Guitarists on Dirty

[nosajmunson]

Don't know if this is the best place to start this thread but.....

Today's picture and story on UWlive got me thinking. What other guitarist are on dirty/dark train?
http://www.underworldlive.com/home/mainColumnParagraphs/00/content_files/file0/090814a.jpg

Thought we could share thoughts on gear, stories about our guitars and guitar wishlists. As well as styles, riffs, effects, etc.

If everyone thinks this is silly, then just delete this thread. But if not, add to it.
__________________________________________________ ___________

I have been playing guitar since 1990. My first one was a crappy Harmony Electric guitar my folks got for me at Service Merchandise. But I fell in love with playing almost instantly. After about a year of playing everyday for at least an hour, I had saved up enough to buy my first real Guitar, a Fender Stratocaster.

Currently, I still have my Strat and that Harmony(although I don't play it anymore).

My main electric guitars now are:
- Ibanez Iceman IC 400
- Gibson SG Special
- Fender Stagemaster Custom

So what is everyone else playing?

[esaias]

My babies are:

Fender Jaguar '74
Fender Tele Deluxe '74
Rickenbacker 330

various amps but nothing too fancy

...and I am a lousy and lazy player :/ I really should spend more time playing

-Tomi

[nosajmunson]

A Fender Jaguar '74, damn, that's sweet.

I play mostly heavier stuff. Drop D Tuning, or just straight D. My Iceman is tuned to C. But I wish I had a more melodic guitar, like a Fender Jaguar, for the not so "Metal" stuff I play.
But my Strat is always tuned to E. On my strat, I have an inverted/upside down single coil pick-up that gives it this raunchy punch. Makes blues sound dirty and nasty. Like bad burbon at a cheap strip joint nasty.

Tele's are sweet. I recorded with a Tele Standard a few years ago.

I have only played a Rickenbacker 12 string before, but the action was smooth.

What effects do you like to use?

[King of Snake]

I've got a Fender Lite Ash Telecaster (this one (http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0265102521))
I haven't really played or practiced seriously for a long time though.

[ceramic'cow]

I play bass, but I'm going to join in anyway, because I want to show this (http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3034/2819417252_22e78df330.jpg?v=0) off. - Rickenbacker 4003 (2007) Mapleglo. She cost me a freaking packet, and she was worth every penny. Every time I play her I fall in love a little bit more.

I don't really practice enough either, and even when I do, I don't practice properly, I just learn songs for my covers band. But I love playing, I'm not terrible and I manage to make a little bit of beer money out of it, so it's all good, really.

[Caprice]

Squier Strat
Fender fat strat standard
Fender DG-7
Cordoba C-5
Harmony (20 year old half-rotted guitar)


Some will be sold soon

[holden]

My father bought me my first guitar when i was 6, a little wooden acoustic. I "graduated" up to an electric Kay strat copy when i was 10, which i still have!

Today, i play on a Squier acoustic and Premier electric (this company makes drums. No idea why they bothered with guitar. But it was cheap and about fits my level of playing ability...i don't deserve any thing nicer!)

My dad grew up in the 60's, and played in bands and even made a studio record. While in a Detroit studio he claims to have met Neil Young who was busy plucking away in another room. Point is, Dad loved buying guitars, the weirder the better, so he had about 2 dozen oddball guitars in his home. The coolest is a double neck bass/6-string, and my favorite sonically is his 12-string.

[esaias]

A Fender Jaguar '74, damn, that's sweet.

I play mostly heavier stuff. Drop D Tuning, or just straight D. My Iceman is tuned to C. But I wish I had a more melodic guitar, like a Fender Jaguar, for the not so "Metal" stuff I play.
But my Strat is always tuned to E. On my strat, I have an inverted/upside down single coil pick-up that gives it this raunchy punch. Makes blues sound dirty and nasty. Like bad burbon at a cheap strip joint nasty.

Tele's are sweet. I recorded with a Tele Standard a few years ago.

I have only played a Rickenbacker 12 string before, but the action was smooth.

What effects do you like to use?

