My motley collection

[Kiwi]

Here are the instruments in my collection:

1987 Chandler Strat:  This one is a triggers broom.  Bought in 2006, I had the muddy green finish stripped back to bare wood and everything else was replaced.  Jon Shuker finished the body for me and I did the neck in tru-oil. 

Because I wanted this to make 80's session noises, it was fitted a prewired HSS pickgard with EMG 85 in the bridge and two EMG SA in the mid and neck positions. The electronics feature a mid boost control and the EMG85 is tapped by pulling on the vol control.  Tuners are no brand locking type and work well enough.  Unusually, the body is solid two piece quilted maple so the notes ring clear and unmuddied.  

The bridge is a Wilkinson VS100CV, these haven't been made for many, many years and offer the benefits of both vibrato and hardtail.  The trem arm locks the bridge in place when not in use.  I have another three VS100CV bridges stashed away for future use, one in gold and two in chrome.

Finally, I got the chance to briefly meet Nile Rodgers on my birthday back in 2013 and he signed it for me before being whisked off by Acoustic Guitar mag staff.  I tried protecting it with coat of acrylic but the acrylic has started flaking off and it made the signature a little smudgey. :(

Speaking which, Nile Rodgers was the reason I decided to take up guitar.  This is a replica of his Hitmaker strat made by Al Knight - made with Fender licensed parts apart from the body.  The wear isn't quite the same these days but it features a thin alder body, Sperzels, Gibson speed knobs and a hard to find Kahler brass pickguard finished in chrome just like the original.  Electronics are standard wiring with Fender Noiseless Vintage pickups. I'm pleased to say it gets satisfyingly close to the sound of the original!

Being a big Al Murphy fan and needing something with humbuckers led me to this, a Yamaha MSG/Image Deluxe.  I have two, one of them is the Mk1 and this one is MkII where the vol pot is slightly further from the bridge.  All mahogany construction with a maple cap, I have since installed Armstrong PAF humbuckers so can extract some nicely jazzy sounds as well as a fat crunch.  The pickups can be coil split and while I was aiming for a tele twang, the mahogany construction kind of gets in the way of achieving that.  Still, the sounds are funky enough.  Otherwise both are still stock, with a Yammie RM-Pro vibrato bridge.  These are great guitars, seriously underrated.

Finally - a Klein replica.  I made the body with help, from NZ beech with a redwood top and the neck is an old Music Yo Steinberger jobbie.  Bridge is a Steinberger R trem and a Fernandes Sustainer kit is fitted for infinite yowling.  I'm not totally sold on the beech body, it seems to dampen the attack a little without reducing harshness so I may yet look for a replacement from mahogany or limba.

Still gassing for an Ibanez Artcore AWD82-ATF for semi hollow sounds.  Was going to make one but with this being nearly identical spec to what I planned, it's a no brainer.  Assuming I can find one. 

[gary mac]

Some nice instruments there Kiwi and interesting mods

[Kiwi]

It is worth throwing the amps and pedal board up as well?

[Teebs]

1 hour ago, Kiwi said:

It is worth throwing the amps and pedal board up as well?

Yes

[ezbass]

3 hours ago, Kiwi said:

It is worth throwing the amps and pedal board up as well?

If they’re causing you nausea, then yes.

Ooh, is that my coat? It’s ok, I’ll get it myself.

[Kiwi]

Well slight problem I have is that the amps are spread across two countries.  So I'll have to improvise a little. 

First up the pedal board.  After getting a Zoom G3X, I actually found myself falling back on a handful of sounds.  Mainly overdrive, chorus, reverb and delay.  The signal chain starts with the Xotic Q wah, then straight into a Nux Chorus for trichorus.  Then the signal goes into an Amptweaker Tight Rock Pro which is one of the best distortion pedals I have ever played.

The TR has a side chain and effects loop intended mainly for running clean and dirty signal chains.  So the Effectrode PC2A valve compressor and Empress Para EQ (for added sparkle) are on the clean side.  In the effects loop are a Joyo JF14 American Sound and a Digitech Freq Out for low volume feedback.  The Joyo is wonderful, I crank the mids for a thick, fat and searing lead sound in conjunction with the Tight Rock - it's basically Alan Murphy in a box.  After the Tight Rock, the signal goes into a Mooer Ocean Sound for delay and reverb and then into the two Ibanez combos.

