Guitar, Gear and Recording. High gain metal focused!
Name: Brian
This project is based on 20 plus years of experience with guitars, gear, and exploration of studio recording methods.
“Baritone Goat” doesn't necessarily refer to long scale guitars, although they have been featured. It is actually an inside joke that popped up in grad school and stuck around. I do have a graduate degree in archaeology but prefer to mess around with music and chugging tones!
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A better question would be are expensive guitars worth it?
Yes. And where is the threshold of diminishing returns? Is there an objective way to measure the benefit of spending more money, and if so, where is the tipping point where more money is basically just feeding an ego or becoming a status investment?
Definitely the blade, what’s your tuning at man?
On this guitar, drop F#. F# C# F# B D# G#
What did you have your resonance on the evh when trying to match the Mesa? Great vid! Love these amps
@@Pete217 bumped it up a little. Probably between 1 and 2 o’clock. I was adjusting it as I was listening and switching between the amps. But the EVH needs a little more resonance to match the natural low end of the Mesa.
That's a nice pickup, really cuts through
It’s a shame there aren’t more, the Jacksons are seriously overpriced, same with the schecter, the bridge on the schecter is hideous
@@lowtunedg9211 I think a version of this in white with blackout hardware would be cool. $1k is about where things get questionable price wise for me. The Jackson’s are up there, and I don’t even know the full specs. I don’t see prices coming down, but at least the schecters include graphite nuts and SS frets. PRS are still selling some of their SE at nearly 1k with import electronics, plastic nuts and non locking tuners. 🤨
@@BaritoneGoatStudio I agree on the white/black, just hate that style bridge, as long as companies like Harley Benton are building guitars with the specs they do at the price they are at, I’ll never believe big brand companies can’t do the same, the name on the headstock doesn’t justify the price. I have a 1995 Gibson Explorer, amazing guitar, but I’ve also never seen a Gibson that justifies the price and I have guitars that cost less than 1/4 what that Gibson was new in 1995 that are better in every way
This was extremely funny! hahahah loved your sarcasm/brutal honesty. Many youtubers say the DT is the best, but based on your demo, it sounds very plastic-y to me. I guess it sounds more modern/djent-y, but honestly the plumes sounded WAY more natural, fuller, more badass. Thank you so much for this! Love your channel.
Yeah, sometime you gotta call a spade a spade. I want to revisit the DT at some point, since I have a couple new (to me) amps that might handle it a little better. I just tend to like more texture to my tone, and the circuits in the DT are very much geared toward cutting low end.
the abbassi one also kind of sucks. The only thing I dislike about NDSP stuff is that they require too much CPU, so it starts to sputter out when I have some other plugins loaded. have you tried Vtaramps? you'd like the Raven volcanic or RedTone
I have noticed the X updated ones have been much better on my CPU. I will need to check out the Vtaramps. There are just so many options these days.
Cant hear any difference between any of them.
I have 81s but I liked the fishmans here. All sounded great.
KICK ASS Brotha. Gonna pick this one up based on this video. Love you playin bro 🙂
It is a killer plug-in! Super easy to dial in!
Sweet! Care to share those presets? Thanks man! Good job!
I can share this tone as a preset! I will try and get a link in the description soon. Be aware that the tone used in the mix, was created in the mix. By itself, it may sound unbalanced or over-emphasize certain frequencies. Since I use one instance of the Plugin on a stereo bus, I adjust the settings in real time as I mix in stereo with most of the shaping happening with the built-in post EQ and moving the mics around in the cab section. I definitely think most if not all NSDP amps require no additional EQ to sit in a mix. The only post processing that I recommend if necessary is subtle compression and stereo imaging to make room in the center of the mix for bass, drums and vocals.
