Guitar Gear

I originally wrote this about four years ago, and always meant to finish it. It remained in sketch form until I happened to listen to it for the first time in a couple of years. So I resolved to re-record it and give it the justice it deserved.

“Down Highway 29” is about driving down Highway 29 in the heart of California. I was in a bit of a pensive mood, just enjoying the drive down a lonely stretch of road, when the melody line of the song popped in my head, and luckily stayed with me until we got to our destination and I could record it (I always have a IK Multimedia StealthPlug with me so I track ideas). Anyway here it is:

Acoustic Guitar: Yamaha APX900
Lead Guitar: Slash L Guitars “Katie May”
Amp: Aracom VRX18 into a closed-back 1 X 12 with a Jensen P12N Alnico speaker.

As with most of my recordings, the lead part is not EQ’d. I let the guitar and amp do all the EQ work, then just add effects. In this case, I used a matrix reverb to get that large room sound and a sample delay to add a bit more ambiance. There’s nothing else done to the guitar tone. Even without the modulation effects, the tone is very rich, which is why I do my best to not do too much with it in production.