What gear does everyone use and why?

[xenophobe]

No, not a flaw. Though for beginners or people who don't practice much, it can be a little dissapointing to hear someone play and sound awesome, but when they try it, it sounds like crap. Some people use gain and saturation as a crutch, you can't do that with most of the high-end gear.

And pick wise, I generally play the green .88 mm tortex or purple, (guitar or bass) and the Dunlop Gatorz are good too.

 

[Nuclear Knight]

 

[7 Dying Trees]

Originally posted by xenophobe
No, not a flaw. Though for beginners or people who don't practice much, it can be a little dissapointing to hear someone play and sound awesome, but when they try it, it sounds like crap. Some people use gain and saturation as a crutch, you can't do that with most of the high-end gear.

And pick wise, I generally play the green .88 mm tortex or purple, (guitar or bass) and the Dunlop Gatorz are good too.

True! Have You found you've moved away from all out total saturation when it comes to distortion? I seem to favour less gain now, seems to make things heavier... If it's all fuzzed up and the sound doesn't deaden when I want it to it sounds a bit crap, but if I'd have started out with it, everything would have sounded bad for a lot longer

 

[xenophobe]

That actually depends on how you want to look at it.

DS-1/MT-2 type distortion, yes, less gain, and less distortion... The saturation I would get from these types of effects is undesirable (high background noise level, dynamics clipping, etc) but I used to thrive on it. It was great to get the thick full high gain, saturated heavy distortion. Once I started getting better, I realized it masked the signal too much.

Tube distortion: I find myself wanting more saturation than the Fish, not necessarily more distortion or gain, but still looking for a more saturated tone, without having to add some kind of effects unit or pedals. I just want my signal chain to be: preamp / poweramp / cabinet. Maybe a sonic maximizer, but that's about it.

That's why I'm seriously considering a Bradshaw CAE 3+SE preamp. Supposed to be more what I'm looking into. Price tag is a little hefty, on par with a Triple Recto, but much more versatile. I like scooped mids, but the Dual orTriple Recto like a Mesa, any way you have it set. I like Mesa, but I'm still looking for my own sound.

 

[Dvoters]

All I can say is that D tuning fuckin rocks bro's!!!


Sever!


\m/

 

[7 Dying Trees]

Originally posted by xenophobe
That actually depends on how you want to look at it.

DS-1/MT-2 type distortion, yes, less gain, and less distortion... The saturation I would get from these types of effects is undesirable (high background noise level, dynamics clipping, etc) but I used to thrive on it. It was great to get the thick full high gain, saturated heavy distortion. Once I started getting better, I realized it masked the signal too much.

Tube distortion: I find myself wanting more saturation than the Fish, not necessarily more distortion or gain, but still looking for a more saturated tone, without having to add some kind of effects unit or pedals. I just want my signal chain to be: preamp / poweramp / cabinet. Maybe a sonic maximizer, but that's about it.

That's why I'm seriously considering a Bradshaw CAE 3+SE preamp. Supposed to be more what I'm looking into. Price tag is a little hefty, on par with a Triple Recto, but much more versatile. I like scooped mids, but the Dual orTriple Recto like a Mesa, any way you have it set. I like Mesa, but I'm still looking for my own sound.

I actually found that getting a triaxis answered all my problems. I can get good gain out of it, don't need anything except that and a power amp for rythm sounds. Top piece of kit. Has the dual recto type gain. It kicks ass! Maybe you should look into one of those? One word of warning if you ever try one out is that you take some setings from artists you like with you to dial in. If you dial it in like a marshall you'll not get the full picture, especially as it doesn't work like that.

 

[xenophobe]

The reason I won't get a triaxis is because everyone who has one says they're very difficult to program. That and they're poweramp picky, moreso than most preamps.

The last sound I'd try to get is a Marshall sound.

If I wanted that, I'd get an old 800 and have it modded to hell.
Still looking for a VHT 2150 or VHT 2/90/2. After I get that, I'll figure out if the Bogner can do what I need it to do, if not, I can easily sell or trade it for a CAE.

 

[Misanthrope]

I use a b.c. rich rave ii ( warlock,pointed headstock )a digitech rp200 and apeavy studio pro 128, or whatever amp they have on the gig. I found myself using the amp modeling a lot but mainly just the rectifier model so if i had any money, i would probably choose a mesa boogie.

 

[*M*]

I play an Ibanez RG7620. When I switched to the 7string about 3 years ago the rg7620 was the only other alternative to Vai's Universe, which is waaaay overpriced imo. I tried a custom Schecter 7 string that was very good, but it was like $4000, so not really in my price range. I love the Ibanez, and I'm getting a second one as a backup.
I use a Rocktron Chameleon. This is one of the few preamps that can actually handle a 7 string without becoming muddy. I only use a simple distortion channel and a clean channel, so I'm not exactly utilizing the full potential of the preamp, but it works for me.
Before the poweramp I run the signal through an Alesis 3630 compressor. It's a really cheap stereo rack compressor, but it does the job of tightening up the sound even more.
The power amp is a good old Marshall 8008 Valvestate. I prefer the bite of the transistors to the heat of valves. I have tried some incredible valve amps (mesa triple rec. being an obvious one), but they are too expensive, and too heavy to carry around.
This is finaly cranked out of a rather obscure cabinet with 4 x 12" Eminence speakers.

that's about it

 

[warcorpse]

A black Jackson Rhoads offset-V USA custom made guitar. Two Marshall 4x12 cabs. A Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier 3 channel 150 watt amp head. Some Digitech and Art rack effects, old ADA amp and pre-amp. Ibanez Bass, old BC Rich Ironbird, Roland VS-840 digital studio and some misc. pedals.

