IN SEARCH OF THE SOUND
I’ve been playing electric guitars since 1965. My first was a Futurama 3, played through an amp made out of a Regentone television. Although I have collected a really nice range of guitars over the years, for me it has always been about ‘the sound’. Over the years, often to the chagrin of my bandmates, I have used a series of combinations of guitars, pedals and amps to try to get ‘the sound’, but all too often failing.
On a whim, in January this year, I bought a [Line 6] Variax 600, which was fitted with a Roland GK-3 pickup, plus a Roland GR-20 synthesiser pedal. Although I have certainly played much better guitars, the Variax gives me more than 20 guitar emulations at the flick of two switches, and the Roland gives me 370 instrument emulations. More recently I bought a Line 6 Pod Go and now I have found my Nirvana. I can stand at my side of the stage with my very simple-to-use rig and get the sounds I want. It’s made an old man very happy! If only we’d had this type of gear in the 60s and 70s, I might have been another Skunk Baxter!
Andy Napier, via email
Thanks for sharing your quest for the elusive guitar sound that you’ve hunted high and low for, Andy. Kudos for not shying away from new technology, and keeping your mind open. In your case, a willingness to try new things finally brought you the sonic satisfaction you’d been hunting for over the years. We’re delighted it’s a synth and Variax combination that’s done it for you; for others, a good drive pedal and a valve amp would be the Holy Grail. But that’s the great thing about guitar: each of us is unique in our quest to play and sound better and yet, at the same time, part of a huge community of players with the same goal. We just find different routes to get there. To complete your perfect setup we’re sending you this month’s Star Prize of some top-quality Vox headphones.