Guitarists, especially students, are always interested in gear…guitar, amps, pedals, strings, picks, you name it. If you’ve been playing a long time you definitely acquire a lot of stuff. Here’s what I use the most (and what I like a lot!)
My go-to guitars are the Eastman T146 for straight-ahead jazz, and the Eastman T186 for blues/fusion/”crunch.” I love my other archtops a LOT, and I play them a lot, but these two seem to work in a lot of situations. And, they are a lot easier to travel with, which has become a big deal.
Amps…well, I LOVE the tube amp sound (who doesn’t?) but it’s no fun lifting a Twin Reverb into your car three times a week.Several years ago my friend Rich Severson introduced me to the Quilter MicroCab 8. This is a serious little amp (8″ speaker!) with an incredible variety of voicings. I use it all the time, with big bands like the Jazz Composers Orchestra to smaller trio gigs. For really large venues I use it as my guitar monitor, and the sound crew grabs an EQ’d output from the XLR. I have three of these currently, plus a Henriksen Bud 6 that I also like a lot.
