u/BeigeAndConfused

I've owned a bunch of metal-centric guitars over the years, and all of them have had something that kept me from fully loving them. In my early years of playing 23-ish years ago I owned several LTD guitars, all of which were Ok-to really good, but I either never felt like the output was hot enough, or the construction was iffy or the floating bridge sucked etc etc etc. I've owned many other types of guitars since then so my knowledge of the instrument and my preferences has gotten more informed and defined.

I started a new metal project last year, I already owned a few guitars that could have worked but neither of them has a floating bridge and I just felt like I didn't have the right tool for the job. I did some research; I'd never owned a Jackson but every single one I'd played, including lower tier ones, always made me walk away satisfied. I like how Jacksons feel "chunkier" and more solid compared to Ibanez or ESP, It always feels like you are holding something designed to beat the shit out of someone.

I did some research and the first thing that surprised me is that there are surprisingly few Jacksons with active pickups. I figured that would be the other way around but no, I legit don't know why that is but I had to be a bit careful to make sure I got one with actives. I don't think actives are required for metal, quite the contrary, but I already own plenty of passive pup guitars.

What caught my attention about the SL1A is that it is a REALLY good deal for the money. You only get a bridge pickup, more on that later, but it has a coil split and, more importantly, it comes with a Fishman Fluence and is about $100 cheaper than the other Pro Plus models it is marketed alongside. I found one at my local big box store, tried it, loved it, and a year later I still love it.

Lets address the Elephant in the room: The single pickup doesn't bother me. I think its cool actually, this thing is built for one purpose and it does that thing excellently. I will use the coil split for solos but I honestly was already recording leads with a different guitar so its not an issue. I like the single pup and would still gladly play leads with it live.

The guitar is gorgeous despite having a really simple aesthetic: I've owned cheaper black painted guitars with what I imagine is cheaper paint and you can tell - it feels weird saying that about something like black paint, but when paint is crap you can just see it. The cream binding is just so sick, it makes the whole package look stately without compromising the whole look. I love the way the guitar looks even if it is simple, its a classic look.

The Floyd Rose 1000 is great. All floating bridges are temperamental in my experience (unless you are doing a strat style/Gotoh bridge) but this one behaves well once you wear the strings in. The ONLY major critique I have about the guitar out-of-the-box is I had to buy heavier-gauge springs for the back of the guitar: At standard tuning the 3 regular springs were not strong enough. I replaced one of them with a heavy-gauge spring and was able to balance the whole thing out, problem solved.

And yea the guitar sounds sick as hell. The Fishman sounds so sick, the neck is super comfortable and fast (without being TOO thin and shreddy), I like how there is no tone knob, aside from that one spring I haven't had any hardware issues, and I am still always excited to pick it up. One of my main guitars.

In short its a fantastic deal for the money and a great guitar in its own right, highly recommended.

I know that the first Rush album gets some flack from the Rush community, and that the song Finding My Way is nonetheless not an unknown song or whatever, but I don't think that main riff gets enough credit. That opening riff is seriously an S-tier, Crazy Train/Iron Main/Sweet Child o' Mine level riff and I don't think it gets the respect it deserves.

A while back on Angry Metal Guy I read an article that someone wrote about the Metallica song "Ride the Lightning". In it they says that, even after hearing that intro riff countless times over decades, it still instills a sense of breathless excitement in them. That is EXACTLY how I feel about Finding My Way, and I can't even exactly say why.

That's the whole post I just fucking love that song.

I am a Rush fan but have never actually talked to a Canadian about them. In America the fact that Rush is from Canada is one of the things people actually know about the country (stupid americans) and they get parodied in movies and shows etc in relation to the country. I have to imagine they are generally well liked in their homeland but I'm curious.

I am getting Semaglutide through Hims at 42.5 units a week. Been using about a year. The effects noticeably have always started falling off around the day before my next dose. I want to know if it's safe and effective to split the dose up to 2 a week to keep the effect going consistently, I can't get a straight answer from my provider.

Idk if they are strictly considered Hair, but I'm seeing them in a few weeks on a whim and their first and third albums are great. Kinda like if Rush, the Beatles, and a hair metal band were mixed up in a blender. Some of their stuff reminds me of 80's AOR

Just beat chapter 1 in the demo. I LOVE how you get a bit of experience during the boss fight. This eliminates grinding, it allows you to focus on learning the boss while also not losing hours and hours of time with no progress if a particular boss is difficult for you. You are getting stronger both in the game and in your ability to play it. Genius, can't wait for the game to drop.

