My Guitars and Amps...

I grew up around music. I remember (sometime in the 50's), a pedal steel guitar and amp in our living room, and I thought that it was really cool.  I remember the Every Brothers music playing on the radio as I got ready for school.

Then in 1964 I saw the Beatles on the news, and it showed  mail  carts full of fan mail, then they performed on the Ed Sullivan show.
I started playing guitar shortly after that.  I started playing on a borrowed Gibson and my neighbor taught me how to chord along with his banjo playing.

 Musically I have been influenced by all the country pickers I grew up listening to (We miss you Chet!), The Everly Brothers, Zally Yanovski & John Sebastian (The Lovin Spoonful), Alvin Lee (10 Years After), Heartsfield, Goose Creek Symphony, Mason Proffit, NRPS, Daniel Amos, Randy Stonehill, and more recently Darrel Evans, Gene Eugene, Glenn Kaiser and a whole bunch of really good pickers.

I have gone through a lot of guitars, and rigs since I started playing  (wish still has most of them)
Here are some of my past and present guitars and amp rigs.

Here I am with my first guitar and amp, not counting my Roy Rogers "cardboard" guitar, my Aunt Dorcas gave me.
 

1965

1967

A 1966 AMPEG reverberocket 2 Rocket (GS-12R) 35 watt tube amp.   This is a photo of my "new" amp that I bought on eBay. It has the original Ampeg 2 way foot switch and Ampeg labeled 12" speaker

That is my 1966 Ampeg Reverberocket 2 in the foreground.  Jerry and I in the Lemon Lime Waterfall playing at the Bushnell Pool in the summer of '68. We were known for not playing covers of the popular songs of the day.   We covered the Doors, Eric Burton and Iron Butterfly songs long before most people were listening to them. I briefly played a Conrad tripple pick-up solid body guitar  with organ key type pick-up selectors then I got my first Gibson.

One of my favorite electrics was my 11963 Firebird I  I purchased from the band Brillo and The Firebirds. I sold my Ampeg and bought a Fender Bandmaster 50 watt tube  amp with a Fender 2x12 cabinet. I would play it in series with my 1963 Gibsonette 15 watt tube amp.

Then the 70's came along and everything got  bigger and louder.  I traded in my Bandmaster for a   SUNN  Scepter  280 watt tube head and two 4x12 Traynor bottoms. Jerry and I were still playing together but mostly jamming at his house in Bushnell and playing in the VFW park.

  I mostly played my 67 Gibson Firebird I and a Alvarez 12 string acoustic with a sound hole pick-up.

This photo was  taken 1979 in the Upper-room coffeehouse  in Macomb Illinois with the Living Water Band.  I  am playing through a Peavey 2x12 Classic 50 watt tube amp  I had traded my 67 Chevy van to Glenn Kaiser and ToneZone for the  Peavey Classic. The  Peavey Classic really  cranked and had a big fat sound and really nice highs, a lot like my current Ampeg Reverrocket R12R. I had my Firebird-I modified with Humbucker pick-ups  and a pick-up selector switch for a fuller sound.

 

I use to play a lot of bluegrass music, and played the mandolin , banjo, dulcimer and autoharp.   I played with the Tracey family and every one was related but me. This is me on Mandolin, Jim Jones on bass, Vic Tracey on guitar and vocals  and Dick Tracey on banjo.  We were sometime joined by Bill Bailey on fiddle and various wives singing. (And these are all their real names).   In the late 80s I played in a gospel rock band and we played when and  where ever we could. This photo is in front of RIBCo in down town Rock Island  Illinois. I would use the 50 watt Classic as a preamp then plug into a Solid State 150 watt Peavey Special  with a 1-12 Scorpion speaker.   I would set the Special on top of the Classic, and use a Stage Echo (tape echo) and Small Stone Phaser for effects.  Talk about a great full sound for Peavey amps, this was a nice set-up.   Since the late 70's most of the music I play reflects my life of devotion to Christ. Whether it was in worship on Sunday morning, rock'en in the Bighouse on Wednesday nights or  jammin with friends.    Playing my 1968 Gibson 335 through a  GK-250ML and Korg SDD-2000 Digital Delay  processor at a 4-Square mens retreat worship service at Lake Genea Wisconsin.    . For Christmas 1988, Diane traded my Peaveys in for aGalen Kruger 150 watt 250ML amp with 2-6" speakers Digital delay and chorus.  It was small (12 lbs)   but amazing sounding.  I used it with a 2x12 Trek cabinet (I built) and a Krog SDD2000 digital effects rack. I found this old photo of my gear from 1988 all stacked up for insurance purposes. The white guitar is a original white vinyl 1958 Danelectro, my Firebird with modified pickups and black pick-guard, a 65 Gibson L-5 and my Aria acosutic. The speaker stacks are all cabinets I built and are still pounding out the sound. Over they years I have designed and built about 25 sets of speakers for various bands and guitar players. Here is a  very "toney" Cambridge 30 Twin  VOX amp, I owned at one time. The guitar on the left is a hand crafted "Lyle" Electric guitar with RIC electronics, a  Dean "E" acoustic/electric stage guitar and my favorite acoustic. I have played the Aria for 30 years and it still sounds sweet. It is copied after the Gibson J-100 which is  one of the "King of the flat-tops" guitars. Diane bought me Aria in 1977 for Christmas.   For worship and jamming (when I want a lot of Marshall power),  I play my Marshall VS100 and MG-4x12 cabinet with either my Gibson Blueshawk or Epiphone 335.    Or I might play thru a  Marshall VS65R combo  with my Gibson Blueshawk.   My favorite acoustics are my '74 Aria, a copy of the Gibson J-100 and my Masterbuilt Gibson J-180EC with  33 MOP star explosion on the neck and bridge. These are photos of me while playing Celtic music with the Barley House Band. I also have a late '60s Hoya 12 string my brother brought home from the Navy in 1971, and various old 6 string electric and acoustic guitars hanging around the house and garage.   One of my favorite amps is my Ampeg (96) Reverbrocket re-issue with 2, 12" Ampeg vintage speakers. It has amazing tube (6L6) tone and volumn and that original Ampeg reverb sound. I use no effects with this amp. It is my main amp I use to play Worship as it has such a full rich sound. Other equipment I use includes Peavey, NADY and Carvin sound equipment, SM58 and AKG C3000,  Traynor and Yorkville bass amps and sound cabinets, and a whole shelf of old and new stomp boxes, including: a MXR Phase 100, Thomas Organ Wha-wha pedal, Smallstone phase, MXR sustain compressor, Electrovoice Analog delay. For my main effect I use a Digitech RP-500  And did I mention I bought a 1963 Harmony H303a and a Ampeg GS-12R off of Ebay?  Both are amazing amps. The harmony is great for recording guitar leads, and I am going to rebuild it back to mint condition. For recording I use the LEXICON Omega USB with  CuBase software an the Alesis SR16 drum machine, NADY EQs and compressors and ART mic pre amps and a Epiphone Rumblekat bass with a Yorkville bas amp. Hmmm, should I be looking for a Ampeg B-15 fliptop? I have finally acquired a Ampeg Reverberocket R50H, 50 watt tube head. The R50H  has the same amazing sounding Reverb and a clean loud tone,  but unlike  the Reverberocket R212R combo,which uses 6L6 power tubes, the R50H uses 2 EL34 power tubes giving it a different overdrive sound.  While the R212R has the classic Fender/Peavey/Boogie distortion the R50H has a more of a british Marshall/Vox distortion sound. Vist my Dogbarkmusic site Posted Spring, A.D. 2003 up-dated Spring 2010