The Life of Chris Annable
The new look website for my band “Red Alert” is now online. It has been updated for our 2009 marketing.
I have moved away from my usual “centered” page layout (a la this site) and used a design that will fit any screen size. Check it out and let me know what you think!
The only thing keeping me vaguely interested is the fact that it will be my daughter’s first. Even though she won’t remember it, it is still nice to share this time with a child in the family. I can’t wait until she becomes excited about Santa and we can read her all the Christmas stories, and sing with her all the Christmas Carols.
If you usually receive a gift from me at Christmas time, please don’t get over excited this year. My wife and I are desperately trying to save money at the moment and aren’t even buying anything for each other. I have a “no gift” agreement with a couple of people which basically means what we will exchange is the saving of both the time and the money that would usually be spent buying a gift. If you want to be included in this, feel free to let me know! I don’t want to do this every year – just to save money this year. Besides, all I am really looking forward to is sharing a meal with friends and family.
Having said that, I wish everyone out there peace and happiness for the festive season and a prosperous New Year!
Level vs gain, solid state vs valve, analog vs digital, stomp boxes vs multi-effects units, true bypass vs non-true bypass, and ultimately “tone” are things I never needed to worry about during my 15 years playing acoustic guitar.
However, the last few years has seen my full band electric gigs outnumber my solo/duo acoustic performances. As the quantity and quality of shows I was playing increased, it was obvious to me that my rig needed to catch up.
I upgraded my original line-up:
To my quick and nasty set-up:
This was an upgrade from hopeless to crappy. It was at this stage I started to get a thirst for a better quality sound. My playing had once again overtaken my gear and it was time for yet another upgrade. Constantly running at a financial loss, the last couple of years I slowly managed to build up a rig that I am happy with (for now).
Guitars:
Pedals:
Amp:
This lineup is so much fun to play – especially at deafening high volumes. The tone is great, not perfect, but great. If I had the $$$ I would upgrade my amp to the classic Fender Twin Reverb, but for approximately 1/3 of the cost (and about 1/2 the weight) my Peavey Valveking is fantastic.
I researched most of my gear extensively before buying it. YouTube was invaluable. It is filled with videos of people testing the pedals, talking about the pros and cons and demonstrating the resulting sounds.
It helps to have a goal in mind. Who do you want to sound like? With me there was an obvious answer to that question. I want a bluesy strat tone and love the sound of artists such as John Mayer and Stevie Ray Vaughn: hence my choice of stratocaster. It was amazing how many times I said the words “I want a sound like John Mayer’s” before I said “Perhaps I should get the John Mayer Strat“. Don’t overlook the Blade Levinson though. I would be perfectly happy to use either for a gig. If I was looking to buy again in future I would go straight for a Blade. I strongly believe that with them, you pay for quality and not a name.
I still haven’t forgotten my my Maton semi acoustic roots and love playing my EBG808-Artist series whenever I have the chance. But the more electric gigs I do, the more I am falling in love with the dark side of the guitar world. To ensure my gear costs don’t permanently outweigh my music earnings, I will stick with the line-up I have. I am by no means just “getting by”. I love this setup and I get a kick out of the fact that everything I own is of a different brand – Fender, Blade, Maton, Ibanez, T-Rex, Korg, Jim Dunlop, Line 6 and Peavey.
For now, I will continue wandering through websites, magazines, MP3s and DVDs in the never-ending search of the “perfect” sound because remember kids … it is all about the tone!
Amen.
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