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My fellow musicians, What's your favorite rig??


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I noticed a few people getting away from another thread to post their rigs so I thought I would run this to give us guitar players a place to confess our love for our favorite rigs. Anyone else feel free to jump in, I'm a novice piano player too. I have a Korg N-364 but want to get a good digital piano, The synth action isn't good for piano practice.

 

My favorite guitar is a 60's reissue Strat that I've mod'd with a graphite nut and saddle, locking tuners and removed the string tree. Most of this was to to keep string breakage to a min and preserve tuning when using trem. I also have a G&L that might as well be a Strat, it's also a great guitar that I enjoy playing, they both have a rosewood fretboard. I have a Washburn P-290 with a carved top & Buzz Feiton tuning system but I've come to really not like it very much. It sounds great but guess I just got too used to that Strat feel, can't beat it http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

For strings I use D' Addario( is that spelled right??) 11's now but when I get with another band and my fingers are in better shape I'm gonna switch to 12's, gotta love that TONE (standard tuning). for pedals I use a Dunlop Crybaby (though I'm thinking of getting a Vox, I heard one the other day and I really loved the vocal like range of the sweep), a Boss Blues Driver for gain, a sansamp direct pedal for real solid state sounding distortion ( plus I can use it to run direct if my amp goes down, beats plugging straight into the mixer ) and an inline pedal tuner, Pretty simple. I use the reverb on my amp, it sounds pretty good.

for amps I have a Crate VC 5212, 50 watt all tube amp. Does anyone else use Crate's?? A lot of locals use them but I haven't seen too many national acts running them. I think mine has GREAT tone and it's LOUD, many local players that sit in have commented how good it sounds. The clean and dirty channels both rock as far as I'm concerned. It does weigh a ton though, one of these years I'm gonna get smart and put wheels on it!!

Well, that's my 5 cents, what's everyone else using?? Phil.

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Well, yep, I posted on another thread, but...

 

Currently my main electric is a stock 99 American Standard Strat...maple neck (unfinished...I hate the feel of a lacquered maple neck). I run it through a simple bit of a beat up old Arion chorus, an Ibanez tube screamer, and into a 50 watt 1x12 Marshall all-valve combo. I also have a Washburn A-20 (Howard Leese and the guy from Quiet Riot used one)...mine is cherry sunburst...stock again, no vibrato. I really do like the v-shaped neck on it. I used to have a 50 watt half stack, but I got into a minimalist thing where smaller was better, and I couldn't fit the damn cabinet in my car. I miss the full vavoom of the 4x12 sealed cab though. I'd like to try the Buzz Feiten system. My other guitars are a Guild acoustic, cutaway with a Fishman...just a plain Guild (I'm terrible with model numbers), no fancy inlays or anything. Since we cover a lot of Byrds/Petty/Beatles etc...I also have a Rick 360-12. Had it since 78. Almost sold it once, the band I was in was playing more slamitout stuff. I'm really glad I kept it.

 

I saw a thing on Rudolf (ph?) Schenker in the new GP, with his Flying V collection. Cool, (and not like I could afford it) but for me, guitars and amps are like crayons, I would like to have one for any given tonal color. I need a Tele, and a big ol' Gretsch. I do have a Les Paul Standard and another Strat, but some fuckhead (can I say "fuckhead" here?) stole 'em back in '79. So, they're still mine, and although I may never find them, I count 'em as part of me, hoping one day I'll see some drug addict trying to play 'em and I'll jab his needle through his eyeballs and they'll be back home again.

 

Man, did I get sidetracked! At any rate, about the Crate thing, whatever gives you the sound you like, that's what you should use. Some folks are (no offense to any on the board) real gear snobs, "So, you've got a '59 Tweed so and so. Well, I liked the '58s better 'cause blah blah..." and maybe the difference is so miniscule only a very few could actually tell, or maybe it's the placebo effect, or the Emperor's new clothes, and there really isn't any difference. Use what you like and tell the rest of the world to kiss your rear! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif

"Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine"
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Oh yeah, I can't believe I forgot to list my accoustic. I've got a high end accoustic/electric Takamine (can't remember the model#). Absolutely great guitar, but, I will say the piezo pickup that came with it SUCKS. It sounds absolutely terrible when compared to the accoustic sound. You'd think for a grand they could include a little bit better quality pickup.
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My collection has evolved, growing and shrinking. At times including Fenders , Gibsons and Guilds. It currently consists of Taylor 614 Grand Parlor Acoustic, a goofy little Yamaha keyboard and my instrument of choice. Bass a Yamaha BBG5S 5 string Bass.

