lets rock...

2008-06-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

As a guitarist, I matured late in the electro-technical department. My rational was that if Segovia, Django, Wes, my Pittsburgh neighbor/mentor Jimmy Ponder, or any of the guitarists I heard in West Africa could play damn fine guitar without effects, a vintage amp, or, in some cases, with an instrument that was two steps from firewood, why should I waste the time I spent learning to be a better musician on anything but technique, soul, repertoire, and writing? A bit conservative considering two of my favorite contemporary guitarists during my undergraduate years were Pat Metheny (or as spell check would have it, Pat Berthena) and Bill Frisell, who have both found a way to seamlessly join their respective creative voices with guitar technology.

Any drive to search out new amps, pedals, or guitars came from new gigs or from getting exposed to new guitarists. My main instrument for years was a Guild Artist Award (a large arch top with a single humbucker pickup), which I would play through a Polytone Mini-brute. I was a recovering jazz-a-holic. Thanks to college musician friends and a few eighths of mush... I opened up to everything from Steely Dan, Late Miles, the Ohio Players, Albert King, to Louis Armstrong. I worked as a side man and with my own projects in Pittsburgh and occasionally NY. Nothing really demanded high volumes or effects. I would pick up random pedals after hearing Wayne Krantz or John Scofield but I never had a steady job where I could really use them.

Then came a call in early 2007 to play guitar with a touring group. I wasn't going to argue that I wasn't right for the job but knew that I had a lot to learn in a short amount of time about sounding good with an electric guitar. When it became clear that the group would keep me on for a while I decided to dive into making a better live sound that would work in these larger venues. This was my original pedal layout; simple but lacking in function.

I began borrowing some pedals and trying them out at concerts with rented amps. Nothing beats being able to rent an amp and try it in a 1,200 seat venue. After a month I settled on a Vox AC-30; warm, versatile, but powerful. The board was harder. Originally, I thought that I needed reverb (Holy Grail), compression (Boss), and a volume pedal (Ernie Ball). I eventually accepted that they were not helping create good tone at higher volumes and in the midst of six other musicians. The Line 6 delay is a must. I use the standard digital delay, auto volume, and reverse (for those exploratory days). For drive I have (after trying the Ibanez and Rat) a fulltone and expandora with an ABY switch for the two channels on the AC-30. The Boss DD-6 came next for more delay options. The final purchase was the Super Hard On, a boutique clean boost. This pedal is appealing to me because it has one switch and one knob. It simply drives the amp a little harder and gives the distortion pedals more life. This is where I stand now after 14 moths of experimenting, recording an album, and with another tour looming in the coming weeks. Does this make me a gear head? Not convinced yet.

I found (thanks to Garth Stevenson) that peg board with zip ties is much better than sticking Velcro on everything. Less mess and easier to organize. Also, only $5 at the hardware store.

Pittsburgh and beyond...

lets rock...