Braden Pace

Sweet, high quality guitar with Seymour Duncan humbuckers? Check. Acoustic sounds with LR Baggs bridge? Check. Countless possibilities with built-in synth pickup? Check. This guitar does everything and on top of that, it sounds good, feels good and plays good. I call this one my flagship.

I saw this at a pawn shop and had to have it, which is rare for me. Mine is blue with a quilted maple top. It feels amazing, has a very bright, beautiful sound to it. It has coil tap on the pickups, which makes a wonderful single coil sound that's as good as my Strat. It's a cherished part of my collection. Once I saw it, I thought "Do I keep my Chinese Tele or buy this?" It was a no-brainer.

I've hooked this up to my PRS and my American Fender Strat. Either one sounds incredible. Very warm tube sounds with the EL-844s I put in it. They run kinda hot, so I opted for the EL-844s by JJ instead of the traditional EL-84. Very versatile sound, takes pedals well. It's the kind of amp I wanted when I was 16 and now I finally have it.

I bought this used for $100 because there wasn't much volume coming out of it. Well, it turns out if it's missing a preamp tube, you can't get the volume you want. Plus it had a one of the preamp tube spots had a 12AT7 instead of a 12AX7, which would work, but it won't give you the sound that the amp was intended to have. Anyway, after retubing the amp, power tubes and all, the dirty channel sounds great. I'm having some weird issues with the clean channel, specifically a good bit of noise coming out when the bright switch is engaged, but I'm hoping a close inspection of the caps might reveal a minor fix. I may try the Fromel mod at some point. By the way, the Master volume isn't actually a Master volume. I originally thought that it had been modded to be that way, but apparently that's just how it's supposed to be. The "Master" volume is simply a volume for the Drive channel. Very odd. But overall, great sound, the potential is there. I may have to keep this one.

Like most folks out there, I really like the lead distortion mode. And yes, the "crunch" mode leaves a lot to be desired. However, I have found a use for Crunch mode: lowering the Drive and cranking the Level up makes for a nice boost, especially on tube amps.

Confession: I didn't intend to buy this, but I ended up getting it as a package deal with a Neo Clone. Truth be told, it has become one of my favorite drive pedals. It has almost a natural tube-like overdrive sound. Perhaps like a tubescreamer? Your mileage may vary, but out of the several drive pedals I have, this one vies for the top spot with my Boss SD-1.

This bass has the look and feel I've come to love in Ibanez basses. It's my main bass that I use for every genre. On top of it playing like a dream, it sounds great thanks to the Bartolini pickups that come in it. The neck is somewhat thin, which I personally love, and it's got a natural-feeling finish. If anything ever happened to it (God forbid!), I'd have to get another one just like it.

There's not a huge market for these kinds of basses, but it's far more versatile than you may think. You can essentially play it as a bass or a guitar depending on the sound you're going for. Feels very similar to a guitar, but undeniably a bass. I love having it as a tool in my arsenal. By the way, Ernie Ball makes the best gauged strings for models like this.

This is a more than worthy cheaper alternative to the Tubescreamer. For the price, I find it almost impossible to be disappointed.