XTC's Dave Gregory's back, and the man is on fire!!!!

Last night I fulfilled a liftime dream. My band and I performed with Mr Dave Gregory at the Vic in Swindon. For any of you that don't know Dave, shame on you;) Dave is best known as the guitarist with XTC, the band whos music changed my life...literally. Since I was 20 years old the man has been my hero, he was the guitarist I wanted to be. Once you heard his parts and solo's that he contributed to Andy Partridge's songs you could no longer imagine any other possible worthwhile 6 string contributions. The man is a genius. I was playing an XTC song at the Manly Boatshed 7 years ago when a beautiful young woman says to me, I'm from Swindon, where XTC are from. That woman is now my wife and through circumstance we end up living where else but Swindon. Fate intervenes and a few years ago I meet my hero, and as he may well be the only person I've ever met who's passion for the instrument is greater than mine we become mates. On top of his passion is a level of talent that is bewildering. So I invite Dave down to the amp shoot-out we did at the website a few months ago and he sits in with the band. It all just kind of fell into place. I put it to Dave that we do a project...and he says yes!

So after a few weeks of rehearsal, last night we played

Dream Brother - Jeff Buckley
Reelin in the Years - Steeley Dan
Frankenstein - Edgar Winter
Red - King Crimson
Scissor Man - XTC
Towers of London - XTC

It's the start of a new project called 'The Tin Spirits'

For those of you that were there last night, well I don't need to tell you how great the man was, indeed a humbling experience.
I'll be getting some YouTube footage up on the website soon. Thanks to everyone that came down, stay tuned for more!

I saw the jolly fat man in Holland - Popa Chubby!

Tuesday night I popped over to Holland with a mate to go and see the jolly fat man himself Popa Chubby.
As always he sounded fantastic. NYC blues rock with all the subtlety of a jack hammer. The guy really knows how to get a great guitar sound.
I also popped in to see Erik van de Haar from Haar guitars. Wow, what a great shop and an amazing guy. He builds custom guitars from scratch that play beautifaully and sound wonderful. He also has the most amazing amp room I've ever seen. Two-Rock, Matchless, BadCat, Suhr, Top Hat, Bruno, 65Amps, the list goes on and on.

Much joy!

So this is Christmas!!

In the true spirit of Christmas, help someone else this year. When you are presented with the lame in tone, tell them about TheGigRig.com, when the poor in sonic wealth are begging before you, lament not for we at The Gig Rig shall give of our abundance in toneful remedies. Because no matter where you are, there always someone omnipresent listening closely to every note, every nuance. You know who you are...

Happy Holidays everyone. Love, Joy and peace to you all my friends. Thanks for the best year ever.

All the very best to all of you from all of us here at www.TheGigRig.com

It's time for change - Vote for better tone!

We've never had it soooo good. Guitarists searching for the ultimate tone are absolutely spoilt for choice like never before. From cutting edge technology to vintage tonality the modern guitarist has an endless choice of toys and noise makers. Thanks to the Internet we also know more than ever before. I was at a guitar show recently when I was asked by a 13 year old guitarist if my tele used alnico magnets and nitro-cellulose lacquer.
So where has all this choice and knowledge got us? Are we enlightened as musicians? Or are we just more confused? I believe the answer lies in there somewhere. I've heard young players who trawl for hours on YouTube listening to mind blowing amounts of great music who are amazing players. Truly the future is theirs, but I also know of players who seem overloaded. So much choice that they forget why the started playing guitar in the first place... which is as we all know - to woo the ladies!
So how do we cut through the myriad of distraction and actually choose the instruments that are to become our voice? The gear that is to express us.

There are 3 very important steps when it comes to choosing gear.

I believe that if you make these central to every purchase it's difficult to go wrong. The first is A/B'ing.
If you're going to a shop to try a pedal, take a pedal with you that you know so you have something to compare it to. Same with a guitar, even amps. If you're going to spend that much on an amp, haul an amp in with you that you know and sit there and listen. Your ears are absolutely amazing at comparing tones, but they have no memory. Without comparison you left groping in the dark. Find a spot and sit there and play and listen, unplug, re-plug, play and listen, and again, and again.

This brings me to the next step, train yourself to listen.

