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Graham -
Guitars (updated December 2008)
I currently have three main gig guitars. The main one is a Reverend
Rocco. www.reverendguitars.com
This is a small hollow bodied, metal (throw that goat) fronted bolt on
neck affair with two tapped humbuckers. It has a neck designed after an
old “played in” Strat and has a gorgeous feel. I added a set of
Grover Locking Machine Heads to ease the torture of changing strings
every gig. Also I have added Graph Tech saddles (great invention)
that seriously reduce string breakage. I wore out the factory fitted
frets within a few years and had Shane Haigh (The String Surgeon)
refret the whole neck with Dunlop 6100 wire (massive huge jumbo).
I bought it
from the States (Reverend are small company based in Detroit, Michigan)
taking a real chance as I had never seen one let alone played one as
they don’t have any distribution over here. Luckily I love it. Its 100%
my number one guitar. I recently broke the bridge pickup (sort of) and
put a BBQ bucker from Rio Grande in there. It turned it
into a fire breathing monster. I am awaiting a Rio Grande Muy Grande
to get it back to a single coil ‘able bridge unit, but its
going to have to be good to get me to move fully away from the BBQ.
I have two of
these now, they stopped making them some years ago so I got stock in!!!
The second
one I got from Germany and is the same but without the metal front, this
one is topped with tiger stripe quilted formica….. Real quality…. And
this time for extra twang we have a maple fretboard on this as opposed
to the rosewood on the other. Sperzel locking machines on here.
Backup for
gigs is generally either the second Rev or a Fernandes Retro Rocket
Elite, which is essentially a Strat type thing but with 3 mini
humbuckers and the Fernandes Sustainer system on board. I’d wanted a
Sustainer equipped guitar for a while just to see what it was capable of
and the opportunity arose here as someone put one on Ebay that was too
inexpensive to ignore. Its great, real quality stuff and Fernandes are a
company that I will be looking at in the future as it has a lot of
features that just reek of quality. The Sustainer itself is hilarious,
though its easy to get carried away with it……
I also have a
Custom Made Telecaster style thing. This is a real furniture
guitar. It has a set (glued) neck, solid mahogany body (which depending
on which time I asked the maker is from an old window frame or a
Victorian Bar Top!!! I definitely prefer the bar option. Suits me!!) and
neck with an absolutely gorgeous curly maple top. Two Seymour Duncan
“Custom Custom” humbuckers that again are tapped. Once again locking
machines but this time they are Sperzels.
And last but
by no means least is a Gibson Les Paul. This was the first
serious guitar I ever owned and loved. It’s a 1971 Les Paul Custom
in Cherry Sunburst (which I am told was a special order finish 37 years
ago!!). As far as I can tell its completely original, from the
liquorice torpedo sized capacitors in the back of it at least!! I did
have it refretted some time ago but other than that its as it was from
Gibson’s famed Kalamazoo factory.
I’ve had it
since about 1989, I’m stuck with it I’m afraid as I made a pact to never
sell it no matter what. Some would (and some often do) say that it is an
absolute dog. I disagree. Okay, it is seriously abused, but to me all
the marks, scratches, dints, extensive loss of lacquer, worn neck,
microphonic pickups, rust, corrosion and complete knackered-ness all add
to its charm and attraction. Most importantly most of these dings were
probably as a result of my own actions so its kind of personal.
Now retired
from active service, maybe………..
Kicking
around somewhere is an Epiphone pierced SG too. I stuck a BBQ bucker
humbucker in the bridge from Rio Grande pickups (Texas) and
turned it into a rock monster. Its pierced, as in body pierced and has a
huge X chiselled out of the body. If I ever audition for Rob Zombie,
this is the guitar to take….. Hilarious. You need to see this one to
appreciate how silly it really is.
Amp
Tech 21
Trademark 120
2 x 12 combo (with wheels).
