GUITARS
Number 1? The first guitar I made and it’s with me to this day. A DIY Caster modelled after a Telecaster. Why Tele? Joe Strummer of The Clash of course! Not to mention Springsteen. It’s got some old Cat’s Whiskers pickups in it, beautiful sound though it’s not a well known brand. Wasn’t completely happy with the pickguard design. However, the main thing for me, is that it plays well and helps me write. That’s when you know that you’ve got a good one.
This PRS, an SE version mind, has an interesting story. It was the first guitar I kind of played out loud in a guitar store. I liked it a lot but didn’t buy it. Strangely enough, no one else was buying it either as almost a year after I tried it, they reduced the price on it and well, I couldn’t refuse at that point. One P90 pickup, one volume knob, that’s it. All you need to make beautiful sounds. Or loud noise. This isn’t PRS’s most expensive guitar, not by a long shot, but as is usual with them, the quality is impeccable.
One of the guitars I use, a Jaguar that gives a great clean and jangly sound. I’ve never been a gear snob, I’ll use what I like, whatever gives me the sound I’m looking for. This guitar combination is something that looked so tempting when it was released and added another sound to my arsenal of noise makers. I changed the stock bridge out which is a common fix to this guitar model.
The only hollowbody guitar I’ve ever had. This Ibanez has a flavor all its own, very different from all the other solidbody guitars. It can do jazzy sounds of course, but more interestingly, rock’n roll is very cool on a guitar like this.
FX PEDALS
What my pedalboard looked like at one point. Changing your fx pedals from time to time is like adding new colors to your palette to inspire you, and help you find new sounds and expressions.
Favorite Fuzz pedal of all time! EHX’s venerable ‘Big Muff Pi’, an ingenious 60s/70s invention still going strong today. Used in one form or another by the likes of Hendrix, David Gilmour, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, Jack White of The White Stripes, the band Dinosaur Jr and many others.
The Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive. Boss make some amazing pedals, every guitar (and many bass players) will tell you. Many of the pedals are overdrives and distortions. This one is probably their mildest but it sings and at low gain it works great as a boost.
With a name like ‘Pigtronix’ you might think this is a company that the green pigs from Angry Birds created but no, these are some wizards of pedal making and this one in particular is their award winning compressor which is loaded with extras. It has all the sustain you could dream of, and above all, a ‘Blend’ knob that allows you to keep your original signal in the mix. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a germanium distortion built in. Versatility personified. Very underrated pedal.
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