Eldridge Chen

My go-to beater guitar. It has great tonal qualities, especially when upgrading pickups (American Traditionals use Mexican electronics). It will survive any gigging situation, it will not disappoint in the studio. Used this guitar for almost 10 years and I am not buying another strat any time soon.

If you are searching for an extended range guitar that is not tailored towards heavy-metal players, then there aren't many options. This guitar is great for a cheap hollow-body jazz 7-string. The electronics are not quite great, nor is the general finish of the body or fretboard. However for practicing/jamming with a pseudo bassist, and for the price, there is a lot of fun to be had.

Whenever I play a notable venue which could realistically fit a 2x12, this amp goes with me. There is simply no better amp to reproduce those crystal clear bell tones of a Strat. Except maybe a Princeton, but I've found that Twin Reverbs are just so widely available that venues have absolutely no problem renting them. No boutiquey sounds but very reliably crisp and soulful nonetheless. It also keeps my (drive) pedals really punchy and articulate.

It's a more dynamic Fulldrive 2 AND it has a separate boost channel. I used to play with a Fulldrive 2 but the boost was hardly relevant (perhaps for lead soloing). Now the boost gets more playtime than the drive channel because it just works. In terms of hardware it's exactly a Fulltone 2B pedal, with a drive channel that surpasses the Fulldrive 2 (yes I'm convinced of it). Funfact: I got serial #21 for my 21th birthday, say what!?

This pedal is discontinued and I think the reason is that it doesn't have much sonic identity. It's a bit of clean boost, drive, fuzz and/or compressor. The reason I still have it and use it is because of a particular setting which gives me a very useable fuzz sound for bass riffs. Maybe guitar players are too spoiled to have to use 1 button for 4 'essential' guitar sounds.

I have held many picks in my career but there is nothing like the grip of the Cactus Picks. They are not easy to find outside of the US but I highly recommend them. They sound (and feel) like Dunlop Nylon 0.88's but they are superior in tone and playability.