@@BaritoneGoatStudio Thanks! And looking forward to trying out that preset myself :)
@@kelvindam3306 Link to the mix preset is now in the description
this was my first electric
Reminds me of three days grace
Pickup output seems to be a matter of personal taste. *It's easy to boost a low output pickup but hard to clean up a high output pickup.* In my experience, the hotter the pickup, the darker and more compressed the sound, so ceramic magnets are usually used to brighten things up. For that reason, I don't really like super hot pickups like Invaders. For passives, I think 12-16k or so is fine with the preamp boosted to taste for distortion. I find things like Duncan Customs are great for rhythm because they produce a little more clarity than something like a Duncan Distortion would. By the time you're quad tracking rhythms that little bit of extra clarity helps the mix. 4-6 Duncan Distortion rhythm tracks are a bit fizzy. The higher output stuff I like for soloing. Full Shreds are a good midpoint between saturation and clarity. I've also had great success with the Gibson 498t as an all rounder. For death metal and drop tunings most of the time I use EMGs with the 24 Volt Mod or Duncan Blackouts. That said the Slug seems cool if you want a very specific colored sound, usually found in stoner and doom stuff. There's a difference in tone I think between running a low output pickup through a high gain amp and a high output pickup through a low to mid gain amp. Maxing everything (pickup output, pedal boost, amp gain) in my experience just produces a fuzzy oversaturated mess. Overall, hot wound pickups made more sense before we had infinite gain. Now that we can saturate to infinity in our DAWs or boost with pedals, high output pickups seem less important, but they still have their place in certain applications. For me, that's usually melodies and soloing when I need a compressed, bright sound to cut through a mix. Edit: Trying this in parallel instead of split may have cleaned it up even more. Parallel and split don't always sound the same. In my experience parallel is the cleanest but has the lowest output. Single coil introduces a little bit of noise, something I actually like just a bit in the tone because it sounds more like a vintage Strat. I highly recommend the Seymour Duncan Triple Shots and a phase switch on the neck pickup. All of that is a pain to hook up, but they can really give your guitar more sounds and switching to parallel/out of phase can really clean things up.
Everything here is good suggestions and info for those looking to maximize different aspects of their tone! I am very much a fan of keeping the gain relatively low on the amp itself and pushing more signal on the input. At louder volumes this seems to make the amp feel more dynamic as the power section pushes the speaker and I find my self barely touching the EQ on the amp in most cases.
@@BaritoneGoatStudio What I've found is different gear combinations will force one to use different settings, but eventually your ear will lead you to a very similar tone. That said, some setups are more optimal than others. I didn't care much for a Duncan Screamin' Demon or a Gibson 57 Classic in the bridge. Alnico IIs especially can feel like they need a little help to get chunky, but they are great for hybrid picking and country I think since they have great clarity and expressiveness. I think they work well with a Plexi. I'm also a big fan of the Parallel Axis line, which I think improves on the Duncan Distortion sound. Same tone, but more clarity. Last, if a neck pickup isn't matching the bridge for me, I sometimes try a bridge pickup version of a lower output pickup set to match. Duncan Alnico 2 Pro bridge with a Custom 5 comes to mind. Also Gibson 57 Classic Plus with a 498t. Next I'm trying a JB in the neck with a Dimebucker. I always found the JB a little mushy but it splits and does parallel well. I'm hoping it will sound great for a hot solo tone from the neck, something I don't do much as I usually save the neck for cleans. Thanks for checking out my post. :)
Excellent video. Thank you for making this review. Did you replace the plastic nut on the Squier with bone or graph tech or is it still plastic in this video? Thanks
@@chaggasfernandes I didn’t mess with the nut. I think it was cut well from the start, plus years of someone playing on it seems to have given it a nice smooth polish. Held its tune just fine.
NO!
Awesome video! Quick question: if you turn up the gain when using passives, couldn't it get very close to the actives? Or do you think some difference would still be left, even with the extra punch? Thank you!
@@flprmn9448 that is more complicated then just adding gain. In short, gain will just amplify what is already there. When you add gain using the amp, it is by definition creating saturation and adding harmonic noise to distort the sound. So all characteristics of the pickup get affected at once. A passive pickup with high output may actually hit the amp with more harmonic noise than an active pickup would even though the active pickup has more signal due to the higher millivolts. However, the active circuit is pushing more signal on average and will hit the front of a tube preamp and you will get a natural compression happening. This isn’t really something that a passive pickup, unless really high output, would do and adding gain in the preamp section won’t create that effect. Pushing the signal into the power amp section could give you something similar but it would need to be really loud. And in turn, some high output passive pickups actually distort faster than actives. Medium output passive pickups tend to have lower inductance and better clarity and will keep more of the character of the pickup when gain is added and you may even hear more transient punch from hard picking. If you have pedals, a buffer before the amp will bring the signal back to full strength and make sure the passive pickup signal doesn’t degrade too much. Active pickups don’t have this issue. Actives will often have a very consistent sound and ones that are designed to have a lot of mids and clarity will have no problem retaining that with the gain turned up, and I have found them to be less harmonically dynamic. Meaning that they don’t really respond to picking attack, string gauge, or string proximity as much as passives and they tend to “hear” every string in a fairly balanced way. With passives I find that they respond to things with more variation as you play.
