Gear Snobbery

As a live performance musician, much of my work (but not all of it) is with Blues bands. I am always careful to make sure that the musical content of what I play, as well as the sound I use to play it is appropriate to the song, the band and the genre. However, there are some on the Blues scene that may frown upon the gear choices I make to achieve this. I think this amounts to deplorable gear snobbery.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of vintage guitars and amps. Mind you, when you get to my age, a lot of the guitars and amps I bought many years ago have since acquired vintage status. Like my '76 Gibson ES345-TD.

Gibson ES345-TD

My 345 is an undeniably lovely American-made guitar, but I rarely take it out to gigs these days. For one thing, it's too valuable. The stereo jack socket is also a pain as I have to use a special lead, with a stereo plug at one end, and a mono plug at the other. The left and right channels are wired together.

Here's a guitar that I use a lot these days. My Japanese-made 1999 Telecaster, which I bought about 15 years ago in Nashville.

Fender '90s Telecaster

I've had this Tele modified with Lindy Fralin pickups, and a four-way switch. It sounds fantastic everywhere I use it, no matter what amp I plug it into. Unlike the 345, it doesn't look like a "Bluesman's" guitar. The scratchplate, shiny black finish and gold hardware make it look too "showbizzy" to some. I don't mind, because it reliably delivers the goods - ringing, responsive bluesy tones whenever and wherever I want them.

Now here's one of my favourite guitars, and it couldn't look much further away from the gear-snob's idea of an ideal Blues guitar. My PRS Swamp Ash Special.

PRS Swamp Ash Special

This is a quality, versatile guitar with a gorgeous natural wood finish, that plays and sounds like a dream, regardless of what style of music you play on it. The near-field pickups are Strat-like or Les Paul-like depending on how high you set the volume control. Why shouldn't I play this with a Blues band? So long as I don't resort to dive bombs and tapping, and keep the playing strictly Blues, the age and the look of the guitar shouldn't matter.

What about amps? I love the warm sound of valve amps, especially Fenders. I never did get on with Marshalls. The one time I owned one, I kept blowing it up. In those days I played loud, but relatively clean, and that particular model was probably intended to be played overdriven all the time. I used to have a vintage Vox AC30, but its excessive weight made me swap it for something lighter. I was playing at least four nights a week in those days, and sometimes the halls were up several flights of stairs. I wish I still had it, it'd be worth a lot of money now.

One of my favourite amps is this one, a Mesa Boogie Mark I Reissue.

Mesa Boogie Mark I Reissue

This is a versatile amp, capable of all kinds of tones. It's great for the sort of Blues I like to play, warm and responsive, just on the edge of breaking up. It doesn't look much like a vintage Fender Bassman, so the gear snobs probably wouldn't approve.

My newest amp doesn't even have valves in it! Yes, you heard that right. It's an Award-Session Blues Baby Deluxe, mounted in a Fender Blues Junior cabinet. Here's a rear-topside view.

Award-Session Blues Baby Deluxe

The gear snobs wouldn't like this, but it would probably fool them because it has the sound of a vintage Fender amp. It's small, light and reliable, and as you play harder, the sound clips into overdrive more.

What about effects pedals? This is where the hypocrisy of the Blues gear snobs really kicks in. What else do you call it when Mr. Gear Snob has a collection of pedals in his signal path, but conceals them behind his beaten-up old amp, or on top of it, instead of on the floor where everyone can see them? I myself use minimal effects. Often, especially at gigs with the more traditional Blues bands, I use none at all. You will always see at least this at my feet...

TC Electronic Polytune

I like to stay in tune, and being able to silently tune up between songs (or even during them) is essential. I don't care that Hubert Sumlin never used one in the '50s!

For some gigs, I use this pedalboard. By most modern guitarists' standards, the sounds it gives me are fairly traditional.

Pedalboard

From left to right, the delay pedal provides a nice slapback echo worth of Sun and Chess studios. Tremolo gives a lovely volume modulation similar to an old Fender Twin Reverb. The Rotary Ensemble simulates a Leslie cabinet for lovely shimmering modulation effects. The Blues driver does what the name suggests. Finally, another tuner pedal. 

My point is that all of these effects were to be found in amp and speaker models available in the '50s, so what's wrong with using them now? I remember a bandleader who shall remain nameless glaring at this very pedalboard as though it was hooked up to the Edge's rack system. The only pedal I actually used at that audition was the tuner! Needless to say I didn't get the gig.

So let's have an end to gear snobbery. If it sounds right it is right!