Gear
Guitars, amps, pedals, cables, strings, etc. are tools to help you say what it is in your music you are trying to say.
I own and play guitars for their different voices. Currently I am using a small Taylor 30th anniversary for finger picking and because of the mahogany body it is very articulate and warm. For electric a Fender Wildwood 10 Strat gives me the classic Hendrix tone along with my workhorse Tom Anderson Classic Strat with a Buzz Feiten tuning system.
Thanks to Joe Gamble for selling me his Reverend guitar with p90's. The p90's offer a nice overdriven sound when pushing an amp into slight distortion. For slide and some finger-picked parts a National Reso-phonic Delta model steel body for the Chicago blues sound. For hum-bucking I am using a Gibson 339 that screams on the lead pickup and is fat and jazzy on the neck. It has a wonderful slide tone as well.
I have used a Fender Champ for orchestra pit gigs and a 10 piece band cooking along. In the past my Dr. Z Maz Junior has been used at outdoor festivals for it's ability to cut through a mix. Recently a friend built an 18 watt amp with a 15in. Weber speaker that I am now using for gigs. No reverb just tone and volume! I think we are calling it a "TimTone". Thank you Tim Tucker. I would love to use both the Maz and TimTone at a gig sometime...Fox Theater please call!
The bottom line...
Sound must live in our hands! In the 90's I heard Eric Clapton play at an AA concert in California and he performed on another guitarist's gear. He just walked up and the bands guitarist handed him his axe and off he went. He sounded fantastic. It looked like a Les Paul type of guitar and who knows what amp. He sounded like everything he has ever played.
Where does this come from? Your skin, your finger pressure, your
vibrato, your emotions, your heart. Oh yeh and hours and hours of practice!
I have been using Mackie's Tracktion 3 software for awhile with a Mackie Satellite. I like the layout and find it easy to use. The recordings on the Martian Acres website have been done with this recording software. With Addictive Drums as my "drummer" one of the coolest pieces of software I am using for recording is Jimi Hendrix Amplitube. It rocks and is quickly taking the place of mic's and amps in my studio.
We are living in a golden age for musicians that play today. Every kind of guitar imaginable in every price range with amps that blow the roof off for great tone and character.
Musicians
I want to mention the many great local musicians that I have been lucky enough to know and play with! They are playing somewhere soon so go check them out.
Chris Malley, Rick Franz, Kurt Reber, Dennis Wanebo, Daniel Jones, Lisa Bell, Larry Thompson, Bob Rebholz, John Armstrong, Bijoux Barbosa, Kem Stralka, Bob Cannistraro, Kelly Shanafelt, Tony Johnson, Rebecca Folsom, Brian Herman, Mike Hockin, Edwin Hurwitz, Chris Engleman, Christian Teele, Mickey Donofrio, Dik Darnell, Ricky Bird, Joe Andrevich, Kevin Lehman, Jennifer Lane, Chris Sutlff, Andrew Salas, Liz Valles, Paul Cotugno, Robert Johnson, Peggy Craven, Ray and Susan Ingraham, Tim Carmichael, Rich Benge, Eric Bernhardt, Steve Boynton, Cameron Chinatti, Joe Diamo, Gary Hamor, Henrey Lokay, Linda Lewellyn, Steve Mesple, Dean Oldencott, Michael Olson, David Patryas, Dexter Payne, Ricardo Pena, Marni Pickens, Curt Pleiss, Tom Carleno, Jay Stern, Adam Rey, Frank Romero, Blain Ross, Mary Russell, Jeremy Sandoval, Brent Smith, Nina Storey, Yvonne Underhill, Craig Westwood, Jason Uren, Grace Wanebo, Evan Weigel, Derek Weiman, Griff Wendland, Daniel Benade, Alex Cordell, Anthony Web, Bruce Fleet, John Arnold, Retta Yarbrough.
Incredible! Enjoy.