@BaritoneGoatStudio This was EXTREMELY insightful and I highly appreciate the attention! A video testing that would be amazing! Just like you tested Glenn Flicker's Recto vs 5150 claim, he also said that adding gain would be enough to turn one pickup into another. Personally, I agree with you!! I have tried multiple times to get my guitars with passives to sound like my actives, but I can't, even with some complex parametric eqs hitting the amp. My conclusion: I love actives and I should only use actives. I need that extra punch to feel the joy of playing as much :) the dynamics and whatnot don't matter to me not nearly as much.
NDSP is overated
i had shitman flatulence and i had zero low end with them… wierd. EMG rules!
That is odd, I have found them to have more low end than an 81 usually. But still, the 81 is the sound of metal. It defined the genre in many ways!
@@BaritoneGoatStudio so true.
I wired eng pickups to 500k cts pots just to see if theys any different there won't same with 1meg pot
My 2 favorite amps with recto being my favorite. Depedning what im playing ill switch it up and i also like to blend them and another thing I like doing is blending a modded 800 with the recto. Only other amp I dream of but have never played is a vh4. Maybe 1 day lol
Is it loud enough to cover drums ?
It is loud and will work fine doing practice with a band. But, the 1x12 format is limited for live playing. Even though it is loud in a small space, it can lose a lot of its punch once you take it to a gig unless you have it mic’ed up.
Thx , I just need something to jam with my father on drums
From what i remember messhugah made the tc famous. Then fortin copied it with a single knob version.
Yeah Fortin had made both the grind and the 33. I think the grind was their attempt to capture the TC integrated preamp into a single knob, and then Fredrik from Mashuggah wanted a a modified version of the grind made, at least the 33 seems to be a modified version of the Grind with more top end.
To me the EVH & Man O War were neck and neck sound wise with a slight lead yo the EVH. I didn't care for the Swamp Thing except the reverb sound clip wasn't bad. But overall it wasn't my favorite.
The manowar mics up really well, and if this were a 212 I might mix the swamp thang with it for a balanced sound. I ended up repositioning the mics on the swamp thang when I demoed the amp at the end and that fixed the darkness issue with having the initial mic off axis. In the room the stock speaker sounds like it is being choked off a bit when the amp is turned up. I may try out a V30 next, since it seems to be the speaker that works best with 5150 style amps.
Prefer the stock Neural DSP cabs in this comparison. All the ML Sound ones had a weird honk to them.
Great vid man!
It seems like everything Daniel from Lichtlaerm touches turns to ‘yellow’ aka gold.
Are you going to do a video with Dual Rec? And 48k
@@numbersabcdefg not sure I would dedicate a video to just the Slug and a rectifier (I own a triple and a single). But, I was thinking about doing a video looking at how different amps respond to different pickup types. Passive, active, high output, medium output, vintage. The Slug would be featured and I would probably use one of the rectifiers. I definitely have ideas.
Crazy. I never looked one up or watched a video on one but I just put one of these in my Nighthawk because why not and this video shows up. Definitely worth the headache of slanting the pickup for that guitar. Gnarly pickup
That is quite the commitment. Did you slant the coils yourself? Or have someone do it? I have passed on certain Multiscale guitars because of slanted pickups, but always wondered if it was something I could figure out. 🤔
Sounds awesome
Like everyone has, I've heard all the talk about the Chinese knockoff Gibson copies. Some horror stories, some others have had seemingly good experiences with them. Myself, I'm all about buying American made and keeping our economy up. However, I've never been a wealthy individual and buying a Gibson was more of a dream than a real possibility. So I decided to roll the dice and take my chances with a chibson les Paul from Ali express. To be honest I was surprised at the quality of the build as well as the finish. Don't get me wrong, the pickups and the electronics were both total crap but I didn't expect much for what I had paid. Which was about 170 bucks. So, never having done any wiring whatsoever, I gave it a shot. First time was a bust and had to buy another wiring harness, different soldering iron, new wire, different solder, etc. Second time was awesome. New switch, orange drop caps, full size pots, new input jack and tone rider pickups. I still have only invested between 4 and 5 hundred in this guitar but I like it better than any I've ever owned or even played. I'd put it up against any guitar that cost twice as much.
