So some people have been asking me what I use when I play guitar or bass. I’ll lay out all of my weapons and tricks that I have and use.

Acoustic Guitar – Ibanez AEL30SE guitar – This is what I use in all of my acoustic sets. The Ibanez sounds amazing in acoustic sets but with a Fishman preamp it completely goes over the top. I bought it new from Musician’s Friend for $300. and for that price it has worked amazingly. It is thinner than some acoustic guitars, but tonally it still has as much presence and clarity as some Taylor’s or Martin’s I’ve heard.

Electric Guitar – PRS Tremonti SE – A couple of people have seen me playing a PRS and they automatically think that I’m loaded. Honestly, I’m not. I bought it used from my friend’s coworker who both work at PRS Guitars. I bought it for about $200 but its on Musician’s Friend for about $550. The PRS SE’s sound very clear and bright compared to their American cousins, but this guitar sounds amazing going through my rig, which I’ll get to in a couple of paragraphs. This guitar is not as bright as something with single coils, but for something with humbuckers it is still very hot and bright.

Backup Electric – Squier Affinity Strat – This guitar was originally my brother’s when he played guitar, but he doesn’t play any more so he gave it to me. I do not remember how much it was, but since he gave it to me it has a Fender selector switch and Fender Custom shop ’69 Pickups. The pickups in it originally were junk, so I decided that if I was gonna replace them I might as well keep it Fender, thus the ’69’s.

Guitar Pedalboard – Gator Pedal Tote Pro – The Gator pedal tote Pro is a 30×16 pedal board, which is enough room for all of my pedals. The first pedal in my chain is a Maxon TOD-9. For those of you who don’t know Maxon, they are the original makers of the Ibanez TS-9.  Speaking of which, the TOD-9 is basically the TS-9, but it also has a sub-miniature WWII tube in the circuit that warms the tone after the TS-9 circuit cuts the tone out of it. It costs about $265 but Maxon has just recently discontinued the TOD-9, so you have to go on eBay or something like that.

The next pedal in the chain is a DOD FX-50B. This pedal is a basic vintage overdrive pedal and adds a good little bit of crunch to my tone. It doesn’t suck tone like the TS-9 does, but actually adds a little bit of warmth like the Maxon pedal in my chain. I found this pedal online for about $25 used at Guitar Center, which is kinda funny because it is a very good sounding vintage pedal.

The last pedal in my chain is a Line 6 Pod X3 Live. It is a full effects processor with some of the best and realistic amp models in the industry. The tone I use a lot is the Marshall Plexi Variac’d. It is a basic Marshall amp that to me sounds like the most realistic out of any of the tones that Line 6 has reproduced. I bought the X3 for about $280 used off of Amazon, which is cheaper than either Guitar Center and Musician’s Friend.

I do not currently have an amp, but I am looking at buying my friend’s Fender Pro Chorus 2×12. It is a nice solid state amp that doesn’t color the tone too much (which I am very picky about). Also, it is very portable compared to a stack and I know that it has been taken care of over the years.

Bass Rig – I currently have an Ibanez Gio GSR200FM bass guitar. It is nice sounding, and costs about $250 on Musician’s Friend. I run it out of a Tech 21 VT Bass Deluxe DI, which is an analog bass effects unit that costs about $270 on Musician’s Friend. It has three memory settings and an effects loop if you ever have any crazy stuff to go with your bass, which I have seen some people have. It can be powered by either Phantom Power from the board, a 9V, or you can buy the power adapter for it for another $20.

All in all, that’s all I got. There is a lot of stuff out there, and if you find anything cool, let me know because I’m always wanting to expand my collection.