Gear

Guitars

• Sterling by Ernie Ball Chambered Valentine Bigsby JV60CB (replaced a Veritas Portlander)

  • Pickups: Pioneer Pope, i.e. the original and best “P&W humbucker” (500k pots)

  • Removed boost circuitry

  • BiggsFix for a shallower break angle over the bridge, Butchie Bar for easier string changes, Super Squishy Spring

• Gretsch G5230T (replaced a G6129T)

  • Stock pickups + pots

  • BiggsFix for a shallower break angle over the bridge, Super Squishy Spring, TonePros Roller Bridge

• Yamaha Revstar RSS20 (Replaced a Les Paul Trad Pro II)

  • “Les Paul” with modern features: stainless frets, 5 way switch, satin neck finish, carbon-reinforced neck for better truss rod stability, contoured heel, 2 knobs, better upper fret access, lightweight/chambered, belly cut)

  • Pickups: Seymour Duncan Seth Lover (500k pots)

  • Blind A/B between this guitar and a Les Paul with the same pickups

• Veritas Orpheus

  • Pickups: Pioneer Polecat (my favorite P90 pickup, more “single coil” sounding that typical P90s), 250k pots

• Veritas Texas Miracle African Series 2015

  • Pickups: Lollar Special T (250k pots)

  • Bridge: Wilkinson cut sides

  • Saddles: Gotoh In-Tune

• Fender Player Plus HSS Stratocaster (replaced a Suhr Classic S)

  • Bridge pickup: Suhr Thornbucker II

  • Middle+Neck pickup: Suhr V60LP single coils (neck, middle)

• Fender Paramount PD-220E Dreadnought Acoustic (stock)

• Fender Player Precision Bass (replaced an American Original 60’s Precision Bass)

• 2025 Guitar Rig:

  • Fractal FM9 Turbo, Shure GLXD16+, Wampler Ego76, Dunlop DVP4 (expression to FM9), Soyuz Launcher Deluxe, Pedaltrain Nano, 1spot

• Keys Rig

  • Novation Launchkey 61 midi controller

  • MainStage (Omnisphere, Serum, Keyscape, IK Concert Grand YF3 (my favorite P&W piano), various Native Instruments plugins)

  • Radial USB-Pro interface

• Bass rig: HX Stomp (main bass preset)

• Mission TT2 footswitch (lower cost option)

• 2.5mm barrel power cable (no adapters needed when used with a 1spot pro CS6).

• Run direct to FOH with 1/4” TRS to XLR male cables. If you want an XLR output with ground lift + phantom protection, the dbx DJDI is a solid inexpensive stereo DI.

• Never sum to mono.

• $250 line isolators are a pointless waste of money. The music industry has been running line level devices direct to FOH for decades without them. Here is a level-matched blind A/B comparison I did between a $250 boutique line isolator and a $25 Livewire DI.

• If you want a DI that provides some saturation / color, I use the RNDI-S for recording my passive P bass direct into my interface.

Studio Gear:

• Acoustic Treatment (more important than any other piece of gear, speakers included):

  • Acoustic Fields Carbon Panels x4 and CPA Clouds x2

  • DIY 6” broadband absorbers using Rockwool Safe n’ Sound (pre-made option)

  • DIY 18” square corner bass traps based on GIK Soffit Traps. (pre-made option)

• Interface: RME Babyface Pro FS

  • Lower cost option w/ SPDIF and software mixer: Scarlett 8i6 3rd gen

  • I record interface’s 1/4” line inputs.

• Studio Monitors (again, don’t neglect good acoustic treatment)

  • <$500: Kali LP-6/8

  • $500-$999: Kali IN-5

  • $1k-$2k: Focal Solo6 BE or Hedd Type 05 mk2

  • What I use: Hedd Type 07 mk2

  • XLR Cables

  • TRS to XLR cables - balanced TRS out of the interface to balanced XLR input on the monitors.

• Headphones: Ollo X1 (by far the best and flattest headphone in the $500 range, better than many >$1k pairs i.e. Audeze LCD-X Hifiman Sundara, etc)

  • Cheaper: Used Ollo S5X or S4X.

  • Budget: Sony MDR7506

• Room Correction: IK Arc 4 system. This unit really flattens out your room’s frequency response once you’ve added sufficient acoustic treatment to get your decay times down and reduce the intensity of any room modes.

Guitar maintenance:

• Nut Sauce (anti-friction for bridge and nut): https://amzn.to/2XybFtD

• Fretboard oil: https://amzn.to/2yBvgRe

• Anti-static polish (I live in a low-humidity area which makes static electricity noise an issue with Nitro finishes: https://amzn.to/3fYpOuE

• Multi-tool: https://amzn.to/2B8ESE7

• String winder drill bit: https://amzn.to/2XxtnO8

• String stretcher: https://amzn.to/3evaCSl

• String cutter: https://amzn.to/3YWQEaT

• DeoxIT (best product I’ve found for cleaning pots): https://amzn.to/2Wv1oic

• String Cleaner: Dunlop 65 or Fast Fret - when these dry out I apply some mineral oil to the pad, which is what these products are anyway

• Soldering iron: https://amzn.to/3VE9eSp

Misc

• IEMs: 64Audio A12T (backup: 64Audio V6 Stage)

  • Low cost backup/alternative: KZ ZS10

• Strings: I primarily use Ernie Ball Coated 10-46 as I find they last longer and sound the same as Ernie Ball 10-46 Regular Slinky

• Capos: G7 ART III

• Strap Locks: Schaller S-Locks

• Picks: Dunlop 0.60mm (orange)

• Guitar stands: 8 guitars, 6 guitars

• Guitar Cases:

  • SKB iSeries Tele/Strat case

  • SKB iSeries Open Cavity case

  • Mono M80 Dual Gig Bag