@@jasonbutler5113 well said. And when it comes to investing in a USA made brand, there is some accountability and expectations that the company often will try to meet in most cases. I like all my Gibsons I own or have played, but if I were to spring for a U.S. made Les Paul I would probably buy a Heritage made in the original Gibson factory in Kalamazoo!
What a beautiful guitar, I'd definitely swap the pickups though...
@@gabopenav if you have a specific presence than it is worth it to swap them. These are custom wound USA made pickups and I am starting to wonder if I can just buy Schecter pickups aftermarket. I am definitely going to look more into their manufacture methods and materials.
@@BaritoneGoatStudio my reference here bro is the fact that you are using the Nolly plugin and chugging in the low registers, I just find it a bit muddy and that lack of djenty tone. Maybe the pickups have more of a classic voicing and sure a lot of people more inclined into the Loathe kind of vibe can find that voicing suitable. Sure man, you are right, it's a classic T looking guitar and it's stock glory it should sound like it does. If it ain't your avenue try swapping it for bareknuckles or Mark Holcomb's seymour duncans.
@@gabopenav I actually like the Dimarzio Titan out of all the signature pickups from the periphery guys. I owned a set of Juggs, they were decent. I prefer the Alpha Omegas over the new Scarlet Scourge set, but have only gotten limited time with the those. I put a Titan 7 in my seven string and it was an instant djenty tone, clear punchy and very harmonic in the mids. A blackened Black Winter isn’t bad either for a six string pickup and is relatively inexpensive.
Does Seymour Duncan have a custom shop website
Yea they do! I linked it below. The Slug is now made in regular production though. There are still CS versions available on some sites, but I don’t think they fulfill order through the CS for them anymore. They have other custom models though! customshop.seymourduncan.com
Is therre any you would recommend for round 500 British pounds or under for a baritone guitar - looking it to tuned to B for playing Carcass and type O know of any thing that could handle this? Even something that would make a decent platform for throwing in decent pups nut etc after sale?
@@Peter-by3ox in the £500 or lower range, there isn’t a lot for baritones. The Squier baritone teles are good guitars, but you have to throw a rail pickup in the bridge to get a heavy tone. I owned one and it played really well, but I had to put a single coil sized humbucker in the bridge. Andertons sometimes will have the Chapman baritones on sale, but not quite £500. Otherwise you can look and see if you can find demo or bstock models from G4M on the Ibanez iron labels in the £600 range maybe. Not sure if you can get anything shipped from the EU, but the Harley Benton stuff has been good lately and they make a handful of 27” models.
@@BaritoneGoatStudio thanks man will keep an eye out but loathe to buy again from Hb I know they do decent guitars and I have no issues with getting stuff from Europe but the last axe i got from them had zero quality checks and had to gut the entire thing. Will defo check out he squire thing and dont mind stack humbuckers , got one n my frankin strat :) I might just sell oa couple of mine and grab that Schecter it seems great. BTW I have one of those older Diamond series Schecter models and the stock pups in it are the best factory stocks I have ever heard for that price point
@@Peter-by3ox all the older schecter diamond series guitars I owned has Duncan Designed pickups, I never tried the schecter import humbuckers. But now that Schecter custom winds their USA series pickups and puts them in some of these newer guitars, they are phenomenal. HB is a potential dice roll. The Squier is a really nice, it just looks like a country western guitar even if it sounds like metal beast with a stacked rail pickup.
@@BaritoneGoatStudio cool nice to know man thanks ! the pups in mine just say Schecter on the bottom coil at right hand side - I have a set of a set of Designs in an Antoria Jap lawsuit LP but hey sound way more honky/nasally, where as the ones is in the schecter just seem to sound more meaty/thicker when going through same amp or plugin . Mine is one of those runs where that named them after horror films or characters so mine is the Omen 6 standard dot marked neck string through body and a bit of a fatter neck that the higher end ones 24 frets and have it tuned to B. I will tell u what that axe is some work horse looks like it has been through a couple of tours of duty but plays awesome. it holds the B tuning really well -built like a tank man. Defo using it for self defence when the Zombie apocalypse arrives lol :)
Damn, looks amazing and sounds as good
The looks and sound are exactly my thing! I hope schecter does more Classic looks with aggressive tones.
Came for the guitar, stayed for the rabbit
@@xxSPiKeZxx326 the rabbit is fully aware that he rules the house.
