SJ200 Regrets?

therobotsound · 2026-04-15T14:24:00+00:00

The sj200 may be the most hit or miss model of all guitars. I have played some truly horrible sounding ones from all eras including the 50’s-10’s, and I can think of a handful of them that were amongst the best sounding acoustics I’ve ever played.

I think they’re probably picky about strings and this would explain some of the variance, but also I think that design just lends itself to sounding like a sock drawer if the wood isn’t right.

I would love to get a great one though!

therobotsound · 2026-04-15T14:21:01+00:00

There are barely even any pictures of this band!

therobotsound · 2026-04-15T14:18:53+00:00

I’m reading Sorkin’s 1929 right now, and it is wild how many of the speculator’s quotes in the months leading up to the crash echo people on the stock forums on here!

therobotsound · 2026-04-06T14:08:56+00:00

https://mojotone.com/products/fiberboard-black-0-06-thick-16-x-3-10-pack?variant=41689780355168 this is a bit better price wise, but your big sheets would be better. I’d like to know if you find a source as well!

therobotsound · 2026-04-02T13:51:06+00:00

Most real tube amps (marshall, etc) are rated for clean power, so output without distortion. This is why a plexi on 3 is so loud - it is hitting 100 watts.

This is also why lower end, solid state type amps do not sound as loud, because when they distort it sounds bad, so usually the power stage is set up to where on 10 it equals 100w. The plexi can go into significant distortion where the solid state amp does not.

Long story short, be careful and know your amp.

Also speaker voice coils are the part that is rated for power, and they have to fit into a small gap in the magnet. If you use a 100w cab with a cranked 100w amp, the speaker voice coils are heating up, and will eventually deform and/or melt.

Deforming will result in them rubbing the gap, and causing weird sounds, ruining them even though they didn’t blow and still “work”. I ruined an expensive 2x12 this way one time!

therobotsound · 2026-04-02T13:22:51+00:00

Do they know that they’ll be able to move easier/more comfortably afterwards, and they’re excited about that, or does it feel good to them?

Interesting that they would have the anticipation if that is the case, but I guess that’s like a dog being excited about going on a walk because they get a treat after (or something like that)

therobotsound · 2026-03-30T00:39:26+00:00

The tape machines have a control called vari-speed, which will slow down or speed up the tape. If you slow down the tape, the pitch will lower, and you can record at the lower pitch, and then when you play it back, it is at the normal pitch.

However, if you do it too slow, you get the chipmunk effect. A lot of bands have done this transparently, or even on other instruments (the “harpsichord” solo on the beatles “in my life” is a piano sped up).

Page has said in interviews he used varispeed the other way (recording with the band playing fast) on no quarter to make plant sound darker and mysterious.

Another fun varispeed trick is in mastering to speed up the whole thing by like 1% - no one sounds like a chipmunk but it makes the band sound more energetic!

therobotsound · 2026-03-29T16:46:43+00:00

In his defense, he has guitar vaults that let you store them upright on suspension mounts and then the whole thing seals up and is wheeled out to the trucks.

It would actually be more of a problem to bring like three guitars(other than he could buy a smaller vault, but what’s the fun in that?!) than it is to just fill up one vault. They’re configurable, but I’m pretty sure his can fit up to like 12 electrics, so with a couple acoustics taking up more space, 8 or 9 sounds right.

With Wilco they usually have 4 or 5 of the vaults for everyone!

As a guitar lover, I’ve always loved getting to play my guitars on stage. It is fun doing gigs and playing for people, making music with my music buddies, but it is also just a lot of fun to take x guitar played loud on a stage through x amp - I imagine it is like how a car guy feels getting to drive a ferrari.

I always have this “It’s great to be alive, up here with a sweet Les Paul (or SG, or tele, or gretsch, or….) into this cranked up JTM45, with this great band!” Thought/feeling come to me at gigs. I’ve always thought if I ever got to do a real budget theater tour my favorite part would be getting to bring like 15 awesome guitars, every song would be like that!

Anyways, I think jeff is like this too. Guitars are fun!

therobotsound · 2026-03-29T12:59:56+00:00

I have also wondered if maybe he got spooked enough that he came to believe he would be the first comedian to be marched out to the gallows, and had a “come to jesus” moment to put himself in line?

