The Most "Awesome" gear setup, you've had...past or current.

[milod]

I think one's concept of "good gear" changes with time, public expectations, different physical characteristics of venues and - let's face it, some of the effects of age on one's bod.

 

When I bought my big stompin' tube amp, much of the reason for it was that it would blow out windows in any saloon I played in, I could probably make it double for bass if needed with those two 12-inch speakers, and it had two separate pre-amp sections so I could run mikes through one end and guitar through the other and do small solo gigs.

 

The problem? Two of 'em. One is weight in spite of the wheels on it, the other is that yeah, two speakers and plenty of power but nowadays even in small venues solo you should have more than one speaker "source."

 

So I'm looking at a really inexpensive, small room pa with a cupla 10-12 inch speakers that will handle both guitar and vocal - perhaps even bass straight through. If I could figure how to run more stuff through a laptop, including the guitar... <grin> We'll see.

 

Bottom line is that I'm increasingly convinced "we" forget that a lotta what "we" look for is tone - but what audiences perceive is whether or not we're entertaining them regardless of what style we consider that we're playing.

 

Call it "bling" or whatever you want to, it's far more important whether you're playing rock, pop, folk, country, jazz... and it's gotta make a given crowd happy on any given night.

 

A 10 percent difference in guitar tone doesn't mean crap to a young couple spending more than they should on a night out - or to an older couple doing pretty much the same. Are you making them feel their nickel is well spent? If so, you're successful. If not, you're not.

 

Your tone isn't all that relevant except to you. That even includes other guitar players. I've often told bands I've "covered" for article purposes that their pa is outa whack, but never that the guitar player's tone is bad. I can tell when a picker is comfy with his guitar and the stuff he's playing - but mostly that's what really matters anyhow.

 

One reason I'll support HenryJ's new Firebird in concept is that it looks to me as if it's something I could use to be more of an entertainer 'stedda the boring old guitar picker and singer that I've been for increasingly close to a half century.

 

Last night I was banging out "copy" on the keyboard and listened to an old open tuning thing I did recorded on somebody else's guitar just to see how it sounded when I wasn't pickin'. It didn't sound bad and was a different "sound." On any gig, a bit of variety never hurts. But I don't wanna carry a batch of guitars. Push a button and change from a light jazz electric sound to an acoustic in an open G sounds pretty good to me.

 

So.... I keep thinkin' for me solo or any "soft" sorta duo or trio I'm likely to gig with... what's wrong with just a decent pa with pieces I can carry, decent mikes and stands and a bit of gamesmanship with the guitar - and a set of dry, wry jokes on a laptop? And... if I could afford it, one of the fancy new Gibbies?

 

m