vern_mcelroy

I bought one of these new in 1995 for about $300 US. It gives you a (True) bypass, then a choice of clean/Blues or Blues/Solo; the Blues being a subtly grindy overdrive and the Solo a full on high gain sound. All of it coming from 2 12ax7's which you can switch out for tonal color more to your taste if you like-I put in NOS Sylvania 12au7's. Every sound coming from this pedal is sparkly and shines with rich harmonics and sweet topend, and the distortion is always rich and musical. Life choices wound up with me quitting guitar-and eventually a ton of other things- and so I didn't use it for awhile. When I picked up the guitar again I went through a ton of different OD/Preamps- Tube Screamers, MXR, a Chandler, and settled on an AMT SS-20. I had loaned my V-Twin to a pal, and when I got it back and plugged it in : Effin MAGIC !!! So I bought one off eBay in 2009 for $300...

I have tried every other envelope type effect, its one of my favorites, and while the WMD Fatman comes close there is no other pedal that gives up the funk (Or the Jerry if that's your thing) better than the Mutron III You can hear the difference mainly when the whole band is playing- you don't get the same level drop most envelope followers have. A Classic and unbeatable really...

When I was a kid my friends sisters BF turned us on to a lot of music (Partying too !) One of the things he hipped us to that really stuck with me was the Pat Travers Band, and the record he played all the time was the live on from 1978 or 1979 "Go For What You Know" Well years later in a club after a soundcheck I was talking with a sound guy who said Travers used to use the "Script 90" so when I switched to guitar from bass it was like the second pedal I bought. Phaser is kind of like the older sister of the Flanger, not as short of a skirt, and not as tight of a body, but y'all can talk about stuff for hours...HAHAH EXACTLY !! Must have for that 70's rawktastic sound...

My best buddy has a pedal board with 4 digital delays on it, says you can't have to many. Personally Ive always preferred the sort of fuzzy and dissolving quality of analog delay- I figure the digital stuff is in every laptop and studio rack so there's always chances to use it. My favorite thing about this pedal pother than the sound, which is FABULOUS, is that you have 2 delays and you can switch between say a slap back and a more reverie long thing and not give up too much real estate on the ground...Ive been stomping on the one I bought for about 8 years and it doesn't even hummm...

I luv this effect and generally default to BOSS if Im not digging too deep. I use it on only a few songs but it really sounds nice, though I might upgrade to a tube based one with vibrato included.... Solid pedal tho

Ive not investigated any other octavers; back in the 90s this was hands down the one that tracked best- especially using a single coil guitar like I mostly do. Another solid pedal from Boss that werks good on bass or guitar- add in a envelope and you can fake some Stevie Wonder or P-Funk classics

I got one of these- I think a 2007- from a Parisian fellow who had just knocked up his gal; he took $800 cash; it had barely been played. I had Gary Brawer in SF set it up and put som Lindy Frailen "PAFs" in it and its really great for that Montrose one type of riffage, and it plays real easy. Im thinking it needs Lollars because the Frailins are a bit to chunky when it isn't getting overdrive, but a fabulous and simple guitar.

It tends to be a little raspier than a mesa V-Twin but these are kick ass tube distortion/preamp/overdrive pedals. Built really solid and nary a click or squeak after 3 years of gigging. Ive loaned it to a friend who says its got him playing electric again. Good value for something built so solid and does a bunch of stuff well...

All due respect to the Australians but I got one built there and one built in China and they are both just kick-ass large diaphragm condensers for the hobby recordist. Throw these on a vocal with a pop-filter, mic an acoustic; if you have pre with a bad they actually are pretty durable and sparkly overheads (Though they clip quick so if your drummer pounds it out maybe get the M5s) These mics can NOT be beat for price and performance...

These things are indestructible and for the money they are AMAZING !!! Very user friendly small diaphragm condensers with a selectable high pass and come with a pop-filter included. GREAT for drum overheads, and also really great on vocals and clean guitar. Rode is just awesome imo

I bought 4 of these in 2008 and since then Ive not had a single issue. These cables cost a bit more, but small price to pay for NEVER having your stuff hiss, buzz, and/or pop at live or recording gigs, and I have yet to have one fail.

A buddy who is a pro recordist hipped me to these; he sort of said "You need a Studio Channel" I was like "What, now ???" For pretty cheap you get tube and solid state drive, compression, and really usable EQ. Theres low pass/high pass; switchable phase, and ground lift all on the front along with phantom power, and you can go I&O either xlr or 1/4" or any mix of. If you need some front end for recording but your not trying to start a studio THIS is THE box...

I have one much older than the one in the pic, but I swear by the Marshall 4X10; its like a half stack thats useable in small clubs. Also the 10's just ring and chime so much better than 12's, but you really don't lose low end, in fact you get a tighter more usable low-mid kind of a rumble. When I got mine they were going off eBay or CL for $200-300, well worth it...

I was using ProTools but then they decided they'd rather do the bulk of their biz with pro's and sacrifice the market share they had with work-a-day home recorders. Happily StudioOne is easy to use and reasonably priced, and while they don't really take phone calls they answer emails pretty quickly. Professionals can and do make market releases with this software, but Presonus doesn't seem to share the elitist tendencies of some other DAW makers, and so working class people like myself can access this wonderful product...

