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It's hard to classify. However, it can't be counted among the timeless instruments.
Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
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06-25-2014 05:16 AM
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Originally Posted by oldane
Well, hardy ha! This Dane has a sense of humour.
I can count to 21! And I am not a polydactyl.
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A shame. That might have come in handy for a guitarist. Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
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I spend a lot of time tweaking my pickup and polepiece heights. These are very important adjustments for tonal response, and there's always a sweet spot that I'm striving to find.
I mostly play at home and when I do play out, it's usually solo/duo in a quiet space. So my settings hold up.
However I recently played a loud gig with my 335 and had to lower everything down a good amount. When the amp is up loud, treble gets shrill and bass gets boomy. The pickups and polepieces on my 335 were optimized for low volume, but when the volume went way up, it was all wrong. I found new adjustments by spending time with my amp cranked at home, and a screwdriver in hand.
I mention this to you, Gianluca, because you might benefit from cranking up your L-5CES in the controlled environment of home, and seeing if your settings hold up to your liking. My guess is that you'll want to tweak things.
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Originally Posted by oldane
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The most significant "extra" member of a band can be "the sound guy". Have someone who understands the tone you're seeking go to your next gig, set-up early, place him in the audience and play and tweak, and as Patrick suggests record. A worthy endeavor before changing gear. When you play loud the rules change, all the nuances of playing low are altered and amplified. If you embrace it, it can be an enjoyable quest with the discovery of new tones and a broader tone palette, strings and picks can play a role as well. Originally Posted by gianluca
Last edited by ESCC; 06-25-2014 at 12:15 PM. Reason: type o
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This is where having an EQ pedal set for an occasional loud gig and turning it on instead of messing with your common settings/setups may be very useful. Originally Posted by rpguitar
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Also, some rooms are impossible to get a good sound.
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I agree with Jorge..I find rooms with bare walls & wooden floors ( aka 'arts performance spaces' ) the very worst. Thin mids, shrill treble, booming bass, without really drastic eq-ing.
Apparently Jim hall swapped his L5 for a LP custom because he couldn't get a good sound playing the L5 in front of a semi-circular bar. A somewhat drastic solution.
Very interesting thread; I sympathise with the OP; I've had a couple of L5s and found that, although they have ''the'' electric arch top sound when played in a relatively quiet space, the tonal subtleties are mostly lost playing at any volume. I've settled for L4s, as more practical and with most of that 'CES' tone.
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I find small outdoor jazz gigs to be a challenge - no PA, no walls. For those, I use a powerful amp and a closed back cab - it's easier for me to control the sound in that situation.
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Completely agree. I've always chuckled reading phrases that one should play at a certain level before acquiring a quality instrument. If you can afford it, buy what suits you is my motto. There's nothing to lose, especially on an L5 bought right. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Chris couldn't agree more with wooden floors... it's just a nightmare. I just did a gig with my X-500, WT80 with an EV and Zoom G3 (which has parametric eq). Usually my sound check lasts 1 minute, this time I fighted with the sound the whole gig...
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The great variable is the space you are given to play in. The worst spaces are a cube or a semi-cylindrincal bar! The best guitars sound like crap in such spaces. Having lots of soft bodies will help as will drawing the curtains or blinds.
A library is one of the best spaces as books help to diffuse the frequencies and break up room nodes.
"Don't give up the ship!" as the old Cutty Sark ad goes.
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Lots of soft bodies ( sounds weird, put like that..).
Yes, but remember we are talking about jazz gigs here..
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Audiophile talk... Originally Posted by Franz 1997
You know what really helps to damp a hard reflective wooden floor? Roll out a rug. Throw a few cushions into the four corners of the room. Move a few pots of indoor plants around.
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I used to have a regular gig in a bar that had apparently been a store. The stage was the former display window! The plate glass window was the stage backdrop. The sound was unbelievably bad. Owner liked it that the band could be seen...Drew people in. Ha! Finally, I convinced him a curtain would make a great sound treatment.
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My first archtop was a '59 L-5C that I bought new. Since then I've owned a bunch of archtops (a more accurate description might be "a really huge bunch…") but I still do most of my gigging with some sort of L-5. I like how they look, feel and sound; the fact that there are many other models of really nice archtops available doesn't really matter to me. Does it sound better than some of the less-expensive guitars mentioned here when on the bandstand? I don't know and don't care, which is also the answer to the question "What is the difference between ignorance and apathy?" I do know that whenever I'm on stage I'm playing a guitar that I enjoy playing, that sounds great to me and looks great, too.
I've played them through a wide variety of amps over the years, but I've been using Acoustic Image amps through either Raezer's Edge cabinets or AI combo speakers for the last dozen years and have been extremely happy with the results. These amps don't add much to the L-5 sound, which is the way I like it. On rare occasions when I do a rock gig I play a semi though a modeling pedal into the AI's effects return, but with an L-5 I use just a cable. I find that with this type of amp I have more control over how I sound in different venues that with a typical open-back guitar amp.
