The quest for the perfect tone can easily drive a guitarist crazy. I'm not saying that I have finished that quest, but I am certainly happier now, with my tone, than I have ever been. I do have more gear and guitars than are on this site, but, this is the gear I tend to use. I usually go to a Trouble No More gig with 3 guitars, a Les Paul, a Stratocaster, and an SG for slide. Mike and I have on occasion played acoustic guitars for a few songs and sometimes I even bring my resonator.
My amp set up depends on the size of the venue and stage area. I always prefer using two heads (one British sound, one Fendery) with two 2x12 cabinets and scale down from there. I use a Weber Mass 100 to curb the volume of my Orange amp in small and medium clubs. I've owned Orange amps for many years starting with an OR-120 Pic model when I was in my late teens. I've never been happy when I didn't have one. My Category 5 Ivan amp is still kind of new, and it grows on me each day I use it. A great amp if you can't decide between a Brown or Blackface Fender sound. It also sounds great at any volume. A big plus.
My pedal board is simpler than it looks, with pedals set up more for different guitars and amps, instead of for a lot of different sounds. I really use the guitars, amps, and technique to generate the lions share of tone. I do change things from time to time. Sometimes I add a Vintage MXR Phase 90 or Keeley modded Boss CE-2 chorus to spice things up. I still haven't found a delay I'm really happy with.
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Ken's Guitars
1975 Gibson Les Paul Custom (Main Guitar). Bought new in Hampton Music (Hampton Bays), August 1975. Grover tuners, Duncan Antiquity Humbuckers, Tone Pro's Bridge and Tailpiece.
Number 2 guitar. 80's MIJ Fender Stratocaster. Was originally Black but refinished Surf Green nitro. Duncan Texas Hot Antiquity Pickups (no reverse wound center pickup), Suhr silent singlecoil backplate system, Callaham Bridge, Kluson Tuners. The best sounding strat I have ever owned, by far.There's been quite a few. Bought on ebay for $150, prior to mods and refinishing.
2009 Gibson Sg Standard,Tone Pro's Bridge and Tailpiece, Matching CTS pots (all over 500k), Set up for slide.
1982 Gibson ES335 '59 dot reissue, Seymour Duncan, Matched Pots, Antiquity Humbuckers, Grover Tuners.
Black Cherry Burst Fender Telecaster, Duncan Antiquity II pickups, Mighty Mite neck.
Dean Chrome G resonator Electric/Acoustic
1982 Takamine F340S acoustic/electric
(Martin D-18 copy)
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Ken's Amps
Orange AD-30 HTC,thru weber mass to single 12' celestion vintage 30.
Category 5 Ivan with 12' Tone Tubby ceramic. Great small to medium club set up.
Orange AD30htc with 2-12 cab. Celestion Vintage 30 with Celestion Heritage Anniversary. I usually use this in conjuction with the Category 5 with a 2-12 Tone Tubby cabinet.
Category 5 Ivan Head with 2-12 Tone Tubby H bomb cab. 1 Ceramic Tone Tubby with 1 Alnico Tone Tubby. Channel 1 is a great overdriven Brownface sound while channel 2 is a 60s Blackface slightly overdriven. Great at any volume. Switched via Framptone.
Orange Tiny Terror with Mercury Magnetics Holy Terror Modifications. Single vintage 30 in Lopo cabinet. Great for small clubs and open mike nights. Sounds amazing for it's size.
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Pedalboard
In order of signal chain.
X2 reciever, Morley Bad Horsey wah, Keeley compressor, Keeley modified Boss BD-2, Ibanez Tube Screamer with mods, Hermida Zendrive, Hermida Mosferatu, Peterson Strobo-Stomp 2 tuner, Framptone 3-Banger (A channel Brownface Category 5, B channel Blackface Category 5, C channel Orange Ad30-HTC)Orange switch changes channels on Orange Ad30. PedalTrain pedalboard with BBE power.
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