As musicians we are passionate, we get emotional, we sometimes feel the need to apply make-up and cross dress. (scratch the last one, maybe). This is why it so bloody easy to sell us stuff. With every faculty we have we get so caught up in the process.
When it comes to your tone though, you need to find a place that is free from this stuff. Free from hype and emotion. Free from preconception and expectation.
Dispassionately you need to ask yourself, do I really like this? Sometimes the answer will surprise you. Be completely honest with yourself. I have a really large collection of vintage pedals and amps and you know who cares? No one but me. But the stuff I have I love. I get some sounds that really inspire me to play. I don't care who makes them, what year they're made or what they cost which brings me neatly to my last point
You need to be honest with yourself. Can I afford it?
I got in debt pretty much the day I turned 18 and didn't get out of debt again till I was 24 all because of gear I had to have. I am a recovering gear'a'holic and I know first hand how much damage the 'must have it now' attitude can do. The answer is a simple numbers numbers game, you either can afford it or you can't at the moment. If you can't then save for it. I swear you play better when you're not in debt. Now I love the gear I have but I don't love having gear if you get what I mean. It's an important difference.

Here endeth the lesson

Tribute to Bob Sweet

Tribute to Bob Sweet
Bob Sweet, the man behind Sweet Sound Electronics who gave us the Mojo Vibe and Ultra Vibe pedals which are my favourite vibe pedals ever, passed away last Friday 24th October after a battle with bone cancer. He was a great guy who made some of the best gear out there. Like many of us he was incredibly passionate about great guitar sound and dedicated a large part of his life to getting the most out of it he could.
Farewell Bob, you will be missed...

Stay ahead of the credit crunch - sound better than the other guy!

I have a dirty little 3 piece band that gets out and plays gigs most weekends. It's loads of fun, and as a professional musician it's something that I can't see myself ever not doing, I mean if it's in you, that's what you do, you get out there and play.

Now there are loads of gigs out there, but there are also loads of bands, loads of guitarists wanting their shot at the title. So how do you go about making sure that you give yourself the best chance of getting that gig? Over the years during feast and famine I have found 3 key things to making sure you're ahead of the game.



1. Sound better than the other guy



This isn't rocket science but make sure you're sounding as good as you can. It's not about buying stuff, it's about getting the most out of what you've got. How are your valves? Are your strings dead? Is your pedal chain sucking tone from your signal path? This is basic stuff but don't neglect it.



2. Learn to sing



Fact is if two guitarists audition for a band and one guy can sing, guess who they're gonna pic? I'm not the greatest guitarist in the world by my sound is Ben Hur and I can sing so I'm always a good option for someone that wants a fat sounding guitar and extra vocals in the line-up.



3. Don't be a twat!



No matter how good you are you need to get along with people. I've met some of the greatest guitarists in the world and almost without exception, they're all beautiful people. If you're going to be in a band with people you need to be someone that the other guys and gals look forward to hooking up with rehearsals and long old drives to the back and beyond. Fact is in a band you spend less than 10% of your time playing, and the rest is just hanging out. So getting along with people is extremely important.



Unless of course you're this guy!

The shootout results are in!

Hi everyone
Thanks so much for checking out the amp shootout. We've had such fun getting it together for you. Every amp really has its own thing going on. I twisted Phil at Matchless's arm and I now own the very first C30 head with Reverb ever made. I use this with the Two-Rock Jet for one of the best guitar sounds ever. (well, I think so, but it's hard to go wrong with either of these amps) The Pro-Reverb ticked alot of boxes for alot of people as well, and the Vox, and the Chieftain, and the 65Amps London, oh man......

Is your tone really that important?

