Guitars and Amps

[saaron]

So Zinz and I (with encouragement from other bad people) sort of went nuts and ruined a thread with amp and guitar nonsense.  

 

So show your guitars.  Amps.  Pedals.  Basses.  Etc.  

 

Scott

[saaron]

OK, I will go.  

 

I like electrics a lot, and amps even more.  My friends and I record as "Lazy Old Son" - we have two records out - "The Saints of Humboldt Park" and "A Time to Stumble".  I mostly play rhythm guitar.  I'm not very good.  

 

>I built a "partscaster" Mark Jenny guitar.  It is a Telecaster semi-hollow with three pickups.  We called it the "Blender Mashville" because the Fender Nashville has similar pickup layout.  It has Bill and Becky Lawrence pickups.  

>Also have a straight up, stock, MIJ Custom Telecaster that might be my favorite to play.  

>I also have a Pete Townshend Rickenbacker, which I found in a vintage clothing store in about 1989.  Two years after I found the tii.

 

Amps, I like old Fender tube amps.

>My first good tube amp was a 100% stock Vibrochamp.  I think it is around a '76.  The trem is awesome, and it sounds great cranked up.  You can hear it a lot in the Lazy Old Son records - it just sounds great.  It is in really nice, original condition.  

>My second purchase was a Princeton Reverb that is also a mid '70s.  It doesn't have the master volume ("Pull Boost") that the later ones had.  I had David Allen (who lives near me) go through it and change out the speaker.  I think he did the Paul C and Stokes mod on it, too.  It is not in great condition cosmetically, but it sounds great.  I let my friend borrow it soon after I bought it.  He had it for a year.  I couldn't get it back. 

>Lastly, I have a mid '69 (we think) Twin Reverb w/factory JBL speaker option.  I got it from a friend that was cleaning out a basement and found it.  It is in better shape that the Princeton, maybe better than the Vibrochamp.  It is louder than hell.  David Allen once again went through it for me.  It still had the RCA black plate tubes in it.  And it had a companion with it in that basement...

>The Vibratone speaker!  Did you know Fender bought Leslie at some point in the '60s?  I sure didn't.  The first thing they did we re-brand a Leslie model as Fender.  So it is a 2 speed rotating speaker.  It isn't like a traditional Leslie in terms of how it works - it is a little different.  On the slow speed, it sounds like a chorus, and on the fast speed, it sounds like the guitar solo on Stevie Ray Vaughn's "Cold Shot" because that is what they used.  

 

David Allen builds amps - here is his company:  http://www.allenamps.com/

The Lazy Old Son stuff is on iTunes and YouTube.  The second album - "A Time to Stumble" is better, I think.  

 

Let's see what else is out there!

 

Scott

 

 

[zinz]

Nice... It think this will be fun, Scott.  I had a Rick bass many years ago... pawn shop guitar and should have never let it go, dagnabit.

 

I'll have to take pics, but most of my gear is pretty pedestrian... I've played the same rosewood-necked, cream Strat since '84.  Bought at Ray Hennig's Heart of Texas Music on South Lamar right after SRV released Texas Flood.  Ray tried to sell me a Les Paul Custom with some crazy pickups in it and I looked on the wall and said, "no sir... I want THAT one". We'd been going to Antone's listening to the Vaughan brothers and I had to have a guitar like what they were playing.   I used my older brother's Princeton Reverb with the "pull boost" volume for many years. That's not really a Master Volume, just some crappy idea Fender had to increase the volume... I'm not sure what they were thinking, all your tone goes out the window as soon as you pull it. I never used it.  My brother took the Princeton back many years ago and I bought a Peavey Classic 30. I never liked the reverb in it (was spoiled by the Fender), but it's a good blues amp.  All that runs through an old rack-mounted chorus that helps with the reverb...again, it's pretty pedestrian.

 

At one point I "had to have" a hollow body electric and bought a horse for color... It's a Ibanez Artcore that looks beautiful and the action is okay, but I really need to have someone tear it down and go through it and put a proper nut on it, rework the pots and properly set the action.  I am able to get some decent tone out of it, but not across a broad range of settings.  

 

Mostly I've been listening to Tommy Emmanuel these days and play my vintage Takamine G380 "Lawsuit" dreadnought, (it's a dead ringer for a Martin D28). Got that a pawn shop for like $100. Helluva deal as it plays GREAT.   Tommy E is an amazing player... trying to learn his fingering and phrasing is near impossible for a clod like me, but it's worth it.  Growing up watching electric giants like Stevie and Jimmy Vaughan, Eric Johnson and a multitude of of others here in Austin was amazing, but seeing how TE can fingerpick a heavy-stringed Maton blows me away.  

 

I'll get some other pics when I get the chance. I only play with a few old friends, but mostly just quietly here at the house when I need to relax.  

 

Hope to hear from others...

 

Ed Z

 

 

 

 

[adawil2002]

Cindy bought this for me for Christmas in 2015. Played around with it until my fingers hurt. It's a clear red Fender Stratocaster that I haven't touched in years. I'm a drum guy, have been playing for 16-17 years. 

[zinz]

Dang... That's quite the kit, Andrew. Nice. 

[jgerock]

OMG - Andrew - didn't know you were a drummer.  My boss plays the drums.  I had a friend in HS who played all the time after school- his favorite songs were by The Cars.  Reluctantly, I had violin and piano lessons when I was a kid..

[adawil2002]

Thanks guys...started taking lesson's again to improve my chops and get my music reading back up to speed. What I'm into is considered 'classc' rock now-a-days.

[saaron]

14 hours ago, zinz said:

We'd been going to Antone's listening to the Vaughan brothers and I had to have a guitar like what they were playing.

 

OK, amazing.  

 

14 hours ago, zinz said:

Peavey Classic 30

 

Yes, I've heard good things about those.  

 

14 hours ago, zinz said:

Ibanez Artcore

 

Looks amazing.  Humbuckers and hollow body!

 

14 hours ago, zinz said:

TE can fingerpick a heavy-stringed Maton blows me away.  

 

Yes, that guy is incredible.  There are really no words for what he can do.  He reminds me a little of Robert Johnson in the sense that, if you close your eyes, you think it is probably two people playing, not one!  Good on you for trying that type of stuff out.  

 

13 hours ago, adawil2002 said:

It's a clear red Fender Stratocaster that I haven't touched in years.

 

Yeah, Andrew, that is a hard rockin' model - it has humbucker pickups and a single coil.  Total rock-out guitar.  Drums look great.  There are a couple of drummers in the RGB group here in Cincy/KY/IN.  One is a professional.  

 

Scott

 

[zinz]

8 hours ago, saaron said:

Yes, that guy is incredible.  There are really no words for what he can do.  

 

TE... here's a fun one  

 

 

Ed

[saaron]

I understood about 5% of what he was doing.  That was incredible.  

 

Scott

[zinz]

Go learn these licks of this simple tune

 

 

[ray_]

Where's your Leo Kottke?

 

;-)

[zinz]

In good time... Leo, another extraordinary finger picker. 

 

I'd be considered an extraordinary nose picker in comparison...

 

 

[ray_]

I though you were a smart feller. 

 

I mean a.... 

 

[zinz]

...that too