None of the amps I've ever owned was a JC-120--just not my cup of tea.
Unlike some posters here, I don't treat my L-5's as treasures to be gigged only on rare occasions--I bought them to play and that's what I do with them. I've had rare occasions where the circumstances--rain, ice-skating rink concert, extreme heat-- made me play something cheaper instead, but most of my gigs are in country-club settings where my biggest worry is one of the older horn players tripping and falling on it. Luckily, haven't had to file an insurance claim for this yet.
As for being worthy of such guitars, when I bought my first L-5 I did it with the notion that I'd never be able to blame my bad playing on my instrument, and fifty-five years later nothing much has changed. I still can't play, but I've gigged for all these years by finding situations where my limited skills can get me by. In all that time, no one's ever come up to me to tell me that I should be playing a cheaper guitar, but I've had numerous occasions where someone has told me how beautiful my guitar sounds, at which times I always tell them that "tone is in the fingers."
So my advice is ignore your doubts and keep your guitar. And don't believe everything you read in a forum thread
Danny W.
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There's just no substitute for sage advice coming from a classy "seasoned" citizen. Originally Posted by Danny W.
My first archtop was a '59 L-5C that I bought new. Since then I've owned a bunch of archtops (a more accurate description might be "a really huge bunch…") but I still do most of my gigging with some sort of L-5. I like how they look, feel and sound; the fact that there are many other models of really nice archtops available doesn't really matter to me. Does it sound better than some of the less-expensive guitars mentioned here when on the bandstand? I don't know and don't care, which is also the answer to the question "What is the difference between ignorance and apathy?" I do know that whenever I'm on stage I'm playing a guitar that I enjoy playing, that sounds great to me and looks great, too.
I've played them through a wide variety of amps over the years, but I've been using Acoustic Image amps through either Raezer's Edge cabinets or AI combo speakers for the last dozen years and have been extremely happy with the results. These amps don't add much to the L-5 sound, which is the way I like it. On rare occasions when I do a rock gig I play a semi though a modeling pedal into the AI's effects return, but with an L-5 I use just a cable. I find that with this type of amp I have more control over how I sound in different venues that with a typical open-back guitar amp.
None of the amps I've ever owned was a JC-120--just not my cup of tea.
Unlike some posters here, I don't treat my L-5's as treasures to be gigged only on rare occasions--I bought them to play and that's what I do with them. I've had rare occasions where the circumstances--rain, ice-skating rink concert, extreme heat-- made me play something cheaper instead, but most of my gigs are in country-club settings where my biggest worry is one of the older horn players tripping and falling on it. Luckily, haven't had to file an insurance claim for this yet.
As for being worthy of such guitars, when I bought my first L-5 I did it with the notion that I'd never be able to blame my bad playing on my instrument, and fifty-five years later nothing much has changed. I still can't play, but I've gigged for all these years by finding situations where my limited skills can get me by. In all that time, no one's ever come up to me to tell me that I should be playing a cheaper guitar, but I've had numerous occasions where someone has told me how beautiful my guitar sounds, at which times I always tell them that "tone is in the fingers."
So my advice is ignore your doubts and keep your guitar. And don't believe everything you read in a forum thread
Danny W.
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Great post Danny W.
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Got me one of those tonight - not my quartet, but same sax/gtr/bass/drums lineup. No PA. VERY low volume. Playing on the steps of a big old building that's the centre of a "Fun Run" event. Not too sure about the weather. Given the nature of the event and the venue, won't be taking my best girl - it'll be the Epi JP and the Jazzkat amp, simple and straightahead. Originally Posted by Hammertone
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In my case it's a "well past the 'use by' date" citizen. But I am classy. Originally Posted by Patrick2
Thank you--I have my lucid moments from time to time (more "rare occasions".) Originally Posted by mangotango
My big band did its last concert of the season earlier this month--just on a whim I decided to play an L-5
Danny W.Last edited by Danny W.; 06-27-2014 at 01:26 AM.
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You can tell the man's classy by his L-5 collection. Not a stinker in any one of them.
Danny, I'm your long-lost son...
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I think if you have a preferred low-volume amp settings, and assumming you followed the article and dialed a low mid setup for this low volume, then if u try to use the same at a higher volume then your bass and highs will actually way up higher, for which now the best way to proceed will be lower them or, raise the mids. Originally Posted by gianluca
My take is that, according to the article, the higher the volume, the flatter the settings. The lower the volume, the more "U" shaped, but that is just my interpretation and way that I apply this (works for me!)
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not a bad tone here.
no drums here so, lower volume
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That's the Fletcher-Munson curve in application for you. Bass and treble frequencies fall off faster as one lowers the volume. The human ear is most sensitive in the midrange band. Originally Posted by anothersixstringer
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