My Personal Electric Guitar Setup

Although I don't obsess that much about gear, I do work hard at searching and researching for the right pieces to keep my gear setup small, easy to use and great sounding. Students of the guitar can benefit from following the advice and footprints of more experienced players gear setups.

Guitars:

For my main electric I use a Fender Hotrod '62 Stratocaster. It a great sounding re-issued guitar made by Fender that takes the features and specifications of a vintage 1962 Strat and "hotrods" it by adding a slightly wider neck and bigger frets for better performance. It's has a the classic sound of a strat, but has a warmth and fatness to it that reminds me of some of the characteristics of a Gibson Les Paul. It allows me to play a variety of styles and contexts from just one guitar, and that's important for the wide range of gigs and teaching that I do.

Pedal setup:

Guitar -into- Xotic EP boost - 1982 Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer - Carl Martin PlexiTone S - Ethos Overdrive/Preamp - T.C. Electronic Flashback Delay - Stymon BlueSky Reverb - P.A.

Ethos Overdrive

Carl Martin PlexiTone

Above is my small pedal/preamp signal path setup. My Hotrod '62 plugs first into an EP Boost pedal. The EP boost is a clean boost that adds a nice boost to my signal and a extra fatness to my tone. I keep this pedal on most of the time. The vintage tube screamer is one of the most sought after overdrive pedals of the last 30 years and I use it primarily as an additional gain stage for guitar solos. It adds a creaminess and sustain that I love. Next is the Plexitone pedal. I have always been a fan of old Marshall Plexi Amps and this pedal really delivers a warm Marshall tone with a nice range of gain for different playing situations. The Custom Tones Ethos overdrive acts as my amp, or more specifically my preamp in that it shapes my overall guitar tone. It has the sound of the famous Dumble Overdrive Amp that has fueled the tones of guitarist like John Mayer, Keith Urban, Robben Ford, Larry Carlton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Santana. Right now, I generally use it for it's great clean amp sound and use my pedals to add the crunch. The Ethos has a clean channel, an overdrive channel and a lead boost built into one. I then go out of the speaker simulated output of the Ethos to the T.C. delay/looper. I generally use the 2290 preset and a fairly long delay time. This pedal has to be the best small pedal delay I've ever heard. Next is the Strymon reverb. Strymon, in my opinion is at the top pedal maker in the world and the BlueSky delivers a quiet and beautifully transparent reverb and a cool shimmer feature that I use as preset favourite. Personally, I always put my boost, wahs, compressors, and drive pedals before the amp and the delays, chorus' and reverbs after the amp - it just sounds cleaner and better to my ears.

Depending on the style of music I'm playing, I might change the pedal order around or make changes and tweaks to my normal preset sounds of the pedals to suite the style of a particular song.

I will feature one or more of these pedals each month on this Blog. Just click on the pedal to get information or a demo of the pedal. My whole setup can fit on a small pedalboard; small enough to fit in the overhead compartment on a plane or carried and setup easily in a local show or session.

Amps?

Sorry! I don't have an amp anymore. I generally plug straight into a PA system and monitor my sound through the stage monitors, in-ear monitors, or a small powered speaker that can fit in my suitcase. On some bigger gigs/shows I have them (promoters/clients) rent me an amp like a Fender Deluxe or a Blues Deville. I have just got tired of lugging a heavy tube amp around in a heavy flight case and hoping it arrives in working order. This also keep the gear budget in balance and relation to my income as a player and the needs and general cost of living in a modern family.

Final Thoughts

If I were to expand things, I would lean towards adding a Stymon Mobius, a Dunlop Wah, and possibly a small Tube amp for a bit more headroom on my sound.