I thought I'd officially start this blog by sharing with you the gear that I've accumulated over the last 10 years:
Guitars
James Tyler Variax JTV-69 :
My main workhorse guitar, I can't remember the last time I used a different guitar in a Worship set.
It's the most versatile guitar I've ever come across, change type of guitar, change tuning electronically. If you haven't heard about it, check it out here (http://uk.line6.com/jtv-69/)
I've customised it with a maple fender neck and put the Tyler locking tuners on it.
Never goes out of tune.
Parkwood PWH4 :
I've had this guitar for about 7 years, as I wanted a guitar that could handle acoustic as well as electric guitar tones.
It plays quite like a Gretsch / 335 semi-hollow / Taylor T5 guitar, also has a couple of modes which allows you to either fully select the piezo pickup located in the bridge or blend the two tones together.
Currently for sale, if anyone is interested.
Crafter Acoustic guitar :
Cutaway acoustic guitar that I only really use when entertaining my sons.
Effects
Pod HD500 :
I've been a fan of the Pod series of guitar effects for about 7 years. Firstly had a Pod XT Live, then a X3 Live, now the HD500. I've had the 500 for about 2 years and I'm still finding different sounds and my tone is ever evolving. We use in-ear monitors in our church, so loud amps with lots of hum and distortion would not go down well, so Pod HD500 is perfect.
I especially love the way it talks to my Variax guitar. Each preset can load a different type of guitar and the tuning that it should use. For me this is the perfect solution to buying tons of different pedals and always having to bend down to adjust from song to song.
Line 6 M9 :
I bought the M9 because I was using my old X3 live which could only handle one delay at a time and I needed to be able to layer delays, which is now fulfilled by the HD500. I use this only as an emergency pedalboard to use if I go somewhere without a PA.
JHS Morning Glory :
Paul Cochrane Tim :
Another clean boost pedal from the US, not quite as transparent as the Morning Glory but is a good boost pedal with it own overdrive channel.
Freekish Blues Alpha Drive :
A solid drive pedal for blues which also has a rock setting too for the Blues Driver tone.
Ernie Ball Junior Volume Pedal :
Good solid volume pedal for my emergency pedalboard.
Amps
Kustom 10 watt practice amp :
My first amp which is a fairly good blank canvas for use with the HD500, just lacks the headroom of an amp with more watts.
Tech 21 Trademark 30 :
A nice amp with some really good headroom and can get really loud, handy as has 3 analog modes (fender/marshall/mesa) which can then be run either clean, crunch or hot.
Again good for not colouring the tone of the HD500.
My main signal chain goes like this :
Variax -> JHS Morning Glory -> Pod HD500 -> PA / Tech 21 Amp
If you have any comments or questions, I'd love to hear them.
