The Screwdriver and HAS-Sound VIPER (OFFICIAL Clips up!)

[ShredCow]

DUDES!!!!!!

THEY HAVE ARRIVED!!!!

The Skreddy Screwdriver from Marc @ www.skreddypedals.com and the Viper humbucker from Stan Hinesley @ www.has-sound.com

Lets cut to the chase lah.

(A) HAS Sound VIPER humbucker

Demo Song*
Viper 1 link

Ibanez S520EX w/Viper Bridge --> Ibanez TS9DX / Tonefactor Hellbilly (either one on)--> Skreddy Screwdriver--> Tech21 Sansamp Classic (on clean, its my "amp")--> Demeter Midboost (for last lead)--> Boss DD3 (w/hi cut mod)--> Laptop (mixdown with some reverb, nothing else)

0:01 - 0:07 : Clean tones only. Only Sansamp Classic on. Viper split for
rhythm, series for leads.
0:07 - 0:21 : Still mainly clean. Lead is TS9DX --> Sansamp Classic 0:21 - 0:28 : Moderate gain tones. Rhythm is just Skreddy Screwdriver --> Sansamp Classic. Lead is TS9DX --> Skreddy Screwdriver --> Sansamp Classic
0:28 - END : My highest gain. Rhythm is TS9DX --> Skreddy Screwdriver --> Sansamp Classic. Lead is the Hellbilly instead of the TS9DX.

You can focus your attention on the many parts going on to "bring out" that part. There's a LOT of different parts so you can take your time and relisten as much as you need to. Oh, I never played with the tone/vol controls on my guitar.

*Note: Some of you will remember this was the same piece I used for the Breed neck in bridge demo. Well, listening to that old clip now... I'm quite... appalled by my old tone. :lol:

FLAT RESPONSE DEMO
Viper 2 link

Ibanez S520EX w/Viper Bridge, Tech21 TRI OD (speaker simulation only, bass & treble at at 12 o'clock), Laptop. No efx, just a mixdown.

Check out the DYNAMICS. Its only a speaker sim going on, which is essentially, like just plugging straight to my laptop from my guitar.

 

[brundisium]

imho, the way you play will make the pedal sounds good even if the pedal is so so. Just an observation...

 

[ShredCow]

*shrugs*
Not all things can be conveyed with just an mp3... for example, I have difficulty getting dynamic with a TS9DX when compared to using the Skreddy/Hellbilly... Its got to do with how the pedal connects with your playing too IMO...

In anycase, the cilps above don't sound very good, esp the skreddy ones... I need to properly set up my gear first... hehehehehe....

 

[ShredCow]

Oh ya... for the skreddy clips... Compare the lead tone between the Skreddy Lead (Screwdriver & Hellbilly) and Viper Lead (TS9DX & Hellbilly) clips.

The Skreddy Lead clip has a great dynamic treble going on... you can hear whether I'm picking closer to the bridge or not... its quite clear in the clip.

Very interesting thing to note... the Screwdriver is actually a Fuzz circuit.

 

[brundisium]

hehe, you are too conscious of it, the clips actually sounded quite nice i thought.

Sometime it's hard to determined a good sound and a bad sound for a distortion/ pedal in term of mp3 file, the player behind it actually make a bigger difference to it.

 

[ShredCow]

i dunno brundy... the TRI AC is great for the 3 amps it simulated, I will take it over any other modeller out there, and if I had some sort of space constraint, it would rock. However, the fender tweed setting (basically the only clean channel in the TRI AC with high headroom) is not the tone I want.. I dislike the fenderish cleans. So have to live with it till I get that Sansamp Classic on Saturday.

I understand what you are getting at.. thats why, for the Skreddy Demo, I recorded a simple riff, repeating and alternating dynamics, something as straightforward as possible. I love the dynamics of the Screwdriver...

 

[DemonOfTheFall]

Shred - what made you choose the HAS Viper pickup ? Just curious since this is the first time I've heard of that manufacturer. Any artists using it ?

 

[ShredCow]

What made me choose? Well... the description on the website fit what I wanted

Stan from HAS-sound (www.has-sound.com) offered to wind a set to me. And I choose the Viper because I want bite and a higher output humbucker. Stan is a new kid on the block when it comes to custom hand wound pups so the only "artiste" using the Viper now is ... me. *blink blink* :wink:

A little more on the Viper... yeap, I had the Evo 2 there before. Reason being... after trying so many pups, I've come to a decision that I want my bridge humbuckers to be relatively hot and ceremics because I want that bite and raw-ness, kind of like an attitude in a humbucker as opposed to the smooth singing tones of Alnico magnets (which if I had to return to that, I would take the Dimarzio Air Norton and Double Whammy in a heartbeat) which to me, is just too normal and smooth.

