Jams:
Blues Rock in E (2008)
Jams:
Slow Dancing (2005)
Equipment
PreSous Firebox
The PreSonus Firebox is a firewire based sound card. It is a sound card that sits on your desk and replaces the on inside your computer. Here is a Clip of it in action. As it is an external sound card I can use it with several computers. I can order computers that are less expensive as I do not need them to have a new sound card. This also allows you to upgrade your computer system and load the drivers. So you will not need to take the computer case off, and install the card or deal with issues associated with that process. The external card works very well. In my case it interfaces very well with my Cakewalk Home Studio multi-track software.
I have several amps. I use them for obtaining different sounds. Amps are a critical element in electric guitar sounds. They are one of, if not the largest component in the sound someone gets from an electric guitar. If you have one style you play, and only are interested in one sound usually you can get by with one amp. If you play various styles, or have various tastes you may need multiple amps (or a amp emulator like those from Line 6).
Genz Benz El Diablo 60C Guitar Amp
The El Diablo series of amps come in 100 watt and 60 watt sizes. The also are sold as a head or as a combo amp. They have pentode and triode switching (reduced wattage different gain structure), and can be tubed easily with either EL-34 or 6L6 power tubes. They have separate reverb controls per channel, and separate active eq controls for each channel. They make use of a speaker compensated line out which comes AFTER the power amp so you can obtain a great sounding signal to the board or PA. There are too many controls on these amps to cover here. They are VERY well built. Please click the title above to see the description from the manufacture. The "Slow Dancing" tune in the Blues area and the Firebox clip were both recorded with this amp's line out in some way.
Fender Pro Tube Pro Reverb
This is one of Fender's newer line of "professional" series of amps. It is a 2 channel amp with reverb, tremolo and channel switching with separate eqs for each channel. It has the classic Fender clean sound. The gain channel is more modern sounding, and some folks do not like it. The second channel's gain structure also has a touch of a fizzy spot at the 8K audio band. A narrow notch filter in that area helps these amps to my ears. Many folks also like to replace the second preamp tube with a lower gain tube (12AY7 or 12AU7) to make it more manageable. It is a very solid amp that will handle abuse well. It has a 50 watt and 12.5 watt setting.
Carvin x100b
This is a discontinued amp that Carvin and Vai based the Legacy upon. It was used by Steve Vai for a substantial period of time as I understand it. It has 2 channels with separate eq's for each. It also has a separate 5 band eq. It has a nice overdrive tone and variable power switch. It is rated at 100 watts, but is able to be switched to 25 watts.
Fender Blues Junior
The Blues Jr. is a 15 watt single channel amp (with mid boost). There are 2 versions of this amp on the market. The newer, redesigned circuit board version, and an older "greenboard version are discussed online. I have the older greenboard version. It has a nice mid gain sound, takes pedals well, takes guitars well, and is very versatile. It is my "grab and go" amp. It is a great amp for most settings, but is does not have the traditional "Fender" clean tone, nor a "Marshall" drive tone.
Tweed Deluxe Clone
Fender introduced the Tweed Deluxe in the 50's. It was a very early design in guitar amps. It is the amp that overdrives early and is a favorite for blues and classic rock sounds. It is one channel, though it has 2 inputs. It is no longer made by Fender but several aftermarket builders are not making reproductions or variations of the amp. Victoria, Slingo, Weber, Mission, Allen, and others are some of the many doing this. My amp was built privately by someone and I bought it as a chassis off from Ebay. I built a cab to make it into a head. It is about 18 watts as I understand it. It has a very crunchy sound when pushed, and a bell like clean sound. But, it has very little clean head room and depending on the speaker can go very easily into Marshall sounding territory.
Traynor Bass Master II
This amp was made by Traynor out Canada years ago. The Bass Master Mark II is an amp that is based around a Marshall Plexi and Fender Bassman amp circuit. It has a very plexi early tweed like vibe. It produced about 90 watts from 2 EL-34 tubes. Like a Bassman it was intended as a bass amplifier. It is very loud if you want it to have the "overdriven" sound. It is an excellent amp.
Others
I have other amps as well. For amp emulation, and for recording I sometimes use the Line 6 Pod XT and Pod 2.0. I have an older Johnson J-Station 2.0 as well (emulator). I have a Gretsch 6150 (Supro based - Champ style) amp in a custom made 1x12 cab. I have a Tempo (Univox) 1x8 amp as well. Both are great small amps. I have a few solid state amps as well.
Guitars are like amps in that each one has a different sound and role in the music people play. Much as a painter uses multiple colors the multiple guitars and amps provide a different musical color to the process. As you develop your musical aspects of your profession or hobby you may find yourself using multiple guitars and amps or having one that "fits" you perfectly and see no need for another. I tend to play various styles of music and have different musical textures I strive for so I use several amps and guitars in what I do.
