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Duke Ellington once said, “If it sounds good, it IS good.” I’ve used that saying when talking about gear for years. And it still rings true today. When my rig sounds good to me, I’m inspired to play. I become more creative and expressive. I do more to eek out more from what I’m playing. My response to a great sound is visceral. That great sound can come from super-expensive or super-cheap gear. As it stands, half of the pedals I own are in the $150+ range, with some in the $300 range.
But when I’m playing a gig with one of my bands, the audience doesn’t know the value of any of my gear. And frankly, they don’t give a shit, as long as they’re entertained.
And that’s the crux of this post. Over the years, I’ve heard lots of people scoff at others for buying incredibly expensive gear. Hell! A couple of my buddies gave me a little shit when I bought my R8, saying, “Dude, the audience doesn’t care about your guitar. You could get a similar tone with a PRS SE that costs a quarter of what you paid.” My reply to them was, “But I care.”
You’ll never hear me say something like that, and though it’s true that the audience can’t tell the difference between a $50 or $500 pedal or a $500 vs. a $2500 guitar, what counts is what inspires you. Whether you’re playing cheap gear or expensive gear, the important thing is that the sound that your gear produces inspires you.
And when you’re inspired, the audience can see it. They can feel the energy. That’s what they care about. They may not be able to hear if you’re playing a Bad Monkey or an original TS-808, but if you’re rocking what you’re playing, they will respond to that.
Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it all before. There’s no way a solid-state amp could sound as good as a tube amp. Tell that to Joe Satriani who used a Roland Chorus on “Surfing with the Alien” or George Benson who used one for years. The point is that if sounds good, it is good. And to me, the Fender TM Deluxe sounds killer and has the dynamics I’d expect out of any amp, regardless of it being tube-based or solid-state. Moreover, the audience doesn’t really give a shit.
Having now gigged with the TM Deluxe regularly for over a year-and-a-half, the amp has been a game-changer for me. At 23 pounds, it is light and easily luggable, even when I play in urban venues. It projects such a smooth, pleasant sound that works well with my guitars and board.
But the Line Out has been its greatest feature, allowing me to set my stage volume to a level where I’m not blowing out my eardrums, send the signal out to the PA for sound reinforcement and projection out to the audience. It took a few gigs to dial in the balance between output and local volume, but it has paid off in spades.
Here’s how I currently have it set up:
Here’s my signal chain:
Guitars (in order of use): Taylor T5z, Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster, Gibson R8 Les Paul
Effects: Wampler Belle > Paul Cochrane Timmy > BOSS CE-2 Chorus > BOSS DM-2w > Pigtronix Class A Boost
On the amp, I have the Master set at 4-5, then adjust the Volume knob based on the guitar so that I’m at the edge of breakup when I’m just past the middle on the guitar’s volume knob. My overdrive pedals are set just beyond unity gain when active, so they’ll push the amp into distortion while adding their own dirt. I use the boost for leads to give me 5-8 dB bump.
It’s a pretty simple and straight-forward setup that doesn’t require me to worry about settings once I’ve got everything set. This is important because even though I do some leads, I’m not the lead guitarist as I do a lot of the singing.
This is such a great amp. Great sound, so very versatile in a band setting. There’s not much more I could ask for!
Here’s the backstory… Back in May of 2021, I got an email from the keyboardist of my former old farts classic rock band asking if I’d be willing to fill in for their lead guitarist who was going to be away on a business trip. I agreed and we set up rehearsal dates leading up to the gig. I hadn’t played with them for over six years, so I was excited to get back together with them. Rehearsals went swimmingly well. It was like we have been playing together this whole time. They went so well that at the third rehearsal, our drummer, who’s also one of the band leaders, asked me if I’d like to rejoin the band as a permanent member. I agreed and have been playing with them since.
When I was doing 250+ gigs a year back in the day, I was gobbling up some kind of gear quite often. It was compulsive behavior where I spent tens of thousands of dollars on amps, guitars, effects, sound systems, etc. It was a serious case of GAS that filled up my garage with stuff; most of which got limited use. But getting all that gear helped build this blog so I have no complaints nor regrets for getting all of it. And I have since given away or sold much of the gear I acquired all those years.