Ok so I might be jumping the gun because I need to review some Rykard lore but whatever. So I just rewatched Vaati's video on Messmer. Two questions he leaves rather unanswered are A) the approximate time of Messmer's birth and/or exile, and B) why snakes are reviled in then-contemporary society.

I feel like most of this is extremely straightforward so I suspect I am missing something:

A) I never questioned that Messmer was born alongside Malenia, Miquellia, and Melina. Between his hair and his cursed nature it would be weird if he was born in another time period. I also am of the thought that Marika and Radagon were originally separate people but I'm not getting into that.

B) Marika hates Crucible aspects. Snakes are not explicitly linked to the Crucible but they seem like another animal "thing" that could be associated with Crucible stuff.

C) I believe that Rykard's Blasphemy stuff took place during the Shattering, which would have places it after any time that Marika could have realistically told Messmer to do anything, but because his assiciation with the Serpent is called a Blasphemy, ib addition to the other crimes, is it not reasonable to assume that Snakes being despised long preceded his Mt Gelmir shit?

D) Messmer does not have a seat on the Demigod council-thing in front of the Erdtree, which means he either was always hidden from the populace like Morgott and Mohg or he was sent to Land of Shadiw wayyyyyy before the seats were erected.

All of this implies to me that Messmer was born around the same time as the other Marika/Radagon children and sent to the Land of Shadow before the Shattering. I don't really see how there is much wiggle room for this, am I missing something?

I have been playing bass for about 5 years but it has mostly been a gradual learning process outside of proper playing technique (I mainly play guitar). I am learning more about tone now and I am enjoying all the eureka moments of "ohhhh thats why that sounds so different even though its the same gear" kinda EQ moments etc.

I have a Sterling Stingray and I love it. Up until now I have honestly not seen any reason to explore other basses. As I've been digging into tone, though, I'vs noticed a couple things I don't understand.

One is that Steve Harris from Iron Maiden uses a P Bass, and that he uses Flat Wound strings. I haven't used either of those pieces of gear, but I was under the impression flat wounds were more associated with jazz tones, and the P Bass was also not something I figured he'd use. Is there a logic to his choosing these for his tone?

If these are naive questions please excuse the newbishness :) there are only so many hours in the day so I learn what I can when I can! Thank you!

FOLLOW UP QUESTION:
I'm a massive Black Sabbath fan. I feel like Geezer's tone is much different than other hard rock and metal players, EG on Master of Reality. He has a much smoother tone that doesn't have the high end clack that Harris has. What is the logic behind this, EG why would he choose to do this and how does it successfully cut through the mix without turning it into mud (actually its Sabbath, so I should say sludge).

I have been recording a few songs recently and just today, for no apparent reason, my guitars are producing a sound that is reminiscent of a phase or wah effect, very high in treble but also producing a lower gain (I think?) than previously. Some notes:

• It is not due to a dying active pickup. I swapped out the battery from the guitar I was recording with AND plugged in a passive pickup guitar. Same result.
• My drivers are up to date.
• I'm using WaveOut audio settings, the classic red Focusrite audio interface, 24 bit, 44100 sample, 8x128 (latency 23 ms).
• It is not confined to a single Reaper file, every one I've opened is producing this effect.
• I have a Lenovo Legion laptop I got in 2023, there should not be any hardware reason for this.
• It does not appear to be due to settings on the Focusrite, Direct Monitor is off and it is not set to Line.

I didn't watch it directly on Criterion and it doesn't matter HOLY SHIT THAT WAS SUCH A GOOD MOVIE. I haven't really connected with Kurosawa so far besides Ikiru, but now I think I really need to finally watch Rashomon and Throne of Blood. Ran was so good it makes me angry, like the scene with the burning tower alone is one of the best things I've ever seen. Instant 10/10

I've had a Sterling Stingray for about 5-6 years and I honestly still love it, the only bass I've had but I have never had the feeling that I'm playing a cheap budget instrument, I still love playing it (I've played guitar for over 2 decades so I'm just more familiar with that world and brands). If I wanted to try a comparable active pickup fretless bass in that price point what are some good options? I read that Warwick, G&L, and Sire are sonically similar, do those brands have fretless models?

Had no expectations, ended up loving it, such a great moody thriller.

I love this stupid ridiculous amazing movie, where has this been my whole life?