With all the reviews, and testimonials we've given on gear, we should probably give a little background as to the type of sounds we actually go for in out gear.
Guitar: Our ideal guitar tones do vary, and there is no one sound we go for. That said, even though we do a lot of mods to guitars, we realize there's never going to be a guitar to get every sound, as some have accused us of over the years. For heavier rock tones, we tend to rely heavily on '57 Classic sound, but also like Seymour Duncan SH-2n Jazz in the neck with their JB's in the bridge. In regards to single coil use, we like pickups with higher magnetic fields, like what you find in G&L Asat Specials and Duncan's Quarter Pound pickups. We also love P-90's (and not the humbuckers that look like P-90's, like the P-100's or H-90's), as well as the veriations you find on the oddball guitars of the 60's and 70's. We deal a lot with Gretsch tone, so we're not all into just blaring overdrive. In regards to Gretsch, we dig various Filtertron designs, but shy away from spending top dollar on the highest price pickups, and usually look to GFS for alternatives. It's hard to justify dropping over $200 in a guitar we paid $600 or less for.
Guitar Amps: When it comes to amps, we are tube zealots. The only solid-state guitar amp we really give any kudos for is the Roland Jazz Chorus, but aside from that, we have yet to be impressed by any solid-state or modeling amp. The beauty of tube amps, is that even the oldest and cheapest have their strong points. We've always liked old Silvertones, which are now inflated price wise due to a certain WHITE guy using them, and all the hipsters trying to get that sound. Sovtek is a favorite of our that we consider a "cheap vintage". Generally we like British high-gain sound of EL-34 amps, but are really getting more into the 6L6 sound of Mesa lately, with more bottom.
Basses: There is no perfect bass, and we have different basses for different applications. For heavier rock (especially while doing pick style) we love passive basses, especially P-Basses with Duncan Basslines SPB-3 Quarter Pound P pickups. Generally, we never use, and remove or bypass (via Fender No-Load tone pots) the tone pots. We've become huge fans of high output in basses without being active. We also do use active basses, especially for non-pick styles. Generally, we rely on EMG for active basses, with some exceptions of basses that have great OEM pickups, such as Music Man, Alembic, or Wal basses. We do believe if you are looking for the Swiss Army Knife of basses, the best recommendation is EMG PJ sets, and an Aguilar preamp. This will get you CLOSE to about every sound you'll need, which is nice if you're doing covers and need to switch up sound a lot, or if you change up your playing styles a lot.
Bass Amps: We tend to be more into all-tube bass amps than solidstate or hybrid. The downside to this is that most all-tube heads are not readily available to try out and make a decission on, and reviews are subjective and all over the place. Ampeg SVT and SVTII's are usually the only all-tube bass head that's around, and though they sound great, they don't sound as good as older Ampeg, and they don't have the greatest components. If we're talking readily available current production heads, we recommend the Mesa Big Block 750 over Ampeg now, even though Mesa no longer makes an all-tube head (sad, as we loved the Bass 400, and 400+). Although, something to keep in mind is the way we see it, people view amp choices kinda backwards; Ampeg stacks for larger venues, and smaller cheaper combos at smaller ones. Usually, at larger venues, you're going to be running direct anyway, so the tube preamp of the hybrids are all anyone really hears anyway. Conversely, at smaller venues, bass amps don't usually get mic'ed or run to the board, and an all-tube bass amp is actually more noticeable. We realize that tube is not for everyone, and a lot of people like biamping. We think of this as ear candy for the most part, only really noticed at the stage level, and through the board, it's lost. We tend to like 10's and not so much the muddier 15's, although for those who like a deader sound, 15's are great. A great all around cab we've been liking that seems to work as a solo cab for pretty much everything is the Ampeg SVT410HLF.
Effects: We tend to stray from digital effects whenever possible, the only digital pedals we use are some delays, and E-H's Holy Grail reverb, but aside from those, we go analog. We also go true bypass whenever possible. We tend to like overdrive and distortion in pairs, one for a little bite, one for the distortion. Our favorite pair in this regard is Tubescreamers and Rats. There are various pedals that will accomplish this, but our absolute favorite combo is actually the Maxon OD-9 and RatII (preferably vintage). These are both true bypass pedals. For other effects, we like vintage Morley for bass wah, and some guitar wah, otherwise we look to good old Dunlop Crybaby pedals. E-H pedals are fantastic, especially the pre-Nano ones. Fulltone and Z-Vex are great too, but pricey.
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