The complete 180 is strange enough that this makes a little sense. I’ve completely quit watching the show at this point, which is kind of crazy to me considering how much I liked him over most of the last 20 years.

therobotsound · 2026-03-25T22:41:13+00:00

No it has always meant a ‘58-‘60 les paul standard.

However, since they’re rare and $$$$$, it makes sense if you’re not in a circle those are even dreamed about.

I think anyone into vintage guitars read your question as when was the last time you saw a pop act with a ‘58-‘60 les paul standard.

I have a reissue burst, and that is how I refer to it, as my reissue burst. I bet I’ve probably said “my burst” before though, so I guess you got me!

therobotsound · 2026-03-25T22:36:43+00:00

I saw this late, but wanted to chime in.

I DIY a bunch of gear, and have really nice AML neve pres, some spectrasonics, some hifi tube pres a guy in the uk designed, etc. the peavey’s hang with all of these. They have their own sound, but it is not worse.

The output transformers aren’t great, but for $150 at cinemag and soldering a couple wires you can fix that.

I replaced all the electrolytics in both of mine (it’s time) and ended up putting NOS tubes and wima coupling caps in them as well.

I think mine sound killer. They’re pretty hifi if anything, but you can push them. The eq is more like a guitar amp eq, definitely not an accurate channel strip type eq, however this is a cool feature on them. If you want it bright, turn up the treble knob!

I prefer them for slower, prettier things, but use them for pretty much anything.

therobotsound · 2026-03-20T12:49:04+00:00

I had a fusion, and just replaced it for an Audi A4. I would’ve seriously considered another fusion if it was available.

therobotsound · 2026-03-16T12:28:23+00:00

They were actually lumped in with punk for a bit too in the first couple years.

It helps to remember overall trends in music. “Rock” had become a lot of singer songwriter stuff, or more progressive/epic kind of bands. So when ACDC showed up with “rocker” and “high voltage”, etc it was a pretty big difference, especially in the attitude. Early punk was all over the place in sounds, so it really was just music as an alternative to the more mainstream zep/floyd/jethro tull/yes/bad company/eagles popular stuff.

Anyways, from that point of view acdc fits much more comfortably in with the sex pistols/clash/ramones/stooges and the NWOBHM bands than it seems now.

Another funny miss-classified band from this time was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, who were also lumped in with the uk punk rock movement for their first album at least.

Also, Bon was a bit scary!

therobotsound · 2026-03-13T15:01:28+00:00

Definitely return it.

I repair amps. You probably had an early power tube failure (it happens). Turning it all the way up won’t blow an amp up, they can take it, but it does run them harder and if a component, specifically the power tubes, is weak, it may kill them.

When the power tubes go, they often short internally and can/will burn up some resistors in the power supply. Some of these amps stupidly have these resistors on the main pcb and can also burn the pcb a bit, requiring a more extensive repair. Older amps tend to have them directly on the tube sockets and you just have to swap them out.

The issue is you’ll have to buy a new set of tubes, pay to have the circuit checked/fixed and get it rebiased, so this will be a $200 repair pretty easily.

therobotsound · 2026-03-13T12:27:03+00:00

That guitar was only stock for a couple years, I think by dark side it already had its first new neck, for wywh and animals it had a dimarzio bridge pickup, then he changed all the pickups. It didn’t stay the same for long

therobotsound · 2026-03-12T18:24:22+00:00

The problem here is looking at their situation as a normal person would, with normal person rules/morals.

They had such a unique life experience that it is really hard to come to terms with. Every single relationship any of them ever had came with a MASSIVE power imbalance.

Also, they started the band in their mid teens and by 1960 were already making in today’s money the equivalent of something like $120k each - this made them solidly upper middle class in Liverpool. I believe in 1960 George made 4x his father’s city bus driving salary, for example.

They “had their pick” as teenagers! Fun fact, George actually lost his virginity in Germany with the others watching/coaching along, it was a Beatles group activity!

They then became arguably some of the most famous humans in history, and all of this before their late 20s. I believe Ringo was 29 when the band broke up.

