On another note, I want to thank everyone who participated in discussions about any of the questions I asked over this past week. I am truly grateful for the knowledge and insight so many of you shared with me and the rest of the members. Forums like this one are about learning and at least in my case, that goal has been accomplished.
I also want to thank everyone for taking it easy on the "newbie" since not only am I relatively new to the forum and G&L guitars, but to this whole LR duty. I had fun.
Since technically, this is a holiday and not a work day, I don't think it would be too out of line if I ended this week with a semi-question and a poll. It has to do with effects or the lack thereof in your guitar to amp chain.
Of course everyone is different, with various tastes and musical preferences and from other threads I've seen a wide array of choice amps. So I'm looking for input about your favorite setup between the guitar and the amp(s) (in Darwin's case). I expect these answers will be as unique and interesting as each individual on the forum. Nonetheless, I'm curious about what others use to get the final sound they want from their guitars, either on stage or in the studio/home.
When I was in my early twenties (1990-1993 mostly) and gigging pretty often in southwestern Virginia while at school there, I had a long chain of pedals: a Sansamp, Microverb, Boss dual delay pedal, a distortion pedal (forget the brand, but either DOD or Boss I think), a wah, and octave, phase and flange pedals. I didn't always bring every one of these to perform, but the Sansamp, Microverb, delay and distortion pedals were the backbone of any gig, jam session or even just practice. I lost all of the above during a hurry-up move back home to Louisiana in time to pick up my passport and visa and move to Moscow for the next few years.
Currently, I'm not playing in public, and studio work has ground to a halt, so all my playing is at home. Depending on what I'm playing along with or trying to learn, I either use a Line 6 Pod or for the moment, at least, just a Hollier Grail reverb and I'm trying to figure out the best and shortest chain possible (e.g., overdrive and/or distortion and delay in addition to the reverb) to get the kind of sounds I want - a good grind with lots and lots of sustain. My Fender Pro Jr (which has a tremendously warm tube sound) has only a volume and tone knob. Anything else is going to have to come from preamp devices.
So please share what your choice of effects gear is and what kind of music you play that these pedals/processors help you achieve it. For myself, I have always chased a David Gilmour sound (earlier rather than later) with my more recent fascination with Mark Knopfler's sound - which I find tends to come easier on the S-500 when using the bridge-middle pickup combination along with a touch of delay and only a hint of reverb.
Once again, thank you all for your input and insight this week - and here's to a great 2011 for all.
Phillip
P.S. I'm still hoping for a volunteer for next week's LR before I have to institute the draft.
