Gear may come and gear may go

First off, I didn't get the Triaxis rig. It would have cost the guy a fortune to ship the thing and I didn't want to put out any funds to help him get it over here. I was able to sellI ended up trading the Mako Dorado for a Gutierrez Juggernaut.

It's a great guitar. Feels awesome. But I couldn't get past the Camo paint job and the EMG's. I put it up on the standard forums that I frequent and finally arranged a trade that I could live with. Currently incoming is a Caparison Applehorn HGS. And yes, it is already on Craigslist.

In other news, I traded my VHT 100cl for a 5150 III. I am very surprised how versatile it is. The rhythm channel was a little funky to dial in but I have a really good early Anthrax tone. Pretty stoked on it thus far.

Incoming!!

I am still trying to offload a lot of stuff that I am just not using. I put the Axe FX and really got nothing but lowball cash offers or some pretty good trades. I figured that I would try to get a trade that I can easily turn around and sell. So I got this coming,

As soon as I receive it, it's for sale:
150 for the GMajor
800 for the Triaxis
350 for the poweramp
25 for the furman
50 for the rack case

I am still selling a few other items:
Mako Dorado w/Makoplex Mod: 1050
VHT 100cl w/ftsw: 950

On a different note.. I got an update from Mako and it appears as though I can expect to get my second Dorado back sometime soon. Hopefully, I get it before I sell the first one so I can see how the different powertubes affect the tone and feel of the amp. Mako has had it since February and I am just glad that I had a different amp to use. Andrew is a nice guy and I think I just happened to send it in at the worst possible time.

Gear for Sale

I did an assessment and I just have way too much stuff. So I am selling a variety of things.

My Bass Rig:
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/msg/2630481717.html

White Germino 4x12, MXR EQ (x2), Ibanez Tubescreamer:
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/msg/2621001087.html

VHT 100cl w/footswitch, Marshall 1960b:
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/msg/2629403567.html

Unrestrained Recording (lead)

79 Gibson The Paul --> Suhr Koko Boost--> Frenzel Bud 50 --> Germino 4x12 (vintage 30 & gt75 mix)

Unrestrained Recording (rhythm)

We are recording two tracks today with our friend David Lindell. The tracks are going to two different compilation efforts.

Rhythm Guitar:
Gibson Les Paul Studio --> Suhr Koko Boost --> Mako Dorado --> Germino 4x12 (vintage 30 & gt75 mix)

A Few Updates

I traded the Mesa Racktifier for a VHT 100cl. The VHT does not have the EQ like most of the other ones do. I think I like it this way over having the EQ. I was able to find a few tones that I liked right away.

I picked up a Suhr Koko Boost a couple of weeks ago after researching for a month or two. It's a great clean and mid boost and I've found some really good uses for it.

While trying to find some trade deals for the Mako Dorado I am selling, I came across a deal that I couldn't pass up.

It's a 1980 Marshall JMP with a JCM 800 Straight 4x12. Both items are in great shape for their age. In the purchase, I also picked up a week old Ibanez TS808 Reissue. The head doesn't have the type of gain that I usually go after so I made a third pedal board and am now boosting the hell out of the front end of the JMP with both the TS808 and Koko Boost.

Tonight, I traded my Mesa 295 poweramp for a White Germino 4x12 with 2 Vintage 30s and 2 75s.

On a semi related note: The Marshall 4x12 is set aside for my friend Morgan to purchase and the JMP is currently for sale. =)

Gearterview with Scott Danough (Falling to Pieces, Bleeding Through, etc)

So let's start things off with a description of your current rig.

My current rig consists of an older Mesa Boogie rack mount dual rectifier head pushing two Jackson 4X12 red cone cabinets. The cabs are 16 ohm so I'm daisy chaining them to stay at 16. My pedal board right now consists of running into a CFH wah at the start and from there I go into an Ibanez TS808. It's the best overdrive pedal you can get in my opinion. Nothing even comes close. From there I'm going into an MXR EVH phase 90, and the last pedal before my amp is a boss NS2 noise suppressor.

I've been thinking of adding a nice delay to my board as well. From time to time I'll alternate my chorus and flanger pedals in the chain to but those four I'm running now are always my mainstays. That's what I run for recording and practice but when I'm playing live I also go through a sennheiser wireless. It's the only wireless I've yet to have a problem losing signal. Most other ones I've used are pretty good but I would always have one venue on a tour where the signal was just shot.

As for guitars I always play Ibanez. Both of mine are custom spec'd and built at the Ibanez shop in LA and they're almost done with the new one I spec'd out. All my guitars are always loaded with EMG pickups. 81 at the bridge and an 85 at the neck.

One of the biggest mainstays in my rig has been an overdrive that's been modeled after an 808. Have you tried different pedals out?

Yeah I've tried other overdrive pedals and none have come close to my TS808.. It's my favorite pedal I've ever had and I might go as far as chopping Someones arm off for even looking at it too long. Haha in all seriousness though, I have the mxr overdrive with the line boost channel and though it's a great pedal it's not a tube screamer. I've also tried the zakk wylde overdrive and didn't care for that either. Maxon makes a pretty cool overdrive that's comparable. Like I said... The TS808 is the best.

