September 2017 Guitar Set Up

Every now and then I'd like to keep up with my ever-changing guitar collection and pedal-board, for the sake of posterity. It's always fun to look back and see what I was using at any given time.

Current Pedal Board

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For the last few months, I have had a handful more pedals on my board than this, but I just set up my board for a camp I'm playing 6 weeks for, and because I'm flying I needed to lose some pedal weight, so 5 pedals came off, and left me with this. "Barebones" for me - definitely gives me the sounds I want to be able to make.

Here's the chain:

I come from my guitar straight into:
1) GoodWood Audio Interfacer
I have been lucky enough at a couple of my churches to be able to run stereo most of the time. In my studio, I run stereo always. However, the times I have to run mono, unplugging cables was always a pain. The Interfacer allows me to sum my stereo to a summed mono signal for one amp, the times when I need to run mono.
2) OneControl Crocodile Tail Looper
This has been an off and on part of my arsenal for a long time. It's a programmable true bypass looper that allows me to send MIDI to my MIDI pedals. So, with the touch of one button, I can change all the effects I want to change AND change delays and reverbs on my Strymon Big Boxes.
3) LOOP 1: Keeley Compressor
Impressive compressor -- not too squishy. The pickup selector is a really great addition and makes moving from single coils to humbuckers more musical.
4) LOOP 2: J.Rockett Archer
I love Klones. This is the best one I've found.
5) LOOP 3: ChuckPedals ZenLike Overdrive
I received this pedal in a trade a coupla years ago and as soon as I plugged it in, I knew it'd be hard for this to ever leave my board. It is the best high gain overdrive I've ever played. It's Dumble-esque and Marshall-esque all at once.
6) LOOP 4: Strymon Sunset
I was as cynical as the next guy about Strymon getting into overdrives. I got the Riverside and didn't really enjoy it. But I plugged into this at a local music store and was blown away. It's a special pedal, and I love having dual overdrives - and choices for each side, btw - at the end of my drive chain.
7) LOOP 5: Ernie Ball Volume Pedal
Turns up... turns down. It's pretty simple.
8) LOOP 6: TCElectronic Afterglow Chorus
The cost vs value of these things is ridiculous. Great chorus pedal for very, very cheap.
9) LOOP 7: Xotic FX EP Booster
A wonderful recreation of the Echoplex Preamp stage. I'm using it here as a lead/solo boost.
10) Loop 8: Walrus Audio ARP-87
Anyone who follows my gear habits, knows I love delay pedals. I've owned WAY too many of them. This is one of my favorites I've ever owned. It's really warm and special. I use it mainly for swells, but it works great as a main delay, too.

I skip Loops 9 & 10 in this setup and come out of the One Control into...

11) Strymon Timeline
It is in my opinion the best-sounding mega delay pedal on the market. Its functionality is unparalleled. I program all my delays here, and control the moving from patch to patch and bank to bank via the OneControl.
12) Strymon Big Sky
I come stereo out of the Timeline, into the Big Sky, which is the best sounding reverb pedal ever, in my opinion. I've owned it 3 different times. But the Cloud and Bloom settings are unparalleled.

And from there I come stereo back to the Interfacer and out to my amp(s).

All of it is powered by the Strymons, Zuma and Ojai.

The Guitars

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2008 Gretsch White Falcon 6136-LTV
By far one of the most beautiful guitars ever made. I was lucky enough to get this by trading two guitars I had gotten for very cheap (a Gretsch 6117 I got for $900; and a Gibson Les Paul Traditional Plus I got for $800). The TV Jones Filtertron sound in the Gretsch hollowbody is something truly magnificent. It's one of my favorite guitar sounds. I'm grateful to own this guitar.

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1980 Gibson ES-347
About 10 years ago, I went on a quest to find the perfect 335-type guitar. I knew I wanted a Gibson and I have always loved the Custom headstocks over the plain jane Gibson headstock... so as I played I slowly narrowed down my search to upper level 335s, 345s, 355s and 347s. I played this at Gruhn's Guitars here in Nashville and walked out with it the same day. It's a very very cool guitar. The humbuckers have that nice dark rolled off vibe you expect from a vintage Gibson semi-hollowbody, but this guitar gives something else: split coils (the switch on the lower bout splits the coils). And the split coil sound on this guitar is one of my favorite guitar sounds I've ever played. To my ears, it's thinline tele-esque, but with more girth and warmth. It's really nice, and it's the best feeling guitar I've ever played.

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2013 Gibson Midtown Custom
I just traded a Custom Jazzmaster I had for this, and I have to say it's one of my favorite guitars I've ever owned. First off, it's a beautiful guitar. Secondly, it feels and plays amazing. Thirdly, the humbuckers are punchy and chimey, and the split coils (via volume pots) give a sound that's very close to my ES-347 split. I may have stumbled upon another "forever" guitar.

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1997 Gibson Les Paul Traditional
Another really special guitar I lucked on via trade. I have probably owned 50 Les Pauls, from top to bottom of the range, from Epiphones to Gibson Custom Shops. This is my favorite I've ever played. One, I love the black and cream. Two, it stays in tune better than any Les Paul I've ever played. Three, it feels great. Four, the pickups are the chimiest pickups I've heard on a Les Paul -- I have been told they sounds more Gretschy than Gretsches. Haha. The Bigsby came stock in the Traditionals of '97 and '98, so that gives it a little more mojo.

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2016 Sublime Tux-J
Sublime Guitar company is an incredible USA guitar company. They make parts overseas, then assemble the guitars in the USA and they sell them at insane prices, and the quality on these things is unbelievable. This little Les Paul Jr-y thing is ridiculously cool and the Custom-wound P90 sounds amazing.

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2017 Sublime J-Hawk
Another Sublime Guitar Company guitar. Gosh, this thing is beautiful - that GreenBurst. The pickups are darn near perfect and it's everything I love about the best tele-type guitars: super spanky but not too bright bridge pickup; a warm but chimy neck pickup. This thing feels and plays great. And the cost to value ratio on these things is seriously unbelievable.

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1981 Tokai Silver Star
I have always struggled with Strat-type guitars. They are either too shrill or too tinny or too spanky or too chimy. I have likely owned 35 or 40 Strats through the years, and just could never find a keeper. Until this. It's a Japanese Lawsuit guitar that I bought on a lark off eBay from Japan. Took 3 months to get here and I had to pay customs on it, but in the end, it is my favorite Strat-type I've ever owned. It has the beefiest pickups I've heard in a strat, while still being chimy and bright just like you want from a Strat. Check these things out... they're really special.

 

So - that's my collection for now. I'm sure it'll change. Feel free to ask any questions!