The great thing about getting back to playing regularly is that though I sold off or gave away lots of gear, I still had LOTS. So, it was easy to literally “gear up” and play. I had all the effects I needed, so I didn’t need to get any new gear. The exception was my purchase of my Fender Tone Master Deluxe, which replaced my BOSS Katana Artist that went on the fritz at a gig. But other than that, I’ve purchased strings and picks. That’s it.
I still keep up on new gear that’s coming out, but to be honest, I’ve found my sound so I’m not feeling hard-pressed to explore. The only thing I may get is a BOSS CE-2W Chorus so I can retire my 1981 BOSS CE-2. It still works great, but it is pretty beat up from the hundreds of gigs I’ve played with it over the years.
And now that I’m over 60, I’m just not interested in lugging a lot of gear. I want to make one trip from my car to the stage. Here’s my equipment list:
Guitars
Taylor T5z
Squier Classic Vibe Tele
Gibson R8 Les Paul
The T5z is my #1 since it is so versatile. I switch between the CV Tele and the R8 depending on my mood, but lately I’ve been playing the CV Tele a lot more than my R8.
Amps
Fender Tone Master Deluxe Reverb
DV Mark Little 40 L34 / Avatar 1 X 12 with a Celestion Gold
Aracom VRX22 (Plexi clone) / Aracom 1 X 12 with a Jensen Jet Falcon
All my amps are set to the edge of breakup to allow me to push it if I need to but clean it up. The exception is that I will sometimes go for maximum headroom with the Little 40 and let my OD pedals provide the dirt. It’s a mood thing for me.
My main amp is the Deluxe, but lately it has been splitting time with the Little 40. I brought it to my last two gigs and I forgot just how sweet that amp sounds. When I play the Deluxe, I use the Line Out to feed my signal into the PA. For the other amps, I hang a Sennheiser e609 in front of my cabinets, positioned halfway between the center and edge of the cone.
I set my amp volume so I can hear it, and have taken to pointing it inward so my drummer can hear it. I let the PA do all the sound reinforcement. This saves my ears but also gives the band a much more balanced presentation.
Effects
Wampler Belle (Nobels ODR-1 clone)
Paul Cochrane Timmy Overdrive
BOSS CE-2 Chorus
BOSS DM-2w Delay
Pigtronix Class A Boost
Super-simple effects chain. I run everything in front of the amp. The Wampler is my primary overdrive. I prefer the flatter ODR-1 sound over a TS midrange hump. I use the Timmy almost exclusively for stacking. I use both the Chorus and Delay sparingly, though for clean tunes, I love adding that slapback sound. As for the boost, that’s for when I play leads. I don’t need a volume pedal.
Strings
The T5z is strung with Elixir Electric 11-46. This provides the perfect balance between electric and acoustic. And amazingly enough, they bend so well.
For my other guitars, I just use standard Ernie Ball Slinkys 10-42.
Since I got this amp last year, I have gigged with it a bunch of times! The Tolex has a of couple of dings, and the faceplate has a couple of minor scratches; about what I’d expect after a year of regular use. Mind you, it’s not that I don’t take care of my stuff, but gigging takes its toll on any gear and dings and scratches are the price you pay.
That the Deluxe has survived those “battle scars” (plus being knocked over a few times while setting up) is a testament to its ruggedness. I’ve had lots of other gear that was so delicate that I’d never gig with it. And to be honest, if I can’t gig with it, it’s practically useless to me. But the Deluxe has not only survived the rigors of regular gigging, but it also still sounds incredible!
To this day, I have only opened it up to the full twenty-two watts once. The way my band’s sound is set up, I usually only need enough volume to hear myself; that is, unless our lead guitarist decides to crank it, and by that time, everything goes to shit. For the most part though, I keep it attenuated to 1 or 5 watts and even 0.5 watt for small venues, then use the line out to run my signal into the board. With the attenuator, I can still get good overdrive through the pre- and power amp stages (I know, it’s simulated rather than being real), and it sounds damn good! When I hit it with a booster or an overdrive pedal, it takes it over the edge, acting so much like a tube amp, I forget that it’s a digital amp!