The Jag is sweeeet indeed ;) Although managed to screw up a bit with it lately since I "upgraded" the saddles to Graphtech TusQ and those damn things are not conductive and I lost grouding :( now there is a stupid jumperwire going from tail piece to bridge for grounging, a bit of ghetto-tuning.
Looks sexy with minty pickguard and white saddles tho.

I have bunch pedals but the most used are:

Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster, this thing is incredible in all its simplicity, although you need a good tube amp with it.

EH PolyChorus - the best :)

Boss CE-2 - for those The Cure moments

EH Big Muff (russian)

Boss OD-1


I wish I had a Fender Blender :)

and I wish I played more :(

the Tele Deluxe is one of these btw.
http://www.guitarsandeffects.com/guitarimages2006/fender_tele_deluxe_bl_04/telecaster_deluxe_004.jpg

so it is far away from traditional tele, one damn pro guitar but mine needs a re-fretting soon.

-Tomi

[oceanic]

Esaias, I dig your taste in chorus pedals. Also, the purchase of a Fender Jaguar is something I'm working towards. Nice stuff.

Guitars:
Fender Strato
Gibson Les Paul Standard


Amplfier:
Fender Twin, sadly w/ damaged reverb tubes.

Favorite Pedals:
Proco Rat 2 Distortion
Aria AOD-1 Overdrive
Electro-Harmonix Small Clone Chorus
Digitech PDS-1700 Stereo Chorus/Flanger
Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler/Looper
Line 6 Verbzilla Reverb

[nosajmunson]

Nice stuff.

My favorite distortion pedals right now:
Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Boss ML-2 Metal Core
DOD Grunge

I have a bunch of different amps, Crate, Fender and Peavey. But my favorite is a Peavey 2x12 Renown. It is 220 watts. It has no real effects. But the sound quality is amazing. The volume is mind blowing. At 3 paint peels.

I use it to run a speaker cabinet to to make a 3/4 stack. It has so much power to it. I got it at a going out of business sale 7 years ago for $120.

http://www.after-beat.co.jp/images/rental/gamp/peavey_renown.jpg

[change]

Hey guys, just found this thread. Yeah, it has been cool to talk guitars with Karl lately. I used to live in St. Paul, MN and worked at a music store there and have never even heard of Pete's Guitars. Sounds like you have to be someone to know about it. Anyway I had:

Taylor 12-string Acoustic: beautiful, but i didn't play it much so i sold it to a co-worker who played folk music. I bet she made nicer sounds with it.

Epiphone Les Paul lookalike: Only because my dad said he would buy me a Les Paul if we ever found one for $200. It wasn't that great, just kinda fun for a different sound.

Crate full stack, which came in handy when I was in a metal band and we needed the make the floor shake. I sold both the Epi and stack at the music store.

Now I play a black Fender Strat (Mexican) and a Fender Princeton Chorus. For as little as i play they get the job done. I actually just hooked them up for the first time in years last week. :) Thanks, Karl. The strat has a hip-shot so i can quickly switch from drop-d to standard tuning. Used to use that lot in the band. I haven't really changed the hardware, but I bought some black accents against the white pickguard to make it look nicer.

My favorite pedals are the Boss DD5 Digital Delay, Boss CH1 Super Chorus, and Boss BF-2 Flanger and the Danelectro Fabtone. (in that order)

I also have a loverly Seagull dreadnaught acoustic. Solid cedar top. I really like the way that sounds. Not bad for a Canadian guitar! :D

[nosajmunson]

For a single distortion pedal, this thing rocks.
I had an nice long time together with it this weekend. Sounds best on drop D tuning. Played a lot of Helmet covers:

http://www.audio-depot.com/images/bossml_2_top_gal.jpg

[Rog]

my daughter has a sunburst strat..... i got a gibson EB3 copy and a fender copy bass..... i would die for a fender jazzmaster.......:D

[Jason Roth]

King of Snake plays a mean telecaster.

