Amps and pedals
Guitars
My regular gigging amp is a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue which has had a few updates, namely a Weber speaker and new iron from Mercury Magnetics. It sounds as good as any good sounding amp. The signal splits at a tc electronics vintage delay pedal and the delay signal goes to a Boss compressor and then into channel one of the DRRI.
The dry signal goes to channel two and I use the vibrato and reverb liberally.
For most of the gigs I do I also use a Roland JC-77 amp, which I only ever add to the Fender via a Loop-Master A/B pedal. I rarely run the JC-77 alone. And the signal to the Roland is pretty processed. I squash it with a Keeley compressor, add some delay with a Memory Man, send it into a Hughes and Kettner Rotosphere and run it into the amp with the settings "clean".
Adding that amp to the DRRI for impact sounds really good. It's a very squashed odd mid chimey tone, but with the Leslie (fake a la Rotosphere) swirling away it adds a sort of psychedelic George Harrison/ Badfinger element. Now alone the tone is a bit of a one dimensional solid state slap in the face, although I say that as a tone snob. But its a good lesson about adding frequencies more than anything else.
I use an Enhancer amp stand for the Fender, which I really love. It tightens up the on stage sound reducing leakage from behind the amp, adds a little low end and it tilts the amp at a favorable angle. Plus the amp simply sounds louder. It's a really smart accessory and I highly recommend if you can find one.
The dry signal goes to channel two and I use the vibrato and reverb liberally.
For most of the gigs I do I also use a Roland JC-77 amp, which I only ever add to the Fender via a Loop-Master A/B pedal. I rarely run the JC-77 alone. And the signal to the Roland is pretty processed. I squash it with a Keeley compressor, add some delay with a Memory Man, send it into a Hughes and Kettner Rotosphere and run it into the amp with the settings "clean".
Adding that amp to the DRRI for impact sounds really good. It's a very squashed odd mid chimey tone, but with the Leslie (fake a la Rotosphere) swirling away it adds a sort of psychedelic George Harrison/ Badfinger element. Now alone the tone is a bit of a one dimensional solid state slap in the face, although I say that as a tone snob. But its a good lesson about adding frequencies more than anything else.
I use an Enhancer amp stand for the Fender, which I really love. It tightens up the on stage sound reducing leakage from behind the amp, adds a little low end and it tilts the amp at a favorable angle. Plus the amp simply sounds louder. It's a really smart accessory and I highly recommend if you can find one.
I am pretty much a Strat guy. I have two Strats, both Fenders, and each is slightly different sounding. I have a Gibson ES 339, the smaller body version of the 335 and I recently picked up a Les Paul Special which I've been playing a lot. I’m not sure I’ll ever be someone that owns more than 7 or 8 guitars. If I don’t play them often enough, I just wind up selling them. I don't like them hanging around, unloved and unplayed, taking up space. There are lots of nice guitars in the world I don't need to personally own more than a few. And the ones I do own are going to get used and scraped and dinged. Too many dark stages, crowded dance floors and dodgy guitar stands no matter how careful you are.
For steel string acoustic I have a 1990’s Gibson Gospel with a Fishman mic/pickup combo, and I have a Taylor electric acoustic nylon string that I play mostly for lounge restaurant type gigs or around the house. I bring it with me when possible. I adore playing nylon string with my fingers and no pick. On long drives alone, I'll pull over and play in my car at a rest stop with coffee. I crave playing it like an addict.
Robert Holmes
Guitar player, singer, writer.
