Battle of the metalband all-stars

Whooo! what a title! So anyway, I'm wondering, since we're all musicians, and %99 of all musicians are completely anal about what they like, I was thinking, wouldn't it be fun for all of us to name our favorite guitars, amps, effects, keyboards, drums, etc, and why we swear by them?

So, Guitarists, what's your favorite guitar company? Why do you like them? What makes their product so much better (in your eyes) than the next guy's? What Amps do you favor and why? Effects? etc.

Same for keyboardists?

And drummers?

ok, ok, and I guess bassists too (not like there's really a bunch that frequent here)

And if the singers really need to argue about anything other than where the spotlight is aiming, they can chip in too.

ok, for myself, I'll break this up a bit.

GUITARS - I have to say my favorite guitars (like you all don't know already) are Jackson Kellys. I like the way they hang, I like the slim taper necks, the 24 frets, the screaming pickups, and the fierce design. I've owned several diffrent guitars in my life, Les Paul standard and custom, Strat (ack), Ibanez RG, Ibanez VAI Universe, B.C. Rich Mockingbird, Washburn Dimebag, Jackson Dinky, and an Epiphone doubleneck 6/12. I have to say that for me, the Kelly tops them all. Admittedly, the Universe was a phenomonal guitar, but it was too much guitar for what I was using it for. I like my 7 string Kelly much more. I still have a Jackson Dinky 7 string and recently aquired the Dimebag, which is damn sweet, but neither are as good to me as my kellys.

As far as amps go, I have to say that I'm not a major shopper. I dont have the $1800-$4000 to dump on a fancy rectifier or import amp. I owned a Marshall JCM900 with the Slash signature cabinet at one time, and I hated the fucking thing. I had to crank that amp to 9 to get a decent feedback out of it, and a marshall at 9 drowns out everything except crash cymbals. I didn't want to go waste my money on a power brake just to have that overdrive. Also the fact that I couldn't get a tight punch from that marshall to save my ass. I tried noise gates and all I succeeded in doing was cutting my signal to ribbons, I tried compression and it made me sound like I was playing in a tin can. Also the fact that I was in a band that was either practicing or playing 2 times a week, so I was going thru tubes every 8 months, which set me back $200+ every time I needed them replaced. I finally gave up and went to Crate. I bought a solid state amp, and I have to say its exactly what I wanted. I have the tight punch, the grizzly crunch, it's awesome! Now, dont get me wrong, I have heard awesome Marshalls, and if I had my druthers, I'd rather buy a Mesa Boogie Road King, but I dont have the dimes for that shit, so I stay satisfied with my Crate till I hit the lottery or get a tax return with nothing else to spend it on. (riiiiiiiight. that'll happen)

As far as effects, I dont use many. I have the Boss GT-3 processor, and a Morley Bad Horsie. I would like to get a Digitech Whammy pedal, because the GT-3 whammy pedal is very digitally choppy. I can't do slow bends with it, and I cant use it for mid contour bends (halfway bends).

shit, my life just got real busy here at work. I'll holla atcha lattah!

Allright..
Guitars - Im an Ibanez guy, High end RG's, Jems, S's.. anything with a wizard 2 or presteige neck and the lo pro edge bridge. The necks are just as comfortable to me as anything Ive played, and the I much prefer the action over anything jackson has put out. I did recently aquire a jackson slsmg that I like an awful lot, but, its still a second to my Jems.

Amps - Well, Im a rack guy. I used to have a soldano that I liked a lot, but it just wasnt "my sound," if you know what I mean. If I were to buy another amp head, I would try to find a fender prosonic.. those things rule. Fender clean with a gain halfway between marshall and mesa, very warm and compressed and mean. Love those amps. But as for what Im using, I have an ADA mp1 preamp that is probably the biggest source of my tone. Its not the best thing in the world, but it does sound pretty good and has the versatility to see me through my ever changing tastes of what genre to play. I run that through a mesa 20/20 power amp, 40w of class A tube gives me as much volume as i need, but with the lower power, I can really saturate those tubes to give the good power tube sag that makes guitars sound so good.

FX - Tc Electronic all the way. I gave up pedals a long time aago cause I hate tap dancing. Used the G-Major for several years and was very happy with it, but last year I finally got the G Force, which was something I've had my heart set on for quite a while. Biggest selling point for me on the TC stuff is the transparency. Boss and digitech, and even lexicon (to a lesser extent) color your tone. I have my tone pretty much where I want it without effects (minus a little EQing), so its nice that when I hit on a delay or chorus, I still have the same tone, just a little fancier. For wah's, Im strictly a morley guy. Crybabys dont have enough physical swing from the toe to heel position, and the sweet spot is to narrow. Currently im using the bad horsie, but I think if I were to get another one I would go with the (shudders) power wah. I hate that it has mark tremontis name on it, but, it is a very good sounding wah, similar to the bad horsie, but, warmer.

Vocal mics - Im an akg guy, all the way. Not sure I have a good reason for it, they're just what I like.

