Robin's gear

This is the first in a series of blogs about the gear the band members are using.
I will start the ball rolling with my set up.

The Amplifier
It has taken me years to find an amplifier that gives me the sound I want to hear on stage. I have had plenty of them that sound fantastic at practise sound levels but just never quite seemed to cut it on stage.
Like

• A 100 watt Fender Twin and there was just no way that I was able to turn the amp up enough to get it working and so the tone was always disappointing. 
• A Line 6 Pod XT Live that at practise levels sounded awesome but on stage was most disappointing. I am still using this but only as an effects board rather than for the amp simulations.
• Various solid state amps that have just never cut it. 

Finally, I seem to have found the answer by going back to basics and choosing a low output non-master volume tube amp. It is a Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb reissue that has been responsible for creating many of those great sounds you have heard on recordings over the years. It is doing the job magnificently even though it is only rated at 22 watts of output but I can tell you that there is plenty of volume available for the size of gigs that we are likely to do. Tube amps don't do what they can do until they are turned up a bit and the low wattage DR allows this even though I was still only running around 4 at the last gig.
Tube amps are super sensitive to the touch of the player, degree of treble and level of overall output from the guitar so they take a little getting used to. Once you are comfortable with the combination thought the scope for nuance and sound colour is wonderful by adjusting those 3 parameters. I had a great night on the guitar at the first gig because the sound I was getting on stage was so satisfying and it spurred me to take a few more risks and in the main they came off judging from the response at the time and following the gig.

The Guitars
My main guitar is an unusual choice but again the decision to do so was based on my previous experiences. In the past I have found that a Stratocaster with a 5 way switch and a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails humbucker in the bridge pick up position has been a great combination. However, I have missed having that really fat tone that a neck humbucker can provide and I am unwilling to change the neck pick up to a humbucker also on a Strat as the neck/middle pick up combination is so great for rhythm. Although I don't mind a Les Paul or a 335 I am not a huge fan of Gibsons so I initially decided on a Mexican made Classic Series '72 Telecaster Custom which has the humbucker at the neck and a standard telecaster pickup in the bridge.
Unfortunately, or fortunately as it eventually turned out, the shop I ordered the guitar from, sent me a Classic Series '72 Telecaster Deluxe by mistake. Now this is a very interesting guitar as you can see. It was Fender's answer to the Les Paul and has a Stratocaster neck with that wonderful big headstock. The neck is distinctly different as it has a flat 12" radius
rather than the original 7.25" radius. So I get this guitar and I am a little disappointed as you can imagine, but I play it and I am really liking the snorty sounding bridge pickup. Tele's are not the most comfortable guitars in the world but this model is different as it has a Statocaster style relief in the top of the back and I really like the feel of the neck. So I accept that maybe fate knows better than I do and I keep the Deluxe. This decision has been vindicated as it is a very playable guitar with wonderful sounds.
There is still a Strat lover in me though and I know that the band's sound would be further enhanced if I add one to the quiver. I have always preferred the look of the 70's Strats and so a Classic Series '70s Stratocaster was the only choice for me and it had to be Olympic White with a maple neck!

I searched all over Australia for one without success and ended up buying a 2006 model with Lindy Fralin picks ups installed with a case for less than $800 delivered right to my door from the States in 7 business days. Amazing! The bridge pick up of the after market Fralins has the output of a P90, so no need for a humbucker. Overall they sound absolutely fantastic with no hum as an added bonus. Whoever installed them however, also changed the selector switch from a 5 way to a 3 way as this was how 70s Strats were set up. I will be changing back to the 5 way as I particularly like the position 2 and 4 tones for rhythm. It has the thinner and lower vintage style frets loaded on a curvy fretboard which do take a bit of getting used to particularly as I am used to the Tele Deluxe with medium jumbo frets loaded on a flat fretboard. These Mexican made 70s Strat reissues have Ash bodies and when combined with the Maple neck produce a great scooped tone with highlighted lows and highs. The guitar sounds terrific even when it is not plugged in.

The final guitar in the quiver is a very strange beast. The Peavey PowerSlide is an entirely new kind of slide instrument that incorporates all the standard functions of a lap-steel guitar in a six-string configuration. Sit Down, Stand Up :- Play it Horizontally, Vertically or Inverted - Anything Goes!
The Peavey designed pickup and patented tone/mode control gives the PowerSlide an extremely wide range of tones. As you adjust the control it alters the pickup from single-coil to dual-coil operation, hum-canceling mode, with high-end rolloff at the extreme counterclockwise setting. I picked this one up for a measly $270 from the local music store and it works very well with clearly a lot of thought put into the design.

The Effects Chain
My main pedal is a Ibanez Tube Screamer TS-9 modified to sound like the original TS-808. An absolutely essential part of my sound as the '65 Deluxe Reverb does not have a distortion channel.
The Tube Screamer sits in front of a Pod XT Live which I use for a half second digital delay, a little compression and a Leslie Rotary speaker emulation to capture some element of the guitar tone on SRV's Cold Shot.

The Keyboard

The S90XS is Yamaha's top of the line Keyboard Synthesiser and is an awesome piece of gear. Not only does it provide me with pretty well any sound I need but it is also a fantastic practise tool as I can plug a mic directly into it and record to a USB if necessary. It is very easy to set up splits and layers directly from the top of the keyboard and I have used the Master section so as I can easily access them at a gig.

So thats it. The next couple of blogs will feature Max and Todd's gear. Max has been around a long time and has some very interesting older gear.