randythoades

Quite an interesting question... probably mirrors questions about styles of music you like and what guitars you probably chose to own. I bought guitars that I saw in the hands of my favourite players until I found out what I liked and what I didn't. Very few of my favourite players used Gibson guitars so my journey pretty much started with a red strat, then a black strat, then a sunburst, back to a red one...kept repeating for 25 years with the odd left turn into Gretsch. But I know what you mean. I always associate certain players with certain guitar, despite them playing other plenty of other models too, but not signature guitars: Hank Marvin - red Strat Chuck Berry - red Gibson ES355 Eddie Cochran - orange gretsch Brian Setzer - orange gretsch Carl Perkins - LP gold top with bigsby Billy Gibbons - that furry esquire type thing...! Dave Gilmour - black and white strat Buddy Holly - sunburst strat Clapton - black and white strat Knopfler - red strat SRV - sunburst strat

Good point, but I think they are on the way to becoming the minority now with the advent of digital PA mixers. A group that doesn't care enough about their levels and being able to hear each other properly seems a little blinkered in these days of fewer venues and stricter sound meters. They will eventually lose out to those who have invested in a different way of doing it. And ultimately, slicker, more consistent setups, soundchecks and take downs after gig save time, effort and money. We have even had some venues ask about whether we all go through the PA or use amps, they were very twitchy about on-stage volume annoying the neighbours and were very pleased that it all went through the PA and became a little more controllable. As it happens, I do use IEM at gigs where I can, and have made an effort myself to have all the appropriate PA equipment myself so that I know that I can do this, but understand that not everyone would be willing to buy or store this. We don't tend to so IEM when rehearsing as it is a pain to chat otherwise, hence why I tend to use different setups for jams, full rehearsals and gigs. I would like to be able to use just one setup for every occasion so I know what to expect. As an update, following general advice from @Kiwi I have managed to get a Behringer V-amp Pro rackmount processor and am beginning to test this out. Considering it is probably 15 years old tech (or even older) I am actually quite impressed so far. I am going to try to set up 2 or 3 sounds and take to a rehearsal with my active speaker and see how I get on.

If weight is the issue then you probably need something different. A hollow body isn't usually any lighter than a standard solid body because they are significantly bigger. Probably lighter than a LP custom but not really than a Strat or Tele. If a hollow body is really the thing though, I concur with @Crusoe, the Ibanez hollow body are really nice throughout the range. The higher range ones have nicer decoration and pickups, but I think the lower range still really good workhorse guitars and I also chose the AS73 for a time. But I still found it too heavy for me. Weight is definitely an issue for me so I made my own tele and strat using replacement bodies made from Paulownia (which is much lighter - the wood that the high end Sandberg Superlight basses use), and also managed to find a couple of Vintage (brand) VZ99 Zip guitars. Les Paul junior type but build like a Danelectro and hollow inside. Incredibily light but still a great powerful sound when needed. Or maybe a different strap might help? I have tried the various Slinger Straps (https://slingerstraps.com/) on my Aria basses which certainly redistribute the weight well, but now on guitar I use a really odd, but really good strap which is the Fender Weigh Less stap (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fender®-WeighLessTM-Tweed-Guitar-Strap/dp/B07T75B4XH). It is effectively elastic and really supports the weight well.

Wow...! Just been reading this through. Looks like an amazing project and done with such skill. I would like to do something like this when work and family pressures begin to take less of my time. Just for myself really. I have built several 'custom' guitars but always been 'partscaster from a variety of bits' type projects, so nothing as major or personal as this. Most I have done on the woodwork side is using a complete body blank (strat) to add a hardtail tele bridge and pickup cavities, and that was scary enough! Fantastic job.

done

I do love the look of a Gretsch (I am a rockabilly player anyway, so I always lusted after the Brian Stezer and Eddie Cochran look), but I just can't get on with them as a player, I am very definitely in the Fender camp. But this is so lovely that I would get this just to hang on the wall and gaze at for hours!

Thanks again for your input. I think the Kemper may initially be out of price range, but I like the idea. I might try a halfway house of something along the lines of the Pod Pro or Eleven Rack to see if I could work with this overall as a concept. And then I can use whatever I get as a portable backup to plug into PA should I need to.

Done

Thanks @Kiwi. Very much appreciated for such a detailed response. I have to be honest, I have considered jumping into the whole Kemper or rack mount world. I could use for recording, practice and live. Good to know that it works for bass too actually. The cost has put me off in reality, but I could sell a lot of gear to fund it and seems to do far more than I would need. I really only need maybe a handful of amps (maybe clean / crunch / dirty amp for guitar and 1 bass) and a volume/booster function for solos. Also, the rapid change in technology prompts my reluctance, knowing that I could spend nearly £2k on one, just for it to be outdated in 5 years. Maybe it is time to start looking again...!

