09.02.2012

 
Last year I finally afforded to buy my "dream amp" VOX AC30HW2X which is a hand-wired combo loaded with two Celestion Alnico Blue Speakers. It's a very versatile amp and you can get a wide spectrum of tones out of it, but so far I have been using mostly the Normal channel with the master volume bypassed and the whole 30 Watts in use. Just the purest Vox tone! Actually it's not that far removed from the tone I get from my Fender Pro Jr. amp. Maybe because that one also has the Blue Alnico speaker. But of course the Vox has a much bigger headroom. I'm very happy!  
 
VOX AC30
 
I also bought a proper ukulele and an electro-acoustic mandolin (both Fender). The ukulele is very fun to play at home but I probably won't be using it much with the band. Don't be surprised, however, if you hear the mandolin on some future release!
 
Ukulele and mandolin

 

02.03.2011

 
Ok, so it took a bit longer to update than I thought. Sorry for that. But then again, I didn't really have anything new to add up until recently when I modified my pedalboard setup and also did some modifications to my Explorer and Telecaster.
 
So let's start with the pedalboard. The switch of the Maxon OD808 broke so I removed that pedal from the pedalboard. I had HBE Germania44 treblebooster there for a while but I didn't use it too much so it was gone quite soon. The latest additions to the pedalboard are the vintage Ibanez flanger and Carl Martin Classic Opto-Compressor which I bought quite recently. The current pedal setup looks like this:
 
Pedalboard setup
 
Yes, it's a bit messy but still usable. Starting from the upper left corner the pedals are:
 
Ibanez AD-9: The classic analog delay from the early 80’s.
Ibanez FL-301 DX: Vintage flanger from the 70’s. Used sometimes to spice things up.
Boss TU-2: Chromatic Tuner.
Cioks Big John: Pedal power.
Morley Power Wah Volume: I use this only as a Volume pedal.
MXR Phase 90: Classic phaser sounds.
Carl Martin Classic Opto-Compressor: I use this mainly when playing slide but sometimes also when playing chords with clean sound.
Ibanez TS-9: Classic overdrive from the very early 80’s. Is on most of the time.
HomeBrew Electronics Big D: Replaced the Maxon. Used for solos mainly.
Budda Wah: Very nice wah pedal that I still use quite often.
 
And now on to the guitars...
 
I didn't use my Gibson Explorer much for a long time which was a shame. One reason for not using it was that I didn't like the tone of the original pickups so I changed them to Seymour Duncan Jazz (neck) and JB (bridge). I also set the neck a bit more straight than it was. Now the playability of that guitar is absolutely superb!
 
For the longest time I have wanted to have a Bigsby in one of my guitars but I didn't want to drill any extra holes to my precious instruments. But then I found about Vibramate. Thanks to it there is no need to drill any extra holes and the installation of the Bigsby takes only minutes! So now I have Bigsby B5 installed to the Explorer (I could easily move it to my Les Paul if I wanted). I also changed the vintage bridge to roller bridge because it just works much better with Bigsby. I still might change the saddle in the near future. Maybe to Earvana.
 
Gibson Explorer 
 
I also did some slight modifications to my Telecaster. Most notably I changed the 3-piece vintage bridge to 6-piece Gotoh brass bridge. I also finally added strap locks to this guitar so I'm going to use it more often with the band in the future. I installed plastic ring to the neck pickup just so that the guitar would look a little bit more like Keef's 'Malcolm' Tele. 
 
Fender Telecaster
 
Here's a picture of my Jimi Strat:
 
Amfisound Stratocaster
 
I also have a Gretsch lap steel nowadays but I still need to learn to play it properly...
 
Gretsch lap steel

 

23.02.2010

 
Ok, so you found my personal space on this site. Good. In this first instalment I’m going to tell you a little bit about my guitars and other gear that I have and use with the Captains. Later on I might have something more interesting to add so check back later. :)
 
Guitars and amps 

Guitars

I use my Amfisound Les Paul almost 100% of the time with the Captains. It compliments Jani’s Fender Jazzmaster very well and I just love the sound of the Seymour Duncan Antiquity pickups.
 
Sometimes I also use my Japanese Fender ’52 Telecaster reissue. It was modified by Amfisound. The neck profile got changed a little bit (no more sharp V-shape) and a humbucker pickup replaced the stock pickup in the neck position. Jani used this guitar for most of his guitar tracks on Paper Mill Town EP because his Jazzmaster broke down during the sessions.
 
I also have Amfisound Stratocaster with cool psychedelick painting on the body, black Gibson Explorer from the early 80's and a couple of acoustic guitars but I haven’t really used those yet with the Captains.
 

Amps

My main amp is a Fender Pro Jr. which I bought from Davide Floreno. It has a blue alnico speaker instead of the stock ceramic one. Great sounding amp! I just wish it was a little bit bigger. I might have to get another one… I also have a Marshall JCM800 2204 head plugged into a Marshall 1960AX 4x12 cabinet but I very rarely use those with the Captains.
 

Pedals

Here’s a picture of my current pedal setup:
 
Pedals
 
Starting from the upper left corner the pedals are:
 
Ibanez AD-9: The classic analog delay from the early 80’s. I don’t use it too often, but when I need a softer guitar tone I stomp on it.
MXR Phase 90: This pedal can be heard on a couple of our songs.
HomeBrew Electronics Big D: I use this monster of a distortion pedal quite rarely but if I want to go totally crazy on my guitar I use it to a great effect. :) This pedal was used to get the violin like tone on Butterfly.
Cioks Big John: Pedal power. Very handy.
Maxon OD808 & Ibanez TS-9: These two are my main pedals. I basically use one or both of those on every track that we play. The Ibanez is an original from the very early 80’s and is on most of the time. Maxon is added for solos and some riffs.
Boss TU-2: Chromatic Tuner. Good enough for rock & roll.
Morley Power Wah Volume: I use this only as a Volume pedal.
Budda Wah: Very nice wah pedal that I use quite often.
 
Other pedals that I have but do not use with the Captains at the moment:
 
HomeBrew Electronics UFO Ultimate Fuzz Octave: Nice Jimi Hendrix sounds. I sometimes use this with my Strat.
HomeBrew Electronics Germania44 Treblebooster: I used to utilize this pedal quite often as a boost for solos but not anymore. Maybe I should give it a try one of these days…
Ibanez FL-301 DX: Vintage flanger from the 70’s. This pedal might return on my pedal board soon.
TC Electronic SCF Chorus+: Great chorus pedal that I recently took off of my pedal board because I don’t use chorus that often. Nice pedal anyway.
 
That’s it. Of course I have some other crap like Line6 POD, Ibanez bass and Korg keyboard lying around in my apartment also but those are mainly just for home use.
 
Cheers,
Teemu