Guitar Rig October 2016

This is basically the system I've been using with Satori for the past 2 years or so, it's based around 3 amps:

Two late '70s / early '80s Fender Deluxe Reverb combo amps loaded with JBL D-120 speakers for clean tones, and a '73 Marshall JMP50 (one of the last hand wired) head into a 1 x 12 cab with a Celestion G12M65 for dirty, lead and fuzz tones.

When possible, I use a vintage 4 x 12 Marshall cab loaded with Celestion G12C's instead of the 1 x 12 for the JMP50.

Here is the rig in action:

The amps are pretty much stock. I removed the boost circuit, changed a couple of cap values and substituted a 100K audio pot for the reverb in the DR's.

I installed a PPIMV in the JMP50 and removed the bright cap.

The DR's run NOS RCA JAN grey bottle 6V6's with GE JAN and RCA preamp tubes, the JMP50 runs NOS Siemens EL34's and Brimar, EI and GE JAN 12AX7 tubes.

The DR's are usually between 3 and 4 on the volume with the treble and bass between 5 and 6 depending on venue, the reverb is pretty much always at 4 1/2.

I use a Y-cord to plug into both channels on the JMP50, Volume I at 6, Volume II at 5, Treble at 0 and middle, bass and presence usually between 3 1/2 and 4 depending on the room. PPIMV is between 80% and 100% depending on stage volume and speaker(s) cab.

An A/B box allows me to switch between the 2 x DR's and the JMP50, and there is an additional 1/2 loop before the JMP50 (after the A/B switch).

For clean the signal is as follows:

Guitar -> Joe Gagan Italian wah -> A/B box -> Klon KTR -> Catalinbread Belle Epoch -> Catalinbread Echorec -> TC Electronic SCF (it splits the signal in stereo) => Boomerang III Phrase Sampler => 2 x Fender DR's.

For dirty / lead / fuzz it goes like this:

Guitar -> Joe Gagan Italian wah -> A/B box -> 1/2 loop switch -> Catalinbread Adineko -> Marshall JMP50.

The 1/2 loop switch lets me choose between a BK Butler 3 knobs Tube Driver or a Fulltone Octafuzz and MXR Univibe.

So for the Marshall it's either:

Guitar -> Joe Gagan Italian wah -> Tube Driver -> Catalinbread Adineko -> JMP50

or

Guitar -> Joe Gagan Italian wah -> Fulltone Octafuzz -> MXR Univibe -> Catalinbread Adineko -> JMP50

The ECC83 in the Tube Driver is an old Yugoslavian EI.

It's a pretty primitive system, but it allows me to sort of "preset" 3 tones with the 2 switches, it's 100% analog…

I could never achieve satisfactory clean and distorted tones out of the same amp & speaker(s), so it came naturally to use 2 discrete systems for each "family" of tones.

Clearly Eric Johnson and Allan Holdsworth '80s guitar rig were major inspirations.

The biggest issue with multiple amps is ground loops. To solve this the A/B box has a ground lift for the lead side, and I use an Ebtech X-hum to isolate the ground on the lead amp. All the pedals are powered by a Bradshaw CAE MXR MC403. The Boss expression pedal is to control the volume of the loops coming out of the Boomerang III.