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At the moment, I have 2 electric guitars and 1 acoustic guitar. My first guitar was the black Ibanez acoustic, and 6 months later I bought the Yamaha stock.
I have made multiple changes to the Yamaha since I bought it: first, I replaced the stock bridge humbucker with a Seymour Duncan JB. That improved the tone of
the guitar a lot. I was in a Santana phase at the time, so I wanted a neck humbucker as well. I crafted a black pickguard out of pickguard material from Stewmac.
When the new pickguard was finished, I wired up the guitar for a HSH setup with a stock single coil in the middle for clean tones and later added a splitter switch
for the bridge pickup.
After playing my first gig without a backup electric, I decided it was time for a new guitar. I searched all around for a few months and almost bought
a Schecter C-1 Classic along the way. Then, I discovered Carvin. I ordered the Carvin in January 2007 and it arrived in March. The looks, playability and feel are
absolutely amazing. Carvin made exactly what I wanted. After seeing some cherryburst finishes that looked fairly bad, I was skeptical about how well the finish
would turn out. I soon as I opened the case, I was amazed. The stock Elixir strings got taken off during the first week of having it and I set it up for Webstring
.009s. This guitar plays absolutely wonderfully.
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-Guitar-
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-Body Wood-
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-Neck Wood-
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-Fretboard-
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-Pickups-
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-Inlays-
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-Bridge-
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-Hardware-
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Carvin DC127
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Alder
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Maple
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Birdseye Maple
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C22B/C22J
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Abalone Dots
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Floyd Rose
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Gold
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Yamaha Pacifica
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Alder
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Maple
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Rosewood
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JB/`59
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MOP Dots
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Fender Trem
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Chrome
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Ibanez Acoustic
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Basswood
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Mahogany
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Rosewood
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N/A
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MOP Dots
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Standard
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Chrome
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Currently, I use a Carvin MTS 3212. It is a 50/100 watt, all tube 2x12 amp. As is a characteristic of all tube amps, they need to be cranked to sound decent.
When practicing with the band, I usually run it around 6 and it sounds great! Right now I have EH 12AX7 tubes in it and a 12AY7 for reverb. Power tubes are 4 stock
5881s. The amp has a clean channel that stays clean for a looooooong time. The lead channel can do anything from a little crunch to screaming metal. In the near
future, I am looking into added an Epiphone Valve Junior head to my arsenal for those low gain bluesy tones. A 100 watt amp`s clean channel just doesn`t
break up. Down the road more, I`d really like to get a Carvin Legacy or V3. Both look like amazing amps. Here are the official specs for the MTS:
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- Reverb-both channels
- Dual channels (clean & crunch/sustain) with separate level controls
- 50 /100 watt output switch for tube saturation at lower levels
- Bias switch for your choice of 5881 (matched Groove Tubes™), 6L6GCs or EL34 power tubes
- Tubes: four 5881 matched Groove Tubes
- Five 12AX7 preamp tubes for high gain (V1& V2 Groove Tubes)
- A 4, 8 or 16 ohm switch allows your choice of speakers
- A normalized Effects Loop is featured for foot effects as well a rack effects
- The optional FS22 foot switch is for selecting channels and reverb
- Hand crafted 7-ply poplar wood cabinet (not particle board) covered in a rich black protective vinyl
- Combo 212: 26W x 10.25D x 17.5”H, WT: 62 lbs.
- Made in San Diego, California
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I used to run multiple individual stompboxes, which included the following: Barber Tone Press, Danelectro Fish & Chips EQ, Digitech Bad Monkey, Electro-Harmonix Small Clone
Chorus, and Boss DD-3 Delay, which were all powered by a Visual Sound 1Spot. After going through multiple pedals, I started looking into the Line 6 Pod XT Live. In August 2006, I found
an XTL on my local Craigslist for $200 in new condition (they are sold in stores for $400). At first, I only planned on using the XTL as an effects unit. But over time, it has
become my primary practice unit instead of my amp. The 50/100 watt MTS is just too loud because it has to be cranked fairly high to sound decent. I highly recommend the XTL to anyone
who wants amazing tone at extremely low volume levels. I use the XTL direct to my computer and semi-decent speakers for practice, in my amp`s FX loop for effects, and I even use it
as the preamp of my amp.
In addition to the XTL, I also have a Boss SD-1 that I use for a volume boosts on the amp for solos and I also use it on the clean channel of the amp for a slightly gritty tone.
If I get to it, I`m going to mod the SD-1. I started planning a pedal board awhile ago so I could keep all my pedals and cables organized, but that was put on hold. Since I`m going to be getting a Valve Junior head soon, I`ll need
to make room on the board for an A/B switch. On the left is the pre-Valve Junior plan and the right is the XTL.
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My recording setup is fairly simple and it consists of the following: 1 Shure SM57, 1 (Clone) Shure SM58, MXL 990 Condenser, Behringer Eurorack UB1202 Mixer,
and my laptop. I use those mics mainly for vocals and acoustic guitar while using the XTL for guitar and a drum program for drums. All the clips on the Music page are
recorded through that setup.
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