My favorite gear...

1. Blue Hardim Picks (for that Edge Sound)
2. A dotted 8th delay (Fractal Audio Axe FX is best)
3. New D'Addario strings .11 gauge
4. Fulltone Pedals
5. Ultimate Ears UE-7 Pro in-ears
6. George L's Cables

Vicky are you going to CA for CMS this September?

Fun post! Gear that I'm loving includes

- Fender Blues Jr. Tweed Limited Ed. I used to a haul around a Hot Rod Deville 4x10 with me, which is a great clean amp (Jonny Buckland of Coldplay uses 3 of them). But I wanted to go simpler and I'm loving the tone I'm getting from the 12" Jensen speaker.

- One more vote for the Fulldrive II. I moved up from a TS9 reissue. It's a sweet match for the Blues Jr.

- Boss DD-20. This is taking care of my delay needs quite nicely.

- Line 6 Verbzilla. I just got this and have yet to really feel it out, but it's been fun so far. Lots of modes from light reverb to organ-like stuff.

something i forgot to mention was Garageband... i do all of my real demo-ing with Pro Tools now, but when i'm writing i love that i can just set my Macbook on the coffee table with Garageband open and play and sing without setting up mics and stuff. plus, i can send the ideas to itunes, which makes listening back to old ideas much easier than trying to listen back to poorly recorded cassette tapes from a $25 tape recorder. Garageband and TextEdit have totally streamlined my writing process.

i'm also planning to get a recording device for the ipod called the Micromemo, for capturing ideas at those times when i don't have my computer handy. you just cant beat Apple products as a musician.

Thanks, Ryan! I'm in the same place as you; thought about it but haven't yet tried it. Some pretty experienced songwriters swear by 'em though. I'd be curious for Vicky's opinion on this... *hint* *hint* ... LOL.

By the way, I went to your MySpace page, Ryan, and wanted to let you know that I'm really enjoying listening to your music. (I also sent you a friend request.) Thanks for sharing!!! Right now, I'm checking out "From Yesterday" and loving it!

i've thought about it, but never really actually tried it. i have heard of writers using them though. probably wouldn't hurt anyway...

How about rhyming dictionaries - for those here who write? This was recommended in a recent book I've been reading (Tunesmith), and I'd like to know if any of you folks are using one at all. Have any recommendations for a particular dictionary?

i actually think the new voxes are probably better for the road than the vintage ones, simply because of the master volume and you're less likely to need a fire extinguisher in the middle of the gig. i also agree with the blues as opposed to the Warfdales (they sound like cardboard to me). however, i actually have the now discontinued 1x12 version with the Celestion-designed neodymium speaker, and in certain situations, i actually like it better than the blues. it actually has more chime and sparkle to my ears than the blues do. i'm usually either playing an old japanese tele or a gibson firebird through it.

i just can't get on board with the dl4 though. they sound (just like all the line 6 stuff) so digital and processed and thin to me. i know they have some cool sounds in them, but i'm just not willing to let my guitar's tone suffer that much to get them, not to mention you can't even get a dotted eighth delay with them. instead, i use two boss dd-5's both running to the same tap tempo switch by way of a splitter (the switch is not in the signal path, so this doesn't hurt your tone), and this way i can turn on either one or both of them without having to dance all over the place to set the tempo every time. st some point i'm going to get a dd-20 so i can get some of the modulated settings, etc., but no line 6 stuff for me, thanks. just the lack of durability should be enough to turn people off. i don't know how they've gotten so popular, except maybe that they have good marketing.

i'm a pretty big fan of fulltone, and i've got a fulltone fulldrive 2 on my board - i dig it, but maybe it's not for everybody? i like the creaminess i get from it, not so crazy on the harmonic overtones like the ocd - and it seems to work well with my tele + vox combo.

voxes are the way to go, too. i love 'em. if you have to buy a new one and can't afford a vintage one, make sure you get the alnico blue speaker in it - really chimey and bell-like.

i would say that i can't live without my dl4 though... that's probably the most important pedal on my board.

way to go, vicky - i hope you get a mono. my wife got me one this past christmas, and it's the bomb. it's an all-weather gig bag and it works perfect for the snowy winters we get out here in chicago. i'm friends with someone who works for them and that was how i discovered them.

i've never been able to really get a good tone out of the fulldrive. they sound too thin to me, but i did just order one of the new red Fat Boosts, and it should arrive today. but i do agree about the TU-2, i have two of them, one on my pedalboard and one for my acoustics.


i do have to question the person who was using Crate amps, though. i'm not here to pick fights, but i've never liked anything they produced except their acoustic amps, which i've never understood the point of really. that's what PA's are for. but as amps go, i'll take a Vox AC30 over any other amp any day of the week, boutique or otherwise. i just don't think they can be beat.


probably the best pedal i ever bought, other than the Boss tuner though, has been an Analogman Comprossor (no, that's not a misspelling, that's the name he gave it). they're pretty expensive, but it's the best sounding compressor i've ever used. it doesn't squash all of your attack like a lot of others do. it literally makes the DynaComp sound like a toy, but i guess it should at 3 times the price... that thng's never leaving my board.