I've always been a fan of Korg keyboards. I actually prefer the older ones, such as the 01W, mainly because of their string sounds. VERY deep, creepy stuff. That was the main reason i purchased the N364 because it was built around the same platform as the 01W, but you could also download the patches from the 01. Two keyboards in one, really. The Korg Prophecy is really neat. You can hear that one on the first Dream Theater album. Good semi-vintage solo synth.

I like my Triton, but the older Korgs were easier to work with. The main benefit of the Triton, though, is a MUCH more intelligent arpeggiator. You can pretty much play a riff and program it as an arpeggio setting. That's why you hate us keyboard players: because we can press a button and all the work is done for us!

The Triton, however, DOES have some much better ambient sounds than the older Korgs have. Plus, there is the sampling capability that rules ass.

I saw Ryan from Houseluna use a Korg Khaoss (sp?) Pad and WOW is that thing cool. It isn't just a box with pretty lights. There are some cool effects in there. I'm gonna pick up one of those guys soon.

As far as amps go, all i have really played out of is Roland. Those were pretty versatile amps, but the KC30 was a little on the heavy side for such a small thing.

unfortunately, ryan, all the keyboard amps I know of are extremely heavy, just like those roland things.Id love to have one for gigs and such, but after carrying two keyboards, a stand, and a bag full of cables and sampler, that is a bit much to bring along, both in size and in weight.

If you find anything better, let me know!!

Nice. Hey John, you have to be like the 5th person I've talked to in the span of a week who's been raving about TC Electronics. The guitarist we (Shatterbone) have been working with has the big expensive one (G force?) and absolutely loves it. I'm seriously thinking about getting one myself. I'm just getting really tired of the little problems I constantly have with a processor board. The price really wasn't as bad as I thought either. I was expecting a pricetag comparable to the Eventide 3000 or something, but it really isn't a whole lot more than I spent on my boss processor. Obviously, after you figure in the expression pedals and footswitcher it will be more, but still not $2800.

I'm finally graduating into the rackmount age. I've avoided it long enough. I bought a Rocktron Hush super C noisegate as my first rackmount item. Now I need a rack! anybody have like a 4 or 6 space rack they wanna sell?

Rob Nesco, the Exicurean, ran a G-Force and knew how to fucking use it, that's for sure. Ironically enough, Gensmer and I went to see Civilian at the Urban once, and Ben, their guitar player, ran the exact same rig as Rob! Mesa Power amp (dunno the model), TC Electronics G Force Pre, and some other Mesa pre. Kinda weird to see an identical rack rig!

My preferences:

Guitars: Gibson anything. To these ears and hands, you can't beat Gibson tone and feel. I also like certain Strats for versatility (having a mini bucker in mine rools), but it has to have a maple fretboard. I'm getting sick of rosewood.

But it's Gibson in a landslide. Les Pauls and Explorers. The V's are too neck heavy for me, but I could still figure out how to like them a lot I'm sure. The 496-R and 500-T passive pickups that are stock on my Explorer are the loudest ones I own - including active pickups and the Seymour Hot Rails in my Strat (which is the highest output p/u Seymour makes to my knowledge).

I also have a soft spot for the Peavey EVH guitar. My old guitar player in Risingfall owned one before he pawned it (I never forgave him for that) and I just adored that thing. The neck shape was perfect for my hands, and it had this noticeable boost on the volume knob when you turned it from 9 to 10. I actually used Jamie's EVH for about 60% of the recording of the Epicurean record. I can really hear it's tone on Channeling Divine Creations. So thick. Same with Prophetic Damnation, although all the mids got taken out of the mix. You should hear the rough mix I did one time - the guitar is just ridiculously thick.

Amplifiers: I love my Marshall AVT150 for it's versatility, but dammit...I want an all tube amp and not a hybrid. Just can't afford it. So, I don't know what my dream amp is yet - haven't dinked with many in about a year. I do remember however, that the new(er) Fender Cyber Twin head fucking rocked my world when I played it once last Feb. I'd like to give that amp a go again.

FX: The BOSS Distortion/Feedbacker pedal. Coolest pedal ever, by far.

what's funnier? you are pretty much describing our new guitarists rig to a tee. Mesa power, G Force processor, Mesa cab (and a bunch of odds and ends I have no idea what they are! hehe)

However, he is looking to trade up his amp. I think he's after a Bogner or a Krank. If he does make the switch, I'm going to devote my life to bugging the shit outta him till he sells me the mesa!

What's funny is that Lance remember's Ben's rig. I was in the band with the guy for a year and I don't even remember that shit!!! All I remember was Ben had a hankering for PRS Guitars. (He had a billion guitars though...he always went back to the PRS.)

As far as myself, I can spew my drum preferences all day long. I now just like guys that actually TUNE their damn drums. That's my only gripe about drums.

And obviously, whatever I play (and now endorse) is the best.

GMS Drums
Zildjian Cymbals
Aquarian Drumheads
Vic Firth Sticks
Tama Hardware
Gibraltar Hardware