What's In My Head Right Now

This is just a quick recording of a new song I’m working on that shows off my new Line 6 Helix a little bit.

Everything you hear is from the Helix except the delay which is my Catalinbread Echorec in one of the Helix’s loops.

I am using the Helix routing to have two reverbs in parallel with a flanger on only the reverb trails on one reverb. The Helix makes it simple to do any kind of signal routing you can think of for guitars/bass/etc.

This is just a quick take of the new arrangement I was fooling around with of the old favourite, Tennessee Waltz.

This cheerful, upbeat little ditty is my way of expressing the anger and disappointment I felt after the American election. I put it together in a couple of hours, but it turned out okay, and I really like the dirty, nasty fuzz on the lead guitar courtesy of the Catalinbread Merkin fuzz.

The lead guitar is my Telecaster Pro into the Mesa LoneStar Special with the Merkin fuzz and the Catalinbread Belle Epoch delay in the loop. The final solo is comped together from 3 takes.

So I’ve been playing this new tune that I posted a little while back as a solo guitar piece quite a bit lately. Here it is again, but this time with the full band.

The rhythm guitar is my 60th anniversary Stratocaster into the Mesa TA/15 on the Marshall channel with a Fuchs Plush Crème de la Trem harmonic tremolo pedal in front.

The lead is the same guitar and amp, but on the bridge pickup and with a Fulltone Fulldrive 3 boost in front and of course, no tremelo.

Both guitars have a Softube Tube Delay simulation added in the computer. If you listen on headphones, the delays are all panned to the left side, which I think sounds really cool.

The lead guitar is my Tele Pro into the Mesa TA/15 on the Marshall channel and a Catalinbread Naga Viper treble boost in front.

Another recording that shows the effect that Bill Frisell has been having on my playing.

I just threw this together in an hour or so. It's 3 tracks of my Paul Reed Smith McCarty Soapbar Standard into the Mesa Lonestar Special drive channel with the Fulltone FullDrive 3 boost in front and the Catalinbread Belle Epoch tape echo in the loop.

This song was just an excuse to jam out on my friend Dave’s really sweet custom shop Fender Precision bass. This fiesta red maple-necked beauty plays like a dream. Thanks for letting me try it out for a while Dave. It’s plugged into my Pod HD500 on an Ampeg SVT amp, with just a little flange because I first learned this song from Pat Travers and I’m a huge Mars Cowling fan (Pat’s bass player for many years for those of you who don’t know).

This is the first actual song that I’ve put up on this blog so far. I’m coming up with lots of new tunes but I haven’t been recording anything but rhythm tracks while I work on my lead playing. I think it’s coming along but it still has a long ways to go.

The lead guitar is the ‘60 CS Strat into my Mesa TA/15 amp on the Marshall channel w/ a Dunlop Hendrix Fuzz Face, a Fulltone Clyde Deluxe wah, and a Fulltone Fulldrive 3 with just the boost on.

The tape delay was added in the box by running a Softube  Tube Delay on a parallel path to the dry guitar. This works great for adding a delay after an amp with no effects loop, just the way the did it in the real studios back in the day.

The rhythm guitar is the CS Telecaster Pro into my Mesa Lone Star Special amp with the Fulldrive 3 boost and Catalinbread Echorec in front of the amp and the Earthquaker Devices Afterneath in the loop.

This is 3 tracks of my 60th Anniversary Strat into the Mesa Lone Star Special. The first 2 have the Catalinbread Echorec in front of the clean channel and the Earthquaker Devices Afterneath in their effects loop. The last is into the dirty channel with the Fulltone ‘69 and Octafuzz fuzz pedals.

This is my G&L Legacy into the Mesa Lone Star Special with a Fulltone ‘69 fuzz and the Catalinbread Belle Epoch tape delay.

This clip really illustrates the versatility of the Legacy, which is G&L’s Strat-like guitar. It has global volume, treble and bass controls, instead of the normal Strat setup, which can help in fattening up the bridge pickup or thin out the neck pickup. I adjust the tone controls at various points in the clip.

This is the '60 CS Strat into my Mesa TA/15 amp on the Marshall channel w/ a Fulltone 69 fuzz, Maxon CP9+ compressor, and EH Deluxe Electric Mistress flanger. Digital Delay and reverb were added in Sonar.

This is a new song idea I've been working on for a couple of weeks. Came up with it while playing acoustic, but it sounds a little different here.

This is my '60 custom shop Strat into the Fuchs with a Fulltone '69 fuzz and the Catalinbread Belle Epoch.

The '69 fuzz is a great germanium transistor fuzz, very old school. It doesn't sound very fuzzy here, but oddly enough this tone is what you get if you switch from the bridge pickup of a strat to the neck and turn the guitar volume down to 5. After the initial little intro, I turn it down to 2 for the rhythm guitar part. Doesn't sound like a fuzz, just a great overdriven sound.

This also features the Diamond Halo chorus w/ the phaser section turned up. Set this way, the Halo is kind of univibey, but it's really it's own thing. Turn the phaser down and it's a very nice straight chorus.

I love the sound of a rotary speaker like a Leslie or a Fender Vibratone. This is my homage to the rotary, featuring the Tech 21 RotoChoir.

With apologies to Ray Charles, this is my arrangement of his classic Georgia On My Mind.

This is  a cool little intro to one of my tunes that really features the Diamond Halo Chorus, and Earthquaker Devices Afterneath.