As far as cases go I cant recommend hiscox in the uk enough, good prices, lightweight hardcases (wont kill your baggage allowance or ding your guitar). I have one for my strat and acoustic.

Somebody mentioned something about tubescreamers, Ive been using a Fulltone Full Drive 2 which is absolutely superb and very responsive, check them out, definately worth the money and not too much drive for worship.

Also I can agree with the last commentaer that a Boss Tu-2 Floor tuner is a "must" in any guitar rig.

Liam
liambyrnes.co.uk

Sounds like you have what my guitarist calls GAS Vicky. Gear Acquisition Syndrome. Can't get enough.

So when it comes to what I can't do without... well, as an acoustic player I don't use much. But my Boss stomp tuner is essential. Second is not really gear, but I'm in love with my new Breedlove acoustic. It's amazing.

But that's about it... I don't haul around much. Except my G7th performance capo. Love that too.

Also, the great thing about those hybrid cases is that they won't take them from you on the plane because it's "soft", and they don't want to wreck your guitar. Good call.

my Scottish friend has an original TS808 Tubescreamer that i borrowed the other night (yeah, the ones that are selling for like $700 on ebay). i AB'd it with my ts9 and although they were VERY similar, i could tell a definite difference. my ts9 will be on its way to analogman soon to get his vintage 808 mod for the ts9. it was the happiest i had been with my tele in a long time.

on another gear note, i'm pretty much convinced that LR Baggs makes the best acoustic pickups around. i have a breedlove with a fishman blender, that when it's plugged in, it sounds like the pickup more than the guitar. my Hummingbird has the Baggs Element, which is cheaper than the Fishman, but when i plug it in, it sounds like my guitar, which after, all, if you have a nice guitar, is the point...

Thanks, BUSH! Do you know how those compare to the ones made by Ultimate Ears? I think I've heard quite a few people use those too... I haven't looked into Westone at all, but it looks great!

Linz, I've posted a little info regarding price and features for a number of electronic pianos. Hope you find it helpful! Here it is:
http://www.jonathanpaulmusic.com/misc/2008-02-28_vicky_blog__linz_keyboard_question.html

I don't really have to much to say on gear right now, except use ebay and craig's list. Two huge resources for deals and great gear. Oh yea, really cool blog. :)

Hooray, I am loving this Gear-Fest!! May it continue!!! : )

currently I'm using the shure SM58 mic, I love it, it picks up the good parts of my voice.
I also use crate amps... they are pretty spiffy for gearheads.
personally I like the local music stores more than corporate ones like guitar center. if you're ever in VA i recomend Pickers Supply in downtown Fredericksburg. they have vintage and antique Gibsons, seriously, guitars from 1930's, freakin sweet!

I'm looking into getting a keyboard, possibly a casio privia, any thoughts or suggestions?

my custom molded Westone Dual Drivers are the best thing i've bought in a long time. i can't imagine going back to wedges or even cheap in ear monitors.

Oh! How could I forget Sweetwater.com? I buy the bulk of my music gear from either Sweetwater or Guitar Center. Of course, Guitar Center is great because you can go in and get your hands on the gear (as long as it's something they stock). Sweetwater is great because they have a lot of really knowledgeable people willing to talk to you on the phone (or by email) about almost anything you could imagine in the area of music - and this is a huge help in selecting gear. I've dealt with the same Sweetwater sales guy for years, and he's always a big help when we talk.

You're right on that one, Mandy! There are a couple pieces of gear I really want right now, but I'm not buying them because I don't actually *need* them. Although, if it comes down to it, I guess I could survive without some of my other acquisitions...

Hmmm... Get ready, this is going to be a long one. :o)

On the music gear front, "soft synths" have been my latest discovery. I picked up Ivory (by Synthogy) which helps me miss my piano a little less while I'm on the other end of the country. You need to use Ivory with a good controller (and run it on a pretty beefy computer), and I'm still on the quest for the perfect controller. I tried the Fatar VMK-188 Plus, but it didn't work with my computer, and Fatar support in the US is abysmal...