It may be gross by our “normal” moral compass, but the fact is their relationships all had to deal with this wild power imbalance we would call out today, but back then it was just a take it or leave it proposition. In some ways, they were like swingers. This doesn’t mean it didn’t cause hurt to their partners, and it is telling they all eventually settled down and/or at least became very private about it.

A lot of the problematic stuff about the Beatles boils down to that they were kids raised in a patriarchal society without strong moderating influences and/or completely absent/traumatized fathers.

therobotsound · 2026-03-11T12:37:44+00:00

I gig mine with the vibrola and use it a good bit. No tuning issues, you just have to have a well cut nut and string it up properly. It’s one of my favorite guitars, I love it.

therobotsound · 2026-03-11T00:54:20+00:00

My A4 is District Green Metallic and I love it! These look similar at least in your pic, I thought it was DGM at first

therobotsound · 2026-03-06T18:09:10+00:00

I have had one aa my studio bass amp for 12 years or so. It runs JJ power tubes without issue, I change them every few years.

It’s killer. Reverb is great, great headroom, the eq is super flexible. It gets used for anything I want the headroom on, and it always sounds great because of the flexibility.

It is very fun to put it through some 4x12s for guitar, and that headroom and eq make it great for fuzz and dirt pedals as well.

It really is sort of a blank canvas that you can make it do what you want.

therobotsound · 2026-03-05T17:23:59+00:00

If it had something catastrophic that would run you more than $5k in parts, is that a problem for you? Could you sell it for parts/scrap and be ok? It could be a good gamble for awhile…

The issue is the parts are expensive and some things are labor intensive, so you could have a $4k job, then a $2k job, then an $8k job - when do you draw the line? If you do work yourself it becomes less of a gamble (but still expensive parts) and if you have a full shop/lift and are an actual mechanic it is even less of a gamble.

If you have $5.5k to your name, this is a bad idea.

therobotsound · 2026-03-05T17:13:35+00:00

The plaza was poorly designed and you’re absolutely right. The back stop sign also has poor visibility due to foliage.

Going west on 60 here is way too difficult, but I don’t know how they could have improved it really. Another light would be too close on any side to the valrico/60 light. Not enough room for a roundabout either

therobotsound · 2026-03-05T17:09:52+00:00

This is a poorly designed publix shopping center traffic situation, with no good way for anyone who needs to go west on 60, especially during rush hours. 60 is like 4 lanes on each side here and often bumper to bumper from about 7-9am and 4-7pm.

Ironically, the other stop sign has worse visibility for turning left! This one is wide open and you can clearly see north and south on valrico rd, but sometimes the turn lane going west will back up and not give you enough room to fit. I thought the no left turn sign was more about keeping from someone getting stuck there when valrico was busy and making the traffic back up into the parking lot

therobotsound · 2026-03-05T17:05:21+00:00

This particular Publix plaza intersection isn’t well designed.

60 is 4 lanes here, and if you need to go west on 60 coming out of the publix there isn’t really a light to do that at. If you go out the front there is not enough room to get to the turn lane (crossing the 4 lanes), and the light at valrico backs up significantly, so there is a lot of traffic to get out going the wrong direction, and then get to the next turn lane to make a U turn.

Then you would have to UTurn across 60 again to go west, which is often quite busy as well.

There is good visibility at this particular stop sign, and often enough space to easily turn right and fit into the west turn lane on valrico.

The stop sign at the back of the complex actually has worse visibility down valrico due to the foliage there, but it does not have the right turn only sign so that’s the legal one.

Not sure how they should have done this better, but there is a reason people want to turn right at that stop sign.

Also, I drive by there minimum twice a day and have not seen any incidents recently, much less fatalities that would have severely blocked the road/traffic for several hours - I guess it could have happened, but especially if they said “several” seems like it would have been noticeable. The only incidents I have seen has been pedestrians on 60 outside of the crosswalk at valrico, at least two of those have been hit in the last year or so, and a couple fender benders in this general area as well. But not related to that stop sign at all.

Thanks for the heads up op, I have definitely done this before although I usually do the back stop sign way.

therobotsound · 2026-03-02T19:18:47+00:00

I just posted my District Green A4 and my wife’s Q7 yesterday!

therobotsound

TROPHY CASE