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LegendaryTones Staff Gear: Pt 1 David Szabados From the birth of LegendaryTones nearly five years ago now as of this writing, I’ve literally corresponded with hundreds of people about tone, articles, as well as the website and music in general. Not only has LegendaryTones been an immensely satisfying site to create because of the content, but also because of the many people I’ve met, and the friendships I’ve developed. Indeed the Internet has really helped bring many of us together and that’s a great thing! One of the recurring questions that has come up has been, “So what gear do all of you at LegendaryTones have and use?” For me personally, that’s a tough question as I enjoy playing through a variety of gear and I’ve often changed things through the years as well. I enjoy the sense of experimentation and discovery. If I had an unlimited budget, I would’ve tried to keep everything or most everything, but realistically I often have to sell something in order to buy. Beyond that, these days I try to only keep those items that I can continuously use. The days are long gone when I owned 7 Marshall heads, a nearly equal number of cabinets, and about two dozen guitars. One day I looked at all this stuff and thought, “WHY am I doing this?” Much of that gear was basically not used and simply looked like a nice backdrop – I just didn’t have TIME to play it all. Now that said, I have no problems with collecting or collectors, but it just wasn’t my calling. I wanted to use the gear and I simply had too much. Here in 2005, I can look back and not really hold too much regret for most of the gear I’ve let go. Afterall, I’ve got some great tones at my disposal for all the varieties of music that I enjoy jamming, playing out, or playing at home. And it’s not too much or too little, but just right for my needs and uses. As the months go on, we’ll include features on the gear choices and musical backgrounds of our other writers and we hope you enjoy this inside look! So let’s get right to it. Guitars I was a teenager in the ‘80s as many of you know and so I grew up on “Super Strats” with humbucking high-output pickups and Floyd Rose bridges. Charvels, Kramers, Jacksons – you name it – I played it. Many people do enjoy holding on to the guitars of their youth, but I’ve since let all of mine go so I could get the guitars that I wanted to use and play now. In 1995, while still in my early 20’s, I bought my first “brand new” instrument and that was a U.S. made Fender Strat Plus that you see pictured on the wall at the left. Though I was playing pretty heavy stuff back then as well and the pickups are rather tame (but very quiet being Lace Sensors from the factory), I experimented with pedal boosting back then and so I was able to turn even a Strat into a metal monster when desired and used up with a Marshall amp. As that was my first brand-new instrument (everything else I ever owned was second-hand), I paid careful attention to cleaning it and was very particular about that. It was and remains a very special instrument now to this day ten years later. That is one guitar I can say with confidence will remain with me for life. Though I grew up on the scale and feel of a Stratocaster, I did always want a Les Paul and so in 2000, I purchased a stock Gibson Les Paul Classic in wine red finish. The slimmer neck is really about a medium profile by today’s standards and fits me perfectly – not extra skinny like a typical ‘80s guitar, nor super fat like many vintage necks. The pickups were upgraded to the Antiquities by Seymour Duncan; my favorite in our PAF-style pickup shootout conducted previously. Continuing on are two additional Stratocasters that I’ve acquired more recently over the past couple of years. The black one is a stock 1969 Custom Shop Relic that was made when the Fender Custom Shop was still producing them with an accurate two-piece maple “cap” neck. This is a wonderful instrument and is the one I split the most time on between it and my Strat Plus. I love the large headstock and medium thick neck. It also has the slick-gloss finish on the back of the neck which is a nice contrast to the satin finish of the Strat Plus. Astute Hendrix fans may note that this is essentially a copy of Hendrix’ favorite black Stratocaster as can be seen in the Isle of Wight DVD. To me, I think of it more along the lines as my “Pompeii Stratocaster” as it is the same model type as used by David Gilmour in the 1972 Pink Floyd video release “Live at Pompeii”. LegendaryTones writer Jon Dunn also owns a “Pompeii Stratocaster”, though his is actually closer in age to the real thing! The candy-apple-red Stratocaster is also by Fender’s Custom Shop and is a 1965 with a very comfortable rosewood board. The ’65 is an interesting mix as it has the early nitrocellulose and worn lacquer feel of the earlier Strats, while having some of the transition CBS features like the ’69. It’s interesting to note that if both of those Custom Shop instruments were the originals, that particular side of the wall would be worth about $30,000+. I’ve long moved away from any dabbling in the vintage guitar market. I’ve owned MANY other guitars, but the truth of the matter is that once a particular guitar became worth a certain dollar figure, I’d end up cashing it in. I’ve owned numerous