I’ll have one. I personally love the stock pup. I’ve always liked esp’s proprietary pups. They sound a lot like a jb/jazz set. If I DID change it, I put a bill Lawrence in it. That’s my go to. I don’t like that slug pickup at all. Different strokes I guess. But I’m diggin the guitar and I’m glad I got to hear the slug. Cool video man.
@@user-py3cl5el4i the slug is definitely a love or hate kind of sound. Very over the top and more compression with high gain than I think people might suspect. As I mess with the height and try different applications, it is surprising me with what it can do.
@@BaritoneGoatStudio it definitely does what it does very well. I bet it would be a good candidate for a guitar that has a dull sound. It would turn it into a fire breather for sure. Lol
Love the looks and versatility. Really cool to get something that has such a classy appearance, but when you look deeper you find it's a metal beast 🙂 Is this one made in South Korea? The last Schecter I got didn't feel very comfortable due to the fingerboard edges not having any smoothing at all. That was an Indonesian made model. But the most comfortable guitar I've ever played is my Reaper-6, also Indonesian made. So it seems there is some variation amongst the Indo range. I think it's more likely the Korean made stuff will have more attention to detail on those comfort matters - I had a KM-7 for a while and that felt comfortable although still not as much as the Reaper! This PT EX is certainly more my kinda vibe than the Jacksons you mentioned, having pickups that can cover pretty much anything and a 5-way switch is great. I actually just bought a Schecter USA pickup to put in my Reaper, definitely want to experiment some more with their pickups as they do sound really great. The only thing I don't like so much about this PT is that traditional neck heel. The engraved plate does look cool, but I do prefer the modern 'all access' heel joints. I suppose the vintage style does fit with the aesthetic. That's one thing I'd prefer on the Jacksons...having the neck thru. I think the Jacksons have thinner necks which I like, although Schecter's ultra-thin is my favourite. But last time I tried a Jackson the neck shape didn't actually feel very comfortable, so I'd probably prefer the PT EX even if it's Schecter's normal thin not ultra-thin, the C shape is still just more comfy.
This one is Indonesian made. No issues at all with the frets. These are SS as well. The neck is their “thin” C shape which isn’t super thin, but pretty comfortable for what kind of like. Upper frets aren’t as accessible on this, but being a baritone it might be assumed that you would hang around on the lower frets. A molded heel joint with some contour might have been preferred.
I have to try this Schecter. It sounds very good.
@@robertdonosobuchner3129 this is another model that seems to be a testament to modern Schecters being top tier performing guitars.
Those jackson baritones look good
@@Durkhead yeah they do! The Kelly would be cool to have. $1300-1600 though, I might have to wait.
That guitar seems really cool! I've been eyeballing them.... hmmm
@@SonicDriveStudio for the price and overall look I am not sure I will find another baritone like it! Schecter USA pickups are impressive and these are killer! It is definitely worth getting your hands on one if you can!
The one problem I continually keep seeing on production baritones is the use of generally too-light string gauges, usually too light to keep intonation at B standard. This becomes especially noticeable when using using anything thicker than an 0.80.
@@harryanderson7282 I typically like to set them up lower than B standard and the cons with like an 11-56 set I think. For a 27” I like G or F# and usually run the Daddario baritone mediums. Right now I have it set up in Drop A tuning the baritone light set which is 13-62 with a wound 3rd string. Stringjoy makes a few sets that run 14-72. Those seem good for F# especially.
Do I see a cat and a rabbit peacefully co-existing in the background?
@@GregMerritt-ws8tq they indeed co-exist, but the rabbit is definitely the one in charge! He lets the cats know who is boss!
I need a slug
B is more mushy in the low end and has less clarity.
Pickups do matter. Online communities just like to get super ideological about things, and refuse to accept nuances. It's getting absurd now. The same people who claim pickups don't matter sure like to boost with a Tubescreamer style pedal to tighten up their low end and get more gain. Funny that. Almost like certain pickups have inherent characteristics that are better for pushing your amp hard and giving you a tight low end and a nice mid hump.
Agreed. the guitar signal is a pathway that is affected at every step. And guitar playing doesn't only happen in a recording studio!
when the pickup costs as much as the guitar lol
😂 now that would be absurd! Luckily the production models of these only come in at $149. Still a bit more than a standard JB. But the copper alone probably accounts for it.