Chris DaSilva

The amazing ability to go from clear, clean acoustic to blazing rock overdriven sounds is almost mind boggling. Add to the stellar electronics a smooth, fast playing neck, thin profile and great look, and this guitar gets a lot of admirers. If mostly used for its acoustic settings, a light set of acoustic strings can be used. I do a lot of electric playing, so I use a light gauge electric set. The 5 way selector switch allows the guitar to range from acoustic to almost any electric sound (strat, Les Paul, tele, and more). It's the ONE guitar I've held onto while selling and buying many others.

There's a reason many famous guitarists use this pedal. The sound is really amazing. I would describe it as an overdrive pedal, rather than a distortion pedal. I can get nice, subtle overdrive out of it, and then crank up the drive to get some great heavy overdrive perfect for lead. I'm pretty sure I'll never replace it, however I have thought often of adding another to it, so that I have both my favorite settings ready to go during live performances.

This is basically a ukelele sized nylon string guitar, but tuned a fourth above a traditional guitar. It's a great way to get a unique sound in your mix. I was particularly interested because I wanted a ukelele (or something similar) but didn't want to learn a new instrument, so this was perfect. Naturally, the frets are small, but I have long fingers and can get around it just fine. This model is acoustic-electric, so it's great for small gigs and open mics (those nights I don't want to lug around a full guitar!).

I purchased this electronic kit because it was affordable and quiet, which is important being in an apartment. There's nothing fancy about this kit, however it does have a very nice mesh head snare, which feels much like an actual snare. The pedals are designed in such a way that there is no "thump" sound, again great when living in an apartment. Roland now makes an HD-3 as well as at least one other entry model. The HD-1 is a bit outdated, but suits me just fine for practicing and writing drum parts. It's also good for recording, if you know what you're doing and can improve the stock sound of the drums in your recording software. The stock sound is fine, but nothing incredible.