I once again caught myself thinking (as I do ) about my tone. I realized that I've spent a large part of my professional career focused on achieving great tone. I obsess over it, I lie awake thinking about it, indeed many of the products you'll see in our catalogue have been inspired during periods of insomnia. So is it really that important? I could've just said ' Of course it is, don't be stupid you plonka...get on with it', but It's been ingrained in me that there is no knowledge gained without thorough analysis. So i grabbed all of my favourite CD's and started doing some investigation. I went through all the guys that really push my buttons musically. Jeff Baxter (Steely Dan), Stevie Ray, Dave Gregory(XTC), Andy Summers (Police), Niel Finn (Crowded House), Jeff Beck, Robben Ford, Robert Fripp (King Crimson), Wes Montgomery, BB King and Derek Trucks. (There's loads more but these are the guys from the CD's I had at hand.) I went through each track trying to work out what it was that connected with me. Each of these guys has a unique voice, there's no confusing them, and without fail, every single one of them sound fantastic. So i do an experiment. I set up a rig and on purpose I make it sound ordinary. I hook up a bunch of inline buffers (6 in total) from a bunch of pedals into an amp that's desperate for some new valves. So I know that by the time my signal hits the amp, it's already not all it can be, and the amp's not really singing. So how did it sound? Well, it sounded OK, I set up a rhythm loop, hit play and recorded the session to see what I come up with. Listening back, it was fine, nothing amazing but it was OK.
Next step was to re-valve my old Vox, set-up my pedal board and try again. I now know that my signal is clean and the amp is sounding really great. I hit record again to see what I come up with this time. It did feel different but listening back I was stunned to hear the way I played. I just seemed so much more connected with what I was doing. The richer harmonics in the sound led me to play different things. It was fascinating. The tone that you use is the vehicle through which your voice is heard. Suddenly my tonal obsessive compulsive disorder doesn't seem so crazy. And the thing is, all these guys knew it as well. Think of the lengths that these guys go to to get their gear sounding right. Even guys like Derek Trucks who plug straight in still experiment loads with speakers and components to make sure that they're squeezing every last drop of tone from the amp. Yes, it's in the fingers and the way that you play, of course it is, but we're not talking acoustic guitars here people. If the tone isn't right, your fingers are going to struggle.
My life has been validated. What a relief.

Amp Shootout On The Way!!!!

Hey there guys and gals
At the end of this month we're doing a massive amp shootout. We're going to have a bunch of vintage and high end boutique amps in the studio so you can hear how they sound with a band.
These will include

65 Amps London
62 Vox AC30 (EF86 input)
Matchless DC30
76 Marshall JMP50
Matchless Cheiftan
76 Blackfaced Pro-Reverb
Two-Rock Jet

I wanted to get a couple examples of 6L6, EL34 and EL84 amps in there so you can hear the differences and to compare the vintage with the modern boutique.

As soon as it's done you'll be able to see clips of all these amps in action right here on the website.
It's going to be a great day so stay tuned for the results!!!

Who's your 'Tone Buddy'?

I was hanging out at Charlie Chandlers Guitar Experience a couple of weeks ago (as you do) and ran into an old Friend of mine. We started talking about recent purchases, bargains, and minefield dodging maneuvers. He introduced me to a simple but very effective concept that I'm sure most of you already are using to one length or another. He has his 'Tone Buddy'. Like an objective filter when it comes to buying gear.
I realised that I've had a tone buddy for a couple of years now as well, and it's worked out to be a revelation. Another set of ears on your tone is worth while having, but there are a couple of pre-requisites for Tone Buddy's. They are;

1. Your 'Tone Buddy' should not be your wife/partner. They should not have an alternate motive for your spare cash.
2. Your Tone Buddy needs to be knowledgeable about tone. You should talk the same language when it comes to choosing the right things for your sound. If anything, they should know more than you.
3. They should be open to new ideas. Not stuck in a 70's time warp, or lisetns to only Megadeath. You want objective opinions.
4. AT the end of the day, as much as their opinion is important, it's more important that YOU make the decision. It's your tone afterall.

With these boxes ticked, your tone buddy can be a life saver. So next time you buy that new pedal and have already made up your mind that it's the best thing ever made before you've even got i out of the box, give your tone buddy a bell.

Trust me, a good 'Tone Buddy' is worth their weigt in semi-precious metal.

How gig fit are you?

Is there ever any real substitute for getting out there and rocking out? Does rehearsal even qualify? How important is being gig fit to your playing?
Fact is, you play how you feel. I know when I feel rubbish I can barely play a note, but when I'm on form, well, let's just say I play alot better. I was invited down to the Music Man party at the London Guitar show to see my friend Brian Kellner perform. The guy exudes pure joy when you talk to him. He's one of these guys that says 'do what you love, and stuff the rest', and he loves playing the guitar. The guy is also incredibly physically fit. So at the end of a very long day the party begins and a few guitarists take the stage. The first two guys were great, I mean what do you expect from Music Man endorsees?, they knew their stuff. Then Brian gets up and is also great, but he takes a different approach. He wasn't their to impress or show off his amazing ability, which he has, he was their because he just loves to play guitar. The joy that was so apparent really made a connection with the people in that room. It just felt really good, and to be able to turn it on like that at the end such a long day of trade is no meant feat. Then i realise at that point, if I was to play right now, I would sound like a complete turd for the simple fact that i was exhausted. The experience has made me rethink my approach to being 'gig fit'. It's not just about sounding great on the third night of a string of gigs, it's about having enough in the tank so that even when you don't feel like it, you can just turn it on and connect with that part of you that wanted to pick up the guitar and rock out in the first place.

