I bought a second hand custom-s which was barely used and in good condition. Everything works apart from the sustainiac. I have replaced the battery with a new duracell one but it was only working in the lower strings. I raised the height and it worked on the b string also now but it still keeps cutting out on the high e string. The only setting that kinda works is the feedback setting in the middle, the sustain and harmonic keep cutting out. Could anyone help?

Short answer:
The cheap SM57 microphone is the major key to unlocking some of Avenged Sevenfold’s iconic tone.

Hey folks,
I just want to share a quick bit about the awesome album tone A7X manages to achieve. For context, I’ve been researching the band and chasing a sound similar to them since the early internet, before sites like YouTube even existed.

The band’s City of Evil and self-titled guitar tone is incredible. The simple term I would use to describe them is “cut.” Those tones are just so precise and articulate, they cut through the mix perfectly. You could also describe them as sharp, or even a bit harsh if you stretch the idea a bit. How on earth did they achieve that sound using Uberschall amps of all things - an amp known for being extremely dark in tone (they aren’t actually dark amps, but that’s a whole other topic). Among a few other tone shaping tools on their albums ( NOTE their album sound is a lot different than their live tone) the $120 SM57 microphone is the real key.

If you’ve ever used an SM57 on a guitar amp, you know the sound already. It’s a very coloured microphone. It filters a lot of lows out out of the sound and does pretty significant boost in the upper mids. I would call it a vary nasally microphone myself. It’s sharp and cutting, just like the quality I love in A7X tone.

To balance out the harsh tone of the SM57, most studio folks will point the mic on the guitar cab at the space where the speak cone and dust cap meet - the popular mid-tonal point on the speaker between really dark (far edge of the cone) and really bright (dust cap in the centre).

…Not A7X though. Nope. In some of my recent research, I came across an interview with engineer Fred Archambault on working with the band, and he says they placed the SM57 in the dead centre of the speaker, taking the sharp sound of the mic to its extreme.

This is FASCINATING to me. They broke a major recording tradition to achieve their awesome guitar tone, and it really paid off.

I also found out that the iconic snare drum from City of Evil was recorded with an SM57 too. The Rev did use an extremely bright snare to record that album, but the SM57 takes it to the next level.

I hope this knowledge is helpful for people! You don’t have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to achieve a sound, so work with what you have, even a cheap $100 mic! Album vs live tone is very different. Also, A7X use so many different guitar and amp routs to achieve their sounds, it’s hard to nail down just one sound for them, but most all of it is filtered through an SM57.

Good afternoon, good morning, good night fellow Synners! I am currently on my way to prom. Feel free to share you prom experience if you have gone to prom!
I am very anxious

Alright, so, going strictly off of the song titles on “Life is but a Dream”, which song or songs are you the most excited to hear and why? There have been little tiny bits of info dropped in a few interviews on some sounds this record may feature, so feel free to discuss that as well!

I’ve read that a compressor is a key element of Syn’s lead tone. I’ve never used a compressor before - does anyone have any tips for how to set it up (threshold, ratio, attack, release) for his style of leads? I have a Fractal Axe FX III which has a ton of different compressor options. Would appreciate any tips!

An introduction to one finger tapping

In this lesson we teach you one of Syn’s favorite Sweep licks.

Just one question, is it possible to get a good sounding pinch harmonic on the first or maybe second string?

In this video, we look at the Harmonic minor Scale, it's modes and chord family.

What are y’all’s opinions on the new song ?? YouTube is full of dislikes.

In this lesson we go over basic finger-tapping techniques.

In this lesson we show you a couple of exercises that will help you master the fretboard.

This blew me away, and reminded me (again) of so many songs I need to relisten to again soon.

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The bassist doing the HttK solo kinda blew me away.

I've been playing guitar for about 7-8 years now and I am starting to get into some more complex stuff. Ive noticed though that i am pretty limited by my left (finger) hand speed. Ive been doing basic drills to a metronome and have noticed slight improvement. But if I want to be able to play lightning fast licks how far away/ how long will it take for me to build up some real speed. For context, my alternate picking for 16th notes falls apart around 100-110 bps.

Okay so I love, I mean LOVE to watch funny moment videos of my favorite bands if they have any and I found one for A7x. Idgaf if y’all already seen it or not but I would like to share it WITH, the community.
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So I’m not sure if this is fixable, but the toggle switches for my Sustainiac are loose. First it was the mode switch, and then the on/off switch became loose too, but I don’t know how to fix them. And it makes it to where my guitar literally only has a bridge pickup, because no signal comes from the neck now.

By “losse” I mean like they’re still connected to the guitar but they just flop around with no function instead of clicking back and fourth like they should. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Rymydy

Hey Everyone! I got a bit of a different question to put out there.

So very recently I managed to purchase a Hellwin! Exciting. The difficult part is that it is from the UK and requires a 240v power supply, where here in North America we use 120V. This is fine as I have a work around via a little transformer that converts the power to 240v. Ive been using it with the Slant Hellwin cab it came with no issues, and it sounds fantastic!

Leading up to my question, I also own a 5150 Iconic Head and Cab. Its a straight cab with a 16ohm impedance (which is also the same as the hellwin slant cab I have).
SO, my question is, am I able to use the 5150 Cab along with the Hellwin Head and Cab to form a full stack? And what impedance selection should I set it to on the Hellwin head (8 ohms or 16 ohms?), but would the wattage requirement difference affect anything?

Pictures of the back of each cab for reference:

I know triplets, several scales, the notes on the guitar, CAGED, and basic major and minor arpeggios, what is a good next thing for me to work on? I am kinda lost on where to go next

Hi, How do I stop/prevent my fingers from flying to far from the string, especially while playing the pentatonic scale? I think the problem is with my middle and ring finger.

Would you be interested in tuning in to a live stream of me learning the solo to "Nobody" by ear? I tried recording the process and wanted to make a video but I ended up recording 4ish videos, each at 40+ minutes so that idea's out.
I may only go live for about an hour if I am to schedule a stream, but let me know how you feel about it!

Hello Everyone, just another "canbefun" question, What was your latest or biggest eureka moment?

In my case these are rather frustrating than exciting, because many times the pieces were already in my head, but for some reason just didn't click... and when they do, I would just hit my head to the wall that how on earth I did not put this together earlier.

Here is mine, (it's not a moment tho') Lately I'm spending lot of time on acoustic again, learning some fingerstyle... and also started to make fingerstyle arrangements of some songs I like, and finally get it how to even start the arrangement, and progress beat by beat, bar by bar, put together the beat, bass, chords and melody... and most importantly how to execute it and play it on guitar later. Even though the process is pretty slow now, for sure it will get faster... So yep, fun times ahead, thought I'd share

Since the videos aren't working.. What's everyone up to?
Are you focussing on a specific technique or goal? Tell us how's it going. Your answer might inspire others.

Btw, I just noticed the tab playback and backingtrack from the video's does work. So you could still practice along with those.

I've been putting this off for like a year, but this week I am going to commit to attempting the old change tuning on a Floyd trick I've got @Ed Seith videos on hand, so I guess if it all turns to shit i just blame him right? Wish me luck and check in a week to see if I'm alive haha