 

My rig is very modest. I purchased my BBGN5, (which has a Violin burst finish), knowing the quality that Yamaha puts into their necks, and with the intent of having the electronics upgraded. I had Mike Lull in Bellevue, Washington do some minor touch-up to the frets and fretboard, and completely rework the electronics. He installed a Bartolini 9V Active/Passive EQ system, with the pots being Treble, Bass, Volume and Blend. The volume is a pull/push which selects the pick-up modes. He also completely shielded the electronics compartment and wiring channels, this give the bass extremely quiet operation.

 

I run the Bass through a simple Boss Ice Box Chorus, then into Ampeg B328, which is used mainly as a Preamp/Monitor, which then runs directly into the PA/Board or FOH. Not an extravagant set-up but one that requires you to perform well as it does not hind mistakes. I want to replace my amp setup with an SWR, Stewart Electronics or an Ampeg SVT, for gigs at bigger clubs, but this set up does work for small venues.

 

This Bass isn't top drawer, but as set-up... the Tone per Buck Ratio is very well balanced. I do have my heart set on picking up a Fender P-Bass of the 62-70 vintage, not as a replacement, but rather an addition.

 

 

[This message has been edited by Mo Thumper (edited 11-21-2000).]

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my favorite setup is a PRS 24 fret custom into a vht bulldog lead w/4x12 cab. i dont own that setup but you asked favorite. thats roughly $6k in those two things, guess i need a monster cable to connect the two [and monster from the amp to the cab too http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif] and the complete line of moogerfooger pedals between them and multiple expression pedals with the control center as well, oops another $2k+++.

 

i got too much to bother typing with setups and sounds. my favorite box i own, the digitech multiplay pedal. EVERYBODY tries to con me out of it. i got to lock it up when im not using it.

alphajerk

FATcompilation

"if god is truly just, i tremble for the fate of my country" -thomas jefferson

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Tedster,

I have an A-20 also. If I ever get a custum axe made, I'm going to use it for the neck specs.

 

I use asst. BC Richs, a '65 Jazzmaster (for the surf stuff).

My amp setup is a real hum-dinger.

 

I run stereo. I use a Peavey Mark 3 and a Carvin 4X10 on the rhythm side. (A typical bass setup, but it provides maximum kick for crunch).

On the lead side I use a Peavey Classic VTX 2X12 (I bought it used and retubed it [6l6's] , but the real difference came when I reconed the scorpions...never underestimate the power of fresh speakers, eh?)

Or a Peavey 2X10 Stereo Chorus (which sounds great, but the 2X12 is a good bit louder).

 

I usually run into a Morley aby first, then send the a side into whichever distortion sounds good today http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif , then the b side goes into a Morley volume and then into a Boss GT-3 (or just a dist and a delay pedal).

Using the volume is great because it allows me to blend in the second/lead amp as I need it, rather than switching.

 

What's funny is the way I record guitar is not even remotely close to my rig. Go figure.

 

Too many tones, too little time.

 

------------------

destructive workshops

Want to hear some of my stuff?

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My standard bass rig is a 64 Gibson Thunderbird loaded with Seymore Duncans and a Badass bridge My amp of choice for 18 years has been my Acoustic 270 plugged into two stacked Bassman 115 cabs.Last night I played a gig for the first time since 79 with a tube head , it is a Guild Thunderbass that was given to me about 5 years ago the tube sockets were burned out of it and power supply was a mess. I finally got in the mood to fix it , got two 8417s from ebay and found a tube handbook with the diagram because the wires were burned off the old sockets. Brought it up 10 volts at a time with my Vari-ac and now it has been working fine but I cant find a manual or specs on the bias setting so I set it low to be safe.This amp has about 60 watts but sounds so huge I couldnt believe my ears. If anyone knows where I can get info on it please let me know thanks Paul.
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Here's my set-up:

 

1963 Hofner archtop: I don't know the name of this model (it's like an ES-330), but I do know that it was never available in the US, only in Germany. I got this guitar in 1985 from a retired Army guy who was stationed in Germany in the 60's. What a beauty!! Cherry-sunburst, rosewood fretboard, all original parts... this is a truly vintage guitar... and what a sound!!

 

RST "Telecaster": This is one of many guitars I have built. It is also my main guitar. Solid alder body. Tung oil finish, rosewood fretboard, Fender Tele Lace Sensor (red) in the Gotoh bridge, and a Fender Strat Lace Sensor (blue) at the neck.

