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I usually take 3 or 4 guitars to my club gigs these days.
A G&L Legacy that I call "RED" is still my main squeeze,
but I also use a silver American Standard Telecaster, a sunburst
Ibanez AS120 (for the 335 stuff...GREAT guitar...a real bargain)
and I use a gold Yamaha AES 500 for my slide rig with "Hawaiian
A" tuning.
Sometimes, to keep things interesting, I take something different,
such as my Hamer GT Archtop. It's a Triple Custom prototype and
a screamin' ride. It's solid... mahogony and maple with a hand-carved
top that looks like gold skin over muscle and vein. Sexy!
I have a Yamaha AEX 1500 hollow-body archtop which has one magnetic
"floating" pickup at the neck and a piezo in the bridge...natural
blonde. It's a pretty versatile guitar!
Among my others is a Model 33 H Dobro; just a few years old. "Hawaiian
G" is the tuning I use on it most.
One Dobro Tip: Don't play it naked...Man, that chrome is COLD!
Then there's another slide slab..."The DAWG", featuring
the "Trainwreck Neck". It was made for me by my buddy
John "The Dawg" Newton. The body is 100 year old mahogony
"boatwood" and the neck is an old Stratocaster neck that
was recovered from a train wreck in Maryland a few years ago. Thirteen
people killed...spooky, huh? There are some smoky swirls from the
fire, but it produces a sweet, clean tone.
The "Sexplorer" was built for me by Michael Tobias in
about 1979. It's a Super Explorer with a walnut back, maple, purple
heart and graphite; neck-thru design with a maple top. It's a beast!
It's a little-known fact that I designed the "asymmetrical"
neck that has been featured on Tobias basses.
Michael went on to patent it as the "Asym" neck and has
enjoyed great success with it. Hopefully, there's a little somethin'
in my Karma account. I won't be writin' any checks on it, though!
There are great guitars everywhere, waiting to be played, coaxed
and loved...(yeah, I know that's anthropomorphic!) Find one you
dig and work it silly. Even the funkiest guitar has somethin' to
say!
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I've had practically
EVERY kind of amp made, excluding some of the newer "boutique"
stuff, but the amp I have been using since around '95 is the best,
most natural sounding amp I've ever used.
It's a Soldano Reverb-O-Sonic combo...
50 watts, 4x10, channel switching. Luckily, I got one of the first
ones (#24) back when they were being made in California...Hand wired..military
spec...original tubes...it just keeps sounding better and better!
This one also has a beefier transformer. The original went out after
about a year, but Soldano sent me a fatter one. Man, it's thick as
chocolate!!!
Normally, some tone tweakin' is required when you switch guitars,
but everything I plug into this thing sounds as it should...Solid
bodies, Semi-Hollow and Hollow... Humbuckers... Single coils...The
Mighty Reverb-O-Sonic makes 'em all sound righteous! Oh, yeah..."it
goes to 11", too!
No, I'm not shillin' for Soldano...I just LOVE this amp and I wish
everyone the good fortune of finding an amp that makes them feel the
same.
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| My all-time fave was my "Jelly
Box".
Actually, it was just a cheap, purple Vestafire chorus, but I
would turn up the speed and intensity to achieve an Organ sound.
I used it 'til the switch broke, then had it re-housed in another
box and used it for a couple more years before it died. I sure would
love to find another.
I use a DigiTech Whammy pedal for all kinds of effects, such as
pedal steel sounds, octaves ( low & high ) , harmonies and whacked
out turntable stops and starts.
For compression, I just use a Boss CS 3. I use a Dunlop CryBaby
for Wah and a Danelectro Dan Echo and a Boss Digital Delay.
The unique effect I use isn't a Gizmo, at all. It's a gold ring
bought for me by my late Mother. It has a rounded side and I wear
it backwards on my right pinky. I get bird calls, whistles and spacey
string chirps from it. Additionally, I gliss upwards with it above
fretted notes or pull-offs.
My right index finger is a "digital" effect, too! I slip
a wound string under the inside corner of my nail and do some scratching
and fret bumpin' ...sounds like a Zilch!
I have a Matchless Hotbox which is great for soupin' up a single
channel or non-boost amp and a Marshall ShredMaster distortion that
I don't use that often, but it's a pretty cool little distortion
pedal with a suprisingly good sound.
(A word of advice, if you're going to Europe or doing a tour on
which you're using a rented amp, you never know what the promoter
will actually provide, so it's wise to throw a distortion/boost
type pedal in your case...battery powered! )
For writing and playing with ideas at home, I have a Line 6 Axys
212 amp, which is pretty cool!
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