Jan Cyrka - preamp

siraxeman

Haych said:

siraxeman said:

For such an amazing guitarist I'm surprised he's not done more than his 3 albums...seems to make more of his living from his studio and also that jam track central thingy he's doing.

Think he does a lot of music for film/TV too.  I think the theme to the Jeremy Vile show is one of his IIRC, not that I'd ever watch it.

Not to forget "woah woah bodyform....bodyform for you....."

EricTheWeary

thermionic said:

Wasn't he in Zodiac Mindwarp and The Love Reaction for a time?

Yeah. IIRC when he left he took time out and basically relearned the guitar.

Gadget

Flash Bastard

hubobulous

Best story I recall was that he said he knew it was time to leave ZM when he took his Mum to a record launch party and she was introduced as Mrs Bastard!!

olafgarten

digitalscream said:

siraxeman said:

I wonder how far off you'd be with the fender active mid boost 25dbs via an internal 9v battery.ive had that put in 2 strats in the past...it's a simple off the shelf mod. No need to route for a battery you can squeeze it in just fine under the scratchplate....definitely not recommended for regular noise you single coils though...as I learned !! It adds extra noise.....I realised that's why fender only put it in  with noiseless pups. 

You know...it occurs to me to wonder why nobody's using batteries from mobile phones for this purpose. They're much flatter - they could easily fit in a trem cavity without touching the strings. Hell, you can even buy the credit card-sized rechargeables; a step-up to whatever voltage is necessary, and they'll still comfortably put out enough current for a preamp circuit.

That's a very good idea, I think them main issue is recharging them without a rather complex circuit, the batteries like to be trickle charged, although there is no reason you can't just get an old phone and use that as a charger.

stonevibe

He used to live round the corner from me in Palmers Green, my mate Sharon used to pop round his to record vocals a lot. He lives near Broomfield Park. 

I rememeber seeing Zakk Wylde going over to do some Guitarist interview up at his place a few years back.

DLM

guitarcookie1 said:

I have the Di Marzio Shockwave system that has the pre-amp built into the jack socket. Combined with the HS3-alike pickups you can have a pretty traditional sounding Start (pre-amp off) or something quite humbucker-like with the pre-amp on.

@guitarcookie1 Thanks man, I've wanted to know what the queer booster thing my mate's dad has on his Strat for years!

digitalscream said:

While we're on the topic of Jan Cyrka...does anybody remember the awesome intro music for Hoodlum Corner on the Guitarist CD? One month he put the whole thing in his column, probably in the mid-90s. I've been trying to find it for years...even tried to get in touch with the man himself, to no avail.

@digitalscream I might have this. I shall have to investigate, I'll let you know.

I was listening to Extreme’s self-titled debut last night and it struck me that Nuno's instrumental solo piece sounded quite a lot like Cyrka, though it obviously predates his work significantly. The tone, phrasing, whammy work, even some of the melodies and harmonies.

digitalscream

Cheers, @DLM - I challenged myself ot remember it (after 20 years or so). I think it goes something like this...

LoFi

olafgarten said:

That's a very good idea, I think them main issue is recharging them without a rather complex circuit, the batteries like to be trickle charged, although there is no reason you can't just get an old phone and use that as a charger.

You can easily buy external chargers that will just charge the battery from Amazon etc. - I used to carry a spare battery for my Galaxy S3 around, and at night, pop it into an external charger.

DLM

@digitalscream That sounds very familiar. I'll have to have a dig.

It's not listed here. https://sites.google.com/site/guitarmagsongs/guitarist---song-index

Loobs

Jan Cyrka, man that's a blast from the past. I remember reading/hearing him with Guitarist magazine as a young'un.

MikeB

digitalscream said:

Cheers, @DLM - I challenged myself ot remember it (after 20 years or so). I think it goes something like this...

That was a cracking effort and now I've heard it I do remember it! Still got the Brief Encounter package on my PC somewhere. Might just have to dig it out now.... 

digitalscream

MikeB said:

That was a cracking effort and now I've heard it I do remember it! Still got the Brief Encounter package on my PC somewhere. Might just have to dig it out now.... 

Heh...well, I can hear a couple of mistakes versus what I intended to play, but if folk recognised it then job done

newi123

I loved Hoodlum Corner - you can still buy the lessons apparently!

https://jamtrackcentral.com/store/series/jan-cyrka-complete-box-set/

digitalscream

newi123 said:

I loved Hoodlum Corner - you can still buy the lessons apparently!

https://jamtrackcentral.com/store/series/jan-cyrka-complete-box-set/

Dammit...it seems that the one lesson which isn't available is the one where he went through the intro track!

DLM

@newi123 Worthy of a wow! That package doesn't seem to include what @digitalscream is looking for, so it can't be *all* his lessons from Guitarist. There's just not enough tracks, anyway.

newi123

digitalscream said:

newi123 said:

I loved Hoodlum Corner - you can still buy the lessons apparently!

https://jamtrackcentral.com/store/series/jan-cyrka-complete-box-set/

Dammit...it seems that the one lesson which isn't available is the one where he went through the intro track!

Of course.......... :-(

DLM

A whinge: the labeling of the tracks on the old Guitarist CD sleeves sucks.

I dug out some 25 last night with loads of Hoodlum Corner tracks on them, but very few had the title of that month's column printed on. I took two random stabs with the CD player but didn't hit paydirt so now I'm down to grubbing through the magazines themselves, which I think had better tracklistings printed in them, but are far less accessible at the moment.

DLM

I struck it lucky with the first packing box: Guitarist October 1993
The Migrant was indeed a Fernandes guitar with their sustainer system. Here's the rest of the relevant info:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/4/3940/33879632626_36e9a366d5_o.jpg
@digitalscream I continued digging, found at least another 30 CDs, and went through a pile of techniques-section editorials in the mags, but I've not turned it up yet. Anyone got any ideas how I can delimit the search for the right issue/CD by date?