I am very jealous over the Ibanez Custom Shop access. How did that relationship start?

The relationship with ibanez started when I was still in bleeding through. Both Brian and I jumped ship from ESP because we were being treated like shit by the new A&R guy who didn't take us seriously. He's still at ESP and I don't want to go into details but we just were over his lack of interest in us. Brian met the ibanez rep and immediately signed on while I was going to try and get in with B.C. Rich. After talking to the guy at ibanez I learned about several artists jumping ship with B.C. Rich over the same complaints I had with ESP. Ibanez obviously make very high quality instruments and I decided to give them a try. I instantly loved the production models they sent me and soon after they were building me custom built models that I spec'd out. Their artist rep is still my same dude after 6 years and I won't play anything else. They make the best guitars period. And the fact that I've remained close friends with my rep since then and I'm treated well my loyalty is set in stone with them. Play one of their high end models and I dare you to tell me it's not better than any of their competitors instruments.. I'm still very proud to be playing the best there is.

I know that you have been recording for Falling to Pieces off/on for the past couple of months. What have you been using for this and how does it differ from your live setup?

With falling to pieces I run all the aforementioned gear live and I've used all of it for the recording process. I recently scored a deal with peavey again however that didn't go through til after the recording. I'll be running the Mesa head still but swapping out the Jackson cabs with peavey 6505 cabs. I'll also be powering one cab with the Mesa and the other cab with a 6505 head splitting the two with an a/b box. I've done this in the past and gotten the most amazing tone. It would have been nice if I'd gotten the gear in time for the recording but what can ya do? For all the leads and solos we lined everything direct and reamped since we wrote the leads as we were recording. I wish we'd done the same when I laid down the rhythm tracks but the guy recording them insisted we didn't need to. I suppose he was right but I think if we had reamped the rhythms in the studio we're taking it to the pinch harmonics would have been brighter and the tone would be thicker. All in all I'm happy with the sound I got out of it and if it were too perfect it might have taken some of that "something special" away. Live it all going to be what I've mentioned except I'll be running my wireless.

How do you approach recording? Do you have a general idea of what you're going to use?

My approach with recording is to use what I'm playing live to replicate the tone on the record. That's why I stick with my main rig for most of the tracking but I do like to get some different tones to mix in. That's where the peavey gear and another head or two as well as maybe a different cab could have been useful. I also like tracking with different guitars in the studio. I mainly stay with my Ibanez guitars bit tend to use some of my gibsons too when in the studio. I have this 81 explorer I bought from Andy Williams about 5 years ago that plays and sounds like a fucking dream! The neck and fret scale are smaller than most so you can fly up and down the neck on that thing. But yeah, I'm usually in the "zone" with what I'm going to use when recording.

If you could point to one specific album or band, what would you say that ultimately shapes the tone that you are going for?

As for one specific album I could pinpoint... That's a tough one. Especially when I'm hearing new records come out that just keep getting better guitar tones. Lately I'm really liking the tone on the most recent acacia strain record. I also really like the tone on all shall perish's awaken the dreamers. Sometimes I hear a record that has terrible production and the guitar tone may sound fuzzy but it just has this certain sound that makes it brutal so it's too hard to pinpoint a specific record. I will say that my favorite tone I've gotten on a record was when I recorded "the truth" with bleeding through years back. It may not be my favorite record I did with them but the tone was so pissed off and in your face. It's funny too because I should have gotten a similar or possibly better tone from the portrait of a goddess record with the gear I used. On portrait I ran a Mesa Boogie power amp with a tri axis preamp. That shit was so brutal but the idiot that produced it had me retracking so much and ended up using 8 tracks for a thicker sound. That ended up being a terrible idea as it sounded like a giant wall made of diarrhea that was recorded on a boombox in Someones toilet. For the truth it was a combination of a 5150, triple rectifier, and a VHT pitbull with a Marshall cab and a VHT cab. A couple songs we used my Jackson cab with the white cones. I will say this though... One record that constantly sticks out in my mind as having awesome tone is carcass's heartwork. That was almost twenty years ago and still sounds amazing! I guess I already have the tone I'm looking for even though I'm always checking out new things to improve on it.

To me the Carcass Heartwork album is perfect. The tones, riffs, and solos are incredible. I would love to know how that was recorded.

The carcass record just slays in every aspect. To think that after all these years it still makes most records sound terrible! The riffing and soloing is also incredible. I would love to hear how this was produced and engineered. Just goes to show how much talent went in to it and resulted in a timeless classic!

Is there anything out there that's on your "Bucket List" when it comes to equipment?

Wow. There's a million things I can think of but to shorten it up I'd say for a guitar... A 1957 les paul custom would be my list topper. For pedals... Too many to list so again my list topper would be an original TS808 modded by Wes Keely. As for amps... I already have my head but I'd love to have some vintage jcm 800 Marshall cabs from the late 60's era. I'll stop now as this could go on and on and possibly bore/annoy the shit out of your readers.

