Guitars I perform with
Like many musicians, I’m rather obsessive about my instruments and gear. I play a variety of guitars, to achieve the sound and tone everybody looks for. Not least, the tones I need to express myself.
For live solo guitar mainly I use a Gibson Les Paul, Gibson ES-175D, a Gretsch 6120 or a Fender Stratocaster in place of one or other.
In the studio, I tend to use the following guitars for different jobs.
- Gretsch 6120 or Fender Stratocaster – For clear-toned rhythm and fingerpicking ‘twang’
- Gibson ES-175D and/or L5-CES – For rich honey, throaty, jazz sounds and rhythm playing
- Gibson Les Paul and/or Fender Stratocaster – For rhythm, solo and lead playing; blues, rock and jazz-fusion
- Gibson L5-C – For acoustic fingerstyle. I almost always play an archtop
Effects pedals & Stomp-boxes
I use very few of these, but those I do employ are analog and true bypass. I find too many pedals can interrupt the inherent tone and nuances between my chosen guitar and choice of amp. Adding sonic texture and subtlety to guitar styles can sometimes really help add to the evocative feeling, or familiarity to the listener in a certain piece of music. Some effects can also help round-off certain frequencies to a ‘naked’ set-up, creating a more balanced, even sound.
Here is a list of all the pedals I use, but not necessarily all are used for the same type of gig:
- VanAmps SoleMate – For natural, organic sounding, spring-box Reverb
- Klon Centaur – For overdriven, crunchy rhythm, saturated, creamy-sounding lead playing
- Calypso FX ‘Whirligig’ Roto-Sim – Subtle 1960s-1970s psychedelic style effects. Made by Gez Paton, this pedal accurately simulates a rotating Leslie cabinet speaker or Fender Vibratone effect. (Jimi Hendrix, Robin Trower, Pink Floyd, Stevie Ray Vaughan, etc)
- Electro Harmonix Electric Mistress or Hartman Flanger – Textural 1970s-1980s sounds. Both are utterly fantastic for re-creating those sonic effects used by Pink Floyd and The Police. These stompboxes also have a chorus quality that lend themselves well to 1980s jazz/fusion-styled sounds too, like Pat Metheny, John Scofield, etc
- Cali76 Compact compressor – Rapid fingerpicking and country lead work
- MXR Carbon Copy Light – Echo and delay
- Pro Series II Wah – Wah Wah
Amplifiers
I use different amplifiers to achieve a variety of sounds. I prefer old valve driven (vaccuum tube) amps due to their warmth and organic sounding frequency range. All tube amps sound different depending on what guitar is plugged through them, what type of valves and loudspeakers are used and how the amps are constructed. The wooden cabinet (or speaker housing) of an amplifier can have a huge contributing factor to the overall sound.
- Marshall 1962LE Bluesbreaker 50th Anniversary, hand-wired combo, with AlNiCo speakers – For live work at bigger venues. This ‘devil box’ really needs to be played loud to get 100% serious tone out of it. Although rated as a 30w amp, it’s much louder than any 100w Marshall heads I have played through! I combine with my Klon Centaur to create saturation and sag at lower volumes.
- Studiomaster ‘Valve Leadmaster’ (VLM) combo amp (1982) – For medium-sized venues and studio. The solid oak cabinet helps to create warm, well-rounded tones and it suits most types of music. (It’s a rare amp, a little bit like a UK-made Mesa Boogie Mk II)
- Fender Champ (1961, tweed) – For smaller venues and studio work
- Fender Princeton Reverb (1965, blackface) – For smaller venues and clean sounding studio work
- Gretsch #6161 (1961, Valco-made) – For smaller venues and clean sounding studio work
The Princeton Reverb and Gretsch #6161 amps have extremely crystal-clear tonality. These two particular amps are perfect for all kinds of music. Their low wattage means they can be driven hard, at relatively low volumes.
Nothing beats an old tweed Fender Champ for this – probably my favourite amp. Think of all your favourite recorded ZZ Top, Derek & The Dominoes, Allman Brothers Band and Rolling Stones guitar riffs or solo breaks – they used Champs to get those epic sounds!