Tele Style
Here is a picture of my telecaster style guitars. I like telescaste style guitars. My main guitar for several years was a Schecter PT Elite (now discontinued). It is antique natural with gold hardware. It is a dual humbucker guitar. I replaced the pickups with Seymour Duncan pickups. I am Alnico Pro II in the neck and a Custom Custom in the bridge. As with almost all of my guitars I replaced the neck with a Warmoth custom designed neck. As with nearly all of my guitars it has stainless steel fretwire. The body of that guitar is mahogany with a thin quilt maple top. I also have a Fender US Fat Telecaster. It is no longer in production. It is an ash bodied Sienna Sunburst guitar. You can her it on the majority of the Gospel Tunes in the Recording Section. It has a Warmoth custom neck and the bridge pickup was replaced with a Fender Nocaster clean pickup.
The white Fender Telecaster in the picture is a 50's Bigsby Telecaster from Fender Japan. It is currently available in the USA through most major music stores. The bridge pickup has been replaced with a Fender Vintage Telecaster. The body is is ash painted a white blonde (see through white). It has a custom Warmoth neck as well.
Strat Style
Here is a picture of my Stratocaster style guitars. The black Stratocaster with 2 humbuckers is a Fender Mexican Standard Stratocaster HH. I have replaced the pickguard with a Warmoth pickguard. The neck is a 24.75 inch scale USA Custom Guitars neck. It has stainless steel fretwire. The pickups are Seymour Duncan and Anderson. It also has a Callaham steel block and other parts. The cherry quilt guitar is a home built guitar using Allparts and Mighty Mite parts bough from an Ebay store. The pickups are Fender Texas Specials. The other black Strat style guitar is a Route 101 (now out of business). It has a 24.75 inch scale Warmoth neck and Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups.
Other
Here is a picture of some of my other guitars. One is a Gibson Les Paul Standard painted Desertburst. It is stock save the addition of Schaller Strap Locks. The Bustbucker Pro pickups will eventually be replaced by a set of Seymour Duncan 50th Anniversary Seth Lovers. The black guitars is a Kramer KnightRider with a Floyd Rose tremolo system. It has a Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II in the neck position and a Seymour Duncan 59 trembucker in the bridge position. The last is a Warmoth parts built "VW" guitar with a 24.75 inch scale neck. It has a mahogany body with a 5/8" quilt maple top in antique natural. I purchased it off Ebay. The pickups in the picture are no longer in the guitar (Seymour Duncan Jazz and Dimarzio Air Norton). The guitar now has a nickle cover Seymour Duncan Seth Lover in the neck and a nickle cover Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates in the bridge. The neck is a birdseye maple neck with a rosewood baord, and abalone dots (with stainless steel fretwire). The VW has been my number one guitar for the past few months.
There is other gear you may find helpful as well. A great deal of it will depend on the instrument you play. In the case of guitar (my main instrument) there are other gear that is used by player to help them find different musical textures.
Attenuators
An attenuator is intended to work as a load in place of a speaker. It allows you to turn the amp louder, without the actual sound gettting louder. This is important because many electric guitar players believe that tube amps sound the best. But, tube amps need to be run near or above clipping levels to sound good. Unfortunately this means the amp is too loud for any serious home or office studio uses. One of the solutions to this is an attenuator. There are several manufactures of these units. I use those made by Ted Weber. I have a Mass 100 and a 50 Watt Load Dump. Both of these work exceptionally well for the intended purpose.
Speakers
There are several speaker manufactures out there. You can make an amp, or external guitar cabinet sound different by changing the speaker. I have liked the speakers I have used that have been manufactured by Ted Weber and Eminence. Celestion also is a speaker maker. I have liked the various Weber speakers, the Eminence Cannabis Rex, Celestion V30 and Celestion 12-75.
Cabs
Guitar cabinets (Cabs) are used to house a speaker other than the ones that came with a "combo" amp or are for use with a guitar head. There are a lot of different configurations, and nearly every amp maker has their own design. I have built my own in some cases and have used Avatar cabs. I have found them well built and reasonably priced.
"Pedals"
There are literally thousands of pedals to be used with guitar amps. The guitar pedal is used to make an amp produce a special effect. Distortion, reverb, delay, phaser, chorus, over drive are but a few of these pedals. The use of pedals varies greatly depending on the type of music you like, as well as the guitar and amp you use. Some pedals work better with one guitar-amp combination than others. It is usually a trial an error process. Some of the pedals I use and have found work well for me are the Boss DD-6 digital delay, Rocktron Silver Dragon Distortion, Boss OD-3 Over Drive, Boss SD-1 Super Over Drive, Marshall Gov'r-2 Distortion, Radial Tonebone Classic Distortion and Marshall ED-1 Compressor.
