Behind it by just a hair is the OCD; the OCD has some really nice tones and cleans up well, but I can get a brighter, more sparkly drive tone with the Distortron. However, these two pedals are really neck and neck, and my preference has flipped several times.
I have noticed that these two pedals, especially the OCD, loves humbuckers more than the Fender SCN’s in my Tele, so it depends very much what you drive the pedals with, and I need to figure out which pedal balances well with my various guitars.
I’ll give the GT-500 points for having a separate boost and drive, with independent settings for both. However, the drive tone is more in the line of older, fuzzier pedals, and is much less oomphy and clear then the other two pedals, and it doesn’t clean up very convincingly when the guitar is turned down. Based on that I think the GT-500 a distant third to the first two pedals.
I’m toying with the idea of keeping both the Distortron and the OCD, but these pedals are so pricey I’m not sure I can justify it to myself.
**Attack **- I love that guitar; how is the neck: standard medium-to-slim? That just ignites my G.A.S.
**squeegee **- it sounds like your 335 could use both an upgrade in pots (caps, too - you want certain kinds, as I have discussed in my build threads) and perhaps a pickup switch-out. I suspect that the pickups are a higher output than you want and, more importantly, are relatively cheaply made - a better set of pickups simply sound richer and more articulate and that is what you are looking for. Find some used Duncan Antiquities on eBay - given our discussions to date, you don’t strike me as someone with the interest in investing tons of time in money in the esoteric world of boutique PAF replicas. The standard Duncan PAF types - Antiquities are just one - are a high quality, relatively inexpensive replacement pickup. Easy to recommend.
As for your stompbox review - the only thing I have to say is: what happened to the guy who was playing through his home theater system and a POD? 
You’re messing with a tube amp, dialing back the volume knob on your Tele to clean up your sound, and grading stompboxes on how they deliver different tube-style tones. Is it just me or have you, in hindsight, gone through a bit of a progression? If so, I would be very interested in hearing what you are hearing and feeling differently when you play on this rig vs. your old rig.
I have a guitar that I’ve had for years, but don’t have any idea what the wiring is doing. It’s the Goya I mentioned earlier. It was re-wired by a roommate of the previous owner, and gets a wide range of sounds, but it’d be nice to understand what the knobs are actually doing. It’s a LP jr copy with the standard 2 humbucker layout (now single coils), but the caps (2 .47pf ones) are going from the center terminal on each tone knob to the center terminal and case of one volume pot. There’s other slightly strange things about the wiring of this guitar, but it’s all done with the 4 pots and 1 switch that comes standard on LP style guitars. If anyone thinks they can decipher it, I can photo/diagram it. Anyone game?
Yup. Medium to slim. I got the first Dano for Attacklad because the size was so right - not a big guitar, light body, small neck and put out some sound even when not amped.
Then I found myself playing it when he was gone off doing something else - I felt very clandestine. Now I’m briefly separated from the family, working somewhere else, and I was missing his Danelectro, so I got a similar one myself. It really just asks to be picked up and played for a couple of minutes as you go by.
That sounds about rights. Thanks to you and the other posters for the pickup advice. One thing I did get wrong describing my Dot is that it does not have Ducans in it, it just has whatever crap humbuckers Epiphone throws in their cheap, Chinese manufactured guitars.
I still am the guy with the POD and the HTR, or rather a MOTU UltraLite, Guitar Rig modeling software, and Ableton Live. I still use the digital rig all the time, as it has its own advantages. The digital rig is instantly on, can get sounds my Blues Junior can’t (e.g. a bass simulator using an lowered octave modal, or an auto-wah, or other things I really don’t want to buy a stompbox to do with the Fender), and is easily recorded and later re-amped. It’s also much easier to play along with an MP3 tune on the HTR than when using the BJr. I also play it a lot because a good tone on the BJr can be really freaking loud and sometimes I don’t want that. I also can’t record the BJr, because I don’t have a mic for it. I’ve been meaning to solicit some opinions here on how I could do that.
On the other hand, the digital rig doesn’t dial down well, it starts to sound all messed up when you back off the guitar volume. You pretty much have to fiddle controls or use a different preset to go from drive to less-drive to clean-ish. Some presets do have a bit of articulation, but nothing like my tube rig. You also mostly can’t use external stomp boxes, so you’re somewhat stuck with whatever effects the modeling software lets you add (which is a darn good variety though).
As far as my tube/valve journey, this isn’t that new a thing for me. My basic rig when I was 17 to 20 years old was a Fender tube amp (I recall it was a mid-60’s Pro Reverb, but I’m not sure that the name. I sure wish I’d held to that amp, I bet it’s worth a good buck these days.) and a MXR Distortion+ and later a Tube Screamer, driven by the '71 SG that I still have. So this is not entirely new territory. I did not use some of the tricks line turing done the guitar to clean up the amp, I was usually on full-bore, everything to 11, when I jammed with friends
All that makes sense - nothing much to add really. If you are looking to record with a wide variety of sounds, have more control over volume, etc. - your digital rig can be a real help.
