Equipment

[Donny Johnston]

I have no wish to, as we say in Scotland, " start a stooshie here " but I have always been fascinated by the amount of equipment musicians have, not just steel players but all players. Why do you need so much gear ? when do you get to use it all ? where do you store it ? how long does it take you to set up ? and then at the end of the night you have to take it all down again. At the moment I have 2 PSG's the Williams, and the Blanton which will be sold eventually, a Fender Steel King, 1 Goodrich volume pedal, 1 Digital Delay Pedal, and an E-Bow.
I have a Fender Studio Master lap steel, A Dobro, and a Tanglewood Semi acoustic guitar. I find I don't have time to practice the lap steel or the Dobro, so they are locked away in there cases under the stairs. If I had anymore gear I think it would just lie around or get broken, but that's just me, I have never understood why so much is needed. Perhaps some of you can help me to understand. Regards, Donny.

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Donny, I was looking through the US forum a few years ago and I read a post by a guy named Skip and it said "get rid of the wife and you can have as many steels as you like!" Well, I just never looked back after that ....

[Uncle Roy]

Hey JD, Donny cannot get rid of Barbara she's a lovely lady

[STEDDIE EDDIE]

Well i think you have started a right 'stooshie' here Donny, Yeah sometimes i look around my music room and think do i need all this stuff, but then when i think of having a cull, i realise i only have 1 steel guitar, 1 electric guitar, 1 mandolin, 1 electro acoustic, 1 dobro,[which i rarely play, but looks class hung on the wall] 1 keyboard, 1 bass guitar, 1 accordian [ my late dads] 1 acoustic, 1 amp, 1 mixer, 1 power amp, 1 digital recorder, 1 pair ev pa speakers, 1 guitar processor, 1 steel processor, admittedly lots of various pedals, 'well you just kinda keep em dontchya' 1 pot vol pedal, 1 active vol pedal, i know it sounds like a lot of gear but i do use it all, but yes i admit to being a bit of a gear junkie, what i dont really understand is someone wanting more than 2 of anything, i can understand anyone wanting a spare, i should have 2 steels and two amps, just in case, but i shouldnt condemn anyone wanting to collect stuff, im just not sold on the idea of keeping gear locked away in its case under the stairs, and after all if you owned 10 steels, it must cost a fortune in re stringing, and i think of my guitars like my woman, you can really only love one?????? but then i suppose??? ah you know!

[STEDDIE EDDIE]

i hope my last post helped you understand Donny, cos it sure as hell confused me, pure waffle, and NO! i havent been out on the black stuff tonight

[Paul Brennan]

I wish I could find an amplifier that had two channels and sounded excellent for both guitar and steel. That would certainly cut down a lot of gear for me. Yeah, I know you can use an A/B pedal and a Graphic EQ for one of the instruments. I've tried all that in the past and it's always a compromise. One of the instruments is not going to sound its best. I have to cover a lot of styles at an average gig so I need a good guitar amp. Playing guitar through a Vegas, or something similar, just won' t cut it for me. Similarly, I must hear my steel through a 15" Black Widow or I won't be happy.

i find that having units in a rack is a good compromise for both guitbox & steel
tube preamp, effects unit, tuner & power amp
otherwise a good Fender Twin is a great all around amp even though it's heavy
i also use a PV Nash1000 w: just the power in w: my rack plugged into it
when i worked in a musik store many years back, i was always surprised by players always trying to get the right sound & gear & spending tons of money
only to come back a month later needing something else
when i think of BB & Albert King, Muddy Waters, Gatemouth Brown & Lloyd Green, all they did was plug into a Twin w: a bit of reverb & off they went
their hands did the rest
Simplicity is an art is'nt it ?

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Tis true James.... but you need the right Twin reverb..... A 65/66 Blackface fitted with JBL E120`s will do it

[Donny Johnston]

Uncle Roy, you can't tell me what to do with my wife, I'm open to offers.

[bob adams]

Ok!! I'm up for the auction .. Cause she's a 'Wee Darlin'! ...So I'll start the bidding at Ten Llamas...
Bu*****d if I know where I can get camels at this time of night but I know where to procure the LLamas!