Guitarchitecture.org

Yesterday, I was trolling online for one or two things that I’d like to have to fill my insatiable gear lust and found an Atomic 1×12 amp for sale in Las Vegas for $149! A phone call and a credit card number later the amp was on its way to South Pasadena.

Now, I already had one of these amps – so a logcal question would be, “What the Hell do you need two of them for?”  Well, a couple of things,

1.  When I find things I like I try to buy a backup in case something goes wrong.  We can call this the great “Digitech Space Station lesson” – where (when they were in the death knell of production) Guitar Center was blowing them out @ $99 per and I only bought one.  Now the one I have is on its last legs and replacement ones are about $300-$400 on ebay.

**A brief interruption – if anyone, knows anyone – who has the technical skill to port the contents of the chip in my space station to a midi controllable AU – PLEASE LET ME KNOW.  Nothing would make me happier than accessing the 4-5 sounds I use on that thing as an AU and not carrying a clunky breaking pedal around!  Also the worst USB audio device probably has a better A/D/A converter than that has!

2.  2 amps mean I can run my effects stereo.  Sounds small – but when looping things in stereo and there’s sound swirling around your feet…ahhhhh…there’s nothing like it.

3.  They don’t make this model anymore – and if worse comes to worse I could unload it for $250-$300 if I had to.

4.  As much as it kills me to say it – tubes project sound differently than solid state.  Before I left Boston, one of the bands I was playing in was One of Us.  The singer/guitarist/songwriter John Eye, had a Vetta – that sounded good.  It was super flexible and could do things that my amp set up never could.  But live, my rig (see the bottom of the media page for full rig information) projected completely differently.  Even when I used the pod 2.0 in front of my DeVille – it pushed the sound in a completely different way.

So, when playing with rock bands – I try to use a tube amp when possible.  For the film/video gigs I do – It’s more about convenience as there’s less sonically for me to have to compete with in terms of space.

(As a side note, John Eye is a truly great frontman.  He and I had very different views about live performance, but I always liked and respected him and dug his material.  I’ve included links above – including the Pull video which has some life footage of me with the band – but not audio .  I don’t know if any of the material I recorded with the band at that time will be on it – but if not – I’m sure the new material will be very cool.)

Getting back to gear and its endless acquisition –  I have conflicting opinions about it.

On one hand, I respect the DIY attitude towards making the best with what you’ve got.  There’s a lot to be said for just “making do” and creating something with whatever is handy.  Part of being a musician is being able to make music under difficult situations – and that includes being at the studio session and playing the steel string that has rust on the strings and won’t stay in tune because that’s the guitar the producer wants to hear on the session.  But making do doesn’t necessarily mean “desirable”.  And that leads to the other side of the equation.

On the flip side, I have spent hundreds of hours (if not more) “chasing tones” in my head or – trying to get sounds that really aren’t there with the equipment I have on hand.  You can gain something from this experience (like patience), but more often than not – unless the item is so prohibitively expensive that it’s completely unfeasible -history has shown that in my case – it’s not a great use of time.

Tones can be inspirational

You never really stop looking for those tones, but making them more feasible probably adds years to your life that are lost in stress and frustration.  Likewise if you’re excited by your tone it is easier to get in the headspace of playing with that excitement.

Like anything else it’s about balance.  I’ve had to play rigs that I didn’t like to fit the gig and gotten through – but if I can maintain my comfort level by using things I’m familiar with (and/or really like) – that makes it much easier.

I have gone through a lot of gear in my lifetime.  My rig first real amp, a 1×12 JCM 800 combo that I adored (this was goosed on the front end with a T.C. Electronics Distortion/Boost pedal and had a nice metal tone) was stolen from a basement in Allston, MA where I was rehearsing.  There was an Ampeg rig I had for a while with a bunch of vintage Electro Harmonix pedals (Favorite rig quote ever – “Wow.  This would have been state of the art in ’75″…).

A Seymour Duncan convertible amp that I only got rid of because I could never get a distorted tone I liked (and then went on to use a Big Muff PI for distortion – so the irony of that was not lost on me).  A Fender Hotrod Deville – stolen with the E.H. pedals and a bunch of other stuff from a rehearsal space in Allston (I see a trend here).  And dozens of stomp boxes (Including a Rhythm and Sound – still the greatest and most repulsive sonic pulveriser I have ever used).  And yet tones came and went.  I just started going for the best clean tone and juicing it from there.

None of this stuff will get you a gig (although, the Rhythm and Sound could have gotten me out of a number of them), but in acquiring one pedal at a time I was able to get into the sound of a pedal and dial in what I needed wit a little more control. And gradually this started crafting a tonal palate for me and became part of my sound.  It must be hard for people with multi-effects units because the question of where to begin is a bit nebulous if you don’t know how individual pedals sound…

Now it’s all come full circle.  Now that I’ve had amps and gear stolen – I don’t want to try to replace them.  The advantage of something like line 6 gear is that I can backup all of my sounds.  Stuck in Europe with no POD X3?  No problem – have the promoter help locate one, load my bundle and I’m good to go.  That’s why some music celebrities make budget versions of their signature instruments – because they want to be able to walk into a music store anywhere – pull one off the shelf and  know exactly how it’s going to sound.   A lot of tone really is in your fingers.  Playing acoustic for any length of time can help convince you of that.

Gear isn’t going to make a bad performance sound good (yes this includes auto-tune) – it’s just going to potentially make good performances sound that much better.

Having said all of this, will I still need to get Pod Farm Platinum eventually to go with the Pod X3 and the X3 live?  Yep.  Just a matter of time.  Will I get the Apogee Duet?  Yep – just a matter of time.

Because just like the plague inspired song quoted in the title, “Ashes – ashes we all fall down.”  - and life is too short to waste it on crappy tone.

I have missed a lot of great gear at great prices by waiting to buy it when I saw it.  If it’s a good deal, and I can make your money back on reselling it (if I have to) I jump on it now – before the next person does. Because who knows?  That extra piece of gear might get me .01% closer to the sound I’m looking for.

A long winded justification for buying an amp – but it’s important to have a realistic expectation of why you’re buying a piece of gear if not for yourself than to be able to explain it to your spouse.

I’m still unpacking – so no profound posts for a while probably.  Less fluff and more content next time around.  Thanks for dropping by.

-SC