Some folks dream of wailing away in front of a menacing wall of Marshall stacks, a few dozen road-weary stompboxes blinking at their feet… others long for the simplicity of a low-powered Class A, dressed in tweed and barely the size of a small suitcase, with nothing more than a dependable boost pedal thrown in front to help coax her into that magical sweet zone.
Me, I guess I’ve been around long enough to have wanted it all, but these days I prefer to keep things easy-on-the-back, heavy on style, and dripping with good old fashioned vacuum tube tone.
I’m lucky enough to already own one of my dream amplifiers, Michael Swart’s awe-inspiring Atomic Space Tone, but my Ultimate Dream Guitar Rig would be built around the grey & black beauty pictured here: Marshall’s classic 1962 Bluesbreaker.
I came damned close to purchasing one of these 30-watt monsters a long, long time ago, and if I had it all to do over again, well… you know the story.
Keeping with the simplicity of the Bluesbreaker, my effects needs are pretty minor these days––a high-quality optical compressor is definitely in order, and my choice here is the Electro-Harmonix Black Finger. Spend a few minutes with one and you’ll see why.
Otherwise, I only really need two more pedals to keep me more than satisfied… a low-pass filter/auto-wah––something like the Moogerfooger MF-101, or EMMA DiscomBOBulator––and a highly versatile tube-driven overdrive pedal: Seymour Duncan’s SFX-03 Twin Tube Classic.
So, what’s your Absolute Dream Guitar Rig?
Do you prefer to wrap yourself in the warm vintage vibe of an old tweed Fender, or do you “just want to make some eardrums bleed?”
Leave a comment below, or better yet––feel free to trackback from your own blog, and I’ll be sure to include a link to your response when I write the follow-up post next week.
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July 10th, 2007 at 11:38 am
I just completed what I think to be my dream rig. I’ve got a Sheraton II running through a Boss pedal board (Overdrive/Distortion, DD-3, Equalizer) into a Fender Hot Rod Deville 212. The tone is amazing. I was using a 52 reissue Tele, but if you put any gain at all into the equation, you get the highest feedback known to man… but the Sheraton works great.
I know there’s a million better guitars I could go with, but I love my Epi’s feel
July 10th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
I would definitely have some kind of “switched” system with many amps and effect loop possibilities. For my electrics, I would have a pair of Badcat combos set to various clean and dirty tones & have a trem option….as well as the ability to blend between two tones. Effects wise, I’d have a separate Cry-Baby Wah and volume pedals (pre and post). I’d have a vocoder, a Line6 Pod Pro with lots of delay and flange/chorus presets….maybe an octave doubler as well.
Then I’d have my Taylor Acoustic going through an Avalon 737sp Preamp….occasionally switching to a Variax Acoustic for larger venues (still through the Avalon), and a Bose PS/1 for my stage monitor.
Most importantly, I’d have a guitar tech to set all this and pack it away at the end of the night.
Back to the real world. I’m fairly happy with my Line6 Podxt through the Bose PS/1. It’s good enough to “fool” most ears. In the studio I like the sound of a mic’d amp more (through a decent preamp), and do all of the “effects” (delay, chorus, etc.) in the recording software.
July 10th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
i have a few different guitars but mainly play a les paul custom into a fender prosonic head and 4×12 cab. it gives me a very loose, very high gain sound.
sometimes i fantasize about a prs and diezel combo, however. gets me through the day.
July 11th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Right now…
Reverend Jetstream HB + Kustom ’72 Coupe™ Combo 72-Watt All-Tube Combo + Cry-Baby Wah + PEDALS = not sure yet …
;)
July 11th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
An old mate of mine had one of those late 80s/early nineties Bluesbreaker reissues. Were they rated at only 30 watts? Well, British watts are louder, ‘cus this thing could make the street rattle.
My dream set-up would be my current guitar, my CS 336, through some gear I’ve sold on at this point, a favourite old amp I sold to a friend, a Vox AC 50 head, through the Marshall 2×12 cab I sold to (yet another) old friend. It was louder than any drummer I ever played with (was it originally a bass amp, or designed as a primitive PA?), and gave a pure tube tone that was fantastic. A little bit Billy Gibbons, a little bit Malcolm Young, even a little bit WHO’S NEXT at times. It was great, but I needed the room, and couldn’t afford to offend/deafen my neighbours…
Oh, and my only effect would be my Vox wah.