early ‘70s Strats and while they were generally o.k. instruments, when I sold my original 1972 Olympic White Stratocaster with maple board, I was able to use the money and purchase the ’69 Custom Shop Strat AND I had plenty of money left to spare. To me, it was an obvious choice as the ’69 CS was and is a superior playing and sounding instrument compared to my 3-bolt ’72 with worn frets and various little issues. Finishing up my guitar collection is a mid 2000’s Fender Precision bass that only gets used when I need to do recordings and a 1997 Cordoba classical guitar. I get a lot of pleasure from changing gears and picking up the classical from time to time. While I was a rocker turned progressive and blues guitarist in terms of my personal interests, I enjoy playing both traditional classical pieces as well as giving a try to some of the Flamenco stuff from time to time. I’m by no means accomplished in this area! The guitar to the right of the Cordoba is a ¾ scale 1965 Fender Music Master that Santa brought for my daughter Samantha a couple years ago (along with her first amp, a Vox Brian May Special). Oh yes, then there's the Gretsch birch drum kit. I'm an intermediate drummer and enjoy playing a bit there too. But enough of that; let's talk AMPS! Amps More than guitars, I’ve been fascinated with amplifiers for years, inside and out. I’ve built, modified, and worked on many amplifiers and continue to spend time on them as a hobby these days for general stress-relief from my day-to-day work. In terms of amps that I’ve played and/or owned, the laundry list is just too large, but include all the classics, as well as various boutiques and modern high-gainers from a variety of companies. What remains are the amps that have worked the best for me for a number of reasons. Tastes have also changed over the years. All of my amps are original with regard to transformers and speaker components. I’m a “stickler” in this way and very much a traditionalist. I want the gear to be as it was when it was made and not modified. Especially since I’ve discovered and come full circle to understand that the stock gear can and does sound tremendous when you have the right pieces working with it in terms of your guitar, pickups, speakers, etc. For my tastes in harder rock, blues or metal, there’s usually a Marshall that can fit the bill. The “trick” I’ve discovered with Marshalls especially is again that you really need to match the rest of your components and rig to get the most out of them. And I’ve gone through years of the modification and customization route, all to realize that if you have all the “basic ingredients” covered, you WILL get all the great tones you hear on the albums. The ½ stack on the left is my personal holy grail for rock and heavier blues. It’s a 1972 Marshall 100 watt model 1959 Super Lead running through a 1970 “basketweave” bottom cabinet loaded with G12M-25 watt “Greenback” speakers. I’ve owned numerous cabinets and speaker types as well as heads from ALL eras of Marshall including very nice plexi-era amps. Here is my take on them in a nutshell: They’re great amps, but they ALL have the characteristic Marshall tone and the ’72 has a bit of higher gain, which when tamed back by reducing the volume, can get all the plexi tones you’d want. This amp and cabinet combination is phenomenal with my Les Paul and nails a range of tones from AC/DC to Zep easily. And yes, it does a mean Van Halen if I lower a bit of the input voltage with a Variac and run a boost on the front end. If I really dig into the strings, I can do VH without the boost. I’ve long since sold my plexis – not because they weren’t great – but because they were worth about double of what my ’72 was worth. And I didn’t feel that I was getting double the tone difference – in fact, they were on par with each other and just a bit different in some of the character really. I don’t consider any plexi “better” than a metal-panel version Marshall. They’re just different. And many plexis are identical to the metal-panels that followed. ‘Nuff said – I’ll just say that my ’72 sounds fantastic and is a keeper for the long run. The attenuator on the top is a THD Hot Plate 16 ohm. I use this to attenuate usually about –8dB only. This amp is used for playing in the context of rehearsals and "live volume" – it’s a waste of tube life in my opinion running it with the Hot Plate at –16 dB “bedroom levels” so I don’t do that. I have other amps for at-home practice. The basketweave cabinets with Greenbacks in my opinion are a MUST for getting the most out of these amps. The later cabs and Celestions really make these amps much more bright than they should be. Unfortunately, basketweave cabs with original speakers and proper original cones are very expensive, valuable and difficult to find. Mine is my “holy grail” however, and I refuse to let it go because no other cab has satisfied my ears like these have. An old friend once told me, “once you play a basketweave with original 25’s, you’ll NEVER want to use anything else again with your Super Leads or Plexis.” He was right. That said, on the far right side, we have a 1981 JCM 800 2203 100 watt master volume and matching 4 x 12 with 75 watt Celestions. For how that amp is voiced, the cab is a perfect match. I tell most people new to Marshalls to go for one of these if they’re looking for a first taste of a great Marshall. The master volume series are MUCH more forgiving and generally easier to dial in and can do a LOT of different sounds very well. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. The other thing that is nice about these master volume series (and the earlier JMP Master volume amps are great too) is that they can be used with a wider range of cabinets and pickups and still give a great tone. This particular amp is loaded with 6550’s as it was originally made for export to the U.S. While not Jim Marshall’s personal favorite tubes, they contribute to a fat, solid low-end that the EL34 amps lack unless they are pushed hard for compression. Of course, it’s a bit of a tighter response too that the 6550s will provide, but all said, these have a great smooth crunch that can be captured at various volumes. Great for hard rock, basic rock, or bluesy sounds, these early JCM 800 single-channel amps also respond tremendously to boosts. My own Time Machine Boost pedal was largely developed with this Marshall in mind in addition to the Super Lead and JTM-45. This amp sounds tremendous for heavier rock and metal and is the amp people ask about when they hear it. It can produce all the gain and drive you're used to hearing from a Boogie Rectifier when boosted, but with a tone that cuts like only a Marshall can. A Soldano SLO I used to own shared many characteristics with this amp, but in the end, the Marshall still won out overall for my preferences. In the middle, an original 1965 Vox AC30 Top Boost. If I could get this tone from a reissue, I would, but I can’t. There’s magic in this amp as well as those speakers. This is an interesting transition model that I purchased from Scotland several years ago. It is one of the very first to have top boost integrated into the top control panel while still retaining the classic (and original) brown diamond fret cloth. It has the earliest version of the silver alnicos which was made with the same materials and gets the great tone of the blue versions. An AC30 can really do many things well and just has its own unique voice. You can rock with one and they’ll distort beautifully when turned up, and their average of 33 watts seems to be perfect for many live applications. Back the volume up, and you’ve got the great classic chime and bell-tones of the ‘60s British Invasion. The AC-30 sounds great when boosted too and this is where I’ll tend to use my George Lynch Time Machine Boost to pump it up a bit as well. The GL TMB is a pedal I’m very proud of – and especially satisfying because George is very finicky about his gear. The fact that he’s using it and loving it is really gratifying for all of us. The final amp in the collection is a 1967 Fender Pro Reverb. I’ve decided that out of all the Fenders I’ve played and owned so far, this is “the one”. I’ve been a longtime fan of the “blackface” Super Reverb, and the circuit between the Pro and Super are essentially the same. Both are dual 6L6 tube based with tube rectifier and 40 watts of output. Something about the 2 x 12 speaker combination of the Pro pleases my ears more than the 4 x 10 of the Super. This is an amp I can get a beautiful clean tone out of, or turn it up and it really can distort wonderfully on its own. Not all Fenders sound great and pleasantly distorted when cranked up like that, but the Pro is one of the special ones that does it. This is the amp I play most on a day-to-day basis at home and is also one I use most for bluesy sounds with the Strats. Effects I’ve gone down many different paths with effects over the years. From starting out playing with all the stomp boxes I could get my hands on, to noodling with racks and MIDI systems in the ‘80s, to becoming a “purist” and anti-effects guy, I’ve more recently come around to enjoying stomp boxes again except I don’t overuse them as I may have when I was younger. For at home practice, a Boss DS-1 into the Pro Reverb sounds good for basic rock drive tones. I’ll then put a Tube Screamer in front of the Boss and set it up as a “quasi-clean boost” (see our Tone Tricks and Tips for Super Lead article for information about this), that hits the DS-1 harder for added sustain. Very basic and again great for low volume play. In the photo, you’ll see two pedal boards. One of them is my “jamming in the practice room” board, while the other is my board used for playing out. When playing out, I’ve got a modest and basic pedalboard that often changes configuration a bit, but as of this writing, contains the following: Keeley Compressor (let’s just call this one the “Legendary Special Edition” as it’s a bit different than what’s available to buy today). Keeley Looper Boss TU-12H Tuner 2004 model LegendaryTones Time Machine Boost Radial ToneBone Classic Overdrive Fulltone Mini-Deja Vibe Maxon AD-80 Analog Delay It's all mounted on a PedalTrain Jr. board, a nice sturdy, but compact unit that also has a carrying canvas bag with it. Basically, I start out plugging into the looper that serves as a mute/tuner switch, the output of which goes into the tuner of course as well as the first actual pedal in the chain (the Keeley compressor). This way I can tune silently on stage as needed. The Keeley Compressor began as a Ross grey compressor clone, but has become a staple for thousands of guitarists since Robert Keeley struck a