One note about the Effectrode PC2A, it's fabulous sounding (good enough for Mr Gilmour it seems too) but it needs a 12v 1500mA supply.  So not much good for gigging really unless it stays with the amp and then there's no point in having it in pedal format...sigh.  

The two Ibanez TSA5 combos are fine sounding amps, reliable, clean sounding and plenty loud enough for playing in an apartment.   I discovered them at a Basschat bash, one of the other members bought a TSA15 along and I was impressed by how good it sounded but I didn't need 15w.  

In storage however I have an ex-Lindisfarne Burman Pro501 1x12 50w combo which is great for cleans.  I got it back about 10 years or so ago, thanks to a contact on BC who knew Ray Laidlaw, the band's drummer.  The overdrive needs careful tweaking or else it can sound woofy.  Luckily Simon Cowe [who sadly passed in 2015] left his settings on in white grease pencil.  A cat either owned by Ray or Simon left it's marks as well. lol

You can see it here in an old shot at my place in NZ.

 

This is a 1984 Fender Concert II.  I've always loved the sweet sound of Fenders.  A Super Champ was on the bucket list but couldn't afford it and I mistakenly thought the Concert II would be the next best thing.  As it turns out the Princeton Reverb II was the one to go for.  Ah well, it's hard enough to find these things in the UK as it is, let alone at a reasonable price, so should still count myself lucky.  I haven't actually played it yet even though it was bought about three years ago because I had already left the country.   It'll probably need a service before it gets shipped out here to make sure the caps are fresh.

 

 

 

 

And a couple of years ago I snagged a near mint Fender Princeton Reverb II because I had planned to sell the Concert II.  It came with all the paperwork, spares and cover but no footswitch.  However I ended up purchasing one from an Australian seller a few months later for a somewhat embarrassingly generous amount on my part.

 

Extra stuff: 

Burman GX3 preamp - haven't actually tried this with the Pro501 yet but want to see how they both sound with one driving the other.  I've tried recording with it but it tends to pick up the sound of the PC power supply and fans too easily.

Lexicon MPXG2 - an oldie but a goodie.  A real swiss army knife of an effects unit.  Lush reverbs, infinitely configurable (almost) and connectable.  Currently in storage. (Not my photo BTW because I don't have any good ones on my hard drive).

[EdwardMarlowe]

THat Joyo American Sound pedal is interesting; I've heard of folks successfully gigging thorugh one of those for an amp sound, straight into the PA...(!)

I'm surprised that these days nobody has yet come up with an amp-in-a-stompbox that connects to a Blutooth earpiece for IEM. That would be quite the kit (especially popular with roadies!).

[Kiwi]

On 25/02/2020 at 04:55, EdwardMarlowe said:

THat Joyo American Sound pedal is interesting; I've heard of folks successfully gigging thorugh one of those for an amp sound, straight into the PA...(!)

I'm surprised that these days nobody has yet come up with an amp-in-a-stompbox that connects to a Blutooth earpiece for IEM. That would be quite the kit (especially popular with roadies!).

It's a great pedal, I'm seriously thinking about getting two and rehousing them into 1 pedal.  The way they boost midrange is really nice.  I don't know about bluetooth but I remember a discussion on BC about it being too laggy to be useable.

[EdwardMarlowe]

Good pointg re BT.... radio, I guess it would have to be.... course, that's already done for wireless connections between guitar and amp, seems no reason that couldn't be adapted to incorporate an earpiece?

By twinning them, are you essentially looking at making it 'two channel'? I've been very impressed by what I've seen from Joyo et al. Sure, a lot of it is copied, but so is most guitar stuff by this point.

 

[Scratcher]

Brilliant thread.Nice guitars and gear.

I have only a telecaster and practice amp.As I am learning ever so slowly.

[Kiwi]

On 28/02/2020 at 01:42, EdwardMarlowe said:

By twinning them, are you essentially looking at making it 'two channel'? I've been very impressed by what I've seen from Joyo et al. Sure, a lot of it is copied, but so is most guitar stuff by this point.

 

I was just thinking about gain structure and whether twinning them might mean more of what the pedal does well.  That boosted midrange is lovely and thick, the eq centres are spot on too.  But I guess it might be possible to do a series/parallel switch  where two buttons go from individual on/off for each to A/B and on/off.  The only thing missing would be feedback but I have the EHX Freq Out for that anyway which can be set up to give some pretty natural sounding howls.

Joyo do a Mesa MkIV sim pedal too but reviewers have been less impressed by it than the American sound.  Over here it's a twenty quid pedal so almost nothing to lose but I can't pay for it on Taobao so would have to convince The Wife.