August 1st, 2007 at 5:54 pm
Man My Dream rig That is actually feasable (did i spell that right) would be A Gibson Gold Top Les Paul..Through a Fender 70′s twin reverb amp w/ master vol so you can cream up the tone…along w/ a ts808 and my crybaby wah…
But if i really wanted to go to the xtreme..i’d put 4 marshall 1959HW Handwired stacks next to about 8 Twin reverbs with the same pedals and same guitar.. If Anyone want to help- me w/ the last one.. 50 grand be nice
November 8th, 2007 at 11:41 am
Hey guys
I work in a recording studio as an engineer, and I also play guitar. I happen to already play my ideal setup. Here it is:
Guitars:
> Gibson Les Paul (Black) Supreme with EMG 85 (neck) and 81 (bridge)
> Fender Brent Mason Telecaster (Red) with Gibson Alinco 490 (neck), Fender Red Hot Rail (Middle) and Standard Telecaster Single Coil (bridge)
Amps and Rig in order of signal path
> Korg DTR 2000 Tuner
> dbx 266XL Gate and Compressor (Ch 1)
> Boss GT-Pro (For effects, and amp sims)
> dbx 266XL Gate and Compressor (Ch 2)
> dbx Signal Duplicator/Splitter
From here the signal is duplicated and is sent into two Mesa Road King 2 Heads. Each head is configured as follows:
Ch 1: Clean
Ch 2: Fat
Ch 3: Vintage Hi Gain
Ch 4: Modern Hi Gain
I use the GT-Pro for effects as well as amp sims which I run through either Ch 1 or Ch 2 depending on the sound I’m looking for. I need the sims because I need the versatility, bearing in mind that I work in a studio.
Each head also has a Yamaha Q2031B Graphic Equaliser and a dbx 166XL in its effects loop. The Eq is set up so that one head has a midrange scoop and the other has a midrange boost, and each head has the dbx 166XL to eliminate feedback and ensure even output.
Let me know what you think.
November 17th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
As of now I play a Ibanez AS73 semi-hollow (seriously the best guitar for the price, no feedback if your smart, and is extremely versatile) through a Boss ds1 and Boss me30 processor through a vox valvetronix 50 watt. I’m slowly adding to this rig. My dream rig would be a Gibson Explorer/ Fender Jagstang, a Vox Valvetronix 50 watt 2×12 with celestion speakers through two marshal 4×12 cabinets, then for pedals I want the Digitech Whammy IV, EHX Big Muff Pi (i’ll keep the ds1 to drive the ehx) a boss ge7 equalizer, a vox weeping demon, Rocktron Hush Super C Guitar Noise Reducer rack unit, boss dd6 delay.EHX Small Clone chorus. I’ll order em to my liking after i’ve obtained all this. I’ll make my own pedal board.
August 6th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
prs custon 22 split between a mesa mark 4 and a fender twin reverb. thats it. simple and effective.
August 24th, 2008 at 7:23 am
As far as guitars go, I’m set, with my favorite player being a PRS CE22. I’m still waiting to find that magic amp (I’m using a Vox AC15 right now) but I’m thinking Cary may be onto something with the Swart Atomic Space Tone. Who needs 50 knobs when you already have a floor full of effects?
So maybe the PRS, Swart AST, Timmy Overdrive, Rat 2, EH Deluxe Memory Man, and a Crybaby.
January 21st, 2009 at 12:24 pm
’79 Fender Strat hard-tail (jumbo frets & texas specials) with v-neck
OR
’52-’53 natural ash Tele (jumbo frets, otherwise “stock”)
PLAYED THRU
Fender ORIGINAL 4×10 Blues Deville (“cleanly”, of course – all blues)
I own this rig currently………PS-sometimes Gibson or Martin acoustics
mic’d thru the same or “thru the board”
November 16th, 2009 at 9:50 am
I’ve got my dream rig lol.
Guitars: Fender HWY1 Strat with Seymour Duncan sh5 and SCN noiseless
Amps: 3 fender hot rod devilles, 2 2x12s and 1 4×10 in stereo with celestion g12h30s and vintage 30s.
Effects, Boss od20, boss sd1 boss ch1 chorus, me-50, bbe rack, boss dd5 delay. SCREAMS 80′s Butt rock all the way. Louder than any marshall any day