Guitar Gear

I’m not much of demo guy. For sure, I do them, especially because the nature of this blog demands that I do. But gear like an amp is a tool, and trying to use that tool in isolation is a bit boring to me. So usually when I get some new gear, especially an amp, I like to play around with it a bit then either gig with it or record it in my home studio. As many know, of the many facets of my music career is as a Catholic Contemporary Christian musician and singer/songwriter. Over the years, I’ve worked in several churches as a music leader, but my most meaningful work has been leading music for retreats and youth gatherings. About 15 years ago, I wrote a song called, “Love Will Set You Free” that has become my signature Praise and Worship song. I’ve always wanted to re-record it because I was never really happy with the original recording and also, the lyrics in the original version were a little scattered. So what better way to try out my new amp than re-record my song. Give it a listen. My ears were actually ringing after recording because I decided to record the amp at 50 Watts. My mic was placed about 3-4 feet away from the cone, just slightly off axis. For the rhythm guitars, I used my Simon and Patrick acoustic on the right channel, just plugged into my DAW and I used a simulated acoustic amp. For the left channel, I recorded my Les Paul in the neck pickup. The amp was set to Clean with the Gain at about 2pm. Master Volume was at noon. It was freakin’ LOUD! For the high-gain guitar and the lead, I set my Les Paul to the middle position with a bit more bridge pickup dialed in. My pickups are out of phase, so I love playing in the middle and tweaking the balance. For that, the amp was set to Crunch with the gain at about 3pm. Master stayed in the same position. Luckily no one was home but me when I recorded it. 🙂 It literally shook the floor! Note that I did not EQ the electric guitar parts in production. The amp was set for all electric parts to have a midrange hump, except for the rhythm where I set a scooped tone. Based on just this, I’m going to have a LOT of fun with this amp!