I do like the fact that you are dipping back into tube territory though
And as for the pickups - okay, then, when you put it that way, then yeah, a quickie upgrade to a reputable aftermarket model - along with pots and caps - will likely open things up a LOT. And while I suspect you are aware of this, it is worth mentioning for the benefit of the overall Great Ongoing Guitar Thread: pickups that are “Duncan Designed” (or whatever reputable name) that are in a lower-priced model are NOT the same as a true example of that brand/model. I respect Seymour Duncan more than most as a pickup expert, but a buck is a buck, and bless him for getting royalties, but I would assume that “designed” models use cheaper components and have different quality specs…and, as you say, upon reflection, your Dot’s p’ups aren’t even Duncans…
I would suggest the Seymour Duncan SH1 59 pickups or the Gibson 57 classics. They are pretty low output (not hot like some others). Also, if you don’t really really want to fight with the harness and are OK with just throwing away the old pickups, just clip them off as close as possible (give yourself more slack to work with that way) and splice into the leads of the new pickups. Then insulate, dress, and just stuff it all back in. Don’t forget to properly set the pickup heights too.
This. Go for the real ones. If you want a Duncan design, get the real Duncans. If you want a “Gretsch bucker”, get a real TV Jones etc. Don’t bother with a “sort of like em wannabe” copy.
Well, so am I, it’s nice to be back. And its nice to play those tubes using much better guitars and stomp boxes, now that I’m not a broke-ass teenager and can actually afford gear. And I totally go through times (esp now, reviewing those boo-teak stomp boxes) when I’m just blown away and exclaim, “Holy Expletive, that rocks!” at the tone coming out of my amp. That old 65 Fender was okay, but the tones I got were limited by what I could hook to it, and I think in retrospect the stock speaker was not very good, so it sorta thunked a bit. I can totally hear the tone of that NOS speaker in the BJr, and its beyond cool, and add in better outboard gear, and its huge, just huge fun.
Yep, I am indeed aware, The pickups in my son’s Squier Jagmaster are “Duncan Designed” and they sound like Thud. Just boxy thuddy blech. If my boy actually played that guitar more, I’d put better electronics into it, and I think those pickups are obvious targets for dumpster-hood. Not that I hate Duncan, but these are just some ripoff licensed product, not the real deal, and Seymour should be more careful about adulterating his good name.
Yeaahh. I’m still thinking about this project. Removing the harness looks really freaking intimidating, but it seems I’d be happiest going full bore, replacing the whole enchilada. I’m just someone who over analysis these projects before jumping in (if I do), so I need to chew it over. I agree, some Real Deal pickups are called for. Maybe I should do my son’s guitar first, since its a solid body and probably very straightforward, and since I haven’t soldered anything in like 20 years (not that soldering is all that difficult, once mastered).
Very smart idea - break the kid’s first. ;)
I never did post the pics of my little modification job…
Before:
And after:
All in all, it was pretty easy. I did keep the original pups, of course.
Looks good! Well done. And yeah, swapping pickups in a Les Paul is pretty easy - there’s the famous anecdote that Duane Allman wanted the sunburst Les Paul that I believe is the one now nicknamed “Hot 'Lanta” in the RRHoFame - he had a Goldtop with pickups he believed were better. While he had the guy with the 'burst distracted, waiting outside so “he could get the cash” or something, he swapped the pickups from his Goldtop before turning it over with a bit of cash to complete the trade…
Funny story 
I still plan to look inside the old pups though, to see exactly why one was intermittent. I expect it will be nothing more than a flaky solder joint or a frayed/pinched wire.
So I’m vacationing in Kauai this week, and in Hanalei we ran across a yarn & ukulele store, yes really. There were a bunch of uke’s behind the counter, ranging in price from maybe $50 to maybe $200. I know jack about ukelele’s, but I was intrigued to find another GAS objective. I didn’t play any of the instruments, partially because I didn’t know how to play uke, partially because I didn’t want to fall in love with an instrument when I had no good way to get it home, and mostly because I have no skill in evaluating a uke. I’d like to know more – does anyone here play ukelele? What should I look for if I were to seriously shop for one?
The shop also had a sitar and one of those Japanese two-string instruments, I don’t recall the correct name. If I wasn’t towing a couple of kids around, and the yarn-shoppers weren’t milling around as loudly, I could see having some fun playing some of these intruments.
My 75-year-old mom knows ukes, **squeegee **- has over 40 of 'em. We’ve haven’t geeked out over construction, so I am not sure. I know she likes the major Hawaiin brand - what is it, Kamaka? - and has a few of theirs from decades ago…
So, my wife bought me a bass guitar by Maserschmidt.
This may be of interest, gentlemen.
I took a trip after work yesterday to a local guitar shop. Here’s some pics from their website:
http://www.bizarreguitar.net/photos.html
I hadn’t been to this place in a long time and I was shocked at the quantity and quality of their inventory. They had everything from mint condition 50’s Gibsons and Fenders to 80’s Charvel San Dimas shredders and quite possibly the most Ricks I’ve seen in one place at one time. And the guys working there weren’t asshats like they are at Guitar Center. Good prices, too. They beat GC on almost everything I compared…
They got an inventory list on their website, but half the stuff I saw in the store isn’t on it. They must have trouble keeping it updated. Cool place though. Since I’m able to build my own, I seriously doubt I’ll ever buy retail again, but if I did, it would be from here…