Another great soft synth is the E-Mu Proteus Pack. This is a set of seven or so soft synths that are derived from the great rack-mount synths that came out around a decade ago. All kinds of good sounds, and you can also tweak it as well. I just started to play with a couple of other soft synths as well, Rapture and Dimension Pro. They both seem pretty capable. My one complaint is that it doesn't seem possible to browse through the sound presets like you can on a normal synth, just using the up/down preset buttons on your controller or the scroll wheel. Instead, you seem to have to use the mouse to switch sounds - which gets tedious when you're spending hours going through thousands of sounds. If you're curious about soft synths, there are also plenty of them available for free online.

I think some of the soft-synths have a ways to go before they will be ready for use in any kind of a performance setting... just because of usability and good integration with the controller surfaces. They are great in the studio though, especially the home studio. You get a lot of great sounds in one place which are easy to modify and to record with. I also find it much easier to integrate the soft synths with the recording solutions. You can play back the MIDI tracks on your computer and you don't have to hook it to an external synth to get the sounds to be right. Once you've got them right, you can easily bounce it down to an audio file format of your choice.

Another piece of music gear I'm excited about lately (though yet to purchase) is the JBL "LSR4326P Pak" or the "LSR4328P Pak" studio monitors. These allow you to have a setup in a home or project studio which compensates automatically for the frequency response of the room you're in. This means that you get really accurate sound without having to pay thousands of dollars for room treatment foam for the walls. Of course, you get what you pay for, but for about one grand, these allow you to have a pretty accurate studio monitor setup.

Also on the mixing/mastering end, Ozone 3 by Izotope is a really great little mastering plugin that can be had for less than a couple hundred bucks (do a search for the M-Audio branded version). You'll end up with better results if you do just your tracking at home and spend the coin to have the mixing and mastering done by the pros. However, if you need to do everything yourself or want to make a demo sound nice, this utility has great bang for the buck. You can download this for free - to try out for ten days - from the Izotope website.

I've played with a number of multi-track and loop-based recording software solutions for Mac and PC, and recently started messing around with Project5 - and I've really been enjoying it (Sorry, Mac fans, this one's PC only - at least for now). I found it a little vexing at first, but it doesn't take long at all until you're really flying along - getting all the parts laid out in top gear! This is particularly nice for songwriters who want to work out a couple parts together. Then at least you have the ideas in place for whatever band you're working with and they can take it from there.

So far as the iPhone goes, I've got a couple friends/coworkers who one one, and I've owned various "smart" phones. Apple does a great job of making something look and feel simple and stylish. Their stuff usually works great too. If you'd like to have an iPod and don't, or if you are looking to upgrade your phone and are with ATT already, or if you just really like the appeal of the iPhone, these are all decent reasons to go for it. On the con side, I don't think the current iPhone has voice dialing (though I could be wrong on this). Also, without having actual buttons, dialing a number can be trickier - particularly in some situations like driving in your car (which you shouldn't be doing anyway). I also know it's a little hard to hold on to when you're talking on the phone. Not aweful, it just takes some getting used to. If you're wanting to dig in a little more, a site I've used when considering new phones is PhoneScoop.com. Here's a link to their iPhone page: http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/user_reviews.php?phone=1110

Even better, here's an article from Network World on Ten Things Apple Did Right - and Wrong - with the iPhone: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/063007-10-things-apple-did-right.html

The thing that would kill it for me is number three on their "wrong" list. No voice recording. I'm constantly recording new ideas to the SD memory card in my phone, and I don't think I could do without that. This is classic Apple - do a couple things well and keep it simple. Very simple; like the one button mouse. :o)

...and sorry, everybody, for the length of this post. (Nathan, you might have to go for both a lunch and a dinner break while reading *this* one.) Maybe somebody else will post something even longer and then I won't be the long pole in the tent! :o) Music gear is a fun thing to talk about... and don't get me started on photography! :o) (I just moved to the D300, which I love - for the most part - though I still miss my D70 in some ways. That camera felt like home. ...and there are a couple of lenses I have my eye on that I could really make some good use of...) Thankfully, writing only requires a pen a paper. That's one thing I love about it!

Question #1 for the community: Has anybody here come across a decent electronic drummer (or drum loop library) that works ok for laying down some scratch tracks to? I've tried a few and haven't found anything I'm close to happy with yet. Clearly, a real drummer is a much better solution most of the time, but there are times when that's not practical.

Question #2 for the community: Any advice on air travel with gear, particularly keyboards? Is it better to rent something at your destination, or are there any good tricks to bringing your own gear with you on the plane without having to pay a heavy fee?

Oh no, gear...this will be dangerous for my bank account