What's your gear?

[Jax]

With Sorrell sporting a gorgeous newly created guitar, Koelling about to be sporting some kickass new keys, & Todd being largely a complete mystery to many of the fans, how about you APtT guys tell us about your gear? What do you play? Do you prefer certain gear in the studio vs. certain gear in a live setting? Anything else about your gear that we might find interesting? Fill us in..

And to be fair, how about the rest of you musicians? What do you play?

As for me, I'm the owner of a generic Gemeinhardt student flute, a crapIcan'trememberthebrand Irish (tin) whistle, and a brand-less wooden fife, none of which I've touched in a year or more (yeah, woodwinds were my forte in school, can ya tell? lol..I also play alto/tenor/bari sax, but don't own any). I'm hoping to learn how to play bodhrán in the near future, though, & maybe learn guitar or bass as well (Sorrell, do ya give lessons? *g*).

 

[stryder]

Skin Flute, Bongos , Spoons , I play pencils ( drum sticks) on my sound console

sorry no pictures

 

[koelling]

Skin Flute

sorry no pictures

Even with the release of the new CD, this is the best news I've heard in a while

 

[Sorrell]

Oh how I love talking about gear!!! I'll be brief...

Since I built it, The Raven guitar is the only instrument I've played. But generally:

2 highly customized Ibanez 7 string electric guitars, loaded with EMG pickups, custom designed wiring, one-of-a-kind wood burning finishes and scalloped fretboards.

I hand-make my own stainless steel guitar picks. No company makes them in the shape I use. They are very similar to the shape of a Dunlop Jazz 3 only with a deadly sharp point. I've made 70 of them, but after recording the whole Shadows record, I didn't even need to polish the 1 pick I used. At least I'll never run out.

2 Line 6 Vetta II.5 amplifiers and 2 Marshall 1960 Slanted speaker cabs with Cellestion 75 watt speakers, and Beam Blockers high end dispersal shields.

Sennheiser guitar wireless system, and AKG wireless headset microphone.

Gibson "Chet Atkins" signature acoustic/electric guitar mounted on a Christie stand for stage use.

I use this same exact system (excpet wireless units) in the studio.

I record with M-Powered Pro Tools recording software and M-Audio FireWire 410 interface.

For recording I use a 6 string Curbow (production model) bass guitar and a 1981, 4 string fretless G&L bass, that looks like a boat-oar.

I run them both through a Line 6 bass amp, direct to the board.

And last, but not least, Mogami cables.

That about does it...without getting into my guitar collection, that is.

SRS

 

[Bartman]

YOU SIR.......ARE A GEAR WHORE.


~B

 

[Jax]

Oh yeah..feel free to show us photos, too, if you want!

 

[Sorrell]

YOU SIR.......ARE A GEAR WHORE.


~B

There could not be a more true statement. To say that I have a lot of gear is like saying that I use slightly offensive language.

SRS

 

[TFX]

Gear? Well, let's see..I have a 2001 Mustang Bullitt with a small block 281 V8 engine..runs a top speed of around 150 MPH (or so I'm TOLD ;-) ;-) )

Hmmm..what else..I have a Husky 5.5 peak HP verti-zontal air compressor! Also a Dell Dimension 8300 computer with dual 120 GB mirrored HD, one gig of RAM and 250 gig b/u HD. Let's see..I have a Maytag Washer and Dryer, a Hamilton Beach food processor, a GE microwave oven and a Cuisinart Ice cream machine (the latter is BADASS..as Koelling can attest too).

OH, wait..you mean MUSICAL gear.

Well, aside from my collection of guitars and keyboards that I don't know how to play (well, OK, I can play a little keys), I have a whole bunch of cool round things I pound on with sticks for fun (if not for profit).

The drums and percussion for Shadows of the Past were recorded almost exclusively using my Roland V Pro series electronic drums. We used them for the drums, cymbals, everything. They sound acoustic because the actual sampled sounds ARE acoustic, and there are a gazillion or so drum and percussion sounds (including shell types and mic positions) stored in the Roland TD20 brain. They not only are extremely versatile with regard to sound, but they make the recording process go much faster because you don't have to mic them, which saves an immense amount of time when sound checking. Plus, setup and tear down takes about 20 minutes tops. You've gotta love that (I sound like a freaking ad for these things..I think Roland should give me an endorsement deal *LOL*). As for hardware, most everything is setup on the Roland drum rack (not sure who actually manufactures that), and I use a Tama Iron Cobra double bass drum pedal, a DW 5000 series hi hat pedal and a DW stand for my snare drum module, along with a Gibralter Roc-n-Soc drum throne.

Aside from that, there's my acoustic Pearl drum kit I've had in one form or another for the past 24 years or so, which I call the Black Beast. Depending on how I've got it configured, there are (2) 22x16 kick drums, 6x8 and 8x8 concert toms, 10x8, 12x10, 13x11 amd 14x12 closed rack toms, and 16x16 and 18x16 floor toms, along with a pair of 14" Timbales from Cosmic Percussion. I have two snare drums: a Yamaha 14x8 brass and a Pearl 14x6-1/2 chrome. As for hardware, cymbal stands are by Tama (except for the odd Gibralter thingy for my splash cymbal), as are the bass drum pedals (Camco chain drive to be exact), and throne. Hi hat stand, snare stands and tom mounts are Pearl. As for cymbals, I use Zildjian 14 hi hats (Rock top and Quick Beat bottom), 16 rock crash, 18 medium thin crash, 20 China Boy (high), and 10 splash, along with a Paiste 2002 16 crash, 18 RUDE crash/ride and 20 RUDE ride/crash. Finally, drum heads. They're all Remo, including CS Black Dots on the concert toms, bass drums, and closed tom bottoms, pinstripes on the closed toms, coated emperors on the snare drums and clear ambassadors on the timbales.

