GEAR
In each update to my site I endeavour to add to the information here. I've actually spent some time and got this fully up-to-date (thanks to the lockdown).
So, what do I use?
My primary instrument is the guitar, and although I have a selection including a Vintage Gibson SG style one, a Squire Telecaster (handed down to my daughter), a Fender GA-43SCE electro-acoustic (Hank Marvin Signature Series), a Burns 40th Anniversary Hank Marvin Signature Series, and the Hank Marvin Signature Series Fender Stratocaster (the last three also being hand signed by the man himself), my main choice is the Stratocaster. My main workhorse is a Sire S7 for use live on stage, although I still use the custom Red Stratocaster on Tribute gigs. More recently, I've invested in a VOX Bobcat S66:
The Burns King Cobra. Although it looks and feels similar to a Stratocaster, the tone is unique to those 60s days. It produces a warmer sound and maintains a nice low end, even on the thinner strings, but also adds power and definition to the overall sound (if that makes sense). It copes effortlessly with todays' modern sounds too, and can really kick when overdriven. The neck is very slightly narrower than the Strat, but it doesn't take long to get used to it. I rarely put this down now on stage, and it has become a great workhorse, saving my trusty Fiesta Red Strat for those authentic nights of instrumentals. However, don't get me wrong, this baby can really reproduce the Shadows sound too; sometimes better.
The Gretsch G2420T. I sold my Revelation guitar (for a profit) and brought this Gold dust beauty back from California USA in March 2020, just before the lockdown. Some call these the 'budget Gretsch' but I can assure you, as do others, that this is a work of art and does not deserve a 'budget' category. I got it second-hand (nearly new), but once cleaned up it's mint, with no marks, scratches or wear. I was fortunate enough to get one gig in before the restrictions began and used it then. The Stray Cats numbers never sounded so authentic.
The only modification I've done is to grind away a small portion of the tremolo arm stop on the Bigsby unit. I can now swing the arm a little higher to a more comfortable and usable position. I've also installed some Gretsch Blacktop Filtertron pickups too for a more brighter and fuller sound. It now competes with the Electromatic range for feel and sound.
This guitar has changed my steer on rockabilly songs now, and I've recorded some new backing tracks accordingly.
I could not bond with my Gretsch G5655T Electromatic Centre Block Junior in metallic dark cherry. I recently sold this and purchased the Sire Larry Carlton S7 in Natural Flame Maple. A quick mod to upgrade the electrics and replace chrome hardware with black has now been done. Beautiful build quality and crystal clean tones to play with. I use this at most performances now.
The main 'Strat' (on the left) is in the classic vintage fiesta red, which I bought 2nd-hand with chrome hardware and a standard maple neck. I changed all the hardware to gold, fitted a white pearl-effect scratchplate housing the genuine Kinman noiseless pickups (Hank Marvin set with wiring mods, of course) and replaced the neck with the custom flame maple one, which was originally fitted to a previous Mexican Stratocaster (got it at the standard price for free, compliments of Fender making a mistake). Some setting-up with 10 gauge gold strings and intonation adjustment and she sings like the real Hank model.
Unfortunately, this guitar recently developed a crack at the neck joint, so is now out of commission. To replace this I have just purchased a Squier Classic Vibe 50s Stratocaster (on the right) and transferred the pickups and wiring from the broken one, but maintained the chrome hardware. I replaced the shipped strings with a set of EXL140 10-52s, which can still bend, but give great tension and tone for the tremelo system. I used it for the first time recently, which sounded and felt awesome. In a few years time, it may get some gold hardware, but it sounds and plays just right, so I am reluctant to change it right now.
Always keen to 'mess around' with new projects, I can across this Harley Benton Telecaster a few years ago. It came in fairly good setup condition, but I replaced the chrome hardware with gold and installed a 5-way selector switch and custom wiring mod to add two extra pickup options. It now has a unique out-of-phase option to its Wilkinson-powered sound. I don't usually gig without a tremolo-equipped guitar, but I'm tempted to take this on the road some times.
I also have another cheap Stratocaster that's work-in-progress, but I'm going to put a custom veneer front on it with gold bar pickups and hardware. Look out for this beauty in the future.
Onto my Jazzmasters. I got this limited edition Fender Gold Foil Jazzmaster, with its unique pickup switching arrangement, which has an amazing range of tones available, even the Stratocaster out-of-phase tone.
Then the Squier Jazzmaster came along, in limited edition black sparkle, for £169. This was purely intended to take with me to Las Vegas for a gig, after a bit of fettling. It performed brilliantly and travelled very well. It's now being upgraded with Humbuckers and custom switching.
On the acoustic side of things, for emergency use I have a Gear4Music Deluxe Roundback Electro-acoustic in Flamed Maple. Admittedly, it was a relatively inexpensive guitar intended to absorb the rigours of gigging. Plus I thought it looked nice. After some setting-up and tweaking the factory settings it plays just like an electric with a nice thin neck. The tones are fairly acceptable, but played through my Fender Acoustasonics amp it sounds great, and the built-in tuner is very handy on stage. Then I came across the Fender American Acoustasonic Telecaster. Wow, what a guitar. Feels like an electric, but the selection of different sounds is amazing.
My latest addition to the fleet is this beautiful VOX Bobcat S66. Not only does she look fabulous, but with the 3-pickup arrangement she has a tone of her own With the bridge and neck pickups together you can get a Gretsch or Gibson tone, but if you blend in the middle pickup you can get a kind of Stratocaster out-of-phase tone. So many tonal variations in between as all pickups have their own volumes too. It doesn't feel bulky to play either. Other guitarists have played this and are amazed with it's sound and playability. Love it. Rockabilly never felt or sounded so good. Very clean and crisp tones are also available, like my Sire S7.
Due to the differing genres of music I play, I need a great array of effects. For this I used the Boss GT-6 Guitar Effects Processor, which I've had for years now. Not only does it give a great selection of effects and control, but I connect it up via MIDI to my rack-mounted Alesis Quadraverb, which is programmed with the "Echos From The Past" sounds that were produced for Hank Marvin to replicate his vintage echoes. Armed with this pair of beauties I can replicate almost any guitar sound, but my favourites will always be the Hank Marvin & The Shadows tones, which these reproduce with easy.
I then upgraded to the GT-100, which blows the predecessors away big time, although I still have The GT-6 (but sold my GT-10). This one sounds more natural with new additional functionality. I have fully replicated the Hank Echoes and they sound perfect, plus I can get a brilliant Rockabilly slap-back sound and 'grit' especially when I use the Gretsch.
Now I've upgraded to the Boss GX-100. Lost for words; this is just amazing and can replicate the Hank Marvin delays with such greater accuracy. As for the other effects, they are so easy to control with the touch-screen functionality.
Okay, guitar amp-wise, I've now sold my VOX Amp and my Fender Acoustasonic 40, and gone for a Full Range, Flat Response (FRFR) Laney LFR-112. This baby gives an accurate representation of the amp models from my GX-100 pedal, but with a 200 watt rms headroom. This can be remarkably loud if you you ever need it, but can also sit quietly in the background in any line-up. It also looks cool with the white led strip at the top of the speaker grill. I've received many good comments on my sound from this, especially at jam nights.
Other than the occassional use of a Line-6 XD-V30 wireless unit for the guitar for those places where cables get in the way, this sums up my guitar set-up.
Okay. Onto outboard gear/PA. Gone are the pair of Yamaha DBR12 tops with the Samson Auro D1200 bass bins, which have served me well for many years. These have now been replaced with a pair of the very efficient EV Evolve 50 systems. Although they were a bit pricey, you get what you pay for, and with these, you get a concert room filling sound with clarity and punch too.
I tried one of the systems in my home and had to be careful I didn't break the glass ornaments in the display cabinet due to the vibrations. Some will say that you won't move the air with these as much as you would with conventional 12" plus speaker systems. However, these really spread the high quality sound and make your stomach rumble for such a small system. As for transportation, these are the biz, with no cables to worry about for the top array speakers, which have their own padded bags with the poles, and the subs are easily carried with a selection of handle options. Both my car and my back appreciate the weight-saving, but without compromising sound quality and power. Add to this the Bluetooth functionality and the clever mixer, these can accommodate any venue and setup, including discos.
For mixing, I've sold my Behringer Xenyx 1832USB, and my rack system containing a Behringer Ultragraph Pro 15 channel stereo graphic equaliser with built-in feedback eliminator, a powerbank and a slide-out tray.