Great tone moves serious air!

We had a small moment of epiphany this weekend at the International Guitar Show in London. We had set up TheGigRig to do some EXTREME switching. We set up a Two-Rock Jet, Matchless Chieftain, 65 Amps London and my 62 Vox AC30, and had a Pro-14 switching all combinations of the amps + effects, wet/Dry/wet set examples, basically everything you'd expect from the best floor based switching system in the world. But here's the thing that really struck me. If you've ever been to a music trade show there's one common factor - ambient noise. Constant unrelenting noise. So, I start doing this demo, and people quite a way from our stand prick their ears up and head over to check out what's going on. At first I thought that it may be because we were 'shred free', but then a mate who was there with another company comes up and tells me that we could be heard clear as a bell through the ambient noise all the way over to his stand, about 150 feet away.
Hmmm, I thought, so I set up our young gun 'Handsome Dave' on our rig during a noisy period playing a Grissom/Mayer type feel which wasn't loud (you could still talk with no probs at our stand), and went for a bit of a stroll. Through all the noise and chaos, I could hear this tone beckoning. It was a revelation. It really moves air and those toneful frequencies that give us so much joy find their way through the contaminated void, into our ears. This is why great tone can always be heard in the mix.
It does kind of justify the ridiculous efforts many of us go to to get this right. Great tone does connect with people, and that's what it's all about, right?

Pin your ears back boys, we're going in!!! -LIMS

Once again we're be struttin our stuff for MB Media at the London International Music Show. 4 days of music and mayhem at the Excel centre in London from the 12th to the 16th of June. We're doing a pedal board exhibition showing people the stompers of our heroes and what's around today that'll get them there. Our stand is D44 so come over and say hi, and bring me a beer!

Can't sleep. Insomnia gives birth to DISTRIBUTOR

Many people lay awake at night unable to drift off due to so many thoughts nagging at them. I do suffer from this, and what do I think about? Tone. That's it. What can I do to improve your tone. Our latest offering to apease the insomnia deity is the Distributor. This is going to help alot of people, tidy up alot of congested boards, and hopefully I can now get a little bit of sleep.

Paul Stacey last at the 606 in London, OMG!

Once every couple of months Paul Stacey does a classic rock gig at the 606 club in Chelsea London which is where I caught up with Paul last night. What an incredible gig. Paul's tone was phenomenal. He's back from a long tour with The Black Crowes and is in truly fine form. Jeremy Stacey, Paul's brother was on drums and it must be said, is one of the best drummers on the planet. And how John Hogg on rhythm guitar and vocals is not world famous is simply an injustice to mankind. If your a fan of classic rock done the way it was meant to then keep an eye out for the next time they play at the 6.

Oh my...I think we've done it!

We've been working on the ultimate pedal board power solution for some time. Integrating our Generator and Virtual Batteries in a way that will power nearly every dc powered effect on the planet... and I think we've just done it! I'm a bit excited so watch this space for more news on this soon. All I'll say is that daisy chains are about to become obsolete!

Review for Deviever effects on the way!

Joe at Vintage and Rare guitars in London sent me a bunch of these Deviever effects to check out. I've ended up doing a full on review for Guitar Buyer Magazine for three of them. Really fantastic creative tools. These guys have arguably one of the most unique design takes on fuzz's in recent history. Stay tuned for the full review.

Big Day for TheGigRig

When I was ten years old My older brother showed me an amazing magazine that had nothing to do with scantily clad ladies. An American mag called 'Guitar Player'. I'd already been playing a couple of years and tho I wouldn't get my first electric guitar for another 2 years I was already well and truly hooked. The images of rock demi-gods toting Les Paul's and Lycra stayed with me for a long time to come and for me it's always been the benchmark mag, I mean, it's GUITAR PLAYER after all! Well yesterday TheGigRig got a mention in 'The Ultimate Guide To Pedalboards' article in GP. They called it one of a couple of 'ingenious products', so basically, I'm over the moon. I'm really proud of this pumping little company Dave and I have created out of nothing but an idea and bloody hard work. So thanks to everyone who has been involved, from our clients who inspire us to do what we do to our fantastic retailers and industry partners. You guys and gals ROCK!!!