The Dream Rig

I’ve been thinking about, researching, tweaking, and swapping out various amps and pedals to make my dream rig, the rig that if I were to become famous (stranger things have happened) kids would go out and try to reproduce.

I’d like to share that rig with you and why I’d like it.

It starts with a guitar. My Gretsch 6118T is an amazing guitar. It’s comfortable, it doesn’t feedback unless I want it to, it is responsive and feels great. The frets are a comfortable size, the fingerboard is ebony and looks and feels amazing. The only thing I plan on doing is swapping the pickups. While I like the TV Jones Classics that are in it right now, I’d like something with a bit more output and a bit more hotness. I am NOT looking for super-hot, only-sounds-good-when-the-gain-is-cranked. I’m looking for a balance here.

The balance is hoped to be achieved by putting a TV Jones Powertron in the neck and a TV Jones Classic Plus in the bridge. I love the Gretsch sparkle, but LOVE to play dirty stuff and this just seems more up my alley. I also like a more Gibson-ey jazz sound so I’m hoping the Powertron is able to support that. I’m pretty sure it will be able to.

Then to the amp! A Fender Princeton Reverb clone through a 2X12. I think the Fender sound provides the greatest base possible for any sound because it has a great sound all on its own. I don’t need 100 watts. I don’t need 50 watts. I don’t even need 30 watts. I don’t need much at all, especially in these days of miking amps through PAs for live performances (assuming I’ll be playing live). Reverb is ALWAYS good to have, as an option at the very least. It’s great for recording and for bedroom playing, but obviously if you’re playing in a big room you may have all the reverb you want naturally. I REALLY like my reverb, so I’m betting I’d still turn it up.

So we have the guitar, amp, and pickups covered. There’s only one thing left:

Pedals.

Ah, pedals. Little boxes of joy. Toys for guitarists. Secret weapons in your sonic arsenal.

I love the attitude and response I received from Pro Tone pedals and was basically sold before I even started doing research on them, but now that I HAVE, I want my whole pedal section to come from Pro Tone.

And what would be in that section?

I used to think I’d like three distortion pedals, one for rockabilly “just a bit of hair on the notes” kind of tone, one that has balls-to-the-wall classic rock tone, like AC/DC where it’s distorted but in all the best ways. Clarity is maintained, but all the attitude and joy of cranking up amps is still there in the same package. I’d like a pedal with a metal tone too. Ungodly metal sounds. Kill ‘Em All kind of sounds.

And right next to these three distortion pedals would be a delay.

That would be all, actually. I know guitarists put all sorts of boxes in front of their amps and have wahs, and phasers, flangers (it’s the year of the flanger donchaknow), envelope filters, etc. etc. and honestly I’m just not that interested in that kind of stuff. I’m a pretty straightforward kind of player.

SPECIFICALLY, the pedals on the board would be a Digitech Bad Monkey which I already have. It’s basically a Tube Screamer and right now, it’s all I can justify for getting a sound I probably won’t use all that often. I love rockabilly, but I spend more time playing rhythm and chords than trying to rip out rockabilly single-note runs. It’s still nice to have though.

RIGHT NOW, both the classic rock sound and the metal sound would be supplied by the Pro Tone Body Rot II, which seems to be not only an incredibly versatile pedal, but one of the best sounding ones I’ve ever heard. Raw and urgent-sounding. Just what I’m after.

Now, if Pro Tone comes out with something more geared toward the classic tones, I’d be inclined to add that to the chain because I really like the idea of set-and-forget pedals where I know if I push the on button on this pedal I have Metallica and this pedal I have AC/DC and this one Brian Setzer. I don’t want to spend much time monkeying with knobs if I have the opportunity to play live.

The delay will come from Pro Tone too. The P.E. Delay specifically.

In all fairness, Pro Tone pedals are not the cheapest pedals in the world, but they are made by a guy who you can call and speak to directly or email anytime you want. Just writing back and forth I know that if I bought a pedal I’d have his support should anything go wrong and that peace of mind is pretty reassuring. The bragging rights of supporting a business here in the States is pretty cool too. That’s just an added bonus though. It also doesn’t hurt that they LOOK pretty awesome too.

And there you go. My dream rig. Pretty awesome, pretty versatile and equipped with just about anything you could ever want.