Guitars

Chapman ML-1
As an official Chapman Guitars Artist I guess it is within my duty to ‘sell you’ their product, but really I don’t need to, they speak for themselves. On a pure spec-for-price ratio they well outperform the majority of other guitars I have played.
The ML-1 I originally bought because I wanted a back up guitar to some other axes and didn’t have a lot of money. However, upon receiving it I realised that this deserved more than being backstage and with my ever evolving foray into progressive metal I was going to need a real metal workhouse, and this is what the ML-1 became. A beautiful, chunky rhythm guitar that covers all of my metal playing needs. It has provided ALL of the rhythm parts on my album Cosmology and gets its fair share of stage time too!

As you can see she has been heavily modified, which is what the ML-1 was intended for, a ‘blank canvas.’

Body – Mahogany (I anded to a rough finish and covered with clear varnish)
Neck – Maple with Ebony Fingerboard
Pickups:
Neck – DiMarzio Pro Track
Middle – (Disconnected)
Bridge – DiMarzio Crunch Lab

Suhr S4
This thing has been played to within an inch of its life, and I have only had her since February 2009! A seriously fantastic guitar created by a fantastic company. I love this thing to bits, it can do so much and continues to inspire me to create music.

Body – Basswood / Flame Maple Top
Neck – Maple
Pickups:
Neck – LACE Sensor Blue
Middle – LACE Sensor Silver
Bridge – DiMarzio Andy Timmons

Amps & Cabs

The Hughes & Kettner Trilogy is my sole amp currently. I am looking to expand that with the H&K Statesman sometime early next year but I am still undecided on whether to get the head and run a two head setup, or go with the 1×12 for ease of portability. I guess it is a case of weighing up the positives and negatives of each. I feel with the Statesman I would have pretty much all of the tones I could ever need.

I guess an important statement to make here is that I run my Trilogy at 50 watts, instead of 100. This was something I ‘stole’ from Thomas Blug who stated he preferred the sound of his H&K amps at 50 watts. He said that it gave him a slightly ‘sweeter’ sound. I have found that the decreased headroom yields quicker breakup at lower volumes so I can really get those power valves cooking at gigs. It has been so long since I changed to 50 watts that I cannot remember how my 100 watter sounded, perhaps a side-by-side comparison would be cool one day.

As for cabinets the main cabinet that gets used is a Zilla 2×12 Studio Pro. I also have a H&K VC412A, Laney 4×12 and a Marshall VS212, all of which get used, though not so regularly any more. But it is always good to have backups right?

Pedalboard

The never-ending quest for the holy grail of tone can often be found in pedals. My pedalboard is changed, updated and completely rebuilt several times a year, but this is currently what I am running and have never been happier, though there are a few things on my GAS list.

> Dunlop Crybaby Wah (modded)
> Clinch FX EP-Pre
> BOSS TU-3 Tuner
> Fulltone ’70
> Valvette Custom Drive
> Bob Burt Overdrive
> T-Rex Tremster
> Arion SCH-1
> EHX Nano Small Stone

In the amps FX Loop is a TC Electronic G Sharp for my delay and reverb.

The PEAK Unit is a MIDI Switcher which allows me to change amp channels and ‘patch’ on the G Sharp, and the pedals are powered via the Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus.