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Over the years, you see lots of folks looking for that one amp, guitar, pickup, speaker, cab or whatever, that'll make it all *perfect*. The folks will talk about the quest, the hunt for the grail and whathaveyou.
But in looking at what I have gone through when moving from rock covers to country to funk bands and in lots of discussions in real life, online and on the phone with real pros who do it for a living, they assemble rigs.
Everything matters, not just the amp, tubes, speakers. The entire rig; from the guitar to the effects to the amp (and *all* the parts inbetween) are what makes it come together.
You see the focus in this corner of the internet on usually one part of that equation. Guys will obsess over the tubes in their amp, the strings on the guitar, the pickups.
But rarely do you see how it fits in the entire picture.
What I have learned and I am hoping to communicate and discuss on this thread, is that you need to instead approach your goal with the end result already fixed in your mind and build the rig from the instrument through the speakers as one thing.
Now this does assume that you have a range of experiences with lots of gear and I do understand that only folks with enough time on enough gear can step back and do this from the get-go; but it is odd to me to see folks that know better still out there chasing that one last "thing" that new this-or-that and looking for the impossilble missing link.
In other words, every single element needs to work with you as a player to create what you want to arrive it. It isn't the amp, the guitar or the pedals. It is the combination of the elements as a WHOLE that gets you to the promise land. And what works for one player won't work for another everytime, but the weight of the experience that can be shared is indeed a powerful thing.
I had a thread that was very popular in the Amps section where I requested folks to post a pic of their "A" rig. The range of rigs created by folks was amazing and no two were much alike. I'd like to hear more about the "how" and "why" folks created or arrived at their rigs and less extreme focus on the "what" they have in it.
When I needed an acoustic setup for playing live in a country band, I tried lots of things and settled on a very simple rig that basically fits the task at hand. After trying lots of acoustics, pickups, preamps, acoustic amps I personally ended up with a Line 6 Variax 700 Acoustic into a DI with the output split to FOH and to a JBL EON G2 powered monitor for me. The backup is a Line 6 Variax 700 guitar. I load them with batteries and play the shows. No feedback, fits the parts, sounds great and exceptionally fast setup and teardown (playing mostly festival gigs). Once I hit that formula that works, I have run that rig since spring 2004 without a hitch and have absolutely no problem sharing that experience or information here on the Gear Page and elsewhere on the net, regardless of the lack of "boutique" snobbery the rig contains. It works *very* well and I still couldn't be happier.
What I would like to see more of on the Gear Page is how folks arrived at their rigs for different applications and situations; less of the "this amp versus that amp" stuff.
What are your rigs, and how did you arrive at them? In what context? What drove you to swap elements in/out to arrive at what you did?
But in looking at what I have gone through when moving from rock covers to country to funk bands and in lots of discussions in real life, online and on the phone with real pros who do it for a living, they assemble rigs.
Everything matters, not just the amp, tubes, speakers. The entire rig; from the guitar to the effects to the amp (and *all* the parts inbetween) are what makes it come together.
You see the focus in this corner of the internet on usually one part of that equation. Guys will obsess over the tubes in their amp, the strings on the guitar, the pickups.
But rarely do you see how it fits in the entire picture.
What I have learned and I am hoping to communicate and discuss on this thread, is that you need to instead approach your goal with the end result already fixed in your mind and build the rig from the instrument through the speakers as one thing.
Now this does assume that you have a range of experiences with lots of gear and I do understand that only folks with enough time on enough gear can step back and do this from the get-go; but it is odd to me to see folks that know better still out there chasing that one last "thing" that new this-or-that and looking for the impossilble missing link.
In other words, every single element needs to work with you as a player to create what you want to arrive it. It isn't the amp, the guitar or the pedals. It is the combination of the elements as a WHOLE that gets you to the promise land. And what works for one player won't work for another everytime, but the weight of the experience that can be shared is indeed a powerful thing.
I had a thread that was very popular in the Amps section where I requested folks to post a pic of their "A" rig. The range of rigs created by folks was amazing and no two were much alike. I'd like to hear more about the "how" and "why" folks created or arrived at their rigs and less extreme focus on the "what" they have in it.
When I needed an acoustic setup for playing live in a country band, I tried lots of things and settled on a very simple rig that basically fits the task at hand. After trying lots of acoustics, pickups, preamps, acoustic amps I personally ended up with a Line 6 Variax 700 Acoustic into a DI with the output split to FOH and to a JBL EON G2 powered monitor for me. The backup is a Line 6 Variax 700 guitar. I load them with batteries and play the shows. No feedback, fits the parts, sounds great and exceptionally fast setup and teardown (playing mostly festival gigs). Once I hit that formula that works, I have run that rig since spring 2004 without a hitch and have absolutely no problem sharing that experience or information here on the Gear Page and elsewhere on the net, regardless of the lack of "boutique" snobbery the rig contains. It works *very* well and I still couldn't be happier.
What I would like to see more of on the Gear Page is how folks arrived at their rigs for different applications and situations; less of the "this amp versus that amp" stuff.
What are your rigs, and how did you arrive at them? In what context? What drove you to swap elements in/out to arrive at what you did?
I had the most killer rig with my Bogner Shiva and 2 1x12 bogner Cubes, beautiful, crisp and clear. Now Im playing through the Guytron FV. Its just different, next.. Bruno..