[EdwardMarlowe]

Ha, I hear you: I too have a Higher Power who has decreed that I need to play more and sell off everything I'm not using beofre I can buy more.... makes sense, really. The first pedal I bought - my green Sovtek-EH Big Muff Pi is staying - it's in great nick and still has the original wooden box; I think it's the only thing I have which has turned out to be an "investment", though I see my old 94 US Std Strat, at 26 now has a used value notionally more than I paid for it (though without adjusting for inflation!).

I've beocme a huge fan of cheap mini-pedals, it's amazing how much fun they can be. I'd adore a Hendrix model fuzz face, but it's hard to justify that when cracking soundscan be had for twenty quid. I still fantasise about one day playing out again, just for fun.... the Joyo American Sound I've heasrd of folks using in place of an amp, as a basic tone....  I'm downsizing my home amp (a Vox AD120VT with the VC12 footboard and an extra 2x12"!) cause it's just too much now.... I'll probably buy a couple of cheapie 5watt tube amps now (got my eye onthe Harley Benton Tube 5, and the little 5 watt Joyo based on the Fender Champ) for home use - my sound desires have.... I was going to say simplified over the years, but I think the truth problably is more like they have focussed more on a specific sound rather than wanting "all the options". (I've gone the same with guitars.... better another Strat I'll play than the LP I don't...). When I clear out some gear, I'll buy at least one of those tube amps first, acouple of mini pedals (I still "need" a spring reverb and a tape echo sim, and I'd like one of the Joyo ones that can flick between a TS9 and a TS808 spec), but then it'll be all about the guitars. And some lessons....(!)

[Kiwi]

There's one clip on youtube of someone using a JF14 with a bass and it sounds quite decent! 

I haven't really had an inclination to dabble much with pedals beyond what I already have as I'm pretty satisfied with what is on the pedal board now.  I've seen Tim Pierce championing the Nobels ODR pedal but I really don't want to end up with a box of pedals that I'm not entertained by.

[Kiwi]

New amp day, Rivera-era Princeton Reverb II on the way in.  Concert II out as it's going to be way too loud for my needs.  Hit me up if any of you might be interested in it.

 

[Kiwi]

I have one of these Godin 5th Avenue jazz guitars incoming in about a month but without the fancy maple top.  I've found a company here who claims to ghost build them and Godin make some great kit.

[EdwardMarlowe]

Got my eye on one of those Godins - the one with no cutaway and the neck p90. Ity's jockeying for position as "next buy" against a Player Series Strat and a Gretsch 5420 or similar.

[ezbass]

6 hours ago, EdwardMarlowe said:

Got my eye on one of those Godins - the one with no cutaway and the neck p90. Ity's jockeying for position as "next buy" against a Player Series Strat and a Gretsch 5420 or similar.

That's a nice dilemma to have.

[EdwardMarlowe]

On 28/08/2020 at 15:32, ezbass said:

That's a nice dilemma to have.

MN, gotta choose carefully, though, as the wife recently realised I currently have a dozen guitars, and while I'm planning to actually sell of the most of them (I'm only keeping one of three basses and my two Fenders of eight or nine electric guitars), chances are bringing the same number in again will be frowned upon... I must teat them like chalices, and choose wisely...

[Dad3353]

20 minutes ago, EdwardMarlowe said:

...I must teat them like chalices...

There's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip..! 

...

Edited August 31, 2020 by Dad3353

[Kiwi]

It's been five years and I managed to come into a bit of disposable income after cashing in a business venture and I discovered an popular app for selling second hand stuff.  I kept finding really interesting gear at very attractive prices so resistance was futile for stuff that was within my reach.

Number 1 (mentioned above): My favourite Yamaha MSG Deluxe is smooth sounding yet offers some girthy bite when needed.  Think of the rhythm guitar on Rosanna by Toto. Yes, really.  It plays like a dream - as good as any PRS but warmer.  The bridge  had a stripped thread in a fine tuner hole about a year ago and I was faced with a choice of either trying to tap a new thread in all the tuners for Floyd Rose tuner screws (which are larger in diameter) or looking for a second hand replacement.  I ended up scoring a cheap black replacement trem and fitted it with no further issues than the need to replace all the hardware and pickups to match.  I prefer the chrome pickups which had to be transferred to number two, the black ones are nice but don't have quite the same synergy.