And I suppose it could be argued that I’m not getting the full range of sonic content from my amp because I’m not pushing SPs. But I’d rather keep the hearing I have left than push the amp to a volume that introduces speaker distortion, something that in the end is merely nuance and frankly, only matters to me. Besides, since my sound reinforcement is coming from the PA, that’s a moot point.
For those who’ve read my blog for a while, you may remember that I was a huge Boss Katana fan. I still am, and still have the amp. In fact, it turns out that the “problem” that I seemed to have with it wasn’t the amp at all, but a bad patch cable. Oh well… But since I’ve had the Deluxe, I totally get what Fender was after with the Tone Master amps: Do one thing really, really, really well. And at least with the Deluxe, they got it in spades!
I remember the first time I ever laid eyes on this guitar. I was at a relatively intimate venue to see Eric Rachmany and Kyle Hearn of Rebelution play an acoustic concert in San Francisco. When they stepped up on stage, both were wielding these gorgeous Taylor guitars. At first, I thought they were T5s, but they looked too small. So being in the age where information is literally at your fingertips, I looked up the guitar model and found that it was a T5z that they walked onto the stage with; simply gorgeous-looking guitars! Then Eric and Kyle started playing…
The guitars sounded as good or better than almost all the plugged-in acoustics I had ever heard. No midrange honk, and no loss of dynamics. It was a pure, rich, and natural sound that penetrated deep into my very soul! I know, a bit dramatic, but the effect of the guitars’ sound was so incredibly visceral that it shook me to the core. I knew then and there that I would be buying one in the next couple of days. It actually took me three days. The concert was on a Friday and I brought a T5z home the following Monday.
After testing it thoroughly at GuitarCenter my hope was that even though it had a great plugged-in acoustic sound, it was mainly – and as I wrote in a previous post, unabashedly – an electric guitar; one that could amazingly cop a bunch of different styles of electric guitars but amazingly had an excellent acoustic guitar sound. And unlike the original T5 which I thought couldn’t decide what it was, that isn’t the case with the T5z.
Earlier this year, I rejoined my previous old-farts-classic-rock band. Since we were doing predominantly songs that mainly employed an overdriven sound, I didn’t feel the need to use the T5z much, splitting time between my R8 and Tele. But as we have two guitarists, I’ve switched to using the T5z to provide a contrast in guitar sounds, especially when we do Eagles songs where I can use the T5z’s acoustic setting for acoustic-like strumming.
But I have to say that where this guitar really shines is when I use it as a straight-up rock machine. I call it a “machine” because depending on where I set the selector and adjust the EQ, I can get single-coil, humbucker, and even hollow-body guitar sounds. And with the breadth of my band’s repertoire, having a guitar with that kind of versatility allows me to get a sound that fits pretty much any song we play. Plus it’s great to have to rely on a bunch of pedals to get the feel and sound I need.
And this is pretty much everything I was hoping to get out of the T5z as far as sound is concerned. But the sound is nothing if the guitar isn’t comfortable to play and the T5z is an absolute joy to play. And that’s surprising because it’s set up for 11s which at first blush might not seem too bendable. But bending is not at all an issue and the action is so perfect that playing chords and moving around the fretboard are practically effortless.
It’s a little surprising to me just how much I love playing the T5z and just how much it has become an integral part of my rig. I’ve been a Les Paul guy for years and truth be told, I’ve felt a little guilty not playing my R8 that much – let’s be truthful, at all – since I started using the T5z as my main guitar. I still bring my R8 as a backup, but I haven’t even been tempted to pull it out of its bag as the T5z handles everything.
I laugh at my original post on the T5. I was so unimpressed with it mainly because, as I mentioned above, I felt it couldn’t decide what it wanted to be. But the T5z has completely bowled me over. I’m looking forward to many more years playing it!
Though I’ve already sung the praises of this system and how great it performs and love the fact that it operates in the UHF frequency range. But I wanted to give a gig report on using the unit with my old farts classic rock band.
Last night we played at our regular first Friday gig at a local hotel. This would be the first time that I used this system other than at church. So I really going to put it through its paces.