chord with them with his various comp improvements. My “Legendary Special Edition” compressor (heh,heh…he’ll love that I’m calling it that – I hope! - Call him and ask about it and then listen to him say, “Excuse me, but what the heck are you talking about, sir??! LOL) is similar to his very latest three-knob versions, except the third knob has a different function. On the standard three-knob Keeley comps, the third knob is for Attack. Mine has the attack function inside the compressor as a mini-pot which I can preset how I like while the outside third-knob is now an input sensitivity knob. Essentially with this I can run any output strength of pickup – even the super high-output active EMG-type electronics, and retain perfect fidelity and blend. In anycase, it’s a great pedal and destined to be a future classic. And while Robert and team don’t have this one variation available on their site, he can probably be pestered to build them if asked. Definitely recommended for comp users that play a variety of different guitars and need some immediate adjustments! From the comp, we go into the LegendaryTones Time Machine Boost. This is used for one of two purposes. If I am playing out at a location where I can turn up the amp a bit for some drive, the TMB can be used to goose the amp for more gain. This is what the TMB was made for afterall. I typically use the Vintage channel for leads and the Modern channel for a hotter-rhythm tone. However, if overall volume needs to be controlled a bit, I’ll substitute the sound of the amp breakup for the overdrive available in the Radial ToneBone classic. For an overdrive that retains the character and fidelity of the guitar, the ToneBone does a really nice job. It also reacts very well if I punch it with the TMB. In this way I can have a volume-regulated tone that still sounds great (though I ultimately still prefer the tone of the amp breaking up and pushing it with the TMB a bit more). Continuing on in the signal chain is the Fulltone Mini-Deja Vibe. I’ve played through many vibes and even had an original late ‘60s one exactly like Hendrix’ own, and the mini-Deja Vibe sounds as good, if not better than all of them. I used to own an older gold Fulltone Vibe as well and this one is better still. I don’t use it very often, but I wanted some sort of modulation flavor from time to time and being a Floyd, Hendrix, and Trower fan, the sounds from a vibe were my preference over other swoosh effects like phasers and flangers. Last but not least, the Maxon AD-80 analog delay. I like to use this to add echo on leads sometimes and the echo repeats are soft, rounded and warm. Usually it’s set for about 200 ms of delay with several repeats and leveled a bit in the background of the mix. To power it all, I simply chain it with a Godlyke PowerAll which is a one-spot power supply that provides all the current and then some. The Radial ToneBone has its own power supply so when playing out I’ll have to use two spots total. My other pedalboard configuration is strictly used at home in the practice room for live jams. Why? Well, this is the one that I use when running against BOTH Marshall ½ stacks at the same time. Unfortunately, only the largest venues would let me get away with this configuration and I’m not an arena player. So when loud drummers come over to jam, I use this board and love EVERY minute of the experience. On this board (well, quasi-board - it's the EH pedal board/bag - gets the job done) we have: Vox wah reissue I modded for true bypass and DC power, then running into a 2005 Time Machine Boost, into an EH Small Clone chorus and finally a Boss DD-6 digital delay that splits the signal to both amps. Since it's only a few units, it is all easily powered up with a 300mA capable 9v DC supply running into a Furman AC outlet. This is a BIG sound, and loads of fun to rock through. For those that love the tones of their Marshalls, try adding a second one. It’s an experience. And even though the Super Lead and JCM 800 are different, they blend together really well. I know that some may say, “you’re running your chorus and delay in front of those gainy Marshalls – it can’t sound as good as if you had it ‘post-distortion’ or in a loop…Well, everything is used in a subtle fashion. Because the amps are compressing, the delay level needs to be set lower to compensate – otherwise it’s very present. Not a problem. The chours is also used only when I back down on the volume or flip the pickup selector switch to my neck pickup that is “pre-set” to have a rolled off cleaner signal. It’s like instant old-school channel switching. And after all, isn’t it funny that some of the greatest players of the past like Hendrix and Page - that had tones many of us try and capture today - all used effects right in front of their amps and everything was adjusted to fit the situation and sounded great? So I try not to worry about it much myself and just have fun :). Additional… A couple of other fun photos here. I have some signed stuff including the Keeley SEM mod DS-1 that was signed by both Steve Vai and Dave Weiner. Steve also signed one of my very first Time Machine Boosts and he also owns one in his studio. The tour guide at the left is from Steve’s most recent tour and I was lucky enough to get it signed by each touring member of the band which includes the likes of Billy Sheehan and Tony MacAlpine! This past year when George Lynch played out locally, I finally had the opportunity to meet him for the first time in person (after a couple years of knowing him through phone and e-mail correspondence!), and he signed one of my George Lynch Time Machine Boosts for me. I also took a picture with him, but had my “geek smile” on so I’m not going to share that with you. I tend not to photograph really well next to famous people or rock musicians so I’m not going to be sharing the pic with Steve Vai or Jim Marshall either! Needless to say, it's always a great honor when the opportunity arises. The Time Machine Boost Collection Final shot here is of my “Time Machine Boost Collection”. No, that’s not about me hoarding equipment – but I did of course want every “variation” of TMB made since I was intimately part of the development of it. The first one on the top left is the light blue, texture painted, original point-to-point wired TMB. This one used one of my favorite germanium transistors on the vintage channel – a military spec 1960’s germanium that was designated for the Air Force and is shaped like a top hat! The textured blue paint however was difficult to screen print on, so only slightly less than 100 were made in this finish. Notice the longer vintage toggle switch, which we eventually trimmed down with a smaller toggle. The second TMB is my LEAST favorite of all cosmetically. We learned from the first one that texture finishes were a no-no for detailed screenprint work, so we went for a smooth finish. We thought it would be cool to get a blue color that closely resembled the dark blue metallic tone of a late ‘60s Corvette Sting Ray. Well, the color DID look like that in the catalog, but it sure didn’t come out that way! Well, that’s not too much of a problem I suppose, but what I found personally annoying was the deep high-gloss finish, which meant that we had to do a LOT of spray cleaning/wiping down of each unit to avoid fingerprint marks on these new units. I personally wiped down several hundred units before packing them up for shipment and this just was not a highlight of my career. Midway through production, we began offering the very first printed-circuit-board models. This lowered costs and also allowed us to build more units as back orders were growing increasingly long. We still offered the completely point-to-point versions too at this time so customers could choose either. The next version was the one we “got right” regarding the finish and it is the one we stuck with. As a result, it is the also the last color variation of the classic-style original Time Machine Boosts made in the Hammond-type die cast boxes. Its finish consisted of a similar shade of blue to the original “textured” model, but was semi-gloss, a bit livelier of a color tone, and of course smooth-textured. The white lettering stands out more brilliantly on this model too and this is the color that finally stuck with the TMB, even when moving to the 2005 model. The 2005 model is the one that is angled in the photograph with the silver knobs and same shade of blue. This added additional functionality and is my personal favorite because we were able to improve upon a good thing. The enclosure was custom fabricated and very heavy duty. It has a slide-out no-tools battery tray exactly as used on the expensive Pete Cornish pedals that I just HAD to have after I saw it, and has rubber bumper feet that are screw on. And then of course, this the model that first implemented a new “Warp Drive” feature which provides some additional drive character for the modern channel. To me, this model overall has the most “professional” and refined look and feel, though I do love all of them. Initially it was designated to also receive the vintage chicken-head knobs for the vintage side, and a different knob for the modern, but a mistake in spacing measurement (yes, my fault!) lead us to have to find another solution or scrap all the boxes already built and start over. The aluminum knobs were one of about twenty varieties of knobs that were tested and they looked striking on the new unit. Rather than “fixing” the spacing and going back to chicken knobs on later units, we opted to keep with the aluminum ones for a heavier-duty and sharper look – all in all, it was a happy accident I suppose! The two George Lynch Time Machine Boost models in black together may look the same at a distance, but in fact, the one to the right is further refined with the lettering being easier to read and larger. The GL TMB as I mentioned earlier was a tremendously satisfying project to work on and we were honored to be part of that and continue with this one. The very first GL TMB was serial GL #1 and you’d think that one of us or George himself owns it, but in fact it’s now with Billy Gibbons! George didn’t have the intention of giving it to Billy as George was the first owner of #1, but when Billy played it and apparently enjoying it with George watching, George was so thrilled, that he offered it to the Rev as a gift. Now George owns #7 if my memory serves me correctly! I could go on and on about my own gear and experiences, but this basically gives you a taste of what I use and hopefully was of interest. Next time around, Jon Dunn will write up about his particular setup. Until then have fun and enjoy the music.