 

1986 Fender Strat: Black with a rosewood fretboard, and Sperzel locking tuners. I've replaced the stock pickups with Carvin AP-11's with switches for 7 combinations.

 

RST "Shredder": My "screaming solo" guitar. A black dinky-style body, 24 fret ebony fretboard (the neck is actually from a 80's Washburn), and a Seymour Duncan Super Distortion pickup. You can't make this guitar clean at any volume... and I like it that way!

 

1997 Gibson Les Paul Special: I only use this guitar for recording. It's loaded with a DiMarzio Super Distortion in the bridge, and a DiMarzio Air Classic at the neck. It has a really nice clean sound, but can still get a good "bite".

 

Some of my other guitars include a Fender acoustic/electric, a Fender 12-string acoustic, an Epiphone SG loaded with DiMarzio pickups, a Fender P-Bass (stock), and a Fender P-Bass with EMG pickups, a few old 60's Japanese guitars (Norma, Teisco, etc.), and some more guitars that I built.

 

My pedal board is set-up as follows: From my guitar into an Alesis micro-compressor, to an old Marshall Guv'nor (the black one) that I use for a lead boost, to an Ernie Ball volume pedal, to a Morley wah, to a Boss Auto-Wah, to an old MXR analog delay (I don't use the wahs or delay often, but they're fun toys). Also on the board are the channel switch and effects switch for my pre-amp.

 

My amplifier set-up is as follows: From the pedal board into an ART DST-4 pre-amp (stereo processing), into an ART stereo compressor, into an ART FXR-1 stereo reverb unit. Each line of that goes into a LabSeries L-5 2x12 amplifier. I love the LabSeries amps, they are really clean sounding, and really powerful at 100 Watts each.

 

Well... that's all my guitar toys. Maybe someday I'll tell you about all my non-guitar crap. My house is just FILLED with music equipment! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

 

Scott

Scott

(just another cantankerous bastard)

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My setup is: Tom Anderson's 93' Drop Top, gorgeous, versatile, many wirings, 009 strings, Kahler tremolo.

76' Gibson Les Paul Standard, Gibson 59 reissue humbuckers, 010 strings.

93' Yamaha TRB-4 bass, active, two single coils, killer sound.

Taylor 412 acoustic, cozy and beautiful, the guys in Sam Ash Miami came to say goodbye to it (it was the store's pet).

Kurzweil K-2000 & PC 88 keyboards, many extras & CD-Roms (not that much now, many went stolen).

Marshall Slash Signature half stack 100W

Yamaha T-100C, designed by Soldano, all tube.

Fender Super twin amp, dull, but barky at extreme volumes, plus sounds good with tube Sceamer.

Hafler Triple giant preamp, this one rocked! It was designed by Reinhold Bogner, but stolen long ago, still, if you find one try it, it's extremely pleasing & versatile.

Monster cable wires except for the amp-speaker cable of the Marshall (which is lamp electrical wire).

Assorted pedals: ADA flanger, Ibanez tube screamer, Rockman (that is not my favorite gear, but I loved the 80's) Sustainor pre and Chorus, Boss Tuner and Tremolo, MXR compressor (I run every clean guitar I record or play live through it, it acts as a "loudness" pedal, great), Vox reissue wah.

Sure SM 57 and Sennheiser 421, I use them depending on the sonic conditions of the venue, mike it myself.

All this gear I bought after trying it lenghtily and fallen in love with it (not especially a Guns & Roses fan).

Other equipment I tried & loved but will go bankrupt if I even think about it it:

Essential: Custom Audio Electronics 3+ tube preamp, I can't even begin to describe it, if someone knows where can I get one (designed by Bob Bradshaw and John Suhr, can't find a website or the product, I think they don't make'em anymore) please E-mail me, I would go bankrupt for that one.

PRS Macarthy model.

Gibson ES335.

Vox AC 30 Top boost (I may have in my hands a good deal down here, Hehehe...)

I need a versatile rig because I do lots of jingles. Keep 'em coming.

God bless.

Alberto Ortiz

El Closet

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I have built a little roll-around dolly that neatly holds the following:

 

Green echoplex, brown fender tube verb unit, '59 tweed champ, '63 ampeg jet

 

This rig induces tone overdose with my '55 two-tone strat.

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Well......I have more, but my favorite is my left Fender Jagstang into a cheap vox distortion pedal into a Roland Space Echo into my Fender Deluxe 65' reissue. Oh actually my fave right now is a Guild F100 acoustic that I got for 200.00 bucks at a pawn shop about a month ago.
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Found my all-time favorite amp a couple months ago...it's an Ampeg B-12XT Portaflex with 2-12" Jensens. You can see one at:

http://home.att.net/~ggjag1/b-12xt.htm

 

Anybody ever seen one of these? I never had before I found this one. They only made them for a year. Great, tight sound, fabulous reverb, very quiet when not being played, an all around winner. My tweed Bandmaster hasn't been out of the roadcase since I fired this puppy up!