OK, now I'm tired.

 

[Bartman]

Todd, I love the Bullitt Mustangs!! Have you seen the new one coming out? Looks sick...


"You work your side of the street, and I'll work mine".....great movie


~B

 

[TFX]

Yeah, they do look cool. Not in my budget for next year though, unfortunately. Good thing I'm happy with mine.

 

[SurRhonda]

"I" have no gear...but my husband....doesn't know where to sit!:

 

[TFX]

I almost forgot..I also have some stuff from LP, including two jam blocks, ridge rider cowbell, and a triangle. Sticks are Pro Mark 5B oak nylon tip (I sand the varnish off).

 

[yamahazildjian7]

I have 2 Yamaha Drum kits. Both 8 piece. 22" kicks x 2, 8",10",12",13"(down as floor on my Tour custom)14" floor(newer kit)16" Floor.14" wood snare drums on both kits. Mostly Zildjian cymbals.(all crashes ,hats,aux hats,ride,8" splash) 7" Sabian splash,6" Sabain Cymbal disc(chime),10" Sabian MAX STAX, 18" Paiste 505 China. Both kits live on a Pearl ICON curved bar rack system. I trigger my kick drums with an Alesis DM5. Mic all other drums with Shure PG56 tom mics, Overhead and Hi-Hat mics by MXL(Marshall Electronics). I, and the rest of my band mates use In ear monitors by Airwave. Aura Bass Shaker mounted on my drum thrown(powered by Rack mounted power amp) same rack holds an EQ for In ears, DM5, and IN-ear Transmitter. I also have a Roland Sampler with 9 trigger zones. And a full PA rack but I wont go into that. I also sometimes play my Electronic Kit witch uses Pintech trigger pads and Roland Kick pedal Pads.

WOOO that was long .
Z

 

[TFX]

OK, I just got photobucket so I'm trying it out on you guys. Here are some pics of the Roland V kit and the Black Beast, submitted for the helluvit. I was wrong about the timbales..they're 13 and 14 (I know people were just dying to get that piece of info, but I want to be be accurate, even if that means being a bit anal retentive. Hey, gimme a break, I hadnt set them up in a loooong time).

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii199/bullittz/bb-10-s.jpg

 

[Sorrell]

If I can ever get my shop emptied out enough, I'm going to get a V-Drum kit. My first instrument (in 1974) was the drums. I still love drums and would love to learn to play them again. I still write all my parts with drums in mind, so I'd love to have a kit handy.

But for now, it's guitar, bass and vocals only.

SRS

 

[TFX]

If I can ever get my shop emptied out enough, I'm going to get a V-Drum kit. My first instrument (in 1974) was the drums. I still love drums and would love to learn to play them again. I still write all my parts with drums in mind, so I'd love to have a kit handy.

But for now, it's guitar, bass and vocals only.

SRS

They're very handy to have, no doubt. Being able to practice at all hours in particular is very nice.

 

[koelling]

I'm pretty much a Roland guy.
Currently:
Roland U-20
Roland XP-50
Roland FP-7
Yamaha DX7
Yamaha DX27

I just purchased a Roland Juno 106 from Esucarys Bassist Paul Lamb but have not yet picked it up
I am also getting ready to purchase the Roland Fantom XR sound module, and the Roland U-220 sound module, which will replace the Yamaha DX7 and U-20 (which I will be selling). By the end of the Month I should have the Juno and the other two, so all I'll need to complete the list is the Roland VK-7 (a Hammond B-3 Organ sound-a-like). Probably not going to go on stage with 6 keys again, but this will be my studio set up. Then my list will look more like this:

Roland XP-50
Roland FP-7
Roland Juno 106
Roland VK-7
Roland Fantom XR sound module
Roland U-220 sound module
Roland 88-key Midi controller

 

[TFX]

I'm pretty much a Roland guy.
Currently:
Roland U-20
Roland XP-50
Roland FP-7
Yamaha DX7
Yamaha DX27

I just purchased a Roland Juno 106 from Esucarys Bassist Paul Lamb but have not yet picked it up
I am also getting ready to purchase the Roland Fantom XR sound module, and the Roland U-220 sound module, which will replace the Yamaha DX7 and U-20 (which I will be selling). By the end of the Month I should have the Juno and the other two, so all I'll need to complete the list is the Roland VK-7 (a Hammond B-3 Organ sound-a-like). Probably not going to go on stage with 6 keys again, but this will be my studio set up. Then my list will look more like this:

Roland XP-50
Roland FP-7
Roland Juno 106
Roland VK-7
Roland Fantom XR sound module
Roland U-220 sound module
Roland 88-key Midi controller

Wow..I remember the Juno 106..that goes back some 24 years if I'm not mistaken. It was a neat little keyboard as I remember. Hey, I still like my JX3P, which came out a couple of years later.

 

[koelling]

Just sent off for the Roland U-220 and I'll be putting a deposit on the Fantom-XR this weekend. I'll probably head to napa and pick up he Juno 106 in two weeks. It's coming together nicely.

 

[Sorrell]

Just sent off for the Roland U-220 and I'll be putting a deposit on the Fantom-XR this weekend. I'll probably head to napa and pick up he Juno 106 in two weeks. It's coming together nicely.

Yeah boyee!!!! It's great to see your setup evolving. I can hardly wait to hear it.

SS