Current rig as of 7/14

Got the Mako Dorado from the trade I did and the Makoplex mod is really the best way to go on these. Its got two gain toggles, bright switch, and mid switch. I'm really glad that I decided to have my other Dorado outfitted with the same options.

While setting the Mako up, I decided to mess around with our guitar cab situation a little bit and do a Mesa/Marshall combo for each side. So far, I'm happy with the decision.

Last week, I came across an early (serial 9xx) rackmount dual recto on eBay for cheap. I didn't expect my bid to be the only one (hahaha). Anyways, I got it today and its pretty awesome. If I decide to part with it, my friend Morgan has already claimed dibs. Sorry.

Here's how they are being run:
Mako side: guitar > tuner > bb preamp > ns2 > mako dorado (both gains on. Bright and mid boost off) > mesa recto and Marshall 1960b 4x12s

Mesa side: guitar > maxon 808 > tuner > ns2 > dual recto (orange channel w/vintage voicing) > mesa recto and Marshall vm 4x12s.

Incoming!!!

Through a three way trade... the Titan is on the way out... this bad mother fucker is coming in.
Mako Dorado with factory done Makoplex mod.

This is not to be confused with the Dorado that is currently at Mako that may or may not be getting the same exact mod performed.

Half of my current rig

I am very stoked on this right now.

Coming soon (hopefully): Selling the Titan and getting a Mako Mak4/G-Major 2 setup.

The Madness Continues!

Remember that Les Paul that I said was a keeper?! Yeah.. It wasn't. It had a great feel and great balance/weight but something about it just didn't work. It was too damn bright and lacked the low end that I am used to. Three different pickups were tried with no luck in fixing the problem. Sometimes, you have to acknowledge that certain guitars have characteristics that you cannot modify. So that's gone.

I got my Axe-Fx and home recording setup. That Axe-FX is awesome. Here's the summary of that rig.
*Axe-Standard
*Carvin HT750 Poweramp
*Atomic Reactor Passive Cab.

I have never been so amazed by a single piece of equipment. When going in direct, you get the feeling and sound of playing through a mic'd rig. The free Axe-Edit interface makes things painfully easy to edit your patch and compare tones. Also, you can turn off the cab and poweramp simulations with ease. It's perfect for both a live rig and direct recording. I was so impressed that it led to my next purchase...

Mesa 295 Poweramp.
This thing is massive. I picked it up for 450, which is pretty fair considering that could use a retube within the next 6 months. What's great about it is that it was made prior to Mesa adding Presence controls. With the Axe-Fx, I want to edit everything through the unit itself. This includes the Presence.

Purchased a Voodoo Amps CP100. This was made for Ken from Unearth and was built into a Marshall 2210 headshell. SUPER loud and sounded pretty decent. However, with the Frenzel, Mako, and Titan.. it wasn't doing anything that I didn't already have somewhere else. It will be sent tomorrow for a 2003 Gibson Les Paul Swamp Ash Studio. I don't really need a fourth guitar right now so it's probably going to be traded. In fact, I believe that it's traded already.

With the acquisition of the Mesa 295 poweramp. I want to add an actual preamp to the mix. I've had my eye on a Mako MAK4 since I heard Mako was going to come out with them. I should find out today if I made a deal for that Swamp Ash LP for one. *fingers crossed*. I am going to need another 4 space rack case...

Other News
When I first thought of doing a gear blog, I wanted to get other people involved and interview other fellow nerds about their rigs. Well... I found my first person to interview in an old friend. I should be able to get that done and posted within the next two weeks.

Updated Gear List

New (to me) Les Paul

After three years of trying, I succeeded in getting my friend and former roommate, Shane, to sell me his Les Paul. While it's a Studio, I have never seen one with this finish and play so well. Of course, I can't be happy with how things come to me. The pickup is getting swapped with a Gibson 500T. It's a keep for sure.

As far as other updates, the Mark IV beat my original expectation and last over 4 months. It's gone. I arranged a trade yesterday for a custom Titan Dual Lead Channel rack head. Here are the specs from his forum post:

Feature-wise, this amp is pretty similar to the Cerberus, but without the clean channel, and with some more poweramp voicing options. Basically,
- 100w via KT88 x 2 (fresh JJs)
- 2 CH (both hi-gain, but can do clean with gain lowered)
--> Blue channel is TITAN's signature, super dynamic hi-gain channel
--> Red channel is a custom-voiced, more compressed hi-gain channel that shares some characteristics w/ the ENGL SE & VHT UL
- gain / vol / bass / mid / treb / contour controls per channel
- master vol / presence / depth / damping controls
- rear input (seriously, why don't more rack amps have this)
- switchable fx loop
- lot's o' speaker output options
- 5U, includes front handles (very nice to have getting it in / out of a rack)
 Pics will be posted as soon as I get it.

I have some funds set aside for a few purchases within the next month. Some are decided on already.. some are not. Hopefully, I will be able to do some minor recording and tracking at my house within the next few weeks.
Axe-Fx Standard *decided on*
Atomic Reactor Active 50w Cab *decided on*
Custom built Les Paul Copy
21.5in iMac
Verellen Skyhammer

Here's a quick picture of what my setup was as of last night: