For the past five years my main amplifier has been a
Matchless DC30L head with a separate 1x12" speaker cabinet.
I picked it up in the U.S. whilst working with Aimee Mann, who had the whole band rigged out with them.
It's far and away the best-sounding, most reliable amp I've ever owned, and the most expensive.
I've already mentioned the '62 Fender Tremolux
(in my autobiography section);
the cabinet now houses two heavy-duty Celestion 10" speakers to cope with the bass frequencies.
I also have a 1963 Fender Super 2x10" combo, and a new-ish Fender Pro-Junior
(which you can just see in the background of the inner "Upsy Daisy" photo), a gift from Lyle Workman and a great little amp.
amps & FX
I've used a tiny Japanese
Fender Sidekick Reverb 30 practice amp on any number of projects since 1986 (when I bought it),
and is actually one of Andy Partridge's favourite recording amps!
I've also a
Roland JC-120 combo and a
Korg A2 Digital Processor that is useful for recording at home.
I just purchased a
Line 6 POD
module to replace the Korg, which is fantastic – genuinely authentic-sounding guitar amps and speakers,
with optional effects, all in a convenient digital format (check the sound-bytes on this site for proof!).
Although I don't go in for pedals much, I recently bought (and fell in love with) a
Danelectro Fab Tone Fuzz
box, and I also like this little
Guyatone VT-2
tremolo pedal that Andy P. gave me. I've a
Boss Flanger
,
Chorus, Compressor, and a
DS-1 Distortion unit but I seldom use them.
I have a late-60's
Vox Wah-Wah pedal, and a
Jim Dunlop Cry Baby 535.
For recording electro-acoustic guitars I use an
Award-Session GG10 pre-amp.
Most of my leads I made up myself using oxygen-free copper cable, but best of all is a
Monster Cable lead
with gold plated plugs – it really DOES make all the difference.
I currently own over 30 guitars, and I may put some of them
on display in these pages in the coming months.
In the past I've regularly used
Ernie Ball strings, and made up my own sets from individual sizes,
but I've recently switched to
D'Addario XL-115's (.011 - .049) because they're cheaper and easier to get hold of.
No, I've never had an endorsement deal for strings.
Picks are plastic Fender Heavys, though for acoustic guitar I like the
Jim Dunlop Tortex .60mm (the orange ones).
Acoustic strings are Martin Phosphor Bronze M530 Extra Lights,
but with the top .010 replaced with a .011.
I treated my studio to a lovely new TubeTech compressor/limiter (another step further to my dream home set-up), and myself to a 40-year-old cherry Gibson Les Paul Junior which sounds outrageous!
This spend-thriftyness is the result of XTC finally being paid for our 1996 audit discovery of Virgin Records.
It's now late '99, you'll notice. Evil villains, the lot of them.