As far as its signal is concerned, I am SO glad I went with this system rather than one that operates in the 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz range. My bandmate, and the lead guitarist in our band, uses an XVive system that operates in the 2.4 GHz range. During sound check, he was having all sorts of interference problems with that unit and ultimately had to plug it directly into his pedal board. But with the WS-50 in a completely different frequency range, I had no interference problems whatsoever!
The WS-50 battery life is excellent! I was actually using two sets in this gig because I was also playing acoustic guitar. As I write this article, both sets are charging and no unit lost more than half of its charge! In fact, the set I used for acoustic still had 3 out of 4 bars of power as I was shutting the system off when I wasn’t using it to conserve power.
The only irritating thing I experienced with the WS-50 was that it would come loose when I rested my Telecaster on its stand. My Tele has a recessed jack, so the transmitter would come loose if I wasn’t careful about how I placed the guitar on the stand. That’s really more on me, but it did slow things down a bit when I was changing guitars. Though it’s a minor thing and really a factor due to my recessed jack, it is a bit concerning as I don’t want to damage the transmitter. It hasn’t been a problem with my Les Paul or my Taylor T5z as those don’t have recessed jacks.
All in all, though, all I can say is “Wow!” The signal quality is great. My guitars sound great with them!
Now that I’ve rejoined my old farts classic rock band, I’ve started getting regular GAS attacks again. Damn! But I’ve gotten wiser about gear over the years and manage to resist my natural compulsions to get gear. That said, having not played out in a while, my gear has been showing its age. And let’s be honest at 60 years old, so am I. And approaching that senior citizen age of my life, I’m just no longer willing to lug around heavy gear. When I got my Tone Master Deluxe Reverb, weight was a huge factor in my decision besides freakin’ awesome tone.
And so it goes with my acoustic amp. One of the great things about rejoining my band is that I’m no longer the only lead guitarist. I switch off solos with the other guitarist, and quite frankly, he plays way more solos than I do – I admit it – simply because he’s better than me. But this means that I also have some freedom to not just play electric. I can play my acoustic as well, and that totally pleases me!
To that end, adding that dimension to our sound comes with its own challenges, not the least of which is the fact that my only really good acoustic amp is a 1981 SRS California Blonde II. It is a sensational amp. But it weighs 75 lbs! That was not going to work for me. So I went on a search for a compact acoustic amp that I could use both as a reference monitor while I’m onstage and one that I could plug into our board.
I was all set to get an AER, but decided to take a look at other amps and came across the Fishman Loudbox Mini. After watching and reading some reviews online, I saw that my local GuitarCenter had one in stock. So I drove down there and tried it out and half an hour later, walked out of the store with one.
Thus far, I’ve played it at my weekly church service, using it as a reference monitor and running the DI into the church’s PA. It sounded great through the PA, and I actually ran the EQ flat out of the mixer as the tone was nice and rich. I also played it at band rehearsal last night to see if I should add an acoustic guitar to our sound. There was unanimous agreement that this will provide a great contrast to our sound. I’m SO jazzed to be using it in this coming Friday’s gig!
From a usability perspective, the amp is straightforward as can be! The EQ is incredibly responsive but not so sensitive that I have to make micro-adjustments to the different levels. The built-in hall reverb is generally good, though I tend to keep it at very subtle levels (I’ll explain below). The chorus is actually very nice, and at lower levels adds a little tonal grease to the overall sound. I dig it!
Circling back to the reverb, the reason I keep it low is that at volume, there’s a certain depth and richness to the sound that I feel reverb would only muddy. The whole purpose of reverb is to provide depth. But the way the sound is projected from the amp, I feel that I just don’t need more depth. It’s actually a little uncanny and totally unexpected, and you only get it at performance volumes. At low volumes, the amp is like any amp – very directional. But when you up the volume, the sound takes on a 3-dimensional quality!
Overall, this was a great purchase! And at $369, it has a sound that rivals amps that are 3-4 times more expensive. No, it’s not an AER. But it’s not trying to be. This is a great workhorse amp that I just know I’m going to get a lot of mileage!
A few weeks ago at band rehearsal, our other guitarist was setting up and I noticed he was using a wireless system. I asked him if it was the BOSS wireless, and he replied that he just couldn’t justify spending $200+ for a wireless system. Instead, he did a lot of research on the various budget systems out there and finally decided on an Xvive system.
