What kind of gear do you have and are you happy with it?

Talk about guitars, amplifiers, effects and other gear
User avatar
LeftyCanuck
Posts: 32
Joined: Mon May 09, 2011 5:40 am

Re: What kind of gear do you have and are you happy with it?

Post by LeftyCanuck »

I have gone through several guitars as I slowly build up to my ultimate collection.

Guitars:

Early 90's Lefty MIM Squier Strat - black/white, rosewood fretboard - first guitar I ever owned. Tone pots didn't really work (no gradual taper as they were righty pots wired backwards for lefty operation), pickups were kinda weak (and I could never figure out how to get that Clapton '24 Nights' tone out of them... this was before I learned about the mid-boost circuit the Clapton strats have). This was sold to buy a:

1998 Lefty Epiphone Les Paul Standard - cherry sunburst which I owned from 1998 until 2009. After I bought my current love, it wasn't getting played so I sold it to a up and comin' high school kid who just loved it - I'm glad it found a worthy home where it'll get played a lot.

Which brings me to my current love, my 2008 Lefty Gibson Les Paul Traditional in heritage cherry sunbust. Purchased on pilgrimage to Southpaw guitars in Houston, TX. When I walked through the door and they heard I was from Canada, I think the dollar signs racked up in their eyes. Played many a guitar that day and this was the one that spoke to me. I'd have preferred the Iced Tea burst colour, but when you're a lefty.... pickins are slim.

I also have a late 1990's Fender DG-16LH acoustic that I rarely pick up anymore. I went and played a house party the other week with a fellow lefty that has a nice Martin and after playing his guitar, it inspired me. So I now have a Lefty Martin 000-28EC on order which should arrive this week.... There goes my tax return. (Oh and BTW - even though these are usually listed for sale in the $3200 range, they can be found for MUCH less... even the lefty versions!)

Amps:

To ensure I am able to annoy my neighbours to the fullest extent I've got a hand-wired Marshall 1974x 18watt clone made by Trinity Amps in Toronto ON that has a TMB channel instead of the tremolo channel and a boost switch that puts it from Beano (where it normally lives) to La Grange. It has a voltage regulator that lets me play at non-ear bleeding levels or crank it for gigging - and it'll outpower a lot of higher wattage amps out there.

Also a Line 6 Toneport for headphones-on rockin'

Effects:

Not much - Vox Wah, Boss CE-5 chorus for 'Badge', Fulltone OCD and I might pick up a reverb pedal at some point down the road.

Still to acquire (someday): lefty ES-335, lefty Clapton signature stratocaster

Here's a rig pic (before picking up the two new pedals... will post a pic of the 000-28EC when it arrives):
Attachments
IMG_3929.jpg
IMG_3929.jpg (139.91 KiB) Viewed 6118 times
bluesfreek
Posts: 48
Joined: Thu May 26, 2011 2:16 pm

Re: What kind of gear do you have and are you happy with it?

Post by bluesfreek »

Wow! This is a great thread. Everyone has such beautiful gear I love it! :thumbsup:

For several years I played acoustic exclusively but in the last year started up an electric blues band. I currently use two electric guitars and one acoustic. Like all blues players I am chronically broke most of the time so my gear is cheap. My amp for the electrics is a vintage Roland Cube 60 with the orange tolex that I got at a pawnshop. The price was right and it looks like it never left the previous owners house it's in such amazing condition. My two electrics are Gibson style copies made by Jay Turser. My main electric is a Les Paul Studio style model in dark brown. Solid mahogany body and mahogany neck. It is quite heavy. My newest aquisition is an ES-335 style with open coil humbuckers with a red finish. I paid hardly anything for these guitars. In fact you could buy a new Squier Standard Strat for the what it cost me for both these guitars. :lol:

The ES-335 copy I bought used for hardly anything(less than $100) because it was in need of some repairs. It needed new tuners and there was damage at the input jack on the front of the body. I replaced the tuners with a good set I had here waiting for such an occasion. The input jack was loose and pushed into the body causing the wood to be damaged and split so I removed the jack and fitted it with an oversized washer to cover the "puncture" and to give the input jack's nut something to tighten onto. I also had to lower the nut a little and hammer in a couple of loose frets.

I don't use any effects other than the amps built in overdrive and beautiful spring reverb.

Currently my only acoustic is a Takamine G340. I use it when I attempt to play bluegrass or folk music. I use a Fishman soundhole pickup in it when I use it for gigs.

Here are a couple of pics.

Image

Image

Image
User avatar
jokron
Posts: 76
Joined: Wed May 04, 2011 9:52 pm

Re: What kind of gear do you have and are you happy with it?

Post by jokron »

Well, I just purchased a Line6 POD HD300, amazing tones... :thumbsup:

I use it with my Gibson Les Paul Standard and a Henriksen JazzAmp 110.

The only thing that would beat it would be a real tube amp, but that would on the other hand break my back. This setup is perfect for me!

I also have a Line6 Variax 500 guitar for recording if I want the Tele, Strat och ES-335-sound. I record through Line6 Studio UX2 into Cubase 6 where I have the POD Farm as VST Plug-in. I mainly use Superior drummer for drums, but I also have Groove Agent 3. A Squier Jazz Bass allows me to record bass lines and I also have a Studiologic Fatar 900 Keybord together with Halion Sonic for piano, organ and other fancy sounds to record.

When I'm performing acoustic music I have a Ibanez AEL 20 VV and a Hohner HC-120 together with Bose L1 Compact. As effect I use TC Helicon Harmony G.

OK, I've spent a lot of money on gear, but on the other hand, I'm very satisfied with it.

The only thing I need now is time, working full-time, big family, not so healthy wife leaves little time to play and record, but 55+ I'm still dreaming...

/Jokron
Attachments
gear.jpg
gear.jpg (197.73 KiB) Viewed 6091 times
I was looking for the perfect guitar, I found it...but...I ran into trouble...it was looking for the perfect guitarist...
User avatar
HalfBlindLefty
Admin
Posts: 2015
Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2010 1:23 pm

Re: What kind of gear do you have and are you happy with it?

Post by HalfBlindLefty »

jokron wrote:Well, I just purchased a Line6 POD HD300, amazing tones... :thumbsup:

I use it with my Gibson Les Paul Standard and a Henriksen JazzAmp 110.

The only thing that would beat it would be a real tube amp, but that would on the other hand break my back. This setup is perfect for me!
/Jokron
Mhhh... not the only thing :P

Image

Beaten :away:
A long time ago, in the old forum : Registered: Mon, 27 Nov 2006. Wonder were the other old members all went....
User avatar
Golfxzq
Posts: 359
Joined: Sun Apr 04, 2010 3:13 am

Re: What kind of gear do you have and are you happy with it?

Post by Golfxzq »

:music2: :bb: GEAR... what a fun topic to discuss. We all love our own stuff and take any opportunity to tell anyone who will listen about all our cool stuff. I'm no Blues prodigy for sure but I do like telling about my stuff... and since you asked, here goes;

Co-Co... My chocolate brown Ibanez AF95 with standard ACH1 & 2 humbucker pickups. This is one of my two favorite guitars, she has a sweet tone and looks great. Being a full hollow body I can pretend that she is an acoustic sometimes.

Black Cat... This one belongs to me and my grandson, Aggiefan, together and is the second of my favorites. We found her at a garage sale, all to pieces in a box, and bought what we could find for $25. After months of painstaking labor and lots of help from some of the folks here at 12Bar we brought her back to life. She is a Les Paul copy, not an original, but very cool just the same. We installed GFS Fat Pat humbucker pickups in her. These are five wire humbuckers and I have since disconnected one of the wires on the neck pick up to make it into a single coil. This is generally my "go to" guitar. I love the feel and the sound.

Blackie... This was my very first guitar and was rather inexpensive. It is a Carlo Robelli strat-type guitar with single coil pickups. I have no idea what kind they are, I bought Blackie on eBay and just took what came in the box. I use this one as sort of a back up. The tone isn't the greatest but I do like the feel of the neck. AND... since it was my first I have a sentimental attachment.

I currently have a bad case of GAS for an American Deluxe Strat with a soft V neck. I have found the one that I want but I am now just trying to convince myself that it would be wise to exchange that amount of money for another guitar.... I think I'm loosing the battle gradually. Maybe if Guitar Center has an Independence Day sale... mmm?

As for amps I have three. My very favorite is an Epiphone Valve Junior. It is only 5 watts but that is PLENTY for me... especially in an all tube amp. I don't gig on stage... or even off stage for that matter. I just play for myself and occasionally collab with some buddies here on 12Bar.

My second amp is a Vox VT-15. This is a very versatile 15W modeling amp with 22 different pre-set models, which I use none of, and a bunch of special effects. You can also make your own settings. It's a neat little amp but I find myself not using one tenth of it's features.

My third amp is one that I bought when I got my first guitar (Blackie). It is an Ibanez GTA15R, another 15W amp. It sounds OK but nothing spectacular. Right now Aggiefan has it connected to his electronic drum set.

However... my very favorite piece of amp gear is my Line 6 UX-1 interface used with Pod Farm 2. I use this arrangement almost all the time when I play. I plop on a set of Koss headphones and select whichever amp sim and whatever special effects that I want. Pod Farm has hundreds of them, I have no idea how many but there are a lot and lots of combinations are possible. You can get just about any sound imaginable out of this bit of software.

When I record I use Cakewalk's Sonar Home Studio 7. It is pretty easy to learn to use and mostly intuitive if you have ever done any editing at all with any other bit of software.

That's about it for my gear... thanks, ratfinkdan, for giving us an opportunity to spout off about all our cool stuff.
"Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right."
- Henry Ford
User avatar
drockadam
Posts: 122
Joined: Sun Jul 25, 2010 3:22 pm

Re: What kind of gear do you have and are you happy with it?

Post by drockadam »

My Gear:

2003 Fender MIM Stratocaster (Black body,Maple Neck)

2008 Ibanez AEL-10LE Acoustic

Fender Frontman II 65R Amplifier

Great for on stage! Haven't taken the Ibanez on stage... yet :peace: :thumbsup:
Keep The Blues Alive,

- Adam De Rocco
Post Reply