ART X-15 Midi Foot Controller with Dual Expression Pedals

Once I realized that I wanted full time control on my Quadraverb, I started looking for a Midi foot controller that could do Midi mode 1 & 2. The one that I found that could do everything I wanted turned out to be the ART X-15 Midi Foot Controller with Dual Expression Pedals:

Each of the 10 buttons on the right can be programmed for a preset sound setting, there's a bypass, a Mode select and a bank Up\Down feature. The nice thing about this unit is once you choose a sound, if you go into Mode 2, you can turn on and off individual blocks within the saved sound of the Quadraverb. The expression pedals can be assigned to control parameters on the fly, so it saved me a lot of money, time and effort having this all together in a single controller rather than having Gizmos all over the floor.

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Alesis Quadraverb effects unit

I did some research and was torn between the Digitech 2112 Studio guitar processor or the Studio Alesis Quadraverb for my Reverb, Delay, Chorus & Flange effects. I bought both, but I got the Quadraverb first:

This is a studio quality piece that you would normally find in a recording studio rack, not in a guitar player's, but it sounds amazingly clean. This is my main effects unit and I run it in stereo for maximum effect. Most sound people don't like a guitar running in stereo because it takes an extra mic and channel on their board, but there's no substitute for when you run a ping pong effect and it bounces back and forth through the venue in stereo.

The interface is setup where you can have up to 8 DSP devices in one saved setting and you use "Virtual Patching" to decide how you want it to chain together. You can add some effect back into any of the previous effects at any point for more "Interesting" effects. Outputs are Stereo, but you can patch left to right, or any number of combinations you could ever possibly want or need.

Once I realized just how complex the programming on this unit could get, I realized I was going to need more than an ordinary Midi Up\Down switch to run it so I bought an ART X-15 Midi controller and started programming everything together to maximize the abilities of both pieces.

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Marshall 2000 TSL 100 watt head

On considering if I should further modify my old amp or simply look for a new Head, I ran across the Marshall 2000 TSL 100 watt head. I traveled with my Friend and Band Mate Dan to the Sam Ash in White Plains just to demo this Head because the nearest Sam Ash to us didn't have one in their store yet:

Let me tell you, this Head is a Monster! 3 Channels, Clean (REALLY clean), Crunch and Lead. A few various Gizmos on the front of this Head makes it super flexible. Low end Boast, a Mid Cut Scoop, 2 separate effects loops, 2 Reverbs, a Virtual Power mode to reduce output\change tone & a Mute button. An included foot switch controls the channels, reverb and even the effects loop on\off. This was THE Cadillac of Amplifiers back then, so I bought one. In fact, Dan was so impressed, he bought one too. The only modification I made on this Head was to bring the Tube Bias to the back of the Amp for adjustment on the fly. I left the original Svetlana tubes alone, they sound great in this head.

They weakest part of this Amp was the foot controller. I replaced the wire with a heavier gauge & all the LEDs over the years. Aside from that, I have no complaints about it. Marshall had finally created a Head with a beautiful Clean channel, and the other 2 are equally as impressive. This Amp and my 1960A Cabinet became my main stage rig for many years and still roars today.

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Marshall 1960A 4X12, 300 watt Stereo Cabinet

I decided that I wanted to start working toward portability, so while I considered ripping the guts out of my JCM 800 and putting them in a smaller enclosure, I bought a Marshall 1960A 4X12, 300 watt Stereo Cabinet:

There's nothing bad that can be said about these Cabinets. They're made out of Baltic Birch, so they're somewhat heavy, but the sound is worth it. Loaded with 4 Celestion G12T-75 Speakers Celestion G12T-75 Speakers (16 Ohm), this cabinet runs either Mono @ 4 or 16 Ohms at an RMS of 300 watts or in Stereo (my preferred use) @ 8 Ohms a side and 150 watts RMS.

The only thing I ever didn't like about this cabinet is that when I got my car, I never considered that it wouldn't fit in the trunk or the back seat, so I am at the mercy of other transportation to move it from place to place.

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Marshall JCM 800 4212

My next Amplifier was the Marshall JCM 800 4212, a 2 channel Amp with 2 G12T-75 Celestion speakers (8 Ohm):

This setup worked well in Theory, but both channels used the same Master Volume control. To get a Clean sound, you needed to turn down the Gain on the Clean channel, but to get Distortion, you had to turn up the Gain in that channel. So you would get an either or situation because the volume disparity made it very difficult to deal with. Both Channels sounded great except for this "Minor" problem.

I got in touch with Korg USA, who carries the schematics for Marshalls, and started discussing the problem with my Bro. We added a new Volume Control for the Clean channel and built a custom switching system inside the beast. We actually had to re-figure out how this amp switched it's Reverb too and control that as well. After a few bugs, glitches and unforeseen issues, we got it working very nicely. I added a Bass Shift Control for low end contouring, brought the Tube Bias to the back for adjustment on the fly and used this amp for many years on and off the road. This Amp loves Sovtek power tubes, the cheaper the better, but they are really hard to get now. You can get Sovtek preamp Tubes  too, but I put Grove Tubes  Grove Tubes  in mine.

The only issue I ever had with this amp after we corrected some of the "Issues" (They fixed the same problem in the JCM 900, but it didn't sound as good as this amp), was the weight... This thing is HEAVY! By the time we added circuit boards, power supplies, fan, etc. it really took 2 people to move it comfortably. It was pretty heavy to begin with so that's when I decided it was time to go Head & Cabinet instead of a Combo Amp.

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Peavey Bandit 65 amp

Back in the day, not everyone could afford Marshalls, so you would look for an amp that you could work with to get a decent sound. That amp, for me, was the Peavey Bandit 65:

This amp still sits in my living room after years of abuse on the road and being dropped down several staircases. I picked up mine for $100 used and I've never regretted it. This is one of the toughest bad a$$ amps I have ever seen.

Peavey came up with a Saturation sound, using MOSFET technology, in an attempt to replicate a tube amp. It didn't work out so well, but having 2 channels meant you could have a rhythm & lead channel with different gain settings. I've coupled it with a few different distortion devices and have always been pleased by it's tone.

I've used a Rockman (mentioned in previous post), a Boss Heavy Metal Pedal, a Boss DS-1 (Satriani's original stomp distortion) & recently a Vox Sachurator. The amp has handled these all extremely well without coloring the sound of the source too much and it's LOUD... Loud enough for a small club with no mics on the amps. Thank you Peavey for creating this little monster, I probably would have given up on guitar a long time ago without this decent amp.

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Alesis MEQ 230

In my previous post I mentioned the Alesis MEQ 230 (Discontinued, replaced with this: Alesis DEQ-830 Digital Graphic EQ), so let's take a minute to discuss this unit (pictured below).

This unit is a stereo 30 band Equalizer that can run at guitar or line level. I run in stereo, so I use this unit between the 2 power amps as the last piece in my chain. One of the handiest uses for this EQ to reside there is that if you want one side of your Stereo field to be brighter than the other one or to balance the output gain going into your power amps. What's not to love about the flexibility of this unit? I have no complaints.

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