He sent me a link to it because I thought he sounded great with it. But being a gear guy myself, I couldn’t resist doing my own research. And in my research, I stumbled upon the Swiff Audio WS-50 system. I read and watched several reviews and decided to give this system a try. And why not? At $56.00 on Amazon, it was less than half the price of the Xvive.
But what also sold me was that it operated in the UHF frequency range which was intriguing to me because all the rest of the systems either operated in the 2.4GHz or 5.8GHz range. Even before I saw a video that confirmed my concern about that, I wondered that with both WiFi and cellular operating in these frequency ranges if there might be a problem with those ranges being too crowded at times. It wasn’t a really big concern, but I still had it.
Then when I came across the WS-50, I noticed that it operated in the UFH range. When I was growing up in the days before cable TV was ubiquitous, there were two TV bands: VHF, which had all the major networks on it, and UHF where all the good cartoons like Speed Racer, Simba, and Spiderman played; not to mention Ultraman! Well… UHF has pretty much been supplanted with cable – and I supposed VHF as well – so with the WS-50 operating in the UHF range, my concern for frequency conflict was much lower.
So I pulled the trigger and it arrived a few days ago. It came almost fully-charged, so I just plugged the receiver into my amp and plugged the transmitter into my guitar and… It just worked. Almost ’nuff said. I practiced with it for almost an hour and had no signal drop-off or any interference whatsoever. Granted, I was in my house, so the chance of interference was pretty low. But yesterday, I brought it to my church gig to really run it through its paces. But instead of plugging the receiver directly into my amp, I plugged it into my pedal board. Again, it just worked.
I have to admit that I was a bit concerned about the quality of the unit, considering I only paid $56.00 for it. But wireless technology is so mature now that even low-cost units will be fairly high-quality. And the WS-50 rocked it! I haven’t compared how it sounds to a cable connection, but it plain sounds good, so I don’t really see the point in making the comparison.
And how it sounds is really all that matters to me. And it worked right out of the box! Now during my gig yesterday, during a break I turned both units off to save the batteries and when I went to play again, they both came up real quick.
One thing I do love about the WS-50 and frankly, the new wireless units that have come out on the market is that they just plug right into jacks. I had a Sennheiser remote for a long time and no doubt the quality was super-high with that unit. But it was a bit inconvenient in that the remote unit clipped onto either my strap or onto my belt. If I brought multiple guitars to a gig, I had to duct tape the unit to my strap.
But with the WS-50 and its ilk, I can turn off the transmitter, remove it from my current guitar, place it into my new guitar, then switch the unit back on. And it does it completely noiselessly! Super-convenient!
Before my last gig, I noticed that my trusty Wegen GP-250 picks were pretty worn down. I’ve been using the same two picks for the last 4 years and didn’t really pay too much attention to how much they had worn down. But rather than reshape them myself, I figured that they’re not very expensive and I’d just order a new set.
And I was just about to order a couple more when I thought, I wonder what picks are out on the market that might work for me? Maybe a change of pace might be a good thing. So I went down a bit of a rabbit hole and searched for picks. I considered going back to Red Bear Trading picks made of casein and other casein pick makers. I also looked at V-Picks that I used for a long time. Then I thought that maybe Blue Chip picks would be good to look at, but even though I could afford them, I just don’t see the value of a $70 pick, no matter how much others swear by them.
Then I came across a forum where a dude said he used Gravity picks. I had never heard of them, so I decided to check them out. They predominantly sell acrylic picks, so I immediately thought of V-Picks, which are acrylic. I almost dismissed them out of hand when I remembered that the picture of the pick I saw was not acrylic. So after a little digging, I found the “Gold” line. They’re made of some kind of high-density thermoplastic which apparently makes them very wear-resistant.
Then… I did a bit more browsing and saw “Rob Chapman” in the Shop menu. Chappers is a fairly well-known guitarist so that totally piqued my curiosity. His signature model is a Gravity Razer shape with chamfered edges that are roughed up a bit to create a little bite on the strings. He said it allowed him to slice through the strings a little better.