 

[BodomAfterMidnight]

I have 2 electic.
An American Strat, with a humbucker and 2 single coil.

A Jackson. with floyd rose, a dimarzio tone zone, and a steve special - i designed it- so nice.

A Yamaha Electro-Acoustic

A Digitech GNX2 multieffect- its great

a peavy rage 158 amp. small but good practise amp. great sound.

strings erny ball,

 

[Weyakin]

:: prepairs for everyone to laugh::
A really really old Cosmic Percussion 5 piece kit that I stripped down and repainted. Zildjian ZBT ride, crash, high hat, and other random old shitty cymbals. Crappy Gibralter double kick pedal that I really need to replace with an Iron Cobra soon. Radio Shack MIDI keyboard, custom tone synth. Yup..those are my pieces of crap because I can't afford anything else.

 

[Dead Winter]

I have only been playing a few years, as I'm only 23, but my first guitar was an Ibanez RG220...cheap, but got the job done. Now that I'm stationed in Korea, everything here is dirt cheap, including guitar stuff. I just bought a brand new Jackson Kelly Pro Star...the new style that looks like a cross between a Jackson Rhoads and a Kelly with a reversed neck and sharkfin inlays...Duncan designed pickups...they get the job done. Bought it for 400 bucks with a hardshell case. It has a KILLER thrashy sound...great for speed picking and easy to play. Really thin neck. I also have a plain black and cream Epiphone Les Paul that I bought with a hardshell case for $230. They practically give them away here. I like to play the Anathema stuffs with that one...it mimics the One Last Goodbye solo really well. I also bought an Ovation knock-off electric-acoustic for 90 bucks. Sounds really good too.

I use a Digitech RP200 pedal as well as a DOD Death Metal Distortion pedal that I've had for a while. I don't get to play out very much, so I have a really small Peavey amp...but I really don't need anything bigger for a dorm room. I'm about to buy a buddy's Crate he has.

 

[MyEyesBleed]

I end up selling and buying new things a lot, refining and upgrading my gear...but here's what I'm using right now.

Guitars:
Ibanez RG 270 DX with EMG's
'80 Gibson SG Standard (62 reissue)
'99 Gibson SG Special (both completely stock)
'75 El Degas Acoustic Dreadnaught (handed down from my mom)

Basses:
Fender Jazz
Dean 5-String Fretless with EMG's
Squier Precision Delux (p/j pickups)

Amp/Speakers:
Peavey 5150 II head
Acoustic 4x12 cab
Carvin 2x12 cab (celestion vintage 30's)

Rack/Effects:
Hushwerks noisegate pedal
BBE 362 Sonic Maximizer
Korg DTR-2 Rack Tuner

 

[-|- Black Water Park -|-]

As of now I have:

Epiphone Flying V (looking into Jackson soon)
Hughes and Kettner Vortex head
Laney cab

 

[xenophobe]

Just added a '96 Jackson Custom Shop KV2 to the list.

As for why I play US Jacksons? Pick one up sometime, you'll then know for yourself.

Don't know if I like the Bill Lawrence p'ups that came with it right now. They sound great, but almost too much midrange... need a bit of eqing for my rig.... And I'm not one of the Mesa-Zero Midrage fans...

Now I'm past a dozen guitars... anyone looking to buy?

 

[Loner]

This is my primary rig, not including all the misc. crap I have that I don't use.

Kramer Vanguard Pro (Duncan SH-6 in the bridge)
A cheapass "Hamer Slammer" with a SH-5 in the brigde, used primarily for Eb and D tunings (my first guitar, and a good "beater")
Jackson KE-3
Kramer Striker

Mesa Boogie Mark IV head (not scooped to hell, by the way)
Mesa Recto 4x12 with Vintage 30's
Boss GE-7 through the loop
Arion Delay (rarely)
Gator Grip 1.5mm picks

I'm considering buying either a Peavey Wolfgang or a custom Carvin.

 

[xenophobe]

Get the Carvin!

 

[Thorns of Sorrow]

I use...

Paul Reed Smith custom 24 Bloodred AA Flame
1998 fender American Strat vintage white
Ibanez RG7620 Dark Blue

Mesa/Boogie Triaxis
Mesa/Boogie 2:90
Lexicon reverb
Line 6 Digital delay modeler
Mesa Vintage 4x12 cab
Korg Tuner

I use Dunlop Jazz III picks (black)
D'addario 9-46 strings
Spectraflex cables

Im a rack fiend, hehe as well as a PRS fiend

 

[Opus(sy)2]

yo people....ok i, i use a fender 70s strat and a jackson dxmg. amplificationwise i use a line6 flextone 2xl 100watt stereo simply....because line6 are the tone gods and their amps are extremely advanced and you can get them to do almost anything. i also use an fbx floorboard which allows me to select 32 different channels, on board effects etc etc... i would really like to buy an ibanez but simply dont have the money to buy a good one......all the lower down ibanez (in my opinion) simply arnt built well enough and the quality of the pick ups etc is very poor.....i think each ibanez guitar is fucked at the factory (literally) and thrown on the ship and sold for to much money. i would really like an ibanez edr but they are expensive i am a big fan of the ibanez necks.....fast and play well. i am happy with the guitars i have now, i love my fender to pieces, i put a seymour duncan jb humbucker on the bridge and the tone is fucking brilliant now. my jackson is a brilliant guitar and i have installed an emg 81 on the bridge whichs gives me an excellent screaming lead tone!!! :>

i could go on....but i really cant be arsed to type anymore