And, an excuse to buy another amp that the wife doesn't notice, can never be a bad thing...!

Thanks @Kiwi. I have been using the Zoom into active Yamaha cab for rehearsals and monitoring, but I still have that feeling of slight disconnection with the sound, it is better with the American sound, but that just feels like a bit convoluted to get it all into the PA and the IEM for those that use them. And a general pain to just get it out to play at home. I just thought that an actual amp on the pedal board might be best of both worlds, I could lose my amp sim pedal and use it like a regular amp for rehearsals. To be honest, if I am realistic, I suppose I want more of a convenient home / rehearsal setup which I can easily use live if the situation arises. At the moment, I have both setups taking up room. With bass I just have a small GK MB200 amp, 112 cab, with DI into PA so I use one solution for all situations, but guitar amps with effective DI seem to be a little thin on the ground unless you want the full modelling experience (but I don't need or want all of those options). I do have a Roland Blues Cube Hot which has a line out for PA (which is just about OK). It stays clean pretty much the whole way up for rockabilly, but an amp that will do the country slightly crunch tones without a pedal would be handy. The bigger Blues cube does have 2 channel, which could work, but I don't really need the 100w output.

I do use an amp at home and occasionally live, but I tend to use a Zoom multi effects or Joyo American sound pedal along with a boost into a H+K Red box and into PA for most live work for the convenience (which is few and far at the moment). I have started seeing ads and You Tube reviews for a variety of preamps built into small pedal board amps, which seem to fit a nice gap and might suit for both my uses. I could use this as a small standalone amp on a pedal board with boost and reverb for both home, rehearsal and live. Does anyone have any experience at all with them? Do they actually work as both an amp and a DI stage solution? I only need one 'sound' (nothing too high gain or modern - Fenderish crunchy country/rockabilly and 70s rock sounds), although having 2 channel flexibility would be nice to set an almost clean and crunch sound as I do with my normal home amp, rather than needing to either use an overdrive or be knob twiddling between tracks or sessions. Apart from that, maybe 10-20 watts output would be more than enough for home, rehearsal and monitoring purpose and a cab sim DI for PA use or into my audio interface for recording. Any one using such a setup? I know there are plenty of preamps and FX systems available, but then you still need some form of power amp to run at rehearsal and monitoring, so mixing the two into one small format pedal seems like a great idea. But is it a better idea on paper than in practice?

I agree with @ezbass. I would keep the King of Tone if that were my choice. Never been a massive fan of the tubescreamer, but vintage ones are very sought after. The versatility of the KoT would clinch it for me. To be fair though, at home I don't use any overdrive, I use the natural drive of the amp and ride the volume control and I use a TC electronic spark boost for the solo lift. Live, I have gone the FRFR route and just plug my multi effects into PA, much easier set up and not even my band mates can really tell the difference.

Thanks, I will give them a go next time I change strings. Much appreciated.

Certainly makes a statement. I like a guitar that doesn't look entirely traditional, and dare I say, boring. Might need to have a disclaimer when you gig with it though for people with photo-sensitivity. You might get headaches like a strobe light after looking at it for any length of time!!

That sounds good. I don't like the phosphor bronze strings, I don't like the strident tone and I don't like the finger noise. have started using D'addario Chromes flatwound electric strings on acoustic which i prefer, but would prefer something a tiny bit brighter and maybe a little more percussive. I might give these a go. Do you happen to know if they would work with magnetic pickup? I like that mid 70s country sound on occasion.

That sounds great, well done for keeping up with the practice, it is certainly a fantastic instrument to play. But, just for a confidence boost, don't run down your abilities either now or in the future. My guitar teacher back in the day said something to me during a moment of frustration I was having for not being able to master something. 'Just remember that all the artists you are trying to emulate, only play their own material. Eric Clapton can't play like Eddie van Halen, Eddie van Halen can't play like Jeff Beck, Jeff Beck can't play like Chuck Berry, and none of them can play like you **insert your own name**. Be proud of what you can do, because there is always someone better and someone who hasn't reached those skills yet.' Everyone plays differently, both good and bad, everyone has bad habits, everyone has their own style. Whatever stage you are at, there are people not as accomplished and look at you thinking that they wish that they could play as well as you. Even recording artists have good and bad bits. Kurt Cobain played completely differently to Eric Clapton with different aggression and different speed and note choice, but would you say that one was better than the other? If the music you play fits your style and the note choices work with rather than against the music, then I would say that it would be considered successful. but there is ALWAYS something new to learn.

It certainly isn't conventional, but if it works for you I would say 'just go with the flow'. I have a similar technique. There have been dozens of guitar heroes with unconventional playing styles and setups (Jeff Beck springs immediately to mind), but it just makes you be more individual and creative in comparison to everyone else. Some things may be easier to play with that style, some not. Unless it starts to hurt in the base of your thumb.. then you may need to do physio and start 'correcting' the technique. For myself, I anchor the palm of my hand on the bridge and my pinky on the scratchplate. I can't do the floating tremolo picking of people like Steve Vai, I have very limited movement and do use the thumb a lot more than most, almost extending and arching it with the picking up and down respectively, just like you do, but mine does come slightly more from the wrist rather than the thumb.

That sounds really interesting. I am looking for something along these lines to leave at work for lunchtime noodling. I shall have a look...!

If the link below works, that will give you a visual representation of what @Dad3353 explained... https://guitarelectronics.com/2-humbuckers-3-way-toggle-switch-1-volume-1-tone/

Or just get with the times and use technology, plug-ins, modelling effects board or even modelling amps in the studio. I am not a pro by any means, but I wouldn't even think about using an amp in the studio now with all of the various Sanamp and cab simulation solutions. In fact, I rarely use an amp at all these days and just plugged into either FRFR monitor cab, or into PA depending on what I am function we were doing (not playing live these days since COVID though). The only band I used an amp for is a rockabilly band, and then I have a 30w solid state Roland Blues Cube Hot which stays clean pretty much the whole way up and use a boost pedal for a tiny bit of extra gain for solos. I used the Line out into PA for going front of house. Even a 1watt valve amp is pretty loud and the smaller speaker might not be the sound you were thinking of.

Also to echo other posts, if you already have the Squier contempory I would definitely keep it, but also suggest lowering the pickup. If that still doesn't suit for cleaner tones then a Wilkinson or Tonerider tele replacement would give you a much lower output and fit with your single coil sounds and leave the neck humbucker for some of the heavier tones. Even with a new pickup, it ends up being just a £50 investment rather than trying to sell it and buy something else. I play everything from rockabilly to blues to ACDC on my teles with no problem at all, just a question of changing the gain and tone on your amp. Different for gigging when different guitars make it easier to change tones and feel quickly. And also agree about a modelling amp solution, any of those suggestions would work for you at home at much less than your budget. You don't need anything powerful, just flexible with such wide tastes. You can then select a clean fender tone one day and click the next preset to get instant Marshall stack the next. But I am not going to suggest that you wouldn't need another guitar or amp at all. As we all know, and tell our wife, they all do something different and you can't possibly live without them.... (even though we play just the one 95% of the time)

Have to say that I'm with @Dad3353. I also can't tell the difference with different tone woods. My own custom built stratotele is mahogany and my esquire is swamp ash. I have exactly the same pickup and electrics in them and I can't tell any difference in the sound alone when I have recorded them, the difference comes to me when playing, but that is feel and weight etc playing their part. Same on bass... I have a custom precision that I built using Paulownia, a feather weight wood and it sounds the same as my regular boat anchor of a precision with an alder body (same pickups again). But my hearing just ain't what it used to be!!

I have to agree with @ezbass. I am a fan of Wilkinson pickups in general, very well made and sound far better than their price suggests. I found that their alnico bass pickup suited me better than the seymour duncan or dimarzio pickups I had in my Precision bass, for less than half the cost. My main guitars are Vintage VZ99 Zips, a mongrel between Danelectro and les Paul junior, the weight of a feather but LP attitude. I thought I would need to strip and replace all the Wilkinson pickups and electrics when I bought my first one, but they are excellent pickups, good output and very responsive. But you would need to go for 2 neck or 2 bridge pickups to make up the 3. Although if it was just for the look, then you could leave the middle one unwired and go for a standard 2 pickup wiring maybe and not worry about balancing the 3 outputs.

Also, just something to bear in mind: I had the champ XD and swapped out the speaker (to an Eminence Legend) and within days replaced the original speaker. The problem with modelling type amps is that by their nature, they need a relatively bland clear speaker in order to give a wider range of tones put out by the preamp. So I think it is purely the modeeling putting out the drive rather than the speaker, it is designed to cope with the various tones, both very clean and very distorted, and wouldn't be great if it distorted quickly. Mine stayed clean pretty much up to max, which I preferred. I agree with Dad3353, you could try a power soak pedal/solution between the power amp and the speaker,, or you could just spend the time on the Fender FUSE software and create your own amp models to over ride the ones you don't like with just versions of the patch you do like but with different gain levels.