Guitar Stuff
Another hobby that competes for my time is music. I've been learning guitar and bass since January '03.I Started with an Epiphone Les Paul Standard and a Crate GX-30M amp. I've since bought a "few" other guitars and a bass.
'02 Gibson Pete Townshend Signature SG Special.
Steinberger Spirit I use for taking on my trips. I modified it to a 2 humbucker setup because I hated the position of the volume knob, and never used the center single coil, which was also in the way.
'04 1954 Reissue Les Paul
'01 1959 Reissue Les Paul
A Family shot........
Tech 21 Trademark 10. This thing defies belief. I am constantly amazed at how much sound comes out of the little 8" speaker. Nice crunchy Marshall like tones at low volume. There is an awesome website put together by Les Paul Forum member Hal Louis giving some nice user submitted settings for this amp.
While the GTO was being painted, I my first amplifier. It is a variation of the classic 18 watt Marshall. The original 18 Watt was a 2 channel amp, with a normal and tremolo channel. Since the tremolo is kind of a one trick pony, many guys have used the second channel for a treble, middle and bass (called the "TMB" variant) tone stack. Other folks have modified this even further, incorporating a Hiwatt like tone stack. This variant is called the "MarWatt" (Marshall on channel 1, HiWatt on 2). I am building the "Marwatt" variant, as I've always been a huge fan of Pete Townshend's tone.
I had a set of new plates made to complete the Hiwatt look. This is what it would kind of look like if Hiwatt made a 2 channel, 18 watt amp!
Pretty cool!
My '79 Hiwatt DR504
Here is my '69 Traynor YBA1...
This is a friend's '67 Super Reverb! This is a beautifully preserved example of a classic!
'76 Silverface Twin Reverb
Firefly..... 1/2 watt tube amp that I am building. I made the turret board and sourced all the parts. Definitely more work than a kit! Uses a 12AU7 for the power stage!
I am in the process of building a DR504 clone.......
Here are some preliminary pics.....
Up and running...... I still need to dress some wires....
Here it is in the new head cab from Jeff Swanson..
Here are some clips (excuse the sloppy playing and the over modulating mike!):
My homemade pedalboard..........
More portable board....
Here are some songs that I've recorded. They were all recorded on my Fostex MR-8 Multi Tracker, then mixed on my PC using N-Tracks Studio.
If anyone is worried about copyright issues, I am an amateur hobbyist, and harbor NO illusions of selling these recordings, so John and Pete have nothing to worry about!
This was the first song I ever attempted to record. I had been playing about 8 months at this point, so no laughing! The lead track is my Pete Townshend SG. The rhythm guitar is my Epiphone Les Paul Standard. Both were plugged into my Pandora PX-4, which was then plugged into the MR-8. Bass is plugged directly into the MR-8. Drums were done with the demo version of PC Drummer.( http://www.pcdrummer.com )
The second song I've attempted to record. No vocals yet, but I'm working on it.
Rhythm guitar is my Gibson LP Standard, solos were done with my SG. Both were plugged into my Traynor YCV-20WR live miked.
My first stompbox. It's a Rangemaster clone....
I've been sitting in on my friend Symon's solo gig. Great guy! Here's me playing rock star at the Pelican Bay Bar and Grill in Naples......
I met Elliot Easton after a GREAT New Cars show on 8/2/07 at Westbury Music Fair on Long island.......
I started a classic rock cover band a few months ago......... More shots to come, but we actually sound pretty good for a bunch of middle aged wankers!
We practice here....
Rack setup.....
First Gig Pics......... It was a Halloween party..... I went as Pete Townshend, circa 1970, but it was hot, so I removed the wig for the show.....
