lucius. riffs.

Ibanez RGDIX6MBP-SBB

Two-Notes Torpedo Reload

Akai MPD 218

Steinberg UR22

USB Audio Interface 24-bit/192kHz

I got the interface to replace my old M-Audio, wich was an total pain in the ass. I decided to go with Steinberg hardware because I’m using Cubase and I wanted to go absolute failsafe when it comes to campatibility. The Interface sounded surprisingly good, even directly compared to the Focusrite Saffire of a dear friend of mine. We compared both Interfaces directly in the exactly same setting, with his Genelec 1030A and Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro. The difference were easily noticable and my friend had the exactly same impression.  This Interface is an absolutely huge bang for the buck! I’m going to replace it in the near future by it’s bigger brother, the UR44, because I’ll need additional outputs.

2 XLR/6,3mm combined inputs (input 2: Hi-Z switchable)

2 analog mono line-outs

stereo headphode out with level control

Midi In/Out

Gruv Gear Solostrap

Peavey 6505 Mini Head

Features

2x EL84 power tubes and 3x12AX7/ECC83 preamp tubes

Two footswitchable channels with 3-band EQ

Footswitchable crunch on Rhythm channel

Footswitchable reverb

Footswitchable buffered effects loop

Tube Status indication (T.S.I.™) circuit

MSDI™ Output with XLR and ground lift switch

USB output

Speaker defeat switch

Headphone output

Attenuator switch for 20 watts, 5 watts, or 1 watt output power

Footswitch included

Impedance switch for 16 or 8ohm cabinets

Ibanez RG721FM with Bare Knuckle Aftermath  Upgrade

Since the stock Ibanez CAP-VM pickups were lacking some clarity and high end, I was looking to replace them since I bought this otherwise absolute marvelous guitar. I started to think about the Bare Knuckle Aftermath as a successor, since I liked everything I heard about them. I was looking for a pickup that delivers the cutting edgy high end, the stock pickups were missing. And the decision couldn’t have been more right. The Aftermaths produce a very aggressive, sharp and at the same time fat and absolutely glassy, clear sound. The attack has that almost twangy sound one can hear from most of the modern metal bands.

Ibanez RG721FM NTF

Schecter Omen Active 8 EX modified

EMG 57-8/66-8 Pickups

Hipshot hardtail, custom satin finish

Switchcraft toggle switch, black finish w/ Schaller knob, satin chrome

Hipshot Hardtail, custom satin finish

This is kind of a changelog for my Schecter Omen Active 8 EX eightstring.

After swapping out the standard Duncan Designed pickups - wich are kind of a Seymour Duncan Blackout copy, I decided to also swap the insufficient standard bridge. The construction of the standard bridge is a Hipshot hardtail like, so I’d assume that it’s intended to be a copy of it. The standard bridge lacks quality in the small bits (which could be changed to better ones) also as in the general treadment. So the threads are not cut properly the hole way through and the diameter is differing too much from the screws. This results in the issue that not all saddles can adjusted to the correct intonation - which results in bad intonation. In my case some of the saddles fell off many times or loosened so the tuning stability was horrible. These issues could be fixed in redrilling and -cutting the threads of the saddles and using larger diameter screws afterwards. But that seemed a bit improvised to me. Also the springs on the intonation screws are very, very weak, so they don’t really did their job. Last and least was an issue with the length of the hight adjustment screws. Those were to long and sticked way out of the saddles surface, so I changed them to shorter ones earlier. 

So all that facts led me to wanting a really decent bridge in this otherwise very nice guitar. And the best product I could think of in this category was the Hipshot .125 hardtail bridge. Thankfully, Josh from Hipshot Inc. offered me a custom finish to match the rest of the hardware, so I ordered directly at Hipshot.

Orange Micro Terror

Ibanez RG721FM-NTF

Okay, this guitar is just simply top-notch. Whatever you are thinking about a budget, or mid price guitar missing, the RG721FM features it. The basswood body has a beautifully bound flamed maple top. The basswood sides and back are stained in a dark chestnut color, wich fits an gorgeous contrast to the natural finished flamed maple. The neck is a 5-piece-laminated maple-walnut with the ultra flat premium wizard profile. Its thickness measures 18mm at 1st and 20mm at 12th fret. The 24 fret rosewood fretboard is bound with a maple binding, wich fits the neck almost seamless. The stock featured pickups are very good for stock pickups in this price range. They are relatively clear and transparent and feature rich harmonics, while the mid range is really present. One of the nicest features is the premium fret end treatment. All of the frets are rounded over at the ends, wich allows an incomparably playing comfort. Another absolute nice feature is the Tight-End R bridge. It plays super comfortable and decent and feels almost like it’s not even there.. Summing it up I can say this is the absolute fastest guitar I ever held in my hands, in absolute top quality workmanship.

Specs:

Wizard 5pc Maple/Walnut neck

Flamed Maple top/American Basswood body

Bound Rosewood fretboard w/off-set white dot inlay

Jumbo frets w/Premium fret edge treatment

Tight-End R bridge

CAP-VM (H) neck and CAP-VM (H) bridge pickup 

Cosmo black hardware

648mm/25.5"  scale length

43mm width at nut

58mm width at last fret

18mm thickness at 1st fret

20mm thickness at 12th fret

Epiphone SG G-400 customized

This is one of my very first guitars. I got it when I was a teenager, so it’s got a few years on it’s back. The standard kluson style tuners it got, were that poor, that they vibrated and rattled, even the screws were absolute tight. They didn’t stay in tune either, so I decided to switch them out for some Grover 16:1 Rotomatics. The standard Alnico Humbuckers did sound really flat and thin and had not that much output, so I switched them out for an EMG 81/85 set. The next step to take was the rest of the hardware, so I replaced the chrome bridge and tailpiece with a black locking bridge and stop-bar. I also changed the pickup rings to brass rings - wich I had to rework a bit for the EMGs fitting inside. The trussrod cover is handcrafted by Christine Ertmer of ErtmerMusic. She is specialized on pick guards and trussrod cover engraving and does really great custom works. I also had a pickguard made by her, on the guitar, back in the days, but now decided to keep it off. One of the last changes were switching the old earvana compensated nut (wich was installed by my former guitar teacher) for a BlackTusq XL nut, wich does an incredibly good job. While rewiring the old EMG electronics and replacing them by new solderless wires and pots, I also shielded the control cavity with copper foil. The last and most obvious step in customization of this guitar was, that I decided to take the cherry red, poly-urethane lacquer off. Instead of it, the guitar has now a clear oil finish. A really astonishing detail is that Epiphone stated the guitar as mahogany neck and body, but instead it got a fine white limba body and maple neck under it’s coat.

Specs: 

White Limba body

Set Maple neck

BlackTusq XL Nut

Grover Rotomatic 16:1 Tuners

EMG 81/85 active pickups

Schaller Security Straplocks

Brass Pickup Rings

Allparts 3-Way Toggle Switch with Schaller Toggle Switch Knob

EMG EXG

Schaller Security Locks

Due to its availability in different finishes and also the matching satin chrome finish of the Schecter Omen Active 8's hardware, I decided to switch all of my guitars to the Schaller system. The spare pins are avilable too, so one can order them separately, without gather unnessecary amounts of unused strap locks, with every new guitar.

Shure SM57

Basically the standard. A good point to start from, when starting to mic up a cab.