Acoustic Stuff
Breedlove AC-25 SR (on the right): I got this baby...sometime after college? Solid spruce top, rosewood laminate back and sides and fretboard, I think. Fishman 4 pickup. Not going to lie, I'd never heard about this guitar company before Shane Barnard started rocking it, and now I'm hooked. It's not super fancy, and it just sounds good, plugged in or unplugged. Very balanced tone that I'll usually turn to if it's just me and my guitar. My workhorse.
Taylor 314CE-LTD (on the left): Very, very recent acquisition that's quickly become my number 1 guitar. Solid spruce top, solid mahogany (probably) back and sides, ebony fretboard. Fishman pickup, Taylor Prefix Plus system. I don't actually know tons about what this guitar is all about, since I got it in a trade. I will say that it's an incredible guitar. It projects just like a Taylor, which is one of the reasons I've been using it so much; you can eq a guitar however you'd like, but when I'm playing in a band, I want to be able to hear and feel my guitar, and this one delivers. It actually sounds pretty decent going straight into the board, too, which is a huge surprise.
Of course, I can't get my mind off of the Tom Anderson Crowdster, both because I love the David Crowder*Band and because feedback with an acoustic guitar is something that's so hard to get away from, particularly when you're rocking it with an obscene amount of stage volume. Which I am known to do. In my mind.
Most guys don't put anything between their acoustic and the board. I'm not most guys. I've had a lot more and a lot less here, but right now it's pretty clean. Hardwire tuner into Fishman Aura pedal, into Strymon O.B. 1 optical compressor, to my Countryman DI. I use and love the Pedaltrain boards because I like how sturdy they feel and the sleek, professional look that they give off, since you can route all of your cables underneath the board super easily, and I'm kind of looking at the new Nano for my day-to-day acoustic needs, because I almost never need more than this.
The Fishman is magical, and it makes me sound better. The compressor is usually at a pretty low setting, just to give me a more consistent sound. And the boost button is really nice when I'm doing some background finger-picking, setting the mood, or when I need to take a face-melting acoustic solo. The tuner is to keep me in tune. And also to act as a mute button. Gotta have the mute button.
Electric stuff:
Guitars (left to right): Fender Squier Classic Vibe 50's Telecaster, Ben-der brand Parts-o-caster, Epiphone Les Paul Standard with Gibson pickups.It's funny, as much as I like playing nice guitars, I don't own any expensive electrics. A Squier, a mutt, and an Epiphone. Oh well.
I've stuck mostly to these three guitars (just chillaxing by the couch) because I think I can get a huge range of sounds with these. With a Strat, a Les Paul and a Tele, you can range anywhere from Rock to Country to Metal (kind of) to Jazz to Blues and all points in between. At the very least, you can do all sorts of flavors of rock, which is what I'm aiming for. There's just something magical about these three guitars that means that I'll always have one of each specie in my collection, and these three particular guitars all have surprisingly good tone for their prices. Not perfect tone, mind you. But really quite good.
What do I still desire? Something with P90's, like a Les Paul Jr. And I'm really gunning for some form of semi-hollowbody guitar with humbuckers, like an ES-335 or a Gretsch, just because I think that's a wonderful tone.My effects change with the wind, it seems, but here's the most recent picture. (Click here for the semi-detailed rundown, noting that the only difference is an MXR Dynacomp in place of the Strymon OB.1, and I've switched out tuners.) It looks complicated (and in all honesty, it probably is) but it's been designed with an eye towards simplicity. The volume pedal, Dynacomp and BBE Sonic Stomp are always in the chain. Other than that, I've got varying levels of overdrive, some tremolo, and lots of delay. As every modern worship guitarist should. And some reverb. I've also got a JHS Little Black Buffer hidden on the underside of my pedalboard, because what it does is so startlingly brilliant and impossible to live without that I'm never playing without one again.
Other effects I have but don't have on the board: Boss CE-2 Chorus, Boss GE-7 EQ pedal, a Keeley modded DS-1, an MXR Carbon Copy Analog delay and a VOX Wah that's been modded for True Bypass. Other pedals that I've got my eye on are infinite, but I'd really like to check out some kind of POG, (probably just the Micro POG), maybe a phaser, and maybe upgrade my Tremolo with a Cusack Tap-a-whirl. Stuff like that. I also really like my Fulltone Fullboost 2, but I'm really intrigued by the JHS Morning Glory overdrive. Or maybe just the drive it's copying, the Marshall Bluesbreaker. The original, not the version 2. If I had but thousands more dollars...
My amps are also a place where I could spend way more. At the very least, I need some great tubes and a nice speaker upgrade for both of them, likely. My Blues Jr. (left) has been a staple for me for a few years. It's nothing super special, but I just like it as an accessible, base tone. It's got reverb, a full tone stack, and a master volume, which makes it really versatile. And it's low-watt, which means I can get a lot of natural tube distortion without killing myself and everyone else in the room via sonic ice-picks. Next to it is the Fender Musicmaster Bass amp, which is all rock. It's got two 6v6s, a volume and a tone knob, and that's pretty much it. It's from the late 70's, and everything about it is original, so it definitely needs some love. But it just rocks. Not very descriptive, I know, but I'm not sure I possess the words. Oh, and fun fact, Fender hand-wired all of their amps up until sometime in the 80's. So there's that.Just like every section proceeding it, there are some amps I'd love to have or at least try out. An AC-30. Some kind of Matchless or /13 or otherwise boutique amp. But at least I've got two amps with two different kinds of tubes, which is a great start.
So that's it. And it's a journey that's never over, but then, if it were, it wouldn't be much of a journey, would it? I think my gear and sounds are heavily influenced by who I like, so if you like the stuff I do, you might want to look into: Hillsong United, David Crowder*Band, Chris Tomlin, John Mark McMillan, Matt Maher, John Mayer, and to a lesser extent, Ray LaMontagne and Dave Matthews Band.