Guitar Nation - the aftermath

Firstly i want to say a massive thank you to everyone who came down to Olympia in London on the weekend. It was a really great weekend and great to see so many tone obsessed guitarists.

Tone Hungry Crowd Gathers

From the minute the doors opened on Saturday the crowd around TheGigRig stand was constant. It's where the tone was at doncha know. We were there with my mate Jesse and his band of merry men from Lazy J amps (ooh.. so very tasty..the amps, not the merry men)


It was full steam ahead from start to finish.

My good friend and guitar/producer legend Paul Stacey
dropped by to say hi and proceeded to have schwang (which is a technical term for playing guitar with passion and gusto!)
on my rig. Man, the guy is just amazing!

I have started a petition to get Paul and Jeremy back to the 606 club asap for another of their rock gigs. If it happens you owe it to yourself as a musician to get down to the 6 and hear these guys play. It'll put hairs on your chest, guaranteed. In all seriousness Paul is one of the most amazing guitarists I've ever seen. Just the amount of music that comes out of the guy is incredible.

Rock legend Phil Hilborne stopped by before his gig on the main stage to say hi. Phil has been using TheGigRig Pro-14 for a few years now and his tone is fantastic. He's just returned from a sell out 'Monsters of Rock' tour in the US where night after night he's been playing to packed stadiums. That big grin on his face is not forced!!

The guy is a legend and lives, eats and breathes guitar.


Jamiroquais' Rob Harris is another Pro-14 user and is on the road again with JayK. The new album sounds great and the Pro-14 was used extensively as well as a MIDI-8 courtesy of Jamiroquai's bass player Paul Turner. Rob's rig is fantastic and with him behind it sounds truly incredible.


New British blues sensation
Stephen Dale Petit uses a MIDI-8 at the heart of his rather amazing sounding rig. His new album'The Crave' is out now to well deserved rave reviews. I'll be going to a gig at the 100 club that he's putting on on with special guests Ronnie Wood and Mick Taylor. That's going to be massive!!!!




Fresh from a tour down under with Bonnie Tyler, Matt Prior was at the show. Along with yours truly, Matt is going to be doing clinics as a member of the British Guitar Academy alongside Marilion's Steve Rothery and Mr So and So's Dave Foster. It's going to be really great so watch this space.

There were a few amazing things about the weekend which were really cool and I'll never forget, including a name drop by Mr Steve Vai at his Master Class, but one image will stick in my head forever. We were lucky enough to have Mr Phil Harris with us who just happened to bring along his original 57 gold top Les Paul, yes folks, its a real one. You don't play this guitar, it plays you! All I can say is anyone who doubts the argument for vintage guitars hasn't heard this thing. So I was talking to some guy at the stand and I hear some Led Zep being pummelled by this 11 year old kid... on this guitar! Firstly, all 11 year olds should be made to learn Zep tunes as part of their curriculum at school, so major kudos points for that one, but apart from it sounding so good I was left wondering if and when this kid would ever realize the significance of him playing those songs on this guitar. Truly amazing. So thanks Phil, and thanks to every for coming down.