Number 2:  The second Yamaha MSG Deluxe is lighter than number 1, has a less figured top and sounds a smidge brighter, it's also a transition model between the v1 and v2 MSG but now has the pickups that were in Number 1.   Absolutely glorious neck pickup tone that reminds me of the solo on Wuthering Heights. 

Yamaha MSG Standard: This came to me in a right state but I bought it because I thought it might have a little more sustain.  Thoroughly worn fingerboard and frets and I think it might have had a clear overspray at some point to make it more attractive for sale.  After removing all the frets, I discovered the fingerboard was a weird 13" radius.  So it was re profiled to 14" and the frets were replaced, levelled and dressed.  I also installed some PRS Mira pickups which gave it a bit of midrange bite.  It's used for classic rock, most often with the Marshall rack mentioned below.

Chandler Custom Strat (mentioned above):  My faithful workhorse is still going strong.   I made and fitted a new neck from flamed maple with an ebony fingerboard and a nut width that matches the MSGs.  I finished it in superglue and the whole guitar is pretty much now Valley Arts spec. I also added a semi super switch so position 3 is neck and bridge pickups, for funky tele chords. The neck is a little more sensitive to climate changes than the original but it feels much easier to play without getting cramped.  This and Deluxe NUmber 1 are my two go to guitars.

Al Knight Hitmaker (mentioned above):  Still have it but it will probably go up for sale soon as I hardly ever play it now. I did toy with fitting a Stratoblaster circuit but after three breadboard prototypes worked fine on the bench, I couldn't get them to work after installation.  Probably a short somewhere but I lost patience and shelved the modification.  Super low action on this machine and it sounds identical to the guitar on the Chic albums - quite tight and thin.

 

Kleinberger (mentioned above):  I accrued the parts and then made a body for it in 2011 while living in NZ.  For a while I thought it was a bit dull sounding but I fell in love with it after playing it through the JMP1 preamp.   The body wood is from a NZ native tree and is a cross between cherry and mahogany.  It filters out enough of the highs from the neck to give it a huge amount of girth but still leave it articulate or woofy.  For a tiny guitar, it sounds like a beast and although not my thing, it really djents.  A member of my team at work has his eye on it so it may not be here this time next year.

The Clean Machine:  I built this one Summer 2024 in Jon Shuker's workshop.  It was inspired by the Aria RS Esprit but in a Yamaha MSG format and it kind of goes one step further.  The original RS Esprit had electronics licensed from Alembic (but built by others) and in this guitar, I used a set of genuine Alembic Activators.  The electronics in the RS Esprit were a pair of low pass filters with boost and Nuno at Lusithand kindly tweaked a pair of filters so they were more suitable for guitar frequencies.  (Thanks Nuno!) 

 

A rare Wilkinson VS100CV bridge was also installed with Graphtec Ghost saddles connected to an acoustiphonic preamp.  A rotary pickup selector chooses the piezos for a full acoustic simulation, or bridge/bridge+middle/bridge+neck/middle+neck/neck.  Not ideal but the simplest solution in terms of controls.  In high gain situations when the high frequencies are filtered a little, lots of interesting harmonics jump out.  However the lack of crystalline brightness in clean settings has been a little disappointing and I suspect this is due to the neck woods (the maple is way too soft). 

 

Recently I found a guy in Guangzhou who has started offering his own graphite necks for knock off Steinberger M Series guitars for the domestic market.  So I've sent him the neck of this guitar and he'll make a copy of the neck in graphite composite...but with a 43mm nut to match the MSGs and Chandler Strat.   I hope the graphite neck is going to be rigid enough to brighten up the sound a bit but we will see.  There's an ongoing power drain issue with this one that I need to sort out over the Summer.

 

Ibanez S670 (highly modified):  I'm not sure this was ever really a S670 as it doesn't have a mahogany body even if the neck is correct. The body wood is more like basswood but it only cost 130 quid and the trem was completely worn out.  I looked into an upgrade but none were available so found a like for like replacement for about ten quid.  Actually I think the replacement is better quality, the knife edges on the base seem more durable. I had some special order Dimarzio pickups a Mo Joe and a PAF Joe in chrome so thought why not turn it into a S series Chrome boy.  