So got the Evo2.. yay... then managed to hook up with Stan and he offered to send a Viper over to me. I was astounded when I plonked inthe Viper. Way more organic and stuffed to the nines in attitude! I like the way the Viper is voiced... kind of like a wooliness in the low end, which is a hugh low end btw, and with this huge note seperation. You really hear the notes when you strum chords even under heavier gain. Again, like what I mentioned, the Viper thrashed the Evo 2. i love the character of the Viper, its much more "alive" (for lack of a better term) than the Evo 2 which sounds more compressed. Yes, Evo 2 still screams better and has a ridiculously tight bass... but the "bad" points of the Viper make it sound more alive.

Say, where do you live? Wanna drop by to take a listen? I should do a rhythm demo of the Viper...

Oh, did you know it has nice cleans too?

 

[ShredCow]

Oh.. on a side note... i might as well share why I deviated from using uber thick, midrangey pups to the current thinner (less mids) sounding pups.

Its all about clarity. Note defination and clarity.

On pups like the Tonezone, its hard to get clarity and note seperation esp when you play chords. Thats why it sounds so wall-of-sound heavy when chugging, all the notes meld into each other. Nice. But when you want clarity ala old Paul Gilbert kind of clarity, you need to scoop your eq's mids, and up the treble/presence A LOT. As per what PG did in Mr Big, esp evident during the Live in SF concert. I don't want that... sounds kind of un-natural, boosting so much on the amp...

So...
I walked the other way... Dropped the mids on my eq, grabbing less midrangey pups... so my rhythm, while thinner sounding, has great clarity and note seperation... Its a personal preferance, this note seperation thing.

Anyway, for me leads, I use my demeter.

 

[MrE]

So got the Evo2.. yay... then managed to hook up with Stan and he offered to send a Viper over to me.

I should do a rhythm demo of the Viper...

Oh, did you know it has nice cleans too?

he gave you the Viper FOC?? heh... macham endorsement! it's not cheap... something like 270 SGD (that's the price of the MI Audio Tubezone heh)

yes pls post some rhythm and clean clips

 

[ShredCow]

Hahaha... maybe you can call it that lah...

I'll post some clips asap, maybe tonight.

I mean, good stuff don't come cheap. And 1 thing I noticed about the Viper, going straight to say PA or Keybaord amp, it sounds very nice already...

 

[DemonOfTheFall]

Shred - I'm not able to download the files - download limit exceeded. Could you upload them again?

Sounds like a killer pickup from the description - yep, please record some rhythm clips as well Custom shop pickups always seem to have something nice and unique.

The pricing looks very reasonable for the pickup - really tempting 8)

ps: I stay in the west (NTU).

 

[ShredCow]

Ah... it might that because you are in NTU... Will upload to yousendit then pm you.

Its a killer pup to me. What I want... bite, raw-ness and attitude.

Hehhee... SO FAR.

We meet @ City Hall lah

 

[MrE]

listening to your clip of the Viper lead, gotta say it's got real crunch and gritty sustain. fierce.

but i wonder how much of that tone is attributed to the Hellbilly and the TriAc rather than the Viper pickup itself?

 

[ShredCow]

Well, its hard to say without a comparison eh? I got some clips with my old pups.. I could send it to you...

But i assure you, not much, as in... well, the pup change had a big impact. Been using the Hellbilly + TRI AC combo for all my leads every since I got it.

Its a rather big difference actually... grittier and dirtier than the Evo 2. If I used my Kustom 12A's on board gain, you hear that rawness. Use the TRI AC, its there. Skreddy , its there.

 

[penguin]

yup the smooth tone is gone...
but i feel u can get the same tone and attack using a duncan pickup and a ds1...offcourse its boosted with an SD1..

 

[sanXp]

Hey shred, are you using the viper pup on the skreddy rythm demo? Btw your sound is kick ass now :wink:

 

[ShredCow]

Yeap, skreddy done with Viper. Thanks for the tone compliment.. great gear.

Penguin, you have to come try the pup. Its different from the machine wound Dimarzios and Seymore Duncans. There is a certain character and "life" to the Viper.

Btw, I just came back from G77. Ran my Ibanez into the Skreddy into that mega huge amp there?

Wow. The skreddy was really PUSHING the air there. You can feel it. Edo83 and Ciel21 were with me.

And the Viper was ridiculous. I mentioned that it was not as compressed as the Evo 2? An understatment. It was just mildly compressed... and had this fatness going on, esp when you play high up the neck. Amazing. Riffing and notes, just cutting thru and damn tight.

 

[sanXp]

Yea I can see where you are going about the cutting thru.. It is VERY cuttting. Not fat at all but very clear, sounds low gain but not.. It has that crunch WITHOUT compression. Very very sweet. Have you tried the skreddy on brit with the setting at about 12-1 o'clock drive? Btw I don't like the sound of your Evo neck. I think a SD Jazz will sound reaaallly sweet in there.

 

[ShredCow]

Yeah, very cutting... the Evo neck sounds too fat now in comparison with the Viper... a pity, it was the perfect match with an Evo 2. Personally, I love the Evo neck... gritty and fat...

Regarding the compression of the Viper, you are right. Very little compression.

The skreddy somehow does not agree with teh TRI ACs gain channels... I just got a Sansamp classic. Hehehehehe