120W 3 channels, ease of carry and mighty loud and fuzzy. Perfect…
And seemingly very tough as I have been seriously abusing it for some
time now. (I did break it and bought a Line 6 spider valve in Jan 2008,
but that was truly horrible, a disgusting piece of sh*t that I wish I
had never plugged into. It was unceremoniously dumped back on the shop
from whence it came. Who has ever heard of rebooting a guitar amp??? No
thank you Mr digital brain…) I got the Tech 21 repaired…..
Pedals (talent boosters)
I love
pedals… I just cannot get enough fuzz it seems. Last count was about
11…. I kid you not. One day I am going to chain them all together. Then
probably be kicked out of the band. This is what I actually use to
gig with. They are all mounted on a Casecore Coffin Board which
as well as looking cool is very tough and serves as a stage board as
well as transportation.
In order of
signal chain from guitar;
Dunlop “Dime”
Cry-baby from Hell !!!!
A thoroughly
wicked and offensive wah wah. Great fun. 17db of boosted wah explosion.
Why the fook not… And with a pretty funky camo paint job too. And
Skateboard grip tape on the top to stop your feet slipping…. Dimebag,
what were you thinking? Rock on!!!!
Tech 21
Double Drive
Used as a
lead boost to give solos that extra kick over the edge, it’s a very
powerful pedal. I have tried many different units in this location and
will no doubt try a 100 more, but this one keeps finding its way back on
the board so it must be doing something right.
Z Vex Box of
Rock
Its an
overdrive, with very high output designed to sound, through a clean amp,
like a Marshall JTM 45 dimed (everything on 10). Quite convincing, but
since I rarely play clean, I am unlikely to know for sure……. Its used
again to push the amp for solos etc. I love it. It also has a boost
function, based not far from the acclaimed Super Hard On or Super Duper
2 in1 pedal that Z Vex does. I had the super duper but it was too much,
and I couldn’t use both channels at once through a dirty sound without
seriously wondering about my mental health. So this works better. The
boost comes after the drive so the drive can be louder, or you can just
use the boost… 8^)
After trying
pretty much every fuzz box I could this in combination with the Double
Drive and the amp seem to cover most every angle of filth that I could
wish to… we shall see.
Tech 21 Boost
DLA
Oooooh, echo
and modulation in one. Quite a combo, and interestingly this has a boost
feature too, cunningly named eh? A very musical pedal, with
exceptionally sensitive controls that always seem to get knocked by my
clumsy boots…. It’s a digital delay, but with an all analogue signal
path, so you don’t get any of that microwaved processed tone that seems
so common these days. Really cool and useful.
MXR Script
logo Phase 90
Whoosh whoosh
whoosh, something like that. Very cool pedal, highly vintage and old.
Its vaguely orange still and is great fun. Again, quite pleasant after
pummelling the amp with all that gain and fuzz…..
Voodoo Labs
Microvibe
A pretty
convincing, compact Uni-vibe type pedal which is pretty damn cool, for
those Robin Trower, Hendrixy type thangs.
Tuner
Korg DT-10 in
line with mute to spare anyone the horror.
Power
All pedals
are powered by a custom made unit from;
http://www.circuit-innovations.co.uk/
This a great
unit and besides being affordable its deadly quiet, fantastic find!!!
Forget all
that expensive pedal power nonsense from the USA.. This also has a long
enough cable to sit behind the amp. I don’t like having 240V anywhere
near Liz’s drinks….
Connections
Cables are
made by me using Neutrik jacks and Hills OFC noiseless cable (MB Radio,
Leeds). If there is one thing that will seriously screw with your tone,
its poor quality cable. These little beauties can cost £45 for a 20 foot
lead, but I have never had to replace or repair one yet. All patch
cables are the same, just shorter.
Strings
Any brand I
can find cheap, I go through them too quickly to be choosy. GHS Boomers
are the preference but I can rarely find them. Gauge 10-52 LTHB’s.
Birthdays, Xmas take note!!!! Webstrings.com are a great bargain, as
long as you buy enough sets to keep the postage realistic.
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