I looked into painting and discovered that in the first batch of Chromeboys, Ibanez had used chrome based paint finish (on a metallic undercoat) and it cracked and split after a few years due to seasonal changes.  So the more recent version 2 Chromeboys have bodies made of lucite, not wood.  I figured another option was to use an automotive vinyl wrap, so I bought some online and got in touch with the city's best wrap specialist who took care of the body in three pieces one afternoon.  I tried wrapping myself but discovered I really needed two pairs of hands to lay the vinyl without it sticking to itself. 

 

The neck also needed attention with a few frets that were worn from cowboy chords, so I replaced, levelled and dressed them and it plays effortlessly now although the neck profile is U shaped rather than the D I'm used to.  The electronics were my usual harness of coil splits for the humbuckers and a semi superswitch which allows position 3 to select both humbuckers instead of the middle pickup. So it'll do stratty stuff as well as the more familar high gain.   I ended up playing this guitar at a CNY gig in January and it did a fine job.  The experience of installing strings confirm and endorsed my absolute hatred for double locking trems though.

Ibanez AWD83T:  Last but not least, I mentioned an interest a few years ago in an Ibanez AWD.  I went off them for a while, in preference for a Yamaha SAS semi hollow to match the MSGs.  However YT research suggested the SAS didn't sound as smooth and jazzy as I wanted whereas the AWD did.   One day last month I was trawling a japanese auction site and discovered a rarer AWD83T (with a trem) for sale, put a bid in for less than 200 quid and won.   When it arrived, the electronics were a bit dodgy, the trem arm was missing and it was covered in a thick film of nicotine - perhaps the guitar was part of an estate.  Not sure, but the main thing was that the neck was good (as I have come to expect from Ibanez) and there was plenty of life in the frets.  The electronics issue turned out to be just a poorly soldered earth connection from the pickups and that was sorted in a few minutes and a spare trem arm from a wilkinson V100 bridge fitted perfectly.  It's a great value guitar, does jazz and Foofighters in the same breath.  I might trial some pickups from my spares department over the summer and see how much of an improvement they make.  Otherwise it plays sweetly and smoothly with low action. 

 

BQW Custom: And finally...I have found a luthier in northern China who makes instruments featuring some incredible workmanship and he can do pretty much anything including graphite necks.  So  I've been on a two year waiting list for a build of another Yamaha MSG style instrument but with a through body 3 piece mahogany neck with bound ebony fingerboard, stainless steel frets, lightweight sapele wings, a carved top made from a bicoloured piece of golden camphor and maybe a back from my stash of 42,000 year old NZ swamp kauri...or some 3A flamed maple.  The electronics feature a custom HSH set of my favourite Armstrong pickups, a switchable EMG SPC midboost circuit and a Kahler trem.  He's finally going to start work on it this month.  Also in the planning is a build that will be a 5 string version of my Alembic Series 1 graphite, but that's another story.

 

Ampwise, there's quite a bit of extra stuff.  I'm now running four rigs without any real need for this much backline.

 

Tweed Princeton 1x8 combos:  These are good amps but I haven't played them in three years, apart from a wet dry wet experiment shortly after the PRII arrived.   So they will be going up for sale.  Considering they are hand wired and point to point with high quality parts, just like the originals and like later boutique amps, they go for criminally low asking prices but there's not a lot of other option. 

 

Fender Princeton Reverb II:  This amp was part of a Paul Rivera supervised series that was Fender's attempt to compete with Mesa Boogie.  The same series also featured the now legendary Super Champ popularised by Alan Murphy amongst others during the mid eighties.  The PRII is arguably the second most coveted amp in the series because it was originally intended to be a Super Champ in a bigger box.  It didn't quite turn out like that due to a few minor differences in circuitry but still a really nice sounding amp.  The one I have is in near new condition and when pushed with The Xotic AC booster pedal breaks out into this harmonically rich but articulate gain.  I replaced the Fender speaker with a Jensen N12K neo out of a Tone Master amp.

 

Fender Concert (II) 1x12:  I bought this amp before the PRII in 2020...but it didn't actually end up in my possession, due to various complications, until last month.  The Concert II is renowned for it's blackface style cleans - David Gilmour had a wall of them behind him at Live Aid and continued to play them well into the early nineties.  If I had written this yesterday, I would have said that it's not quite as tight as the PRII or as rich in the midrange.  However tonight I gave it a blast and used a tactic popular with Mesa Mark amp owners...turn the bass down to zero.  It worked a treat and while the gain might have been criticised online, I found my amp verged on 5E3 Tweed meltdown - satisfyingly rich and crunchy, like a Twix. 

