Guitars & Kit

57 Strat powers me these days

These days I play almost exclusively Fender guitars, and almost exclusively Stratocasters. I have a wide collection with ranging configurations to allow me to create variations on guitar tone without changing the feel and changing the style of my playing away from my current sound and feel

I vary between vintage Stratocasters to modern Stratocasters and differ between maple and rosewood necks depending on the sound I’m looking to achieve. I favour Brazilian rosewood boards, on an unfinished neck, although maple and ebony are also used. I prefer dark alder bodies. I prefer vintage trem units, not blocked but using a full 5 string stong tension confiugration, this gives better sustain and playability. All strats have different pickup configuration, however my most regular use are a set of custom winds from Bare Knuckle Pickups to my personal specification. Two strats have these in.

Koa wood makes a warm rich tone

I also use Fender Telecasters although my preferences are not as fussy  nor is my collection as big. I tend to prefer late 60′s style Telecasters with a rosewood neck. I also use a Gibson Les Paul, and Les Paul Junior, and a Gibson 335 and SG. These are not regular guitars though. You can see my collection here

My acoustics are either Taylor or Ovation, although I am starting to experiment and appreciate Martins. I use a Taylor RSSM Koa acoustic as my main acoustic, it is a limited edition number 21 of 100 made and has a fantastic tone, it also has a soft oval profile neck very similar to a modern Fender soft oval profile which is one of the core reasons I like it.

I still play and try different guitars on a regular basis but I think it’s fair to say, “I play Strats”

Battered Fender Blues Deluxe

My Amp sound is broken into two distinct sounds. a vintage and a more modern sound. My vintage amp sound used to be based around a modded Peavey Classic amp, but this has recently changed. Thanks to my amp tech I found a 1996 USA Fender Blues Deluxe amp. This amp is stunning, its hard battered and was snapped up for a real bargin. The nice thing is, it’s not the lesser Mexico reissue, its a USA built, and well worn in amp. It this is now my amp of choice. This amp is totally stock, no modifications.  The amp is basiclly a re-working of the Fender Bassman amp, but with reverb built on, which is a big part of my sound. I also use a Fender Blues Devillie which is bascially a louder 4×10 version of this amp. I use these as single channel amps and let the power tubes drive the sound rather than pre-amp tubes and the drive channel. This causes problems as I have to play the amps loud or attenuate them, but thats where the sound comes from. This is now my main real sond and how I prefer to play.

The Marshall power, check out Jim Marshall signed my 100 watt head

My second amp setup is a Marhsall, for years I played with Marshalls always secretly scared as everyone loved them, but I couldn’t get the sound I liked out of them, so secretly never really got on with them, but for fear of mocking from my peers kept quiet. In 2007 I discovered a Marshall that I liked, really really liked. I found a Marshall JCM 2000, I like them so much, I bought two. a 50 watt and 100 watt version. This is down to a limitation that the 50 watt head is fantastic for small.medium venues, infact probably a bit too loud, but when really turned up for bigger venues loses some of it’s tone, the 100 watt suits this situation perfectly, however does not like to not be running lower than %45, this means there is a grey area between %85 on the DSL 50 and %45 on the DSL 100. I can live with it though. I use Marshal 1960 BX cabs, I find the BX shape gives a fuller sound than the AX, filled with Celestion G12M Greenback Speakers. For smaller gigs I use a home made 2×12 Cab with the same speakers, this works excellent with the DSL 50 and the old now retired Peavey Classic 50 I use these for a more modern “rockier” tone, but with the excellent range of the two channels on the DSL models I can come close to the vintage drive sound the Fender blues deluxe amp provides.

My home made modified Marshall 2x12 cab

I also own a Fender Twin which I’m trying to work out how best to use it.

My effects chain is a two configuration setup. I don’t like massive floor board units, I find them a waste of space, toublesome to move around and you look a fool in smaller venues, so I try to keep a small pedal board that I swap pedals in and out of as required, this board mostly consists of a range of drive sounds to go ontop of the clean amps, with maybe a univibe effect or delay. I would however like a full sound range for live so I’m working a building a back line effects unit made up of rack shelved stand alone pedals with a midi controlled isolated relay based loop switcher.  I have a GigRig Pro-14 floor controller which I’m looking to use to control this, or a Bradshaw RM10 unit. This has not been worked out yet, but if you check the blog you’ll see how this is progressing.

My pedal selection makes me look like a pedal snob, and there is an element in truth in this. From years of playing I’ve discovered (as a general rule of thumb) a £20 pedal will sound like a £20 pedal, from crappy cheap sound and cheap components to tone sucking bypassing. I really only use quality high end pedal builder kit now, yes it’s more expensive, yes it makes me sound snobby, but the truth is you pay for what you get and the good stuff costs good money. I’ve got some great pedals from Robert Keeley, Analogman, Menatone, Cmatmods, Klon, Frantone, Mad Professor, Sweet Sound, T-Rex and Roger Mayer. There are a few “stock” pedals in there, from Boss, but even these ar the older vintage ones rather than the newer version. I’ve also had some great results from some home built pedals from friends and aquaintences including a tuner/kill switch, two effects loopers/tuner kill switch, and a great fuzz/boost pedal.

My Small Pedal Board

I’m currently looking for a drive pedal known as a “smokey” which is a tubless overdrive pedal. My current favourite pedals are the Keeley Katana boost pedal, the Keeley BD2, the Klon Centura and the Way Huge Aquapuss. My Wah is a Keeley mellow wah, but I sometimes use a Budda, and I need an 808 on any board, I use Keeley 808′s or Analogman Maxon TS9. I always use a Tuner/kill switch as tuners just suck the sound out of any guitar. If your really interested in my pedals you can see the collection here I’m a sucker, I can’t say no to a good sounding pedal. Trust me though, if you’re playing with pedals, take the Pepsi challange on a hunk of crap £25 drive pedal against a £400 Klon, yes the price range is amazingly different but so is the sound. If you’re using a £200 guitar and £200 solid state amp you’ll not get the benifit, but as you step up your gear, it all needs to move as one, no good having a £3000 Fender Custom Shop guitar, and £2000 boutique amp to stick a £30 made in china drive pedal in front of it.

Next we hit cables, now this matter, this matters a lot. I use Pete Cornish cables, and I suggest you do to.

Pete Cornish Cable

Petes cables are the best, they really are. they are good quality and built by an experienced sound engineer who builds gear for the stars. As with all gear, you pay for what you get. I use Pete Cornish cables for all my cabling from guitar to pedal joins to amp and from amp head to speaker. No good having a £200 cable to then ruin it with £3 pedal connectors. Don’t be afraid of non-true-bypass pedals either, as long as they are good quality they will act as a buffer to help keep your signal strong. I sometimes activly use a buffer pedal by choice.

My string selection. Note, I like G-Strings best.

I use Ernie Ball “slinky” guage 10 strings on all my electric guitars, quite simpley they are the best and the fact that I don’t have posh requirments for mixed guages means I can buy off the shelf. My acoustics I use “D’Addario EJ26″ bronze strings these sound great and have a really full sound.