After much deliberation and research, I've now got the RCF M18 WIFI digital mixer. This mixer, which is the size of a show box and weighs next to nothing, links up with the app on my iPad (and iPhone for backup) for a very easy to use system. With its 18 channels (including dedicated channels for guitars, if required), a built-in media player via a USB port, and superb control over main and monitor mixes and digital effects, this little package couldn't be any more portable or versatile. The sound quality coming out of it is near studio quality, with dedicated onboard effects to shape and tailor your sound perfectly. Connected up to the Evolve 50s it gives a great sound with plenty of headroom for larger or outdoor gigs. Some hate the non-analogue feel of sliders on digital mixers, but this cures that feeling and is very easy to use and navigate.
I've recently purchased a TC Helicon Voicelive 3 Extreme too, which when used with my new Shure Super 55 mic sounds amazing. Not only do I get the multiple harmonies i want now, but lots more too, including studio grade vocal and guitar effects, choirs and other extras, it's also got a built-in stereo looper, plus facilities to play backing tracks via the USB socket. I've been using this live for several months now and it really has paid for itself. I am more confident with my voice and technique, which all helps with the overall performance. I intend to use it during recording of new backing tracks too, with the many features it has to offer I have the world in my hands.
For recording, I used to use a Yamaha PSR 9000 Keyboard, which is an excellent workstation, even if a bit dated by today's standards. I am mainly software-based now. I usually download basic midi files, strip them down to nothing but a time signature, and reconstruct them with my own sounds, arrangements and styles, with the aid of a Dell laptop with Presonus Studio One 4 Pro installed. As the drums and percussion used to be a big let-down on sound, I've also EZDrummer 3 software. Now these sounds are amazing, and I can reconstruct any kit sound and effect I need though a Behringer U-Phoria UMC202HD interface to produce professional quality backing tracks. Great fun to play with too!
Using the Studio One software I can add live guitar parts and vocals, and sound effects too.
The final MP3 mixdown is balanced using MP3 Gain software, before loading into my AIMP playback software. I used to use Winamp, but it became less user-friendly when I t was recently re-released under new ownership.
My newlaptop is an ASUS Vivobook S16 loaded with 16 Gb RAM and a 500 Gb SSD hard drive.
I used to use my laptop live on stage to play the backing track with synchronised lyrics, but I've now followed many other acts and use my iPad. Together with the Stage Traxx4 app I can still organise my playlists, synchronise lyrics, and now I can add midi commands to control both the lighting and the vocal effects on the PA. This gives me a fully automated setup, which allows me to concentrate more on the actual performance.
Also, I now have a smaller footprint on stage, which is ideal for those smaller venues and setup/strip down times.
Lighting on stage comprises of a selection of LED spots and bars either stand-mounted or floor stood to suit the venue, but I mostly use the bars for the larger venues. These are LEDJ units and give an impressive amount of light output. I have some additional cheaper LED spots, but they are used to add extra light mainly when I support other bands like The Orange Rhinos. For smaller venues I use smaller LED pars that simply clip onto my PA speakers.
All the stage lights are DMX controlled via my iPad using Bluetooth technology. The light shows are synchronised to the music, which takes a lot of patience and time, but looks impressive in the end.
The main synch'd light show is my Hank Marvin tribute introduction, where the lights flash along to the theme from Thunderbirds, but I do other instrumentals like Live And Let Die, which also have their own light show.
Add to these a complete disco set-up with a range of different lighting and a haze machine, and I can cater for most events.
Moving onto my 'stay at home' gear that very rarely leaves the house, I have a trio of guitars that are all Hank Marvin Signature Series ones, and have been physically signed by the man himself at his tour concerts. The first is a Mexican Fiesta Red Stratocaster (only 500 made), the second is a 40th Anniversary White Burns Marvin (only 2004 made), and the third is a Black Fender Electroacoustic (only 500 made). The latter I use at home mainly for recording my backing tracks. All are collectors items and are well insured! Sometimes they come out to play if I do a dedicated Hank Marvin Tribute gig.
Lastly, I use a selection of Sennheiser, Rode, Shure and AKG mics for vocals and guitar amp when live, plus I have a Harley Benton 4-string bass guitar and a Behringer Ultrabass amplifier for recording or when I stand-in on bass for groups/bands. Welcome to my world!!!