Just added one to my set-up and really like it. If you put all the knobs on ten then back off a little you can find that crazy watery almost tremolo effect you hear on some Jimmy Page stuff; and set more moderately its a cool sort of shimmery thing you can add in place of chorus or phaser- more subtle, but still nice...

Hahahaha ! Seriously tho I learned recording on one of these; just so much fun. After 8 or so years of digital recording I actually pulled mine out of storage. There is something very beneficial to having to strictly manage track counts- like if it doesn't sound good with just 2 you won't fool yourself into thinking you can overdub or mix your way to a good song when there isn't one there. Also you can take the cassette out and flip it over and do backwards things; bounce rhythm to stereo or mono and add stuff. Man I can't say enough good things about these...

A blue one of these ways my first "Real" instrument. A place called Black Market Music in SF used to let gigging musicians pay 1/2 and take the gear and pay the rest as you could-coolest elfin shop ever and I miss them :-( Anyway these are light, but neck through so you don't sacrifice any low end. It is SO easy to fret, and I pulled it out of storage after maybe 6 years and it was still perfectly intonated. Mine came with EMGs and so it has a nice high-mid clatter, but bump up the bass pot and its got a deep dance music rumble. Kick ass bass...

So I was using a Fender HRD 4X10 combo and it was heavy as F---; also it had a marvelous sound, buuuut couldn't give me that "British" tone Ive always loved. I was bemoaning how crappy newer Marshalls sounded to me and a friend said "You need a clone..." Well I searched around and stumbled across this on eBay. I messaged the seller who turns out also built it, and he was gracious in answering all my questions so I bought it. Luckiest thing I did in 2008. Micheal Whitney at that time was an engineer on a nuclear submarine and when he was home from a tour he would go back to his first love which was guitar and building stuff for that. This is a 50 watt clone of an early 80's JCM, though the circuit he used crunches out more like a 70's Hiwatt- brilliant and sandy and bright but not that scorching Marshall tremble, more midrangy and spongy if that makes sense. Switchable at the back for 4-8-16 ohms, 2 speaker outs. Thing is great and plenty loud, but has a 1/2 power switch that will run the tubes as triodes instead of pentodes- drops the wats by roughly half. Clean sounds are bright but not cackling and it takes to the mostly Teles I play quite nicely. I dunno if he is still making amps but if you EVER see one GRAB IT !!!

I picked one of these up from Jam's Gear Cellar on Reverb; the guy actually gave me a deal on it and I think its the one of the best sounding heads Ive had the pleasure to know. Mine is in the small size so sits on a old Marshall 4X10 cab perfectly. I prefer overdrive to all out crunch- much more UFO or Thin Lizzy than Metallica or Mastadon- and this has that '80's Marshall sizzle and shine with a fat low mid. I very slightly push the front end with a Mesa V-Twin pedal and its just sings, and for that sort of crumbly Marshall clean tone it delvers chime and overtones in buckets...A great amp the guitar Gods allowed me to luck into as I couldn't afford to pay what these go for..

Ive always preferred 10's, actually still do, but current gig is to play (My humble attempts at) lead in a band with a mostly rhythm and singer so I got some 12's because, well, everyone ever who Ive listened to...Solid cab, great sound, easy-wish to haul around. I highly recommend them first for sound, second for build quality, third for great sound...

Really great sounding circuit- kind of the best of the new with dialable oldish tones; perfect Fender top end. When I had one I had the back "Closed" with a panel, also got a pentode/triode switch put in to drop the power by roughly 1/2- that mod gave it a almost Voxlike tone. Honestly I probably wouldn't have sold it but lifting it was killing me at the time (I was in the worst shape Ive ever been in) Luckily it is still in my orbit and I use it from time to time and with relatively little back ache ! Haha. For the money you can not beat this amp...

I started on Bass and in my youthful exuberance MY hero's were Entwistle, Chris Squire, Geddy, and an abiding luv of Lemmy, so after a few years using various head/cabs- SVT, Peavy, SWR; I wound up chasing the Doug Pinnick dragon and got a rack; 1/2 of a stereo power amp was a ART that was basically dry, the other half I used one of these. WOW are these things awesome; very musical and rich crunch/distortion and switchable with their 4 button controller- I got some amazing sounds from this, though never tried it with Guitar. Nice cackling high midsized, and the presence dialed in a sweet sizzle. Great for the money and really versatile.

These things can't be beat. I switched from bass to guitar some years back and was getting OJT in a Blues collective. I had very little money to spend and I needed to hear myself and at the Blues Farm things were L O U D ! Most of the Fender (Twins/Deluxes) and all of the Marshalls were out of my price range, but I happened upon one of these Ampeg VT's a t Zone Music in Northern California. This amp didn't colour the sound one way or another, but reproduced a fairly flat tone with massive volume and headroom- plug in a preamp and you can get some nice sounds, all of them very usable. It has a pentode/triode switch, and effects loop, and 3 channels that are footswitchable. Really a super versatile amp that can't be beat for value. If you play classic rock run an OD into the front, if its nu-metal switch that for a super distortion pedal. Whatever you put in gets amplified and you will be able to hear yourself in just about any situation...