[Future Proof]

I've been playing on and off for about 18 years and recently decided to get serious again. Currently I run with 3 guitars, I have a Takamine Acoustic, a Fender Strat 12 String, and an Elvis Costello model Fender Jazzmaster, and couldn't be more happy with anything else. My heroes growing up were Sonic Youth, The Cure and My Bloody Valentine and they all play Jazzys, as well as Lush, where the electric 12 string idea came from. I would've loved to have got a Rickenbacher 12 string but at $1200 less the Strat was a much better choice. It sparkles and shimmers with a touch of chorus or reverb and absolutely gets down with some distortion. It's imo the best choice for people that want an electric 12 but don't want to come 2 grand out of pocket.

For an amp I use a Vox AC30CP2 and it's a wonderful piece. It's a warm tube amp with beautiful coloring and channel 2 has got a load of bite. Currently though I'm using a Digitech GNX2 footpedal so I keep the amp mostly on the clean channel, though I intend very soon to write up a slew of clean patches that are just chorus, reverb and etc, and seeing how they sound with Vox's native distortion. The Digi tbh isn't the best footpedal I've used before so the less I have to rely on it, the better I'd assume.

I wouldn't consider myself god's gift to playing but I've been practicing hard lately and I'm getting back to where I used to be. My best friend started playing bass last year and is a natural at it and it's encouraged me to polish up as much as I can. So I guess to summarize, all of the above listed gear is a safe choice imo, except the footpedal. If anyone knows of any good multi-effects footpedals I'd be interested in hearing your opinion :)

[BeautifulBurnout]

Hey, this is janie's son. I'm a guitarist, I only got my first electric last year, but I've been obsessed with jazzmasters since i tried one at the guitar amp keyboard place in Brighton. i've read some reviews saying that the tremelo system makes it go out of tune and the strings easily slip out of the lower bridge. I didn't experience any of this when i played it, but it was brand new.
I just wanted to know how it's working for you.
pete.

[Future Proof]

Hey, this is janie's son. I'm a guitarist, I only got my first electric last year, but I've been obsessed with jazzmasters since i tried one at the guitar amp keyboard place in Brighton. i've read some reviews saying that the tremelo system makes it go out of tune and the strings easily slip out of the lower bridge. I didn't experience any of this when i played it, but it was brand new.
I just wanted to know how it's working for you.
pete.

Well, I chose the Elvis Costello model because it had a tune-o-matic bridge installed in it as a standard, and for only $100 more. The Gibson Tune-O-Matic bridge is a common bridge assembly that is in a great many guitars, and has long been the default replacement for the sloppy standard bridge that came with the originals and now, the reissues. But the bridge alone costs about $100 to purchase, and then you'll either have to pay for a guitar tech to install it or do it yourself, and there are a few small modifications required so novices probably shouldn't attempt an installation of that kind. And I had absolutely no desire to buy a $1500 guitar, do surgery on it myself and accidentally screw it up in the process, so the EC was a good choice. Besides, I'm a big fan of earthtones and the Walnut lacquer finish called out to me before all else. :)

As far as the tremolo's tuning issues, those things only generally happen when a string snaps. Doing the proper thing of changing your strings out on a reasonably regular basis though prevents strings from getting so fatigued that they'll break on you more than once in a great while. As well, there's an easy to use tremolo lock system in place where if you break a string that you can easily restore tension and subsequently, the proper tuning. Of course that means no more whammy for the rest of your gig, but unless you're Kevin Shields that doesn't amount to much in the long run. Besides, the tremolo system beyond that shortcoming is absolutely brilliant in design and execution and has qualities that few other guitars boast. IMO, it's a fair trade-off.

The Classic Player models all also have the tune-o-matic style bridge in them as a default, and although "American Standard" models are often considered the best of Fender's product, those Mexican-manufactured models have a really strong track record. Looking back, if I wasn't in an elitist mindset about my purchase and did more research I may have actually gone with a Classic Player model, but it's too late to turn back now. Never-the-less, the CP models run at about $749 USD and althoguh that's not cheap by any means, you would get an amazing guitar that would stay with you over your playing career. If you get to a point in your playing where your skill level deserves a fine instrument, the CP Jazzys and Jaguars are brilliant so look there first.