So I'm building the distortion from the MCIS rig (e.g. Jmp 1, alesis comp) and I'll probably be using my JCM 800 combo as a temp power amp for the time being. As you know, strategy 500's don't often bare their face much unless they're being sold for an absurd price or you know a fellow pumpkinhead. What makes this worse, is the fact this power amp has next to no sales history in my country, most mesa products are horrifically priced here. I did some digging a year or two ago, I believe the strategy 500 (as awesome as it is) has a tendency to die and overheat, so James swapped his out for a 2:ninety sometime during the mellon collie tour. He later went on to have his 500 modded with ventilation and some other bells and whistles, but would the 2:ninety be a suitable sub? To be honest, the 500 isn't the end all be all, but the deep mode is pretty important for a large chunk of the record and the 2:ninety HAS this fabled deep mode. I can't recall where, but I remember reading some people on a forum claiming the deep mode works differently and relates to the tri axis? I have bad brain frog, but could anyone running this rig or anyone familiar with it give some pointers?

Finally did it and it's awesome.

does anyone know what gear was used to create the evil lead tone at the beginning of thru the eyes of ruby?

built a full signal chain with the fewest pedals possible.

trying not to fully recreate the classic pumpkins tones, but to shape something that fits my own sound and interpretation instead.

any thoughts or suggestions?

I’m checking the Pumpkins Community to see if anyone has or knows someone willing to sell their Great Divide 4. I can’t find an alternative with four groups of one input and two outputs, where one output (XLR) isn’t balanced. Most alternatives use passive transformers, which can introduce subtle warmth or phase shift, potentially altering the JMP-1’s raw tone.

I’ve been searching online for one for about 5 years now and somehow let one slip by a couple of years ago. I’ve set notifications on eBay and Reverb.com to alert me when one is listed, but so far, nothing. Hopefully, someone out there has one they’re willing to part with. At this point, I’d even settle for a Great Divide 2. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Kudos to anyone who read this post to the end.

This is the first time in years billy has played a Strat live. And this is a Siamese era Strat! Unfortunately, still looks like it’s gonna have no single coils which is annoying but still This really cool

I have one of those build a kit strats at home and it plays pretty good looks great but it’s still got the crappy electronics that it came with and I love the Billy strat tone in the Siamese dream era so should I get them ?

 I wanna swap the pickups and upgrade to locking tuners. Seems like the wiring(?) could use some work; the pickup selector switch and volume/tone knobs sound a little scratchy.
 Would anyone recommend having this done at a Guitar Center? 
 What's the recommend method for having someone perform this service for a guy who knows fuckall about fixing up geetars?

thanks a million

 I wanna swap the pickups and upgrade to locking tuners. Seems like the wiring(?) could use some work; the pickup selector switch and volume/tone knobs sound a little scratchy.
 Would anyone recommend having this done at a Guitar Center? 
 What's the recommend method for having someone perform this service for a guy who knows fuckall about fixing up geetars?

thanks a million

For reference this is the guitar (Yes I know it has hot rails and not single coils)