 

Compared to the PRII, it's been gigged but well maintained.  The original speaker has been replaced with an Eminence Patriot (almost a requirement for this series of amps, the OEM Fender speakers are not very good.)  I also had a custom 1x12 extension cab made for it which has a V30 installed.  The gain control needs a little attention but OMG it's LOUD when the master is pushed to 70%.

 

 

             
Pedalboard:  It's fairly constrained, consisting of an Xotic XW-1 wah into a Keeley C4 comp, then a Zoom MS70CDR for pre-gain modulation into an Xotic AC booster and Amptweaker Tight Rock.  Sitting in the side chain of the TR is a Nobels ODR and a Joyo American Sound JF14.  The TR then feeds into a Mooer Ocean Machine for reverb and dual delays before hitting the amp.  If I am using the Concert II, I'll run the Ocean Machine into the series effects loop at the back for less colouration.   I really love the combinattion of the AC Booster and the ODR, its harmonically rich and articulate without getting noisy.  The AC Booster makes pretty much all of the other gain pedals sound better if I'm honest.   I trialled a Line 6 M9 for post gain modulation but it proved to be a bit of a tone suck so put the Ocean Machine back in.  There is also a Crowther Hot Cakes to swap out with the Joyo if I get bored.  I'm also going to play about with an Empress parametric eq and boost to see if I can get it to do the same job as the AC Booster at some point.  But otherwise really happy with this board, it makes all the right noises. 

 

 

       

Mesa rack:  This started off as a single 4U rack but morphed into two in the last 4 months mainly because there was a lack of volume with the original rack and I had rack gear to spare so...why not?  The Mesa rack  is based around a Lexicon MPXG2 (with R1 foot controller) that switches a final version Mesa Triaxis preamp inserted in the side chain.  The MPX sends a stereo signal into a Mesa Fifty/Fifty power amp which then goes into a pair of Joyo 1x12 cabs each fitted with a Celestion 12" neo creamback.  The Fifty/Fifty is a later model, optimised for the Triaxis and it features a 15/50W power switch which almost makes the Marshall 20/20 redundant for practice needs.  I later bought a second Triaxis as back up although it  has the recto mod in Lead 1 so not quite a direct replacement.

 

       
Marshall rack:  The second 4U rack is based around a Marshall JMP-1 into a Rocktron Intellipitch and then into a Marshall 20/20 power amp.  A Rocktron 300A comp evens out any harshness before the signal hits the preamp.  It sounds like a Marshall head but can be a little shrill for my taste. The 20/20 power amp made it possible to dial in Marshall-esque tones in the Triaxis's Lead 2 setting.  This rack gets used for ACDC and Def Leppard but the MXR Rockman X100 might make the entire rack redundant at some point.  The cabs are the same Celestion loaded Joyos shown above.

Kemper Stage Profiler board.   I had a Kemper before the Mesa Traxis and it sort of became surplus to reqiurements afterwards. The one great thing is that on the largest Ghostfire pedal board, it still weighs less than a 4U rack so its currently first choice for any gigs even though it doesn't quite feel the same as having the real thing blasting away from the back of stage. My favourite settings on the Triaxis, Mesa Studio, Carvin Quad X and Burman GX3 preamps have been profiled as well, for posterity. 

The signal chain starts with a Shure wireless then a Digitech FreqOut for feedback effects before going into the Kemper.  In a loop of the Kemper sits a Line 6 M5 for modulation effects that the Kemper can't do like Dimension D.  Out of the Kemper the signal goes into a pair of Hotone Loudster Class D power amps each pumping out 85W into the Joyo cabs.  All the profiles loaded into the profiler have the cabinet simulation removed.  The cabs used are the same Celestion loaded Joyos as mentioned above.  While the cabs are rated at 60W and the output of the Loudsters is rated at 85W, the speakers seem insensitive enough to deal with the extra power without too many issues so far.   I gigged wtih this set up and the Ibanez S Series Chromeboy mentioned above.

Maintaining this lot keeps me pretty damn busy and then there are the basses, more preamps and other rack gear on top of that too.   So there are plans for a clear out soon, some of which driven by the need to make space and some by the sheer fact that keeping this lot maintained takes a lot of time.  So once the BQW is complete, I'll be making plans to let the two MSGs go, the HItmaker, the Kleinberger, the chrome wrapped Ibanez S670, the Tweeds, the Marshall rack, the Carvin Quad X (not mentioned above), the Mesa Studio pre (also not mentioned above) and a load of pedal and rack effects.