1998 Les Paul Studio with Bartolini bridge pickup

Not surprisingly over the last 40 years I’ve been through a lot of guitars, amps and equipment. My current set up is fairly minimal now as I don’t play in full bands much aside for the occasional jam session. I have two electric guitars, an acoustic, a big amp, a small amp and a combined amp simulator and effects board. My partner has an acoustic guitar and we have a bass guitar. 

The electric guitars and amps I have now come with stories. I wouldn’t have My 1990’s MIJ Fender Stratocaster in 60’s reissue Foto flame finish if all my gear hadn’t been stolen after a gig for example.

I was staying the night at my parents house in an incredibly quiet little hamlet in East Renfrewshire. The location and the fact that I got there at 2am led to me making a stupid mistake. Not wanting to wake everyone up I left my Hiwatt Amp, H&H 4x12 cabinet, Washburn Chicago guitar and FX pedals in my car. I parked right under the window of the room I would be sleeping in. What could go wrong?

Suffice to say when I emerged the next morning after a sound sleep I found an empty car. Despite checking several times my beloved gear refused to re-appear. Be warned - Ford Capri’s may well be desirable vintage classics but you can open them with anything! I have various suspects but have never been able to prove anything or recover any of it. luckily my boss and friend at the time very generously lent me enough money to buy replacements. 

Don’t ask me why but I first chose a Laney amp and a Blade flying V guitar. I quickly realised I hated both and was luckily able to swap them for the Strat and a Peavey Classic 50 watt amp. The thieves had declined my 4x12 so I still had speakers. Though I preferred the new Strat to a 70’s one I owned briefly years before, I never loved it’s sound until recently - more of which later.  

I exchanged the Peavy for my Marshall TSL 122 combo tube amp after inheriting some money. I’ve had it ever since. It has a power cut switch which drops the output from 100 to 25 watts.  This means you can drive it hard for that true Marshall valve sound without breaking windows. It still weighs several million tons though. I also have a little Roland Cube 5 watt practice amp which I’ve used at some surprisingly large venues. 

With the same windfall I bought my 1998 Gibson Les Paul studio. I’ve added a Bartolini bridge pickup to that and it’s been my main guitar ever since. Having tried various multi FX units over the years I had gone back to separate pedals. My set up for a long time was the Les Paul and Marshall, a Line 6 compressor, Boss chorus and delay pedals and a George Dennis wah pedal. I’d usually have the Marshall switched to either its clean or crunch channels (never liked the lead channel) and used the compressor for a lead boost. 

In the past I’ve owned an Orange amp. Apparently Hendrix used to sniff out and get rid of these when they were part of supplied backline. I didn’t like mine much either but bought it cheap and sold it on for a profit. Like my Hiwatt, they’re worth a bloody fortune now.  You live and learn.

In recent years I sold all of my separate pedals and replaced them and the Pod I used for recording, with a Boss GT100. It's both an amp simulator and a multi effects board. It’s a truly amazing piece of kit which as a bonus, has made me fall in love with the Strat. It just brings out the perfect ‘stratty” tone I’ve never been able to achieve since losing the Hiwatt amp and Korg A5 pedal board.

My acoustic is a recent purchase. Its just a cheap Yamaha F310 but I bought it for a specific purpose. I’d heard about Nashville. high strung tuning and wanted to have a guitar permanently set up that way. If you are not familiar with this way of stringing a guitar read my article here. I’ve added a Fishman pickup to this guitar and I really love its sound. 

My partner - an incredible bass player - had a Hohner headless 5 string bass. I hated it and persuaded her to sell it and replace it with a four string Precision a couple of years back. She got a very good price for the Hohner and a friend gave us a Squier P bass that needed some work. I fixed it up for about £30. It plays well and sounds great on our recordings.  

I’ve owned a number of guitars over the years. Amongst various Strat, Les Paul and Telecaster copies I’ve owned the Washburn Chicago I mentioned earlier. It was a really nice metal oriented guitar with locking nut, Floyd Rose trem, big fat frets and high output humbuckers. I briefly owned a Shergold. A weird thing that had about 21 selectable pickup combinations, none of which sounded too great. I had a Les Paul Deluxe - the one with the mini humbuckers. Didn’t like it. My Epiphone copy was better though both were microphonic. Same with the old 72 Strat I mentioned earlier which I swapped for a Tanglewood bowl back semi acoustic. 

I never say never but its unlikely I’ll be taking to the stage as part of a band again so what I have is more than adequate for my needs. It’s been a process of evolution. Maybe if I met some of my old gear now I’d like it better as I do my Fender, having finally paired it with the right effects. I do still miss that Hiwatt amp though….