New videos on The Game Changer Website!

[drewbixcubed]

Gamechanger - Videos

Guitar Demo
Bass Demo
Web Demo
Guitar Tutorial
Bass Tutorial

 

[Danserrano]

Sweet

 

[brokenvail]

Great videos I still don't grasp the grid 100% but I already understand it better than I did this morning. Thanks!

 

[threeminutesboy]

Fantastic everything is clear now!

 

[amonteiro]

Technical stuff

It should be clear that a pickup A in series with a pickup B should sound exactly as B in series with A. This is valid for the series of any number of pickups.

It should also be clear that any combination of pickups should sound exactly like another one with is obtained reversing the phase of all used pickups.

In the first case you have the sum of two signals, S(t) = A(t) + B(t). Of course S(t) is also = B(t) + A(t).

In the second case you have S(t) and -S(t). This second one has simply an opposite polarity. It is known that our ears don't distinguish opposite phases alone. Both seem to be exactly the same sound.

This should be very simple to confirm with adequate presets and changing between them...

AM

 

[guitfiddle]

Thanks Drew. Exciting stuff! Love how the grid works. Gonna be very cool to be able to split pickups on the fly.

The Guitar Tutorial vid isn't working for me. Probably out of bandwidth.

 

[Jimmyb]

It should be clear that a pickup A in series with a pickup B should sound exactly as B in series with A. This is valid for the series of any number of pickups.

It should also be clear that any combination of pickups should sound exactly like another one with is obtained reversing the phase of all used pickups.

In the first case you have the sum of two signals, S(t) = A(t) + B(t). Of course S(t) is also = B(t) + A(t).

In the second case you have S(t) and -S(t). This second one has simply an opposite polarity. It is known that our ears don't distinguish opposite phases alone. Both seem to be exactly the same sound.

This should be very simple to confirm with adequate presets and changing between them...

AM

And it should also be clear that a combination of effects pedals should sound exactly the same, regardless of the order in which they are placed in the signal chain. However, it's easy to try it out for yourself to see if it makes a difference (and virtually everyone agrees it does make a difference).

There is also a point on one of the videos where it's demonstrated by Dave LaRue.

 

[ScoobySteve]

The amount of GAS produced is unreal. THe ultimate studio guitar. What innovation. My mind is still blown.

 

[Spudmurphy]

Does this announcement by Drew mean we're closer to seeing them hit the street methinks?

 

[walleye]

Does this announcement by Drew mean we're closer to seeing them hit the street methinks?

isnt this an old thread bumped?
i get confused by dates on the internet
3-9 ... is that march 9? or 3 september? do americans have their dates backwords like europeans? either way its still at least a month old. nothing new

 

[DrKev]

Yes, thread from March resurrected. American dates (mm/dd/yyyy) are "backwards" compared to European/nearly-most-of-the-world dates (dd/mm/yyyy)! Unfortunately there is no option in our profiles for how we display dates (though we can set our own time zones).

(Edit: I've posted to Codemonkey's Treehouse to ask if we can fix this somehow).

There is also a point on one of the videos where it's demonstrated by Dave LaRue.

Yep, it's an obvious difference on the video clip. In fact, BP brings it up specifically with Morse, who admits that it seems counter-intuitive but the effect is definitely there. Coil order does make a difference to the tone. Clearly, pickup coils cannot be thought of as simple current sources.

 

[Spudmurphy]

damn it yeah its backwards - an oldie.

 

[lukather101]

The more i listen to the game changer the more i want one but i'm totally done buying guitars for a long while . Time to be happy with my guitar collection and enjoy playing them .

 

[amonteiro]

And it should also be clear that a combination of effects pedals should sound exactly the same, regardless of the order in which they are placed in the signal chain. However, it's easy to try it out for yourself to see if it makes a difference (and virtually everyone agrees it does make a difference).

There is also a point on one of the videos where it's demonstrated by Dave LaRue.

The order of pedals would sound the same if they would produce only linear trabsformations. But distortions, delays, reverbs, chorus and, in general, all guitar effects are essencially non-linear.

Regarding pickups, they arre essencially linear devices, to which my comments I believe apply.

Regarding the videos my impression in the case of LaRue as much as with Steve Morse is that they gess it sounds slightly diferent but even they don't seem very convinced of the diference.

Please note that my post doesn't mean anything negative about the system. I simply believe that it is not on that point that you get most out of the incredible possibilities of the guitar.