In any case, I decided to get a few of the picks. I got 2 Chappers, 2 Gold 2.5mm and 1 Gold 1mm. They’re shown in the picture at the top. My favorite pick of the lot is the Chappers model. I love that chamfered edge and the point provides a nice, bright attack. Not too sure about the 2.5mm Gold. The sound it produces is much warmer and since it doesn’t have a bevel, it really glides over the strings. It’s a good strummer. The 1mm Gold is actually very nice. It produces a brighter sound than the 2.5mm Gold. It’ll definitely be a backup for me.
But I’m really digging the Chappers pick. It just feels nice when I’m playing. At first, I thought the rough edge might be an issue, but it’s not at all. So far I’ve played it with both acoustic and electric guitars and it performs wonderfully! Can’t wait to really play it on the weekend at rehearsal and at my church gig!
Guitar picks are an intensely personal thing, so I’m not going to say these are the best I’ve ever played. That said, they totally work for me and I’m very glad I found them! But here’s what I will say: These picks have got to be the best value by far for high-end, thick picks. At $8 per pick for most picks Gravity sells, they’re a steal compared to other brands.
I’ve had the amp for several days now and I’ve been playing it for over an hour day as I’ve been woodshedding for an upcoming gig. I just played my first gig with the band in six years, and I won’t lie: I’m still a little rusty. So all this practice has been a great excuse to play with the amp.
One of the things that got me really excited about the amp was the balanced line out. In fact, the one feature was a huge contributing factor in buying the amp. Having gigged for decades, I’ve been a big believer in having just enough volume to hear myself on stage and let the PA/sound folks get my sound out to the audience.
Amps are incredibly directional, especially single-speaker amps, so finding ways to spread out my sound has been very important to me. The typical sound reinforcement solution has always been to mic my amps. That works great, and I still use it when I’m gigging. But the Tone Master amps have a balanced line out AND they have two optional IRs to simulate different mic cabs! That means I can go directly into the PA and have my signal sound like what I’m hearing onstage. In theory…
The Katana also had this feature, and I loved it. But you needed a TRS cable and an XLR converter to plug into a mixing board. Not really that big of a deal, but it is more equipment, and I have forgotten to bring that cable to gigs in the past. But with the Tone Master Deluxe, Fender opted to just output via a regular XLR. That makes things much more convenient!
But the proof is in the pudding. So this morning, I decided to hook the amp up to my DAW to see if it’ll work for me. In short, oh yes, it will work. And the best thing about it is that the port is dead silent! Here are some clips:
IR Test
In this first test, I play a simple clean chord progression three times. The first time is raw with no IR activated. The second demonstrates the first IR which simulates an SM57. The third demonstrates the second IR which simulates a ribbon mic. Note that I recorded all these clips completely silent by activating the amp’s mute switch. Now THAT is amazing!
Raw
All these were played with my Godin Artisan ST V. Note that the slight line noise is coming from the guitar itself, not the amp.
Yup, that SM57 IR behaves exactly like what I’d expect from an SM57. It’s warm, but I personally have never liked it for guitar. The ribbon mic IR, on the other hand, is nice and open. That’ll be the one I use for gigs.
Cab 2 w/ Wampler Belle, Volume @ 5
Switching guitars to my Taylor T5z and playing in humbucker mode, I activated my Wampler Belle overdrive with its Gain set right in the middle to see how the line out worked with a pedal. Also, I turned the reverb down to about 2.
I did notice in the recording that I probably needed to up the treble a bit. But what I loved was that there was still enough note separation in the chords.
Cab 2, Volume @ 7, Reverb at 4 1/2
Finally, still playing my T5z, I learned my lesson from the previous clip, upped the treble a bit so the amp was set at 7 for Treble, and 3 for the Bass as the T5z tends to have a pretty fat bottom-end sound. What I wanted to test here was how the natural overdrive of the amp worked with lots of reverb.
Damn! After I listened to the playback, I was blown away by the sound! I love the sound coming from the amp itself, but to have it sound like that in a line out… “Wow!” is all I can say.
This amp is really ticking off all the boxes for me so far. I won’t do a full review on it until I’ve gigged with it a couple of times because by then I will have really put it through its paces. But I have band rehearsal today and as a test, I’m just going to bring the amp and my guitar and see how it works.
Guitar Gear 