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My old original sadowsky into a splitter that either runs clean into two old mark II Boogies or a loop with a dynacomp and a midi footswitch controlled quadraverb. Haven't changed it since 84 when I went deaf. What?
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1971 Tobacco Sunburst Gibson Les Paul into Ibanez tube screamer into 1968 Fender Super Reverb.

The amp is cool in that it was a transition year for Super's, it is basically a Blackface with a silverface shell. It's important to turn the amp at least up to 5! Sorry sound guys, you gotta deal.

Also have a 72 silverface Super and a 64 Blackface super which is sick right now and at the hospital.

Had a roommate who owed me $150 in rent so he gave me an old semihollow Hagstrom electric (made in Sweden I believe) which I immediately traded to my neighbor, who was an eccentric Hagstrom collector, for the Les Paul. Best deal I ever made!

Kris

My Band: http://www.fullblackout.com UPDATED!!! Fairly regularly these days...

 

http://www.logcabinmusic.com updated 11/9/04

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Lately, I've been using Lakland 55-94 basses (a Standard three-tone with an ebony fingerboard and a Deluxe teal burst with rosewood) plus a Lakland Bob Glaub (copy of Glaub's 64 Precision). The Glaub is a three tone sunburst and it looks EXACTLY like James Jamerson's "funk machine", except I string it with roundwounds.

 

Prior to the Laklands, I used a Carvin LB-50 four string (Koa) for many years. It didn't have a lot of balls live, but I really liked the sound on recordings. I tried the Carvin five string (LB75), but the strings are too close together for my taste. Next on the wish list is a Lakland Joe Osborne (60 Jazz copy). I know I sound like a Lakland commercial, but man, when you play these things, you get hooked!

 

I've been playing through a GK combo for several years, but I'm getting tired of the solid state sound, so I'll be switching to an Eden 210XL Metro in the near future.

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My favourite rig has GOT to be my MesaBoogie Triaxis, Simul Class 290 power amp and pair of 4X12 Rectifier cabinets, effects come from a TC Electronic G-Force going through a Bradshaw Dual Stereo Line Mixer. I can get everything from this one rig, Lukather to Metallica to Petrucci and back again with all variations inbetween. I also have a Boogie Heartbreaker combo and a white Marshall reissue 50 Watt half stack.

 

Favourite guitar is an Ibanez John Petrucci 90th Anniversary Limited Edition - It is absolutely amazing. Also have Jimmy Page Les Paul (Awesome with the Marshall, it sucks through the Boogie), Kramer through neck STagemaster I, Custom Shop set neck strat and an Ovation Adamas II.

 

Really cool, pretty expensive toys but I STILL get outplayed by a good friend of mine who has a Charvel and a Boss ME5 which goes straight into the PA. My rig sounds 10 times better but he plays better than me, it's not all about the gear, I'm sure the fingers MUST have something to do with it too http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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I'm currently playing a 72 P bass which I acquired for less than a song many years ago.(it was painted red, white and blue)

I stripped it to the wood and have been playing it ever since. I play through the Galien-Kruger 800 RB head with the GK 410 cab on top and the GK 15 cab on bottom. Bi-amped, this rig sounds great. I recently picked up a Boss BASS 30 processor. It adds a lot in the tone area, and has a good frettless sound as well.

Maybe I should upgrade to a bass with active electronics, but for now I'll gig on.

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I can't even begin to afford the setup I want. Until I can, I apprecitate the stuff I have.

 

I use a late '70's strat with a fixed bridge, which makes it heavy, and an old crate half-stack. I use a Jerry Donahue preamp for tone. It sounds OK but I really want tubes.

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While I love all my boxes (dozens of 'em), my fave rig is one of my guitars into my 65 Princeton Reverb (with a Weber VST P10Q). But which guitar? Depending on mood, it's likely to be a 59 Les Paul Jr, a Hamer 335 clone with Duncan Seth Lover in the bridge position, or a Hamer Tele clone with a Duncan 48 Brioadcaster in the bridge position. They all sound so great through the Princeton, I usually don't use fuzz.

 

Amp runner up - 58 Gibson GA-5 (with a Weber ceramic 8") sounds amazing, and much loder than you'd expect from a little amp.

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