AM

 

[DrKev]

Saying pickups are non-linear is perhaps a bit of a stretch but at the very least we have to call them "not-very-linear". I was actually a physicist (hence the "Dr" in DrKev) before I became a "full-time" musician, and I was surprised when I first heard of this, just as Morse was too. But the fact is that it's an easy effect to demonstrate with a video camera so it's a bigger difference in tone than true-bypass pedals vs buffered usually offers or NOS tubes! LOL!

The physics of pickups can get quite complex - there is a lot more going on than a simple idealised inductance/resistance. Anybody who has spent time with the Maxwell-Faraday equation will understand why many people run away screaming when they try to dig deeper. I certainly did!

This might not be the most obvious, shocking effect but it's certainly there and knowing that pickup physics is complex I can only ask one question: We are talking about time-dependant rates of change of magnetic flux in coils that might not be identical, along different positions of non-ideal strings with complex vibrations - why on earth would that be 'linear' or 'commutative'? Put like that, it's NOT an obvious assumption to make.

Until the Gamechanger came out, everybody assumed things were linear but nobody ever thought to try and listen. Nobody asked, "Is it really linear and why should it be?" Then the Gamechanger gave us the ability to try without having to re-solder the darn guitar every time we thought of something new. We discovered that our ideas of how pickups work is a little too simple.

I simply believe that it is not on that point that you get most out of the incredible possibilities of the guitar.

True enough. With that many combinations, I'm sure a lot of them will sound quite similar. People will plug in, try things, and listen. If they like what they hear, they'll use it. What the physics is behind the sounds they like doesn't really matter.

And before I forget, Amonteiro, welcome to the forum!

 

[brokenvail]

Ok, I am disappointed. I saw this thread and got so excited only to then see that it is the same videos I watch ever week and that this was a resurrection thread.

 

[drewbixcubed]

As "clear" as it may seem, the sonic differences between combinations of coils in series can prove to be more varied than expected. One example of the difference depends on which pickups are used, and which order they sit in the chain. For example, let's take 2 drastically different coils (differences in impedance, inductance, etc...), and place them in order coil1>series>coil2 (1s2). The impedance of coil2 will effect the load on coil1, thus forcing coil1 to "perform" or sound a certain way. If then the pickups are wired (2s1), now the impedance of coil1 will effect the load on coil2, and coil2 will "perform" or sound a different way than before. Both combinations will then sound different.

This is very similar to why certain volume pots are used to make the guitar's signal sound a certain way. If a 250K pot is used as a volume control after the pickups, a certain load is put on the pickups, thus creating a certain tone.....if that pot is then changed to another value, say 500K, then the load changes, as does the tone. The more drastic the difference in impedance, the more tonal difference may be heard.


With regards to pickup phasing, it IS true that if a certain pickup combination is selected, the tone should be identical if every coil's phase in the combination is forward or reversed.....however, that signal is then sent from the instrument to the rest of the rig with a specific phase. Due to the fact that there are billions of ways to setup ones rig, that guitar signal's phase matters. For example, take 1 coil IN PHASE and play it through an amp that has a non-phase-inverting output. When the signal is sent to the speaker, it will move a certain way (for example out>in>out>in>etc...). If the phase on that pickup is reversed, then that same setup will move the speaker in reverse (in>out>in>out>etc.... This WILL make the tone seem more punchy or not. Now, add to this that pedals, preamps, poweramps, etc... can all effect the phase of the signal, and the way a speaker reacts, your tone could sound punchy in one preset, and not punchy in another.

All of this information is a lot to take in, but we are not expecting everyone to understand or utilize it (especially right away). We did however want to make sure that The Game Changer covers every combination possible to allow the user to construct their ideal tone no matter how simple/complex they want it to be.

It should be clear that a pickup A in series with a pickup B should sound exactly as B in series with A. This is valid for the series of any number of pickups.

It should also be clear that any combination of pickups should sound exactly like another one with is obtained reversing the phase of all used pickups.

In the first case you have the sum of two signals, S(t) = A(t) + B(t). Of course S(t) is also = B(t) + A(t).

In the second case you have S(t) and -S(t). This second one has simply an opposite polarity. It is known that our ears don't distinguish opposite phases alone. Both seem to be exactly the same sound.

This should be very simple to confirm with adequate presets and changing between them...

AM

 

[mantrarock]

Well, since this thread has been resurected I'll post this here. Sorry if this was posted somewhere else.

The Music Man Game Changer Guitar Update - YouTube

Edit: Oops! Looks like I missed this thread in June:
http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-guitars/49675-game-changer-midi-bluetooth.html